NYCC 2010 Report: Saturday

Saturday

During the day on Friday, ReedPOP stopped selling weekend and Saturday tickets for NYCC on their website and at the Javits Center. This caused confusion on Saturday for people who arrived at Javits on Saturday morning hoping to get in. It was a clusterfrack for attendees trying to pick up passes, or just get into the building. I slipped in with the press pass and took another walk around the exhibition floor.

The Javits was much more crowded, much less controlled, and entirely more unpleasant than the (relatively) relaxed Friday. There were more anime kids, more cosplayers, more families, more everything.

I arrived too late for the Fan Fiction: From Mary Sue to Shakespeare panel, and was shut out of The History of Superhero Movies panel. The day was not shaping up well, and I was frustrated with people stopping in the middle of high-traffic areas - like right at the top of the escalators - to take pictures of cosplayers. After a while I gave up on politeness and accidentally photobombed many shots. Even worse were people who were trying to interview and film people in the middle of the exhibition hall aisles, in front of the crowded Marvel, DC, and Fox Entertainment booths. Please people, how about a little common sense?

The panel for THE THING (prequel) started late, was held in the arctic-chilled, cavernous IGN Theater, but got me eager for the film, set for release April 29, 2011. The same-named prequel to John Carpenter’s 1982 epic takes place three days before that film’s events, and centers on the doomed Norwegian team. The panel included director Matthijs van Heijningen, producers Eric Newman and Marc Abraham, and a few of the actors, including Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Mr. Eko from Lost) and TV regular Eric Christian Olsen. (Ramona Flowers, uh, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, also stars, but she was too busy getting married to attend the panel.) They showed an extended trailer (which the cast hadn’t even seen), but no other footage. Based on the discussion about the sparse use of CGI, close study of the Carpenter film, and the use of the same title (because it IS the same monster, after all), I remain optimistic about the forthcoming results.

(Here’s a fairly good steaming recording of THE THING panel. However, audio of the trailer has been removed.)

After THE THING panel, I had a limited edition copy of Darwyn Cooke’s latest Parker adaptation, THE OUTFIT, signed for a friend and stumbled into the Spotlight on Dean Haspiel as it was warming up. It was a rollicking roast of Haspiel from friends and collaborators, including author Jonathan Ames, who told the audience that the cartoonist character of “Ray Heuston” (played by Zack Galifianakis) on HBO’s Bored to Death is loosely based on Haspiel. Moderator Christopher Irving talked a little bit about Haspiel’s work on Act-i-Vate, the online comics collective/petri dish, and the forthcoming Dean Haspiel: The Early Years by Christopher Irving (Graphic NYC), publishing in November from IDW/Desperado.

The Vertigo: On the Edge panel featured so many artists and writers they packed the stage three deep in some areas (the count was at least 20 people). I am excited that Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly are doing The New York Five miniseries, a sequel to The New York Four, an original graphic novel from the now-dead Minx line. The next story arc of American Vampire (Scott Snyder, story; Raphael Albuquerque, artist) will be set during WWII. Three Vertigo novels I need to pick up soon are Cuba: My Revolution (Inverna Lockpez, story; Dean Haspiel, art), How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less (Sarah Glidden, story and art), and Aaron and Ahmed (Jay Cantor, story; James Romsberger, art). Anthony Bourdain is writing a chef-themed GN with artist Joel Rose titled Get Hiro!, due in 2012. Finally, editor Karen Berger announced the special Vertigo: Resurrection project, 100 page issues of never-reprinted or “lost” stories, including “Shoot” by Warren Ellis, a Constantine story about a school shooting from 1999 that was pulled in the aftermath of the Columbine High School incident. (Note: the first issue, which includes “Shoot”, just came out 10/20 and it is awesome.) A very satisfying panel that will empty my wallet further (eventually). I don’t purchase many DC (or Marvel, really) comics, but when I do, they are almost always the Vertigo imprint.

After the Vertigo panel, I had a Super Ray comic signed by Jonathan Ames and Dean Haspiel (and didn’t pass out in the process, even after telling Ames he was very brave for going full frontal nude on the latest episode of Bored to Death). (The entire minicomic is available on the HBO Bored to Death site, with the huge penis panel notably absent.)

By late afternoon/early evening, the exhibition hall was still packed with cosplayers who looked better six hours ago, tired kids, trash, frustrated “security” staff, and exhausted attendees. It also didn’t smell so good anymore. As I headed up 8th Avenue to the bus (once again peeved that ReedPOP neglected to mention evening panels at an earlier date), I seriously considered if I needed to attend Sunday, but decided to get some sleep and decide in the morning...

Sunday

... and since I slept through the bus I was planning to take up that morning, Sunday at NYCC didn’t happen for me. Which was probably just as well, since it was Kids’ Day, and three panels I had been interested in were all running simultaneously. Sure, I was going to miss The Walking Dead panel, but that would be covered by all the major blogs, anyway. I was also worn down from logging nearly 9 hours of bus time in two days, although I have no complaints about the rides.

Up next: NYCC 2010 Report: Odds ‘n’ Sods