Geeks, Freaks, and Workmates: Mandatory Fun Day at New York City Comic-Con

My new twenty-sided dice stress ball

For the second year in a row, my co-workers and I had the great pleasure of attending New York City Comic-Con on opening day at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center—a little dose of mandatory fun and much-needed R&R. The Con has come a long way since my dad first brought me back in 1977, when the crowd fit comfortably in a few hotel ballrooms and “cosplay” wasn’t even a word.

We’d talked about dressing up for the occasion this year, but, as usual, our work schedules (and indecision) got in the way. We couldn’t agree on a theme, and time slipped by. Showing my age, I settled for the low-effort route: a funny hat, a twirled mustache, and the claim that I was Dick Dastardly. It was better than nothing, I suppose.

Sciel and Gustave from Clair
Obscur: Expedition 33

The center was absolutely packed—shoulder to shoulder with superheroes, villains, aliens, elves, and every other imaginable life form. The cosplay was half the fun. Some costumes were pure art, others deeply strange, a few questionably rated, and many simply baffling to me. Not being a gamer or much of an anime or manga fan, I didn’t recognize most of the characters—but I admired the dedication. The usual suspects were out in force: Marvelites, Bronies, Trekkies, Furries, and every fandom in between. My favorites were a fierce Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland, a dangerously seductive Federica Krueger, and a duo portraying Sciel and Gustave from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, a dark fantasy Belle Époque video game I’d never heard of until the friendly couple explained it to me.

The vendor hall was a universe unto itself—endless booths of collectibles, art prints, weapons, plushies, and things I couldn’t begin to describe. Oddly enough, comics now make up only a small corner of Comic-Con. Still, I spotted a few gems: some interior pages of Red Sonja by Frank Thorne and Conan the Barbarian by John Buscema that nearly had me reaching for my wallet. In the end, I kept it simple—just picked up the latest issue of Heavy Metal Magazine, a new absinthe spoon, and a twenty-sided dice stress ball.

By the time we left, exhausted and overstimulated, we were all making the same promises we did last year: next time, we’re definitely dressing up.

~ By Giovanni di Napoli, October 10th, Feast of St. Francis Borgia