NYCC 2019 - Day One.

Well, that was something of a mixed bag today. After the initial start where I realised that ‘I won’t bring a jacket, won’t need one and will make more room for comics’ attitude I’d had whilst packing thoroughly had me kicking myself as the rain shit itself down on Manhattan!

I got in the line nice and early and stood in a packed aircraft hanger for a couple of hours. It was noticeable that absolutely nobody but myself was actually reading a comic! Thank Grodd for noise cancelling headphones and an internal mantra that I used to brainwash myself that I wouldn’t miss any of the juicy limited edition prints in Artists Alley (AA)! As the gates opened at 10am I made my way into the adjacent hall that is now being used for the AA only to find that around a third of the tables lay empty and a number more where still being set up! For those that actually showed up on time I salute you. For those that didn’t I hope you had a lovely Thursday morning lay-in and a round of toast!

I headed over to the Hilda setup at Main Floor isle 2603 only to find that the NYCC organisers had actually incorrectly placed the ‘1900’ banner on the alleyway. If you are looking for us tomorrow that head to the far side of the ‘1900’ isle. The Wood Man’s hut and more was ready for readers and fans to visit.

I had a cracking time working with Geoff and Jake (from our New York office) and we shifted an awful lot of books, figurines and Wood Man pins. I’ll be back there tomorrow so pop by and say hi if you are at the Con.

After my shift with Hilda and her chums I headed to the Back Issues section of the main floor. This is just the first of many trips as I mentally guess at how much room I’ll have in my luggage.

I’d also popped to the Europe Comics stall and bought a book in preparation for meeting Enrico Marini tomorrow. I don’t really read much French but I already have the digital copies to compare this to and it sure does look pretty.

Adjacent to the Back Issue section is the Original Art area. I met up with my old mucka Ed Tarquinius and we wandered and marvelled at the pages on show. Here are just a few of what I drooled over.

(A Mike Ploog Man-Thing page!!!)

(Moebius - Anyone lend me $17,000?)

(Some more from Moebius!)



(Some Curt Swan and Bruno Premiani goodness!)

(Kirby ....... Doom!)

(Some John Byrne/Mike Mignola gold!)

(A slightly lacklustre Steve Ditko/Stan Lee/Artie Simek page).

(On an indie tip there was a folder full of Johnny Ryan ‘Prison Pit’ pages at $200 a piece.)

(Loads of pages by the master Jim Woodring that were just peeking into my wallet!)

I thought I’d also tease you with some key issues that were there for sale and wildly out of my price range.

I’m now off for a bite to eat and read some Thongor!

(In a thong!)

Many thanks for reading.