As New York Comic Con gets bigger and bigger, it becomes impossible to take it all in, and no matter how well we plan for it, inevitably things don’t work out. Here is our breakdown of one of the fastest going conventions in the United States.
Thursday goals included attending the 88MPH: A Celebration of Back to the Future, a panel about DC Comics imprint Vertigo’s new #1s, attempting to get into the Viz Media/Musashi Kishimoto panel, and finishing out the day at MootCon4 to talk to people about the Game of Theories webseries. While not an entirely adventurous schedule, the sheer amount of people made it impossible to navigate the exhibit hall (or the smaller, craft/creator filled area called The Block) in a timely manner. New York Comic Con was wall to wall cosplayers in different Doc & Marty costumes (and a TON of Rick & Morty costumes as well), some so well done, several double takes were needed to make sure we didn’t accidentally walk by Christopher Lloyd himself. We had to slowly step our way to the Image booth where we met up with comic creator Ivan Brandon for a scheduled interview, before attempting to make headway toward the Funko booth, hoping to get our eyeballs on some of those exclusives! There were many promotional life-size POP! figures to promote the upcoming Smuggler’s Bounty, and it was difficult to tear ourselves away and re-evaluate our plan as the hour grew late. It was here our paths split, with Tushar checking out the Games and Education panel, Kaitlyn calling it a day, and Leia preparing for a long evening of line waiting to spend an hour in the same room as Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto, before preparing for day two.
As the weekend progressed, we saw the floors even MORE packed than before and our weary correspondents loaded up their schedule with panels. First, however, Kaitlyn and Leia wandered over to the Audible booth to try out the immersive Locke & Key experience via Oculus Rift, before an interview with Sean Lewis and Benjamin Mackey, newbies in the comic industry. Artist Alley was a sight to behold this year, with greedy fingers reaching for art prints on our way to interview Justin Jordan, and get some stuff signed.
Now despite the name “New York Comic Con,” non-comic media, like television, was there in force too. The folks at Adult Swim were up to their old tricks again with roundtables for Venture Bros, Robot Chicken, and the new miniseries airing soon, Neon Joe, Werewolf Hunter. (You can check out our preview at Adult Swim at NYCC – Neon Joe, Werewolf Hunter). Getting to meet TV personalities like Jon Glaser, Stephanie March, Breckin Meyer and the crazy duo of Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick went exactly as we thought it would go. Antics upon hijinks upon gut busting laughter. It was tough to get through the whole thing without addressing Stephanie March as anything other than “Assistant District Attorney Alexandra Cabot,” but ultimately composure was kept and we found that she, along with the rest of the Adult Swim actor corps, were super cool and friendly people.
TV wasn’t the only non-comic media to make a splash this year. Video games made their presence felt too. If you had (like we did) a bit of trouble getting through the main entrance to the con floor because of a pure sea of concentrated humanity, you were probably going by the Capcom booth. Lining the booth was an army of Street Fighter enthusiasts, and it WAS possible (but not probable) to slither your way in to get a crack at seeing some gameplay from Street Fighter V. The game played faster than its predecessor Street Fighter IV, and you could see some of the classic cast like Karin making their return from the Alpha/Zero series of Street Fighter games. There was a tournament going on as well, so there was always the chance that if you went in to get schooled, it would be public on a lot of large screens.
Square-Enix decided to take the quieter route and had a media suite set up a Shop Studios, just a couple blocks away from the Javits Center. It was nice to get away from the bustle of the con floor for guided demos of their games to small groups of people, and the fact that they fed us definitely did not hurt the experience. Making the rounds through Shop Studios we saw the upcoming Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (check out our preview here), Hitman, Just Cause 3, and the finale to Life Is Strange with Episode 5. The biggest and friendliest surprise though was that Lara Croft: GO wasn’t the only appearance our girl Lara Croft made that day. The full playable demo of Rise of the Tomb Raider looked and played absolutely great.
The Star Wars franchise decided to take an in between approach, setting up their Star Wars Battle Pods outside of the con floor but still inside the Javits Center, making it easy to get to and a beacon of the force as people entered the building. The battle pods let you take command of a few different vehicles from the Star Wars universe, from going on a Death Star bombing run in an X-Wing to trying to hang on for dear life on a speedbike on Endor. Either way, the ride was complete with vibration and pod shakes that one would presumably feel taking your X-wing out of the hangar.
Our last day was spent tying up loose ends, such as taking photos of the creepiest cosplay we could find, picking up more stuff to give away to you guys, and making our last stop at the phenomenal Women of Marvel panel, before shambling off home.
Be sure to check out our other convention coverage and we hope to see you guys in the future! We can’t wait for next year, and leave you with this awesome cosplay video from our friends, SneakyZebra.
In case you haven’t already, don’t forget that we are giving away a bunch of stuff for those of you who didn’t get to attend! Enter below.
Daku Con 2018 Photo Gallery
Daku Con 2018 Convention Recap!
PAX South 2019: Splitgate Arena Warfare, World of Horror, JackQuest, and Disjunction
PAX South 2019: Jump Force, Skellboy, A Fold Apart
PAX South 2019: Devil May Cry 5, Young Souls, Magequit
Nan Desu Kan 2018 Photo Gallery
I had a great time at NYCC this year. There was a bunch of stuff to see, some great cosplayers (which you can see in the IHOGeek Facebook galleries), and of course a good list of panels to check out. On the latter I had the side-splitting pleasure of experiencing the Adult Swim treatment on Friday night, catching back to back panels from the Venture Brothers and Robot Chicken. Two hours of Adult Swim personalities answering fan questions, cutting up and going nuts, and well, just hijinx in general.
… And you know how I feel about hijinx, kids. Love ’em.
Starting with Queen’s “Princes of the Universe” hitting the speaker system, The Venture Brothers‘ Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick came out to the stage rocking black jumpsuits to a wall of pure sound from the audience. After playing it up a little, they sat at the table and answered some fan questions. It was a strange panel in the sense that there was no footage from the show like some of the other panels I attended, but it really wasn’t all that surprising. Doc and Jackson let us know that they had just started working on the new season 6, and even though it was going to take a while that it is “going to be awesome” (don’t expect it until 2015). SO i guess without any content to give you, I can at least give you some of the Q&A schtick that they put on –
On underwear: Jackson’s underwear costs $60 a pair. Sixty. and Doc rocks boxer briefs. We’ll just have to take his word on that though – when chants to show the crowd came up he declared he couldn’t, because he has no ass.
On continuity: When asked whether continuity helps or hurts the show’s comedy. Big surprise, it hurts.
On music: Doc doesn’t care who your favorite guitarist is – your favorite guitarist is Johnny Marr.
On giant robot cosplay: If you ask a question dressed as a giant robot, Doc Hammer will go into strike mode (as he appeared to do) and state his desire to jump across the table and knock you out.
Throughout the answers was of course the nutty behavior we expect from these two fancy lads, but it was their last act that got the biggest round of applause from the audience, myself included. A young lady stepped up to the microphone and upon trying to speak, saw that she couldn’t find her words. “I’m too nervous to ask a question,” she said. Without missing a step Doc Hammer comes back with “are you too nervous to DANCE with me?” and proceeded to dance with the young lady while the DJ played “Greased Lightning.” And a grand time was had by all. Check it out from Adult Swim here.
Next up was Robot Chicken. The whole crew was out in force – Seth Green, Matthew Senreich, Clare Grant, Breckin Meyer all clad in cat ears, including an unannounced appearance by Macauly Culkin, who is indeed, as it appeared to me, alive and well. The crew made a couple of big announcements, the first being a sequel to the wildly popular DC Comics Special entitled DC Comics Special II: Villains in Paradise. They showed some footage from the special, focusing on Batman’s embarrassment about being dragged around in Green Lantern’s green bubble. A musical bromance ensues between the two, with Batman being floated along in a green sailboat construct.
Seth Green also talked about Übermansion – a joint project between the Robot Chicken crew and Bryan Cranston, who is fresh off the heels of the success of Breaking Bad. Cranston voices Titanium Rex, an elderly superhero who fights the day to day perils of, you know, being old sharing the mansion with this super-team. It’s stop motion like Robot Chicken, and from the trailer we were shown the humor is unrefined, juvenile, and let’s face it kids, right up your alley.
There wasn’t much commentary on future Robot Chicken seasons, but they did announce their Born Again Virgin Christmas Special, which will air this December.
… Oh right. Then there was Emmett.
Early in the panel a young lad by the name of Emmett got up to the microphone to ask a questions. The panel addressed him as “the young man in the brown hat.” After snarkily replying “first off, it’s a Borderlands hat, so…” he went on imply that by Seth Green taking on his series Dads that it could take away from the writing of Robot Chicken. After some more sass and Green’s “I’ma point at you and yell” antics Breckin Meyer jumped in to Green’s defense – “Hey Seth’s working REALLY HARD!” After that Emmett became a running gag for the entire panel, cracking me up more than any of the other antics the panelists had, aside from meth jokes at the expense of Macauly Culkin. Afterwards, in response to a simple “Hi how are you?” from a fan, Breckin’s answer was “Well I was having a great day until I met this douchebag named Emmett.” And this went on and on for the entire panel. Please, do yourself a favor and watch the panel here. Warning though – the panel features a moment between Seth Green and Doc Hammer’s nipple, who made an impromptu cameo.
Stay tuned for my next installment where I talk about that time i met Neil DeGrasse Tyson!
Tushar Nene
Staff Writer
@tusharnene
Daku Con 2018 Photo Gallery
Daku Con 2018 Convention Recap!
PAX South 2019: Splitgate Arena Warfare, World of Horror, JackQuest, and Disjunction
PAX South 2019: Jump Force, Skellboy, A Fold Apart
PAX South 2019: Devil May Cry 5, Young Souls, Magequit
Nan Desu Kan 2018 Photo Gallery
Another month, another book review.
For the month of May, I was sent City Under The Moon, a debut novel by one of the insanely amazing minds behind Robot Chicken, Hugh Sterbakov. Not being a connoisseur of this particular genre and with the added headache of the last book I reviewed leaving me a little jaded on the experience, I delved into this story expecting the worst and came away with a new found respect for the horror genre. At least, if the other stories in this genre are anything like City Under The Moon.
In an effort to correctly portray real life situations with a dash of superstition thrown into the cauldron, City Under The Moon is about a CDC response to a virus outbreak in Manhattan where everyone transforms into a hairy beast via moonlight. And that’s when it hit me. This book is about WEREWOLVES. In Manhattan. I almost expected a cheesy 80s song to kick in and Taylor Lautner to rip his shirt off while I rolled my eyes and heaved into the nearest receptacle.
But Hugh’s take on the strain is a little bit different, thank the Old Gods and the New.
After the Twilight fancraze, I vowed to stay tail length away from anything involving Werewolves, so I was initially a little turned off by the subject matter. At 470 pages, Hugh Sterbakov’s painstaking research into the mythology of the mutts was not what I expected from the Twilight aftermath. It also really helps the skepticism a little when the title page has quotes by Seth Green and Mila Kunis. They seem like people you just want to trust.
City Under the Moon was sent to me in .PDF form so that I could read anytime, anywhere via my Nook Color. Though there seems to be a compatibility issue where all punctuation is erased, that small detail wasn’t enough to stop me from enjoying the first few chapters of Brianna Tildascow’s super practical police work.
With an opening that charges right into the thick of the action and a hospital hijack bloodbath, be sure to clear out your schedule. Between long hours at work and a beat-your-ass convention schedule, I was left struggling to find time in which to devour the narrative and find out where the story was headed. This was the first mistake of many I made as I packed my Nook for A-Kon 23 and tried to read anytime I could sneak in a spare moment.
City Under the Moon has a lovingly crafted George R. R. Martin-esque writing style feel, complete with the point of view shifts that I’ve come to love reading. The majority of the story spotlights on FBI counterterrorism specialist and femme fatale Brianna Tildascow, who prefers to be known by her surname only. However, the narrative isn’t one dimensional as it takes us into the minds of minor characters who all have an impact on the bigger picture. Lon Toller, the government enlisted and self proclaimed “werewolf expert” who is also a bit of a Dungeons & Dragons nut on the side, socially awkward Dr. Jessica Tanner with her mousy but firm demeanor, and even one impressively written chapter from the big baddie himself, Demetrius Valenkov round out all of the supporting characters with believably fleshed out personalities and a relatable thought process. There is no wondering why the bimbo ran upstairs when the killer is in the house.
Normally, I am completely desensitized to all fashions of gore, but City Under The Moon is not a “wake up and read over your bowl of Corn Pops” kind of book.The enthralling plot coupled with a threat of bioneucleur retaliation sets up a very action packed climax, with the parallels between ultimate hunters Valenkov and Tildascow’s personalities surprisingly well balanced. Cleverly INTERWOLVEN (hah. puns.) with pop culture references galore, my only minor problem fell in the form of the fairer sex, as Sterbakov is no Joss Whedon in the women-writing department. But kudos to him for holding his own in this first novel, as he has nowhere to go but up.
A fully researched work that has no problems taking risks, City Under The Moon is a credit to it’s genre. If you are a fan of the occult, lots of details and thrilling action stories, definitely check it out.
You can find City Under the Moon via Amazon in both Paperback or e-reader format, or even snag yourself an autographed copy at the official website.
City Under The Moon is the kind of book that makes you want to grab a glass of wine, huddle up under some blankets, and make sure your dog is at your feet and not contorting into some hideous elongated version of the pooch you know and love. Or maybe that’s just me.
Hallow-Reads | The Line by Rob Ferreri
Hallow-Reads | Grim Vol 1: Teen Spirit by Nicholas Meece
Book Review | ‘Leech Girl Lives’
Review | Put Me In The Story – Star Wars: The Force Inside
REEDPOP Opens New Chapter For BookCon With Star-Studded Chicago Event!
Crysis 2 and Syndicate Writer Richard Morgan Launches New Dark Fantasy Gamebook
Sunday will mark a great milestone in the Robot Chicken life story, one that few television shows ever actually reach. Sunday night’s episode will be the 100th of the series, and the cast and crew have been celebrating all week with online events related to their limited run “Chicken Love Cam.”
Please enter the url to a YouTube video.
(more…)
Daku Con 2018 Convention Recap!
Colorado Anime Fest Wrap Up
A Quick Run Down of Free Comic Book Day
September’s Twitch Giveaway!
