New York Comic Con

Batman in Lego blocks! Hope Colleen Doran got to see him!

I'm going to try to remember some of it...We got there around ten o'clock in the morning, walking from the Port Authority. We paid for our tickets, got an armband and walked around. There were lines everywhere and we didn't know until later that they were all the same line - it wound around and up. We got in a line and a woman was coming through with ticket forms. We told her we were already ticketed, were we in the right line? She told us we didn't have to be in the line, so we took off. Took an elevator downstairs and hung out in the food court. Then we went back into the main lobby a little after 11 and saw that they were letting in people for "Cup of Joe", a session with Joe Quesada of Marvel Comics. So, we went in. It was a nice session, Quesada was funny and as helpful as an editor-in-chief can be about telling about upcoming projects. One guy put forth a series he'd like to see- Marvel Apes. We all laughed, but it would be cool to see it. I'd like to read it!
"Cup of Joe" - that little guy in front is Joe Quesada of Marvel Comics
From there, we went back out into the main lobby and saw that people were going into the exhibitors area. So we got in behind some people and walked in, showing our armbands. Turned out that, at that very moment, they were turning people away at the door. And the line still snaked around the building to get in... Just luck and thank you, Joe Quesada....
The DC booth was up front and it was jammed, but not half as bad as later when the "stars" came in to shine - like Jim Lee.
Jim Lee in the DC booth
They gave out some freebies, like bookmarks and buttons. I loaded up on bookmarks everywhere, because I work in a library where we hate to see pages turned over.
We saw lots of people and even met a few. In the seeing, but not meeting were the guys pictured above and Todd Mc Farlane of Spawn fame , Jerry Robinson of Batman fame , and
John Romita, Sr.(and John,Jr., whom we saw at the "Cup of Joe" session - he's a hunk!Actually, I did talk to John and his lovely wife while my DH was on line for a signature, which he never got because they cut off the line at 3pm.).
We talked to some artists, writers, and creators that we had met before - the "Black Bastard" whom I had met in Philadelphia at the Wizard Con show several years ago (got this shot for Elysha's boyfriend, who is biracial and thinks the Bastard comics are a hoot - I got him a couple more - signed and with his name on them), Peter Scolari, who is now in the comics business after years in TV (Bosom Buddies and Newhart) They asked for donations to his pet charity, which I cannot recall to save my life.... The photo, as

are all of them, is a bit fuzzy. I have not got the greatest digital camera),Brian Michael Bendis of Marvel comics ( he also did Powers with Mike Avon Oeming) the bald guy is Brian, the other one is Mike, Danny Fingeroth, author of Superman on the Couch, a psychological analysis of the Man of Steel, pictured here, on a banner flying above the DC booth , Barry Yourgrau, who was at the Harper Collins booth, giving away and autographing his book - Nasty book, (which I have not gotten a chance to read yet, but looks like fun - he has a quote from comic writer Neil Gaiman on it) , , Mort and Chance Greg Walker of King Features Syndicate, artists of Beetle Bailey and Hi and Lois the silver-haired man in the foreground is Mort, his son is just to the right of the sign), and Irwin Hasen, who drew Dondi, as well as work for DC like Green Lantern for many years. .

I had hoped to meet Colleen Doran , Heidi McDonald , Mark Siegel as well as Elayne and Robin Riggs and Leah Adezio. Sorry to say, some of them didn't make it in and others were hidden away, so that in the crowds one could hardly see anybody unless you were really close and alert - which, by three o'clock was pretty difficult for me. Not enough caffeine or sitting. There was no place to sit unless you caught a "session" or knew a person with a booth. I stopped to catch my breath in a little open space by the DC booth and someone asked if they could help me. I said I was just trying to breathe and she wished me luck... It was that kind of convention. We just couldn't stay for all of it - the sessions we might have wanted to go to in the late afternoon were "ticketed", which meant we'd have to stand in a line to get extra armbands for the event and I just can't do that anymore. I'm too old. Which is probably why there are not too many of the older artists/writers/creators at these conventions anymore. You can't deal with these kind of crowds...

I got this from the Toxic Teddies booth which featured this large guy - - my DH said we need him at the library with a sign that says "Your books are how overdue?" The little version was cool, but I had to go for the bi-polar one - so did the guy behind me!

There was lots of media around for Superman Returns and a few other movies, which I picked up and a couple of cards for this guy's return - Jenni loved him when he was on TV. Look out!

Anyway, we had a good time and got some great comic book stuff!

Hope they get their act together for next year! It could rival or outdo San Diego - there are more of us comic lovers on the East Coast!