by Kelly Leem, staff reporter.
Year after year, Comic-con grows in popularity. Tickets sell out quickly as people scramble to buy passes for them and their friends. It features special guests, screenings, and many other programs that people wait in line for hours to participate in. Although Comic Con originally started in San Diego, California, Comic Con eventually spread to New York, where it’s taken up residence at Javits center. It has become the biggest East Coast comic convention that features anime, manga, videogames, artist panels, etc, and allows fans to “cosplay” or dress up (in simpler terms) as their favorite characters. Comic Con 2015 started on October 8th and ended on October 11th. However, in order to understand what Comic Con is, knowing how it started is seeing how it all began.
How did it start? In a nutshell, Comic Con originated first as a group of comic, movie, and science fiction fans, including Shel Dorf, Ken Krueger, and Richard Alf, who started the first comic book convention in San Diego, California. Comic Con has spiked in popularity throughout the years, with over 130,000 attendees and counting.
NYCC (New York Comic Con) had a lot of people who filled the halls with colorful and creative cosplays. Many of these costumes and props took weeks to make, and after every detail is made to perfection, they’re worn and displayed. Photographers roamed around and took pictures of these cosplays. Friends and even families also cosplayed together to have fun with each other.
“The best part about New York Comic-Con being the East Coast’s biggest pop culture event is that there are so many TV shows, movies, books, comics, and media being represented that there’s no end to the amount of things I geeked out over. The endless number of exhibitors and artists present at the convention meant lots of new merchandise to buy, including original artwork to adorn the walls of my room and t-shirts representing each fandom I’m in. Yet the most exciting part of Comic-Con was receiving recognition by fellow Star Wars fandom I’m in. Yet the most exciting part of Comic- Con was receiving recognition by fellow Star Wars fans of my cosplay, Rey, a character in the upcoming Star Wars movie, “The Force Awakens,” Brooklyn Tech student Rosie Lu said.
The most crowded part of NYCC was probably “The Block.” “The Block” was where many stores and companies displayed their merchandise. There were items ranging from anime posters to big plushies, action figures, and toys. Large displays set up by video game companies attracted many people to take pictures.
“Well, I really liked the variety of people, booths and artists I saw, met, and interacted with there. Everyone had different interests, ranging to comics (obviously) to manga and anime to video games, but we all came here to one spot,” Laguardia High School student Calise Jin said.
New York Comic Con was both an exciting and thrilling opportunity for the people that attended it. The hallways filled with photographers and merchandise along with the colorful cosplays and exhibits that blew your mind, Comic Con was truly an unforgettable experience.
