The final day of NYCC/AF was much milder and relaxed, and while there was still a crush of people, especially on the anime end of the building, it wasn’t the nightmare it was sometimes on Saturday.
After buzzing around the DR (I’ll append my swag list at the end of this post), and dropping by Kodansha USA’s room to reassure myself that yes indeed, they aren’t there, I ducked into the Miyazaki panel. It was well-done, with slides and everything, even if a bit rushed. I think all the panels I saw with cards and slide presentations (as opposed to just sitting and jabbering) felt as if they were pressed for time the entire panel, though their preparation also insured the panels were excellent.
Ducked out early as I had to walk clear over to the other side of the Javits to go to the Archie creators panel. Who decided to make the convention center 6-7 blocks long? In any case, this panel was a lot more informal than the corporate one on Friday, but was just as fun, with lots of discussions of what’s coming up next, followed by Q&A.; Alex Simmons, one of the Archie writers, hosted both panels and was probably the best moderator I saw all con, keeping things moving despite his notes being rather messy, and with a healthy dose of humor.
I commented on enjoying Archie characters when they show their flaws, and talked about my love of “insane Betty” stories. They all agree that playing up the flaws is what makes them want to write Archie, as otherwise it’s just a bunch of nice kids. Dan Parent, who was also on the panel, talked about how much he liked to play up flaws when writing Jughead fighting Veronica. The inevitable ‘what’s the S on Jughead’s shirt stand for’ question came up, and it was noted they played with this in several Archie Comics over the years, but only Bob Montana likely knows the answer. Best moments of the panel were the mild-mannered, deadpan replies from Victor Gorelick in the audience, who got more awesome the more I saw of him. Someone asked when we’d see Betty’s sister, which flummoxed the writers on the panel. “Betty has a sister?” the asked. “Betty does have a sister,” Victor answered. Long pause. “Betty also has a brother.” I laughed.
After this, I debated lunch but instead went over to Artist’s Alley, where I got a doujinshi that a friend had asked me to look for. Then off to Culinary Manga, Erin’s spinoff panel from her unusual manga genres. It was fantastic, not only talking about all the many, MANY cooking manga out now, both licensed and non, but also showing examples of attempting the recipes they have in the back of many volumes, and how hard they are to actually manage. I definitely hope to see more of these at future cons.
That was it for me, even though the con kept going till 5. Back to the New Yorker to get my bags (the room was tiny but otherwise it was quite a decent hotel), then off to an Irish pub for dinner and football watching (eating beer-battered fish and chips while watching the Cowboys self-destruct is something I recommend to anyone), and thence home.
There was not as much news as I had hoped this con, I will admit. What, still no Sailor Moon reprint? Stop teasing! And where was my Durarara!! manga and A Certain Magical Index manga announcements that I was sure in my head Yen would make? (Many things happen in my head that bear no resemblance to reality.) But I hung out with many old friends, met many new ones (introducing yourself by your name and Twitter handle was the hot new thing), and generally had a blast. Can’t wait for next year.
Swag list:
November’s Betsuhana
A back issue of Evening
Berry Berry 2 & 3 (Banri Hidaka, Hana to Yume)
Moteki 4.5 (from Kodansha’s Evening)
Ecce S 3 (aka Kono S wo Miyo!, aka that hypnobutt manga, from Shogakukan’s Big Comic Spirits)
Holy Brownie 2 & 3 (from the creator of Excel Saga, Shonen Gahosha’s Young King Ours Plus)
Haruka 17 Volume 1 (from Kodansha’s Morning)
Hetalia Axis Powers DVD 1
Buddha Volume 1 (Tezuka, ran in Ushio Shuppansha’s Comic Tom)
and stuff I got for free:
Black Butler Vol. 3 (Square Enix, GFantasy)
Daniel X (Yen original)
Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch (Del Rey proof edition)
Bloodshot by Cherie Priest (Del Rey proof edition)
The Bobo, starring Peter Sellers (1967) (Warner Archive DVD)
The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu (1980) (Warner Archive DVD)
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