NYCC 2022 Means Business With Packed Schedule And Show Floor

The 2022 edition of New York Comic Con gets going today at the Javits Center on the west side of Manhattan, preparing to welcome over 200,000 fans for a four-day celebration of comics, science fiction, fantasy, gaming, animation and all things pop culture. NYCC caps a season that’s seen the return of most of North America’s biggest cons to in-person events following two miserable years of quarantines and COVID. This year’s event, although slightly smaller than the peak year of 2019 (250K tickets sold) looks way bigger than last year’s comeback show, and may end up being the biggest con of the year this time around.

While it is unclear whether comic and pop culture conventions will occupy the same central role in the marketing and engagement of audiences as they did before the pandemic, they remain important hubs of business within the interconnected entertainment, media, publishing and technology industries. This year, NYCC is making a strong case for being the must-attend show of the circuit for distributors, creative professionals and others in the space, as well as for superfans around the country and the globe.

Headline guests at this year’s show include actors Oscar Isaac, Sebastian Stan, Tom Sturridge (Sandman), the cast of Doom Patrol, plus a long list of favorites like Michael J. Fox, Drew Barrymore, and Christopher Lloyd, most of whom will be available for photos and meet-and-greets for deep-pocketed fans. Because NYCC takes place at the center of the publishing universe, heavyweights like Penguin Random House, Simon & Shuster, Abrams and Hachette will be representing their burgeoning catalogs of graphic novels and genre prose books, alongside comic publishers Marvel, Viz Media, IDW, Heavy Metal, Mad Cave Studios, Z2 Comics and others.

NYCC features one of the industry’s best “artist alleys,” where everyone from top comics professionals to up and coming young talent sell sketches and original works directly to fans. This year’s pavilion, sponsored by Amazon’s comiXology digital comics platform, looks to be in an expanded new location This is a great way to meet and support the creators whose work powers top comics and entertainment properties. Artists, sellers of collectibles, and major entertainment brands like Crunchyroll, Funko and eBay rub shoulders on a show floor that appears to be more focused and differently-configured from NYCCs of years’ past.

NYCC is also a central destination for cosplayers, with a weekend of festivities culminating in the inaugural Cosplay Central Crown Championships on the Main Stage on Saturday night at 9:30 PM. There will be a bunch of meetups and con-organized services for cosplayers throughout the event, serving this highly visible and increasingly active fan community.

ReedPOP runs NYCC along with several other large pop culture events, including its recent acquisition, the videogame trade show E3, and appears interested in raising the profile of the event as a destination for industry professionals as well as fans. On Thursday, NYCC will host ICv2’s Insider Sessions, a trade-oriented conference that is conducting its first in-person event since 2019 (disclosure: I’m a presenter at this event). Friday features the invitation-only Harvey Awards, named for legendary satirist Harvey (MAD) Kurtzman, honoring some of the year’s best work and inducting Neil Gaiman, Marge Henderson Buell (Little Lulu), Gilbert Shelton (The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers) and longtime writer/editor Roy Thomas into the Hall of Fame. On Saturday, an NYCC-adjacent event will take place offsite at New York’s Society of Illustrators marking the 30^th anniversary of UK-based publication Tripwire, featuring Frank Miller (The Dark Knight Returns), Jimmy Palmiotti (Harley Quinn), legendary illustrator Bill Sienkiewicz and David Mack (Kabuki, Daredevil, Echo), cosponsored by Heavy Metal.

NYCC also features a full schedule of programming for both fans and professional. Many of the industry and creator-focused panels take place on Thursday, but there are interesting discussions scheduled throughout the show. I’ll be moderating panels on the future of user-generated content, the growing role of Webtoon in the entertainment industry, and the new crowdfunding platform Zoop on Friday, then showcasing the debut of the new sci-fi comedy project Ginormo, featuring an assortment of top YouTube content creators, on Saturday afternoon.

Proximity to the media center of New York means NYCC will likely see a bunch of entertainment-related news and announcements throughout the weekend. Press releases are already flying fast and thick, with streamers like AmazonAMZN
Prime Video, NetflixNFLX
, HBO Max, ParamountPARA
and others present with huge signage and programs at the Javits. Brands are also appealing to fans with the usual range of on- and offsite activations, giveaways and show exclusives.

Finally, like other large shows, NYCC features focused tracks for educators and librarians who increasingly use comics and graphic novels to promote literacy and as source material in classrooms. This year, those efforts feel especially important given the rising tide of censorship of anything even slightly controversial aimed at kids. The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund will be hosting a panel on this subject on Sunday.

On the safety front, NYCC has a mask requirement for all attendees but is not requiring proof of COVID vaccination this time around. Showrunner Kristina Rogers says the decisions were made following the best professional guidance to ensure the safety of everyone as long as COVID continues to stalk the landscape.

New York Comic Con runs October 6-9 at the Javits Center. Some tickets for individual days may still be available.