Reporting live from the press room at New York Comic-Con. The line this morning was long, but everyone seems to have gotten in. There are traffic jams near Marvel and DC as there would be at any convention, but osmosis has created a fairly consistent density of people throughout the rest of the hall. It’s crowded but not dangerously so. Basically, there is a LOT of crowd control going on — people aren’t being let in to the Special Events hall for the Seephen King panel without tickets, but one entire side of the room is empty. Apparently a lot of people tried to get in without standing in line this morning and were upset that they had to go back outside and wait, but we haven’t heard of any major disasters.
If you do not have a ticket DO NOT COME DOWN. We just asked a Reed red shirt person if they would be selling more tickets today and he said the word was still no.
Artists Aerie upstairs is VERY crowded. Mixed reports on how people are doing — popular artists doing better than non-popular. No surprise there.
But now, a new threat: the sun is out and is hitting the glass ceiling of the Javits center. Beginning to heat up a bit. People glowing. More later.
I have developed an innate fear of humongous crowds standing in lines going nowhere paying stupid amounts of money. I call it “Conophobia.”
Actually, NYCC is not that bad during the last 3-4 hours of it. Sure, you don’t get to see the panels/seminars or Artist’s Alley, but hey, it’s about the people that fuel the industry.
Of course, getting some art tips isn’t so bad.
NYCC is now the San Diego CC of the East. It will change who exhibits next year and who will attend. Some of the indy crowd won’t show up next year. Some of the Anime crowd will not show up because of the NY Anime FEstival in December. Movie Fans will show up wanting to see movie panels. Mainstream Comic Fans and Manga fans will show up more. The show changes in flavor every year just like SDCC will this year.
Chiming in re: the indy crowd, I’ve been in the artist alley at NYCC two years running, but due to the fact that the early-bird table price is $400 for ‘08 (compared with $250 for ‘06 and $300 for ‘07), I would expect a decrease in smaller artists and self-publishers next year.
Still, it’s still the best show on the circuit to network at, so it may be worth it to some of the indy guys and gals, but I know I can’t afford to exhibit again at those prices.