New York Comic Con 2007, Day 2 – Saturday

Day two of the con is in the books and the iFanboys couldn’t be happier. Don’t get me wrong, we’re having a blast but… quite frankly, we’re tired.

The one downside to having the con in your hometown is that you can’t just roll out of bed and stroll a few blocks to the convention center. Here, we all are coming in from our respective domiciles, which meant the iFanboy crew rolled in to the show today anywhere from 10am to 2pm.

Those lucky enough to arrive before lunch were met with a slightly disconcerting scenario — a line to enter the con that stretched four blocks beyond the convention center a maze of Disney-esque queues to enter, and surly security guards (augmented by the volunteer force of the 501st Legion, who were helping with security at the front door and at Stan Lee’s booth signing). For a minute there it looked like we were going to get a repeat of last year’s NYCC debacle, but thankfully that didn’t come to pass, and by lunchtime the line of irate con-goers at thinned out and most everyone gained entry.

Armed for the first time at this con with a full compliment of support staff and interns, iFanboy worked the con floor hard. We spent most of our morning chasing down interviews for the video show and capturing the flavor of the con. Lunch was had in the convention food court which saw two funny developments. One, it’s always funny when people in full-on costume walk around a cafeteria with trays of food. Always. Two, there is another convention going on in the center and those people looked freaked the fuck out by the people in number one.

After lunch, iFanboy inadvertently almost caused a near riot at the Jeff Smith booth when our interview delayed his signing by a few minutes. We apologize.

In the early evening we hit Marvel’s “Cup o’ Joe” panel. The room was packed with crowds of people standing against the wall and in the aisles. I’m not sure what the fire codes regs are on that one, and with this con you can never be too careful. We had hoped that there would be some Civil War fireworks at this panel, but alas, in the hour we were there — nothing. No indignity, no nothing. What was there? Well, before the (mostly) inane audience questions began there were a few announcements.

If you are into the whole cosmic side of the Marvel Universe, 2007 is the year for you. There are six — count em, six — mini-series coming out this year.

Annihilation Conquest – Prologue
Written by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Art by Brian Denham

Annihilation Conquest – Quasar
Written by Christos Gage
Art by Eric Basaldva

Annihilation Conquest – Starlord
Written by Keith Giffen
Art by Timothy Green

Annihilation Conquest – Wraith
Written by Javier Grillo-Marxuach
Art by Kyle Holtz

Annihilation Conquest
Written by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Art by Tom Raney

I can’t really tell you what all of these minis are about because the cosmic stuff goes right over my head, but people in the audience seemed happy. Ron was psyched.

After that, there were two Brian Michael Bendis related announcements.

Daredevil: End of Days
Written by Brian Michael Bendis & David Mack
Art by Klaus Jansen & Bill Sienkiewicz
Covers by Alex Maleev

Halo
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Alex Maleev

I’ll be honest, the second one threw us, and the entire room, for a loop.

Some other notable info from the panel:

• Thor will return in July.
• The long rumored Marvel Apes project is happening.
• There will be a Transformers/New Avengers crossover to coincide with the Transformers movie.
• Quesada was asked which character owned by another company would work best in the Marvel Universe (which was a fantastic question) and his really long answer boiled down to this quote: “Batman would fit really well in the Marvel Universe.”
• Quesada told a very moving story about writing Daredevil: Father and the death of his own father which brought the EIC to tears and quieted the room.

After exiting the panel early we ran into the crew from ANTiFanboy and no rumble took place and our meeting did not result in the release of about 10 billion times the energy that chemical energy such as hydrogen and oxygen combustion cause, as when matter and antimatter collide. They are actually really nice guys and we posed for a funny picture that hopefully they will remember to email to us.

And then it was on to dinner and then Rudy’s Bar & Grill where a large contingent of iFanboy Fanboys gathered (including notable internet celebrity guest Augie De Blieck Jr.) to share some beers and some laughs. Thanks to everyone who showed up (especially Fred for helping Ron swipe a table out from under some very annoyed yuppies)! We had a blast meeting everyone!

One more day!

My feet hurt.