Your first New York Comic Con is the culmination of your investment in comics: literally. It’s an expensive event, and you want to make sure that it’s worth it. Here are some ways to stay sane so that you can extract maximum enjoyment from your time in the overcrowded Javits Center.
#1 Don’t Go to NYCC with a Hangover
The night before attending comic con, make your mom proud. Be the picture of innocence. Go to bed by 10pm at the latest.
Unless you’re a huge fan of Subway and their new Pit Smoked Brisket sandwich, there aren’t viable restaurant options near the Javitz Center, so it’s important to eat up before you shuffle around the conference floors for miles and miles. Eat a big breakfast, hydrate more than usual, and pee it all out before you subject yourself to the endlessly long bathroom lines at the Javits Center.
#2 Use the NYCC App
The app has its limitations — you can’t zoom in on photos of the conference floor to make out the microscopic booth numbers in Artist Alley — but what app doesn’t? Mark the panels that interest you in the weeks leading up to the event. The day of, the app will ping you with alerts in way advance so that you’ll have time to brush your way through the thousands of people standing between you and that Brian K. Vaughan panel.
#3 Read All of The Obnoxious Marketing Emails
You might have realized seven emails ago that THURSDAY BADGES ARE STILL AVAILABLE!!!!, but you can’t let the unrelenting spam drive you to the brink of insanity. These emails are seriously helpful. You’ll be the first to know of surprise guests or changes of plans. If you don’t read the emails, then you might never know how to activate your badge (which is surprisingly difficult).
#4 Go on a Thursday, Not a Saturday
Whether you’re an out-of-towner visiting for the weekend or hardened New Yorker, this rule rings true: NYCC is one of the most crowded, frustrating experiences you will ever have with mankind. Everyone is in your way. Everyone loves comics as much as you do. And no matter how excited you are, this day means a lot more to that loud nine-year-old kid who just cut you off.
Everyone presumes that Saturday will be the best day. The heart of the weekend! The most convenient day! I made this naive mistake, and the inconveniences were immense. This is Comic Con, after all, so why not take the day off work to enjoy one of America’s finest cultural traditions?
#5 Get There Early
Get there before the inevitable exhaustion kicks in and mass grumpiness ensues. The day is designed to be repetitive. Creators and publishers stand still for 10 hours, meeting thousands of people who admire them and their creations. Fans meander the floors, waiting for the chance to praise their favorite creators and publishers. Come in early while the energy levels haven’t been depleted, and there’s still oxygen in the Javits Center.
#6 Find out Where Your 5 Favorite Creators Will Be in Artist Alley
2 of your 5 favorite creators will only be at the booth for one hour that day, and they’ll most definitely be a line to meet them. If you’re at Comic Con, you’ve attained a level of fandom that more than likely means you read comics by more than just 5 creators.
#7 Avoid the Publisher Floor
You’ve been to a comic shop before, right? Unless you are seriously interested in buying overpriced merch or watching people stand in infinitely long lines, I assure you that you can get most of the stuff from NYCC at your local comic shop. So what if it doesn’t have NYCC 2019 branding? There’ll be plenty of hustlers outside selling an adorable knockoff for cheaper.
#8 Come with at Least $50 in Cash
The NYCC buy-in doesn’t stop after your years of patronage to the comics industry, or the hefty ticket price. You didn’t think it’d be that easy, did you? This annual spectacle is (mostly) cash only, sucker, so you’d better find some way to scrap together the bills to ball out at NYCC. Comics that are usually $3.99? Try $15.99. And look — that’s part of the fun! These are one-off comics that you can’t get outside of NYCC. Resell them on eBay! Frame them! Burn them in act of defiance! Whatever you do, just bring the money.
Secret Society Comics 