New York Comic-con, Part One

I love New York. But not in a copyright infinging “We own the I HEART NY” kind of way.

Last year, New York got a real comic convention back. I was courted by them to attend the show, but it was the same weekend as MegaCon in Florida. I’m an Ohio boy, and I love my snow, but if you give me a chance to spend a week in the middle of February in either New York City or Orlando, I will pick Orlando every time.

This year, they were a week apart. I had to cancel one of the shows, because I was on such a Love and Capes deadline. I cancelled my appearance MegaCon, despite that meaning I wouldn’t be able to see my friends down there (shout out to Barb, Jodi and Sandi!), and did NYC. I had committments there, especially working the Toon Tumblers booth, that made that the show to do.

I’d heard great things about the show and I’ll be darned if most of them weren’t true.

New York Comic-Con is clearly already the number two show in the country, bested only by San Diego. Chicago was the former #2, and while it’s been a while since I’ve done that show, the last time I went in 2005, you could tell it was starting to fade. It’s not a comic book show anymore, not how it was the year I went previously in 2003. And yeah, San Diego is so not a comic show anymore, but a Hollywood and pop culture extravaganza, but it’s still the place to be if you’re in comics.

In contrast, New York is actually a comic book show. There were media guests and pop culture booths and all the other non-comic trappings, but comics were still the focus. That’s nice to see.

And, it’s pretty well run. Last year, they had so many people the fire marshalls had to lock down the show on Saturday. This year they were better prepared for it. They stopped selling walk-up tickets on Friday morning, something not even San Diego has had to do. I know people had problems with parts of the show, everyone does, but here are the things I liked and had to call out:

1. Small press wasn’t ghetto-ized, as it frequently is. They were on the main floor. Small press space is more expensive than in San Diego, but given the placement, it’s worth it. They’re near the major comic companies, and not in a corner or special room, as so many places are.

2. Imagine the letter T. Now, fill in the vertical bar with Artist’s Alley. On the top bar, put in gaming and media guests (like the gang from Buffy and Gary Coleman, and Feedback, Fat Momma and Nitro-G from “Who Wants to be a Superhero?”). What this did is caused people to have to walk through Artists Alley to get to the media guests. Foot traffic is an important thing to notice at a convention, and that was a good thing.

3. Friday started with an actual professional show. At other shows, the show opens early for professionals and guests who pay enough. Maybe NY handles it the same way, but it didn’t seem like that. I got to talk to a bunch of professionals and retailers and people I needed to talk to that would have been harder if the masses were there.

4. They had the show office open as of Friday to buy space. Seeing and liking the show, I decided to take advantage of this. Here’s what amazed me, having dealt with San Diego: They took credit cards. They took a deposit. They gave me a receipt and proof of payment. And they gave me a space.

Compare this to a certain other show that I’ve had problems with, that wants payment in full by cash or check, no credit cards, on the last day of the show to reserve a space for next year, and to get the early bird discounts. They don’t offer any proof of receipt of the check, so if they lose it, you’re out of luck. They then hold on said check for eight months before cashing it, miss their deadline for when they say they’ll confirm booth space, as they take until the week before the con hotels go on sale to let you know if you’ve gotten a space.

Now, the only thing that was similar was that if you wanted Artists Alley, you had to go on the waiting list, as that was already filled or spoken for. Some places do first-come, first served. Others do first refusal. I can see both sides, so I can’t complain about that.

Now, NY wasn’t perfect, and here are some places they can make some improvements:

1. In the Artist Alley, there were a couple people there who were selling product, not artists or writers. There was one art dealer who had three or four full booths to sell original artwork. Now, the Alley is the place to sell artwork, but I’d rather he be sent to the main floor and those eight (two to a space) artist spaces be opened up to other creators.

2. Remember how I said how I liked that you had to go through Artists Alley to get to the media guests? The media guest area was clearly marked as GAMING AREA. I didn’t find it until Saturday by accident. Better signage would have helped.

3. Security was often gruff and unfriendly. Now, they have a difficult job to do, but a lot of their complaining was based on people not using the right entrance and exit locations. Again, if they would have been labeled, maybe I would have known which was which.

Next, he second of three, count 'em three, blogs about my time at New York Comiccon. Here I cover the devastation that was wrought upon the Kubert School but the Constructicons, and a late-night trip to the Apple Store from Krypton.