NY ComicCon 2010 is the first sign of the Super Hero apocalypse. By Felix Serrano – Robot Dialog #5

October 12, 2010 Felix Serrano 0 Comments

So I went to the NY ComicCon was this weekend and it was to quote Paris Hilton “HUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE”. Every square inch of the Jacob Javits center was covered with some sort of comic, anime, video game or television propaganda. The second I walked into the convention center I felt the tightening of anxiety on my back… then I got into the main hall. It was like getting tossed around in the nerd surf. Fanboy shells and bits of otaku fur pelted me from every angle while I tried to gain my bearings. When I finally gained a sense of where I was I started to feel like a 4-year-old boy lost in Macy’s on December 24th. Every row and aisle looked the same. With every bit of unique merchandise the vendors all became the same. Every person in a costume became part of a nauseating mosaic of disorientation that I did not care for. To cap off the surrealism of this whole thing; there was a constant stream of Michael Jackson music coming from a stage that could be heard everywhere. End day one.

Day Two. Saturday.

So, Day two was family day for me. My lovely wife Jill, daughters Julienne and Isabella packed it up and headed down to the Javits. When we got there I was shocked at what I saw next. There was a massive line of comic fans that had formed outside of the Javits Center. The line was about 5 blocks long. It looked like a Super Hero soup line during the great depression. Those who were turned away due to ticket sales being frozen gathered across the street. We enter the convention center and BAM! First sighting was Stan “The Man” Lee walking with an entourage as usual. That put a smile on my face.

The rest of the day was meetings and business for me, which took up most of the day since I couldn’t walk 10 feet without running into someone I knew. Artist’s Alley became the sanctuary and Chris Sotomayor’s table became the home base (Thanks Soto!). Finally I had a moment to sit while I painted over a Captain America drawing by the great Freddie Williams for Bryan Deemer of the Comic Geek Speak podcast. Then it dawned on me; everyone is here to celebrate this dude right here. The Super Hero. How the hell did I forget that? Later on I met up with an old high school friend of mine who is also one of the best tattoo artists in NY. We talked about the old days when the conventions weren’t as big… weren’t as commercial. Dahn, then pointed a few things out. Most of the artists in Artist’s Alley looked miserable. They all looked like they were trying to make a buck. The Artist’s Alley when I was a fan was filled with artist working on their projects showing off what was coming up in future issues. Giving us a sneak peak at new projects they were working on. Things were just more intimate. Consumers are a virus; they (we) are destroying our Heroes. By the end of the day I was exhausted and was excited for normalcy (so were my 17 month old and 13 year old). ComicCon is just too much for 3 days. It’s overwhelming and super potent. It’s the source of things to come. If Hollywood continues on it’s path of wearing out it’s cash cows without giving it a break I’m going to be yearning for a stupid romantic comedy starring Greg Kinnear and Jennifer Aniston with Robin Williams as the kooky super who keeps a pigeon coop on the roof next to newspaper clippings of his failed physics career because he lost his wife and daughter in a car accident. Then some exec will wonder why Steel 2 starring Shaq and LeBron failed.

I’m done. Gonna go watch some Dexter now.

-F

*Thanks to Pitt Hanson for the photo.