{"id":372156,"date":"2026-10-13T18:02:33","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T18:02:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/372156\/"},"modified":"2026-10-13T18:02:33","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T18:02:33","slug":"new-york-comic-con-celebrates-20-years-of-community-and-fandom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/372156\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Comic Con celebrates 20 years of community and fandom"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York Comic Con returned to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center over the weekend for its 20th edition, celebrating one of New York City\u2019s most vibrant and integral fall traditions.<\/p>\n

The Comic Con spirit starts to bloom early Thursday morning, as the streets of Hell\u2019s Kitchen fill with convention badges and elaborate cosplays. The excitement builds all over the city as 250,000 visitors get ready for a weekend full of panels, meet-and-greets, booths, and more.<\/p>\n

The convention\u2019s 20th anniversary brought a variety of special surprises and new additions to the show, including a partnership with Coney Island that brought dancers and performers to the convention throughout the weekend. \u201cBeing 20 years old is beautiful for me,\u201d said Sarah Natochenny, the voice of Ash Ketchum, on the anniversary.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve just seen a lot of amazing community come together here,\u201d said Chris D\u2019Lando, New York Comic Con\u2019s Event Director.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

D\u2019Lando spoke with us at length about the community aspect of Comic Con, and that sense of community becomes clear as soon as you walk through the doors. The main concourse is filled with groups chatting about their interests and reconnecting with people they might only ever see at conventions.<\/p>\n

\"Chris<\/a>Chris D\u2019Lando, New York Comic Con\u2019s Event DirectorPhoto by Dylan Christie<\/p>\n

A great example at this year\u2019s New York Comic Con was the gathering of 649 people dressed as Spider-Man, who came together in an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the largest gathering of people dressed as the superhero. Unfortunately, the group fell just 36 people short of the record, but spirits remained high despite the missed attempt.<\/p>\n

But of course, no Comic Con is complete without the announcements and surprises revealed during its panels.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was some breaking news from the Naruto panel. I know [Nicolas] Cage was talking about some great stuff,\u201d D\u2019Lando said. \u201cWe had a panel [Saturday] night for the new film Children of Blood and Bone. Blumhouse [Productions] unveiled their upcoming schedule and released some trailers. A lot of great late-breaking news.\u201d<\/p>\n

Continuing past the concourse and into Exhibit Hall, visitors were greeted by elaborate booths and interactive activities inspired by their favorite media. One of the largest was Funko\u2019s \u201cFUNKO-ween\u201d installation, which featured a New York-based haunted brownstone setting alongside Comic Con-exclusive merchandise.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really important for us to create some type of New York element in order to, you know, capture the spirit of New York,\u201d said Jesse Cromley, Funko\u2019s director of marketing.<\/p>\n

The convention\u2019s strong connection to New York City is prominent throughout the Javits Center. While speaking with Henk Rogers, co-founder of Tetris, inside a Volkswagen wrapped in Tetris blocks, he reflected on the city\u2019s influence, saying, \u201cNew York gave me the attitude that I can do anything.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Benny<\/a>Benny Kline, founder of Tenacious Toys.Photo by Dylan Christie<\/p>\n

Right near Funko was a sprawling, 600-square-foot space dedicated to The Tenacious Collective, one of Comic Con\u2019s largest gatherings of artists and creators showcasing and selling their work. Benny Kline, founder of Tenacious Toys, brings together a group of friends and fellow creators to showcase some of the convention\u2019s most unique work.<\/p>\n

Kline also emphasized the importance of community, both within his collective and throughout Comic Con. \u201cThe world\u2019s a really tough place right now. We all need that joy, the camaraderie, and the feeling of family as much as we can get. So when we can surround ourselves with positive people doing interesting things, it makes life worth living. So, that process of connecting to people, maintaining this circle and supporting each other is really, really important. It\u2019s not just a business, it is like a family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond the organizers who bring the show to life, the passion and impact of its visitors have helped sustain the convention for the past 20 years. New York\u2019s own Danny Cortes spoke about the fans, stating, \u201cJust their presence here makes me feel great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Overall, New York Comic Con has continued to stay true to its roots of connecting major entertainment brands to independent artists. On the first floor of the convention, hundreds of tables lined the walls of Artist Alley where the artistic masterminds behind all creations showcased their work and met members of every community.<\/p>\n

Twenty years later, New York Comic Con continues to show that fandom is forever, and it is built on the strong foundations of community and shared culture. There is truly something for everyone. D\u2019Lando put it best when he said, \u201cPop Culture is Culture, and you can see it all around me\u2026It is all here. And it is a place where everyone can come together and celebrate their fandom.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Voice<\/a>Voice actor Sarah Natochenny at New York Comic Con. \"\"<\/a>Attendees played trading card games like Yu-Gi-Oh! and Magic: The Gathering.Photo by Dean Moses \"\"<\/a>Cosplayers posed for photos throughout the Javits Center.Photo by Dean Moses \"\"<\/a>Cosplayers dressed as DC Comics Penguin, Catwoman, and Poison Ivy.Photo by Dean Moses<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York Comic Con returned to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center over the weekend for its 20th…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372157,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[137065,2426,9,2425,11,10],"class_list":["post-372156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-chris-dlando","tag-comic-con","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-comic-con","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}