damla does nycc
Ahh yes, Comic Con.
So this was my first year at NYCC, and I had absolutely no idea what I was doing or what was happening. It was awesome. Unfortunately I was only able to go one day — Friday, October 12th. By the time I decided I wanted to go, three day passes were sold out. But it was a really enjoyable experience nonetheless!
I had class until 2, and afterwards I booked it out of Gramercy in the world’s slowest cab. (Word of advice, y’all: never ever ever spend 20 bucks on a cab when you could just as easily walk or take the train there.)
NYCC is held annually in the Jacob Javits Center — up near 34th and 11th. And in case you didn’t already know, Jacob Javits is huge. Seriously. Like I’m pretty sure I missed an entire chunk of the convention.
By the time I got there it was about 2:45, and so I ended up missing a bunch of the events that I wanted to go to. (Like Alex Pardee’s signing, Stan Lee’s photo-op, and Kevin Smith’s panel. Boo.)
I met up with a few friends, and together we explored Artist Alley, which is basically where all the artists and art enthusiasts converge. I heard Bryan Lee O’Malley was there, but I didn’t catch him. Anyway, I ended up spending like $30 on prints to hang on my wall. (And my formerly bare wall now looks wicked cool. Money well spent.)
After we toured Artist Alley, we took some time to admire the costumes around us. I was so impressed by the amount of work the cosplayers put into everything! I didn’t get a lot of pictures, unfortunately, but you can find a plethora here. There’s a certain artistry that goes into good cosplay, and it’s really interesting to see it all close up.
I was a poor man’s Enid Coleslaw from Ghost World, by the way. See the resemblance?
Later we went on to walk around the showroom — which is where all the vendors are. I bought a few old comics to stick up on my wall. (NYCC is clearly my go-to place for wall decor.) I really regret not buying any shirts, though. Next year!
By this point I managed to get separated from my friends, and because they refused to pick up their phones, I ended up navigating the rest of the day on my own.
I went into NYCC with a list of things I wanted to do (namely: get Terry Pratchett’s autograph, get Sean Astin’s autograph, do a photo-op with Tom Felton) and I ended up doing none of them. I saw Sean Astin from afar — and oh my God, he looks so fine with a beard. I also saw Terry Pratchett holding up a sign that said “Occupy Ankh-Morpork” and if you’re a Discworld fan, you understand how brilliant beyond words that is.
The Macaulay Quidditch team was also there doing an exhibition with a bunch of other teams in the city. Go Marauders!
Favorite moment: Stan Lee was walking around (and he was surrounded by a gaggle of fans and reporters, obviously) and at one point I was literally five feet away from him. It was amazing.
That’s Stan Lee’s back. And that flash of light above his head is clearly a halo. Clearly.
I really love the convention circuit, because I like knowing that I’m surrounded by people who have the same kinds of interests as me. I dislike crowds, and being around so many people at once kind of stressed me out, but I was way too distracted by the convention itself to really care.
And yeah. That’s my NYCC experience. I am so buying the three day pass next year, because a single day is really not enough to experience everything.
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a chronological guide for the names and terms I mentioned in this post:
Alex Pardee is a super cool dude who does a lot of art for bands and clothing companies. Check him out.
Stan Lee is my king. He created the only Marvel superheroes that I actually like (DC or die) and he essentially made Marvel what it is today. He’s a total pioneer.
Kevin Smith is the love of my life. He’s the man behind Jay and Silent Bob. (He’s Silent Bob, duh.)
Artist Alley is the section where artists promote their latest projects and sell their art. It’s definitely the quietest part of the convention. A lot of the art at NYCC is fanart, but there’s also room for artists who want to push their own stuff. So that’s cool.
Bryan Lee O’Malley is the creator of the graphic novel series Scott Pilgrim.
Cosplaying is basically when people dress up as characters. Sometimes they roleplay. It’s pretty cool.
Terry Pratchett is one of my favorite authors. He wrote the Discworld series and Good Omens.
Sean Astin played Samwise Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings. He was also in The Goonies as a little kid.
Tom Felton played Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter films.
– damla
Posted: October 25th, 2012 under Reviews.
