NYCC: Third Time's the Charm!


Overall, I would say that this was the best NY Comic Con so far! It still has a long way to go to match the size and scope of San Diego, but I like the seemingly bigger emphasis on publishing (go reading!). Traditional non-comics book publishers dominated a lot of the big booths in the way movie and videogame companies do in San Diego. Generally the layout for this year’s NY show was more comfortable and accommodating. The upstairs space and the wider aisles were greatly appreciated. The Sunday “Kids’ Day” outreach effort seemed to pay off with lots of parents taking their kids to the show. But, as a Nickelodeon co-worker pointed out, there still wasn’t much for kids to actually do (besides a few panels and workshops), and the convention floor is too disorganized and intimidating. She did not feel comfortable navigating past booths of horror, mutilation, and Playboy models with her daughter. She gave up, before finding me at The Comics Bakery booth, and was completely surprised when I told her there was a booth called “Kids Love Comics” deep within the small press area. But that’s an ongoing issue that will probably always plague any big convention that wants to cater to both families and hardcore genre fans. Perhaps they could organize the layout by theme?

The main thing I was happy about was that I survived the weekend at all! With my recent health issues I was supposed to keep stress low, but that's pretty much impossible when you have to assemble and run a booth, moderate several panels, help a documentary crew, and hope to sell enough books to break even.

As always, in the chaos of it all, I still managed to have a lot of fun, see a lot of friends and meet lots of new cool people. All the panels I participated on went over well and in the case of the Friday Nick Mag/Avatar panel, VERY WELL! The Comics Bakery concept still seems to make people happy and people seemed to like the extra additions to our set up (not to mention Marion’s fresh made scones!). We were joined by our good friends Kean Soo (not in any of my photos!) and Johane Matte, which made the weekend even more of a blast. I’m still on a post-con buzz…which should carry over nicely into the Stumptown Comics Fest this weekend!




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