New York Comic Con: Awesome and Awesomely Disorganized
In case you weren’t aware, the New York Comic Con was this past weekend, Friday, October 8th to Sunday, October 10th. It was an awesome time, even if the event was really disorganized. It was a weekend packed with panels, signings, special guests, and lots of costumes. Despite the event being rather (or super) disorganized, the weekend was a good time anyway, especially if you enjoy pop culture. Luckily, Joey and I do!
Joey and I got a late start on Friday. We didn’t get to the con until around 7 PM. We rushed right away to theMonsters panel. The director, Gareth Edwards, discussed the upcoming monster movie. They apparently started with an outline of the script and let the actors tell the story. Edwards felt it was more organic that way.
Before the panel, I was pumped to see the movie, but after seeing the clips I cannot wait until this movie comes out. This movie is seriously going to be the next District 9; the director called it “the most realistic monster movie ever made.” It looks so great! Since we didn’t get to the con until late, this panel was the only thing we got to do. But it was a great way to spend a Friday night, that’s for sure. Check out the trailer here. Also, we stopped by the Venture Bros. panel, but they had no updates or previews, so we called it a night.
We were there when the doors opened on Saturday because we had a full plate of things to do. First, we saw Stan Lee!
He was standing in a booth on the show floor and we just happened to walk by him. Very cool. Next, we wanted to get Cary Elwes autograph during the Saw 3D signings, go to the Nick Swardson panel, see theSouth Park sneak peak, and walk the floor.
The only thing we ended up doing was the walking the show floor. We waited in line for two hours for Cary Elwes and we didn’t even get an autograph. Here’s what happened: we showed up for the autograph signing at 1:15 (for the signing at 2), and there was no line for the Saw signing. We asked three or four volunteers about the line and no one knew about the Saw line. There was a Bruce Campbell line and another line, but no line for Cary Elwes and company. So, we left and came back 20 minutes later… the line was about 400 people long. This was the ONLY thing I wanted to do all weekend, so we got in line. Two hours later, we watched as Cary Elwes walked past us. There was no announcement about the end of the autographs for them. To say I was disappointed would be a gross understatement. Also, the autograph lines butted up against artist alley booths, so the lines really had nowhere to go if they got long. It was not good. We got close enough to get a few good shots, however.
We missed the Nick Swardson panel because the line was so long and even if we waited in it, there was no way to know we’d get in the room. The con was overcrowded and disorganized. I do not think the ReedPop Company had enough volunteers for the weekend, and especially on Saturday. The volunteers were also not very informed. It led to a very confusing and frustrating time trying to cover things because of this. (It even took us about 30 minutes to find the press room because no one could tell us where it was!)
On the other hand, the fans and the costumes! We saw some awesome costumes over the course of the weekend. My favorites were the many Scott Pilgrims, the Iron Mans, and one very impressive Hulk costume. The Batman villains were a popular group costume—there were plenty of Jokers, Riddlers, Harley Quinns, and Poison Ivys. The top costume? “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” from the Old Spice commercials. It was hilarious!
Sunday was a better day, as there was less volume on the floor. Don’t misunderstand me; it was still very crowded. It was impossible to walk around and just browse, which is to be expected as the rumors say there were 90,000 people there over the weekend. However, we got to walk around the show floor and make purchases. Joey got a pretty awesome shirt (of course, it was Star Wars related) and I got some Mad Men paper dolls (Hooray!). Also, if either of us had any money, I would have let Joey buy an awesome Storm Trooper lamp. Sigh…
The best part of the weekend was the panels we attended on Sunday. We went to the M. Night Shyamalan and MTV panel for the 10th anniversary of Unbreakable. This was the first comic convention Shyamalan had ever done. It was really interesting and we learned a lot about a movie Joey and I love. The movie was written with Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson in mind, which I didn’t know. Also, Samuel L. Jackson’s hair was based on Frederick Douglass’s look. The MTV interviewer also asked about the chances of an Unbreakable 2. Shyamalan didn’t say no, but he sort of skirted around the question. He explained that he was really hurt by the critical and audience reaction and couldn’t really deal with what it all meant. Poor guy.
What was really great and intensely interesting was when M. Night presented his storyboards of the first scene of the movie. He actually came down off the stage to see the screens better and discussed each storyboard from the upside-down little girl to David Dunn removing his wedding ring to the end of the scene. It was incredible to see that kind of insight to the movie. We learned about how he chose each shot and actually built the train car to be able to achieve all the things he wanted. He also gave an explanation on why he doesn’t do director’s commentaries. He said, “They are like gynecologic exams.” Hilarious. He also admitted that he cries at Extreme Home Makeover.
We stayed in the room for The Walking Dead panel. Joey and I had been waiting for this panel all weekend. We were glad we got to stay in the room from the Unbreakable panel to this panel. We were so afraid they were going to make us leave! Thankfully, they didn’t and we got to stay for it. The panel included Robert Kirkman (creator of the graphic novels), Gale Anne Hurd (producer), Frank Darabont (creator/director), Andrew Lincoln (Rick), Sarah Wayne Callies (Lori), Norman Reedus (Daryl), Steven Yuen (Glenn), Laurie Holden (Andrea), and Jon Bernthal (Shane).
The best part of the panel? We got to see the first six-and-a-half minutes of episode two. Let me tell you: this TV series looks like a movie. It looks so intense, so perfectly shot, and just plain wonderfully gruesome. The first six minutes of the second episode look insane! There are zombies eating a horse, zombies trying to climb up a fire escape, zombies just being zombies. It was breathtaking. The series premieres on Halloween night and I cannot wait.
Despite the fact that the con was disorganized, Joey and I had a pretty awesome time. The panels more than made up for the lack of Cary Elwes. Actually, no. Nothing could ever make up for the fact that I didn’t get Wesley’s autograph! Inconceivable!
Check out Joey’s photos of the weekend. There are plenty of cosplayers and celebrity photos to satisfy those of you not lucky enough to see them in person.
