On Saturday, I finally went to New York Comic Con for the first time. Even though I was only there for one day, I had an amazing time and can’t wait for next October when NYCC rolls around again. There were lots of awesome and hilarious homemade costumes such as a 9-foot Lex Luthor battlesuit, a Captain America/Donald Trump hybrid, and, of course, a ridiculous number of Harley Quinns. I was fortunate enough to meet the infamous Stan Lee and other writers and artitsts from the comic industry. However, since this website is about cool stuff you can buy, the emphasis of this article will be on all the cool stuff I bought!
While there were lots of booths selling rare Pops for elevated prices, I was luckily able to find a booth that had an amazing selection for slightly less money. I picked up the rare Hot Topic exclusive Clark Kent Pop, which looks exactly like Christopher Reeve in the 1978 classic film, and was very well designed and painted. I was also going to get the White Lantern Firestorm, but unfortunately someone else grabbed the last one while I was reaching for it.
I also stopped by the Titan Merchandise booth to pick up the NYCC exclusive 4.5” Enterprise-D, based on Star Trek: The Next Generation, one of my favorite TV shows. The packaging was almost as cool as the figure, with blueprint-like sketches and a preview of the upcoming “Make It So” collection of Titan figures.
I also discovered the booth of a company called the Brick Squad [http://thebricksquad.tictail.com], which makes awesome customized Lego figures based on comic books and popular movie franchises. There were a ton of awesome figures that I bought at this booth, but my favorite was probably the New 52 Reverse Flash shown below.
While the CW’s Arrow may have disappointed fans over the past couple of years, I have always been a huge fan of the first two seasons, largely due to Manu Bennett’s performance as Slade Wilson/Deathstroke. I was able to get an autographed photo of him in costume from a booth selling discount autographs, and it will definitely be taking a prominent place on my wall.
Those of you who have been keeping up with DC’s current Rebirth series have probably read some of the recent issues of Detective Comics, one of my favorite current series. I went to Artist Alley to see the series’s talented artist Eddy Barrows, and was able to buy two prints for a very low price, which he was kind enough to sign for free. These prints depict some of my favorite Bat Family members, and are based on great cover art Barrows has done over the past few years.
I also went to the booth of Christopher Jones, the artist of the comic book adaption of the Young Justice cartoon. I got a signed mini-print from him, showing the original six members of the show’s team (which we’re all hoping will show up in Pop form soon).
One of the coolest items I bought at the show was a limited edition-100 print of Nightcrawler, my favorite X-Man, by Todd Nauck [http://toddnauck.com], who illustrated the solo Nightcrawler series in 2014. I was quick enough to get the last copy, which he signed for free. I also got it signed by the legendary Chris Claremont [http://chrisclaremont.com], one of my favorite writers, who wrote the Nightcrawler series in collaboration with Nauck. He was really nice and even added some text he thought of at the moment, as well as signing one of my comics (X-Men #200, in case any Magneto fans are reading this).
I also stopped by the booth of current Superman writer Peter J. Tomasi, who signed my copy of Arkham Knight #1. He was also selling something very interesting that none of the other writers had— original manuscripts of comic books he wrote, at the low price of $10. I purchased the manuscript of his recent Darkseid War: Batman one-shot, and he even included a personalized signing.
Lastly comes the big question: What about the Funko booth exclusives? While I didn’t win the entry lottery, I was able to get all three of the shared exclusives that I wanted at GameStop and Barnes & Noble. These included two versions of the Joker, plus one of my other favorite X-Men, Kitty Pryde.
So what did you guys get at NYCC, and what cool experiences did you have there this year? Also, if you would like more detailed reviews of any of the items I mentioned above, let me know so I can get to work on those. Sound off in the comments!
Matt Norris