As New York Comic Con gets bigger and bigger, it becomes impossible to take it all in, and no matter how well we plan for it, inevitably things don’t work out. Here is our breakdown of one of the fastest going conventions in the United States.
Thursday goals included attending the 88MPH: A Celebration of Back to the Future, a panel about DC Comics imprint Vertigo’s new #1s, attempting to get into the Viz Media/Musashi Kishimoto panel, and finishing out the day at MootCon4 to talk to people about the Game of Theories webseries. While not an entirely adventurous schedule, the sheer amount of people made it impossible to navigate the exhibit hall (or the smaller, craft/creator filled area called The Block) in a timely manner. New York Comic Con was wall to wall cosplayers in different Doc & Marty costumes (and a TON of Rick & Morty costumes as well), some so well done, several double takes were needed to make sure we didn’t accidentally walk by Christopher Lloyd himself. We had to slowly step our way to the Image booth where we met up with comic creator Ivan Brandon for a scheduled interview, before attempting to make headway toward the Funko booth, hoping to get our eyeballs on some of those exclusives! There were many promotional life-size POP! figures to promote the upcoming Smuggler’s Bounty, and it was difficult to tear ourselves away and re-evaluate our plan as the hour grew late. It was here our paths split, with Tushar checking out the Games and Education panel, Kaitlyn calling it a day, and Leia preparing for a long evening of line waiting to spend an hour in the same room as Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto, before preparing for day two.
As the weekend progressed, we saw the floors even MORE packed than before and our weary correspondents loaded up their schedule with panels. First, however, Kaitlyn and Leia wandered over to the Audible booth to try out the immersive Locke & Key experience via Oculus Rift, before an interview with Sean Lewis and Benjamin Mackey, newbies in the comic industry. Artist Alley was a sight to behold this year, with greedy fingers reaching for art prints on our way to interview Justin Jordan, and get some stuff signed.
Now despite the name “New York Comic Con,” non-comic media, like television, was there in force too. The folks at Adult Swim were up to their old tricks again with roundtables for Venture Bros, Robot Chicken, and the new miniseries airing soon, Neon Joe, Werewolf Hunter. (You can check out our preview at Adult Swim at NYCC – Neon Joe, Werewolf Hunter). Getting to meet TV personalities like Jon Glaser, Stephanie March, Breckin Meyer and the crazy duo of Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick went exactly as we thought it would go. Antics upon hijinks upon gut busting laughter. It was tough to get through the whole thing without addressing Stephanie March as anything other than “Assistant District Attorney Alexandra Cabot,” but ultimately composure was kept and we found that she, along with the rest of the Adult Swim actor corps, were super cool and friendly people.
TV wasn’t the only non-comic media to make a splash this year. Video games made their presence felt too. If you had (like we did) a bit of trouble getting through the main entrance to the con floor because of a pure sea of concentrated humanity, you were probably going by the Capcom booth. Lining the booth was an army of Street Fighter enthusiasts, and it WAS possible (but not probable) to slither your way in to get a crack at seeing some gameplay from Street Fighter V. The game played faster than its predecessor Street Fighter IV, and you could see some of the classic cast like Karin making their return from the Alpha/Zero series of Street Fighter games. There was a tournament going on as well, so there was always the chance that if you went in to get schooled, it would be public on a lot of large screens.
Square-Enix decided to take the quieter route and had a media suite set up a Shop Studios, just a couple blocks away from the Javits Center. It was nice to get away from the bustle of the con floor for guided demos of their games to small groups of people, and the fact that they fed us definitely did not hurt the experience. Making the rounds through Shop Studios we saw the upcoming Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (check out our preview here), Hitman, Just Cause 3, and the finale to Life Is Strange with Episode 5. The biggest and friendliest surprise though was that Lara Croft: GO wasn’t the only appearance our girl Lara Croft made that day. The full playable demo of Rise of the Tomb Raider looked and played absolutely great.
The Star Wars franchise decided to take an in between approach, setting up their Star Wars Battle Pods outside of the con floor but still inside the Javits Center, making it easy to get to and a beacon of the force as people entered the building. The battle pods let you take command of a few different vehicles from the Star Wars universe, from going on a Death Star bombing run in an X-Wing to trying to hang on for dear life on a speedbike on Endor. Either way, the ride was complete with vibration and pod shakes that one would presumably feel taking your X-wing out of the hangar.
Our last day was spent tying up loose ends, such as taking photos of the creepiest cosplay we could find, picking up more stuff to give away to you guys, and making our last stop at the phenomenal Women of Marvel panel, before shambling off home.
Be sure to check out our other convention coverage and we hope to see you guys in the future! We can’t wait for next year, and leave you with this awesome cosplay video from our friends, SneakyZebra.
In case you haven’t already, don’t forget that we are giving away a bunch of stuff for those of you who didn’t get to attend! Enter below.
As October draws to a close, it’s time for our annual NYCC giveaway!
Items include, but are not limited to:
1 x FFXIV Carbuncle Promo Hat
1 x FFXIV Heavensward Promo Mask
1 x Naruto Promo Headband
1 x TMNT Raphael Promo Headband
1 x DC Superhero Girls Promo Cape
1 x Locke & Key Free Audible Code/Bookmark
2 x set of The Mortal Instruments: Shadowhunters temporary tattoos
1 x Steven Universe mini print
AND MORE!
All items will be packaged in a durable Square Enix bag and shipped inside of a box that you can wear as a Lego head! How do you enter? Complete any task below before November 1st for an entry as shown, and we will draw someone randomly. Good luck!
Sub Cultured’s NYCC 2015 Giveaway!
Leia Calderon
Editor
@ladyvader99
After our conversation with Cuban writer Ivan Brandon (Drifter) at New York Comic Con, we felt a push to highlight some more Hispanic comic creators and artists during the last days of Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15- October 15). Check out if your favorite artists made the list below as well as in part 1 and part 2 and be pleased as we were to note that most of them sit at the top of our lists of favorite artists of all time.
Raphael Albuquerque
This talented Brazilian artist is best known for his work on Blue Beetle and as the co-creator with Scott Snyder of American Vampire, which won the Eisner Award for best new series in 2011.
Gustavo Duarte
This Brazilian cartoonist and illustrator is currently working on DC’s adorable Bizarro with Heath Corson. His previous works have been collected and published by Dark Horse.
Phil Jimenez
This openly gay half Irish-half Mexican American artist is known for his LGTBQ advocacy as well as his award-winning tenure in the industry. He is loved for his collaborations with Grant Morrison (New X-Men, The Invisibles) as well as his run on Wonder Woman.
Kenneth Rocafort
This Puerto Rican artist has been beautifying and sparking controversy in the pages DC comics with his work on Red Hood and the Outlaws and Teen Titans. His work has been consistently unique and gorgeous since his days on Wolverine/Punisher and Madam Mirage.
Alvaro Lopez
Inkers never get enough love from comic fans, so we decided to mention this prolific Spanish artist who has worked on both Marvel, DC titles.
Edgar Delgado
In our interview with Ivan Brandon at NYCC, we commiserated on our inability to name any Hispanic colorists. Luckily, Brandon was able to save the day. This Mexican colorist has worked on Marvel titles including The Amazing Spider-Man and World War Hulks.
George Perez
This legendary Puerto Rican artist defined DC and Marvel comics in the 1970’s and 1980’s in the pages of Teen Titans, Avengers, and Wonder Woman.
Javier Rodriguez
This Spanish illustrator and colorist is best known for his lovely work on Batgirl: Year One and The Amazing Spider-Man and Daredevil.
Quick, push us to compose a pt 4 before Hispanic Heritage Month ends on October 15th! Shout out your favorite Hispanic Artists in the comments below.
Kaitlyn D
Content Editor
@deadrabbit92
September 15-October 15 is Hispanic Heritage Month in the US, which gives us a great opportunity to feature our favorite Hispanic comic creators. From capes to the very last man, these writers and artists have contributed years of talent and creativity to the industry and have definitely earned more credit than we can dish out in a single month. Be sure to check out part 2 and part 3 as well!
Gabriel Bá and Fabio Moon
Twin Brazilian-born brothers are giants of the industry who have collaborated on several titles including Daytripper and BPRD. Bá remains always in our hearts as the stellar artist of the too brief run of Umbrella Academy with writer Gerard Way.
Pia Guerra
This half-Chilean artist is best known for her collaboration with writer Brian K. Vaughan on the iconic Y-The Last Man. It’s sort of like being best known for inventing the lightbulb. It is impossible to give Guerra enough credit for her brilliant work on a series that has introduced comic books to so many first-time readers.
Eduardo Risso
We talk about 100 Bullets fairly often here at Sub-Cultured, and the art of Argentine Risso is probably more than half the reason. Risso has been in comics for decades and has drawn iconic characters for both Marvel and DC.
Gabriel Rodriguez
All of the artists on this list boast unique styles, but this Chilean artist’s work on the superb Locke and Key teases the line of disturbing, but settles firmly on genius. In 2015 he won an Eisner Award for Little Nemo: Return to Slumberland and was the first Chilean artist to do so.
Jorge Molina
This Mexican Marvel artist is currently all over the Marvel universe on covers of big titles like Thor, X-Men, and controversial A-Force.
Joe Quesada
Without question, this Cuban-American artist, and former Editor-in-Chief over at the tiny shop that is Marvel Comics, is an industry titan. It’s been some time since he was known primarily as a penciler but he’s stepped back into the creative sphere as the Chief Creative Office over at the home of the X-Men, Fantastic Four, and The Avengers.
David Aja
As an Eisner Award winning artist of Hawkeye and The Immortal Iron Fist, this Spanish artist pushed the superhero genre to new and exciting levels. We can’t wait to see what he will be working on next.
Jules Rivera
This Puerto Rican artist and writer does a ton of freelance work with publishers like IDW. She has published two graphic novels, Valkyrie Squadron and Misfortune High.
Humberto Ramos
This Mexican artist has dabbled in producing creator-owned content, including Crimson, and founded the Cliffhanger imprint at Wildstorm. He has worked on both Spider-Man and X-men titles and his manga-influenced style found a too brief home on a post-Vaughan Runaways.
Javier Hernandez
As owner of private imprint Los Comex, this Mexican-American artist is the creator of the popular El Muerto: The Aztec Zombie. He is also a founder of the Latin0 Comic Expo in San José, California.
Celebrate you favorite Hispanic creators this month by singing their praises in the comments!
Kaitlyn D’Agostino
Editor
@deadrabbit92