NYCC 2010: Saturday Funnies

Ultraman (ウルトラマン) Cosplayer
New York, October 9 – Saturday is probably the busiest day during the New York Comic Con. I arrived early for many of the interesting panels including the Spotlight on Harper Collins, Digital Comics & Distribution, and Sushi Typhoon.

Vampires, Witches, and Zombies. Oh my...


Spotlight on Harper Collins. Seated (Left to Right): Erika Tsang (editor), Margaret Ronald (author), Jeaniene Frost (author), and Pamela Palmer (author).
I popped into this panel to check out the announcements and support my cousin Erika Tsang. She is an Executive Editor at Avon Romance. The panel announced several supernatural romance fiction titles such as Majorie Liu's In the Dark of Dreams, Jeaniene Frost's Side of the Grave, and Kerrelyn Sparks' Vampire Mine. Despite the romance nature of the imprint, the line was filled with sexy vampires, powerful witches, and zombies invasions. The trend in romance fiction is leaning towards the supernatural with the popularity of book series like The Twilight Saga and The Southern Vampire Mysteries (True Blood).

Tze Chun's Children of Invention DVD Release Party

New York, August 14 – Giant Robot New York held a DVD release party for Tze Chun’s Children of Invention. It attracted a decent crowd of indie film fans and New Yorkers.

The film is his first major full length feature garnering 17 film festival awards and an official selection for the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. It tells the story of a single mother who is drawn into a Ponzi scheme. She is arrested, and her two young children are left to survive on the streets alone.

Regarding his future projects, Chun is set to direct a segment of the film adaptation of Will Eisner’s A Contract with God.


Tze Chun talking about James Jean's prints. Cindy Cheung, lower left.

SDCC 2010: Last Minute Heroics

Pink Hello Kitty Assault Rifle with folding Stock
San Diego, July 25 – After four days of convention madness, the weariness began to show on the faces of the exhibitors and guests. I could see it in their eyes. They had the thousand yard stare. We braced ourselves for the final day of total geekery. Some poor souls had to buy overpriced coffee from the Starbucks stand. Others just toughed it out without caffeine. Go forth, brave soldiers of love.

Comics and Piracy Panel


Right to Left: Jake T. Forbes, Deb Aoki, and David Steinberger
The Digital Piracy Panel was one of the few panels that I actually attended. They covered most of the major arguments concerning comic books and intellectual property rights. The discussion was very timely due to the recent anti-piracy efforts of many American manga publishers.

SDCC 2010: Con Survival, Pop Candy Party, and Boris

San Diego, July 24 – I always assumed that con survival guides were weak veiled attempts at comedy. Come on… Do you really need someone to remind you of basic human functions like hygiene, hydration, and eating? It’s basic common sense. Even mindless Sims sprites know when to use the bathroom.

Then, the unthinkable happened. There was geek-on-geek violence in Hall H of the San Diego Comic-con. Stationed at the plushy table of the Giant Robot booth, I watched two squads of local police quickly marching across the convention center.

I’ve read quite a few con survival how to’s, and I don’t recall any lessons on self-defense (the zombie apocalypse ones don’t count). I guess it’s time to add some basic self-defense tips to those guides.

There were many rumors circulating in the exhibitor’s hall. The initial story described a confrontation ending in an attendee stabbing another one with a replica light saber (the geek’s weapon of choice). It’s perhaps the geekiest personal assault in history. When I read the actual news coverage, the victim was stabbed by a pen near his eye. He went to the hospital with minor cuts.

SDCC 2010: Friday Comes In Like a Lion and Goes Out Like a Munko

Bill Poon
San Diego, July 23 – The morning started with a surprise visit from Bill Poon who is the All-Star slugger from the Giant Robot softball team. He briefly chatted with Eric Nakamura (Publisher, Giant Robot) and others.

Second David Choe Signing


Dave Choe
Just before noon, fans of David Choe began forming a line around the booth. Choe, a Los Angeles pop artist, arrived to sign merchandise including his new art book and Munko vinyl figures. His devoted fans were pretty excited to meeting him. One of them even showed me her Munko tattoo on her wrist. It was pretty awesome.

Buy Mi: Hong Kong Billboards and Advertisements [2009 Back Post]

NEW YORK, February 25 – While hang out in Hong Kong (December 2009), I paid close attention to local advertisements and billboards. It's always fascinating to observe local marketing campaigns. Here are a few interesting Hong Kong advertisements:


Love Mi, Sammi!

Sammi Cheng (郑秀文), the hugely popular Canto Pop singer, had a giant billboard covering the entire side of a building in the Tsim Sha Tsui district. It was so big that I had trouble fitting the entire poster in the viewfinder of my camera. The object in the foreground is a street light which should give you a sense of scale. The billboard was promoting Cheng's Love Mi tour which was being sponsored by Johnnie Walker.


The Tomino-esque Thing

Mass Transit Railway (MTR), Hong Kong's subway system, is the lifeline of the city. It's also my preferred method of travel. On several subway cars, I found Gundam posters. It was a cross promotional effort between the Gundam franchise and the MTR.


Learn to Shot -> John Woo Style

During my visit to Hong Kong, the city was hosting the 2009 East Asian Games which is kinda like a mini-Olympics for Asia. The city was covered with banners promoting the event. They made a unique banner for each sport, but this one caught my eye. The locals nicknamed this event "The John Woo Challenge".


Danny Wears a Seiko

On my way to breakfast, I unintentionally ran into posters of Daniel Wu (吳彥祖) at a Kowloon watch store. Wu, a fellow Giant Robot Magazine writer, was endorsing Seiko's line of Criteria watches. In addition to being a writer, I hear he does some acting on the side...


The First Circle of Hello Kitty

Cool Japan comes to the Hong Kong subway. Hello Kitty, the official ambassador of the color pink, enticed Hong Kong commuters to spend their holiday in Japan. The Japanese tourism posters were displayed throughout the MTR subway system, and Admiralty Station was completely transformed into the Hello Kitty Station. I'm sure that this is a sign of the Apocalypse.


Journey to Mong Kok

Here is another interesting subway poster. The Monkey King doesn't want you to monkey around on the escalators. Public transportation is serious business.


Doraemon Pulled This Out of His... Pouch?

In a lift leading to a pedestrian overpass, I found these instructional safety stickers with Doraemon(ドラえもん). Yes, trust the imaginary flying blue marsupial.


Let Them Eat Idol Christmas Cake

The Maxim cake company is notorious for using very attractive girls and female pop idols in their advertisements. The white fluffy concoction on the left is the "Angel Christmas Cake", and the sugary chocolate guilt trip on the right is the "Devil Christmas Cake".

Akihabara@MIDNITE

Akihabara at midnight. Drunken salarymen rush home from nearby bars.
TOKYO, December 23 – Many fans of anime and manga have heard about the Japanese nerd mecca called Akihabara ("Akiba"). Supposedly a safe haven for nerdy persuits, it's streets are lined with bright lights, crowded sidewalks, and young Japanese women cosplaying as loli-maids. As it gets closer to midnight, the vibrant store fronts close and the people rush home. The streets become desolate.


The maids have gone home. Only the darken cafes and maid dresses remain.


Shinji, Rei, and Asuka are imprisoned behind the storefront shutters of a closed pachinko parlor.


Sofmap. Nicknamed "Electric Town" Akihabara didn't seem too "electric". On another note, Final Fantasy 13 is currently getting the most aggressive marketing push in the district.


Taito Station was still open, but there were no players.


Some stoic teddy bears watch the empty sidewalks at Taito Station.


Idle anime and manga themed vending machines near the entrance of Comic Toranoana.


Octopus Grill and Crepes stands were still open for business.


Yummy, plastic display food. It's just like the real thing.


MaiDreamin Maid Cafe. Where have all the loli-maids gone?

New York Anime Festival 2009: Pictures and Words

NEW YORK, September 27 – Here are a some of my impressions from this year's New York Anime Festival (NYAF).


Ed Chavez at the Vertical Inc. booth
As soon as I got to the convention floor, I immediately went to the dealer's booths to check out the deals. I ran into Erica Friedman, President of Yuricon & ALC Publishing. She was helping out the guys at the Media Blaster's booth selling DVDs. I also found Ed Chavez, Marketing Director for Vertical Inc, working in the Vertical booth. There seemed to be a positive buzz and a lot of traffic around his booth.


Lillian Diaz-Przybyl and Kasia Piekarz. Tokyo Pop Panel.
Unlike many fan run anime conventions, the NYAF tends to have a large industry presence. The convention guide listed panels for many companies such as: Viz, Tokyopop, Vertical Inc, Aniplex, Del Rey Manga, Bandai Entertainment, and others. At many of these panels, I often run into noted members of the anime blogosphere (see related link below).


Yoshiyuki Tomino at a Q&A Panel
On the second day of the convention, Yoshiyuki Tomino(富野 喜幸), creator of the Mobile Suit Gundam series (機動戦士ガンダム), held a questions and answers panel. During the event, he responded a wide range of questions regarding his career and his work on the Gundam series. Tomino is notorious for refusing to answer questions, and this panel was not an exception. However, he did provide lengthy answers to questions about film and film-making. Tomino stated that he approached his animation work like a film director focused on cinematic storytelling.

According to an announcement by Reed Exhibitions (the company running NYAF), this will be the last time that NYAF will be a standalone convention. They plan to merge the NYAF with the New York Comic Con for 2010. I don't know if this is good or bad for the NYAF, but I will miss it as a standalone anime con. I've had some memorable experiences at NYAF and have met very cool people. Most of all I will definitely miss the late night karaoke parties.

Related Links:

• Uwa…! New York Anime Festival 2009 « OGIUE MANIAX
• About.com: New York Anime Festival 2009: Friday's Manga Highlights
• About.com: New York Anime Festival 2009: Saturday's Manga Highlights
• About.com: New York Anime Festival 2009: Sunday's Manga Highlights
• Anime Vice: NYAF09: Del Rey Madness
• Anime Vice: NYAF09: Day Three Wrap-Up
• Anime Vice: NYAF09: Bandai's Bob
• Anime Vice: NYAF09: Vertical's Ed
• Reverse Thieves » New York Anime Festival 2009
• Anime Diet: NYAF Anime Blogger Panel » the Video
  

Anime Weekend Atlanta (AWA) 2009: Part 1: Anime Hell

State of the Manga Industry Panel with Carl Horn and Jonathan Tarbox
ATLANTA, September 18 – On a gloomy gray Friday afternoon, I attended Anime Weekend Atlanta (AWA) at the Renaissance Waverly Hotel. I started the convention by slowly browsing the dealer’s room looking over the latest anime and manga merchandise. I ran into Gerald Rathkolb, one of the Anime World Order (AWO) podcasting trinity. AWO is one of the most popular anime podcasts according to the recent Parsec Awards. He was accompanied by a dry witted Max as they were buzzing around some anime posters.

After some more dealers’ room reconnaissance, we went to the State of the Manga Industry panel which was being hosted by Carl Gustav Horn, Dark Horse Manga Editor, and Jonathan Tarbox, the former editor of Raijin Comics. They discussed some broad topics concerning the manga industry in America. Some of the more interesting points discussed were the production costs, market development, and the localization efforts. At the panel, we joined up with the remaining AWO trinity at the panel: Daryl Surat and Clarissa Graffeo.


AWO consists of the three persons in the one anime podcasting divinity

After the panel, I took a quick second to check into my hotel room and rejoined the AWO at Dave Merrill’s Western Influence on Anime panel. Merrill showed a variety of anime properties based on western literature such as Lensman, Superbook (アニメ 親子劇場), and Starship Troopers.

I was introduced to the amazing Tim Eldred, the creator of Grease Monkey and the biggest Space Battleship Yamato (a.k.a. Star Blazers) (宇宙戦艦ヤマト) fan ever. He was very cool. His knowledge of Yamato seemed limitless. I was a fan of the show and eagerly listened to his stories about Yamato fandom. He knew all the back stories about the production and the behind the scene details. I was captivated by the raw awesomeness of his Yamato knowledge. Tim runs the official Star Blazers website and does a webcomic of the show.


A bunch of us went to Marietta Diner for dinner. Daryl warned us that the portion were huge. I ordered a burger, and I got a huge plate of food. I only had few minutes to eat because Gerald had to get back to the convention. He was doing a panel on the History of Hentai. I ate very little of the burger before we had to rush back to the convention.

Gerald’s hentai (変態) panel was packed. At first he encountered a lot of technical problems with the projector set-up which really cut down on his presentation time. After Gerald got everything working, he went over a brief introduction of early hentai including Ukiyo-e (浮世絵) influences. He had to rush through many sections of his presentation.


He eventually got to Osama Tezuka’s hentai movies: 1001 Arabian Nights, Cleopatra (クレオパトラ), and Belladonna (哀しみのベラドンナ). This was the bulk of his presentation. I’ve seen stills and read about these movies on the internet, but this was my first time that I’ve actually watched the anime. The films were a bizarre alchemic mixture of bright colors, sex, and music. Being very trippy and experimental, they were quite a departure from Tezuka’s earlier works such as Astro Boy (鉄腕アトム) and Kimba the White Lion (ジャングル大帝). I highly suggest that any hardcore anime otaku must see these films. They are a fascinating look into the darker side of Tezuka’s genius.

Following Gerald’s hentai panel, I went straight to Dave Merrill’s Anime Hell. Daryl sent me a text message earlier stating that “Hell is where the heart is…” Therefore, I had to attend. Dave showed a hilarious mash-up of videos. I am legally prohibited from describing the panel. It’s just one of those things that you have to experience. However, there is one thing I will say… Dave played the opening sequence from Kikaider (人造人間キカイダー) and shouted, “If you know the words, sing-a-long! Switchy… On… 1… 2… 3…” I think only Dave and I were singing.

MoCCA Art Festival 2008: Plympton, Tomine, Bruce Lee vs. Jesus, and Freddie Mercury's Gravity

First Floor of the MoCCA Art Fest
NEW YORK, June 7-8 — The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art’s Art Festival is one of the biggest gatherings of independent comic book creators in the United States of America. The festival is professionally sponsored and run by the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MoCCA). Except for the programs, most of the festival was held at the Puck Building (295 Lafayette Street), which is around the corner from the actual museum (594 Broadway).

The MoCCA Art Festival is difficult to describe to the uninitiated.

If you have anime con experience, it kinda like an anime convention, but the emphasis is largely focused on the huge dealer’s rooms. This year’s festival filled two floors with dealer’s table. It was pretty massive and packed to capacity. The festival organizers did schedule a decent program of events at the museum, but most people don’t attend this festival for programs. They go mostly for the dealer’s room.


In some ways, it’s like Comiket. All the tables are filled with comic book circles, small press, and individual comic book artists. They sell everything from quirky t-shirts to photocopied comic books zines.

Unlike Comiket, most of the independent comic books are original works with original characters, and only a small percent of the material is outright pornographic.

Most of the merchandise is humorously clever and very appealing to the young hipster zeitgeist.


Bill Plympton
As soon as I paid my admission, the first table I notice was the great Bill Plympton. I’ve been a big fan of Plympton since watching his cartoon shorts on MTV’s Liquid Television (1991). His humor was eye opening in the early nineties. At the festival, he had a small white table with his books and DVDs. He took the time to sign and sketch something for each fan. I’m not an autograph collector, but I let him sign my graphic novel anyway. At first, I didn’t know what to say… I was at a loss for words. I just said, "I'm a big fan." It was just awesome to talk to him.


Adrian Tomine
I walked around the first floor for a bit, and I recognized Mister Adrian Tomine, comic artist for the New Yorker Magazine. He was at the Drawn and Quarterly table. I got a chance to talk with him. I immediate apologized for missing his gallery show for Shortcomings at the Giant Robot store in New York. He was totally cool about it. After a few minutes of talking, I discovered that we shared some mutual friends at Giant Robot Magazine.

I picked up a few issues of Tomine’s Optic Nerve (Issues 9, 10, and 11). I love his art style. He has very clean line work. If you get the chance to pick-up Optic Nerve and Shortcoming, definitely buy it. It’s a good read.


While at the Drawn and Quarterly table, I also picked up the hard cover printing of Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s The Push Man and Other Stories and Abandon the Old in Tokyo. WARNING: Tatsumi was the godfather of Gekiga, therefore it might not be appropriate for children or the weak-at-heart.

Anime World Order’s Daryl Surat did an excellent review of The Push Man and Other Stories in his podcast. I picked it up based on Daryl's recommendation. You can find his review here.

After I bought a few more comics, I headed upstairs to the seventh floor of the Puck Building. I immediately saw the hand drawn sign, "Bruce Lee vs. Jesus". Peter Quach, the creator, was selling You Don’t Know Much About Jesus. The book was an eight page photocopy comic, and it prominently features a fight between Bruce Lee and Jesus. The mere concept of Bruce Lee fighting Jesus was pretty awesome. The comic was only a dollar, so I had to buy one.


Peter Quach and his "Bruce Lee vs. Jesus" sign
Right next to Quach, a table was selling pretty awesome t-shirts. I didn’t pick one up because I wanted to save my money for actual comics and graphic novels. But, I did take a few pictures:


Left: Bruce Lee T-Shirt, Right: Star Wars Stormtrooper T-Shirt (made up of tiny TIE Fighters)
I walked around the floor and picked up a few more comics and graphic novels. I took the elevator back to the ground floor and made another sweep of those tables.

I was near the Freddie and Me table. Come to think of it: I should have picked up a Freddie and Me book. It looks awesome. I didn’t buy it. Anyway, I was pulled by the gravitational force of the Freddie Mercury’s statue. It was like a beacon calling me home.


The gravitational pull of Freddie Mercury
As I got closer to Freddie, I bumped into the goddess of pop culture journalism, Whitney Matheson. Whitney writes "Pop Candy", which is a popular column/blog in USA Today. She is also frequently quoted on television and in-print. I’ve been reading her column since the late 90s, and I hold her opinion about pop culture in the highest regard. She continues to be one of my top three favorite bloggers.

Whitney mentioned that she was going to be at the festival on her blog, so I e-mailed her about it. When I ran into her, she had an arm full of comics. We talked a little bit about her blog and about the festival. The conversation strangely segued into a conversation about her footwear. She wore her signature Chuck Taylor All Star Low Top Converse sneakers. She said that they were a bit uncomfortable. I thought they were completely "punk".

(Post-Editorial Note: Whitney Matheson interviewed Mike Dawson, author of Freddie and Me. Podcast: A glimpse inside 'Freddie & Me')


Whitney Matheson and me
Due to a scheduled dinner and a greatly weakened bank account, I had to leave the MoCCA Art Festival. I said goodbye to Whitney and left. It was totally awesome to meet her. She is one of the coolest chicks that I’ve ever met.

Partial List of Comics that I Picked-up at the MoCCA Art Festival:
Casson, Ronnie. Claviger (Issue2)
Del Rio, Tania. Knit Wits.
Epic Proportions. Burn
McMurray, Mark. Dumb Jersey White Boy (No. 1)
Plympton, Bill. We Eat Tonight
Quach, Peter. You Don’t Know Much About Jesus
Student Press Initiative. Manga Mania
Tatsumi, Yoshihiro. Abandon the Old in Tokyo
Tatsumi, Yoshihiro. The Push Man and Other Stories
Tiede, Dirk I. Paradigm Shift, Part One
Tomine, Adrian. Optic Nerve (Issues 9, 10, 11)
Ward, William. Fablewood Anthology

Related Links:

• Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MoCCA)
• The Puck Building
• Bill Plympton Studio
• Drawn and Quarterly
• Adrian Tomine
• Yoshihiro Tatsumi
• Comics by Mike Dawson
• Pop Candy

JACON 2008: The Horror That Dare Not Speak Its Name

KISSIMMEE, May 18 — It's been nearly a month since my last blog post due to a very busy work schedule. This time I'm blogging from the sunny state of Florida. I'm here for the local anime convention known as JACON.

This year's JACON was held at the Orlando Sun Resort by Lexington (aka The Ramada Orlando Celebration Resort and Convention Center). The hotel recently changed their name, which caused a bit of confusion.

After I got to my room, I dropped my stuff and went directly to the convention center. As I walked into the hallway, I ran into television's Daryl Surat [Anime World Order (AWO) and Otaku USA]. We quickly rounded up some other people including Gerald (AWO) and Paul "Gooberzilla" Chapman (Greatest Movie EVER Podcast and Otaku USA). The group went to watch the live-action Speed Racer movie at the local IMAX Theater. It was a good film despite Gooberzilla's opinion. (I might write a review for this blog.)


Odin: Photon Sailer Starlight Midnight Endurance Marathon
At midnight, Joey Snackpants Esquire and Gooberzilla hosted the "Odin: Photon Sailer Starlight Midnight Endurance Marathon". They proceeded to show the entire uncut Japanese version of Odin: Photon Sailer Starlight (オーディーン　光子帆船スターライト). Joey and Goob injected their comedic commentary to this mess of film. It was the most sadistic experiment ever.

I was surprised that the crowd was pretty big at the beginning. However, they did not last. They never do... The crowd was struggling, but they made it through an hour of the movie. At that point, Daryl announced, "there is still another hour and twenty minutes to this show." This absolutely frightened the crowd, and half of the audience left the panel.

The movie ended at 2:30 AM. I was dead tired. A few people withered away. The remaining thirty-something people got free "I survived the Odin Endurance Marathon" t-shirts.

On the second day, I ran into Charles Feldmeth from the New York Metro Anime club. We browsed the dealers’ room, but nothing really enticed me. I usually don't buy a lot of con merchandise. I hate con impulse shopping. I always regret it later.

We had lunch and attended a Japanese Music panel. The panel played a lot of sugary pop acts. It was too pop for my tastes. I decided to take a break and took a nap in my hotel room.


Gerald's 80s Giant Robot Panel
I rejoined Charles at the Pelican (the Panels building). We joined the entire AWO crew, Gooberzilla, and their friends for the "80s Giant Robot Panel". It was Gerald's panel. He ran the panel as an open discussion.

As Gerald talked about the scope of Giant Robot shows, he played opening sequences from different mech anime show such as Gundam (ガンダム), The Super Dimension Fortress Macross (超時空要塞マクロス), and Go Lion (百獣王ゴライオン). It was an interesting panel, but he ran out of time.

He was followed by the "Manga Influence on American Comics" panel. It was run by final_fury and his special lady friend. They were originally slated for a two-hour block, but Joey had to reduce it to an hour. They also ran out of time, but they still managed to have an entertaining and informative panel.

We all went to grab a quick dinner and attended a private recording of the Snacktime Online Podcast with Joey Snackpants Esquire, Daryl, and Gooberzilla. You can listen to the podcast at The SNACKTIME ONLINE Podcast.


Max Pointing at Television's Daryl Surat (Panel of Doom)
After the podcast recording, we proceeded to "Panel of Doom". It was Daryl's one-man show of horror. It was pretty awesome. All I can say is "Once you watch it, you can't unwatch it!" I am legally prohibited from describing the panel. You have to see it for yourself.

The panel ended at about 2:30 AM. I called it a night.

On Sunday, I roamed the dealer room again. Some items were marked down, but they were still kinda high compared to other cons. I didn't get anything.

In summary, I had a good time at JACON. Joey and his crew put on a good show.

Related Links:

• JACON
  
• The SNACKTIME ONLINE Podcast
  
• Orlando Sun Resort by Lexington (aka The Ramada Orlando Celebration Resort and Convention Center)
  
• Wikipedia: Odin: Photon Sailer Starlight

New York Comic Con 2008

NEW YORK, April 19 — Where can you find legions of Imperial Storm Troopers, Bleach Shinigami, Naruto geeks, video game first person shooter dorks, black Spider-man shirts, and middle aged men? The answer is the New York Comic Convention 2008 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. This is probably one of the largest pop culture conventions in New York City.

After getting my badge, I examined the convention schedule. The convention schedule could be divided into four distinct parts: American comics, Manga, mainstream entertainment (movies and television), and kids entertainment (mostly scheduled for Sunday). Based on my unscientific observations of buying patterns and t-shirts, most fans can be categorized into one of these four main categories.

I took a quick browse through the dealer’s room and the artist alley. They had a health mix of toys, statues, comics, and DVDs. I usually don’t buy anything at convention because I hate impulse shopping. I always feel wretched after spending several hundred dollars on con merchandise.

In the Artist Alley, some notable artists were Peter Laird (creator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Jim Lee (artist, X-Men and Batman), and Mark Texeira (artist, Ghost Rider).

On to the panels, my first panel for this convention was the Del Rey Manga panel. They were marketing their latest acquisitions such as Wolverine Manga, X-Men Manga, Gakuen Prince, Sayonara Zetsubo-Sensei: The Power of Negative Thinking, and Me and the Devil Blues. The panel was lead by Associate Publisher Dallas Middaugh. I knew Dallas from several past Manga events in New York City, and he has always been very cool. Therefore, I wanted to support his work and attend his panel.

At the panel, I met up with some old friends from the Metro-Anime club, the local New York anime club. They seemed to be excited about the panel and Del Rey’s new titles. It was a good panel.

After I talked Dallas, I looked over to see a Ninja Consultant. Erin, the otaku hipster of the Ninja Consultants podcast, walked into the room. She was working the convention as traditional press and was planning to cover the next event, the Yen Press panel. It's always cool to run into the Ninja Consultants. I briefly greeted her and went to get some food.

The panels weren't too crowded. It was easy to move from panel to panel.

After a short break, I attend a few more panels until I lost my cell phone. I was at the Venture Brothers panel, and I freaked out. I got up and looked around. It was gone. I left the panel just before they started. I retraced my steps, but I couldn’t track it down.

I eventually made my way to the security office on the fourth floor of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. I talked to the head of security. They didn’t have it. So, I left my contact information with the security office. As I walked out of the security office, I ran into Ron Perlman (actor; Hellboy, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, and Blade II). All the convention volunteers were buzzing around him like flies. I don't think they knew his real name. They just kept addressing him as "Hellboy".

I wasn’t in the mood to fight through teenaged fan boys. I just returned to the panel rooms. Yikes... What happened? The popular panels were being swamped by convention attendees. I didn’t stand a chance against the hordes of fan boys, geeks, and dorks. Where did all these people come from? Damn… Resistance was futile, and I left the convention early.

On the whole, the convention seemed to be well run. Some of the event organization could have been better (especially the panels). There was no system of control. It was just a mad rush to get into any good events. I didn't want to be caught in that madness. I didn't want to slap the Camel clutch on a thirteen-year-old girl just to get into a Starship Troopers 3 panel.

Related Links:

• New York Comic Convention 2008, Official Website
  
• Reed Exhibition
  
• Jacob K. Javits Convention Center