To tell the New York Comic Con this year, we start with 649 people dressed as Spider-Man: they had gathered to beat the world record of the greatest gathering dedicated to the character, but they lacked 36 to the appeal. The attempt failed, but produced one of the most suitable images to explain the event, which from 8 to 11 October celebrated twenty years at the Javits Center in Manhattan, now become an unmissable event for production houses, which end up paying their stands in order to attract attention to their characters.
Outside the congress, instead, Star Wars Stormtroopers and Batman characters crossed the streets of Midtown along with Pennywise, It’s clown, and Art the Clown of Terrifier. Inside, next to the meetings with actors and designers, it was played at Yu-Gi-Oh! and Magic: The Gathering. It was enough to understand how wide the definition of “comic” adopted by the fair was: comics, but also video games, horror cinema, animation and television.
The relationship with cinema has always been characteristic of comic fairs, since well before the birth of Comic Con in New York. One of the most important precedents was in 1976, when Charles Lippincott, head of Lucasfilm promotion, presented a film still unknown to the Comic-Con in San Diego: Star Wars, who would come out the following year. With him there were Roy Thomas and Howard Chaykin, the authors of the comic adaptation for Marvel. The goal was to find the first spectators among people already passionate about science fiction and comics, before the film arrived in the rooms.
Then, between the end of the nineties and the first two thousand, with the growing investment of Hollywood in the adaptations of comics. Films like X-Men and Spider-Man made that audience particularly interesting: they were spectators who already knew the stories, they could go to the cinema on the first weekend and talk to others. With the spread of the internet, the reactions at a preview could also circulate on the sites and blogs well beyond the people present in the room.
Also this year, in New York, there was some cast cameo. In particular, that of Dexter: Resurrection, with Michael C. Hall and Uma Thurman, who presented anticipations of the second season. Marvel showed Daredevil: Born Again and screened the first episode of VisionQuest. AMC brought, among others, Kill Jackie, with Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Yaga, with Carrie-Anne Moss.
There is also room for artists: in Artist Alley, the area dedicated to authors, meetings take place in front of the tables: drawings, signatures, conversations with those who created the characters. In the exhibition area, the Tenacious Collective brought together independent artists selected by Benny Kline, founder of Tenacious Toys. Among them were father and son of Oamalgam Studios, who painted in front of the visitors the statuettes of their characters, made with 3D printing. Alvin and Cheri Ong, by Furry Feline Creatives, divided the work between stories and illustrations, mixing Filipino, Chinese and American cartoon influences.
L’articolo If you think the New York Comic Con is only for comics you’re very wrong proviene da IlNewyorkese.
