I have been going comic book/anime conventions for he past 10 years. What gote interested is basis of another post. However, I have seen these conventions grow in these 10 years. My basis is NYC. I can't comment on any other state.
The very first anime convention was called "The Big Apple Anime Fest". It was only on for one year. It was held at he Marriott hotel in middle of Time Square. It had a good crowd but wasn't insane. You were able to see what you were interested in. They never returned. It was a one year deal.
There were many little comic book conventions throughout the years. They were usually held in the space next to the Hotel Pennsylvania, across from Madison Square Garden. Those were crowded, but they were manageable.
Then came the Anime Fest. This started of manageable but grew as the years went by. The last Anime Fest was 2010. Then it has been absorbed by NYCC.
In conjunction with San Diego, NY welcomed the New York Comic Con. It started off really well. It focused mainly on comics & gaming. It lacked one thing: anime. In 2010, NYCC formed a joint venture with the Anime Fest. You could attend both. This year, they are combined. No more Anime Fest.
This year we, my fiancé and myself, only bought the Saturday pass. We really didn't do more than that last year due to stuff was not interesting. This year we get there for 11 am. It took us 15 mins just to get to panel we wanted to go to. By time we reached we couldn't enter. So we decided to sit and figure our next move. We decided to go to the Archie Comics panel. We were on line for at least 20 to 30 minutes waiting. Actually, my fiancé stayed in line. I stayed in line for the women's restroom. By time I got back, a guy came back to where we were and told us that they were at max capacity for the panel. Who knew Archie would bring so much people? I must say I'm an Archie Fan.
We decided at that point to leave and just go to the exhibitor area. Maybe I'd find something interesting to buy. We walked around and nothing really caught my attention to buy. The place was packed. A lot of cosplay walking around. They are very interesting to watch. Saw a person as Deadpool. Lots of Bleach characters. The best for me was this couple dressed like the Monarch's henchmen from Venture Brothers. That was absolutely adorable.
After walking around, we decided to go to the IGN theater to wait for Walking Dead, Ghostrider and Avengers panels. When we got there, we were told that you don't have to leave panel room (theater) after each panel. So we decided to just go in and grab our seats. So we ended up sitting in there for the rest of the convention. We sat thru a George Campbell (Monty Python) panel and a Nikita Panel. They were absolutley boring. I was falling asleep a bit. I ran out in between to get my jacket. It was cold up in there.
The first long wait panel was Sony's. I call it Ghost Rider. They did show trailer for Total Recall and Underworld 4. But the rest of panel was the sequel yet not a sequel, lol, of Ghost Rider. They showed behind the scenes and long trailer of the movie. It looks a lot better than the first one. The co-directors were there. They are he same team that did the Crank movies. At the end of most panels are Q&A. The questions for that were being asked were so stupid that I felt sorry for the panelists. Some of the questions were by "press". Journalism sucks these days anyway. I'm definitely going to see the 3 movies from the panel.
The Walking Dead Panel was not really my thing, but my fiancé's. I don't like zombie stuff unless it's Resident Evil. Just has a different feel and you know what caused them to be zombies. This panel was a bit to stressful for me. The footage was great because you actually feel the emotion. That's why it's stressful, lol. I don't like feeling scared. Some of the cast members were there; that included a kid. It was cute how he was answering questions and being a grown up. Once again at Q&A the questions were stupid, but they were a lot better than at the Ghost Rider panel.
The best and last panel of the evening was The Avengers panel. We saw a preview. Then the director was brought out. Then some discussion. Then the best part came when they brought out the following: Mark Ruffalo (Hulk), Chris Evans (Captain America), British guy Tom (Loki), Male Shield agent (from Iron Man 1 and the rest) and new female Shield agent. I, of course, squealed in delight when they introduced Chris Evans. I have a thing about Chris Evans and Ryan Renolds. They spoke on doing the movie and showed some additional scenes. Especially the one with Mark Ruffalo's version of Bruce Banner. This BB seems a lot better than Bana's version. Don't know if it's better than Norton's tho. I am so excited for this movie. The director did confirm that there will be an Iron Man 3. I am so loving the Marvel movies. Q&A was hilarious. 99% of all questions were to the guy that played Loki. The cast were laughing. Who knew this Tom guy had such a following. All in all, thus was the best panel of the night. It made the day's early frustration disappear.
I ended up enjoying my time, but I don't think
I'll hit it up next year. I'll get my fill in watching the movies/anime, reading blog sites, and good old fashion reading the comics/graphic novels. I have lost patience with crowds. If it wasn't for that, I may consider going but I doubt the crowds will dissipate. It's just going to be larger. I was thinking about going to the San Diego Con, but it's a bigger venue with a lot larger crowd. Don't think I could deal. So as Hollywood becomes more and more of a major role in the comic book/anime world, these cons will be huge. I've had my fun at these. Now it's time for the younger crowds and those with better patience.
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