Day One.
Well I’m slightly late with this but what can I say, I am a terrible blogger, however as promised here is my rundown at NYCC this past October (Complete with photos!)
So, my saga begins earlier in the year, I applied to go to Comic Con as a Pro – not sure if I’d actually get it, but I DID! And the notification couldn’t have happened at a better time, let me tell you, it really did a lot for my self-esteem. That said, a few weeks later the lovely people at Reed Pop (who handle everything) sent out an email holding lotteries for some of the more popular events, of course I entered a bunch, not thinking I’d get any – because I NEVER win anything, but ya know what? I did win! Well one, but it was a fantastic panel win and that leads me to day one ….
Getting to NY was an adventure – not because of anything travel related, more because of my situation I had just started a new job 3 weeks before, but my boss was okay with it (as I let them know well in advance of them actually hiring me – I was NOT missing out LOL). There were no adventures in seeing a life-size Cap statue this year (See my adventures last year for that) or getting a chance to see one of my favorite actors in a play … but still fun was to be had.
We did two days this year, as my friend Charina and her two kids Solon and Stefi had only gotten 2 day passes – kind of bummed they did away with combo packs but it is what it is – we made the MOST of those 2 days. As far as plans went we only had one MUST DO on the list and that was getting to see Mark Hamill … and we did. After getting our chance to meet Carrie Fisher last year, this was a high priority for us – but alas that happened day 2.
Day one, we hit the convention floor like the pros we were – well not really, NYCC is a madhouse, but it is a GREAT madhouse filled with lovable people of all races and nationalities, it is a world unto its own where no matter who you are or what you look like, you are welcomed and loved. We managed to get into the Javits and I’m really not sure how to describe the feeling you get when you get inside there is an energy there that is overwhelming – in a good way. The big draw on the inside for me was the Justice League costumes – say what you will about the film (I really liked it and I am a Marvel fan), but the costumes are really nice.
Unlike last year, this year my main must meets weren’t television or movie celebrities (well minus Mr. Hamill, of course) they were comic book creators. High on my list was Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez (@MrEdgardoNYC) who is responsible for the comic book La Borinqueña which is about a Puerto Rican superheroine from New York. Comic Con was barely a month after Hurricane Maria and Mr. Miranda-Rodriguez was donating money to relief efforts in Puerto Rico, so I made it my mission to meet and purchase a comic book from him. He was also the designer of the artwork for the charity song that Lin Manuel Miranda wrote for Puerto Rico as well and because Mr. Miranda-Rodriguez was a producer for both comics, sitting beside him were the 2 other comic creators I wanted to meet: John Leguizamo (Okay so to be fair he IS a TV and Movie celebrity) and Darryl McDaniels (DMC of Run DMC fame). Unluckily for me they weren’t there at the time.
Next, we headed off to the autograph and photo floor. The only photo op we pre-purchased was with Mark Hamill and that wasn’t scheduled until day 2 so we did a quick walk-through. After seeing who was there we decided that we would get a photo with Jason Isaacs (Harry Potter Series, Star Trek Discovery, The Patriot and a whoooole other bunch of films) and I wanted to get an autograph from Ricky Whittle (Austenland, American Gods) who is going right up on my inspiration wall of my office. As we were ogling Ricky from afar (seriously there is no other word for what we were doing), Charina’s daughter Stefi realized that sitting beside him – with NO one on his line was actor, Pablo Schreiber (Orange is the New Black, Law & Order: SVU, American Gods) now notice I put a few of his credits here but upon first glance I had no idea who he was LOL. Stefi and Charina knew instantly as they are binging Law and Order: SVU and Stefi was absolutely GOBSMACKED that he was there so I paid for her to get an autograph and meet him, she’s such a good kid and such an innocent soul that I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see her blush. So off we went to meet him. It wasn’t until I saw some of his pictures that I realized I knew him from Orange is the New Black and we spent a nice chunk of time talking with him. What an INCREDIBLY sweet guy and very charming. We spoke for probably 10 to 15 minutes, until some other fans came onto the line. Then we jumped over to Ricky’s line and made the decision to purchase a photo op with Pablo – what can I say I was smitten. And even more so when we had the photo op and I realized he was TALL – 6’5!
He’s so TALL …. Pablo Schreiber
What can I say about Ricky Whittle – If you’ve seen Austenland, you’ll know why I wanted to meet him so badly, hey I’m a romance writer, it doesn’t take a lot to inspire me. However, besides being an awesome hugger who smells REALLY nice, he was awesome to talk to. I hadn’t seen American Gods unfortunately, but he got me to want to see it (I have since binged it and cannot wait for season 2). He was funny and what I noticed about him and Pablo was when you were speaking to them they gave each person their full attention as if they were the only people in the room. For the few minutes you were with them, no one else existed and that is quite
Ricky Whittle
impressive and says a lot about them as people. We spoke a little about the show and I told him that I was a writer of paranormal romance, he jokingly asked if my books were sexy and was a little surprised when I said hell yes! I really must start bringing books with me to give away LOL.After we parted ways we headed up to the main floor to look around and get some lunch before our photo ops with Pablo and Ricky.
I did get to meet one more celebrity – well a celebrity to my 80’s childhood, a lot of people nowadays would have no idea who he was. I got to meet Taimak who played “Bruce” Leroy Green in The Last Dragon. He looks great! And I snapped a pic and got an autograph too.
However, we were only biding our time because at the end of day one was when we got to go to the panel I had won entrance to … A recording of the Star Talk Radio podcast with Neil deGrasse Tyson and Adam Savage. It was an awesome panel – funny and informative, even if you’re not a science nerd (which I am not) I still had a great time. Neil deGrasse Tyson is awesome, that’s all I have to say about that!
That ends my first day at NYCC, I didn’t realize this post would be so long. Sorry about that, I’ll keep it more concise for Day 2 (well I’ll try).
Until Next Time,
- More
