Contributed by collector and Overstreet Advisor Art Cloos
Photos by Alice Cloos

The first New York Comic Con (NYCC) took place on February 24-26, 2006, at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan. It was organized by ReedPop which originally specialized in professional trade shows rather than fan conventions. Expecting a modest turnout, they rented a single hall holding about 10,000 people but the attendance blew past expectations. Fire marshals had to temporarily lock down the main exhibition hall on Saturday because too many fans showed up.

Realizing the massive East Coast appetite for a major comic convention, ReedPop doubled their rented space at the Javits Center for 2007. Then came the move to October. The show was initially held in the winter/spring, however the convention shifted to October in 2010 and merged with the New York Anime Festival. Moving to autumn allowed ReedPop to sync up with major studio releases, fall TV premieres, and Halloween marketing, causing its popularity to skyrocket.

Now October and New York City have both become a big month and a big town for pop culture fans because of that move. This year NYCC celebrated its 20th anniversary on Thursday to Sunday, October 8-12 at the Javits Center in midtown Manhattan. This show attracts fans from across the country as far away as Hawaii and from around the world. By 2011, attendance crossed 130,000. By 2014, NYCC surpassed San Diego Comic-Con in total ticketed footprint to become North America’s largest pop culture convention. The massive success of the NYCC template allowed ReedPop to expand globally, taking over events like the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2), Emerald City Comic Con, and the official Star Wars Celebration. This year’s NYCC had upwards of 250,000 attendees at the Javits Center. Beyond the many collectors, there were professionals such as doctors, teachers, people from Wall Street, scientists and many other professions. As such NYCC is more than ever a massive economic engine for New York City and a cornerstone of global pop culture. The local network news shows ran features on it every day of the show.

There were over 600 exhibitors at the show. Comic dealers included Harley Yee, Metropolis Comics, Bullet Proof Comics Inc., Dave & Adam’s Card World, Gary Platt Comics, High Grade Comics, Reece’s Rare Comics, Royal Collectibles, St. Mark’s Comics, The Comic Mint, Toy & Comic Heaven, East Side Comics, Royal Collectibles, Toy & Comic Heaven, Dan Gallo, Very Gary Comics, and many more.

Comic art dealers were also well represented by Nostalgic Investments, Albert Moy Original Art, Animation Art Emporium, Anthony’s Comic Books, Original Art, and Collectibles, Scott Eder Gallery, Romitaman Original Art, Alex Ross Art, and others.

Auction houses set up at NYCC included Hake’s Auctions, Landry Pop Auctions, ComicConnect with Vincent Zurzolo and Micah Spivak, and ComicLink. Heritage accepted consignments for upcoming auctions and offered free verbal auction evaluations. Collectible storage supplies were supplied by Hot Flips.

Toys, both vintage and modern, were supplied by KnoWhere Toys Comic & Games, Lost 4 Toys, Absolute Comics & Statues, Toy Tokyo, Lionel Brands, Bandai Namco Toys & Collectibles America Inc., Bitz & Buttons, Galactic Toys, My First Comic, Toy Tokyo, and many more. CGC and PSA took submissions for comic books.

NYCC had panels in so many different categories with content spread across over eight panel rooms and two premier stages. They spanned every fandom one could think of including comics, TV, movies, toys, video games, cosplay, anime, and manga and the list goes on.

There was a very large turnout of creators including Al Milgrom, Amanda Conner, Agnes Garbowska, Amy Chu, Ariel Diaz, Arthur Adams, Cliff Chiang, Creees Lee, Erik Larsen, Fran Delgado, Frank Cho, Frank Miller, Jim Lee, Brian Azzarello, Todd McFarlane, and a whole lot more.

There was a strong lineup of celebrity guests at the show. The show’s media guests of honor were Hayden Christensen, Nicolas Cage, Rosario Dawson, and Sebastian Stan. Featured guests included Tom Welling, Michael Rosenbaum, Kristin Kreuk, Erica Durance, Tyler Hoechlin, Michael Cudlitz, Matthew Lillard, Skeet Ulrich, Melissa Benoist, Jamie Kennedy, Christian Slater, Idina Menzel, and many others.

Shaquille O’Neal made a special appearance on October 8 promoting his new comic book series created with Archie Comics, Shaquille O’Neal Presents… Vengeance Unchained: The Legend of Black Caesar. General reservation slots for this special signing filled up quickly and availability was limited.

NYCC always has a tremendous turnout of cosplayers and for 2026, Cosplay Central returned to provide assistance for cosplayers if they need it. Workshops, creators, community activities, and cosplay repair were available. In addition, there were fan-organized meetups, a massive Fallout-inspired photo set, and more places to capture the day. Silwen Cosplay won first place in the costume contest for her Giulletta cosplay.

The Family HQ provided an inclusive space where fans of all generations could connect, learn, and be entertained together. The area encouraged shared experiences that strengthen family bonds and ensured that events and media are accessible, safe, and enjoyable for everyone. It offered hands-on fun made for kids and their grown-ups. They could train like a Jedi, make art, build things, meet characters, explore comics, and enjoy interactive workshops, stories, science, and performances all weekend long.

The show featured dedicated professional development programming and curated panels tailored specifically for educators and librarians throughout the weekend. The programming was presented with the New York Public Library’s Center for Educators and Schools and the NYC Department of Education’s Civics for All Comics Group. Sessions focused on utilizing sequential art for teaching, addressing difficult history, incorporating civic education, and exploring graphic medicine.

NYCC offered a very large variety of exclusives. They included ones featuring my favorite character Batman from the Comic Mint and ComicXposure and my wife’s favorite character Wonder Woman from Wolfpak and Comic Inspiration. The exclusive list goes way beyond those two characters and the list is too long to post here.

The Harvey Awards, named for writer and artist Harvey Kurtzman, had their Hall of Fame 37th annual awards ceremony at NYCC. Hosted by Brad and Lisa Gullickson, the awards honored work across seven competitive categories and public/industry voting closed on August 28. The Harvey Awards Hall of Fame class was Frank Miller, Klaus Janson, David Mazzucchelli, and Jenette Kahn. Miller, Janson, and Kahn were at the Harvey Awards ceremony in person. In addition, Jerry Robinson, Dick Sprang, Carmine Infantino, Frank Robbins, Denny O’Neil, Dick Giordano, Jim Aparo, Marshall Rogers, and Tim Sale were posthumously inducted.

You never know who you are going to run into at this show. As Allie and I entered the con, I ran into a former student that I taught around 20 years ago. We caught up with another former student, Nurul Khuka, and chatted with Harley Yee at his booth. I was glad to see Frank Giella, one of my best friends and noted collector, and chatted with Dave Arnold at Bechara Maalouf’s comic art booth. I also met up with my friend Billy Kwack who I see at many shows, and noted collector Dale Cendali was there, and she joined us for dinner.

As we walked around the room, we were glad to see that there was a continued resurgence of major book publishers at this year’s show. They included Abrams, Penguin/Random House, IDW, Simon and Schuster, Tor/Macmillan, Barnes & Noble, and others all with freebies that they gave out to interested fans. This year DC’s Absolute Comics line was a hot topic for collectors and dealers, many of whom sold out of their copies, and there was a panel on the line. Marvel continues to dominate dealer walls, but DC and Golden Age publishers are increasingly available. Most dealers that I talked to reported good sales, and Allie and I contributed to those sales. Allie was seriously impressed with both the DC and Marvel booths, each of which had creator signings for all four days of the show. She spent a lot of time in Artist Alley getting autographs.

As Allie and I left NYCC for the last time in 2026 we were already talking about the 2027 edition of the show.

It is common for every major con to offer special hotel rates and NYCC offered a limited number of reduced rate hotel rooms. These were fairly close to the convention center.

In addition to the Javits food booths located around the dealer floor, there was a food court on the lower level with a nice variety of options, but attendees had to be prepared for long waits. There are multiple food carts outside and a vast amount of diners and restaurants in the area. On Thursday night, we celebrated with a group of collector friends at Mustang Harry’s.

Con badges for 2026 varied in price from single day admittance to four-day passes to a special VIP one. For kids ages 6-12 a Sunday kid’s badge was offered as well. For those driving to the show the Javits center does not have any parking but there are many car garages available around the show and lots of public transportation.

New York Comic Con will return in 2027 on Thursday through Sunday, October 7-10 at the Jacob Javits Convention Center located at 429 11th Ave, New York, New York. Updates are posted on the New York Comic Con website.