Walking out of Comic Con back to the too-expensive parking garage, I felt sorer than I’d ever felt after a punk show. I went on Saturday, Oct. 12 with my little brother, who is a huge comic book reader and doubled as Captain America that day.
The crowd waiting for the doors to open at 10 am was huge, but it wasn’t a normal crowd. It was full of Thor and Lokis and Ash and Mistys and Batman and Robins. I saw hairy-chested men dressed as Wonder Womans and a suprising amount of people dressed as Heath Ledger’s Joker dressing as a nurse.
Once inside the huge, long lobby, I grabbed a strap of my brother’s backpack (later to be filled to the brim with comics) and he led the way to the escalators, which were definitely exceeding their maximum capacities. Zooming through the central room with different themed booths and walls of t-shirts and tables and tables of comic books, I stood on what was the first line of many. I waited on lines for raffle tickets, for signings, for panels, for hotdogs. And for soft pretzels.
Zombie-painted faces smirked at me as we later passed by the Walking Dead area, and I must have seen ten girls carrying giant hammers dressed as Harley Quinn.
I didn’t realize that NYCC was a convention for not only comic book characters, but for literally every single character. I saw Harry Potters, Gandalfs, Flinstones, Peter Griffins, Jack Sparrows, Power Rangers, Katnisses, Peetas, Doctor Whos and so many more.
Soon I was waiting on a line (standing right behind a Juggernaut) for a DC panel where one of my brother’s favorite comic book artists David Finch would be answering questions along with some other artists. As soon as I felt the glory of sitting in a chair and the lights in the auditorium dimmed, my eyes closed, opening again when the lights were back on and it was time to go buy comics.
My brother had a messy list of all the comics he had to find and I had to learn how to quickly flick through boxes and scan comics for titles and issue numbers. Soon his pockets were empty of cash and his backpack was heavy with comic books and graphic novels, rolled-up posters sticking out this way and that.
I learned lots of things from NYCC 2013. I learned that a hotdog can be a great help in the midst of a day where sitting down and taking time to eat is not allowed, I became a professional at weaving through huge masses of people, and I learned that Wolverine and Storm eventually get together in the X-Men comic series.
