NYCC 12: Friday Recap

My first day at NYCC started off a little later than expected due to some more work on http://NJGetOFF.com. After being told to go in the wrong entrance by several different yellow shirts, I finally made my way to the press check-in area on the other end of the convention. It was one tiny little section amidst the exhibitor & professional registration.

I picked up my badge & made my way over to the autographing area since it was in a new spot this year. Once again, there were lines that seemed to go on forever & tables with no wait at all. I liked the individual booths they had last year for some of the people that would stick around the whole weekend, like Brian O’Halloran but I didn’t see any of those this time. After snapping a few (dozen) photos of the autographing area, variant stages & Quidditch match (yes, Quidditch!), I made my way to the show floor.

I was too late for the major panels I hoped to attend, namely Kevin Smith Presents Comic Book Men live, so I decided to just spend a few hours walking the show floor. I hit up every booth I had set out to visit but was disappointed to see a continuing trend from last year had been repeated; very few cinema-related booths. Aside from Legendary, Magnet, IFC Midnight, Glass Eye Pix & of course, Troma, there were no other booths for any film studios. And of all those booths, the only major studio was Legendary although they were also promoting Legendary comics. I did later come across one for the film IRON SKY but After Dark Films & Anchor Bay were sadly missing in action. I always thought it was strange that films that have panels often do not have any booth representing them for the full weekend and that was especially disappointing this year, if only because I want some cool EVIL DEAD swag.

Wandering the show floor, another thing was immediately apparent; this year was even bigger than last. All 4 days were sold out prior to the convention. There was no on-site ticket purchasing & those numbers were well-reflected inside where it was damn near impossible to navigate some of the aisles. This was also reflected in the cell phone dead zone the convention center has become. The costumes were also been impressive this year although there hasn’t been too many that totally blew me away yet. This one did seem pretty out of place though…

I only have one interview lined up for tomorrow & a few panels I would like to attend but I’ll see if I can get a few more surprises to cover. For now, I’ll leave you with a quick message from Lloyd Kaufman about how you can watch hundreds of movies for free!

Jerry Cavallaro – www.JerryCavallaro.com