On the Beat at New York Comic Con

New York Comic Con 2022 was bigger and better than ever. It was an amazing weekend of pop culture fun, including celebrities, panels, Q&As and many other fun events.

I was so anxious to get to NYCC, I got an earlier flight than planned and actually made it to the Javits Center just as the doors opened to start the four day extravaganza. From that moment until late Sunday, I was immersed in pop culture. I only left NYCC slightly early Sunday to attend the Billy Joel concert at nearby Madison Square Garden.

I started my convention experience by making a loop through artist alley to greet my creator friends, like Sara Richard, Dirk Manning, Art Baltazar, Franco, K Lynn Smith and Ali Cantarella. Through many years of conventions, many interviews and casual interactions, I have become friends with these talented folks.

Figuring the celebrity lines would be shorter now, I went to meet wrestlers Mick Foley and Britt Baker. Mick was in great spirits. He brought along a Mankind mask and Dude Love sunglasses and bandanna, allowing fans to get the Three Faces of Foley experience. I applaud that attention to detail and interest in making things special for the fans. When I asked him if he ever tires of putting on the gimmicks, he replied “there are a lot worse ways to make money.” I've had many interactions with him over the years and he is always awesome.

I have met Britt a few times. Although she is relatively new to the convention scene, she handles it like a season veteran.

On Saturday, Jungleboy Jack Perry took his place next to Mick's booth. When I shared a few stories of meeting his father, the late actor Luke Perry, Jack seemed genuinely touched. I have followed Jack's career from the beginning and he is definitely carving out his own niche.

A couple vendors brought in wrestlers, too. At the Heroes Hideout booth, WWE Hall of Famers Ron Simmons, The Godfather and Rikishi all had fun bantering about my resemblance to Jay Leno. It's been a running joke with the Godfather for years, although it disappoints him he was not the first wrestler to make that observation. Terri Runnels has that distinction.

The Nerds Clothing booth featured Danhausen, Colt Cabana, Rebel, Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford. I had interesting exchanges with each.

I talked to Danhausen about his author/artist father Brian, whom I met years ago at a comic con. Proud dad Brian talked about his aspiring wrestler son and years later, the younger Danhausen is doing great things in wrestling.

Colt surprised me by recalling some interactions we had in our hometown of Chicago. While we worked a few shows together, I certainly did not expect him to remember me.

I chatted with Rebel about a horror con, where I first met her several years back. She's accomplished a lot since then, but is still a real sweetheart.

Sabian and Ford were late due to the massive traffic, but they were extremely apologetic when they arrived. In gimmick, Sabian might be underrated and overlooked, but here the fans appreciated Ford and him immensely.

In a great bit of happenstance and timing, I ran into my buddy Ashley Prester on the first day. While we planned on connecting at some point, what were the odds of actually crossing paths right away? Ashley is more into collectibles as evidence by the cool memorabilia he found. He also attended interesting panels, including one featuring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd, who had a heartwarming reunion, and one with Weird Al Yankovic.

One of my mot interesting moments came when I caught up with legendary television horror host Svengoolie (Rich Koz). The line for Sven at the MeTV booth was already capped, but executive producer Jim Roche recognized me and made an exception for me, for which I am extremely grateful. Both Roche and Koz seemed happy to see a familiar face from Chicago. They taked about their crazy busy schedule, with Koz lamenting he didn't have time yet to meet Mick Foley, although he really wanted to see him.

I always make it a point to meet several new creators to expand my circle. This year, I saw Sanford Greene, Tim Jacobus, Matthew Wolf and several more. Perhaps the most special one was the Autistic Tiger, a nine year old artist with autism. The talented young man was a pure joy to meet.

I could fill pages with more details of all I did at NYCC. Over the four days, I spent about 30 hours there and it still wasn't enough to see and do all I wanted. It was enough to make me feel like I had a fantastic time though.

I heard that NYCC passed San Diego Comic Con as the largest one in the country, although that is unconfirmed. Either way, NYCC was a major success on every level.

All that is left for me now is to sort my pictures, write my stories and wait for the announcement of next year's dates so I can start making my plans for NYCC 2023.