Okay, but why do I Like New York Comic-Con?

By Josh Lasser on October 12, 2015 • ( 2 )

If you saw anything that I posted to Twitter over the past few days, you’ll know I spent scads of time at New York Comic-Con. There is already a piece up at Blogcritics about some of the Capcom stuff I saw there, you can expect to see some “Ash vs. Evil Dead” coverage at Latino-Review, and tomorrow there’ll be a “Lass is More” podcast with the voice of Bugs Bunny (and other folks) from the new show “Wabbit – A Looney Tunes Production.”

All of those articles though are very specific – they each deal with one of the things that was present at New York Comic-Con, none deal with the event itself. So, I thought I would take a few minutes to talk about the overarching experience of it here.

I have never been to the San Diego Comic-Con, nor to Wondercon, nor any similar con so I can’t compare one to the other. What I can tell you though is that the Javits Center was packed this weekend and most people seemed to be having a great time.

Due to a mailing snafu, I had to go on Wednesday to pick up my press pass and the place was amazingly quiet. There were people setting up and getting ready and rushing about, but it was clearly the calm before the storm.

On Thursday, I got there at the opening of the floor and had the opportunity to walk around and see things before it became difficult to move… about 30 or 40 minutes in. Yup, one minute I was taking a picture in front of the TARDIS at the BBC America setup, and with plenty of space to do it, but the next I was packed in as lines were forming everywhere for everything. The amazing thing was just how quickly that transition occurred – how fast it went from empty to jammed.

I loved walking the floor in those quiet moments, when there was time and space to talk to the people at the booths, learn what it was they were selling or buying or interested in or creating or whatever. There were a ton of big, corporate, things happening at NYCC, but the little guy was still represented, whether at Artist Alley or somewhere else.

Beyond that, it was in the early mornings where there seemed to be the space to experience what’s happening just off the floor as well. Every morning of this year’s NYCC started with an animatronic velociraptor making noise and taking photos at a “Jurassic World” display (Nick Robinson from the film was there on Saturday with the raptor). That picture above is, as you may have surmised, said raptor.

Thursday morning, I signed into the wi-fi and saw a video that LexCorp was sponsoring the wi-fi at Comic-Con and that if you stopped by their booth they’d hook you up with a USB battery chargers. Yes, there was actually a LexCorp booth and they were just giving out the USB chargers. Why? Why not.

On Sunday morning, I saw what appeared to be a life-size R2D2 hanging out and moving around so naturally I went for a selfie and when R2 realized what I was doing, he came up closer to make for a better picture. I thanked him and he beeped back at me, but I have no idea who it was controlling R2. I want to believe that he was acting of his own accord, but sadly the magic was not quite that persuasive.

To me, it’s those moments—the raptor making noises, talking to the guy at LexCorp, and R2D2 wandering around—that make Comic-Con so much fun, it’s having the time to interact with them that is enjoyable. I love seeing all the other stuff and love my time sitting in on panels, but it’s the quiet moments surrounding the madness that make the event for me.

You just have to make sure to be there early.