new york comic-con

Update: We've added a new audio slideshow, which you can see in the video player above. Below in the "Scenes" gallery is an entirely different set of photos, so be sure to check out both to get the most complete Comic Con experience.

The New York Comic Con has always paled in comparison to the much larger, but unrelated San Diego Comic-Con, as we can attest to from attending last year's small-ish show. But the Twitter buzz started building early for this year's event, and we got reports of lines hundreds of people deep just to pick up passes and tickets on Friday and Saturday.

The key to the show's newfound success is in its very liberal definition of a comic gathering. If anything, most of the floorspace was devoted to video games, television, movies, and other pop culture ephemera, although there were certainly plenty of aisles full of vintage comics and an entire room devoted to artist meet-and-greets (plus the usual gang of autograph-hawking celebs, from Lou Ferrigno to wrestler Jerry Lawler).

The biggest attraction for most gawkers is definitely the cavalcade of costumed characters. While New Yorkers are used to seeing crazy attire on the street, this collection of superheroes, game characters, and weird mash-ups is eye-opening, even for a town with Times Square's iconic Naked Cowboy. The most notable trend in this area was definitely the large number of costumed babies and toddlers--at least a few of whom didn't look especially thrilled by their creative outfits.

Click through the photo tour above to enjoy the insanity of the New York Comic Con from the relative safe and normal confines of your laptop screen.… Read more

Few places, outside of perhaps CES and E3, illustrate the overlapping Venn diagram of technology, video games, and popular culture better than the New York Comic Con (or the much larger, but unrelated San Diego Comic-Con). Not just for comic book geeks any more, the show is a catch-all of video games (new and vintage), comics, toys and collectibles, movies, and, of course, incessant marketing toward the mostly male, mostly young adult audience.

It's interesting to note that much of the floor space was given over to hosting video game demos and showcases from companies such as EA, Atari, and Activision. While not quite recession-proof, game companies are perhaps the last holdout that can afford massive amounts of expensive convention center floor space. Also big--the comic/video game/movie pop-culture full-court press called Watchmen.

We braved the nerdy waters of this annual show--held at NYC's Jacob Javitz convention center--to bring you this photo gallery, as well as a few video highlights, shot with a Creative Vado HDcamera. Click on to see it all.

… Read more