NYCC

I spent the weekend with my wife at the New York Comic Con. As far as comic book conventions are concerned, I usually attend the one in San Diego, but I have not been able to do so in the past few years for various reasons, so I was exited to finally get some well deserved geek time in New York.

The convention was a lot smaller than its San Diego counterpart, but you wouldn’t know it by way people were packed in the hallways of the Jarvit Center. Saturday was specially crazy, but it all comes with the territory.

NormaIy, I spend a lot of time buying stuff, but this time I actually focused my energy on the artist’ alley and on meeting some of my favorite authors, which will become my priority in every convention from now on. I also found it unusual that most of the authors I enjoy nowadays are independents, actually, the most mainstream comic I bought was a trade paperback of Astrocity. The rest of my acquisitions were published by small press creators.

I was pleased to see that the level of work put out by creator owned, or non mainstream labels brings up the standards for the industry as a whole. It was also very nice to talk to authors and to have them sign or sketch on my convention sketch book. I’m normally not a big fan of autographs, but I do enjoy drawings. The experience was akin to buying foods directly at the Farmer’s Market. I will be reviewing some of the indie comics I discovered or found at the convention, so stay tuned.

Overall, though packed, this convention was a lot more manageable than the one in San Diego. It was possible to go to panels without having to camp out in a room, or to stand in line for hours and hours. It was also truer to comic books. Though there were some sections dedicated to other things, it felt more like a comic book convention than other events. I think this might have had a lot to do with the huge artist’s alley.

I had a great time, and look forward to reviewing my new comics in The Zen of Comics. See you there!