Bass
Nexus of the World
Awesome diary Ice-dood!
New York Comic-Con '08 Diary.
- Thread starter Ice
- Start date
thee great one
Master of TOG-fu.
Even comic people know Bass is a terrorist!
Seldes Katne
Site mom
New York Comicon
Saturday, April 19th
Actually managed to get out of bed at 5:45 a.m. In the morning. When it's not even light out yet. (Seriously, this is a minor miracle -- the only time I see 5 a.m. is if I haven't gone to bed yet. I'm not a morning person. The fact that I don't drink coffee does not help.) I meet my car-pool partner at 6:20 a.m. He's the dad of a family of kids who come to the library fairly regularly, so aside from the fact that he's a DC Comics fanatic and I'm not, I'm not too worried about driving to New York with him. My parents, however, are very worried. I've left them my cell phone number.
Oh, yes, I've finally acquired a cell phone. I dislike it intensely, but I've found that it can be used as a Force For Good, so I tolerate it.
After driving into Pennsylvania and feeding the car (since when did gasoline get to be $3.54 a gallon? It's supposed to be cheaper in PA), I drive across the state, into New Jersey (which is a perfectly nice state -- I don't understand all the jokes about it) and into the Lincoln Tunnel. We are supposed to turn right onto Dyer Avenue, but miss it and end up taking two different streets until we manage to find 34th. We then discover that I'm driving in the wrong direction, so we go around the block and head west instead of east. This works much better, as we suddenly find ourselves driving past the Javits Center. One more time around the block and we locate a parking lot. It costs me more to park the car for the day than it does to get into the con. :?
My driving buddy, in the meantime, promptly deserts me while the attendant is still parking the car, and that's the last I see of him until it's time to go home. Considering the fact that he's talked my ear off for the last three hours, I'm not terribly upset by this. I call my parent to let them know that I have arrived safely, and head across the street to the con.
First I have to get in line to get the ticket (I have my online voucher), and then I have to get in line to get into the convention. However, while I'm waiting, I get to play with the phone and discover that Ice has called me two or three times already this morning. (Ooops. I don't remember what my ringtone sounds like.
) In the meantime, I glance up and see none other than Stan Lee walking up and down the line, shaking hands with people and thanking them for coming to the con. He does this for a good five or six minutes, and then security escorts him away.
The line moves pretty quickly, and I'm in the con for the first presentation I want to see, "Make Mine Marvel", where the presenter is interviewing a series of Marvel authors. None of whom I've heard of, so I duck out early and try to get my bearings. Having gotten ahold of Ice, I will be meeting him later, so I get lunch at one of the convention center cafeterias. If you ever visit the Javits Center, do yourself a favor and eat somewhere else. The "orange chicken" had the texture of something that had been cooked the day before, and the rice was lukewarm. And no ice in the soda machine. Next time I'll just fast.
Whatever Ice and his party have been attending is over at noon, so after two unsuccessful attempts, I find him at the back of the Dealers' Room. (Part of the problem is that I can't hear him on the phone over the conversations of 200 other people....) It's good exercise, I suppose. I've been trying to stay out of the Dealers' Room, since the last time I attended a con I bought about $70 worth of stuff, but I'm willing to make an exception for this. On the way up I catch a glimpse of a woman in a costume that shows off far more of her anatomy from the back than anyone other than her doctor should ever see. :shock: (I wanted to go over and offer her my jacket. I hope she didn't wear that same outfit for Kids' Day on Sunday.)
So I find Ice and his brother (who always looks kind of unhappy to be anywhere the few times I've seen him) (or maybe he just doesn't want to have a middle-aged woman hanging around), and we get caught up on Ice's con experience before his friend arrives (Ice, refresh my memory on his name, please -- I really should be getting it by now). We wander around some of the booths before we meet up with Dr. Strangefate, who is much taller in person than he is on the Internet, if that makes any sense. I've already seen a couple of places I want to visit before I leave for the day.
We finally all part company and I'm off to the Orson Scott Card Spotlight presentation. I won't bore people with what was said there (I only stayed for part of it). Running at the same time was the Literary Superheroes panel. I was hoping this would be a discussion of superhero prose literature, but it was mostly Owen King (Stephen King's son) and editor John McNally and artist Chris Burnham pitching a new book, Who Can Save Us Now? Brand-New Superheroes and their Amazing (Short) Stories. It's an anthology of original superhero stories due out in June. (Later I will swing over to the Simon and Schuster booth and pick up a booklet that contains four of the stories and four pieces of art that will appear in the book. It's pretty good stuff.) Owen King reads an excerpt from his story about a fellow who gains the powers of a meercat. Yes, you read that right -- a meercat. (It's funny. Read the book.) During the question and answer segment, a couple of people do mention prose stories featuring superheroes, including Soon I Will Be Invincible, by Austin Grossman.
The next panel is "New York City Through Its Authors", where several authors currently living in New York talk about how the city has influenced their work. I have an ulterior motive for attending this panel -- I'm hoping author Mo Willems will be be there, because I have a book I'd like him to sign for someone I work with at Barnes and Noble. No such luck. Mr. Willems will be attending tomorrow, but is not at this discussion today.
I take a break before heading off to the Top Cow panel at 3:00 p.m. Here Seth Green is talking about his book Freshmen, there is a trailer for a Top Cow property movie coming out (based on the book Wanted), and talks about new releases. Two of the books in particular, Lady Pendragon and Genius, sound particularly interesting to me. Newsarama has published an article on the panel.
I finally go shopping. I mostly behave myself this time -- four graphic novels (two Hulk, one Dr. Strange, and one that I've never heard of before but that looks kid-friendly) (oh, and all at half price), the booklet I mentioned earlier, and a free paperback by Sherrilyn Kenyon, of whom I've at least heard. (I think she writes paranormal romance novels. I don't read a lot of romance, but I have seen her name.) It all fits in the backpack. I forget to go in search of the Franklin Richards trade Ice's friend bought earlier, but my LCS owner is happy to order it for me later.
Then it's off to the Cup 'o Joe panel, where I'm supposed to meet everyone. It's a mob scene. Well, a fairly polite mob scene, to be honest, but it seems as though half the con attendees are going to this one. I'm about 10 feet away from Ice, but can't get to him through the crowd. So they let us through in groups of eight or ten, and I meet up with Ice and fellow UC-ite Dancanread. Dr. Strangefate is in the room somewhere, but his cell phone appears to be non-functional. I can only stay for the early announcements, because I'm supposed to meet my traveling buddy. This is where we learn about the Marvel Apes project and other strange stuff. I then shake hands with people and head out.
I'll spare you details of the trip home (which, thanks to a missed exit, took two hours longer than expected). I was surprised how easy it was to get to the convention center. If I do this again another year, I'll 1) go by myself, and 2) get a hotel outside the city in New Jersey and just drive in. It probably won't be next year, but maybe the year after.
It was fun, although a bit rushed.
Saturday, April 19th
Actually managed to get out of bed at 5:45 a.m. In the morning. When it's not even light out yet. (Seriously, this is a minor miracle -- the only time I see 5 a.m. is if I haven't gone to bed yet. I'm not a morning person. The fact that I don't drink coffee does not help.) I meet my car-pool partner at 6:20 a.m. He's the dad of a family of kids who come to the library fairly regularly, so aside from the fact that he's a DC Comics fanatic and I'm not, I'm not too worried about driving to New York with him. My parents, however, are very worried. I've left them my cell phone number.
Oh, yes, I've finally acquired a cell phone. I dislike it intensely, but I've found that it can be used as a Force For Good, so I tolerate it.
After driving into Pennsylvania and feeding the car (since when did gasoline get to be $3.54 a gallon? It's supposed to be cheaper in PA), I drive across the state, into New Jersey (which is a perfectly nice state -- I don't understand all the jokes about it) and into the Lincoln Tunnel. We are supposed to turn right onto Dyer Avenue, but miss it and end up taking two different streets until we manage to find 34th. We then discover that I'm driving in the wrong direction, so we go around the block and head west instead of east. This works much better, as we suddenly find ourselves driving past the Javits Center. One more time around the block and we locate a parking lot. It costs me more to park the car for the day than it does to get into the con. :?
My driving buddy, in the meantime, promptly deserts me while the attendant is still parking the car, and that's the last I see of him until it's time to go home. Considering the fact that he's talked my ear off for the last three hours, I'm not terribly upset by this. I call my parent to let them know that I have arrived safely, and head across the street to the con.
First I have to get in line to get the ticket (I have my online voucher), and then I have to get in line to get into the convention. However, while I'm waiting, I get to play with the phone and discover that Ice has called me two or three times already this morning. (Ooops. I don't remember what my ringtone sounds like.
) In the meantime, I glance up and see none other than Stan Lee walking up and down the line, shaking hands with people and thanking them for coming to the con. He does this for a good five or six minutes, and then security escorts him away. The line moves pretty quickly, and I'm in the con for the first presentation I want to see, "Make Mine Marvel", where the presenter is interviewing a series of Marvel authors. None of whom I've heard of, so I duck out early and try to get my bearings. Having gotten ahold of Ice, I will be meeting him later, so I get lunch at one of the convention center cafeterias. If you ever visit the Javits Center, do yourself a favor and eat somewhere else. The "orange chicken" had the texture of something that had been cooked the day before, and the rice was lukewarm. And no ice in the soda machine. Next time I'll just fast.
Whatever Ice and his party have been attending is over at noon, so after two unsuccessful attempts, I find him at the back of the Dealers' Room. (Part of the problem is that I can't hear him on the phone over the conversations of 200 other people....) It's good exercise, I suppose. I've been trying to stay out of the Dealers' Room, since the last time I attended a con I bought about $70 worth of stuff, but I'm willing to make an exception for this. On the way up I catch a glimpse of a woman in a costume that shows off far more of her anatomy from the back than anyone other than her doctor should ever see. :shock: (I wanted to go over and offer her my jacket. I hope she didn't wear that same outfit for Kids' Day on Sunday.)
So I find Ice and his brother (who always looks kind of unhappy to be anywhere the few times I've seen him) (or maybe he just doesn't want to have a middle-aged woman hanging around
), and we get caught up on Ice's con experience before his friend arrives (Ice, refresh my memory on his name, please -- I really should be getting it by now). We wander around some of the booths before we meet up with Dr. Strangefate, who is much taller in person than he is on the Internet, if that makes any sense. I've already seen a couple of places I want to visit before I leave for the day.We finally all part company and I'm off to the Orson Scott Card Spotlight presentation. I won't bore people with what was said there (I only stayed for part of it). Running at the same time was the Literary Superheroes panel. I was hoping this would be a discussion of superhero prose literature, but it was mostly Owen King (Stephen King's son) and editor John McNally and artist Chris Burnham pitching a new book, Who Can Save Us Now? Brand-New Superheroes and their Amazing (Short) Stories. It's an anthology of original superhero stories due out in June. (Later I will swing over to the Simon and Schuster booth and pick up a booklet that contains four of the stories and four pieces of art that will appear in the book. It's pretty good stuff.) Owen King reads an excerpt from his story about a fellow who gains the powers of a meercat. Yes, you read that right -- a meercat. (It's funny. Read the book.) During the question and answer segment, a couple of people do mention prose stories featuring superheroes, including Soon I Will Be Invincible, by Austin Grossman.
The next panel is "New York City Through Its Authors", where several authors currently living in New York talk about how the city has influenced their work. I have an ulterior motive for attending this panel -- I'm hoping author Mo Willems will be be there, because I have a book I'd like him to sign for someone I work with at Barnes and Noble. No such luck. Mr. Willems will be attending tomorrow, but is not at this discussion today.
I take a break before heading off to the Top Cow panel at 3:00 p.m. Here Seth Green is talking about his book Freshmen, there is a trailer for a Top Cow property movie coming out (based on the book Wanted), and talks about new releases. Two of the books in particular, Lady Pendragon and Genius, sound particularly interesting to me. Newsarama has published an article on the panel.
I finally go shopping. I mostly behave myself this time -- four graphic novels (two Hulk, one Dr. Strange, and one that I've never heard of before but that looks kid-friendly) (oh, and all at half price), the booklet I mentioned earlier, and a free paperback by Sherrilyn Kenyon, of whom I've at least heard. (I think she writes paranormal romance novels. I don't read a lot of romance, but I have seen her name.) It all fits in the backpack. I forget to go in search of the Franklin Richards trade Ice's friend bought earlier, but my LCS owner is happy to order it for me later.
Then it's off to the Cup 'o Joe panel, where I'm supposed to meet everyone. It's a mob scene. Well, a fairly polite mob scene, to be honest, but it seems as though half the con attendees are going to this one. I'm about 10 feet away from Ice, but can't get to him through the crowd. So they let us through in groups of eight or ten, and I meet up with Ice and fellow UC-ite Dancanread. Dr. Strangefate is in the room somewhere, but his cell phone appears to be non-functional. I can only stay for the early announcements, because I'm supposed to meet my traveling buddy. This is where we learn about the Marvel Apes project and other strange stuff. I then shake hands with people and head out.
I'll spare you details of the trip home (which, thanks to a missed exit, took two hours longer than expected). I was surprised how easy it was to get to the convention center. If I do this again another year, I'll 1) go by myself, and 2) get a hotel outside the city in New Jersey and just drive in. It probably won't be next year, but maybe the year after.
It was fun, although a bit rushed.
Ice
Teh Sexy Monkey Queen
It was awesome seeing Seldes again in person. As always, she's great to talk to.
I'll likely be posting Day 2 tomorrow. Stay tuned!
I'll likely be posting Day 2 tomorrow. Stay tuned!
Dr.Strangefate
He Sees You When You're Sleeping. He Knows When Yo
Maybe I should do one of these diary things.
2 hours of Saturday was me frantically searching for my friend, Doug.
2 hours of Saturday was me frantically searching for my friend, Doug.
Ice
Teh Sexy Monkey Queen
I forgot to put up Day #2, so I'll have to remember to put it up tomorrow after getting home from work.
Anywhos, I'm reading right now Lisa Kwon's (Mark Brook's wife) NYCC trip rap up and I just happened to see a familiar name mentioned...
We settled into Mark's table in Artist Alley. He was sitting next to Mike Oeming and Taki Soma, who are both just adorably cute. The next four hours flew by and we never got away from our table. Thankfully, we had a ton of folks come by and say hello – including a lot of guys on this group – Jason, Mike, Jim, Randy, Chris, Luis, Charles, Hawaiian Dave, David, Leonard, etc. and if I forgot someone here – please forgive me! At 3pm the show opened to the public and we took a commission list for Mark, again seeing lots of familiar faces.
:rockon:
But wait! The fun doesn't stop there my friends!!
That night, Scott was kind enough to get us in to see him perform with the Upright Citizen's Brigade, a great, long-standing comedy improve group. The show was fantastic (Luis can confirm this) – these guys – all veteran actors, performers and writers – are really at the top of their game in a setting like this. We laughed really really hard, and Scott even managed to through in a shout-out to Mark, making an X-men reference in one of the scenes. If you're in NY, we highly recommend this show!!!
It's ture, I can confirm it! :rockon:
Ahh, being mentioned by the comics people. Feels good. 8)
Anywhos, I'm reading right now Lisa Kwon's (Mark Brook's wife) NYCC trip rap up and I just happened to see a familiar name mentioned...
We settled into Mark's table in Artist Alley. He was sitting next to Mike Oeming and Taki Soma, who are both just adorably cute. The next four hours flew by and we never got away from our table. Thankfully, we had a ton of folks come by and say hello – including a lot of guys on this group – Jason, Mike, Jim, Randy, Chris, Luis, Charles, Hawaiian Dave, David, Leonard, etc. and if I forgot someone here – please forgive me! At 3pm the show opened to the public and we took a commission list for Mark, again seeing lots of familiar faces.
:rockon:
But wait! The fun doesn't stop there my friends!!
That night, Scott was kind enough to get us in to see him perform with the Upright Citizen's Brigade, a great, long-standing comedy improve group. The show was fantastic (Luis can confirm this) – these guys – all veteran actors, performers and writers – are really at the top of their game in a setting like this. We laughed really really hard, and Scott even managed to through in a shout-out to Mark, making an X-men reference in one of the scenes. If you're in NY, we highly recommend this show!!!
It's ture, I can confirm it! :rockon:
Ahh, being mentioned by the comics people. Feels good. 8)
Last edited:
Bass
Nexus of the World
:grin:
