News: New York Comic Con 2010 An Attendance-Breaking Smash!

An Alien facehugger fan goes to work on a startled conventioneer at the Comic Con.

The 5th Annual New York Comic Con took over New York City’s Jacob Javitz Center this past weekend (Oct. 8-10) … and I mean took over! I attended the Con on Sunday and was completely bowled over by the hundreds of exhibitors who were on hand to display their wares, which included toys, T-shirts, videogames, DVD and Blu-ray discs, action figures and, of course, comic books.

But the number of exhibitors paled in comparison to the number of attendees, which came in at reportedly more than 100,000 (a colossal jump from last year’s recorded 77,000). And, as is the tradition, a significant number of those who attended were fully garbed in their favorite comic- and movie-inspired wardrobes. Dozens of Spider-Men, Wonder Women, Luke Skywalkers and Ms Marvels stalked the exhibition hall, snapping pictures and having pictures snapped of themselves by admirers. Of the costume contingent, I was most dazzled by a decidedly older-looking couple who were clad as the replicants Roy Batty and Pris of Blade Runner fame.

On the Blu-ray and DVD side, there were a number of anime suppliers on hand, hawking dozens of the latest manga serials and feature films. On the live-action front, studio suppliers were most strongly represented by Anchor Bay (Frozen, The Evil Dead series), Warner Archive (Pretty Maids all in a Row), and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, whose big title for the season is the Alien Anthology Limited Edition Blu-ray Collection.

Fox went all out for its Comic Con booth, just as it did for the San Diego Comic-Con in July. Featuring such swag as a cardboard Alien facehugger fan (pictured) and T-shirts emblazoned with the question “Want a Hug?,” the oversized booth was set up like the series’ spaceship cryogenic stations, wherein attendees could get into a pod and have a “suspended animation” experience involving clips and sounds from the movie series.

Check out this video on Fearnet.com that shows the whole shebang.

About Laurence

Founder and editor Laurence Lerman saw Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest when he was 13 years old and that’s all it took. He has been writing about film and video for more than a quarter of a century for magazines, anthologies, websites and most recently, Video Business magazine, where he served as the Reviews Editor for 15 years.