10/14-Day 3, the most crowded convention day I've ever seen.
Yer Bunche, with Bender Rodriguez.
This time around, the NY Comic Con was predicted to crack an attendance figure somewhere north of 80,000, but never in my life have I seen a single day at a show as crowded as this. I don't have the final number, but I would guess that when all was said and done there had to be close to a hundred thousand. It was fucking madness. Anyway, here's how it all went down.
The front of the line for the Javits Center's north entrance. I went there instead of the main entrance, in hope that I could bypass the massive line at the southern entrance and walk directly to Artist Alley where I'd be helping Amanda set up her table. What I did not expect was the amount of other attendees who also sought to avoid the main line, which resulted in a line at the northern end that looked not unlike the exodus scene from THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.
The end of the line for the northern entrance.
Can you believe this tumult? And I guarantee that most of these folks had been standing out there for hours. Thankfully I had my trusty press pass, which allowed me to breeze right past this zoo and head straight in to Artist Alley. (I found out the previous day that I could bypass the main entrance's line and use the north entrance if I had a press pass, a detail that the showrunners neglected to tell the press as part of the general info. I only found out because I asked one of the security personnel if I could do it.)
9:55am-The brief silence and emptiness before the doors opened to the public.
The walkway to Artist Alley before the crowds were let in.
10am-The doors open.
10:20am-The end of the line for the Kirk Hammett signing.
A portion of the Kirk Hammett line. A very small portion.
The front of the line for Chris Elliot. I'd waited on this line for two hours the previous day, only to have the con staff announce that Elliot was not coming. That announcement came approximately two minutes before his signing time was up for that day, and the fans were told to try back the next day, so we all came back on Saturday to wait once more.
Chris Elliot fans waiting patiently...
Two hours later there was still no sign of Chris Elliott and the showrunners heard nothing from him or his agent. With two more hours of the fans' time wasted, the staff told us to come back again for the next day's scheduled signing, but they advised against getting our hopes up since there was no communication with the celeb in question.
Meanwhile, Kirk Hammett merrily signed for his legion of fans who had waited for hours to meet him, and he was kind enough to sign for free. The man certainly doesn't need the money and he's very aware of the fact that without his fans he'd have nothing, so he gives back quite willingly. A very cool dude.
Brain-slugged.
King Hippo. Hands down the most balls-out brave/"I don't give a fuck what you think" costume of the entire weekend. It was positively heroic.
A gathering of Street Fighter characters.
I always see the Green Arrow, but never an age-accurate/pre-heroin Speedy.
The walkway to Artist Alley again, this time with crowd.
While making my way back to Artist Alley, I ran into my friend Han Pan, one of the East Coast's best and most enthusiastic cosplayers, here dressed as the Wasp and having her wings adjusted so I could get a good shot of her.
Han Pan as the Wasp. Seriously, what's not to love here?
Tuxedo Mask, the default cosplay outfit for male Sailor Moon fans.
Gender-swapped Quicksilver.
Animal Man and simian pal.
The excellent bacon mini-quiches that sustained us at Artist Alley for much of the day.
Jimmy Palmiotti finally shows up, having weathered a debilitating bug and missing the first two days.
With Marvel Bullpen brother Darren Auck.
A brilliant Cthulhu/Totoro mashup.
GOTHAM BY GASLIGHT Batman and Robin.
Olliver Kirby and his handy comic book-carrying cereal box.
BIRDS OF PREY's Misfit.
Misfit and Pops Racer.
The Golden Age Flash, my favorite of the speedsters.
The Huntress.
A representative of the growing faction of female geeks who appreciate A CLOCKWORK ORANGE.
An excellent Prince Ashitaka and Princess Mononoke.
Best Princess Mononoke ever!
The Green Hornet and Katos.
The Teen Titans represent!
Best Squirrel Girl ever!
Batman/Thor mashup.
Bender Rodriguez.
Paul Mounts — my vote for the best colorist in comics — expounds on the excellence of the bacon mini-quiche.
"Hey, everybody wants one."
A lovely Daenerys Targaryen.
Despite the ubiquity of anime fandom these days, I never — and I do mean NEVER — expected to see Dr. Slump cosplay. Did show ever even run in the U.S.?
A pair of SWEET TOOTH fans.
Exceptional Tron cosplayers.
Ultraman!
Taking five.
I love She-Hulk, especially during her days in the Fantastic Four.
I was very pleasantly surprised to see a capacity line for the 2000 AD panel.
The gang from Abrams Comicarts (with Charlie Kochman at the right). This company puts out the best books on comics, bar none, and it's always a treat to review their books for Publishers Weekly.
Derf Backderf signing his MY FRIEND DAHMER.
A lovely early-look Donna Troy.
Best Aquaman ever!
The best and sickest couples costume of the entire weekend. (Old school marvel Comics fans will know exactly what I mean.)
The main floor. NOT a place for claustrophobics.
I love how this Bender had the thievin' compartment.
The tunnel to the secondary portion of the main floor.
My dear old friend and fellow-daikaiju enthusiast Mark Gilson, properly geekin' out.
Martial arts superstars of the Marvel Universe: an excellent Iron Fist and Elektra.
Behold the tumult! It took me around ten minutes to make it from one side of this to the other.
An adorable and terrific family costume.
Gozer the Gozerian.
An attendee with her amazing doll of Jareth the goblin king.
Excellent gender-swapped X-Men.
Legendary Thor writer/artist Walt Simonson and a winsome thunder goddess.
John shows off his George Perez Starfire sketch in the first NEW TEEN TITANS omnibus (more on this in the next installment).
When a fan dropped by to meet Amanda and dejectedly mentioned to her that he couldn't find any copies of BEFORE WATCHMEN: SILK SPECTRE for her to sign, Amanda dipped below the table and rummage in her suitcase...
...to find copies of the very issues he was looking for and give him the hookup (for free, no less). THAT'S how you treat the people who made you a star.
THE FIFTH ELEMENT's Ruby Rod.
Superman: classic version and the New 52 iteration.
Old school Avengers excellence: the Scarlet Witch, the Wasp, and Ant-Man.
Ah, the timeless classic...
With Marvel Bullpen brother and fellow metalhead Pondscum.
Doc Samson.
Hope.
The one and only Paige Pumphrey as a 1950's-style Power Girl (with an example of Amanda Conner's now-iconic version for visual comparison.)
A.C. with Paige.
Iron Fist and Power Man, perhaps Marvel's definitive 1970's super-duo.
You know you're a badass when you can instantaneously go en pointe in the middle of a comics convention.
A.C. demonstrates how to draw Power Girl for MTV GEEK. (If you ask me, it was a scam so the interviewer could get a free sketch.)
The end results: the interviewer's attempt (L) and Amanda's sketch (R).
En pointe badass strikes again!
Black Canary, classic-look version.
Daenerys Targaryen, and her handmaiden (who made the costumes and the dragon).
Baby dragons just love bacon mini-quiches.
A brilliantly geeky idea: Freddie Kreuger, Sinestro Corps member.
A truly excellent and unexpected bit of cosplay: Garamon from ULTRA Q.
Believe it or not, this was homemade!
The awesomeness of Black Adam.
My buddy Savark, knocking it out of the park as the leather-look Sub-Mariner.
Extra points for doing the ankle wings and making them look organic.
A terrific satirical Galactus.
The '80's-look Mohawked version of Storm.
A spectacular Cheetah.
Lord Morpheus, aka The Sandman.
The steampunk Hawks gear up for the photo op.
Balls-out awesome, and their wings are collapsable metal.
I love Hawkgirl's blunderbuss.
As seen on the train back to Brooklyn.
TO BE CONTINUED
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