I Survived New York

…and I’m back.

Weary, exhausted, sore, fighting back disease and despair, I have returned from New York Comicon 2013.  It was a very long trudge through a very long line of very thick crowds of people, most of whom were very unhinged and very fine with closing in on people.

It was loud.  It was crowded.  It was smelly.

And it was awesome.

There were, of course, the requisite awesome cosplays to see.

 

And really, I should have taken more.  But I was distracted this time around.

Even more cooler than seeing the awesome costumes were meeting a bunch of awesome artists I’ve been dying to meet for some time now, including the ever-awesome Mike Luckas, the traditionally amazing Edwin Huang, and a dude who is fast becoming one of my very favorite comic book writers, Jim Zub.  As well as a slew of authors, writers and artists I didn’t get see.

What’s cooler than that, though?

 

Fan-made presents!

Though my traditionally stoic, ever-composed exterior would not allow me to do so, I always squeal with delight at the prospect of people creating things based on my work.  Be it art, hand-knitted things, food products or t-shirts, I just go completely berserk for them.

As you can see above, a very ardent fan, Wandering Knits from twitter, made me a hand-sewn Bagagame from Black Halo.  You remember him, right?  The slow-witted lizardperson with a heart of gold?

And props go to Mia, who made me the tremendously apt shirt declaring that shicts have more fun.  Which seems quite apropos, considering the only thing cooler than fan-made presents is…

 

COSPLAY!

I had mentioned that the supremely cool Lela Gwenn would be cosplaying as Kataria and she just kind of knocked it out of the freaking park with this one and I went a little crazy inside at seeing it I hope that’s okay.  Note the feathers!  The dirt!  The fangs!  The scowl!

It all came together amazingly and made for one of the most awesome cons I’ve ever been to.

I’ve mentioned before on this blog that WorldCon is a perfectly fine con to go to, and that’s still true.  But I honestly think we’re seeing an up-and-c0ming breed of “new” nerd.  This new geek is younger, more bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.  They consume media en masse and violently devour comics, literature and television with equal measure.  They’re less concerned about cred, less concerned about appearances and less concerned about anything that isn’t expressing joy for what they love to do.

Honestly, I think any new author (aspiring or already published), should be making an effort to go to the bigger cons and see where these new nerds dwell.  These are the people who will be your fans in the future and it’s worth seeing just how joyous they can be.

Because frankly, that’s the best thing to take away from something like a comicon: joy.  The unrepentant love they have for genre, for nerdy shit, for dressing up in costume and for rubbing shoulders with fans from different media.  It reminds me of why I got into this business in the first place: to have fun (and also because I hate working “real” jobs).

But yeah.  Check it out, if you haven’t.  Speaking as a guy who tends to consider himself introverted, the crowds were well worth the experience.

Of course, now I’m ready to not talk to anyone for about a year.

…which will mean I’ll be ready in time for NYCC next year!