Courtney Cohen, MS in Publishing Student

I was so excited about my first Comic Con experience that I couldn’t sleep. No, really, I woke up at 5:30 a.m. and was unable to contain myself. I took the 6:30 a.m. train to Grand Central, and then made my way over to the Javits Center, where I picked up my badge. I waited for two hours for the convention floor to open. While I waited, I spoke to other comic con-goers, learned about how far they had traveled to come to NYCC, and saw some incredible cosplays.  

When 10 a.m. hit, the convention floor was opened. I quickly made my way to the artist’s alley, where tons of artists sold their work. It felt like a maze trying to navigate through all the booths and people, but that didn’t deter me from my mission of going to one specific booth.  

As an avid Dungeons&Dragons player and watcher, I had to visit Cait May’s booth to convey my utmost gratitude and respect for their art. May is the character illustrator for Critical Role and Dimension20, which are my favorite D&D shows. I walked away after buying two keychains and getting a free badge ribbon.  The day flew by as I went around artist alley buying incredible art of my favorite superheroes and anime characters. Then as I was making my way to the exhibition floor, I ran into voice actor Robbie Daymond, who plays Tuxedo Mask in the English dub of Sailor Moon, my favorite anime! I was starstruck and could barely manage a few sentences. 

Afterwards, I attended the panel that my comics and graphic novels Professor, Paul Levitz, was participating in to talk about civic comics and how they help the community. It was fascinating learning all about the different comics and how they help educators and students alike. 

After the panel, I pursued the exhibition floor a bit longer, looking at all the publishing house booths and seeing some cool new titles. I called it a day not long after, having been at the convention for nearly eight hours. I will cherish the memories I made and the people I met at my first ever NYCC, and I hope I can go next year too!