It’s not so much the show’s fault, as it is that you’re just in the wrong damn place.

That’s some serious overarching description, there.

All I’m saying is that Josh seems to have drawn the line between “indie” and “whatever else that apparently isn’t indie” in a completely arbitrary place, then publicly complained that the NYCC didn’t draw it in the same place he did.

Don’t get me wrong, I too often find the bigger, corporate-focused cons a bit embarassing, and WAY too focused on commercial comics. But the good stuff (however you define it) is usually there. It just takes some determined looking, as others have said. I wasn’t at NYCC, but if my friends at Oni Press were there, I have to assume that there was a diverse range of material.

It’s the same in music, indie is used to describe a whole swathe of music that couldn’t be further from independant if it tried…

That’s some serious hair-splitting. In my day, “indie” meant independent, not some sort of value judgement based on how far a company does or doesn’t have their nose in the air.

Michael - you really need to chill out a little. He wasn’t attacking you for having liked the con, he just didn’t like it himself. And since when has Jim Hanley’s been corporate? It’s always been one of the most indie friendly shops in NY. I’ve picked up loads of books there I’ve never seen anywhere else (and I used to work for Gosh! in the UK).

Scott - He wasn’t saying Oni aren’t indie, just not indie in the same way as Fantagraphics, Top Shelf and D&Q are. They’re more of a mass-media company than art-book orientated, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

typical comic book fan reaction to something they didn’t like (or understand) - “IT SUCKED!”

that’s like me going to APE or MOCCA and saying those SUCKED cause i couldn’t find any superhero comics artists/companies there! then complaining about artists alley being filled with an abundance of pseudo-comic book artists who say they’re artists but really have a full time office job selling insurance.

that’s like me going to BARNES & NOBLE and saying they SUCKED cause the comics section is only like one or two aisles in comparison to an entire store full of books and then also complaining about there being a starbucks attached to it cause i mean, what the heck does coffee have to do with books?!?

and i got all 12 of 12 from that little picture quiz so i know my shit!

Who knew that I was slaving under corporate control all those years? Certainly not me.

“God forbid! A comic book convention positioning itself to attract the majority of fans and pack the floor with people actually enjoying themselves with said con, instead of catering to an underwhelming minority of snobbish, self-righteous hipsters, that are too cool to show up anyway. The horror. The absolute horror.”

• Johnny Hiro 1-3 (Bought them from Eisner Nominee Fred Chao himself)
• The Aviary (Bought from Jamie Tanner himself)
• Notes for a War by Gipi
• Action Philosophers! tpb Vol 1,2,& 3 (Bought from Van Lente & Dunlavey)
• A Dummy’s Guide to Danger, first TPB (bought from Jason Burns)
• A Dummy’s Guide to Danger, first issue/second series (bought from Jason Burns)
• KING! (bought it from Thomas Hall & Daniel Bradford)
• PAPERCUTTER anthology (misc artists/writers)
• Super Spy by Matt Kindt
• Mr. Big from Little foot Publishing
• Three Shadows from First second
• American Born Chinese from First second

…and my favorite swag of the convention…

• Meeting Eisner nominated Jeff Lemire and buying his book Lost Dogs from him as well as splurging and buying original cover art (fully painted) . If I could post the image on this blog you would know why it’s a great buy.

If you didn’t see enough indy at the NYCC, I have to respectfully disagree. I just think you weren’t looking hard enough.

It took me a second to realize that AA stood for Artist Alley. I was wondering how I’d missed the Alcoholics Anonymous table!

But, yeah. I spent the whole show talking to indie and alternative types — both at their booths and otherwise — and hardly even noticed the superhero stuff. I haven’t been able to do that at many cons I’ve attended.

But yeah. Saturday I had to get out of there.

I go to comic conventions to discover cool new stuff to read. I can buy or read about the mainstream stuff any time.

I will say I’ve never understood the logic behind charging people almost twice as much for a small press booth when, as far as I can tell, all you get extra is assurance of the cloth backdrop to hang stuff off of (which we did too, because our aisle of A.A. abutted the Small Press area). And the aisles there seemed even more congested to me; we got better foot traffic in A.A., as far as I could tell.

I agree with the suggestion that NYCC in the future tries to make its own “Indie Island”, as Dustin’s awesome example has proven to work and get better year after year. If they grouped the indies and the podcasters and the indie supporters together better, I think it would’ve felt more warm and snuggly. (and not in that Stormtrooper - Gold Bikini Princess Leia - armpit way)

The Indie Spinner Rack booth totally saved me. That, and seeing Seth Green.

…I honestly don’t think that this show was ever going to be anything other than what it is. It’d take a monumental effort to change things now. Oh, and Josh? You totally should have gone to the show during the professionals-only hours on Friday morning/afternoon. I got a ton done that day, saw almost everyone I needed to see, and it was really easy to get around. If you don’t want to be “assaulted” by B.O. and bad manners, you’ve gotta take some responsibility for that as well.

This years’ space was far superior but we had to bring in our own tables and chairs (or rent them for even more $$$). For New Yorkers without a car was quite an ordeal (driving in NYC never a good idea!) and in the future we will probably bite the bullet and pay the extra fee. But that means we’ll be even less likely to make a profit. Even with the better location, everyone I talked to had a hard time navigating through the floor without a map. I’m usually a fan of spreading things out so that different people can discover things they didn’t expect. But it’s sad to see amazing publishers like Top Shelf so tucked and hidden away in a random aisle.

I love ALL of you. Really.

But this is a BIG BOX con and I think for the most part that is what should be expected.

That being said, I actually thought there was more of a small press indie presence than years prior. I talked to a BUNCH of indie peeps. They weren’t your typical MoCCA Art Lit Comics but they were smalltime 1 or 2 man crew publishing their own comics.

I do have to say, I’m not a big fan of this years artist alley and the way it was designed. It looked like bingo night with the nerds. I think 07’s artist alley was much nicer, it didn’t feel so ghetto cuz all of the booths had 2 or 3 artists with a curtain and it was a bit quieter so it promoted discussion a bit more. Highly doubt they’ll be able to do that again.

A HUGE thanks to all who have posted here and who stopped by our table at the show. NYCC has been amazingly supportive of us and it felt wonderful that we could provide a little indie oasis in the sea of toys,video games, etc. And we LOVED having you guys come around and say hello and check out the ISR roundup.

This show was EASILY our most successful to date with more listeners and traffic to the table than ever before.

Thanks to ALL of the artists who signed at our booth and to HEIDI for plugging it. That helped QUITE a bit.

Maybe in 09 Josh, you’ll have to come sit with us!
; )

Was I blown away at how indie friendly the show is? No, quite the opposite. If I thought it was friendly, House of Twelve would do the show. The table prices (outside of Artists Alley) are WAY too expensive for the average indie scenster. But I understand they have to sell tens of thousands of tickets, and sorry to be the one to say it, but the indie scene ain’t gonna get the kinda draw that Porn Alley and Video Game Alley can. With the maarket the way it is, indies can pack MoCCA or SPX for the weekend, and that’s about it.

The cost to rent the hall must be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars (if not more?), they need to pack the place with high dollar players like Konami, Marvel and Universal Pictures, if not, the show goes back to being what it was in 2006, ghettoized in the basement with tens of thousands of frustrated fans lined up around the block. The guys who run the show are businessmen, they are in it to make as much money as possible, not to enlighten the community to the wonder of auto-bio comics.

This show gave the mainstream fans exactly what they wanted. A lot of toys, heroes, manga, anime and games with some back issue retailers and 100% authentic replica Star Trek ninja battlaxes thrown in for good measure. The fact that they had an artists alley at all was a little surprising, if the show continues to be successful, expect the autograph area and AA to disappear quickly (although maybe after the Jedi Training area).

Josh, I let God know you’re very upset that there are people in the world with a different aesthetic and who enjoy different things than you, like superhero comics, movies, video games, and dressing up in costumes from superhero comics, movies, and video games. I’m sure He’ll get right on fixing that for you, so you and the great, unwashed, ignorant world can bask in the true beauty of only the things you like.

i only got 8 out of 12 right, so what the hell do i know?

p.s. Nora Rocket seemed to get my meaning. Thanks, Nora

p.p.s. Dave Lasky says, “from what I’ve heard, all the indy comics people are now promoting their graphic novels at the book publishers’ conventions. I’ll bet there are some old school poets and novelists who are up in arms about all the ‘funnybook people’ invading their conventions.” Hee!