Frakking NY Comicon

Yeah. I was there.


The last time I have ever been to a comic book convention was back in the mid 90’s. I have stopped going conventions because although I still follow the comic book scene, I do not collect anymore and unless it is Garth Ennis, Warren Ellis or an artist that I follow closely, I rarely go out of my way to get my books signed.

Last night I go an IM from a buddy who got a weekend pass for the NY Comicon but wasn’t planning on going for Sunday and offered which I was more than happy to accept. Especially after having such a crappy Saturday, which I will discuss at a later time. My plan for that Sunday was simply go early in the afternoon then leave before closing time. Those of you who have never been to a comic book convention at the Javitts center, well they can be rather draining. Even in a huge space like the Javitts center it can be very claustrophbic with the insane amount of people that enter as you will see.

My soiree to the NY Comicon was almost put to a dead halt because the doorman claimed that the pass was not left with them. After some frantic phone calls and wasted time, it turned out my amigo did leave the pass with them however; the doorman was looking for an apartment number and not my name, even though I told it to him.

At that point it 3:21 and the convention would be over at 5pm. Whenever I am in a rush to get somewhere, time seems slow down and I feel as if the whole world is out to get me. What was more aggraravint was that I was behind schedule because of some dumbass that could not read.

By the time I got there all was well with the world as I was amongst a gathering of my own kind.

When you enter a convention of this scope it is complete sensory over load as you will see.







This is the first thing I saw coming in.

Sunday in the comic book convention world is considered to be the day that is least attended because the best stuff usually happens on a Saturday and the majority of the people that attend are ones who are looking for bargains from the selling tables. However, the pictures below will show that the NY Comicon was the exception rather than the rule.








This is a map.



As you can see there are sections for artists, autographs, sellers and even video game distributors.


Here some pictures of individuals of note in the comic book world.



This is Danny Fingeroth, he was a writer for Web of Spiderman and was the creator of Darkhawk which Marvel is bringing back without Danny which I think is a damn shame.





The smiling gentleman is Chris Claremont who was famous for his writing on the X-Men. He also had a cameo in X-Men: Last Stand. I will give you a hint. He is in the scene with the floating lawnmower.



I believe this is the team behind air. I said they had a good book. Her response was "Awesome." What I really wanted to say that it was a good book but I did not understand it. But it was good nonetheless.





I believe this is Goeff Johns. He is really cool. Right after I took this picture some fanboy tried to cut in line and shoved a comic book in his face to sign. He responded in a polite but firm tone that the fan should get in line.


Now here is the story of the ages.

The gentleman here is Jim Lee.

I first discovered Jim Lee when I picked up the Punisher WarJournal and I was hooked on his art since then and I have the entire Jim Lee run of that series. After hte X-Men boom , he eventually broke off to with a bunch of other artists to do Image and now he runs Wildstorm Comics.

It was a complete accident that I ran into his booth and holy crap did my fanboy tendencies come back with a vengeance. I am not a fanboy all the time. In fact I have been pretty good about it and only occurs on rare occasions. The last two times when I became a fanboy was when I met Garth Ennis and Larry Hamma .

But the last time I got on line at a convention to get an artist or writer's signature was back in junior high school. I saw that the line for Jim Lee was very short, so I jumped on.

Now I have nothing against New Zealand. You gave us Peter Jackson and Bruce Campbell but I realized the guy I was behind was going to be trouble. He was a polite lad who was probably still in high school. He asked me if I could take a picture with him and Jim Lee and I responded I would be more than happy too if he reciprocated.

Now here's where the trouble began. The NZ fan stated that Jim Lee was big as Jack Jack Kirby. Listen, I love Jim Lee and he is definitely in a class by himself. But Kirby is a comic book monarch. That is why he is called the King. I jokingly told him to keep that to himself.

Then he said the Dark Knight was not that good of a movie except for Heath Ledger. I told him again jokingly to keep that to himself.

When it was finally our turn in line, Jim Lee was relaxed and composed and asked the NZ fans to cool his jets while he talked to some industry comrades who had stopped by to say hello. So I took the NZ fan's pictures. Then he took mine. While he was taking them, I exchanged pleasantries about his family.

After thanking him, I looked over the pictures and realized I just got hosed. THERE WERE NO PICTURES! THE FRAKKING NEW ZEALAND DOUCHEBAG DID NOT TAKE THEM. I was pissed. All of a sudden my fanboy defenses kicked in and I was determined to get my pictures with Jim Lee. I had no choice but to get back on line which luckily I did since they were about to close it down. Jim Lee was more than gracious to take more pictures with me.

SO SUCK IT NEW ZEALAND FANBOY! '

REMEMBER!NEVER TRUST NEW ZEALANDERS TO TAKE YOUR PICTURES!

And of course what is a comic book convention without people in costume.




Hellboy.



Winter Solider Captain America.



Cobra Commander indoctrinating today's youth.



Psylocke.


Lara Croft, Raven and the Black Cat.




Here are some kids learning about LARP combat




From the looks of these ATM lines, it looks like Obama's stimulus plan doing well.



Convention is still going on and they are not wasting time to advertise for next year.







Some photos of Javitts.


Making a break for it after the Convention ends.




As you can see, it is a mob scene as everyone leaves the con. This is a process that requires volunteers screaming at the top of their lungs for everyone to get the frak out. I am not kidding about that. They actually do that. My take is that since they are not paid and they have to deal rabid fanboys, their only joy is to kick people out in the most dramatic fashion. Which I think is a fair trade.


One place that was doing brisk business was Fedex.




Below is why I like to leave Javitts early.












Forget about trying to catch the M34 bus because there is going to be a line from here to eternity and as you can tell from those vans that are parked and the traffic, finding a parking space is near impossible and you are better off not bringing your car or hailing a cab.

So your only option at this point is to hoof it for a couple of blocks. Javitts is by the water which makes it cold and very windy even on a day like Sunday when the weather was mild. When it rains or snows, that trek feels like you are in Valley Forge.


Even though I stayed for an hour and 10 minutes, I was happy with the experience. In fact it worked out for the best. Like I said, these cons can be very draining and even if I had gotten there earlier, I probably would have stayed for the same amount of time.




See you next year!