By Eder Guzman
New York Comic Con took place in New York at the Jacob Javits Center, from October 6 through the 9th. This year, Comic Con had more offsite venues, such as the Hammerstein Ballroom, Hudson mercantile and The Theater at Madison Square Garden. Each of the floors were dedicated to different aspects of Pop Culture and The Arts. The show floor was primarily for vendors and actors and artists signing autographs. The artist’s alley was full of independent artists such as Cat Staggs and Cool Monkey Press. There were well known actors and voice actors present, like Carrie Fisher, Evangeline Lilly, Jack Gleeson, Jeremy Shada (Finn from Adventure Time) and Matt Smith (from Doctor Who). A few actors were walking around unnoticed, like Jared Gilman (Moonrise Kingdom), who was just enjoying the scenery.
"Moonrise Kingdom" star Jared Gilman at Comic Con
Stan Lee was also in attendance, saying this was his last year, yet took the time to take photos with fans. This week was the Eastern Championships of cosplay, with per $5000 on cash and prizes. the locations are so many, all over Manhattan, and the events of plentiful that it would be impossible to see them all.
There were many panels this year that were discussing today’s topics in the comic book world, such as bullying, being disabled, black politics, being queer, and being a female author. Fox, NC, Marvel Studios all had panels to promote their new shows and give information on existing properties. A few Powers Ranger’s costumes from the 90s were on display as well, with Lionsgate (The Hunger Games, The Divergent Series) having a Power Rangers panel with David Yost (blue ranger) and Walter Jones (black ranger), discussing the series making a comeback.
Throughout the main floor, there were many artists and artwork from exhibitors. The Viz Media booth, which bring primarily Shounen (male youth) manga to the states, and had famous manga artists hand-drawn works on a large wall congratulating Viz. They had everyone from Kishimoto (Naruto Shippudden), Oda (One Piece) and Akira Toriyama (Dragonball).
This year, it was all Warner Bros , with the popular costume being Harley Quinn, as well as Wonder Woman being the 2nd most popular . The new trailer for the Wonder Woman movie was being shown, as well as new video game trailers like Dragon Ball Xenoverse. Yet most exhibitors were smaller independent companies there to sell their costumes, Legos, action figures, cards, T-shirts, accessories and comics. There was so much to see, that at the end of everyday there were people sitting down on any empty space they could find. Walking around one could get new ideas for the Halloween season, with a lot of zombies, ninja headbands, Daft Punk helmets, Deadpool body suits, gender-bending Han Solo or video game characters with more blood than necessary. One winter soldier cosplay was great, and used her missing arm to her advantage just like the winter soldier would. A giant Pikachu was around taking photos with people too.
There were some “throwback” booths as well, with animated comics or cartoons that were prevalent in the 90’s, such as Garfield, Astro Boy, Invader Zim and Sonic. Chibi (miniature) versions of anime characters, adventure time characters, video game characters and marvel characters were a big hit. Adult swim was there promoting their shows, especially the upcoming season on Rick and Morty. They had a photo booth set up where one would be rendered immobile in a space jail next to Rick Sanchez as a reference to the final scene of season two. Lego had their own booths, promoting the new season of Ninjago, and new Star Wars Lego sets. Dark horse comics had a successful run in the movies and comics industry, and was here promoting “Hellboy”, with main artist Mike Mignola signing autographs. Many people were selling their niche products, where there were guaranteed people at comic con interested in purchasing, like chaos emeralds.
There were ads for the MTV Teen Wolf series and a new “The Road to Oz” movie, as well as CBS advertising their new “Star Trek” series, and Star Wars “Rogue One” Toys already being sold. The Artist Gallery was another great place to visit. There was a big mural at the end where all the artists could collaborate. In the center was the largest characters drawn, the 90’s Power Ranger’s villain Goldar, Megazord and the Dragonzord. Attendees and artists were invited to sign their name on the mural. New York beats San Diego for the 4th year straight in terms of attendance, having over 180,000 attending the 2016 edition, another successful year for Comic Con and New York.
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