Last week, the 7 train played a rabbit hole that lead to a place where every comic fan to live out all their nerdy fantasies, the 13th annual New York Comic Con at the Jacob Javitz Center, dedicated to comics, graphic novels, anime & manga, video games, and entertainment. As a first timer of the event, I just happened to get deflowered by it in all of its geeky glory.
What I learned about New York Comic Con (besides it being totally packed) is that first and foremost, there is something for everybody. Card trading, comic selling, panels, meetups, exclusive screenings of your favorite shows and they even had spaces and specific panels for nerds of color and the LGBT community, for more of said representation of super heroes are coming into play.
Secondly, there are way more to comics than just Marvel & DC. They had a lot of independent comic books and graphic novels on display that I am interested in checking out, and some of them are turned into actual TV and Netflix shows, such as The Umbrella Academy and Stumptown.
Thirdly, it’s definitely a cosplay fashion show, so if you plan to go as one of your favorite characters, make sure you stand out. You never know who may take a picture of you.
During my time there, I managed to check out M. Night Shyalaman’s upcoming series, got to see some exclusive video games (including a 16 foot arcade game with dinner plate sized buttons), met my favorite Goonie of all time and of course, I didn’t leave empty handed. For the first time in a long time, I felt like I belonged. I had a blast.
A very special thanks to ReedPop for the invite, the SyFy Channel and last but not least, Urban Magazine for giving me this wonderful opportunity to share this awesomeness with you guys. Enjoy!
Shamika Sanders-Sykes
