Another New York Comic Con has come and gone (10/13/11-10/16/11) and KevinMLD and I made the trip up the New Jersey Turnpike for two days of the four-day show to see what this year had to offer. Once again, the event was massive and well attended with an almost overwhelming number of offerings from across the spectrum of comic book genre entertainment. It’s safe to say we both came away with a better feeling this year and I’d imagine that’s true for most of the other 100,000 plus in attendance over the four days at the Javits Center.

PTB: Overall, I have to say NYCC 2011 was a far superior experience to previous years. The Thursday “Preview Night” alone may have been enough to put it over the top for me.

KevinMLD: Preview Night with its smaller crowd was the most fun I had at the convention until that last hour on Sunday when I went on a ridiculous spending spree. I just wish Preview Night was about two hours longer so I could have seen more. Having said that, capping the night with Tom Morello’s Nightwatchman was fantastic.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOyMGrp6sik&feature=channel_video_title]

PTB: This show has grown tremendously in its relatively short lifetime, and while it’s great to have a show to rival San Diego right here on the East Coast, the crowds are a lot to contend with at times.

KevinMLD: I agree that this is my single biggest concern about the event. There were definitely a few times that I couldn’t help but feel trapped and I may or may not have yelled at someone who had caused a log jam.

PTB: You did. I think we estimated that the crowd had at least tripled between Thursday and Sunday making it far more difficult to get around, and apparently there were parts of the show floor that we never even got to see!

KevinMLD: I still can’t believe that. I know you didn’t make it into the “Cult Yard,” which is where way too much of my spending spree took place. But there was also the Anime Fest upstairs somewhere and an autograph room we missed. I also somehow missed the Legendary Films booth which I could have wasted 90 seconds at for sure.

PTB: We talked a lot about DC’s upcoming lines of action figures and toys (the Arkham City video game is incredible by the way) and that really only scratched the surface of what was on display. I’m really out of the loop regarding most of those toy lines but it was amazing to see everything that will be on shelves soon.

KevinMLD: I know you spent awhile gawking at the Marvel figures at the Hasbro booth. Most of those are already out.

PTB: I spent a fair bit of time on the WWE figures as well (all of our images from the show can be found here).

Despite some slow going on Sunday, I was kind of thrilled that we were able to attend a couple of panels. Last year, this wasn’t something we could have even considered. The most striking difference between the DC and Marvel panels we attended was the representation from the two companies. While it was great to see the biggest names at DC talking with fans in Dan Didio, Jim Lee and Bob Wayne, the X-Men: Regenesis panel had more creators in attendance than the seats onstage could accommodate.

KevinMLD: We attended two very different panels. If we had gone to the Batman, Superman or DC Edge panels, there would have been plenty of creators on hand. What we attended was more like a “Cup of Joe” panel. That’s why it was just Jim Lee and Dan Didio. Meanwhile, the Marvel panel was an X-Men specific panel, thus the creators were there.

I do have to say I think San Diego’s “Batgirl” may have had a direct impact on the Sunday discussion panels DC used to hold at these types of conventions . This event was run nothing like those panels were handled previously. I don’t disagree with the points she raised, but I think there’s been fallout as a result of the way she made it.

PTB: I wasn’t there for the end of the DC panel, but no one on the X-team really went anywhere after the panel ended as they all stayed to talk with fans and sign autographs. There was a lot of interaction.

KevinMLD: They took questions after you left for a while. It’s just that the DC Sunday panel was traditionally JUST a discussion back and forth with the audience. That’s not what they did this year at all.

PTB: At the end of the day it was pretty incredible just to walk around the floor as everyone was leaving. In the span of about a hundred feet I passed Brian Wood, Rob Liefeld and Jerry “the King” Lawler. I was kicking myself for not asking Liefeld for an autograph.

KevinMLD: Not to mention members of the cast of 30 Rock just wandering the floor.

I think the point to take from this convention is there were a ton of things happening at any one time. Every event may not all appeal to every single fan, but chances are each one appeals to someone.

PTB: Exactly. It’s easy to get burnt out on shows like this, but I’ll make time for NYCC again next year. There are just too many big names and too much good stuff going on to just sit at home with this happening just down the road. The show is set to return to return to the Javits Center October 11 – 14, 2012.

Read more about the New York Comic Con on MyLatestDistraction.com.

Also be sure to visit our NYCC 2011 image gallery!

Additional coverage of this year’s event can be found at the links below.

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