New York Comic-Con 2009: Saturday Wrap-Up

Stop me if this sounds familiar:

You’re at the Con, and arrive at your must-see panel two hours early. That sounds reasonable, right? 120 minutes early for a 50 minute screening? When you get there, you see a line of people that weaves like a high-level game of Snake for a hundred yards, wrapping around the whole building. But whatever, the screening room is big enough to fit Valhalla — of course you’re going to make it in! Two hours pass. Another twenty minutes pass. Finally they start letting people in. It takes another fifteen minutes to get to the front of the line. So after two and a half hours standing behind a Harlequin who needs to shower (and missing a bunch of other panels you wouldn’t have minded seeing) you make it to the front of the line and UH OH! Sorry. Room full to capacity. What? Complaints? Talk to my $5.15 an hour hand.

This happened much more often than I would have liked today. In fact, out of the five panels I stood in line for, I made it inside one of them, and yes, it was the one where half the panelists were my personal acquaintances.

So here’s what I missed today. I missed the first 15 minutes of Watchmen. I missed the first 50 minutes of Up. I missed Venture Bros. I even missed Jim Shooter’s how-to-write workshop. I’m going to preemptively say I missed Joss Whedon, because I’m pretty sure that if I’m not standing in line as I write this (twelve hours before the panel starts) there’s no way I’m gonna make it inside.

The most frustrating thing about all this nonsense is that there are some simple solutions to all these dumb problems. Here are FIVE THINGS that could make NYCC better:

1. Simulcast! Overflow from the most popular panels? Stick some of the extra people in a different room and have the panel projected for them live. Sure, some of us might still be annoyed they can’t see Doc Hammer’s groovy hairdo in person, but the rest of us just want to hear the people speak!

2. In some cases, simulcast may be impossible, but after turning away so many people from every panel, shouldn’t the employees get an idea of where the cut-off point is in line? Mark that point! Spare those of us who don’t get in line five hours early the annoyance of wasting hours of our lives and skipping panels we otherwise would have been able to see.

3. The two points above are great ideas, but the bottom line is that there just wasn’t enough room! Not enough room in panels, not enough room for lines, not enough room on the exhibition floor (dear god), not enough room for coat check, and certainly not enough employees. was told flat-out incorrect information on lines to stand in, bus schedules, the locations of bathrooms, panels, and fire exits. Okay, maybe not fire exits, but after hearing the words “Uhmmm….I’m not sure” fifty-six thousand times, I was ready to light the Javits Center on fire.

4. It’s not hard to figure out which panels are going to be the most popular. Don’t overlap these panels. Let people see everything!

5. I’ll tell you one thing the Con did well — networking. Around my friends I can be a pretty gregarious person, but like most writers, in a room full of strangers I’m shy. I attended a networking meet hwere writers, pencilers, inkers, and colorists could all meet and exchange business cards. When I arrived the event was in full swing but it didn’t take thirty seconds before a friendly employee ran up to me and asked what I did. I told him and he quickly dragged me to the back of the room where a friendly fellow with an art portfolio was standing. We chatted, swapped samples and business cards and parted ways. Ten seconds later a different employee was on me. “You an artist?” … “No, a writer.” … “Great,” he said and pulled me to another corner where another artist was waiting. It was magical. I stayed until I ran out of samples. Granted, we were all looking for big-time pros to give us a leg up — I don’t know what we could do for each other — and if I was an artist I’d just be drawing my own stories, but hey, if there’s a brilliant artist out there who’s inspired by my storytelling, by all means send ‘em here. I’d love to do an epic long-form comic adventure.

So there you have it. Comi-Con makes me mad. There was a Hulk costume that was pretty darn sweet, and a Black Cat costume on a woman so disgusting I don’t think I’ll ever like Black Cat again. But hey, I’m a glutton for punishment. Expect a Sunday wrap-up (and a pic of that sweet Hulk costume).

~ by mllondon on February 8, 2009.