BIG APPLE CON 2016

JESSE PARRINO 07-MAR-2016 This weekend I had a spur of the moment choice: It was either finish off my run of Ms. Marvel or take a train to NYC and check out Big Apple Comic Con. If you read the title of the article, I think you can figure out which I did!

The con itself has a bit of a bad rap at least within my friend circle of NYC locals. I think it’s undeserved. I had a great time. It’s a small show with most of the vendors being the comic artists and single issue sellers. But there were a few unique vendors that caught my eye. There was one who took comic images and put them onto heavy duty coasters and since I had been getting into Kamala Khan as Ms, Marvel I picked up her last one of that. (www.soapandink.com)

COSPLAY:

After that point I admit I had some issues finding things to do. But this is a con that cost $25 to get in, so I expected it was going to mostly be shopping. But I bumped into The Geeky Redhead on the line to get in so I spent most of my con on and off hanging out and talking with her. We mostly chatted about comics and the cosplayers we were seeing. We were both impressed with the level of cosplay people were bringing to such a low key show.

I showed just a sampling of the excellent cosplayers we saw at the con. Being that I intended to go into Manhattan after I finished with the show I didn’t put on a costume as I thought it would be a bit too cold for city wandering to wear any of the limited costumes I had left. But we wandered quite a bit killing time until the Marvel Photoshoot run by Superhero Weekend and Free Comic Book Day regular JG Deadpool.

This photoshoot was a highlight and I wish I had pictures of it. I was a bag/camera jockey for a friend of mine so I didn’t think to take out my own camera. But he sorted the cosplayers into good/evil/teams and we got some good group shots. Even more so when you consider we were shooting at Madison Square Garden. As the shoot ended he gave all the cosplayers and photographers who showed up a free comic.

After that we headed back inside since it was freezing. I made a beeline for the downstairs section with my friend who was cosplaying Rogue because there was to be a Marvel vs DC shoot and we seemed to stumble upon a PoC cosplay group doing a shoot. So we just stood back for a bit and took a few photos.

After that the shoot seemed to slowly evolve into the full on Marvel/DC shoot. Though I had a few things I wanted to do at the con and it was getting late, so I bid my farewell to my friends and headed back upstairs to the con floor. I had been considering doing the autograph session with one of the guests, Jason David Frank from Power Rangers. I’m not the biggest fan of his for personal reasons, but I grew up loving his character so I wanted to see about the photo op/autograph because I heard it was only $20. However, the line was long and I wasn’t feeling it. So I did another quick wander and left to go do what I wanted to do in Manhattan, but not before sniping a final shot of the Power Rangers crossing the street to The Garden. I don’t normally like to snipe photos like this, but I thought the image was too amusing not to.

THE CONS:

The con wasn’t without its flaws. I went once years ago before Wizard had bought it out and it was the same layout but this year it had double or perhaps even triple the amount of attendees Including people in large scale costumes. The layout was not helpful for larger scale crowds. A lot of the aisles were blocked nearly completely with people and there were bad choke points. Even though the layout worked for when it was a smaller show, I think they might do well to consider their growth next year when mapping it out.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

The venue itself was local and extremely convenient for Penn Station, but it is not the most conductive to an event of this scale. I think the convenience of the location does make up for the choke points and the feeling of crowdedness. All-in-all, it’s a worthwhile show if you’re local to NYC or can hop a train and get in easily.

Jesse Parrino is a contributor that loves to discuss cosplay, conventions, comics and games. Fandoms include Doctor Who, Steven Universe, and anime.