By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 10/16/2015
Brought to you by Publishers Weekly, it’s More To Come, the weekly podcast of comics news, interviews and discussion with Calvin Reid, Kate Fitzsimons and The Beat’s own Heidi MacDonald. This week, we have a wide array of interviews from and about 2015’s New York Comic Con! More To Come 174: An Interview with NYCC […]
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 10/13/2015
A con tradition, ReedPOP schedules a final panel at New York Comic Con where the main staff gathers to listen to concerns from attendees. This year, the panel consisted of Lance Fensterman (Senior Global Vice President), Mike Armstrong (Event Director), MK Goodwin (Content Manager), Jackie Williams (Marketing Director), and Kristina Rogers (Event Manager). (Shown, right to left, above.) […]
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 10/10/2015
Diversity is a recurring theme in panels at this year’s New York Comic-Con, mirroring a trend in fandom nationwide. Race, gender, physical ability, mental health, even geeks as an emerging protected class – amidst the how-to’s and PR announcements, programming about diversity is filling rooms and getting headlines. The power of this theme is something […]
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 10/9/2015
Robert Kirkman sits down with Seth Myers to talk about what grosses him out about zombies.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 10/9/2015
During a special panel at New York Comic Con 2015, Dark Horse Comics in conjunction with Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products and James Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment announced that AVATAR, the highest-grossing film in history, will expand into the world of comic books in anticipation of the three upcoming film sequels. The books are said to tell […]
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 10/9/2015
Hot on the heels of a relaunch and the not quite finished Secret Wars comes marvel's first crossover of 2016.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 10/8/2015
Image Comics expands its digital footprint onto your Kindle.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 10/5/2015
ComiXology Submit is getting into NYCC big time by sponsoring Artist Alley. (You’ll recall Deviant Art withdrew from a similar sponsorship at SDCC, so seeing someone pick it up for NYCC is promising.) As part of this they’ll e GIVING AWAY special limited edition print variants of hit comiXology Submit comics each day during creator […]
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 10/5/2015
Boom is kicking off NYCC with a signing at Forbidden Planet Thursday, October 7 from 7-9pm (NYCC badge NOT required), featuring the following creators (additional creators may be announced): Brooke Allen (Lumberjanes) Frank Barbiere (Broken World, Black Market) Matthew Daley (Lantern City) Michael Dialynas (The Woods) Eryk Donovan (Cognetic, Memetic) Brian Joines (Imagine Agents) Simon Spurrier […]
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 10/5/2015
Kodansha has released a teaser for their NYCC panel with artwork by Tomer Hanuka and it’s…awesome. Here’s the panel teaser: The Biggest Attack on Titan Manga Announcement Ever | New York Comic Con 2015: The Biggest Attack on Titan Manga Announcement Ever Thu. October 8| 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM | Room 1A18 Kodansha Comics, […]
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 10/1/2015
Perfect timing! THE DC SUPER HERO GIRLS UNIVERSE IS LIVE! “Welcome to Super Hero High” the very first DC Super Hero Girls animated short, has just been launched on DCSuperHeroGirls.com. Many other features went live today with an eye to a global rollout of the digitally immersive world beginning later this month. The toys will be displayed at NYCC […]
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 9/30/2015
As in year’s past we are lucky to present to you a complete TEXT listing of the panels for this year’s New York Comic Con. Although ReedPop’s site has them all listed in various editable and serachable ways, it’s still impossible to see everything with all panelists listed in one go. So here […]
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 9/29/2015
As you might guess, the first ever appearance of Naruto creator Masashki Kishimoto during NYCC has led to a lot of excitement…and sold out events. To give fans one more chance to see The Man, a talk at the Apple store Soho has been added on October 7th at 7PM. Kishimoto is here to promote […]
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 9/27/2015
I’m brainstorming another crazy idea here, so feel free to skip to the next article. The idea? What if you took the quintessential New York City street fair, which happens every weekend during the Spring and Summer, and adapted it to comics? Sort of like a book fair, but with retailing and food as well […]
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 9/26/2015
Short answer: at New York Comic Con! According to the interactive floor map, Pepsi will have one of the four booths located outside the show floor near the escalators which lead to the fourth floor River Pavilion. (The other three: Bandai Namco Amusement America, Nickelodeon/Nicktoons Network, and DC Entertainment.) Here’s the listing from the NYCC website! [HTML edited […]
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 9/23/2015
In past years Milton Griepp’s ICv2 site hosted an industry event the day before NYCC. This year they’re scaling back a bit with an invite only happy hour event. PR: ICv2 has announced that it will be hosting an invitation-only event for business professionals, the ICv2 White Paper Happy Hour, on Thursday afternoon, October 8, […]
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 9/23/2015
Masashi Kishimoto, creator of Naruto is making his first public appearance ANYWHERE at this year’s New York Comic Con, and while many of his events are already sold out, you can still pick up a raffle ticket at the Viz Booth #1346 between 10:00am and 1:00pm on Thursday October 8th for a chance to win […]
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 9/17/2015
In a press release today, ReedPOP revealed the cover to the 2015 New York Comic Con program guide. Illustrated by superstar artist Andy Kubert, the cover celebrates the 10th anniversary of NYCC and the 30th anniversary of the Frank Miller classic The Dark Knight Returns. This collaboration between DC Comics and ReedPOP also seeks to […]
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 9/16/2015
A few weeks ago, I posted the preliminary schedule for the big panels at New York Comic Con, to be held in rooms 1-D (“Main Stage”) and 1-E (“Empire Stage”). I noted that there were some empty time slots, and now, it looks like a few have been filled, by Warner Brothers Entertainment! You should […]
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 9/15/2015
In a new plan to expand an already sprawling convention, New York Comic Con is expanding its panel roster to an off-campus site. No longer constricted to the behemoth that is the Jacob Javits Center, NYCC will now be hosting a series of Television-centric panels at the somewhat nearby Hammerstein Ballroom. Ironically, this new panel venue […]
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 9/15/2015
OKAY KIDS, NYCC is right around the corner and the schedules and exclusives and all that are raining down fast and furious. Here’s Adult Swim’s plan, including two free parties (Get their early and be prepared). One of them is a three hour boat cruise around the Hudson. Talk about setting away from the con! […]
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 9/14/2015
As of 1 PM Sunday afternoon, after numerous construction delays, the new subway station at 34th Street and Eleventh Avenue is open, and running trains on the 7 line, which previously terminated at Times Square. We’ll have a more detailed geographic analysis once ReedPOP announces their crowd control plans, but while you wait, here are numerous […]
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 9/3/2015
The panel schedule for New York Comic Con is live! Of note this year, some panels will be held at the Hammerstein Ballroom up the street on 34th Street. The entire program isn’t live yet but you can check out what’s been lsited here. 281 sessions! It starts at 11 AM on Thursday, October […]
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 8/27/2015
New York Comic Con has made a tradition of its annual exclusive beer and here's this year's 2015 Brooklyn Defender IPA, with a label of the beer's eponymous superhero by Khary Randolph.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 8/25/2015
The complete line-up for Super week, ReedPOP’s city wide celebration of her culture has been announced and the centerpiece is an impressive showing of the Season Premiere of The Walking dead at Madison Square Garden. This will not be the first time the Garden has hosted zombies, as the Knicks play there 41 times a […]
Maybe they should consider Stub Hub or other such service as an official reseller of their tickets. Allows them to have a lower cost solution and still allow fans to get the tickets legally. The two MI Big Ten college sports teams use it as the official second hand seller of their tickets.
>>>There was criticism over the “Blue Entrance” for VIPs, press, pros. The times allowed for entrance in the morning were not properly maintained. Those attendees could have used the normal “Green Entrance”, and RP will work to better communicate that in the future.
There was a VIP entrance?
1. The app really does suck. I punched in a bunch of stuff on my NYCC account on my desktop and it wouldn’t sync with the app. Waste of time.
2. They really do need to fix registration. Malicious activity or not, they clearly underestimated how many people would try to register. Not everyone can get in, I think people understand that. But there’s no need to make it a cruel and torturous process , like making people think they had a pass, only for an error message or a timeout to cause you to lose it (I lost a VIP pass that way). Doing all the passes at once just caused chaos.
3. They need to get rid of those booths in the hallway to Artist Alley. Yes, making people go outside on Saturday and Sunday eased the problem, but it’s dependent on good weather. Good luck telling someone who spent thousands are artwork they have to walk outside in the rain to get back to the main hall. Yes, you lose money by getting rid of those booths. You also lose money if the fire marshal shuts you down, which nearly happened on Friday.
4. I thought the main hall panels were well handled. You can’t sit in there all day and catch everything, but you can catch one or two things you love. So that’s cool.
5. This was my third NYCC. The crowds were unreal. I’m not sure what they can do about it, short of expanding the Center. People were shell-shocked on Thursday by the size of the crowds. I had someone asking to buy my pass as I was leaving on Sunday at 3 pm. The floor closed at 5.
6. I heard the #7 train referred as the Nerd Train. It amused me.
7. The concession stand were busy and Starbuck was ridiculous, but you could at least eat there, unlike 2012 (last time I went), when it was Starbucks and some sandwich place on site that was it.
8. I love NYCC, but I can’t help but wonder if it was my last one. Just the size of the crowds…it’s exhausting and overwhelming. Plus, the registration system this year was just cruel. I only do a con every 3 years or so because of where I live. Maybe I’ll pick one a little more sensible like Baltimore next time. We’ll see…
As an exhibitor, I think Reed deserves excessive praise for their panel room support. I’ve never had a two-person AV team AND a two-person line management team at any other show. It might have been just a perk with the larger rooms, I don’t know, but those guys took care of us so well I was expecting them to have dinner ready for me when I got home.
The main floor traffic was a total disaster. We just need to set aside a couple designated cosplay/photo taking areas and mark off a separate browsing lane in front of the booths so traffic can still move past while people stop to browse/chat/shop. You will lose a few thousand bucks in booth rental if you designate picture taking spots but it will completely change the experience on the floor.
“Blue = Pro, VIP, Press, Speaker, Guest, Medical and Exhibitor Show Floor Entrance and Queuing Area”
https://www.newyorkcomiccon.com/RNA/RNA_NewYorkComicCon_V2/2015/docs/nycc-entrance-map.pdf
I was on the show floor Thursday (the big booths), Saturday, and Sunday.
The only places where traffic was bad were at the smaller vendor booths towards the back and sides, where the aisles were narrower. Four people could move down those aisles, which means only the middle handled traffic, as shoppers stopped in the other two aisles.
Photo spots won’t help much. Say you’re walking one way, and the cosplayer is walking the other direction. Are both of you going to navigate a crowded show floor to get to a designated space to take a photo which takes… a few minutes to stage? Better to remind people to take photos at the intersections. But then, the intersections will attract hordes of photographers…
People do need to be reminded to only stop at the intersections, and then preferably by the supporting tree columns. Me, I’m not above going into “New Yorker” mode with people who block aisles, or stop moving in the middle of an aisle with heavy traffic.
Torsten just because you can find something with google doesn’t mean anyone knows about it.
“Torsten just because you can find something with google doesn’t mean anyone knows about it.”
NYCC has always been great at telling people where that entry is. There’s always a slip in my ProPass letting me know where to go. But it’s really all for naught once the show is opened and the main queue line has been let on the floor.
“Could attendees reserve [panels in advance, online? Not really, as the Con and content providers want a full house. RP did allow people into panels as other people left. [This was my experience at the DC Super Hero Girls panel.]”
I don’t get this answer. They could still have advanced reservation for panels, while also having a standby line in case the panels still have extra room. In fact, to be more fair they could always have a set percent of seats specifically for standby. I’ve suggested before that they could use the RFID badge technology so that attendees can reserve for panels online, and then staff members could scan their badges as they entered the panel room. Disney World has a similar system for their attractions called FastPass+, where park goers can reserve up to 3 FastPasses in advanced per day. There’s also a tier system, so that you’re limited to only reserving one E-ticket attraction, so that not all E-ticket attraction FastPasses get booked as fast. I guess the main complication is that all other panel rooms aside from Main Events do no clear inbetween panels, so they don’t know how many seats they could allow people to reserve in advanced. I think they could at least test out an RFID badge system for Main Events as a replacement for the wristband system, as that would cut down time waiting for wristbands and also clear up space that is currently used for wristband distribution. One big drawback with the first come/first serve wristband distribution each morning is that it prevents attendees from waiting for early panels and autograph sessions elsewhere. If an RFID badge system ended up working well for Main Events, then they could expand that to other panels.
The Blue Entrance and the holding area near the 3E and 3C entrances has been in use since (at least) 2012, when I included it in my survival guide:
http://www.comicsbeat.com/nycc12-survival-guide/
I also included it this year:
http://www.comicsbeat.com/nycc15-getting-around/
Yes… I know… just because I post stuff online doesn’t mean anyone reads it…
Matt:
How do you redeem your reservation? Do you scan your badge upon entering Javits, and get a wristband?
Do they scan your badge as you enter the event space? How much longer does that take when 3000 attendees are eager to get good seats?
BookExpo (in the past at least, dunno about currently) would have ticketed events for the more popular authors. Some you paid for in advance (like author luncheons), others were distributed freely each morning, starting a few hours before the show floor opened.
ReedPOP could easily do that at the ticket booth set up in near the Blue Entrance., which is outside the “clean zone” of NYCC, and generally underutilised. The badge is scanned, and then you are limited on how many tickets you can pick up for yourself and friends. Or you get wristbanded, which makes crowd control a lot easier later.
I’d actually like to see an author luncheon, or breakfast, like at BookExpo. Stage it in a hotel ballroom, you eat while the guest talks, you get a gift bag upon exiting, Everybody’s happy.