I’ve never been to a Comic Con before. I’ve been to Book Con twice now at the Javits Center but all these years of being into this stuff, I never attended for whatever reason. I originally wanted to go to NYCC on Thursday, Friday and then one of the days on the weekend. When I received my badge for the 4 day event, I also got a jury summons for the Wednesday before. Talk about mixed emotions!

I had to report to jury duty on Wednesday and stayed all day, not getting called up to go into the court at all that day. I get it that it’s your civic duty but I just really hate it. It feels like being called up for the firing squad when they start calling out names. By the end of the day Wednesday, my name was called but that was to go home for the day and go back on Thursday. I was pissed. Thankfully, there was only one case left on Thursday morning and was told we were done after an hour of being there. I was so relieved and then I had to make the trek back home, get my camera and change my clothes. Then I headed to Comic Con for at least a few hours of mayhem and fun.

I made the trek from Penn Station, which the walk is a bit of a chaotic mess now that there is tons of construction around in the area. I ended up one side of the Javits center where they didn’t have any lanyards. I ended up spending 15 minutes walking all over trying to find where they were. I went inside, up to the press lounge and was told to get them outside; I ended up going to the other side for another entrance where they were. So dumb that they were only on one side of the building!

I met up with ReadJunk.com friends Ray and Joe waiting on line for a Lego thing, then ended up getting food at the cafeteria. Yes, the first thing I did at NYCC was wait on line for a thing I wasn’t getting anything for and then ate some food. It was noon after all. The cafeteria was mobbed with people, there was food trucks outside as well but I opted for the cafeteria that day. For a Thursday and it supposedly being a lighter day with crowds, it was certainly mayhem and chaotic but still manageable to a degree.

The main thing for Comic Con I wanted to do was take pictures of all the cosplayers, but also just check out all the booths on the main floor. I’m not much a comic book reader; when I was younger I collected them but mainly collected them and didn’t read them. I would base my purchases on the covers but mainly stuck with Marvel ones like X-Men, Spider-Man, X-Factor and some others. I walked the floor, just overwhelmed with how many people were there, what to look for and how to navigate around. Book Con was so miniscule in comparison; I never knew Javits Center was that big inside. I was treating walking around the way I treated walking around Venice, Italy when I went there. Wherever there was less people, I would walk in that direction.

I didn’t even bother trying to scan my badge for panels because it was already afternoon and they were probably full already. Plus, I really wasn’t interested in seeing any that day. I would have loved to get photos or signings with celebs but their asking prices are a bit steep. I thought the back rows by the shirts and other merch were the most crowded on the floor. No idea why that was or if the aisles were just narrower. I ended up at Teepublic booth for a few minutes chatting with a community manager that helps me out from time to time selling stuff on there. At that point, I met up with Ray again and saw my friend Nick working & taking photos for Amazon and IMDB as well.

When we were there, giant Bumblebee walked by which was cool. Ray and I mainly just walked around, checking out all the areas. I walked by the SonicBoomBox booth where Erica Fett was there. She’s a Suicide Girl model and cosplayer and was taking pictures and autographs with fans. She was dressed up like Freddie Krueger. When I think of Freddie, sexy doesn’t come to mind. I’m still scared of those movies after being permanently scarred for life watching them in 2nd grade. Anyway, We ended up back near the front of the floor area, where Funko and other big name brands were. We heard a beep beep noise and thought it was someone’s phone. It ended up being R2-D2 so that was a great, nerdy moment.

I was amazed how many people dressed up and how awesome their costumes were. I wish I had the time and money to create a costume to go, but I rather just take pictures of them. I thought the two biggest costumes that day were Rick and Morty and Deadpool. I didn’t even see Artist Alley, which was down stairs in another big room. I just couldn’t believe how massive in scale NYCC was. Just when you thought you saw everything, nope, you didn’t and there was another room. I didn’t even bring up that all the big name shows and brands have off-site panels at Hammerstein Ballroom and Theater at Madison Square Garden. There were also pop-up stores and things around the city like for Bob’s Burgers and Westworld. I didn’t even see any of that or where to go for that. As much as the NYCC app is helpful, I still feel like it could be better with explaining who was going to be there, when, and where. A little bit more info about each panel would have been nice. The maps weren’t really helpful. I felt like everyone else had the advantage over me because they knew who was appearing and when. It was tough to manage and try to figure out what to see at first.

After taking pictures of stuff, I needed to get home so I was really only there for 4.5 hours. To really experience Comic Con, you almost need at least 2 days at least. 1 day to walk the floor and 1 day to try to get to see some panels or autograph sessions. It’s so overwhelming the amount of stuff that you can do there. I was lucky I had a press badge to go to any day I wanted. I was going a full day with my wife Kristen on Friday so I knew I could leave early and see a lot of new things the next day. Which I did…

I’ll have all my photos from the day over at SkaPunkPhotos.com soon.