POST-NYCC REPORT

New York Comic Con may only be four days (up from three, by the way), but it sure as hell takes up my entire month, which is why this entry is so delinquent since the con has been over about two weeks now.

Anyway, the show was decidedly bigger with the usual assortment of fanfare. Hasbro had a nice set-up with a giant Optimus Prime statue, a life-size Amazing Spider-Man statue, and all their Marvel figures duking it out in a diorama. Marvel and DC had the biggest booths with their characters prominently displayed. The toy booths looked like miniature flea markets with all the stuff crowded together. And, as usual, the Anime show was shoved off in a far removed corner. Although, instead of the basement, they got a subdivision of the second floor with massive windows and balconies.

And there was the CAG booth, sitting just below Artists Alley between a book about Jaws and some web sitcom. We got a lot of attention during the show, filling up three pages of the mailing list with hopefully future productive members of the group. We also moved quite a few Iconics, albeit at the educator discounted price. The other members who manned the table made some sales with their own stuff. My stuff, though, still going nowhere. Got a ton of Marvel Indexes nobody wants to buy, and Worst Case Scenario moved off the GWP table better than it did on ours. Weird. At least I was able to get around and see some friends and colleagues alike.

The crowds were immense. You could barely move Friday through most of Sunday. Hell, most of the panels I wanted to go to ended up shut out, especially the Archie one. There was the usual assortment of booth babes and girls in costume who probably don't want anything to do with our world for the rest of the year. Then there were the fan costumes, some that were as extravagant as they always are. If I had space to get a clear view I would have taken more costume pictures than I did. Think next year I'll do all my exploring early on Thursday while it's being set up.

We had some fun gatherings after the show, holding an altered drink and draw (our intended model bailed at the last minute, resulting in a shared drawing being passed around between artists over dinner) and then just going to dinner on Saturday. It was relaxing, and it was fun, and a nice break from being jammed in a sardine can.

One thing to note this time was the extreme LACK of discount comic bins. The only places that had them were the Midtown Comics booth and the Captain Action booth. A colleague was inclined to tell me that's a good sign, meaning the books have more worth than before now. I suppose that's true. Although, really, what you mostly find in those bins are books from the 90s, which is decidedly regarded as the worst period for comics. But, I guess the other good part of it is I didn't walk out with three longboxes of comics. But, I did get some awesome art, some books signed, and good deals on trades.

Overall, good show. Hopefully at lot of positive fallout comes from it. Next: Boston!