New York Comic Con 2012

Mr Wallstreet · Post by **Mr Wallstreet** » Sun Oct 14, 2012 8:06 pm

NYCC has come and gone and like always I'm left feeling exhausted with pain in my ankles, shoulder, neck and knees. I am old age's bitch.

The layout of the Con changed this year. In the past, when you entered the Javits Center and go up the escalator, you enter the main show floor. The main show floor is divided into 3 rooms. The room all the way to the right is where Artist alley is. The room in the center is where the Marvel, DC, Image, Darkhorse, Image etc... comic booths and exhibitors are. The room all the way to the left is where the gaming booths are.

This year all that changed. When you go up the escalator into the main show floor, the comic book and exhibitor booths took up the entire middle room and the room formerly reserved for artist alley. Those individual rooms were huge to begin with; combining them just made them bigger. The entire artist alley got moved out of the main show floor and into and adjoining building.

Thus, if you were in the main show floor getting stuff signed at the DC booth and wanted to go artist alley, you had to exit the main show floor, go down the escalator and walk all the way to the north side of the building, through a walkway and into a wholly different building that now housed artist alley.

It was a pain in the balls. It took a goof 10-20 minutes, depending on the day to get from the main show floor to artist alley.

I realize they did this because artist alley has gotten progressively bigger with each passing year and they need a bigger space for it.

The Con itself was a whole nother story. I believe that because the organizers, Reed Pop, threw Artist Alley into an entirely different building and had more space, they thought that the logical thing to do was to sell more tickets because more space = more money. The only problem was they vastly, vastly oversold the tickets. Friday, Saturday and Sunday the con was packed wall to wall. It was so over capacity im surprised they didn't prevent people from entering or re-entering it at a certain point.

Honestly, I'm not even sure they could have prevented the masses of people from entering if they tried. It might have started a riot. Extra police were called to the Center to assist in crowd control. At any given time between Friday and Sunday, if you were trying to get into the Con and weren't an exhibitor, press or professional, you had to wait 40 minutes to get back into the Con because the line moved so slow. At the worst point, the line to get into the con stretched from the parking lot all the way down to 34th street (the entrance to the Javits center is on 36th st). If you didn't have a badge, you weren't even allowed in the parking lot.

Security was super beefed up. There were 3 security check points. One in the parking lot, one when you entered the Javits center and one by each entrance into the Con floor. Security checked each and every badge. It wasn't like years previous where we could just stroll in. There were multiple security guards by each door as well as a police detail and supervisor.

So yeah, 2012, is the year NYCC become SDCC

Mr Wallstreet · Post by **Mr Wallstreet** » Sun Oct 14, 2012 8:23 pm

The interior of the main show floor didn't change much besides combinging two enormous rooms. As usual DC & Marvel had the biggest booths, unfortunately, DC and Marvel now care more about marketing than having creators meeting with fans. The DC booth is a giant square. Previously, the DC booth had 3-4 signing stations for their creators. Now they have only 2. One corner of the DC booth is set up for interviewing creators with various news organizations. Another corner of the DC booth is set up so you can take wacky pictures as a super hero. The exact center of the DC booth had a small multimedia station where you could see what DC titles looked like on various electronic devices like tablets, smartphones, kindles, etc... The right side of the booth was where the new line of 2012 action figures and some statues were being displayed in a glass case. The front of the booth was set up with a giant flatscreen where you coud play the new DC fighting game: Injustice Gods or whatever its called. So overall, you had packs of people huddled around the center of the booth, the gaming section or the photo session. Ergonomically, it's a nightmare; there was no room to move around at all.

Marvel wasnt any better. They turned the entire front half of their booth into a stage where a guy worked the crowd giving out free shit. Their signing stations dwindled to 2 also. Btw, Stocky's "friend" the original guy who tossed out free shit got fired from his role several months ago.

Darkhorse, Arachaia, & Archie and Image actually had some pretty decent set ups. Granted, they were smaller but they were more welcoming and it was easier to move through and around them.

The photo Ops and signing areas all got moved to the sub level where the panels are usually held which I'll get to later.

Mr Wallstreet · Post by **Mr Wallstreet** » Sun Oct 14, 2012 8:35 pm

Day 1 - Thursday afternoon, I didn't bring any comics to sign because I hadn't done my shopping yet and I didn't want to carry around 2 bags full of books. Thursday the Con was from 3-7pm. I got in around 3:30. First thing I did was head to the exhibitors area to pick up some trades. I picked up:

Hitman vol 5, 6 & 7 - Tommy's Heroes, For Tommorow & Closing Time
Utimate Spiderman - Aftermath of the Death of Peter of Parker
Scalped vol 8 & 9
Secret Six: The Darkest House
The Boys vol 11
The Walking Dead vol 15 & 16
Invincible vol 15 & 16
Northlanders vol 6: Thor's Daughter
Gotham Central vol 4
...I know there are a few more but I cant remember them

From the Dollar bins I picked up
Moon Knight 5-12 by Bendis & Maleev
The Defenders 3-12 by Fraction & Dodson & others (Fuck you Marvel)
Batman: Widening Gyre 1-6
Batman: Huntress Cry for Blood 1-6
Voodoo 6-12
Batman Inc 1-8
Batman Inc vol 2 various
Batman: Odyssey - 1-7
Batman: Odyssey vol 2: various
And several Batman elsewords books by Sean Murphy, JM DemAttis & Chuck Dixon

A few more that I can't remember.

I got all this done by thursday evening over the course of 2.5 hours, at which point I was ready to leave. I had a book bag packed to the brim with comics as well as to full plastic bags. I was ready to leave and leave I did.

I'll post the rest tommorow

Tragic Angelus · Post by **Tragic Angelus** » Sun Oct 14, 2012 9:21 pm

The set up of the Marvel & DC booths sounds exactly how they were at C2E2. However, Marvel had a huge Photo stage (where I'm assuming some free things were being given out) and where people could take photos and watch videos for Avengers, since it had been released just yet. Marvel also only had one signing table at their booth though.

Mr Wallstreet · Post by **Mr Wallstreet** » Tue Oct 16, 2012 7:56 am

I'll post the rest of the days over the weekend.

Mr Wallstreet · Post by **Mr Wallstreet** » Thu Oct 18, 2012 9:27 am

I still haven't scanned my pics from my camera but, I found these two on the websites of the companies that were at the Con hosting the photo sessions for these two celebs. The first one was on facebook and the second one was on Froggy Photo.

Mr Wallstreet · Post by **Mr Wallstreet** » Thu Oct 18, 2012 9:46 am

If you don't know who these two are, shame on you. SHAME on you

XIII · Post by **XIII** » Fri Oct 19, 2012 1:32 am

I'm guessing one of them is Kevin Conroy. What about the old guy?

Tragic Angelus · Post by **Tragic Angelus** » Fri Oct 19, 2012 5:02 am

It's Adam West. Hard to tell due to the sunglasses, but that's him. He got his Batman groping completed this year.

Mr Wallstreet · Post by **Mr Wallstreet** » Fri Oct 19, 2012 7:30 am

Yup (to the old guy being Adam West, not the groping)

Is it weird that I had to go into a darkened booth to get a picture with Batman?

CBKA · Post by **CBKA** » Fri Oct 19, 2012 11:00 am

i know who neither are.

and thats my yearly post done, see you next year everyone

XIII · Post by **XIII** » Sat Oct 20, 2012 7:15 am

Did you pay for that?

Stocky Boy · Post by **Stocky Boy** » Sun Oct 21, 2012 3:56 am

One would assume yes.

Kevin Conroy looks like he's a dead-ringer to play a traditional looking Joker.

Mr Wallstreet · Post by **Mr Wallstreet** » Sun Oct 21, 2012 3:05 pm

Stock is correct. I paid for both of them. Adam West was charging $60 for a signature and $60 for a picture. I went for the picture. Conroy's rates we much nicer. $40 For a photo and $35 for a signature. I got both.

This year my experience at NYCC rated much lower for me. One of the reasons was, as mentioned above, the crazy volume of people who attended. The second reason was because I got very little in the way of signatures this year. Prior to the start comic con, I pulled a bunch of comics I'd planned to get signed and arranged them meticulously by order of date at which the creator would be there. Unfortunately, the week of comic con happened to be the week that my sister was moving a bunch of her things out of my basement. A huge chunk of the comics I pulled got displaced amid the boxes she'd been packing. So when I got down to grab my books on Friday, all I saw were boxed packed wall to wall. There was hardly any where to move and any chance of going through them was nil because I didn't have enough time to find my books.

I dropped to my knees and shouted a "Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo" that would have made Spider-man proud.

The only things I got signed were"

JLA/Avengers; Superman/Silver Surfer, CRisis on Infinite Earths by George Perez
Brave & THe Bold 1, 2 by Mark Waid
Saga by Fiona Staples
JLA #49 & 50 by Mark Bagely
Superman/Batman by Rafael Albequerqe
JLA by Shane Davis
Spaceman by Azzerallo & Risso
Wolverine by Claremont & Miller, Wolverine #1, #10 by Claremont
Wolverine #10 by Bill Sienkewicz
Waking Dead #100 (3 different covers) for a friend
Something by Dave Johnson
Something by Amanda Connor
And I think that might be it

Not a whole lot thats why I was really pissed but after a while, I got over it

Mr Wallstreet · Post by **Mr Wallstreet** » Sun Oct 21, 2012 3:50 pm

The creators who I really wanted to get that I missed were:

Grant Morisson
Tony Daniel
Neal Adams
Brian Wood
Tony Moore
Scott Snyder
Greg Capullo
Brian K Vaughan
Steve McNiven
Joe Prado
Ivan Reis
Ethan Van Sciver

Shit I can't even remember em all but whatever.

So here are some more reasons NYCC sucked for me this year. My camera had been acting wonky lately. During the first day of NYCC it kept shutting off intermittently until finally, it just stopped working altogether on the second day. When it would work the pictures would come out very badly, that's why this year, I don't have a whole lot of photos.

Stan Lee was supposed to be at NYCC for 3 days but he cancelled after only doing half a day on Friday. I had purchased tickets to get a photo with him but with him cancelling, the tickets were refunded >:( Most likely he cancelled due to having undergone heart surgery so soon. Here's hoping I can catch him soon.

Bruce Timm, Andrea Romano and the cast of The Dark Knight Returns were doing a panel at the IGN theatre. I was going to go in as the panel was ending and try and get a photo with Timm & Romano but the IGN theatre was so packed they weren't allowing anyone else in - which became the running theme for the IGN theatre throughout the 4 days. So it was a no go on Timm & Romano

Robert Kirkman has almost officially become the new Chris Claremont. You can drop a dozen books in front of him to sign and without blinking an eye, he'll sign all of them; which is exactly what a lot of people did. A fair amount dropped all the variant covers for #100 in front of him to sign and he did em all. The only difference between Kirkman and Claremont is that Kirkman's are always ticketed.

I'd gotten my fill of Kirkman over the past several CC's so I didnt have or want him to sign anything for me. My friend wanted me to get him 3 TWD books signed. I didnt mind but I knew it was gonna be a bitch because tix for his signings are always gone. I asked one guy who only had 1 book he wanted signed if he wouldn't mind getting 3 quick sigs for me. With what, I guess was supposed to be genuine sorrow, he sadly shook his head said No. (Dick). I asked another guy and he said he wouldn't mind. Just before it was his turn to get his books signed, he told me he'd only do it for $20. That was a very WTF moment. I told him I didn't have any cash on me (which at that point I didn't) so he gave them back to me. (Asshole). Finally, as the line was winding down, a woman was nice enough get me, as well as another guy our sigs from Kirkman. People can be such assholes at CC

My small rant. I've never had a problem getting sigs for friends or people I don't know. If there is no limit on the amount of books that a creator will sign, I'll get a sig for a complete stranger. That asshole who tried to dick me into giving him $20 just before it was his turn; even if I had $20 to pay him, I wouldn't have. It's such a douchebag thing to do that i'd rather flush $20 down the shitter than give it to someone who is trying to hustle me. And that guy who only had one book to sign but wouldn't get an additional 3 sigs for me, that's fine I guess, it's his prerogative to say yes or no to total strangers but its still a dick thing to do.

Then there was Claremont. Again, I don't have any beef with Claremont himself, he's a nice guy who just wants to do signings so if people drop 20 books in front of him, he'll sign them all and make polite conversation as he's doing it. My problem, is when people drop 20 books in front of him and engage him in conversation that prevents him from finishing his signings and keep the line that is a mile long behind him moving.

Which is what happened just before my turn. A lot of exhibitors/comic shop owners get books signed by creators at Artist Alley and turn around and sell em. No problem besides the small fact that they try to get 10-30 books per creator. The exhibitor in front of me had 20 something books for Claremont to sign and the entire time Claremont was signing them, the guy was talking to Claremont about the death of print vs success of digital. Claremont, ever the gentlemen, was discussing it as he was signing but when he was done signing, the guy stood there continuing the discussion. He would not leave. He stood there, books in his hand continuing the debate. The line for Claremont is generally moves slow but watching it grind to a halt as some tool has an internet debate about economics borders on horrible. And, I shit you not, he stood there for 15 minutes -after he got his signatures arguing with Claremont.

Rant #2: While I find it annoying that people bring suitcases filled with comics to get them signed, its their right. However (especially if you're comic shop owners) please get them signed and move on. CS owners above all others know that time is money so please be courteous to the legions of people behind you. Get your sigs and move the fuck on. You wouldn't like it if someone was cock blocking you for 20 minutes so don't do it to someone else.

I think I might've made this rant last year...

The other annoying thing that happened was that the Brian K Vaughan signing got rescheduled twice at the last minute at both the Image & Midtown comics booth without informing anyone this was happening or telling them when its being rescheduled for. Thats how I missed getting his signature for Saga.

Lastly, I hate cosplayers. I've always found them to be a mild annoyance at best but this they graduated into loathing. On day two, after an almost entire day of walking, I found a place to sit down and rest. I was sitting on the ground against a giant column by the Image booth. A cosplayer with a wooden stick (or sword) in sheath came by after I sat down and was leaning against the column next to mine. After about 5-10 minutes, I hear a squeal then pain in my head. The cosplayer had hit me in the head with her sword. Apparently, she had seen her friend, stood up and turned sharply -braining me in the process. Luckily, it was a glancing blow or it would've hurt far worse than it actually did. She apologized after realizing what she'd done. I told her it was okay but the look of pissiness on my face despite what I'd said was pretty obvious so she and her friend moved on.

So thats the worst of it. I'll post pics and a few more highlights tonight.

Mr Wallstreet · Post by **Mr Wallstreet** » Sun Oct 21, 2012 5:53 pm

The positives: my friend Chris (CHEMICALX) came to NYCC this year again. He arrived Saturday morning at around 11. As fun as the Con is, its always more fun with friends so when Chris arrived it made a so-far lackluster and frustrating experience seem so much more enjoyable. We walked and talked and took in the Con and caught up with what was going on with our lives. He also helped me hunt down signatures with creators, look for photo booths with West and Conroy, take pictures with creators, meet other people, grab some swag and generally have a great time with.

Even though there were a few assholes at the Con, while standing in a few lines, we met some funny people, particularly in the G4 line for Blair Butler. The Image booth, as always, was swamped with people but we saw some pretty cool stuff there.

Around 2:00pm we made the unfortunate decision to leave the Con to grab some lunch outside, as all the eateries inside the center had long lines and that was when we discovered that the wait time to get (back) into the con was 40 minutes. It was a very harrowing experience.

Chris also helped me in my unsuccessful hunt for Bruce Timm, Blair Butler, Adam West and Kevin Conroy.

After the Con, we went out to grab lunch at a nice restaurant where we chatted whole lot more about pretty much everything.

The next morning, after checking out we walked from his hotel on 59th street down to Times Square, past Macys, right by the Con to where his bus departed.

Mr Wallstreet · Post by **Mr Wallstreet** » Sun Oct 21, 2012 6:03 pm

Sorry fellers, its slow loading. I'll try over the next few days

Mr Wallstreet · Post by **Mr Wallstreet** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 7:22 pm

I'm really getting frustrated. Facebook just won't load my photos. I'm reasonably sure its my shitty wi-fi. I tried for an hour and a half to upload my photos and the connection doesn't even time out. It just doesn't load them.

I'll try from work tomorrow.

jedispyder · Post by **jedispyder** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 7:33 pm

Uploading via wi-fi just sucks on Facebook :/

CBKA · Post by **CBKA** » Fri Nov 08, 2013 9:01 pm

back for my yearly post. done more than one this year to treat you guys