After performing the opening rap for his special New York Comic Con improv panel Nerdvana, actor and comedian Wayne Brady expressed elation for his fellow geeks. “There’s nothing like it in the world,” Brady declared of New York Comic Con. “I’m so happy to see all of us looking different, being different, from different places, but loving the same exact thing. The world could learn a lot from us.”
He’s right. The four-day event, which took place this month between October 9th and 12th, acts as a haven for the geeks, nerds, and outsiders who get to express themselves in their own inimitable ways and who admire what others have created. Much of the cosplay is truly impressive. You also rarely see rudeness. It’s like the anti-New York within NYC. One senses a warmer kind of atmosphere. Given the societal upheaval we’ve been going through lately, the convention truly served as a refuge from the continually gloomy news of the world. It was nice to get a genuine dose of positivity through shared passions.
For a convention that is named after comic books, NYCC has grown to encompass everything comic book and pop culture related. When walking through the aisles on Saturday, a fan could be overheard saying this used to be Comic Con. For old schoolers that’s a fair statement, but it’s easy to see why it has grown to such immense proportions and expanded its original focus. The different realms represented toys, video games, movies, clothing, across different fandoms.
Since its first year in 2006, NYCC has grown impressively from one smaller part of the Jacob Javits Center downstairs into something that occupies the entire building. That can be overwhelming for people who don’t like crowds, and it can admittedly be overstimulating even for those who are big pop culture mavens. But you’ll always enjoy yourself and always find something to take home. You might even make some new friends.
Post-pandemic, NYCC has gone through different phases. This year was no different. Foot traffic on the main floor in the last hour of Saturday was a lot lighter than normal, but Thursday and Sunday were busier than expected. Perhaps the rainy weather had some attendees scurrying home faster than usual on Saturday. Funnily enough, last year Saturday also proved to be less busy than expected. Perhaps Sunday is becoming the new Saturday at NYCC?
The quieter moments made one notice that there was some extra floor space open this year. With turbulent economic times hitting us, one wonders how geekdom will cope with the rising cost of, well, everything. Many major comic book companies no longer have booths for sales and interviews at NYCC now. Most were still present through panels and interviews conducted in the upstairs press area. Image Comics president Todd McFarlane was very visible with four panels and signings and appearances.
The visible comic book companies we saw and spoke to was, IDW, Vault, and Mad Cave – all declared that sales were up at their booths substantially over last year. Vault had a massive truck display to tie in with Post Malone’s Big Rig comic. The rapper actually showed up on the floor on Friday for a half hour to meet and greet fans. It’s well-known that many music personalities are comic book geeks.
There were also plenty of smaller indie companies keeping busy in their booths. That’s good news at a time when distribution problems have created a lot of supply chain issues for the industry, and when readers’ budgets are being stretched thin. The vintage comic book dealers I spoke to also reported robust dividends.
When we journeyed down to Artist Alley for what was too brief a time, we spoke to one artist who told me that Thursday alone at New York Comic Con is busier than at any other convention. Another told me this is the one Con he always comes to.
As always, there were numerous film and television panels. These spanned the Alien retrospective with Sigourney Weaver and the Alien: Earth cast interview to the now-expected BlumFest horror presentation. There were panels for Anne Rice’s Immortal Universe (on AMC), the Star Trek Universe (Paramount+), HBO’s new Game of Thrones prequel, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, and Paramount’s remake of The Running Man. There were also six Broadway panels this year (more than ever), including a preview of The Lost Boys musical coming next spring that’s being co-produced by Patrick Wilson, co-star of The Conjuring and Insidious horror film franchises. The 800-capacity room was packed for that panel which was hosted by Zachary Quinto. The indie horror film Mala was also represented with a panel and press roundtables. It is an Indian-themed, English-language chiller shot in Florida that looks very promising from the trailer that was shown.
For the writer of this piece, a special moment came when he got to meet George Takei of Star Trek fame. He was there signing his second graphic novel memoir, It Rhymes With Takei, which we discussed this past summer for the Aquarian. Further, parties for Z2 Comics (with guest appearances from David Dastmalchian and Kool Keith), Titan Comics (for Cynthia von Buhler’s Minky Woodcock detective series), and IDW (to highlight their IDW Dark line) were all a blast to attend. Z2 held theirs at the Classic Car Club of Manhattan, Titan on the Frying Pan boat (where Cynthia’s held a party before), and IDW at the Era-New York rooftop bar – quite a diverse array of settings.
There are legitimate concerns about the state of the economy and how that will affect pop culture events and fandom. Hollywood has taken some hits this year and comic book prices keep going up. ReedPop reported that 250,000 attendees made it out for NYCC 2025. Diversification seems to be the key to the Con’s continued success. And let’s face it, you can’t keep passionate geeks down. They always rally.
All photos by Bryan Reesman