I went to New York to hang out at the New York Comic Con on Saturday. Overall, it was a good experience, and I’d go again, but it’s still not quite what it could be, and most of that rests on the shoulders of Reed Exhibitions.

It was my first BIG convention. I’ve been to little ones and general sci-fi conventions with comic book contingents, but never anything like a Wizard World, Mega-Con, or San Diego.

We got there around 10:30. I figured that even with the improvements from last year that there might be a line. I didn’t expect the line to be over six blocks long in addition to the line inside. Remember, these were all ticket-holders, as they were not selling any more Saturday tickets. The problem was the bottleneck to get into the con. The entire front of the building is made up of doors that led into the convention. They weren’t letting ticket-holders in those doors. That was the press entrance. The main public ticket-holder entrance was around the 34th street side, down a ramp, and at the bottom of the center. Once inside, you snaked around, up the stairs, and past TWO PEOPLE checking tickets. Yes, really. It seems that logistically, you would want many people checking tickets at many doors, and the relatively small press corps coming in the single entrance.

And they were just looking at tickets. If you wanted to go outside and come back in again, you had to wait in an outgoing line to get an armband. I don’t know why our ticket was no longer sufficient, or why we weren’t given armbands as we came in, but we had to wait in a long line in order to get armbands. The best part was that the exit line and entrance lines crossed in an “X” shape at the narrowest point (you had to pick up your armband on the left, then exit through the right-hand gap as people were entering the left-hand gap. They fixed this at about 12:30 at the same time that they started holding people from going up to Artists’ Alley. The people who couldn’t get up the escalator were queuing in a large mob at the bottom of the escalators. Of course, this meant that people coming DOWN the escaltors couldn’t go anywhere, and people started piling up as they couldn’t move forward, but the steps kept going. It was awesome.

If the horrible NYCC website wasn’t enough indication, Reed Exhibitions has no business running this convention. You can’t even say that they did their best with a bad situation because they certainly didn’t. Anyone who has planned any kind of event larger than a picnic (and I have) knows that you need more than ONE ENTRANCE AND EXIT. I can’t imagine what would have happened had it rained or snowed. They didn’t even have staff communicating with people in line - either entering or exiting - which might be something you’d want to do if things go to hell unexpectedly.

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But the rest of the show made up for it. We didn’t have a lot of available cash, so ignoring the majority of the retailers was the rule of the day. I did pick up (and had signed) a copy of Danny Figeroth’s Superman on the Couch: What Superheroes Really Tell Us about Ourselves and Our Society. Can’t wait to read it. My girlfriend stopped by David Mack’s table in Artists’ Alley (as I was talking to his table-mate Mike Oeming), and was mesmerized by his watercolor work. She picked up a copy of Kabuki: The Alchemy #1, and he ended up giving her a few issues to check out. Awesome!

My favorite non-panel part of the day was really Artists’ Alley. The folks there are generally open to communicating with their fans. It’s true that not all of them are, but at least the reason they shelled out the cash for the table is so that they could get some money from people who like what they do for a living - which involves at least some degree of personal contact.

For the most part, the writers and artists at the publishers’ and retailers’ booths seemed much less happy to be there. One notable exception was Denny O’Neill who seemed happy to talk to anyone. Of course, the MoCCA rep was telling everybody who walked by that Denny INVENTED Green Lantern, which isn’t quite how it went down, but it makes a good story.

Because of the ordeal with the line, we missed opportunities (and passed up others so that we could spend more time in Artists’ Alley) to check out some of the forums, including the DC Universe panel and the 80’s superhero panel. We did make it to two: Kevin Smith and Cup o’ Joe. I’ll let all of the gossip and news sites tell you about Cup o’ Joe (because I’m sure they filed their stuff about 21 hours ago).

Kevin Smith turned the whole convention around. I wasn’t originally going to go to this one, because I kind of hated Clerks II. It’s hard for me to admit, but it just didn’t do it for me. Anyway, we decided to go, and it was totally worth it. He’s able to just come up with these things right off the top of his head and riff on them. It was suddenly very apparent how he was able to write the rants that were famous in the original Clerks. There were some moments where people who were obviously slightly awkward and a little overwhelmed prattled on and on, but as the crowd began to grow restless and start booing, Kevin was quick to tell the crowd to “Settle the fuck down,” and he was interested in hearing what this person had to say. If nobody else was interested, they were free to leave.

He talked about his upcoming projects, a little about the logical failings of Superman: Returns, whether he’s received a cease and desist order from Time Warner regarding the name Harley Quinn Smith, and which superhero he would kill if it meant that they were dead forever. He and I are in complete agreement: Superman.

Kevin Smith is so LESS full of himself than many of the creators I met this weekend, though in terms of fame, accomplishment, and creativity, he probably has more right to be a pompous ass. So many of them had this air of entitlement and this sense of hating meeting the people that keep them in bristol board and India ink. Smith, on the contrary, was very approachable, and was more than willing to take the time to talk to these people who have enjoyed at least one of the movies that he’s made in his career, didn’t discount anything any of his fans had to say to him, and on occasion reprimanded those other fans who did.

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After the convention, we headed up to Midtown to meet with some friends who were getting out of a play. We went to The Irish Rogue on 44th between 8th and 9th. We are told that we can’t go upstairs because there’s a private party coming in. We sit down and order a couple of pints of Guinness when I look over and think I see Bill Rosemann walk in. I say, “Wouldn’t that be weird! Of all the juke-joints…” when Editor-in-Chief of Marvel Comics Joe Quesada walks in. Yeah, the party upstairs was the Marvel Saturday night after-party. I went over to shake hands with JQ, and told him I enjoyed the Cup o’ Joe panel we had just come from - which I honestly did. I got the polite but firm brush off, and he quickly headed upstairs as a couple of dozen other creators and staffers filed in and up.

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So that was about it. Now it’s time for the first-ever Comicsnob.com NYCC awards!

Best Personality Award: David Mack - Kabuki
Runner-up: Mike Oeming

David was nice and outgoing enough to engage my girlfriend in conversation about his book. When he found out that she didn’t know anything about it, he was still polite, and when she asked to buy the first issue of the latest series at cover price, he offered her 2 for $5, then when she expressed interest in his watercolor style, upped it to 3 for $5, and when she said that she had overheard him telling someone else what the book was about, he gave her 4 for $5 with a business card and asked for feedback once she had read them. Nice Guy.

Worst Personality Award: David Peterson - Mouse Guard
Runner-up: Ivan Brandon

I was honestly shocked as I handed David a copy of Mouse Guard to sign, and told him how much I enjoyed it and he responded with, “…” Not a word. He signed it, handed it back and just stared at me. At least everybody else said something - usually “Thanks for reading.” I think Ivan might have not been in the greatest mood, and is partially a victim of small sample size, but he didn’t really seem too happy to engage with fans either.

Couldn’t Tell Their Ass From Their Elbow Award: Reed Exhibitions

Last year wasn’t enough to remind them to fix all of the problems. They might want to look into hiring some actual event planners next year.

One Of These Things Is Not Like The Other Award: The Playboy Playmates

Sure a couple of publishers had the obligatory girls in busty outfits, but no one seemed more out of place than a couple of Playboy Playmates. I could make a person out of toothpicks with more muscle mass than these girls had. On the plus side, I’m sure they made a lot of money off of greasy fanboys.

Maybe If I Meditate Hard Enough The Fanboys Will Go Away Award: Stan Lee

We walked by a booth where he was preparing for a signing. As everyone queued up, he was sitting in a chair facing away from the crowds, with his eyes clenched in what seemed to be a meditative state. Frankly, it was a little disconcerting, but what else is he going to do?