BY CHARLI BATTERSBY | The subway ride home from New York Comic Con (NYCC) is always an adventure. The 7 train leaves from Hudson Yards, half a block from the Javits Center. Most of the people who board the train there are coming straight from the con. I sat down on the subway bench in my metallic blue Fallout cosplay; my plastic shogun and bandolier of ammo were hidden in my bag for the ride home.

No one at NYCC would look twice at a sawed-off shotgun, but the 7 train would have a different crowd after a few stops. I looked relatively harmless next to the guy in the full Wolverine costume sitting next to me. His adamantium claws were hidden in his bag, but the armored X-Men uniform was still intimidating. Across from us, a Ghost Rider cosplayer sat in his demon biker costume; a huge gun with flames and skulls painted on it sat in his lap. A girl in a Sailor Moon costume was next to him. Several ninjas ran onto the train just before the doors closed. One stop away at Times Square, Wolverine and the ninjas transferred. Me and Ghost Rider got off at Sixth Avenue. Sailor Moon must live in Queens.

On the Downtown F train, me and Ghost Rider sat opposite each other. I had put a jacket on over my costume, but Ghost Rider sat there unashamed, flaming skull mask on his lap next to the shotgun. The further we got from the convention center, the more looks he got.

A woman sat next to me and complimented my outfit. Another woman in stylish clothes and uncomfortable shoes got on the train; she looked at Ghost Rider and the empty seat next to him, then decided to stand. Eventually a nice, middle-aged woman sat next to him and asked, “Did you have fun at Comic Con?” She had tickets for Saturday.

Before the pandemic, NYCC was growing bigger and bigger each year, taking over other venues on the West Side, and expanding as far east as Madison Square Garden. After the COVID lockdowns, it returned smaller, and thinner–but ravenous, like a bear coming out of hibernation.

Now, it hungers!

With 2024 attendance in excess of 200,000 over the course of its October 17-20 run (according to event producer ReedPop), NYCC has once agsin established itself as an unstoppable behemoth that will assuredly assimilate us all. Not just your kids and your nerdy uncle, but even the middle-aged aunt who reads “Romantasy” novels about ruggedly handsome warriors who romance beautiful sorceresses. And, yes, there was a “Coffee, Croissants, and Catching Feelings” event where fans could join these romance authors at a private separately ticketed brunch inside the Javits Center.

These private events were a new feature this year. Aside from the author brunch, there were cosplay workshops where participants could make costume pieces under the supervision of famous cosplayers. These events required a paid ticket in addition to the NYCC pass. The price included materials for constructing an item, like a set of animal ears.

The convention center was packed this year, even on the slower days. The lines for autographs and photo ops seemed to extend for an entire block beneath the main floor. Now that there is geeky content on every streaming service, there are more celebrities than ever. And fans formed rowdy hordes to get those photo ops and autographs.

At times the con was like a madhouse, even for a seasoned fan. A woman with a shopping bag walked past me with a human arm was poking out of her bag. Was this a promotion for the new reboot of Dexter? Who knows. Maybe she ripped off Hugh Jackman’s arm and was on the run from the police.

And what law enforcement agency was responsible for keeping the peace? The security guards at the center were wearing blue and gold uniforms, making them indistinguishable from Fallout vault dwellers. A woman wearing a uniform that read “Citadel Security” stood near the escalators, but I wasn’t sure if she was a Mass Effect cosplayer in a “C-Sec” outfit. A man in a Raccoon City PD uniform ran past me, chased by a pack of zombies.

No, the fans were policing themselves, and on good behavior. A swarm of square pegs who were happy to fit together with like-minded people in silly outfits, and form a conga line of Deadpools from a hundred different universes.

Amid the chaos was some seriousness. Every Thursday at the con there is content for librarians, educators, and people who work in the comics industry. Each year, ICv2 (“The Business of  Geek Culture”) holds Insider Talks—and this year, the news was good. According to ICv2 founder Milton Griepp, comic book sales soared during COVID, and those numbers have only slightly declined. The new customers who discovered comics during the pandemic liked what they found.

Each year the industry frets over some new technological fad or cultural trend. Three years ago, it was “How can Comic Con recover from the COVID lockdowns?” Before that the industry wondered if the glut of Marvel movies would push the movie industry into “Peak Geek” and consumers would stop caring about the latest superhero movie. But, no! The Marvel cinematic multiverse is still going strong, and Deadpool & Wolverine was this summer’s blockbuster movie. Their teamup graphic novel, Deadpool & Wolverine: WWIII, was one of the biggest selling print books this year as well.

The two big publishers are reprinting classic comics in a smaller format, for younger readers with good eyes and less shelf space. DC’s “Compact Comics” have been selling well. (And what comics fan doesn’t need another printing of Watchmen and Hush?) And one of Marvel’s announcements at this year’s NYCC was a new line of compact “Marvel Premier Collection” books which collect classic Marvel tales in a smaller size.

Print comics aren’t going anywhere. In our coverage of NYCC a few years ago, the new comics site, Webtoons, was beginning to gain popularity. Comics created for this distributor were written and drawn on the assumption that they would be viewed on a phone or tablet, and that readers would scroll through panel by panel.

Both of these new technologies seemed like a death sentence for print comics, but Webtoons had a booth at NYCC selling print editions of their comics. Volume after volume of trade paperbacks compiling the web comics for people who still love holding a book in their hands.

Much like Wolverine, and Deadpool, the New York Comic Con has a healing factor which renders it simply unkillable.

NYCC returns October 9-12, 2025

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