NYCC Doesn’t Mean What You Think it does

I last attended the New York Comic Con in 2012 as a Professional, paying my 60 dollar fee for the fancy 4-day pass, with intentions of looking for work as a writer as well as connecting with friends old and new. While there were some flashes of brilliance, the entire spectacle of the con was so overblown and ridiculous I resigned myself to never going again, if I could help it.

NYCC 2013 came and went and I felt relieved that I didn’t attend. I didn’t miss the crowds, the crowding, the cosplay photo ops in the most inopportune place and the incredibly shitty coverage of who’s doing what, which company is releasing what boring “new” story and the fanatical glorification of whatever television show was hot in the ratings at the time. Between 2012 and what I didn’t find myself missing during 2013, I found myself getting nostalgic for the smaller conventions, such as the short lived Northampton Comic Con from the early 1990’s that was situated in various hotels around Northampton, Massachusetts until it faded out.

As a comic-book fan and reader, it has always been a part of the industry to discuss, report on and write about favorite comics, professionals and companies in various forms. Prior to the rise of the interwebs, print magazines, fandom-based groups called APA (Amateur Press Associations) and even comic book letter columns were the place to garner information. As the World Wide Web (remember that moniker?) came to be, it was quickly absorbed into fandom, with the rise of such internet service providers as CompuServe and America Online giving readers new ways to connect to each other and compare notes as to who’s stronger, Hulk or Superman. That said, as the web-based magazine or internet news page has completely superseded essentially anything in print since those early days, quality has become anything but a description I would use when defining fandom-focused internet websites. “Geeks” and “nerds” may have ascended to heights never before realized, but their ability to impart information in a well written and properly edited format has become anything but reality.

Comic book news websites are a dime-a-dozen, presently. Many have an agenda that can get under your skin, especially if you have an aversion to one publishing house or another. Waddle on over to www.Newsarama.com to see one particular sort of agenda and their impractical “reviews” of certain titles. I’m not going to focus on what their agenda is, you’ll see it for yourself if you wish to spend precious time there. I don’t recommend it. CBR, Comic Book Resources, has a better organized and better edited site with some exceptional writers and reviewers, but it too gets bogged down in the stupid minutiae of promotional blathering that all media seems to think viewers and readers want. It would be easier to avoid it at their site (www.comicbookresources.com) if they didn’t make sure that all their “Entertainment Tonight”-lite reporting wasn’t pushed hard and fast like it is. For a true, honest and up front agenda, there is Bleeding Cool. Headed up by Rich Johnston, famed dirt digger of many a rumor, exposer of many a cover-up, etcetera, etc… Bleeding Cool maintains its stance on being the comic book version of WikiLeaks with news and reviews and other such nerdy esoterica. Bleeding Cool also has a monthly print magazine, making it a throwback organization that I took to when it got going in 2009. It has definitely been hit or miss, and lately it’s been more miss than hit. So, when a call went out for coverage reporters for the 2014 New York Comic Con, I graciously offered up my services. After a week of discerning consideration, that is. 

Here’s a snippet of my response to the call: “If you're looking for someone that will hit the places most of your typical reporters do not go, I'm your guy. I've done interviews with creators for websites before and do not have issues with doing so, though I've never been comfortable with the format. I've done coverage of panels for Jennifer Contino (once, for NYCC 4, I believe) and despised it. Honestly, I never understood the need to know every silly word being spoken at panels that really don't give the reader more than fannish idiocy.”

Yeah, I didn’t think I’d get the gig, either.

I did, though. Even after passing through the gauntlet that the NYCC makes even press people go through to get a badge. Once securing the badge approval, I then needed to start thinking of who I wanted to see and what I wanted to do at the con, plus find a place to stay cheaply. Over the months of June through September, I did what I could to plot out the convention proper. I had to wait until late August and September to form up a plan for the show, as many announcements of guests, panels and exhibitors weren’t announced until then. As a non-techie sort of person (I still have a flip phone) I had never really paid much attention to the NYCC website before, other than looking at guest and vendor lists. The site is extremely user friendly, especially for those that need to plan out their days at the show. It allows you to go in and create your own account, which you then can select all the guests, panels and exhibitors you want to visit. It then loads your selections into a format you can look at in various forms, so you can avoid missing anything you want or need to get to. It’s quite nice, if a little clunky in viewable form. It’s likely easier if you have a smart phone, but I wouldn’t know.

Before the convention weekend, I had worked out what I wanted to do, where I wanted to go, who I wanted to visit and the panels (all two of them) I wanted to cover for Bleeding Cool. I had a general plan for what else I was aiming to do at the show, plus try and visit with a few celebs I thought would be fun to meet, if I had time and the lines weren’t crazy. I was trepidatious, bothered by what the chaos factor would bring me, already annoyed at what I knew was going to be a massive crowd, concerned at both the weak internet connectivity at the Jacob Javitz Center and my own aging laptop, and my rather tiny amount of funds I had with me. The weekend of October 9-12, 2014 was proving to be both exciting and exasperating and I hadn’t even left home.

More tomorrow (or Monday) as I explain just what the hell is wrong with these big shows.

See, I'm Press.