Review: Special Edition NYC - June 2014

I had the great opportunity to be one of the artists at the inaugural edition of Special Edition NYC, a mini-comic con at the Javitz Center in New York City.

For anyone who has been to New York Comic Con in the last couple years, you know that for the uninitiated, the experience can be a little scary. NYCC 2013 boasted well over 160,000 people, over the course of four days, and let me tell you, having experienced that, it is a little frightening.

Well, Special Edition NYC was anything but. With less than a quarter of the crowd of NYCC, it is a great place to start your con experience. This seemed to be the case for many of the people I spoke to last weekend. Many told me that this was their first comic convention ever.

Because Special Edition was in the space usually reserved for NYCC's Artist Alley, this con was a lot more low-key than many of the other cons I have been to over the years. With no celebrity guests, and no major publishers putting on spectacles for the crowds, this show was mainly about one thing: THE ARTISTS and CREATORS.

For a writer/artist, such as me, this is a good thing. It places more focus on the artist alley and allows more fans to see our work. I hope that in future years ReedPop keeps this aspect of Special Edition the same. Because while it is great to go to the big conventions with all the celebrities and such, it is nice to be a part of decent sized con that is about the comics and the people who create them, which so many of the cons have fallen away from in recent years.

This con was only two days, as opposed to the big on in October which runs for four. I would venture to say that this particular con could have actually been shortened to just one day. While the crowd was great on Saturday, the Sunday crowd left much to be desired. I'm used to having a lighter crowd on Sunday, but as we noticed, there were more people walking by with exhibitors badges on Sunday then there were people wearing Sunday badges. I don't know for sure, but I don't think ReedPop sold all that many badges for Sunday. Now, this could have been hurt by the fact that it was Father's Day, and if they switch the weekend next year, that might fix itself, I don't know. The only thing I can comment on was that the Sunday crowd was unusually light, and that was disappointing.

The other disappointing thing, that also effected the crowd I'm sure, was that Special Edition was scheduled at the same time as the Long Island Comic Con and the Westchester Comic Con. We are talking about three comic conventions literally within 50 miles of each other. Poor planning on this schedule I think hurt all three of these cons, because each con lost fans to the others. This would be another thing I would suggest ReedPop avoid in the future.

If you are into cosplay, you wouldn't have been disappointed with this con either. Like the crowd though, the cosplayers were very light. The pictures I've included here are a couple of the dozen or so pictures I took of cosplayers. Usually, I come out of a convention with 100 pictures. Not to say that this was a bad thing, because for the most part, the people who were dressed up wore high quality costumes, like the couple you see here.

Overall, I believe that Special Edition NYC was a great success! I enjoyed it thoroughly. I like doing the smaller cons as much as I enjoy doing the huge ones, and for the first year, I would say that this one has the potential to be one of the better small cons. Look for postings for next year's con, and if you have the opportunity, come on up to NYC for it in June (if it is in June again next year). Either way, come on down for the massive party that is New York Comic Con in October. I'll be there!