My New York Comic Con in Brief
Star Trek and More from the 2022 Show Floor!
From my upcoming Star Trek #1 (2022) interview with Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly at Forces of Geek.
I’m in bed. Fighting sleep.
There is an ad for tomorrow morning’s podcast (I’m getting it early) about a new podcast called Chasing Sleep. Well done, algorithm.
Half of our house has been COVID-positive for about a week. Hint. It’s not me. Perhaps the virus attacked one of the 199,998 other attendees at the show, and we were inadvertently caught in a sneeze spray from some Flash cosplayer with Barry’s speed to boot.
October 6th was my 47th birthday, and I celebrated another milestone on the 15th.
Our post-pandemic return to New York Comic Con was a hit we had a great time. I ate a great dinner or three, and, to my surprise, my subscription to DC Universe Infinite got me into the actual DC Offices to kick off the weekend! Jim Lee was joined by Jeph Loeb, Marc Silvestri, and Tom King to talk all things Batman! We got some cool swag!
My digital DC membership (now, ULTRA membership) seemingly pitted us against a bunch of what Adam West’s Batman would call … Goons! DC also invited the Crypto/NFT Bat Cowl contingent. I’m not one of these Bat Cowls (yet), but maybe I’ll dip my toe so that next year I can double my goodies and dress up like Two-Face!
Want to feel out of touch? Try to understand this Twitter account:
I will present some highlights already shared … as I have an unpublished interview for IDW’s new Star Trek #1 (10/26 release date) for Forces of Geek and a short video for The Sandman Dream Portal By Audible and DC at New York Comic Con. We were influencers!
We arrived at our hotel before heading to DC for the special Batman thing. This was a cheap hotel that I failed at, not realizing we had a shared bathroom. Stacey still loves me, but I should leave the travel plans to her! She bought the train tickets, which was the stylish way to go! There were no #trainfights … Thank The Maker!
Thurs 10/6
At DC, Jim Lee, who just landed to celebrate not only NYCC but also the Black Adam premiere, celebrated Hush, and all the great books coming out from Tom King, Jeph Loeb, and a new, unexpected Batman/The Joker: The Deadly Duo from fellow Image founding partner Marc Silvestri! The pages in the ashcan look sick, and I look forward to reading this. Only on the way out, I was taking a picture of the gigantic Black Adam display, I wondered aloud, “Did DC rent this place just for Comic-Con?” or something equally stupid.
A magical, friendly man (picture Jack Black with a KN95 on) said, “No, you are AT the DC Offices right now!”
Then…Poof! He was gone! The Black Adam display came alive, like Back to the Future II’s ‘JAWS 19’ marquee, and The Rock made that kind man disappear.
It was my birthday, so we walked the approximately 40-minute walk back to the hotel but not before celebrating with a nice dinner. I feel like we “did it right” this time. Except for…maybe the germ exposure… to someone who has been super duper careful and washes their hands constantly! The virus is a lottery, it seems.
Friday 10/7
We paid special attention to the Con schedule and made it to things we loved. The days were long, but all of my press commitments were on Saturday, so Day 2 at the convention was a blast! And it was so nice out; I saw a helicopter take off from a private helipad like a scene out of Succession on the way to Javitz.
We hit up Batman: The Audio Adventures Season 2 panel, and that was fun. I have started on it recently, but Season 2 promises more excitement. I love two things: Batman and Podcasts. Chocolate and Peanut Butter.
Batman: The Audio Adventures is written and directed by Emmy® Award-winner Dennis McNicholas (Saturday Night Live) and Jeffrey Wright, Bobby Moynihan, and more, lending their voices.
This was the visualizer, but the TV version of this podcast's visuals are pretty on point and fun! Check it out on HBO Max.
I went to a panel with all of the publishers that work with Marvel (Abrams Comics Arts, IDW, The Folio Society, Penguin Classics) that work to put comics and graphic novels into libraries and private homes with excellent collections like IDW’s Artist Editions, Black Light Poster books and so much more!
Kirby, Lee, and Ditko classics and Value Stamps collections are coming soon! Austin Manchester at AIPT wraps up the BOOKS OF FUTURE PAST panel here.
Showtime’s Let The Right One In TV Show had a pre-viewing and full cast panel of Episode 1. It is streaming on Prime now. Go watch it for free and come back!
FuggetAboutIt! We carbed up with what was probably a tourist trap of an Italian joint not too far from the convention. Google Maps restaurant suggestions aren’t bad! Or just regular Google. You know what I mean.
Tony Soprano probably ate here. Not James Gandolfini. I mean “Tone.”
Not pictured: a cannoli that survived 2 seconds before a crumbly death upon arrival.
There were no bodegas or fun things to do like go get bodega food or go to the bodega or just pop into the bodega at 2 AM near our hotel. But there was a WeWork if I felt like doing work. I did not!
Saturday 10/8
We bought these.
Not the ‘Actual Batcave’ - he doesn’t, like, advertise it.
To prep for my interview, I thought it smart to go to the Star Trek panel! So much new Trek! Comprehensive summary here from T. Rick Jones at Daily Star Trek News.
wut?!
We went to The Sandman Dream Portal promoting DC and Audible’s The Sandman Act III, which had a surprise early release on my Birthday. Thank you, Audible credit I hadn’t cashed in yet! More soon!
We capped the last of our Con floor day on Saturday with two VERY cool screenings/previews. More previews, I guess, but with stellar guests on stage!
Stacey deserves 1000% credit for finding these, and I kinda sorta threw the press badge energy (PBE) to get us in with confidence. They asked for wristbands, but we had not preregistered. Just flashing that shit around like native New Yorkers. Of course, because we did not preregister, we did not get to sit up close, but we were breathing the same rarified (and well-circulated) air as Patrick Stewart and the rest of the Picard Season 3 reunion.
We even got Captain Burnham herself “ON SCREEN,” Zooming in from the Captain’s chair as they were shooting late and she couldn’t make it. To be honest, seeing her that way was great as she ended up being the biggest Captain (in feet) we could see that night from the cheap seats! You can’t get more Star Trek than that. The next season of Discovery looks promising.
Catch up on what you missed at the Star Trek Universe panel over at The Comics Beat. Are you watching Star Trek: Prodigy yet? It’s so good.
Pictures … like, good ones, are def not allowed at Empire Stage at NYCC.
What else…what else? DUN DUN DUN DUN Snap Snap!
We were delighted to be there for Fred Armisen’s live onstage reveal as Uncle Fester in the upcoming From The Mind of Tim Burton: WEDNESDAY based on The Addams Family of fine hair products, lip balms, hand lotion, light bulbs, and doorbells for some reason.
Stacey loves Portlandia, and the cast is amazing and is passionate about telling the story of a Wednesday Addams as a teenager and what that might mean! As big Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (RIP) fans, we are dying for more of that!
The show stars Jenna Ortega, Luis Guzman as Gomez, and Gwendoline Christie, who were all in attendance at NYCC on the panel! Catherine Zeta-Jones picks up the pieces of this near-perfect casting as Morticia Addams.
Tune in on Thanksgiving week, November 23rd, on Netflix to check it out. It looks super fun and very Tim Burton from the man himself! This is the Batman director’s first television experience! Learn more at TV Insider here!
got my hair cut correct like Anthony Mason
Then I ride the IRT right up to Penn Station (Yeah)
Penn Station, up on 8th Ave
Listen all of y'all, you get the ball back
He's got Savoir Faire because he's debonair
Well, Mike D with the vinyl, with the grooves so rare
And the rhymes that we're kickin' are doo-doo
Sunday was a travel day, back to Boston but not without a bagel and a smear and one of those Greek coffee cups. Stacey had her first Krispy Kreme, and we made it to the train station on time! Monday was a much-needed holiday (despite my previous protestations).
To The Batcave!
Clay N. Ferno