It was bound to happen sooner or later. Just as I am absolutely not willing to go to the East Coast for a convention, there had to be plenty of people who wanted to hit up Comic-Con but absolutely did not want to travel to San Diego for that.
New York Comic-Con (not technically affiliated with San Diego)’s been gaining ground in the six years it’s been active.
Numbers for NYCC was estimated to have pulled in about 115,000 attendees — up from 105,000 last year. Compared to San Diego’s 125,000 this past summer, that gap is rapidly closing.
As well it should: when the name of the convention is Comic-Con, you would think that New York (the home of many of those publishers) would be able to create a successful convention for that medium. Of course, now, with its comparable numbers, it’s morphed into the all-encompassing pop culture expo that San Diego’s become.
The cast of ABC’s 666 Park Avenue, which has to be the worst title for a TV show I’ve ever seen, were on the floor, as was the cast for the surprisingly well-received Arrow.
But while San Diego has the movie studios just a couple hours’ down the road (depending on traffic), New York is the publishing capital of the world. The comics still have a larger piece of the action.
Publishers and imprints seem to be able to make a bigger event out of comic announcements, such as DC releasing info that a new Superman comic was being made with Jim Lee (Batman:Hush) as artist and Scott Snyder (Batman: Gates of Gotham) writing.
Still, the one thing New York Comic Con doesn’t have is an aircraft carrier. Where you can climb onto the flight deck and have a drink while William Shatner gets helicoptered in.
It was pretty sweet.
Question: Which picture/outfit/cosplayer is your favorite?
