New York Comic Con - Day One

Thursday was little more than a preview day at New York Comic Con, which is frankly alright by me. For professionals, conventions offer one of the few times of year you can see people you wish very much you could see more often. Given the size and sprawl of our community, many of us don't see one another at all unless it's at a convention. Given the size and amount of things going on at shows like NYCC (SDCC, C2E2), it becomes difficult to see anyone for more than a few minutes at a time, hardly enough time to catch up. The night time doesn't offer much reprieve, as many creators are divided equally between going back to their hotel room to hang out and work (New York is expensive and some guys just can't afford to go out) and hanging out at industry parties. Thursdays are great for us, because it's the only time a convention of this size is quiet enough that we can actually spend some time catching up, trying to line up new work, etc.

So with that in mind, my good friend (and editor) Christopher Cerasi (@chriscerasi) and I headed down to the Javits for some quality time with friends. This was actually the first time I'd had a chance to hang out with Chris in person, which is kind of amazing when you consider how close we've both become over the years we've known one another. Chris and I had originally worked on a project that ultimately saw itself set back considerably when DC eliminated his division of publishing. The project may have died but our friendship did not, so being able to just hang out with him in person had already made my day. For the most part all we did was roll around the convention floor, Chris touching base with various friends and publishers he'd worked with in the past, introducing me along the way, both of us looking to drum up a little freelance work. All in all, a good, relaxed first day at the convention.

For dinner we took off with Chris's old friends (my new friends) John (@johnthedomingos) and Brandon (@BrandonTSnider). We ended up at a place called VYNL which was decent, but not memorable, but the conversation was rich and at times hilariously raunchy and the company was excellent.

Today I'll be on assignment and most likely won't have time to fight the madding crowd or to spend more than a few precious moments catching up with friends, so a nice, laid back Thursday was exactly what I needed to start this weekend off correctly.

New York, imma get up in you.