New York Comic Con 2014
by J.D. Cook
This year’s New York Comic Con was the biggest ever! It even managed to supplant the San Diego Comic Con as the king of Comic conventions with twenty thousand more attendees! This year I only had one day to take in the crazy amount of things on display but I still managed to get a lot done. So without further ado here is my quick review of Day 4 of the 2014 N.Y.C.C.
First off, Scott Snyder is the man. I’ve believed that since I first started reading his work on Batman and the belief only gets stronger as I delve into his other works like Wake or American Vampire. He even was a bit of an inspiration for my short horror story, The Entity Outside Mr. Baker’s Window. So I was happy to get to sit in on his fan discussion panel. I even got in a line of fans to ask questions. Prior to the start of the panel the crowd was surprised by special guest Greg Capullo, Batman’s current artist and former king of Spawn. Both were fun and completely friendly with fans. Who knows how they were still going after three previous days of signing and running from panel to panel. Unfortunately, after waiting in line for a while I didn’t get to ask my question of the dynamic duo but I guess that’s why I’ll have to go back next year! Thankfully this year Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo were both really cool and signed for fans after the panel. My framed autographed Greg Capullo Batman cover now sits on the closest thing I have to a mantelpiece in my apartment.
Meeting creators was really the highlight of this year’s con as I managed to meet Justin Jordan and Kyle Strahm the creators of a nifty new comic called Spread. Their work is lot like what would have happened to the world if John Carpenter’s the Thing had gotten out of Antarctica. That’s why the world always needs a Kurt Russell to defend it. I also got to compliment fellow Image creator Matteo Scalera on his amazing art work for Black Science. Last but certainly not least I met the writer of one of my favorite comics on the market, Fredie Van Lente. He pens the, not discussed enough, Brain Boy. Oddly enough he did a signing at Comic Book Jones a few days after N.Y.C.C. which is only odd because that happens to be the very store where I first decided to pick up Brain Boy.
Aside from all the other great creators at the con there was of course a gigantic show floor to explore but there didn’t seem to be as many major booths as when I attended my first N.Y.C.C. in 2011. That year the Avengers was being hyped up by Marvel, Arkham City was being hyped by D.C. and Mass Effect 3 was being hyped by Bioware. The highlights this year were D.C.’s collection of Batman suits, Atlanta Brick Co.’s collection of Lego mini-figures and of course Weta’s gigantic replica of Smaug’s head with moving eye lids.
The only real problem I had with N.Y.C.C. this year was the congestion. Back in 2011 the convention was a bit of a tight fit too but this year felt much worse for a few reasons. The first were the tiny corridors I had to walk through. I understand they want to fit as much as possible in the space but next year having a few main lanes with wider space could help alleviate flow on the convention floor. The other big cause of congestion was the fact that there was only one way in or out of Artist Alley, where you meet creators, causing a huge bottleneck of people. On my way there I literally got to feel like a germ trying to get into Mr. Burns (Watch more of the Simpsons if ya don’t get that reference). If this con is going to continue to have the numbers it is currently then it needs to address this issue to give everyone a better con experience.
