NEW YORK COMIC-CON: A FIRST-TIMER’S EXPERIENCE

By Jason Silverman

This year, I attended the New York City Comic-Con for the first time. It has always been on my bucket list of things to do in NYC and I’m so glad to have had the opportunity. I went on Thursday, the first day of the Con, and from all accounts based on vendors I spoke with, this was the busiest Thursday ever in NYCC history. You could genuinely feel the excitement in the air that it was NYCC time again.

NYCC has not only taken over the entire Javits Center, but they have spread to 3 nearby venues for the most popular panels (Hudson Mercantile, Hammerstein Ballroom, and the Theater at Madison Square Garden). Even with those extra spaces, it still was extremely crowded at the Javits Center. Be prepared to wait in long lines throughout the day especially for some of the promotional events like the Justice League Virtual Reality Experience and the Jigsaw Escape Room. Some people spent over 3 hours in line for these special events! At some events and panels, there is now a digital queue where you can tap into an event to hold your place in line or seat in the venue. This is a great solution instead of spending all of your time in line.

I went to two phenomenal panels that I was really excited to see. The first was From Black Panther to Miles Morales featuring writers Ta-Nehisi Coates and Jason Reynolds talking about their experiences taking on these iconic characters. If you haven’t read either of their takes on Black Panther and Spider-Man, I would get on that. It’s some of the most exciting stuff going on in comics today. The second was an audiobook preview of the new novel Artemis by Andy Weir and read by Rosario Dawson. I’m a huge fan of Andy’s previous book The Martian and it looks like Artemis is going to deliver on a completely different scale. The fan community went nuts for Rosario Dawson because of her recent work in all of the Marvel Netflix shows. The clips we heard from the audiobook sound very exciting and I’m glad that Audible gave all NYCC a free pre-order to listen to Artemis when it comes out in November.

But, I think the best part about any Comic-Con is walking the floor and NYCC really delivered. The cosplay world is on another level and it was amazing to see fans young and old participate. Lots of vendors were selling exclusive merchandise and I certainly snagged a few items that are now proudly displayed in my apartment. I took advantage of the virtual queue for the Justice League VR Experience where I got to play as Wonder Woman. Not only did I get the high score for the day, but I got an exclusive NYCC Justice League shirt that I can’t wait to wear when Justice League comes out in November. The highlight of my experience at NYCC 2017 though was getting to meet the BB-8 used in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. This was a completely unannounced meet and greet. I found out through another fan on the floor and they hid this opportunity all the way in the back of the hall near one of the exits. I was lucky enough to be the last person to get a photo with BB-8 and I think it’s pretty darn cute if I say so myself.

Some helpful tips for NYCC:

-Make sure to bring lots of snacks to eat in line. Bring a refillable water bottle. They don’t allow bottled water into the Javits Center anymore.

-Wear a good pair of shoes. You’ll be doing a lot of walking and standing throughout the day. Endurance is the key throughout the day.

-Talk to your new friends while you’re standing in line. You’re going to be there a while and you never know what interests you might share!

This year’s NYCC was a great way to help spread the word about our brand-new tour, The Super Tour of NYC. If you love superheroes (and let’s be honest, if you’re reading this blog post, you do!), you definitely need to take this tour. We’re going to be doing a big update with clips from Spider-Man: Homecoming, The Defenders, and more just in time for the holiday season!