New York Comic Con 2010

You've probably read about New York Comic Con elsewhere on the web, and most of what you've read is absolutely true. Yes, it's insanely crowded. Sure, a lot of the square footage is taken up by glorified tradeshow booths. And as of this year, the addition of New York Anime Fest to the proceedings did skew stuff towards the J-Pop end of the spectrum. All this bitching aside, New York Comic Con is also the show at which I'm most likely to be exposed to new and exciting media, and as such it's something I look forward to every year.

Among the hundreds of vendors hawking their fantastical goodies, there was plenty for fans of horror memorabilia to enjoy. The latest crop of Universal Monsters licensed offerings due on Toys R Us shelves in August 2011 is beautifully detailed and priced to own at $16.99 per set. I'm of the opinion that one can't own too many Brides of Frankenstein, and I'm looking forward to adding this latest one to my collection.

Fave-of-the-Empire toy designer Amok Time has outdone themselves once again. Having created such gorgeous toys as posable 12" figures William Marshall as Blacula and Vincent Price as the Red Death, they've got a bunch of droolworthy figures slated for future release. Check out the Boris Karloff Fu Manchu above. He's so marvelous I almost didn't even notice the "Black Cat" Boris behind him!

Of special interest to me were the Sadistik and Diabolik dolls also displayed in prototype form. According to their creator, he only needs to find 29 more folks to buy them in order to make it a worthwhile proposition. So come on, friends--I KNOW there are 29 of you out there with more money than sense!

Then there was the religious moment when I got to handle some original Milo Manara pages from his run on the "Diabolik" knock-off, "Genius." It was a really incredible experience, and I'm mournful that I didn't have a few grand on-hand to just buy those damn things. Suffice to say, I'll be heading over to Brooklyn to visit Scott Eder Gallery for future alternative and underground comix shows.

"Psycho" by Felipe Echevarria

Poster for The Briggs by Brian Ewing

Fabulous as the vendor room is, my favorite part of NYCC is Artists Alley, home to scores of talented illustrators working in limitless styles. Felipe Echevarria's painted pages from the comic book adaptation of "Psycho" were even more breathtaking in person. The Baron and I were fortunate enough to have copies of Brian Ewing's new poster art book as well as Christopher Hastings' "Adventures of Dr. McNinja" paperback autographed and sketched-in.

"Delivery 2" by Josh Ellingson

MC Chris Poster by Elizabeth Siegel, aka Tofusquirrel

I loved many of the quirky illustrators who exhibited monster-themed wares, and to list all of them would be a daunting task indeed. Two folks whose works especially made me grin were Josh Ellingson, whose clean lines are matched by a sharp wit, and Elizabeth Siegel, whose work under the moniker Tofusquirrel is hyper-detailed and adorable without falling into the dreaded pit of twee-ness.

The great thing about NYCC is that two people can attend and see completely different stuff. The saturation point happens just too damn fast! I'm already looking forward to whatever weird goodies I may come across in 2011...