I’ve missed you NYCC!

It’s been too long New York Comic Con! The last time I saw you was, what? February of 2009? My goodness how time flies! What’s that? You’ve missed me too? How sweet! Let’s never go that long without seeing each other again. Pinky swear? What’s that? You don’t have pinkies? You aren’t a person? This joke is getting old? I agree. Let’s get on with the good stuff.

Aaaaand done. This was all I needed, the rest of the weekend didn’t really matter. Remember the TARDIS Zipperobe? It was smaller than I’d imagined but still entirely geektastic. I’d buy one if I had the room for it. And if it wasn’t $100. And if it didn’t look like it would rip and fall apart the first time I tried getting into it. Oh shut up, like you wouldn’t.

I spent a good portion of the show covering panels for Newsarama. If you haven’t already you can catch up on my reports here. Friday I took in a speed dating panel and if you haven’t read my experience with that, you’re absolutely missing out. When I wasn’t working I was trying to see as much as I could. Luckily Friday was pretty quiet in comparison to what the rest of the weekend turned out to be so I got a fair look around.

Walking the show floor was almost pointless to me immediately though because I couldn’t buy anything. I managed to get myself on a commission list (which I’ll get to in a minute) and knew I couldn’t afford to make any other purchases. I went around talking to some comic folks I know and wound up at the DC booth of course. That’s when I ran into these beauties…

These and the other DC Direct Cover Girls statues were on display, taunting me. I also got a chance to see the Return of Bruce Wayne action figures of which I’ll hopefully be getting the Caveman and Pirate versions. Luckily I couldn’t stay long teasing myself as the Geek Girls Network Tweetup was that night!

As per usual at most conventions, I wind up eating what amounts to a bottle of water and a granola bar a day, so when I finally got to the bar where the tweetup was being held it’s safe to say Valkyrie needed food badly. Thus, I had to turn down a few drinks from friendly blog readers and twitter followers so I wouldn’t get sick. But I appreciate the offers and hellos! In fact, it was wonderful meeting and getting to talk to you all that night. I’m just sorry I was being pulled in so many different directions. Besides the lovely conversations, Kirby Krackle was performing at the event and it was my first time seeing them. I now know what all the fuss is about.

Saturday at NYCC was madness personified. I donned my Ravager costume that day but was working panels all morning. My eye-patch even decided to snap on me but I was able to pull something together so I could head out onto the show floor. Big mistake. It was more crowded than SDCC. The aisles are smaller but still, that’s an impressive feat. Fifteen minutes and I was done. I decided to cruise around the lobby and artists alley until I had to leave again which was pretty soon because I had tickets to see the Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers live at Radio City Music Hall. You may remember me taking in the first film around this time last year. Howard Shore showed up at the end but no Elijah Wood or Billy Boyd this time.

I considered cosplaying in my Red Lantern outfit on Sunday but I was wiped out and decided to go with my back-up plan, the lone Classy Lantern. But I did match with Beth who was booth-babing it for Thom Zahler during the weekend. She cosplayed several different characters but this is Thom’s Amazonia from Love and Capes who you can see right behind us. I took one more trip around the floor but I don’t know why I bothered. I finally came back to artists alley to catch up with some friends I hadn’t seen in a while and get a few random sketches. But now for my special commissions…

You may remember me being in love with a particular Twitter meme called MRVLCATS. So much so I wrote a list about them on Topless Robot. Now, comics + cats = awesome but these were all Marvel characters and I was dying for a DCCATS meme to take off but it just never did. Instead, I went directly to the source of cuteness and asked the wonderful Katie Cook to draw me one. I gave her a few character choices and left it up to her which one to illustrate. I practically fell over when I got this back. (And that’s saying a lot since I was sitting at the time.) I couldn’t be more in love with it. That’s one way to pull a disappearing act Catanna!

And finally, my reason for not being able to buy anything else at NYCC is this goddess (although, seriously I’m not complaining). It’s my very own Adam Hughes sketch!! It’s too big for my scanner so a cell phone picture is all you get for now. I’ve wanted an Adam Hughes sketch forever and it always seemed pretty impossible considering the protocol and my small con schedule. But luck was on my side that fateful Friday afternoon.

I actually had to barrel through people with my scooter to get to his table. I got on his list, which doesn’t guarantee you a sketch, and then hoped for the best. When I went back to his table to check on Saturday his wife Allison Sohn told me he was working on mine right then. SQUEEEEEE!!!! When Adam handed it over to me on Sunday I was speechless. I was expecting greatness and beauty and I got that tenfold. When it finally set in later what I was holding in my hands I actually cried a little. So as worn out as I was, this made my con. Probably my year if I’m being honest.

Overall thoughts about NYCC this year? Too crowded and not enough thought to how the passes were handled. Holding the New York Anime Festival at the same time is convenient for Reed Exhibitions and the Javits Center I’m assuming but it’s kind of horrendous for fans and creators. The passes had very little in the way of identification on them. For example, my press pass merely said “Press,” with no name, barcode or news organization listed on it. I could have given it to anyone. I even heard people were selling bootleg passes out on the street because it was so easy. Other than that, I didn’t get much out of the convention floor because it was too crowded and there weren’t as many vendors that interested me.

But all that being said, NYCC is still my show and I enjoyed having everyone be on my turf for a change. :) Did you make it to NYCC? What was your opinion of the show?