It’s that time of year again when the NY Comic Con & Anime Festival hit NYC and take over the Jacob Javits Center for a few days. This yearly event brings together the mighty hordes of comic book fans and Cosplayers alike gathered en masse to mingle with artists and the companies that provide this entertainment medium, and there are even celebrities in attendance for good measure. The crowd of people is in the tens of thousands and this is the best place to be if you love comic books, video games and want to interact with people who hold similar interests. You might be wondering why this would be given space on a site that is primarily focused on the Heavy Metal music scene but truth be told I’ve been a fan of the comics medium for many, many years but don’t collect them as actively as I used to based on space constraints. I still read them when I can and am amazed about the amount of changes that have taken place in a number of the character histories but that is not what this narrative is about. Instead, this blog posting is about my adventures at the Convention and aimed at showing you what caught our attention as we wandered its massive displays over the course of three days. I figured with the amount of musical artists who had vested interests in the medium that we would find some interesting stuff as we adventured. I’ve broken the journey up into individual days but be aware that even in doing this that the narratives are long. Let’s get this trip underway shall we?

It begins here at the Jacob Javits Center and this would be my first time covering the convention as a member of the press so I wanted to take full advantage of what was going on inside these walls. As I walked toward the Javits Center I was reminded of the classic “Challenge Of The Super Friends” cartoon and hence my photographs quote. It’s best to say this in a deep and powerful voice.
It was great to attend as a member of the approved online press outlets and I loved getting the spiffy laminate badge that would let me do this up proper. It would certainly be a day to pay attention to all that was going on around me. The Comic Con while running for three days, is open to the press and immediate industry professionals first and that let’s folks like myself wander the halls without the teeming masses that will arrive immediately after that time has completed. Either way, I was planning on having a blast at this one.

Since we were walking around inside his “house” today, we stopped to say some hellos at the giant statue of Mr. Jacob Javits which stands near one of the entrance ways to the convention hall. Thank you for having all of the comic book geeks of the world and I today your honor. We’ll try not to leave a mess. Not until Day Three at least 🙂
At the immediate entrance to the gathering there was a massive floor to ceiling banner that welcomed us.
Just before I made my way inside I happened upon these two costumed cosplayers. They were the first folks that I ran into who were dressed up at the Con, so I snapped a photo. I knew there were many more to come.

Glancing over the stairs to the next level one could see the deluge of fans that were waiting to get inside.
One of the celebrity highlights for the Comic Con would be an appearance by the legendary and honored Stan Lee. This is apparently his new venture. They even had some shirts available for sale but I didn’t snare one.
Considering how cool they looked I probably should have but hindsight is 20/20 eh?
This charming lass was actually serving as a hostess to some of the fun being held down at the Anime Festival. They had the downstairs and we would get to them a little later on.
This couple showed me very early on that gone were the days where your significant other rolled her eyes when you said you were hitting the comic convention. Nowadays it seems like she will join you. A nice change for sure.
Once inside we caught sight of a brand new Spider-Man game called “Shattered Dimensions”. It comes care of Activision and looked really cool. I could not get too close to the console where it was being demonstrated based on all the gamers assembled but it is something that I am interested in. My eventual plan is to purchase a PS3 and occasionally offer up a video game review for the readers of the site.
This statue was pretty close to life size and depicts the character “Fathom”. The designer is Clayburn Moore who I have some action figures designed by somewhere. The price for this little bit of beauty is a mere $27K.
The massive wall of Image Comics characters: Youngblood, Shadowhawk, Spawn, Savage Dragon etc.

These charming ladies were representing the folks at New Video. They had some of the companies wares on hand such as the “Secret of Kells” and “Paranormal State”. I admit I have not yet seen these but perhaps they will be on Netflix soon so I can check them out.

Animal Planet was pitching a show called “Lost Tapes” and inside this little hut was a single phrase that could be found by shining a black light kind of pen on it. As I passed by it seemed as though there were too many folks inside looking around for me to participate. You also had the chance to win an Ipad if you took a photo of yourself and their wandering Yeti.

Here’s Jason Wishnov who was representing the company that put out Monica Olsen’s comic book “The Unknowns”. Monica was going to be at the Con later on to sign autographs and pose for photos. I will try to come back for that.

Presenting Chun-Li and Cammy from the upcoming game Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 game. Nice work ladies. Your costumes were outstanding and then again so was this next Lass. Introducing Sanna as X-23!

Just to show you how behind I am in the comics world, X-23 is a clone of Wolverine or something to that effect. Either way, Sanna did a great job and we would see her a little later in the Con as the adventuring continued.

Here’s the folks representing the Japanese based “Ten Ken” series. There was a lot of this kind of stuff around the Con.

This massive display was celebrating the DVD release of “Alien Anthology” which is all of the “Alien” films in their special edition remastered expanded glory. I didn’t ask, but I was pretty sure that the crowd was allowed into the pods for a quick creepy photo op.

Chris Yura is the brains behind the “Two Italian Guys” comic book which comes care of Mangia Industry’s. That means “eat” for all you folks that didn’t know. I loved his booth’s overall look and while I teased him for not having any real bread on hand, he did have oranges. No, I didn’t take one but wish I had after seeing the food court prices LOL.

Behold the Aexeous Robot who is the creation of Joe Silva. This thing was awesome and while he was somewhat stationary when I was passing by, I would later see him in action. He was a mean looking mutha, and clearly not a robot whose temperment is to be trifled with. Here’s another shot of him.

Progressing down the aisle I ran into designer/comic artist Gashicon who we find standing next to a lot of her character designs which were all available for sale. I really liked these figures and am sure you will too – check ’em out.

We asked Gashicon to pose next to some of the fashion designs that were also set up on a table nearby. This was some really cool Gothic Lolita stuff so I know that there is a big audience for these clothes.

I learned that there would be a fashion show of these clothes on Saturday morning so we would mark it down on the itinerary to be sure to bring it to your eager eyes. Stay tuned for that presentation.

These gents were reps of the Kirby Museum which is dedicated to the legendary Jack “King” Kirby. They had a massive book on display which showcases some of his amazing creations. Grab a copy and study under the Master and find yourself better for it.

This lovely lass is “Sparkler” and she is a member of The Justice Purveyors, a super team that is led by Electrolyte. He’s the guy whose power include being able to sober up drunks. We should probably hire him on when some of these Finnish bands come to visit since they enjoy themselves far too much LOL.

Here’s Patrick Reilly, the creator of Electrolyte and of course Sparkler. We see him holding a copy of the comic book for all to see. I managed to get a copy today and it was fun stuff. Good luck to Patrick and the rest of the team at Jackalope Pictures oh and Sparkler….give us a call sometime 🙂

Here’s the merch table for Dave Sharpe and his Dead Cowboy brand. Historical fact for you readers was that I knew Dave many moons ago when this Metal man did an internship over at Marvel Comics. We recently reconnected via the magic of Facebook.
Here’s Scott Cohn who worked on titles such as “Army Of Darkness”, TMNT” and “Krypto” to name a few.
Jim Cheung was busy sketching something for an eager fan so I didn’t want to disturb him. He drew this boss Avengers & Spider-Man picture.
That’s Sergio Gusella who when learning I was a member of the elite Metal Republic and a KISS fan could not resist showing me this particular page. Nice work, I am sure Gene would be proud.
Behold the heavily fortified table of the Tofu Squirrel. That’s Elizabeth Siegel’s secret identity (oops) and she had some awesome stuff. Show posters, statues and mini-paintings. She said she does a lot of Rap and Jam Band flyers so hopefully one day she addresses the Metal Dark Side.
These next couple of images focus on the “Teddy Scares” line of plush toys.
These guys are essentially your childhood Teddy’s all dead and decayed and out for vengeance since you grew up and left them to rot. Ghastly fun.
The folks at Lil Wing are responsible for “Neutron Girl” which is created by Brian Katz. Here is some more of their booth display.
They had comics, t-shirts and some other coolness to snare.
These guys were fun, and I had to get a closer look at their wares since I thought I was seeing things.
Here we see a representative of the television news WPIX, conducting an interview with someone from the Intel setup.
Intel had a massive screen set and there was some serious gaming going on in this section. I’m useless at games, I get killed off too fast, or crash or get my character lost. Oh well. Such is life.
Here’s the booth setup by UVC (Urban Voice of Comics) and their offering “The Original Vindicators”. I got a cool press packet from them but sadly it didn’t have a copy of the comic book in it. Oh well.
I knew that reporter looked familiar and it is indeed the lovely Miss Amber Lee Ettinger. Folks might remember her from being the girl in the “I’ve Got A Crush On Obama” video. She is so charming, rock on Amber.

Here’s the guys from Ultimate Comics and some of their offerings.
Among their stuff is a title called “Stiletto” which they were selling a number of different editions of at the Con.
Here’s Echo Chernik and a lovely assistant dressed as one of her characters (I am not sure which one but I liked). Echo was fun to meet and a good spirited person. She was engaging to all she met that day.
Here’s another shot of my new friends holding up some of Echo’s artwork. Yes I was making her laugh, I do that sometimes.
The folks at Darkwerx Comics had all kinds of Zombie things going on with their display and the title “The Nightmare Show” (pictured below).
And now it was time for a little more eye candy as we happened upon this stunning spokes person.
Here’s the brains behind Soulcraft Comics’ “Tribes”. I only was able to get a second of their attention as a comic store owner was lauding how well the book did in his establishment and that was more important anyway.
That’s enough for this first chapter my friends but don’t you worry, I shall return tomorrow with another installment. Please make sure you have “Liked” our Official PiercingMetal Facebook so you can see any side images that have been placed over there. Until next time please also click on some of these links to learn more about the interesting people that were showcased in this chapter. See you tomorrow.
Official Websites:
NY Comic Con: http://www.newyorkcomiccon.com/
Darkwerx Comics: http://www.darkwerx.com/
Echo Chernik: http://www.echo-x.com/
The Aexeous Robot: http://www.aexeous.com/
Mangia Industry (Chris Yura): http://www.mangiaindustry.com/
The Justice Purveyors: http://www.thejusticepurveyors.com/
Soulcraft Comics: https://www.facebook.com/soulcraftcomics/
Tofu Squirrel: http://tofusquirrel.com/
Teddy Scares: http://teddyscares.com/
To check out the other NY Comic Con & Anime Festival 2010 Narratives click HERE
There were a couple cool costumes in there. Wish I went.
Hi, Rod Williams of The Original Vindicators here.
Thanks so much for including us in your coverage of the 2010 NYCC!
I’d be glad to send you a complimentary copy of The Original Vindicators #0. Just email me an address and I’ll send it right out.
Lastly, I’d like to clear up that neither I or The Original Vindicators are affiliated with UVC publishing.
We publish under Rodcom1000 Publishing and I apologize if the UVC interview in our press packet caused any confusion.