Special Edition: NYC Is a Laid Back Creator Centered Affair

This past weekend was ReedPOP‘s inaugural Special Edition: NYC comic convention at the Javits Center North.  ReedPOP are the folks who run New York Comic Con and C2E2.  Special Edition: NYC was advertised as ”an intimate event that is focused solely on the art, creation and culture of comic books.”  This is actually a great description of the festival.  While it lacked the flash of the larger NYCC, it gave fans much more of an opportunity to interact with their favorite creators.

One of the highlights of any major convention is meeting your favorite writers and artists.  The downside of the bigger cons is that while top creators are in attendance there is so much traffic that you hardly get to mingle with them.  At Special Edition: NYC, there was much more opportunity to chat with your heroes and heroines.  It was laid back.  While Saturday was busier, on Sunday it felt like the creators were just chilling with the fans.  Some of the creators hanging out were: Gail Simone, my dude David Marquez, Andy Diggle, Joe Eisma (Morning Glories), Greg Pak (Love this dude), Frank Cho, Brian Wood, Mike Allred, Peter David, Chris Claremont, Alex Maleev, Amy Reeder (Rocket Girl), Damion Scott, Emanuela Lupacchino, Mahmud Asrar, Joe Kelly, Jerry Ordway, Sara Pichelli and so many more.

Best cosplay of the con goes to Ms. Marvel!  There was also an amazing Storm with second place (I didn’t get a pick, sorry).

One interesting aspect of the con was the lack of cosplay.  I am so used to the main lobby of the Javits center being swamped with Batwomen, Harley Quinns and Spider-Men that it seemed like an alternate reality to see geeks dressed in their civilian attire.  Sure, there was some cosplay, but not as much as I expected.  I think most people did not put as much effort into the event, which again, is not a bad thing.  It was a chill event.  Even I dressed down (and as a reporter, I normally put a lot of effort into my attire so I make an impression on people).

Marvel, Valiant and Archie all had booths, but none promoted like they do at a bigger con.  For instance, Marvel handed out their typical freebies at a table, but there was no huge over the top signage or decorations.  Their booth was essentially just a few tables with free stuff on it, and most of it I was able to get for free at my local comic shop anyways.  Marvel gave out those bouncy ball Watcher eyes (they are super fun for kids, but will end up in my garbage), Iron Man paper masks (didn’t even take one), lithographs and a comic sample issue.  Of course the major companies had some signings, but the creators who signed already had tables in artist alley anyways.  The lack of presence by the major companies was not bad because, again, the spotlight was on the creators. 

I found it funny that DC didn’t have a booth at the con.  Prior to the con, I took it as a sign that Marvel officialy took the crown as the King of NY.  I was wrong.  Even though DC didn’t have a booth they had a major presence.  To celebrate Batman’s 75 anniversary, DC had numerous standees of Batman through the years in the entrance hallway to the con by the DJ booth.  With only a handful of standees, DC caught more attention than the other major publishers.  Well done, DC.  I bet more people have pics with Batman than have pics at the Marvel booth.

The lack of over the tops showmanship from the big companies allowed indie companies to shine.  Indie booths blended in with the bigger companies, as did indie creators in the creator section.  One of my highlights of the con was def chatting with the Watson and Holmes crew at New Paradigm Studios and copping their first graphic novel.  I found myself spending a lot of time at the indie booths checking out their product.

There was a lot to complain about the panels.  Actually, there was only one major complaint but I can complain about it a lot.  Javits Center is huge, and they had the panels at the opposite side of the dang building.  I am a lazy man; this was horrible.  That said, this was not really ReedPOP’s fault.  They tried to get panel rooms closer to the con floor, but due to construction in the Center they were screwed.  Sure, they could have planned another venue, but c’mon, having a con at Javits makes it so much more official than having it anywhere else.

There were panels by all of the big dogs at the con (Marvel, Valliant, DC, Archie).  I loved that Marvel spotlighted the “young guns,” especially my dude David Marquez. There were a buncha panels for perspective comic creators such as: Creator-Owned Comics (vs. Corporate-owned Comics),Kickstarter and Comics: How to Fund Your Dream Project and Self Publishing.  In essence, all these creator panels were just about how much Kickstarter rocks.  As a comic history dork, I enjoyed the Sexy, Strange and Silly: The Lost Superheroes of the Golden Age panel and The Silver Age of Comic Book Art panel.  I also hit up awesome panels deconstructing gender roles in comics such as Reimagining the Female Hero (Gail Simone!) and Secret Identities: Transgender Themes in Comic Books. Sadly, there was no hip hop and comics panel (my favorite).

Of course, there were plenty of comics and graphic novels for sale.  I didn’t see much apparel for sale and not much manga but I def enjoyed that it didn’t seem like movie memorabilia was taking over the show.  Like any comic con, there were Funko Pop figures for sale everywhere.

I wanted to make note that there was also a graduation held in the Javits Center at the same time on Saturday.  When attendees walked to the panels, we often ended up sharing the same hallways as the graduates and their families.  I love that the graduates have a bunch of pics with geeks, nerds and cosplayers wandering around in the background.  

In conclusion, I had a great time at the con.  It wasn’t a war zone to get around (other than the schlep to the panels), I got time to talk to many of my favorite creators, I copped some sweet graphic novels and enjoyed some decent panels.  Look for my interviews from the con to drop in the coming weeks.  In the meantime, check out my interview with Watson and Holmes publisher and co-creator Brandon Perlow here.

Cosplay credit: Blob and Mystique by Dokudel Cosplay, Rogue by Burloire, Ms Marvel is Hyu (If your cosplay is featured in this article, tweet me so I can give you some props in the credits)