Event Wrap-Up: New York Comic Con 2012

New York Comic Con 2012
Date: Thursday, October 11th – Sunday, October 14th
Venue: Jacob K. Javitz Center, New York, New York

The largest comic convention on the East Coast kicked off on Thursday, October 11th in New York City as thousands of rabid comic/pop culture fans made their way through the streets and subways to converge on the Jacob K. Javitz Center. The sprawling 4 level convention center has been the site of the event since its inception and seems to be a fitting home. With 2011 Convention attendance being reported as over 105,000 attendees for the three days this year’s events would be sure to top that number.

This year’s con featured several highly anticipated events and booths which were hot beds of action during all three days of the convention. Square Enix was on hand to promote their highly anticipated video game reboot of the popular “Tomb Raider” game. Lines stretched for what seemed like days as costume clad fans waited to get a glimpse of the new game. The new version of the game features an archery element and to capitalize on that feature fans were given the opportunity to test their archery skills on a real life archery range. This booth along with the mega sized “Just Dance 4” display featuring the newly moved Brooklyn Nets NBA cheerleaders were major highlights for gamers. Another notable mention was the crew from “Assassin’s Creed III”. The new game will be released in November and though their booth wasn’t as impressive as others the game looks amazing and really spoke for its self.

Artist Alley was a non-stop sea of comic fans waiting to meet their favorite artists and have their books signed. Several new titles were being showcased one of which titled “Gekido” written by Greg Weich and Brandon Wilson features celebrities Coco Austin and Adrianne Curry as you guessed it, super heroes! Also on hand to meet fans was the legendary Stan Lee, Claudio Sanchez owner of Evil Ink Comics and lead singer/guitarist for the music group Coheed and Cambria as well as Slipknot/Stone Sour vocalist Cory Taylor who was on hand promoting his 4 book mini series titled “House of Gold & Bones. The series being released via Dark Horse comics will coincide with Stone Sour’s next two albums “House of Gold & Bones Part 1 and 2”.

As we made our way down to the Autographing area which seemed worlds away from the constant bustle and activity happening on the main floor it was nice to get a breath of fresh air and be able to spread out a little bit as this floor of the show seemed a bit less crowed even though there were several big name stars going through sharpies like crazy. Carrie Fisher of “Star Wars” fame had impressive lines throughout the event despite the $60.00 charge which seemed to be the highest of the convention. Also signing throughout the weekend was “Harry Potter” star Tom Felton, Christopher Lloyd and Adam West. However the most impressive lines were for those of writer Anne Rice and Kirk Hammett guitarist of Metallica who was on hand promoting his new horror collection book titled “Too Much Horror Business”.

After returning from the subterranean depths of the autograph area I braved the main floor of the convention which at all points in time was shoulder to shoulder people many clad in their favorite comic/film character costumes. With this many people, exhibits and vendors crammed in to one space trying to look at the masses of comics and merchandise on hand was a bit difficult. Once here you could find everything from Lego’s and replica weaponry to the latest Marvel edition Vans sneakers. There really was something for everyone in this section of the hall. In fact there was just so much stuff to see it made my head spin and almost hurt from sensory overload.

Before making my way back home I checked out several of the impressively assembled panels which are always a highlight of these conventions. Right off the bat was the headliner of all headliners “The Walking Dead” panel. With a good number of the cast on hand to answer questions lines in to the IGN Theater stretched on for what seemed like eternity. Prior to the Q/A session fans were treated to a sneak peak of season 3’s first episode which premiered on 10/14 and only excited me and other fans even further for the shows return. Other notable panels throughout the weekend including those put on by Adult Swim, the Stephen King “Carrie” reboot featuring Chloe Grace Moretz which looks to be an interested revision and “The Following” a thriller featuring Kevin Bacon and James Purefoy.

After a long and tiring weekend I can now say that I survived the 2012 New York Comic Con. Though at times the lines were long and I needed to dodge several would be attacks from costume clad attendants a good time was had by all. The organizers of the event handled everyone like pro’s and were always courteous when you had a question. If you can only attend one convention on the east coast make sure it’s the New York Comic Con.

Event Wrap-Up: New York Comic Con 2012

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