Day one was a long one. It’s my very first NYCC and it was one of the most overwhelming days I’ve ever experienced in my life (so far). There were so many people, so many things to look at, so many things to convince myself out of purchasing. New York Comic-Con is truly a test of mental fortitude. My back hurts, my legs are ready to fall off, and my brain has been reduced to goo — and I was still excited to do it through the weekend. While there was a lot to take in, I had an amazing day.

What I saw on the show floor

The show floor is where all the exhibitors are and where you can buy all your merch. As I’m sure you can imagine, this is a crazy place to be. I’ve never felt so much stress and happiness at the same time. Not only is this a great place to get hard-to-find items, but you also have the opportunity to check out small businesses that make custom merchandise based on the fandom you follow. From wood-etched art to custom lightsabers, you truly can find just about anything on the show floor.

Personally, I’ve found that going through comic book bins was my favorite thing to do. Not only do I love looking at cover art in general, but there’s something calming about going through each issue like I’m looking for something in a packed filing cabinet. I managed to get 10 back issues and picked out a lot of Wolverine and X-Men issues.

Apart from the merch, there was a huge Funko exhibit this year. Reservations for this exhibit sold out almost immediately when they dropped last week but there was a stand-by line that you could’ve waited in if you wanted to go in and try to snag some NYCC 2022 exclusives. I tried to get in line multiple times, but it stayed consistently busy for about 7-8 hours straight — cutting into my valuable panel attendance schedule.

In between my panel attendance, I would walk the show floor and hear people talking about how the most popular Funko Pop figure was the Anakin Skywalker figure and as an Anakin apologist, I kept trying to get in line over the weekend.

Other companies like Marvel, DC, Paramount, and Bandai had their own booths too. Many of these booths were experience-based and switched up the vibes if you needed a break from the constant shopping. The show floor was a landscape with what feels like endless possibilities.

The food and drink situation

This is my first time at NYCC so I don’t have much to compare this year to. However, I’ve been told that the food offerings haven’t been the best in the past. This year, they had food vendors on the show floor, a food court in the common area of the Javits Center, and a couple of little markets (one of them is a self-serve, self checkout market!) with basic beverages and snacks.

I knew I was going to be busy and I didn’t have much time to eat, but I did get a quick glance at what was on the show floor. There was Japanese curry, ramen, popcorn, Nuts 4 Nuts, Dippin’ Dots, and if I’m not mistaken — they even had bubble tea this year.

Panels, panels, panels

Everyone goes to these conventions for their own reasons. Some people go just for merch and art, others go for panels, and then there are people who take on all the stress and love it all! I love it all, but the panels reign over it all. Something about sitting in a room of people who are genuinely interested in the same thing as I am and we all just sit there and intently listen to the pros talk about their process and how much they just love what they do is a dream come true for me.

I started off on easy mode and went to 3 panels — Explore the DC Multiverse, HBO Max’s Velma (where I got to see a sneak peek of the upcoming animated series and hear the cast talk about their thoughts on their characters and the reboot in general), and Return to Wakanda: The World of Black Panther Beyond the Comics.

I’m a beginner when it comes to this kind of lifestyle so I was wiped out after it all, but I was on cloud nine. I got to learn about the future of DC Comics that doesn’t strictly revolve around widely popular characters like Batman and Superman, hear Mindy Kaling (along with Constance Wu, Sam Richardson, and Glenn Howerton) talk about what it means for them to take on the Mystery Inc. gang, and be in the presence of all the love that poured out from the authors of various Black Panther/Wakanda-centric books.

If you’re interested in the specifics, we’ll be publishing a round-up of the panel highlights soon.

For more recaps of big entertainment news, check out the D23 Expo recap.

Photo via Emojipedia