NYCC 2009 Day One

FRIDAY

The day was not off to a great start. With very little sleep I made the trek from 30th Street Station in Philly to Penn Station in New York. While waiting for the train, my watch broke. I mean, it was still running, it had just decided to show the wrong time and refused to be reset. Then just before New York the train had to stop “to wait for the other trains to leave the tunnel.” Now I’m not sure if we were waiting for every train in Manhattan to use the tunnel first or not, but we were stopped for well over forty-five minutes.

The original plan was to stop at the hotel first and check in (more on that later) but I was already late so I made my way to the Jacob Javitz Center first to pick up my press credentials and see what there was to see. Seeking out the press room I met a guy from Issues The Series. Go check it out, lots of fun, kinda like “Scrubs” meets Clerks.

Also saw Mighty Avengers artist Khoi Pham waiting in the professional line to get in. He called after me to say hello. I just have to reiterate my estimation that he’s the nicest guy in the comics biz. How many pros go out of their way to say hi to fans. Helluva artist, helluva guy, class act all the way. While I’m sharing plugs, I hung out with my friend Abraham from Avengers Forever and also bumped into the multi-talented Rob from the Aquaman Shrine.

The Schedule Guide for NYCC #4 has a gorgeous cover by living legend Neal Adams featuring the Green Lanterns Kilowog, Katma Tui, Kyle Rayner, Guy Gardner, John Stewart and a weird-eyed Hal Jordan. Everything is beautiful but Hal’s eyes. It’s disturbing. Maybe they’re crossed, maybe they’re not, but either way they seem to follow you around the room. Brrrr…

Inside are sneak previews of Flash: Rebirth #1 by Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver and Detective Comics #854 by Greg Rucka and J.H. Williams III. Other than Kate Kane’s pasty goth skin, the latter actually looks pretty spectacular. The former has me spellbound though. After these five pages I don’t know when the last time I’ve been so excited about a comic. It’s got it all. The Rogues, the JSA, good characterization, respectful characterization, and a Kid Flash is back? I’m going to be loving this book. I can’t wait.

I had to bail on some panels I wanted to see this afternoon to check into our hotel. What a clusterf*ck that was. First there was some confusion over whether it was on the shuttle bus route from the Javitz Center – it’s not, even though folks were telling me it was on the NYCC website. And then there was the question of the non-existent free wireless internet. By the time everything was sorted, the afternoon was gone. But I was determined to get to the Wonder Woman premiere so I went back through crazed taxis and rush hour traffic to get there.

It was well worth it. Also had one of the Javitz Center’s famous (or is it infamous?) hot dogs and saw the CAG Awards as well. I’ll end with a quote I heard as I was leaving the Javitz, “How do the cabs know to stop and pick us up?” Hmmm... and I thought I was out of my element here.