New York Comic Con took place last month and Curls Studio had great adventures in the city. We stayed at a different hotel than our usual because the price was astronomically high and it ended up being a fun room to stay in that served our minimal needs.
NYCC is a four day show, and we need to be at the booth for nine hours each day (however Sunday is only a seven hour day and then load-out after). Needless to say it is an exciting and exhausting event. Even if we have to hop right back to work the next day on Monday, the effects of NYCC can sometimes be felt for a few weeks! I have recovered, but the fact that I'm writing this full blog recap a month later could tell you something (we also had Baltimore Comic-Con the following weekend).
The new Curls book debuted as a convention exclusive limited edition (second con-exclusive book that you can only get in-person). We had the new Scott Morse "This Ink Runs Cold" collaboration book that Joe Carabeo wrote a story for. Joe also debuted his Toni Storm Direct To Ink book.
This year I noticed a lot of Asian influences (Gashapon capsule machines, video games, and more) and overall Halloween vibe. The theme was "Haunted" after all, so I think a lot of people were jumping on that and celebrating all October. For freebies, a lot of publishers and vendors were giving away stickers. Stickers everywhere. Labubu everywhere. Pop culture themed candy everywhere. Claw machines. Attendees sometimes needed to wait in a line to play a game to win a promo item (or a coveted Labubu grand prize), so it felt more interactive to "win" something for your time rather than a grab-and-go.
I'm still keeping in touch with Jean Schapowal and the other master cake artists so on Thursday I went to their Cakes With Character booth. Last year I worked with them to provide art for a large pinback button that was exclusive to the show. This year their theme was "Pop Culture Pop-Up Boutique" with all wearable art -- think purses, backpacks, bracelets -- all made from cake! I thought the Stanley "Stan Lee" Cup was very clever. I will be doing a whole dedicated post to their booth experience on Instagram soon.
On Friday I met cartoonists Kyle Baker (who I didn't even know was going to be there and he was randomly in a corner area of the show floor, if we didn't turn that direction we would have missed) and Sam Grinberg (who I have been following on IG and have been a fan of for awhile, but have never met -- his booth appearance was for only one hour and he said he had not been to NYCC in twelve years). I also saw Post Malone from a few feet away and John Cena's Peacemaker outfit on display.
Saturday was fantastic because unexpected things can happen at NYCC. Guess who is standing to my left at the table directly behind us? Enzo. Amore. Let me tell you a story: Enzo Amore is a former WWE wrestler and I've been a fan of him when he was always on TV. I created three pieces of fan art to represent that at the time (one was a Curls comic strip). I was enthralled whenever I heard his entrance music and amazed at his mic skills. But then he was suddenly released from WWE in January 2018 (history note: there was also a U.S. government shutdown then too). The very next day I had tickets to a WWE event he was most likely going to be at. I had my Certified G shirt on ready to go. You can go look up what happened if you didn't know, but ultimately he was wrongly accused of something he didn't do and he said he never even got a call from the police. Ultimately he never informed WWE of allegations before they went public (in this case "viral" online), so it makes the company look bad even if he is innocent. So fast forward over seven years later this is a major payoff to see him after all that wait -- and the proximity to our table? Crazy.
Enzo is currently known as Real1. He was nice and caught me up to speed on what he is doing right now in wrestling and music. He talked to me about his grandma named Grace and showed me a banner across from him that said "Grace" so it was a magic moment for all to be there in that occasion. I had the first con-exclusive Curls book with me that has the Enzo mention in the comic strip and he signed it for me and took a photo with me. This is the type of stuff that can only happen at NYCC (and if you read my 2022 recap I mention missing him at NYCC because I didn't know he was there until later).
Also on Saturday I saw Jim Lee drawing the face of Wonder Woman at the eBay stage. He was giving an art lesson as he drew and they auctioned it off for $3,350. I also met Gabriela Epstein, one of the cartoonists of "The Baby-Sitters Club" at Scholastic.
Sunday was a standard day at the show. Overall the vibe was very positive this year (not like it wasn't before, but it felt happy with every one excited to be there). The energy of this show was really great and takes so much effort to put on and display work, or items for sale, or cosplay, or even the nature of physically being there. The photo above showcases some of our fans who purchased from our table. New York treated us well with bagels, tacos, pizza, and tasty ramen. We hope to be back at NYCC with new comics and products in the future.
