This year, New York Comic Con will return to the Javits Center in Manhattan the weekend of October 17-20!
Here’s a rundown of everything I did there last year, from getting absorbed in Artists Alley, confused on the mail floor, and popping into a crafts room.
In October of 2023, on Friday the 13th, I headed to the Javits Center for New York Comic Con. I had been growing out my short haircut for the first time in several years, and I just got some bootcut jeans for the first time in even more years, and frankly, I felt like I was heading back through a wormhole to two decades ago when I’d be heading to NYCC to help out my friend Bon Alimagno at the Harris Comics booth.
Once I got there, however, the inundation of fabulous cosplayers from Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and the ascendency of anime and Funko Pops solidified my existence in the present.
I decided to break with precedent and tour the main exhibitor hall before heading down to Artists Alley, which I tend to prefer.
The main exhibitor hall is fun for spectacle, with giant exhibits of big properties. However, I generally find it’s more about merch than comics. Years ago, that would have been about big superhero movies, prestige TV like The Walking Dead, and video games.
This time around, possibly because of the entertainment industry strikes, the hall seemed dominated by toy shopping. If you collect Funko Pops or licensed Blind Boxes, you would have been in luck.
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Or if you want to climb inside a life-sized Catbus at the Studio Ghibli booth, and who wouldn’t?
I got a graphic novel signed by Faith Erin Hicks at the :01 First Second booth!
After my time on the main exhibitor floor being wowed by big name properties, it did feel homey to get down to Artists Alley in the basement, even though it was more packed than I think I’d ever seen it on the Friday of the con.
Like always, there were many tables for artists doing signings, and some more merch, including clothing and a lot of art prints. I was excited to see one of my faves, Agnes Garbowska, sparkling while painting custom work for patrons and selling prints and postcards, as well.
I also found a couple of great artists who were new to me. I used to feel that was one of the most prevalent experiences at cons but now it feels less frequent. This time around, I was particularly charmed by Jiji Knight’s body positive pin ups, and Isadora Zeferino’s wide range of fan art prints.
Cosplayers are always a highlight of the NYCC experience, and this year was incredible for those. In my opinion, one of the best con experiences is feeling like you’re looking at floorplans with X-Men, or browsing Artists Alley with Perry the Platypus (or is that the mysterious Agent P?) Plus, it’s always satisfying to find Waldo.
I lucked into being in the cosplay pavilion during a Spider-People photo shoot, and handed my phone to a Much Taller Person who had a good vantage point standing on a chair. With the welcome addition of several Spiders-Punk and Jessica Drews, I felt like I was walking through one of my favorite scenes of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
Finally, I decided to try to attend a panel, since I was particularly interested in one highlighted in the printed program, on “Anti-drag Laws and the Future of Cosplay.” Alas, it had been cancelled since the printing of the program back in August.
I wandered a while until I ended up at the adorable Disney-sponsored workshop for constructing your own battery-powered dino mech a la the new Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur animated show. Watching a room full of kids and their grownups earnestly piecing together these figures was a lovely and wholesome end to my day at the con.
And because I, personally, yearn to see everyone else’s haul, here are pictures of what I brought home from NYCC this year.
It has been interesting to see how cons build back after being cancelled and the remote years of the Coronavirus. While the floor was certainly bustling in 2023, it still didn’t seem quite the pre-Pandemic experience I remember. Perhaps this year will be even more sure of its footing in the new con landscape of the 2020s!
