What “Press” Really Means at NYCC

Since the New York Comic Con started in 2006, I have attended all but three of them. I may not have attended every day of each weekend, but I did make an appearance when I could. The show has grown exponentially since it began, to the point where it was announced it came close to topping attendance figures of the San Diego Comic-Con in 2012, then announcing it surpassed them this year. Whether or not that’s true is food for debate, which those of you that have been to both shows of recent years can compare notes to. Not bad growth for a show that only had a portion of the Javitz Center available to them in 2006. Now, the show is run by a group from Norwalk, CT called ReedPop, a portion of the much larger, international group called Reed Exhibitions, essentially an organization that runs conventions for the purpose of promotions and profit. Prior to the NYCC, they were known for running conventions that focused on books, book distributing and libraries. They had never done a comic con before. Now, ReedPop runs NYCC, C2E2 in Chicago, and quite a few other conventions that you might not be aware of. They have a site themselves, www.reedpop.com, that you can visit if you really want to be that guy (or girl).

I did press coverage at NYCC once before, but not with a press badge. I volunteered my time to cover some panels and other curiosities at one of the early shows, either the third or fourth con, for one of the news pages connected to the old Comicon.com site. (www.Comicon.com still exists, though I’m not sure what the draw is these days) I was already going to the show with a Professional badge, so I wasn’t going to be switching to a Press badge for any reason. Plus, it seemed extremely difficult to do so. As I wasn’t officially press, I wasn’t able to use the press room to type up coverage and send it in. In fact, I discovered two things at the Javitz Center for that year, which remain to date: the WiFi in the building wasn’t free and it was extremely tetchy. Couple that with my absolute dislike of panel coverage and the fact most of what I sent in got deleted in a website glitch, well, I couldn’t envision myself ever wanting to do press coverage again.

Earlier in this year, I found myself reading a variety of Bleeding Cool coverage of conventions, comics and films that just rankled. Poorly written, poorly edited and poorly thought out, I was feeling as though the site had fallen to the point of it being a fan site and not professionally organized. When the call for coverage reporters went out and I responded, I had lofty goals. Let the goons go out and follow around the stars of Star Trek: The Next Generation until they were stopped by Denise Crosby’s bodyguard. Let the slathering mooks wait in line with the sweaty, teeming masses hoping to catch their first view of the new Constantine show (which is not good, for those of you thinking it is). I wanted to follow a different tack and apparently, the editors of the site thought it wasn’t a bad idea, either.

Having signed up on the NYCC page as a reporter for Bleeding Cool, I started getting numerous daily emails of upcoming premieres and interview opportunities in the weeks prior to the con and through the con weekend. Some of them had very, very little to do with the show itself, more aimed at a special weeklong celebration of geek culture in Manhattan, coinciding up to the dates of the show. Some of them were extremely tempting, but as I wasn’t going to be paid to attend these, it became a regular thing for me to regrettably delete them from my inbox. Would I have liked to go see Martin Scorcese premiere his newest film and review it? Sure. Would I have enjoyed swinging into a hotel space where numerous new video games were being shown off while free food and drinks were being offered? Hell, yes! Regardless, Bleeding Cool wasn’t going to pay for my gas to get there much less per word for any article. And considering how little I enjoy sitting down and transcribing insipid, boring interviews… let’s just say payment would have certainly changed that opinion of the format.

I took the train from the Fairfield station (thanks Bryan) into New York, arriving early enough to get to the Javitz Center over an hour early, but too late to try and get into an organized table interview with the persons at the US Postal Service who were behind the Batman 75^th Anniversary celebratory stamps that I was interested in dropping in on. Even so, as I rolled up on the shuttle bus from Grand Central Terminal to the Jacob Javitz Center, I could not believe the sheer amount of people standing outside, waiting to get into the building. It was Thursday, the 9^th of October, traditionally a day that doesn’t let the public in until around 4, allowing the floor of the show to professionals, press, comic store owners and librarians to peruse for a few hours unfettered. It wasn’t even 11 am and it looked like 10, 15, maybe 20 thousand people were already milling about the building. My stomach sank into my gut as I already wanted to go find my favorite pub nearby, Twins. And it wasn’t because I had to hear the usual geek speak on the shuttle about who was better, Neil Gaiman’s Sandman or anything written by Warren Ellis. (Sandman, you fuckwits. Ellis has problems not wanking onto his own work to think he’s anything but a meaner, less tolerable version of those bus geeks…)

Finding my way up to the Press and Pro doorway, the “Blue” door, for those unaware, I stumbled my way into the building, grabbed a lanyard for my badge and headed to the, wait. What is this now? A security bag check! How surprising! I’m not sure whether that’s new for this year or if it started in 2013, but it certainly was an eye opener. I guess with that many people expected, it’s only necessary. The security staff was pleasant and very vocal as to what they were searching for: weaponry. I let them look through both my bags and on I went, headed to the end of the line, where my badge would be checked.

Ah, the badge. While it wasn’t new for 2014, it was new to me. The badge came with an interior RFID chip, which you would scan as you went in, and scan as you left the building. Considering the overcrowding that has occurred at the Javitz Center in the past, as well as the rampant counterfeit badges that happened during the 2012 con, (I was offered 500 bucks for my 4 Day Pro badge on a Saturday for mine) I can see the need and want to do something of this nature. Then again… counterfeit badges to get into a comic convention? Really?

Regardless, my badge was real and I immediately went to find the bag check area so I could dump off my overnight garbage and head onto the floor. Or not. Come to find out, the convention was opening up the floor to everyone at noon, since they had changed their badge policies and sold more tickets by opening the day up like so. Quite the hassle to find out, as I was told by a NYCC staffer.

With an hour to kill before even I would be let in, I walked around, regaining my bearings of that portion of Manhattan. I was invited to a Bleeding Cool gathering at the nearby McDonald’s at noon, but I had other plans and opted out. Since there were going to be daily gatherings at the site over the weekend, It wasn’t a big issue. I texted a few people (you know who you are) and worked out what I wanted to see as quickly as I could. And then it all blew up in my face.

Tuesday, It’s all about Thursday.