The New York Comic Con is one of the largest shows I attend, as the entire Javitz Center in New York City gets taken over by geeks for four days, and they manage to fill it entirely. In years past, I have attended fewer panels on the assumption that having come off the DragonCon experience, I wanted to experience the new game demos and the wonders offered by NYCC’s fantastic dealers’ floor. This year, I hit the panels not only because I was interested but also because they offered a respite from walking on the Javitz Center floor, which is terrible on a good day and miserable when one is still nursing an injury.
As with other conventions, NYCC does offer the option for a medical badge, allowing for limited priority seating for people with injuries or disabilities. However, because NYCC does not require that rooms be cleared between panels, seating is frequently at a premium, especially for the more popular panels. Thus, the day of the big Walking Dead panel, virtually no one could get seating for the Agents of Shield panel which showed the next week’s episode in its entirety in addition to hosting Elizabeth Henstridge and Iain de Caestecker to answer fan questions.
The Archer panel revealed what was completed of the first episode of the fifth season to great fanfare, and I will admit, the cast as a group is hilarious, even if Chris Parnell was lamentably absent. Aisha Tyler’s verve more than made up for his absence. The Archer panel may have been my favorite panel of the year, followed closely by the Robot Chicken panel. It is difficult to top an entire cast walking onstage wearing coordinating cat ears. They released some fantastic plans for the next season, including a collaboration with Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston that looks to be hilariously off-color. I will say that their enthusiasm for comedy is infectious, and really, the questions asked by the fans made the panel. Breckin Meyer riffed off of some of the questions to great effect for the entire hour, and there was a brief guest appearance by Doc Hammer.
I can only imagine that Doc Hammer was still backstage from his own, immediately preceding, Venture Bros. panel. I attended that panel as well, and while they had no footage of the next season to show, listening to Doc Hammer and Christopher McCulloch (as Jackson Publick) play off of each other and the fans while both rocking their speed suits.
New York Comic Con 2013 also featured an appearance by the always fabulous John Barrowman, and I think I vaguely traumatized my dear friend from law school who attends this event with me with the sheer level of fangirl squeals I exhibited. Unlike the Venture Bros. panel, which is something I have been trying to see for years at various conventions, I have seen John Barrowman do a panel before as part of a larger group, so I had a glimmer of an idea what that would be like. To say that I was unprepared for Barrowman on his own is an understatement of epic proportions. The man was all over the stage, off of it, dancing, bouncing, and talking. His love for his fans is as palpable as is his enthusiasm for Doctor Who, Torchwood, and Arrow. The panel ranged from a graphic discussion of why Barrowman does not eat Thai food to a solo performance of songs Barrowman has recorded and culminated in a brief appearance by his now husband, Scott Gill clad in a Superman costume. It was a fantastic experience.
As always, the costumes were fantastic. The fans always come through with some amazing stuff for this one, and this year was no exception. Way to go New York!
Finally, no discussion of NYCC would be complete with a mention of the convention’s expansive dealers’ floor. It is huge, sprawling, and massive and included booths from the industry staples such as Dark Horse, IDW, and Marvel. There are the usual costume vendors, T-shirt vendors, and collectible vendors to be sure, but there are other, less expected vendors as well. This year, Tervis Tumblers were there, offering con attendees the opportunity to make their own NYCC specific tumblers, which of course my friend and I did.
We also watched the South Park: The Stick of Truth promotional video, which was disappointingly only a video. There was even a miniature planetarium showing promotional content for Dark Universe, a show that debuted at the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
NYCC last thought: it is worth braving the press of people because it is just such a great show. You can’t help but love New York Comic Con.