So,
for many of you non-Geeks out there wondering what Comic Con was, here's the
way it looked through my eyes. First of all, this New York City version is one
of the largest Comic Book conventions in the world, playing second fiddle to
the big one in San Diego, California. This year, we decided to finally go, and
a few months ago, I tried to apply for a press pass since I do write for a
weekly publication, but unfortunately, they were already sending someone for
this convention and wouldn't support my application. That just meant that we
had to buy tickets, but we couldn't decipher if we wanted to purchase a 3-day
pass or just go for one single day. We opted to just go on Saturday because of
our schedules, plus I've been to these conventions before and if you go early
enough, you can cover everything. Boy was I wrong! Another thing that we were
considering was CosPlay, which is the geek-term for dressing in costume. We toyed
with the idea of dressing like The Wonder Twins and dressing our dog like the
monkey, but the thought of me in purple tights was not a pretty thought at all.
She would've looked great in it on the other hand.
Saturday
finally came and I was like a kid on Christmas morning. I was the first one up
and ready to go. We arrived in Manhattan at around 10:30 am and every lot near
the Javits Center was full, so we found a lot eight blocks away and just
parked. Oh, by the way, we didn't take part in the CosPlay, and at the end of
the day, it was good that we didn't. This place was mobbed! We finally get into
the Javtis Center and we just started following people. Little did we know that
there was actually an entrance to the far left. There was nobody there to tell
you where to go, nor did they give you a map of the convention. The only map we
had of the place was a map on the downloadable Comic Con app, which we couldn't
access in this big building. My goal was to find Kirk Hammett of Metallica, but
I had no idea where to look for the autograph signings. Anyway, we followed the
herd to the third floor instead of going through the main entrance, so we
missed out on these gigantic swag bags, which I didn't hear the end of all day.
Following the herd, we found ourselves right in the Showroom. This place was
packed and way overwhelming. There were comic books, toys, video games, books,
etc. You name it, it was here! This was heaven for the Geek world and my inner
geek was coming out.
We
walked around like sardines for a good 2 hours in the showroom and I still felt
that I didn't see everything, but I do know that we bought a lot of t-shirts
and artwork on that floor. As my girlfriend was looking around where to go
next, her brother and I were standing by a booth looking as something when I
saw a crew of security guards literally walk right by me, so a light bulb went
off and I decided to see who they were escorting. It was Stan Lee! The creator
of Spider Man, The Incredible Hulk, and just about everything that's Marvel! It
was Stan "Friggin'" Lee! I shouted right in front of his face,
"Stan Lee!" He looked at me and said, "Hey, how you doin',
kid!" and stuck his hand and shook my hand as he walked by. I seriously
blacked out. That was like shaking Walt Disney's hand. If it wasn't for this
guy, Comic Con seriously wouldn't have existed either. Then, I made a spectacle
and shouted to my girlfriend, Laila, as he walked by her. As I did this, the
whole area went into a frenzy. We followed him for a few minutes, but this old
guy was walking fast. It was tough to keep up with him. We finally gave up, but
I was still basking in my handshake with the man who created my favorite
superheroes!
We
made our way to a section called The Block, where we found a bunch of Anime
stuff and more artwork. The Batmobile and Bat Cycle were in this section along
with Scooby Doo's van and the DeLorean from Back to the Future, which was
pretty cool! This is where it started to get a little disturbing, for me,
anyway. Across from the cars were former WWF stars Brutus "The
Barber" Beefcake, Greg "The Hammer" Valentine (who looked wasted
out his mind), and Tito Santana. They were taking pictures and signing
autographs for $30 a pop. What? Does anyone care about these guys anymore? As
we walked, we ran into more of these. One former WWE Women's Champion, Ashley
Massaro, had a booth. There was nobody there, so I went over and shook her
hand, and I jokingly told her, "I stopped watching the WWE when they took
you off." She said, "So did I!" We laughed, but then Laila
suggested I take a picture with her, so I asked and she said that photos were
$20. I was like, "What?" Then she said, "Okay, I'll do it for
$10." I was thinking to myself, she literally sounded like a crack whore
wanting to give me a BJ for a few bucks. I politely told her that I was just
happy to meet her and we quickly scampered away.....Awkward! By the way, we
also saw Porn star, Tera Patrick. I thought this was a Comic Book convention.
Not a porn convention. Not to mention, she looked like garbage. What a letdown!
Speaking
of let downs, our feet and backs were killing us, but we made our way to the
first floor where we finally found the Autograph Tables. We found Adam West and
Burt Ward (the original Batman and Robin), Christopher Lloyd (Back to the
Future), Lou Ferrigno (The Incredible Hulk), Mike Teevee from Willy Wonka,
Audrey from Vacation, Draco Malfoy from Harry Potter, and Carrie Fisher (Star
Wars), and these guys were charging $60 a pop for autographs and an extra $40
for a photo. What the hell was going on here? I also need to mention it seemed
stars like Adam West and Lou Ferrigno didn't even want to be there, which to
me, was disgusting since we made their careers! We tried to get a few shots of
them standing around and security would turn us away. This was ridiculous! We
weren't paparazzi! We were fans! Disgusted with the autographing fees and
attitudes on these celebrities, we left the area and headed to the Artist
Alley.
The
Artist Alley was amazing and we should've gone there first. It was a whole hall
of starving artist and their artwork, which we ended up buying a ton of. Some
of these artists were really talented, but what I didn't understand was how
they were getting away with drawing all of these Super Heroes without getting
into any legal troubles? Anyway, Comic Con was quite an experience! We would
totally do it again, but next time we would opt for the 3-Day pass, so there
was no pressure to rush through everything. Oh, yeah! Our friend Chuck had a
Wookie costume custom made for him that he was going to walk around in, but
once he got there, I guess he had a hard time walking on the stilts inside the
costume because Chuck fell and twisted his ankle. What a bummer! I also can't
get the image out of my head of this big Wookie collapsing in the middle of
Comic Con. Like I said, totally worth it if you're into this sort of thing.
There were panels for upcoming shows and movies that we missed. One thing that
I do have to say is that this show could've been a bit more organized. I think
next year we hit San Diego to compare. 
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