Agent_70 at New York Comic Con 2014
First things first, the cell service in the Jacob Javits Center was vastly improved this year. There was no need to constantly charge your phone because your phone can’t get a signal and is constantly searching for one. This made a big difference for myself and for retailers using Square and other credit card swiping apps on the show floor and artist’s alley. Secondly, NYCC announced that it sold more tickets than San Diego Comic Con for the second year in a row. I can’t speak about last year because I was unable to get tickets. But I can definitely tell you that it was very crowded for the three days I was there. Noticeably, it was difficult getting into the show floor each day. Artists alley remains a true highlight of NYCC. Located in the spacious North Pavilion, there is plenty of room for tables, a few booths, and of course room for plenty of fans to walk around and meet their favorite creators. Kudos to the NYCC staff for managing the lines for popular creators. Major publishers had nice booths with the notable exception of DC, because they stay losing. DC did not have a booth on the show floor. All they had was a booth at the rear of Artists Alley to facilitate signings. Dark Horse, Zenescope, Image, Valiant, Boom, and of course Marvel all had very nice booths on the show floor with beautiful displays and plenty of lines for signings. Pictures of cosplay follow. My favorite cosplayer was the Spider-Gwen I spotted on Sunday.
Panels-
Forget trying to get into the Walking Dead panel. We really need to get press passes for next year. In all seriousness, panels seemed to be well attended. I made it into a few panels this year in between getting books autographed and trying to find things to buy on the show floor without breaking the bank. On Friday, I attended the Marvel 75th Anniversary panel entitled The World Outside Your Window- Diversity in Marvel Comics. On the panel were Ann Nocenti, editor and writer of Daredevil and creator of Typhoid Mary; Don McGregor writer of Killraven and multiple 1970’s Marvel Comics, Current Ms Marvel editor Sanaa Amanat, Avengers Return writer Kurt Busiek, Colorist and editor Marie Javins, Captain Marvel writer Kelly Sue DeConnick, and Kieron Gillen representing bald British guys. Editor Daniel Ketchum, moderated the panel. With regards to the best way to increase diversity in comics published today, Ann Nocenti said that it was natural to write about what you know. Long term, it is better to work in diversity naturally. Don McGregor feels that comics are a medium in which to include everyone. In the 1980’s comics still lacked diversity, and Kurt Busiek felt this especially while working on Power Man and Iron Fist. The ultimate determining factor in whether a story idea would be allowed to proceed was the almighty dollar- the book has to sell. But the 1980’s did continue in the direction of a greater level of diversity not just in the characters but also diversity in the voices behind the characters- the writers, artists, and editorial staff at Marvel. Marie Javin pointed out that the Marvel Bullpen of staff and editors had plenty of women in the 1980’s and 1990’s, but there were far fewer women pencillers and writers back then. Sanaa Amanat grew up like many people of color who read comics in that she really identified with the X-Men and other Marvel characters than those at any of the other comic book companies. Kieron Gillen pointed out that one of his books, Young Avengers, featured gay teens and various persons of color on its roster. Kelly Sue DeConnick criticised target marketing and the marginalization of certain characters as a result. Finally, Kurt Busiek and Don McGregor shared their memories of the late Dwayne McDuffie, without whom Night Thrasher might have been named Black Thrasher, and who created so many influential works. I stayed seated to attend the next panel, which was Guardians of the Galaxy, Then and Now. Editor Bill Rosemann, Marvel Creative Director, moderated the panel. g Moench, Gerry Duggan, Jim Starlin, and Al Milgrom sat for this panel. Jim Starlin described his tenure at Marvel as bringing cosmic Marvel back to life on books that were not top sellers. Andy Lanning described a similar experience in that working on the Marvel cosmic books that were already dying gave him and his collaborators a large degree of creative freedom. Gerry Duggan is happy that the Nova he is writing is something he can read to his young son. He teased that Nova will be very exciting in 2015. Bill Rosemann told a great story about assembling the incarnation of GotG that was put on film. Keith Giffen was the driving force behind teaming up Rocket Raccoon and Groot. His rationale was simple- One is a raccoon, and the other is a tree. It was natural! Rosemann ended the panel by answering a question about Darkhawk. One of the pending questions at any creative retreat at Marvel is “Who (which character) can we elevate?”
Finally, I caught the Hip Hop and Comics- Cultures Combing panel. Patrick A. Reed moderated. On the panel were Matthew Rosenberg, Carolina Cooney, Khary Randolph, Adam Wallenta, Large Professor a/k/a Large Pro/ Extra P, Ronald Wimberly, Sasha Kimiatek, Eric Orr, and joining the panel late was the great Pete Rock. I stay away from the autograph area, but some pics on social media, especially by Aisha Tyler, really showed alot of great fans enjoying the celebrities signing in the autograph areas. Hollywood- well those panels are always popular. The one difficulty with these popular panels is that you have to be on top of where and when the wristbands or tickets for the line will form. The one negative story I heard regarding fandom involved the ticketing for the Daredevil cast signing. From what I was told by multiple people, there was an ugly rush for the tickets, which led to the Marvel staff limiting the number of tickets distributed to a smaller number than they intended to. In order to get a broader feel for the show I will need to recruit some help. Press passes will help as well.
Agent_70
Level 9 Agent. After debriefings a regular panelist/comic book reviewer on the #ComicBookChronicles hosted by @TheKliqNation https://www.thekliqnation.com
