Commander's Herald hits the Big Apple for New York Comic Con
The Calm Before the Storm (Secret Lair, featuring Storm)
My experience on Day 1 of New York Comic-Con '24 was unlike anything I've ever taken part of in the city. I lived in New York City for just over 20 years before moving, and I'd never been to NYCC before. I'd always heard marvelous things about it from friends, and now, happily, I can corroborate that praise.
I woke up bright and early to head from my Times Square hotel room to the Javits Center. While the commute was quite fast, I found myself walking quite a bit more than I expected to before even reaching the cross-town 7 train. (As a result, I took a rideshare to and from the convention on the second day.)
I arrived at the Javits Center at approximately 7:30 AM, got my badge at the Will Call, and waited in line with convention security and staff. When it was time for press to enter at roughly 8:30, I took the time to explore the center a bit more. The Javits Center is positively massive. As a result, I found myself asking for directions many times over the course of my attendance.
I eventually found myself on the fourth floor, near the press lounge and cosplay booths. There I gave myself some time to take photos with various cosplayers and also to briefly relax.
The cosplayers I met were quite amicable and seemed very happy to engage in photo opportunities. Some were doing it for fun; others, like the Star Wars Stormtrooper cosplay group known as the 501st Legion, were doing it for a good cause (in their case, Make-A-Wish).
When the public began to flock to the booths on the 3rd floor, the area of the convention where most of the action happens, I followed suit. When at NYCC, I suppose!
There, I was immediately welcomed with the focused determination of an enormous statue of Son Goku from Dragonball Z. Rest in peace, Akira Toriyama, you are cherished.
Everything was so bright, loud, flashy, and borderline overwhelming in the best ways. Still, I had a job to do. I therefore made my way through the crowds that were forming at an alarmingly rapid pace to seek out the Marvel booth.
When I found said booth, there was a large display that urged Magic and Marvel fans alike to go to Panel Room 409 the next day at 3:30 PM for a special sneak preview of something relevant to both fandoms. That "something" turned out to be the Secret Lair drops, out November 4th, that begin Wizards of the Coasts' collaboration with the famed comic company.
Also at the booth was Harless Snyder, who narrated the Duskmourn: House of Horror story chapters on YouTube. She greeted fans and we had some nice conversation about what perhaps to expect about tomorrow, as well as where exactly to go. Did I mention how large this space was?
After gaining valuable navigational insights, I decided that, since there wasn't much more Magic-based work to do, I would take the next few hours to relax before I did something really, really awesome.
More on that in a bit. But for now, I took the time to take more cosplay photos, get some shots of some of the booths, and collect a bit of swag (and a bag to put it all in - if you ever go to a convention, don't be like me: bring a tote!).
No matter what people say, take it from me when I say this: meet your heroes. It's not every day you get to saunter up to a multiple stories-tall city-crushing radioactive lizard and get a photo op. With that, I got a few really fun photos with Godzilla at Toho's booth.
I took some time to freshen up at my hotel room first and then made my sojourn to where quite a bit of the sausage gets made.
After my meeting with Wizards of the Coast employees at the Hasbro office (a meeting that gave me what I can only describe as "positive whiplash", only a good thing!), I returned to New York Comic-Con for a bit more of the action.
Along the route I found another cosplayer dressed as Sophie from the Studio Ghibli film Howl's Moving Castle. I asked for her photograph and was shocked to hear that I was the first one to ask her (the day was already winding down and she was on her way out of the con for the day).
After retrieving my sweatshirt (as I'd left it at the coat check for a bit) and taking a few more photos, I decided to head back to my hotel room. The day was marvelous and an experience I know I won't soon forget.
Divide and Conquer
On Day 2, I met up with my colleague, Nick Wolf, to disembark for the Javits Center. Along the way, I had my usual NYC breakfast staple, the iconic "BaconEggNCheese".
It was marked up considerably but that was because I was ordering it in Times Square, so of course it was. But that didn't stop it from being absolutely delicious.
We took a rideshare to the Javits Center this time because, by the end of the previous day, my legs were on fire. When we got there, I took a few more cosplay shots before reconvening with Nick to attend the Magic X Marvel panel, because this event should be documented for posterity.
The path to the panel at Room 409 was long and winding, but both Nick and I got there alright with a bit of time to spare. At this point in the coverage, I'd like to hand it over to Nick Wolf for his side of things since I left right after I covered the panel. However, I wanted to end my coverage by saying that this was a wonderful opportunity and one that hobbyists and comic book fans should consider attending at least once. There is such a degree of camaraderie and, dare I add, harmony to this place that the world is far better off with events like this. And at the very end, I even avoided con crud! What a time to be alive.
Controlled Con Chaos
Hi, I'm Nick Wolf. It had been nearly five years since I was last in New York City.
I'm a sweet, innocent Midwestern boy. Where I come from, we don't have all these big city amenities like "functional public transit" and "culinary variety." But that's what traveling's all about; experiencing the world outside your own little Michigan bubble.
But New York Comic Con (NYCC) isn't "the world." It's a world unto itself. Reality stops when you throw on that badge and march through the front doors.
I arrived at JFK well into Thursday evening, and an hour-long taxi ride later, it was now Friday when I checked into the hotel. But even then, wheeling my suitcase into the lobby, it was clear that something unusual (even by New York City standards) was happening.
Now, I've been around. I'm used to seeing a random street-corner Spider-Man charging for selfies. But much rarer is seeing a Spider-Man hanging out with a Krillin and a Silent Hill nurse, the trio getting hammered at the bar adjoined to the hotel. That can only mean one thing: there's a comic con brewing.
Friday morning wasn't so bad. It was early yet, and arriving at the Javits Center with Josh was mostly painless (for us at least; I can't say the same for the Lyft driver navigating that mess). Badge picked up, bearings oriented. There was still space to move around. I'm not a small person, and it was nice to take a step or two in any direction without feeling like a cruise liner among tug boats. This would change as time went on.
The Magic x Marvel panel wasn't until the afternoon, so I had time to allow myself to be awash in all things NYCC, for better or worse.
A little aside about me: I love Magic, and I've played it for more than two decades now. I'm what you would probably consider an "entrenched" fan. And yes, I do like other things in the "nerd" world, to use a bit of a passé term, but I am by no means as entrenched in those fandoms as I am in Magic.
So NYCC, for me, is a bazaar of all things alien. I could probably identify only one of every four cosplayers that passed me by. Many of the booths on the expo floor were for companies I was unfamiliar with, or for properties I'm only aware of in passing.
And that's what makes an event like NYCC so great. It's a grand mixture of dozens of worlds, all coalescing at the Javits Center for a weekend of carefree revelry. Who cares if I had no idea why there were so many cosplayers who looked like variations of the character below?
There were a few things I do recognize, and I'm not ashamed to admit that one of the primary reasons I am able to identify them is because of Magic's Universes Beyond crossovers.
We make such a to-do about whether or not Universes Beyond is "good" for Magic, but there's very little discussion about the effect they have exposing Magic players like me to other properties.
Oh, and I should mention that I wasn't on this great nerd pilgrimage alone. For as out-of-water I might have been, I also had my partner in tow, and she's even less nerd-adjacent than I am. But there was one booth in particular that caught her eye.
For many at NYCC, visiting Capcom's booth was all about getting a first glimpse, and maybe a little bit of playing time too, of Monster Hunter Worlds. But for Mary, it was all about getting a photo with a big dinosaur:
Moving on, we wandered out of the main exhibitor floor and over to the Artist Alley. Here's a little secret, and don't tell the editors: covering the Magic x Marvel panel was cool and all, but really I was there for the art.
While I've never been much of a comics guy, I do have a deep appreciation for the artists who bring the pages to life, and the NYCC Artist Alley was a veritible Shangri-La of visual talent.
Prior to flying out for the event, I combed through each and every one of the listed names on the NYCC website, plotting out exactly whom I wanted to make time to visit. And with the panel looming, I had to dart through and around the thousands of fans chatting up the hundreds of artists to find exactly where I wanted to be.
First up, Dave Dorman:
Shortly thereafter, I made my way to Geof Darrow, who painted 10 Magic cards multiple decades ago, including one of my favorite Commander cards, Ashen Powder. He isn't much into Magic today, to put it diplomatically. But the next couple artists were new to the game:
Tim Jacobus especially was shocked and delighted at the overwhelmingly positive response his recent contribution to Magic art canon had among players. The Goosebumps legend illustrated three cards as part of Duskmourn's special showcase cards: Exhume, Damn and Crypt Ghast. He described his experience working with Magic art directors as a "wonderful" experience all around.
After that, it was time for some obscure panel. You probably haven't heard of it.
While our official coverage was done, there was still wandering to be had, and once our work was complete, Josh and I parted ways.
Josh had traveling to attend to, and I had Spider-Mans (Spiders-Men? Spider-Men?) to follow around. I was tipped off about a photo op about to go down, and I wasn't going to miss it. I wasn't sure where exactly that photo op was going to be, but I knew it involved Spider-Man.
Luckily, much like how all roads lead to Rome, I could just find one Spider-Man among the throng of thousands in the Javits Center and follow them to the promised land.
And I was not led astray:
The evening came, and it was time to hit the town. Of course, we were around the block from Times Square, so that's where we ended up.
However, with Las Vegas looming later this week, I kept my time there to a minimum, because we all know that Times Square is basically the Coke Zero to Vegas's pure ethanol:
Sharing a Dream of the Kind of World We All Deserve to Live In
It was a whirlwind few days in New York City, but in the end, it was worth every minute and every mile. I think I can speak for Josh when I say we were privileged to attend on behalf of Commander's Herald in order to bring you coverage of the Magic x Marvel panel, and of NYCC itself.
In a few short days, we'll turn our attention to Magic Con Vegas. Stay tuned right here at CH for up-to-the-minute coverage from the desert.
Until then, be well.
Oh, and I almost forgot. If Anderson Cooper is reading this: no, I wasn't trying to take secret photos of you in Central Park, I was trying to take a picture of sailboats and ducks. Not everything's about you, dude.
