This past weekend New York City hosted Comic Con with the Javitz Center serving as a glass house full of nerds, geeks, cosplayers, gamers, fan boys, and fan girls. With them all I share a bond, and possibly a cold.
The convention wasn’t about meeting celebrities, or being the first to see exclusive footage. It wasn’t even about getting that toy or collectible that you’ve been searching for (I will find you tiny David Tennant figure!), what a Comic Con is about is the people, a community thrilled and inspired by imagination and thrilled by escapism. Without them it is just a retail showcase, a cold capitalistic endevour, but with them, well, its a little magical.
As I explained in our preview last week, this con was different, with marquee panels and A-list talent on hand. Was the Con floor more congested than usual with wall to wall people moving one inch forward at a time, guided by some sort of ingrained, organic choreography? Yes. But we were in it together. Did I have to commit one hundred micro acts of assault, crowd surf to the Marvel booth, and go lightsaber app to lightsaber app with a kid dressed up as either Mario or Rerun from WHATS HAPPENING? Well, not really–but the point is, we were in it together, and also the assault thing happened, a lot.
Cosplay
No I didn’t see anyone cosplaying as Bill Cosby but I saw approximately 87 Green Lanterns, a lazy hulk without a painted face, zombies, zombies, zombies, unfortunate ass cheek overflow, and spandex wrapped bulbosity.
Why do they do it? I checked in with Doctor Doom, who hopped a skiff from Latveria to attend the special event.
“You start seeing other people dressed up, and other people start recognizing who you are, and everyone’s “can I take a picture?“, “can I do this with you?“, “can I do that with you?”. It just builds up this sense of instant gratification once the first person says you look great.”
Understandable and something I would do if not for the fact that I hate both hot glue guns and people wanting to take my picture/interact with me.
Hey kids, wanna see some cosplayers? Sure you do…
Still rolling your eyes at my “magic” statement? Take a look at this and tell me you that still don’t believe even a little in the magic of the con.
And so ends our coverage of New York Comic Con…
Till next time…
