Day 1
I have a horrible confession to make. Until last Friday I, in a hassled and confused state (bus times, friend arrival mixups, etc) outside the Javits Center, had never gone to a comic convention before. The very first snatch of fellow con-goer conversation I catch involves Daleks (now I REALLY know I’m in the right place, as though all the costumes didn’t give it away). I squeeze my way past Batman, Ms. Marvel, a few ninjas with their respective village headbands and five Sweet Lolitas to make my way to the DC booth where our beloved Madame President Courtney is to save me from the onslaught. The rest:
I stop at the Marvel booth to say hello to my old bosses (hi Jordan!)! I finally meet the famous Agent M! I grouch over the loss of working around action figures all day long for horrid physics lectures with freshman philosophy majors (DIE)! Then:
Artist’s Alley: Katie Cook of Marvel Cats’ fame—Spider Cat versus Sand Cat. A total sweetheart who did a five dollar watercolor and pen commission for me of Chessie and three for Madame Prez. I say hi and shake hands with Scott Reed, the writer of Incredible Hulks: Enigma Force, which I worked on during my last days at Marvel. A moment of synchronicity: Madame Prez and I are found by Fancier Dan and Andrew, then all of us ambush Mike and Will three aisles away (Will’s shiny blue Human Torch outfit helped). We all troll around the floor. Many many photo ops for Will! Then (sans Courtney, boo):
Robot Chicken Panel, After Waiting An Hour In Line, Listening To Will Bemoan How Tired He Is: Macaulay Culkin, Seth Green, Seth Green’s Wife and Matthew Seinreich. Potential vague spoilers for the upcoming season: Home Alone (hence Macaulay Culkin’s appearance), Christmas and more Star Wars. After:
Venture Bros’ Panel, And Will Is Still Tired: “Quit wastin’ my time-time!” Henchmen, Q&A, rabid fans, uproarious laughter, I-can’t-say-much-more-since-I-don’t-watch-the-show-but-should-I-know-but-it-was-funny-nonetheless.
Will poses for one last photo even as we’re getting kicked out of the convention center.
Day 2
I roll my four-hours-of-sleep ass out of my bunk, don my pink shades as the X-Men's Jubilee and brace myself for the craziest day at NYCC: Saturday. The mile long line for those poor unfortunate souls who didn’t get tickets in advance make me clutch my treasured weekend pass beneath my yellow coat and thank Asgard and Odin (maybe I should have asked the Thor and Lady Sif I saw to thank Odin for me) that I get to dodge it.
Once again, a meet up with Madame President Courtney, our very own Taimur (TDSpidey616!) and Fancier Dan cosplaying as Ambush Bug outside the Marvel booth. I get cosplay photos taken on the Marvel stage and for Newsarama. We wait outside the bathroom for Will and then something magical happens:
An old man in glasses and a tan suit steps into the bathroom. One double take later: it’s Stan “The Man” himself. Yes, we are inches away from him (peeing). Fancier Dan shouts it and Mike tweets it and I would have too but my phone is a piece of shit and doesn’t get Internet. One group-split later (someone fill the readers in on the Avengers panel, please):
We troll the floor some more, get some Punishers signed for Mike, migrate to the Artist’s Alley where it is marginally less crowded, dodge some Death Eaters, and try to find an ATM in the desolate wasteland that is the far west side of Manhattan (eventually we do). I meet the famous Serge of Midtown Comics and get educated on the origins of “Cool story, bro”. Will gets groped by an Orange Lantern. I get groped by a pair of Old Greggs sporting matching miniature Baileys bottles. I like it. There are many rounds of high fives, a few more photo ops and a shout or two of “JUUUUUUUBES!” There are Deadpools, Ichigos, Lolitas, Chun Li, Green Lantern with Black Canary, Boba Fett, Stormtroopers, and Elastigirl (Doom Patrol, not The Incredibles!). Unfortunately, no more Stan Lee sightings (bathroom or otherwise).
Team Assembles Again post-Avengers: some random chick in loli getup comes up to us and shouts “BOOBIES?” I guess. Taimur proceeds to get slain by Ares. Q&A Panel with Joe Quesada, Brian Michael Bendis, Axel Alonso, Arune Singh, Tom Brevoort, Jeph Loeb, Dan Buckley and CB Cebulski: Will asks about Marvelfest (sadly not happening this year, Quesada apologized). Some guy gets booed out of the room for bitching about how much Quesada sucks in the mic. Said guy should die in a fire, honestly, who does that (answer: assholes). Taimur introduces me to Bendis, whose books I also worked on all summer long at the office. I shake Bendis’s hand (check Phil's video for live coverage!) and grin (he grins back and apologizes for making me proofread all those scripts! What a nice guy!); we all offer our tributes of “Dude you’re awesome!"
The Rest Of The Afternoon: We hunt for merchandise. We look high and low and near and far for this one poster stand where the day before I’d bought a Totoro poster. We finally find it thanks to Will’s sense of direction. Posters, check. The T-shirt stands become lighthouses in the Sea Of Hot Messes And Random Car And Toy Fliers. T-shirts, check. Toys are ogled, two Penguins bought for Madame President. The floor lights suddenly start shutting off and that is our cue to leave. We wait outside on some hard stone benches, admire our haul, and present Courtney with her Penguins. One of the Penguins is missing his vest and socks and both are missing their umbrellas, but if you squeeze the smaller one’s legs together it looks like it’s, um… doing a questionable up-and-down gesture! With that, it’s time to go home.
All photos with me in it are taken by Will (except for the Marvel flickr and Newsarama blog); otherwise they are taken by myself.
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