NYCC Impressions 2012

This year, my girlfriend and I went to New York Comic Con on Saturday, October 13th at the Jacob Javits Center. It was our fifth year going and after last year’s debacle, I was hoping that this one was going to be better. I was wondering if the admins running the show were going to fix some of the inconveniences of last year and hopefully would treat the anime/manga sections with some well-deserved respect.

If you read my post about NYCC 2011 you would see that I was highly disappointed by it. I guess my expectations were too high. This year, I made sure to go in with a plan.  I know that ReedPOP had their app for the con, but one of the criticisms I’ve heard (and experienced) was that cell reception was just downright poor. This year, service was good, but I guess that just so many people were there using it, it took forever just to get a text message out.  For this con, I made sure to do some research before I went so that we knew what we were doing and could take advantage of our one and only day. Made sure to make a list of all the artists I was hoping to meet, maybe get a commission (or two), and just have a “watch for” list when it came for purchases. I guess that’s just my way of organizing. Hey, even when I have to re-up my comic and manga volumes I always bring a list 🙂

Took a little while to find it, but we finally found one

As we walked to the Javits Center, you could always tell you were getting close by the amount of cosplayers you see in the streets.  When we finally arrived at the Javits Center, it seemed to be more organized. People were ushering you where to go and we actually made it in and I almost didn’t even realize it. We just showed the people our badges and in we went! Okay, now for the good stuff. Our first stop was to go to Artist Alley and find Marcus To (Red Robin, Batwing) and see if I would be able to get a commission from him ($40 bucks for a bust is pretty good). Finally found his table, but low and behold, he wasn’t there. His friend (maybe assistant?) was manning the table and said that Marcus’ commission list was filled up so my first goal I couldn’t accomplish already. It was a bummer, but I still had my hopes up for a commission from Ben Harvey. Really glad I got to meet Ben, but once again, commission list full. I guess if I want a commission, I would have to get there reaaaal early, but that’s just not the way we jive.

After my hopes of getting a commission were deflated, my girlfriend wanted to go to the New-Gen booth because they were holding an open casting call for their new movie, Daedalus Rising. As we were maneuvering the show floor, my heart almost dropped. We were right by the Arachia Publishing booth where Marcus To was signing autographs and there were only 3 people on line. Guess you know what I did! It gets even better. While on line, I saw that he was actually doing quick commissions for people for free! I didn’t have any paper, so my girlfriend found a white flyer and I was able to get a commission from Marcus To! He was an awesome guy, really nice, and really appreciated his fans. He drew Time Drake as Red Robin for me and autographed my TP of Red Robin Collision. Plus, he said that he was doing the art on a rebooted Cyborg 009 Graphic Novel that should be dropping in July of 2013. Can’t wait to get that one!

Awesome commission of Time Drake as Red Robin pre New 52

Maybe next time I’ll see if I can get a commission of Stephanie Brown/Batgirl

After meeting Marcus To, I was having like a nergasm. Just shocked that we finally got to meet him plus a drawing from him when he wasn’t even at his table! While waiting at the New-Gen booth, we ran into a couple of buddies from my job and chilled a little. One of them (cosplayed as Wolverine…and did it very well) tried out for the casting too. Hopefully my girlfriend gets a call back!

Well anyway, the show floor felt a little bit more wide open this year.  Even though they sold the same amount of tickets as last year for the Saturday event, it just felt a little bit more open. And that’s a real good thing because we didn’t really feel like squished sardines doing a penguin style walk up the aisles.  Saw a lot of cool things and was able to get a heaping pile of manga and trades since these were the items that you can get great deals on.  Got a bunch of trades for 50% off and manga for 20% off.  As usual, when checking out anime, there weren’t any bargains at all. Listen people, if you want to get a deal on anime, might as well check out amazon.com.

One of the things I did notice was that there weren’t as many stinky people around this year. Maybe it was because ReedPOP told people to shower and wear deodorant on their NYCC Survival List. I absolutely loved that they included showering because listen, in all due respect, it gets hot up in there and with that many people attending the con, the last thing you need is to be next to a person stanking of some nasty ass b.o. that smells like you’re stuck on a subway train.  It makes the con that much better for everyone.

In terms of anime and manga, I was really happy to see that they gave it the respect it deserved.  Since this was the first year that the New York Anime Festival and New York Comic Con merged, it was great to see there was a fine presence of anime.  Not like last year where it was stuck in the corner all the way in the back of the show floor, the anime/manga vendors and stalls were at the ends of each aisle so every time you hit the back of an aisle, you were getting some Japanese culture.

All in all, NYCC was much better than last year.  I think it was in part because we had a game plan and knew what we wanted to hit up, not just walking around aimlessly hoping to run into something cool.  The wider aisles and less stinky people were also great additions. Also, we were able to see J. Scott Campbell, which was really surprising because I didn’t even know he was going to be there. He was doing a commission, but as usual, the commission list was full. Oh, I was also able to get my Superman: Earth One book signed by Shane Davis. Awesome artist, but he totally blew me off when I was trying to talk to him. It’s nice and all that he autographed my book, but as I was trying to talk to him (just a little) he was just concentrating on his sketching and I could tell he didn’t wanna talk. Dude, your art isn’t the only thing that made you. Fans like me that like your work and support you is also a huge part of your success too! Next time, be a little more appreciative that a fan is trying to praise your work!

If you decide to go to NYCC next year, Go!Go!Curry is a great place to grab food for dinner and relaxing your feet after a day of con going. My girlfriend and I were able to meet up with my friends from work there and had some good Japanese curry. Grand Slam all the way!

So, if you went to NYCC, what was your fav part about it? Did you get to see any panels or screenings? Anything you would change?

My NYCC swag

Comics with great discounts!

Saw this and had to pick it up…The Pro

Shane Davis autograph

Manga I was able to pick up…20% off too!

Just throwin’ this in here. Got this awesome page of Green Lantern Corps. from Tyler Kirkham a week before NYCC