New York Slant

Overall, I would say that the New York Comic Con was a rollicking success. It seemed like the atmosphere was very upbeat overall but there were some things that could be improved upon that aren’t just isolated to the NYCC but other conventions as well.

The rest of my convention wasn’t as eventful as my first day’s experience but it was still a great time. Because I was able to get so much done in the relatively empty Thursday night, I was able to spend my Friday and Saturday (I didn’t go Sunday to spend time with my lovely wife who had just returned back from a trip) just browsing and going to panels.

On Friday, my schedule consisted of chatting up writer Cullen Bunn and purchasing the third TPB of the Sixth Gun (which he did with artist Brian Hurtt) and a copy of his newest series Helheim which he’s started with artist Joelle Jones. Congratulations were in order because it was just announced that The Sixth Gun was getting produced by Universal Television and with Lost’s showrunner Carlton Cuse attached to it. Finished reading the TPB and it was awesome as always for those interested. I cannot wait to see this brought to the screen.

Panels were also on my agenda. I first went to the Editors on Editing panel where Filip Sablik (Former publisher at Top Cow and currently at Boom Studios in the Sales department), Scott Allie (Editor at Dark Horse) and Ben Abernathy (Former Editor at WildStorm) were the guests. It was an interesting time detailing how they went through their process and detailing the background machinations needed in order to get their work from their creators on time.

I left midway to meet my friend Mark and went to the Digital Price Showdown Panel featuring comiXology co-founder John D. Roberts as well as Marvel Comics SVP of Sales Publishing David Gabriel and publisher Ted Adams (IDW). This was a great panel detailing the thought process behind the pricing for digital comics on the comiXology app and the impact that their sales and events have on sales numbers.

This was followed by the Archie Comics panel featuring their co-CEO Jon Goldwater, President Mike Pellerito, EIC Victor Gorelick, Writer/Artist Dan Parent and writer Michael Uslan. Archie Comics are one of my earliest memories of the hobby and it’s always fun hearing about how the magic happens. This panel was made all the better by the massive gift bag that they doled out to all in attendance.

The next panel was Marvel’s Breaking Into Comics The Marvel Way hosted by Marvel’s Talent Scout CB Cebulski and featuring Sam Humphries (writer, Ultimates and Uncanny X-Force), Ramon Perez (artist, Eisner Award Winning Tale of Sand and Wolverine & The X-Men), Dan Slott (writer, Amazing Spider-Man), Ryan Stegman (artist, Superior Spider-Man), Mark Bagley (artist, Fantastic Four and Ultimate Spider-Man) Tom Brevoort (Editor) and Arune Singh (Director of Publicity). This was a fun panel with humorous anecdotes detailing the paths that each of these talented individuals had to experience before reaching their current points in their career.

After this I did a walk through Artists Alley again and purchased a piece from Ivan Reis’s book of preliminary sketches. It’s a really rough rendition of the cover to Green Arrow #11.

To end the panel I met up with some friends and headed for dinner at Bon Chon Chicken at 32nd Street and Fifth Avenue. It was my buddy Alex’s first time having Korean fried chicken and I needed to pop his cherry. We then headed to the Houndstooth Pub for the Image and Multiversity Comics Party and the rest of the night is an inebriated blur. MACARONI SCOUNDRELS!!!