Curls Studio closed out our convention tour in 2015 with New York Comic Con -- as they say, we went out with a bang! I don't have official information about attendance numbers, but people were telling me the weekend passes sold out in ten minutes! So many people wanted to go that Thursday and Friday crowds were just as packed as the weekend -- if not even more crowded. Did I mention the whole show was sold-out?
Looking back on my previous blog recaps from NYCC (I've exhibited in Artist Alley and Small Press sections) I realize how much this convention has dramatically grown. For example, there was a time when I could take a break from the table and walk right into a panel, grab a great seat, and enjoy the show as a fan. Gone are those days. Last year I tried to see the Bee and Puppycat panel and arrived an hour early only to find a mass of people in holding room, sitting on the floor, and the panel already sold-out. This year I did not even attempt to do anything besides stay inside the safe spot of the booth and meet the parade of people -- that's where I should be anyway, but sometimes it is nice to see the show for a bit.
I think NYCC has been handling the crowds well, but there are certain times where the crowds can be overwhelming and bottlenecking occurs, much like the Washington, DC traffic I'm used to. My main suggestion to NYCC would be to have exhibitor bathrooms so we can get back to our tables quickly. I mean, think of how many exhibitors there are -- just exhibitors alone is a large number of people.
NYCC is definitely a "thing" now -- it always has been, now just much bigger. I actually think Thursday had the largest crowd on the show floor!
Now that NYCC opens at 10AM on Thursday, we ended up leaving the DC area around 3:30AM to drive right in and set-up.
Traditionally, we record a podcast the night before NYCC with Teresa Roberts Logan from Laughing Redhead Studio who exhibits with us at booth #1162. This year, we recorded at the hotel on Saturday night. Something amazing happened in the Wyndham New Yorker hotel room we stayed at. We had an electrifying conversation about Nikola Tesla while staying in the actual room that Tesla lived in for ten years until his death in that very room! You can listen to the podcast here (which also includes talk about NYCC): https://carolynandjoeshow.wordpress.com/2015/10/13/live-from-the-nikola-tesla-room
At the show I got to showcase the new Curls book and draw commissions. Amber Love stopped by the booth to say hi and I asked her to sign the copies of RISE: Comics Against Bullying I had with me. We have a story published in there that we worked on together.
I enjoyed arriving to the convention early to view some of the vendor booths before the show started without crowds. Since we were very close to the Marvel section, we were able to step away for moments to glimpse at their actors including Krysten Ritter, Clark Gregg, and Charlie Cox.
I did get to see one panel -- Con Man on Friday evening after the show floor closed. The panel featured Alan Tudyk, Nathan Fillion, Felicia Day, Seth Green, and others. I missed the beginning because we were shutting down our booth, so I don't know who the other panelists were. I think they showed a clip in the beginning, but we completely missed whatever they showed. I did enjoy catching what I saw and the actors were having a lot of fun. This year, NYCC installed gates in front of the main panel room. It's a good cautionary procedure to protect the talent.
Overall, NYCC is a tremendous show and we hope to be back next year in our same booth #1162! Thanks to everyone who stopped by the booth to say hi or who purchased our comics and merchandise. We really appreciate you all.
Although our convention tour might be over for the year, I've organized the Cartoonists Draw Blood drive with the American Red Cross on October 31, 2015. I plan to post more details about that event soon and we hope to see you there!
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