The Big Apple Con was, for me, Ol' Reliable. I know that every three months or so, it would go up, satisfying my convention fix. This, however, is now in jeopardy.
The venue the con has taken place the last few years, the Penn Plaza Pavilion, has a bunch of rumors swirling about it. The most prevalent rumor is that the location is going to be torn down and replaced. This, naturally has thrown a monkey wrench into the convention planning. Instead of the regular occurring Big Apple Cons, we now have two, one in June, one in November,.dates and locations to be announced.
When compared to the Wizard Worlds, San Diego Comic Con or even the New York Comic Con, the Big Apple would seem rinky dinky. None of the major publishers set up shop here to present their wares. The artist alley was made up of the up and comers and old favorites that the now hot creators. The media guests leaned to old wrestlers and TV stars than big stars trying to promote a new film.
But it was a great place to buy back issues. The big time Golden and Silver age guys were there, like Motor City, Harley Yee, and Koop's Comics. Also, one of my faves, Katz Komix, with his boxes and boxes of $.50 books and half price trades.
Don't get me wrong, the Big Apple wasn't perfect. The venue is small and can get crowded. More than it's fair share of Playboy playmates and the ilk. And at least once a year, the Big Apple turned into The National. It took place in the same venue with the same vendors but would increase in ticket price because they would bring a celebrity like Steven Segal or Carrie Fisher in.
The most recent con was a National and the tickets were $20--almost twice normal and $4 or 5 dollars more than they usually charged for the National. The reason for the increase--the celebrity guests were Hayden Pantierre (sic) and Kristen Bell from Heroes. I had to attend because I had to pick up books a dealer was holding for me, and I expected to grumble for paying so much (I had no interest in seeing either Hayden or Kristen. No Offense, ladies). But it turned out to be one of my better visits to the convention.
First off, I met up with former Marvel editor Andy Schmidt. He is starting up a teaching business called The Comics Experience.I took his breaking into comics course at MOCCA and found it very valuable. We caught up and I found out more about his new venture.
Mark Evanier was there too. I am a big fan of his work and his daily blog (click his name to be taken there). So, I set out to find him and give my praises. Usually, this sort of thing ends in disappointment. Not this time. After a bit of lurking because he was talking to someone else, I had a small conversation with him, got his autograph, and had my picture taken with him:
That thrilled me. The book you see was what he signed. Doing the art on it was Sergio Aragones. His table was set up right next to where Mark was. Feeling brave, I went up to him and had him sign the book as well:
This was totally cool. I now have a treasured keepsake from two creators I admire. I was in fanboy bliss. But best of all, was introducing my wife to Sergio. Usually, I have to give a mini-bio for the professional I introduce her to. But Jen was familiar with Sergio from Mad. Finally, a creator she know going in! My wife was taken by Sergio, especially the gentlemanly way he stood up when shaking her hand. She thought that was classy and was honored by the gesture. I regret not pushing my luck and getting a picture.
And on the way out, I came across Rich Johnston, writer of the Lying in the Gutters column at Comic Book Resources. I am a religious reader of LITG, and was pleased to pass on that information to him. I had a nice conversation with him and it was a blast to hear his enthusiasm for the color version of his Flying Friar and a new project he has in the works, Hoods. Now I have a voice to go with the writing, and that is cool.
This might be the last Big Apple/National. If it is, at least it went out with a bang for me. I got closer to completing my Cerebus and Miracleman sets, met a few people I admire, and had a great experience. If it was the last one, it went out with a bang.
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