The Comic Book Chronicles at the inaugural Special Edition NYC, June 14 and June 15, 2014

@Agent_70 attended the very first Special Edition NYC (#SENYC), and filed this report a little late, but better late than never. A month has passed, which has allowed the few complaints about the show that I did have to slowly fade away.

The folks at ReedPop, the ones behind the hugely successful @NY_Comic_Con (NYCC) decided to create a smaller convention that emphasizes comic books and providing more time and space to meet and talk to members of the comics community. In that regard, this show was an unqualified success. The atmosphere was far more comfortable than NYCC has been in recent years. Numerous attendees told me that they felt very comfortable walking around when compared with the crush of the crowds at NYCC.

VENUE AND LAYOUT

The venue for SENYC was the Jacob Javits Center’s North Pavilion. The North Pavilion (Javits North) has been the site of Artist’s Alley during the most recent NYCCs. The configuration of the space for NYCC Artist’s Alley was only slightly reconfigured to accommodate a few more retailer booths, while the remaining space for creators and talent remained in the same configuration as Artist’s Alley. The aisles were wide and well spaced, giving everyone plenty of room to get around. There was a DJ, DJ JFX316, @JFX316 playing a varied mix of tunes to listen to at the entrance, and he kept things moving, and family-friendly. Food options were scarce, and obviously expensive (it is Javits after all), but it was available if you wanted it.

The panels were set up in the Javits Center’s 1E Exhibition Hall, which forced you to walk the length of the Javits Center to get to and from a panel. I went to one panel, but I found this particular part of the layout the least friendly on tired feet that had been waiting on line to get FILL IN THE BLANK_________ artist/writer’s autograph.

IMPRESSIONS AND REVIEW

First things first. Now that ReedPop has made tickets to New York Comic Con some of the most in-demand tickets this side of San Diego, getting tickets to the October show has become far more difficult. One enticement for fans who bought tickets to SENYC was ReedPop making tickets to NYCC available for purchase/ordering on-site at SENYC. This proved to be a great incentive for this agent, who was surprised by how quickly tickets to NYCC 2013 sold out, and eventually missed out on NYCC 2013. On site, I discovered a long line at the rear of Javits North for people who wanted to order their NYCC tickets long before they went on sale to the general public. I was initially discouraged, but I was helped out by a very helpful SENYC staffer named Stephanie who informed me that I could go back to the front entrance and buy tickets to NYCC at the booths marked for people buying SENYC tickets onsite. I hustled back to the front of Javits and after a far shorter wait than what I would have had to deal with at the back of Javits North, I secured my tickets to NYCC this fall. Many thanks go out to Stephanie, and the very helpful staff of SENYC in general. ReedPop is doing a pretty good job of vetting and training their staffers because every staffer I met had a very good attitude and they were all fairly knowledgeable, especially about a show that had just come into existence. SENYC had their own iPhone and Android Apps, but even with an app set up to tell me what to do, I still had a paper checklist of creators I worked my way through each day. Hopefully I will make better use of the NYCC app this year.

In an interesting postscript, I was disheartened to hear that when tickets when on sale to the general public, many people had problems purchasing their NYCC tickets through the newest online queue system that ReedPop set up to handle the increased ticket demand. The most in-demand tickets and weekend passes were sold out in mere minutes, and at most hours. I had a sigh of relief because I had secured my own tickets, but I quickly turned my thoughts to the frustration many fans now have with the insane demand for tickets. I would guess that if SENYC 2015 comes around, there may be a bigger rush for tickets simply to get a chance to secure NYCC tickets before the public sale.

RETAIL

There seemed to be a decent level of business at the commercial booths set up to sell back issues, toys, statues, and other comics-related things. Business was far better on Saturday than Sunday. The Sunday of SENYC fell on Father’s Day, and it seemed that attendance was far greater on Saturday than Sunday. I was hoping there would be more families around on Sunday. If it is at all possible, I would suggest SENYC try to get away from scheduling on Father’s Day weekend, but it may be necessary given the tight schedule that Javits operates on.

PUBLISHER PRESENCE

Marvel and Valiant had nice booths. Archie had a good sized table with lots of stuff. DC….crickets…

CREATORS
The roster of talent for SENYC was impressive. Many creators I talked to made this a stop on their convention schedule in order to spend some time in NYC (often in meetings with other industry people in town for the con, and/or at the Marvel offices), and would then fly to the next big East Coast con, Heroes Con in Charlotte, NC.

Shout out to:
@DamionScott2 Damion Scott for signing my copies of the Brooklyn Avengers issues of Web of Spider-Man, and “How to draw Hip-Hop”. Brooklyn represent!

@RyanStegman was churning out great sketches and creating an extremely long line! He told me that he did recognize our show, and our very own @Timdogg98. He joked that it was one sketch per podcast, so that when he saw @Timdogg98 at HeroesCon the following wekeend, he would not sketch for him! (He really was joking, and he hooked up Tim as well).

@AllredMD Mike and Laura Allred were awesome, and they had some of the coolest people waiting on a really long line to meet them. I ran into a really great brother and sister tandem who were waiting on line with me, and the sister, far younger than her brother and I, was legitimately intimidated to meet the Allreds. Luckily, she conquered her nerves and had a great experience meeting them. It was a legitimate thrill to see her be that excited and even better have a great experience meeting her favorite creators.

@GailSimone for signing her great contribution to the Heroes tribute book that Marvel published as a fundraiser in the wake of September 11, 2001, and sharing her thoughts about how things have changed in NYC since.
Emmanuela Lupacchino @manulupac, straight from Italy, had some really reasonably priced Thor original art that I still regret not buying. Kicking myself. Someone has to have snapped that page up since. Bought a sketchbook she published. She is probably the most attractive female creator I have ever met. But do not underestimate her, she’s got serious talent, and with more work and a gig on a big title, she could get some big-time attention.
Shout out to Marvel’s latest Young Guns, who were all in attendance, Mahmud Asrar, Nick Bradshaw, David Marquez, Sara Pichelli, Valerio Schiti and including the aforementioned Ryan Stegman. I bought a great Miles Morales print from @DaveMarquez. @sarapichelli signed a bunch of issues for me, as did @MahmudAsrar .

@JeromeAOpena had a killer line, but I got his autograph on Uncanny X-Force #1 and Avengers #1. On Sunday, I bumped into him in an aisle and struck up a conversation about pencilling technique, and he and I both bumped into people and started new conversations. It was there that I bumped into @HeyMast JL Mast and Geoffo @Geoffoarto straight from La France, our former guests on the #ComicBookChronicles. Unfortunately, they had a busy schedule and suffered through some heat and humidity in NYC, so we could not get together after SENYC before they left for HeroesCon. It was great meeting them at the con, and hopefully I’ll see them at NYCC.

It was great to see @PeterDavid_PAD in better health, and he and Chris Claremont @I_Will_Use_My really had a great time doing the Marvel 75th Anniversary panel on Sunday. That was the panel I caught, and I am glad I had a chance to listen to these two pros put on a great show.

I know I missed mentioning a few, and I apologize, but I have to say that I am always glad to talk Mouse Guard with David Peterson @MouseGuard .

PANELS

The panels were set up on the opposite end of the Javits Center, leading to the aforementioned exercise for all trying to get to and from the panels. I was surprised and impressed that SENYC was able to put together a good array of panels for a first time show.

COSPLAY

I was glad to see some cosplayers really make a good showing at the first ever SENYC

FINAL THOUGHTS

I think ReedPop has another winner on their hands, If they can keep the show in Javits North, and somehow prevent overselling the show and overcrowding the floor, this show has the potential to be the best comics-centric show going.

Report from Agent_70