Will this never end?

Chapter 146: New York Comic Con you say?

Oct 10, 2023

NYCC for me?
NYCC for everyone else!
Mailbag- What to do in NYC!
Mixtape- What to listen to in NYC!

Hello!

It is once again that most wonderful time of the year. The nighttime starts spreading into the day, the air gets crisp, the leaves change colors, and thousands of comic book nerds descend on New York City. It’s fall and that means it’s also New York Comic Con.

Lots of folks have been asking me for my NYCC schedule, so here it is.

That’s right. If you’re at the convention center you can find me on Thursday from 12:15-1:15 at the DC Presents: ELSEWHERE IN THE MULTIVERSE Panel, room #409. It is possible we will have something exciting and fun to talk about. And if that doesn’t get you excited, come to hear awesome folks like Clay Mann, Tate Brombal, and Tom Taylor.

This is my only appearance at the show, so if you are desperate to say hi or get me to write my name on some stuff, come by and I can do it in the hall afterward the panel. Other than that, you can probably find my in Central Park staring at stranger’s dogs.

But just because I’m not there doesn’t mean my amazing collaborators won’t be. Here is an incomplete list of awesome people and where to find them. You should go be nice to them, bring them stuff to sign, and buy things from them.

TYLER BOSS (WTFPFH? / 4 KIDS WALK INTO A BANK) Table A-38.

ETHAN S. PARKER & GRIFFIN SHERIDAN (IDEAS DON’T BLEED Podcast) TABLE E-07.

RICARDO LÓPEZ ORTIZ (WTFPFH? #8, JOKER: PUZZLEBOX, KINGPIN) Table A-38

JUAN FERREYRA (THUNDERBOLTS) Table F-22

SWEENEY BOO (WTFPFH? #9) Table G-35

JAMES TYNION IV (DC VS. VAMPIRES / THE JOKER) Table C-27

ALEX SEGURA (THE ARCHIES / ARCHIE MEETS RAMONES) Table A-21

BRENO TAMURA (12 REASONS TO DIE) Table L-31

FEDERICO VICENTINI (AMAZING SPIDER-MAN .LR) Table C-23

JOE EISMA (THE ARCHIES) Table K-24

JOSHUA CASSARA (WOLVERINE BLACK, WHITE, & BLOOD) Table ???

JUAN DOE (JOKER: PUZZLEBOX) Table L-19

JUANAN RAMIREZ (SECRET WARRIORS / UNCANNY X-MEN / FORCE WORKS / ANNHILATION SCOURGE) Table E-10

MAHMUD ASRAR (UNCANNY X-MEN) Table C-29

MARC LAMING (KINGPIN) Table G-38

PAOLO VILLANELLI (STAR WARS: JEDI FALLEN ORDER) Table ???

RACHELLE ROSENBERG (UNCANNY X-MEN, PHOENIX RESURRECTION, TALES OF SUSPENSE) Table A-27

SIMONE DI MEO (DC VS VAMPIRES.) Table I-18

THOMAS DERENICK (WILDC.A.T.S.) Table B-17

Make sure you go find Tyler and tell him he should have brought his dog to stay with me while he’s at the show.

And make sure you stop by Ethan and Griffin’s table. I told them to get a bunch of copies of their book KILL YOUR DARLINGS and have them shipped to my house, so I’m going to look real dumb if you don’t buy them.

We’re going to take a brief moment to answer a very relevant question we got in our inbox. Friend of the newsletter Johnny Parry wrote to ask a question that is useful year round, but could be helpful for folks visiting for the show.

“Where to go and what to do in NYC? For new residents? Thank you? Thank you!”

Well, Johnny, that’s a good question and I appreciate that you were unsure on whether to thank me, but settled on yes, do.

So NYC is big, and I’ve lived here my whole life and never run out of new things to discover. The obvious answers for cool stuff to do that are constant are - try lots of restaurants, go to all the museums, take in lots of theater and concerts, and walk around in new neighborhoods all the time. And I can’t tell you do illegal stuff so don’t go into Midtown office buildings and hotels and try to get to their private outdoor roof spaces, or don’t go explore the Amtrak tunnels under Riverside Park and look at all the Graffiti., but there is lots of fun almost legal things in the city always. But I’m going to focus on some broader stuff.

Go to Central Park and do nothing. It seems obvious, but Central Park is the best. Always new places to walk and explore, new weirdos to look at, good museums and food all around. But mostly just go there to waste a day. Or, you can spend the day looking for Flaco, the Central Park Zoo’s escaped Eurasian Owl, who is enormous and lives off rats in the north end of the park.
Take the Staten Island Ferry and then turn around right away. I’m not saying go to Staten Island, but that does happen. I just love the ride. Great views of the city and the statue of liberty, relaxing pace, they serve some snacks and drinks, and it’s free! So when you get there you just turn around and do it again.
Ride a bike down the west side of Manhattan. Riding a bike in the city is stressful as hell, but the west side as beautiful bike paths and pedestrian paths along the river from the top of the island to the bottom. And anytime you feel like it, just head East for food and civilization. The Hudson flows both ways, and every once in a while there is a seal or a whale in it. So you can be like me and spend all your time staring, hoping to see them. I never have.
Steal an animal from the Bronx Zoo. It’s a beautifully laid out space for just wandering. And you can see the rhinos, who are the fucking coolest. Probably don’t actually steal an animal.
Hang out in the Museum of Natural History like you like science. In a city full of great museums, it’s our best. If you’re an NYC resident you pay what you want and you can spend a whole day wandering in there. Bring headphones, listen to Godspeed You! Black Emperor while staring at dinosaur bones and feel weird.
Act like the Warriors and go to Coney Island. Coney Island kinda sucks, but in an awesome way. It’s dirty and gross and beautiful and cool. My favorite time to go is when the Brooklyn Cyclones are playing because you can take in a baseball game for super cheap and just leave and walk along the boardwalk. Perfect day.
Take the Tram to Roosevelt Island and go to the Small Pox Hospital. You get to ride the sketchiest and least efficient means of public transit. You get to see where Gwen Stacy died. And then you can walk along the water front until you get to the collapsing hospital that used to be the city’s Smallpox ward but is now abandoned. (Thanks vaccines!) You can’t go in to it, but you can see it through a fence and it’s still cool.
Take 5 minutes to see the Mmuseumm. The Safdie Brothers have set up a tiny museum that is visible 24 hours a day and can be fully explored in… a minute? 2 maybe. It’s weird and fun.
Go to Chinatown and Little Italy and eat a ton of good stuff. They’re next to each other. Make unholy combinations of Roast Pork Buns and Cannolis in your digestive system while you wander. And then you can walk up to the Lower East Side where they invented Punk Rock and bed bugs! And if you go during the Lunar New Year you get the best parade in the city.
Hang out with dead people in Green-Wood Cemetery. It’s the best cemetery for wandering, and you can go to the main entrance and watch the wild parrots that live there be weird. When you’re done walk over to Industry City for food and shopping.
Shop! Go to all the cool comic shops and record shops in the city. There aren’t as many as there used to be. But there are still a lot of great ones.
Go see a movie outside. One of the best cultural institutions in NYC is Rooftop Films. They show interesting, unique, and underground films in outdoor spaces all over the 5 boroughs. Their main festival is during the summer, but they have shows in the spring and fall sometimes too. Always with live music too. They are a cultural treasure.

For some random and fun stuff to do, Atlas Obscura always has some fun ideas.

And, as always, if you want to ask me questions you can leave a comment below or reply to this email and I will try to get to it.

Will this never end?

Chapter 146: New York Comic Con you say?

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