NYCC 2023 Full Recap: Highlights, Regrets, and How to Prepare for New York Comic Con 2024 - The Short Box Podcast Ep. 406

 
[00:00:00] Intro music plays

[00:00:22] Badr:  Yoo, Short Box Nation. Surprise, surprise! Welcome back to the podcast, yet again. Two episodes in one week isn't something that we always do. You know, I can count on one hand how many times we've dropped two episodes in one week. But it's the week after New York Comic Con. I've still got things to talk about.

[00:00:40] Badr: I've got things to get off my chest. So I'm excited to be here again. All right. And I'm excited that you decided to tune in and press play this episode of 406. If you're new, welcome to the show. This is the short box podcast, the comic book talk show that brings you the best conversations about comic books and pop culture inspired by comics.

[00:00:58] Badr: My name is Badr and today I've got Chris Hacker, co host of the oblivion bar podcast back on the podcast to help me do an official New York comic con 2023 recap. Chris, how are you doing? How are you feeling?

[00:01:10] Chris: I am reeling right now. I'm slowly recovering. You know, if you remember back, oh God, yeah. If you remember back to our sort of preview, our anticipation episode in anticipation for New York Comic Con, I told you there's really no way to fully brace yourself for the beast that is New York Comic Con.

[00:01:29] Chris: And I thought when I said that, I was speaking to you and to the people. But I failed to realize that I also need to prepare and recover from it. And, uh, you know, a lot of friends, a lot of creators, you know, a lot of people around us, uh, are all kind of reeling,

[00:01:44] Badr: reeling, big time,

[00:01:46] Chris: reeling, suffering right now.

[00:01:47] Chris: I I'm one of them, but I'm very happy that I still did it.

[00:01:50] Badr: I think you either text, it was either in the text or in the last episode you were on. You mentioned, um, no, it was via text, you mentioned or made a joke that if you get five hours of sleep at New York Comic Con, then you're not doing it right. And I thought that was a little exaggerated.

[00:02:04] Badr: I'm like, I'm pretty good at like getting like, you know, a decent amount of sleep. Not at all. Not at all. I think, you know, maximum, I slept five hours, but on median, it was like three, four hours. You know, because, you know, I didn't quite factor in, like, the travel time, how tired I was going to be. And then also just, like, you know, being willing and ready to just go out at a moment's notice, you know?

[00:02:25] Badr: Yeah, it's, I feel like this whole week I've just been tired, and I'm slowly kind of getting back into the group of things. I miss the hell out of New York Comic Con, though. I'm like, I'm like, damn, I kinda wish I was back!

[00:02:35] Chris: We talked about how there you walk, you enter the state of New York and this giant cloud of FOMO immediately just covers over your head, regardless of whether you're at the convention or not.

[00:02:45] Chris: Like, obviously for us, it is due to New York Comic Con being at the Javits Center. But also the moment you step outside of Javits center, we're automatically texting our friends, people around us. What are we doing? What's the plan? What, you know, what's, what's the course of action for the rest of the night?

[00:03:01] Chris: So it's just FOMO on FOMO. And by the time that you finally figured out, and I can think of one very specific evening, Potter, where we got out of the convention center pretty late. And we were, we were pretty much on the upper East side at like 1130. Like it was late. I was tired already. I was ready to go to bed.

[00:03:15] Chris: We're karaoke at midnight and we got to

[00:03:18] Badr: get up the next day. That night, I was definitely like, what? This is not a very smart move, uh, you know, off the bat, you know, but you know what, man, you're New York, you know, when in Rome, why not? Why not? That's what we do. Okay, let me tell you, let's take a step back really quick.

[00:03:31] Badr: I want to address the listeners very, very, very quickly. If you're a new listener or a regular listener that doesn't happen to be a Patreon subscriber, I do want to go ahead and admit and maybe do a little shameless plug that I've already done kind of a mini recap of New York Comic Con so far, I did it with myself and Drew, we recorded a little quick little, uh, recap straight out of, straight out of the Airbnb, alright, nothing beats a good, you know, Airbnb podcast recording, uh, me and Drew recorded a, a mini recap after day two of the convention, um, that one is, is a lot of fun, a lot of raw emotions, like, you know, just kind of getting things off of our chest, off of our, you know, uh, minds of, of first impressions and such.

[00:04:11] Badr: It's Well, as

[00:04:11] Chris: I say, as a patron member, I can tell you, I listened to that recap and it is fun. It's very fun listening to yours. Andrew's kind of first reactions, you know, while you're in the middle of New York comic con, you guys are fully, you're full on just trying to, you're trying to recap it, but there's too much talk about it and you guys are bouncing back and forth about your different experiences, what you've seen.

[00:04:29] Chris: And that is fully, that's like a great encompassing thought on, you know, a first time New York comic con

[00:04:35] Badr: experience. Well said it's like it's like getting an assignment in school. It's like, okay, write a paper on World War Two And it's just got to be two pages. You're like what how do I encompass like all of that into this?

[00:04:46] Badr: It's sensory overload Yeah, it's a terrible analogy for the record. But yes to Chris's point We tried to take all of our emotions and initial thoughts and try to record an episode. It turned out really fun You know how episodes with Drew are. They're high energy You're gonna hear some of the wildest shit ever, but it's all honesty and a lot of heart So once again patreon.

[00:05:04] Badr: com slash the short box For that bonus episode and all of our bonus episodes. And really quick, speaking of paying bills, uh, cause this isn't a regular episode you won't hear from, from Ben, our good friend, Ben over at Gotham city limit, but I want to give him a big shout out to the, our incredible sponsor, Gotham city limit.

[00:05:21] Badr: Jacksonville's premiere and currently two time award winning comic shop. They just won two pretty big awards in like the last two weeks. They won a Best of 2023 Jacksonville award for being the best comic book store in Jaxx. And then a Best of Florida award for being the best specialty merchandise retailer.

[00:05:41] Badr: So, not only did they hold down an award for the city. But also the entire state of Florida, and I think that's pretty awesome. So big shoutouts to Ben, Jonathan, Ian, and the whole entire Gotham City Limit team. Now, with that being said, Chris, I wanted to, uh, I wanted this episode to kind of be a holistic Recap, right?

[00:06:00] Badr: So thinking about New York Comic Con in full, you know, it's we're recording on Thursday. So we've had about four days to hopefully decompress, recover, kind of let things sink in and whatnot. So I want to talk about highlights, maybe like regrets or mistakes, mainly more, more so on my part, right, as a first timer and a rookie.

[00:06:16] Badr: Um, maybe let's also talk about the best, uh, merch pickups and things like that. And then I want to give tips to maybe, uh, aspiring New York Comic Con first timers that want to go next year. So I want to try to cover all of that. But enough talking, let's dive right into it. Chris, this is like your, what, third, fourth, fifth time going to New York Comic

[00:06:35] Chris: Con?

[00:06:36] Chris: This is my, this was my

[00:06:36] Badr: fourth time. Yeah. Oh, wow. Oh, wow. Yeah. Okay. Wow. Well, give me like, how did this one compare to the previous ones? Like, what are some words that come to mind when you think about like this year's New York comic con?

[00:06:49] Chris: So this New York comic con may have been the very first one that I felt prepared for, you know, every, the first three, I would say, were times that I had multiple exclusives, multiple creators that I wanted to meet.

[00:07:02] Chris: And, and every time that I left those New York comic cons, I always felt like I had missed something. Even if it was something that I hadn't prepared for, I feel like there was something that I hadn't gotten to at some point. So I made a very distinct decision this time around to go in with absolutely zero expectations.

[00:07:17] Chris: And I know how tough that sounds for people who are listening to this for the, you know, listening to this and saying, I want to go to New York comic con at some point. I need to prepare somehow. I would say the best way to prepare is to keep your list short. And that's what I did this year. And I'm really happy about it because my main goal for New York comic con 2023 was to a meet a bunch of people, you know, we're going to get it to a year in just a bit butter, but this was our first time meeting and I, in person,

[00:07:41] Badr: at least right.

[00:07:42] Badr: I think when I first met you, I was like, you know, touching you, uh, maybe a little too much, like, wait, is this real? No, he's real. There's masks to him. Yeah. Oh, Siri. Sorry, Siri. I got to meet your Siri, too.

[00:07:52] Chris: You got to meet Siri, yeah. No, absolutely. And it's weird because, you know, we, we, gosh, now I'm getting yelled at everywhere.

[00:07:58] Chris: Um, when we first met... You know, I, you kind of represented exactly what I thought you were going to be, you know, tall, good looking, just kind of a big ball of energy. Right. Um, and I think even at one point you're like, look at you, you're, this is, you're right in front of me. This is crazy. You know? Um, and that's, that's exactly what I wanted to do.

[00:08:15] Chris: I want to finally put an actual face to these friends that I've had for such a long time. And that not only goes with podcasting friends, because we also got to meet Troy, who was a part of our panel and, uh, the dear watchers, of course. Yeah. Big shout out to Robin Guido.

[00:08:28] Badr: I was so happy to

[00:08:28] Chris: see them and then comics collective.

[00:08:30] Chris: We got to finally, well, I've already, I've known Dallas and crew for a long time, but good to always see them. Of course, comic book couples counseling. We'll talk about all these people here in just a bit, but that was my main goal, right? Uh, along with that, it was the creators. There were a bunch of creators and I didn't bring a lot of things to get signed or, uh, what have you, this was a time for me for the oblivion bar.

[00:08:51] Chris: I would say more so than anything to put a face with these people that I've either talked to on the show or want to talk to eventually. So I had, I had the great opportunity to be working with CSA comic sketch art, which is a. I would say probably the biggest comic book agency in, in the medium that we basically house these creators and set up their booths, uh, run their booths, sell their prints, their books, what have you.

[00:09:14] Chris: And what I would, what I was doing the entire weekend was I was running their whatnot shows. So I was hosting kind of acting like as a, as a moderator. Half auctioneer, half interviewer, you know, just a bunch of different roles. And this was maybe one of the coolest things I've done in my, in all of the conventions that I've gone to was interview just a multitude of creators that we can go over here in just a bit.

[00:09:34] Chris: I want to stop talking for a moment,

[00:09:35] Badr: but you probably need a quick breather, but I want to go ahead and say, uh, listeners, Chris had shared. His, you know, quotation mark work schedule, how you can call that, you know, obviously it is work because you were pretty busy, but when I seen the schedule and the lineup and the guests, I was like, yo, this would be the funnest work, right?

[00:09:53] Badr: Like, I think Jeff Johns was on that list. Uh, help me out here, Chris, who else was on that list?

[00:09:58] Chris: Okay. I can just go down the line here a little bit. So we got Jorge Fornes, you know, of course, artist of danger street, Rorschach with Tom King. We had Jean Ha, who was, this is my first time meeting him. He's obviously a famed cover artist.

[00:10:09] Chris: He's done a lot of great stuff. Wonder Woman Historia more recently. Uh, we had, I had. Three shows with Mirka and Dolfo, who is maybe one of my favorite people in the industry. She's got a lot of spice for everyone listening right now. If you've, if you've read sweet paprika or if you've read a lot of her red or seen a lot of her work, she is both a writer and artist.

[00:10:27] Chris: She's with the stillery. She does a lot of stuff with image, Marvel DC. She's everywhere. She's actually. In my opinion, one of the hardest working curators working today. Uh, she, and she's very Italian. So there's a language barrier, but she is so sweet and warm. It's, it's really honestly incredible. Uh, got to see Daniel Warren Johnson again, who I know, I think you missed during this convention.

[00:10:46] Badr: Me and C got to interview him like, uh, two or three weeks before the con, and he told us like, Hey, I won't be there official, I'm gonna be roaming. And I was like, oh, uh, you know, it's a three, four day convention, I'm bound to see you. Nope. Nope, not

[00:10:57] Chris: at all. You had to catch him. Aaron and I, we had, we actually brought a original pressing of the 1986 Transformers movie final.

[00:11:04] Chris: That was you guys? Yeah, we wanted to give it to him as a thank you for coming onto the show multiple times. And, uh, you know, Aaron and I, we've been very vocal about Daniel Warren Johnson while, uh, like we obviously both love him individually. He is probably our favorite creator collectively. You know, every time that there's a new title, that's something that Aaron and I bond over because Aaron is kind of relatively new in the industry or in the medium.

[00:11:26] Chris: So. Anytime I want to get him excited about the comic industry. I always try to direct him towards Daniel Warren Johnson and it works every single time. So we had to thank him and that's, you know, we, we caught him. And actually I was walking through artist Sally very quickly. And I walked back, walked past Felix comics, Felix comic arts booth.

[00:11:43] Chris: And solid Daniel was there signing. And I ran over to the CSA alley, grabbed Aaron, brought him back. And we took a photo with the vinyl and Daniel was of course, very grateful and gracious about that gift. So. I will tell you someone who I really want to put on your radar and every other people that are listening right now is radar Lucas Wernick.

[00:12:01] Chris: Are you familiar with Lucas and his work at all? No, no, I'm about to pull

[00:12:03] Badr: him up right now.

[00:12:04] Chris: Okay. As I say, this was someone who has been alluding my radar and I wasn't familiar, but I had Lucas on during a whatnot show. Wow. This is the next Adam Hughes, everybody. I'm telling you right now, if you can get any early.

[00:12:16] Chris: Oh, a, or any original covers from Lucas. He does a lot of X Men, a lot of pinups again. Think Adam Hughes. Think Mark Brooks. I definitely get some Mark, Mark Brooks. Yeah. I think Mark Brooks is definitely comparable, an incredible talent. I think he's actually a storm breaker for 2023 for Marvel. So he's one of that.

[00:12:35] Chris: He's one of those part of that class. Anyway, keep your eyes, eyes out for Lucas, truly an incredible talent. I'm thinking a top five cover artists in the next two to three years. It might be a praise. Um, speaking of Jeff Johns, I hosted a whatnot show with Jeff Johns and Brian Hitch, and then two days later I hosted another show with Jeff Johns and Gary Frank to promote their new connected universe called Ghost Machine.

[00:12:58] Chris: Are you familiar with this initiative at all through

[00:13:00] Badr: Image Comics? No, but I picked up, uh, the, the ash can for that. It's

[00:13:04] Chris: incredible. It's think of all of the greatest artists that Jeff Johns has worked with throughout his career. Jason Faye Bach, Brian Hitch, Gary Frank, uh, Peter Tomasi, uh, Frances Manupul, like there are multiple create Brad Anderson.

[00:13:17] Chris: These creators that Jeff Johns has kind of curated through his career. They've created some of the greatest. At some of the big two, Marvel and DC, he has brought over with him these, and these creators have put away two to three years of their careers to put into this ghost machine universe. You've got like Junkyard Joe, Geiger, who Geiger's

[00:13:35] Badr: already been out.

[00:13:36] Badr: Okay, so this is that, that connected universe or that universe there. Uh, okay. Yeah.

[00:13:40] Chris: And that, and that's why Jeff was there along with every other creator, every single creator that was doing the ghost machine stuff was there and you're a comic con and I had a chance to speak to again, Jeff. With Brian and then Jeff with Gary, both incredible interviews.

[00:13:53] Chris: And I want to kind of set the record straight, but if you don't mind, really quickly, I have heard slight rumblings about how Jeff Johns may or may not be slightly a monster based on some of the stuff that we've heard through, you know, Snyder verse and him working with Joss Whedon. I want to put it to bed right now for my view.

[00:14:12] Chris: And from my experience, Jeff Johns is one of the warmest, nicest creators I've ever met. Like bar none. Incredibly gracious with this time attentive cares about, you know, like listening, like you can tell when a creator is either just dead from the con or doesn't want anything really to do with the interview, even if they agree to it, they're like, man, I'll just kind of put in the bare minimum, not Jeff Johns, this guy.

[00:14:36] Chris: From my view is one of the nicest people that I've met at New York Comic Con. So I wanted to kind of just like put that out there in case anyone had any kind of like sort of middling opinions on Jeff Johns. Incredible. I really, I'm honestly, I'm very happy with my experience with

[00:14:52] Badr: both of those shows.

[00:14:53] Badr: That's good to hear because he's definitely one of my favorite. Writers and maybe a writer that's had maybe some of the most impact on me, especially like young and growing up and just starting collecting comic books, like his his O. G. Green Lantern run, like the very first one was like pretty pivotal when I first started clicking.

[00:15:08] Badr: So it's nice to hear that if I was to meet him, you know, it wouldn't be that a case of that phrase of, you know, you don't ever want to meet your heroes. And if I could

[00:15:15] Chris: highlight one more event from this from kind of like my day. Quote, like you said, quote, unquote, working was on Friday night. I was actually part of, I, well, I was so I'm, and I'm, I'm putting in quotations, everybody that can't see me.

[00:15:29] Chris: I solo hosted an after hours, whatnot party with Mark Brooks, Frank Cho and Ryan Otley.

[00:15:37] Badr: That is an insane trio, by the way, because they were just doing like sketching the whole night. Right. They were like, based, I have like a jam session.

[00:15:42] Chris: They were essentially selling these mystery boxes that comic sketch art was putting together, which came with like five single issues and then, and then every once in a while you would get a winner.

[00:15:51] Chris: And if you got a winner, you would either get a CGC comic. It was a, it was like a signature series, 9. 8. You would get a, a one of one print, like a G clay, or you would get original piece of art, which Frank Cho of all of those three creators, the one that had the best piece of all of them, the best winner was this giant.

[00:16:09] Chris: And when I say giant, I'm saying like. Uh, two by four size, original Thor, like a 19, like a silver age Thor that he drew. It was, I mean, it had to have been like a four or 5, 000 original piece of original art. Wow. And no one won it actually at New York comic con, but had someone won it, it would have been incredible.

[00:16:29] Chris: Um, and, and I liked how you said witnessed that happened. Cause that's exactly what I did. Like I was hosting it quote unquote, but if you've ever met any or all three of those creators, you are not, you are. Immediately the beta when you're around those creators, because they are all alphas and they are all like loud.

[00:16:48] Chris: And like in the best way possible, of course, I love all three of those creators, Pacific, specifically Mark Brooks. Mark Brooks is one of the coolest guys you can meet in the industry. You know, Ryan Ali and Frank Joe, both are great as well, but Mark is such a warm presence. If you ever get a chance to meet him, any of these cons and those three together, it's like.

[00:17:05] Chris: Oil and fire. If you were planning on having like a normal night, not around those guys, if they start drinking and they're drawing, it is insanity. And it was so much fun. It's honestly, it's a core memory for me for the rest of my life,

[00:17:16] Badr: being able to be part of that. That is so cool. Cause I'm glad that your experience was like fun yet professional too, you know, like getting to be in those circles and whatnot, that's, that's all.

[00:17:24] Badr: I

[00:17:24] Chris: feel like I just like name dropped. Like 30 minutes. I'm sorry, everybody. I hate, I hate that. I did that, but I had to, I had to put in a context. Why my show is so great.

[00:17:31] Badr: If you're going to, um, and not only that, but you also made the comic sketch art marketing team. Very happy, you know, sure.

[00:17:37] Chris: Yes. Comic sketch art.

[00:17:38] Chris: Uh, this show is brought to you by comic sketch art. Your number one place for talent in the comic industry. That's

[00:17:43] Badr: awesome. All right. Well, I want to share a couple of, um, I'm going to respond. I'm a rebuttal of some of that. I guess respond to some of that with some of my notable first meetings and observations.

[00:17:52] Badr: I'll serve a notable first meetings. And I'm going to go ahead and apologize, you know, if I miss any names. Because the amount of people, you know, I got to meet for the first time was, was overwhelming in the best way possible. So I do apologize if I miss any names, um, outside of the ones that Chris shared.

[00:18:06] Badr: You know, obviously I got to meet comic book couples, counseling for the first time, Troy Jeffery Allen. And I say for the first time, and it feels weird saying that because I've talked to all of you, you know, via, you know, a, you know, a chat, I text with you every day. Um, you know, I, I'm in the comic book podcast.

[00:18:22] Badr: You know, uh, messaging group online. I've had Troy on the show three times. So it's weird being like, Oh, I've met them. For the first time and it's like, well, I kind of know them, you know, but first time meetings, you know, you, Aaron, Convo Couples Counseling, Troy, uh, I also got to meet Kevin Rotatelli from Massive Publishing for the first time.

[00:18:39] Badr: I had him on the show in January, so I got to meet the Massive Publishing folks. I got to meet Heidi McDonald from Comics Beat, legendary, uh, comic journalist. Got to meet David Harper. In person for the first time. Yeah, that was,

[00:18:50] Chris: I have to tell you, I actually ran into David. I didn't get a chance, a chance to meet him when you did or meet him in person.

[00:18:56] Chris: Of course we've, I've talked to him on the show on my show as well. Uh, but he mentioned by name, like he did. I don't think he even knew that we were friends necessarily, but he was like, yeah, I met up with this guy named Potter. I was like, I know. Potter. Yeah. We hung out. We hung out last night. We were karaoke last night.

[00:19:09] Chris: I just, some guy, he's my buddy. Yeah, exactly. But David's cool. And he's a lot taller than I thought it would be. Oh,

[00:19:14] Badr: yeah. Yeah. I was like, that's just why you like basketball so much. Because you might as well be a basketball player. But, you know, meeting Brad and Lisa from Combo Couples, Rob and Guido from Dear Watchers, you know, like meeting my podcast friends, but also meeting like Juan Gideon for the first time in person.

[00:19:29] Badr: And then re meeting, like, I've met Sanford Green. He did a show here in Jax a couple of years ago. But just like reintroducing myself. Um, and then seeing like And these are folks I didn't get to personally meet, but just like seeing these, uh, you know, these, these creators and these artists that I've, you know, like, championed and, and admired for a long time, like Dan Mora and Jorge Jimenez, who I'm convinced, by the way, Jorge Jimenez is the best looking comic artist in the game.

[00:19:56] Badr: He, he's a

[00:19:56] Chris: model. He was the best looking guy at Javits that weekend, by far. It wasn't even close. The dude is a freaking unit.

[00:20:01] Badr: You know, he is, uh, I think I made this joke on the Patreon episode, but I'm going to, recycle it here. He is a model that happens to draw comics, you know, like he's a male model that happens to draw comics really well.

[00:20:12] Badr: Um, but you know, he needs his

[00:20:14] Chris: model for Superman. He just

[00:20:15] Badr: looks like flex boom. That's what a bicep looks like. So, uh, and me and Drew started playing a game. I think, like, it was the first day when we, you know, went down to Artist Alley. We started playing a game because we were like, Holy shit, Dan Moore is here.

[00:20:30] Badr: Oh my god, Jorge Jimenez. Oh my god, Adam Hughes is here. We started playing a game of like, alright, name an artist and see if we can find him here. Dude, we stopped playing after like five, 10 minutes. Cause it was just, it was like unfair. It was like, all right, uh, Eddie borrows. Yeah. We haven't seen Eddie, but what's Eddie borrows doing nowadays?

[00:20:43] Badr: Now he's right here. You know what I'm saying? It was insane. Like

[00:20:47] Chris: I admit, I think I might've warned you before we went to the New York comic and I was like, our artist alley in your comic con is the who's who like 400 plus of just the top. I mean, it's, you're missing some of the West coasters, but any from anyone from the Midwest, the East coast and otherwise in the world are at New York.

[00:21:06] Badr: Well said. Yeah, the amount of, like, South American representation and artists that were there, it was, it was pretty impressive to like, be like, oh, wow, this isn't just the East Coast thing or, you know, regional thing. This is like, this is like the Mount Olympus of, of comic book conventions. Like, this is a who's who.

[00:21:23] Badr: Like, people are flying into New York Comic Con to be involved, to be there. And one of the coolest moments, um, that didn't involve me at all, but it was, I walked by Adam Hughes table and Jorge was like, oh, wow, looking over him drawing or and they were like talking and and if I'm not mistaken I believe Jorge is like English is obviously not his first language but they were having a really good conversation and like I could tell the admiration that Jorge had for Adam you know what I'm saying it's like those little moments of like old school meets and I say old school full respect like legend old school meets like new school and them having respect um I'm kind of bummed I miss Jim you I wasn't going to get anything signed or, or, you know, pay for anything.

[00:22:04] Badr: I just wanted to at least shake his hand and meet him and I miss Jim Lee, but I did see Jim Lee posts that, you know, he, he posted like a, a couple of photos of meeting, like, you know, quote unquote, new school artists. He had a picture of Dan Mora, Jorge Jimenez, um, a few others that are like kind of carrying the torch and the fact that he gave them credit, you know, I think his post was something to the effect of like, you know, comic books are in good hand DC's and in great hands of these artists.

[00:22:28] Badr: So you know what I'm saying? Like seeing the camaraderie there at, you know, at these, at this level was really heartwarming and like, you know, impressive. Um, that's what I'll say on that observation wise. I've just got a few, I'm just going to list off what I got here. Uh, I already said that you aren't playing around about the five hours a day type of sleep.

[00:22:45] Badr: You are absolutely right. You're kind of just going like on adrenaline and for me, very cheap coffee. That's

[00:22:55] Chris: what I was about all you're getting. I, 6 30 a. m. I was, I mean, even on the days that we were up till one in the morning karaoke ing, I was still ready to go. I, and I was excited by it.

[00:23:04] Badr: I think it helps that it's in New York because there's And maybe it's just, you know, anecdotally and me speaking, but any morning that I did wake up groggy and maybe like, man, I just would rather just kind of like chill, you know, just chill.

[00:23:16] Badr: As soon as I would get off the subway, or in my case, I had to take a train from Boken to Manhattan and, you know, get off there. But as soon as I got off the bus, I'm sorry, the bus. And just I stepped foot, you know, that fucking New York, you know, as soon as you step foot and you're, you know, part of like this sea of people, you know, I'm excited.

[00:23:33] Badr: And the minute I crossed the threshold into the job at center, it was like, this is so cool to be here. I was like really blessed. I was staying off

[00:23:40] Chris: 34th in Hell's Kitchen and you hear the horns blaring and the people talking from about 4. 30 AM on. Shut

[00:23:49] Badr: up about that. Did y'all sleep? Alright, what

[00:23:51] Chris: else did I get?

[00:23:52] Chris: That probably had something to do with it too. A little, little New York

[00:23:54] Badr: white noise. Yeah. Alright, uh, some other observations. Uh, New York Comic Con made the comic community feel smaller. And, and not in, in size. Cause obviously it is the most people I've ever seen in one roof. But I'm saying that it made it just feel closer.

[00:24:08] Badr: Especially as like, uh, as a professional too. As someone that, you know, uh, I feel like I, I have a stamp in this industry. I've got, you know, some, some sway or whatnot. It made, I don't know, it made everyone just feel like one degree less separated. You know what I'm saying? Like they were all, the top dogs are here.

[00:24:23] Badr: And I happen to be here, and I've got a press badge, and I can go into certain panels. And, you know, everyone's very approachable. And, for the most part, I didn't feel like there was, I didn't run into any ego. Um, so it, it made it feel, the comic industry just, just closer. A little more like, uh, I don't know, like smaller.

[00:24:38] Badr: You know, like more within grasp. Yeah, I think

[00:24:41] Chris: both New York and San Diego do a great job of that of bringing in all of the some of, I would say most of the best talent in the industry and humanizing them in a way. I mean, you're going to get 1 point. I, I hadn't got to meet chips at our ski yet. And I was, you know, I've heard stories about how he's very silly and just kind of like down to earth, but.

[00:25:00] Chris: These are stories from back in his sex criminals days, you know, he's been, he's written daredevil and Batman since then. So I was like, maybe he just won't have time for it. Maybe he's, maybe the reason why he wasn't going to these conventions is because he was sick of it. Not at all. He was absolutely wonderful and very warm with everyone that I saw him talk to.

[00:25:16] Chris: And you know, it always is. It's always a fun reminder to think, yeah, these are just really talented nerds. That's all it is. They're just really talented nerds, you know, and I'm very, like you said, very, very few, I would say 99. 9 percent of the time, they are always a, it's always a great experience is always that 0.

[00:25:33] Chris: 1 percent where sometimes it's maybe slightly, you're like, ah, they're either tired or they don't like me wanting to, but that is like very,

[00:25:40] Badr: very, very rare. You said that this con humanized some of the creators and. I totally agree. It also put a face to a lot of like artists and people, you know, like, you know, there isn't like a profile picture of these writers and artists in the books themselves, which I think it might be like a, would be something kind of cool to see more, um, done, but you know, putting a face to certain people and actually, you know what I'm saying?

[00:26:00] Badr: Like getting to see them in their element and to your point, just realizing like, oh, they're just, you know, they're just like me. They love comics as much as I do. They just happen to be very talented. Um, I think that is, that perspective was really nice to walk away from. Um, I've also got, yeah. There was always a new corner or section to be discovered.

[00:26:17] Badr: It was like, me and Drew would start the day together and then obviously go do our own thing. And then when we'd link up towards the end of the day, you know, like on one or two days, I hadn't seen him the whole con. And it's like, Hey, you know, it's time to bounce. Meet me here. We'll catch the bus together.

[00:26:29] Badr: And he'd come up and I'd be like, yeah, I went to here. Yeah, I was in this section. And he was like, yo, where's that at? Or he'd be like, yo, did you see the, this, the, the Gundam display here? And it's like, wait, Gundam is here. He's like, yeah, they're right over there. You know what I'm saying? It's like. We always had different stories or different corners that we found and it's like, Oh, you got to come to this booth right here because they've got this.

[00:26:48] Badr: And it's like, wait, how did I miss that? I was walking up and down. Like there was always something new to discover. I think this is somewhere

[00:26:54] Chris: where you're going to have to take over because I could not leave Artist Alley the entire weekend. I was stuck in Artist Alley, which I'm not complaining. It was awesome.

[00:27:01] Chris: I loved Artist Alley. I got to the Exhibitor Hall maybe a couple of times, but it was mostly for like grabbing a thing and then going back down to Artist Alley. But like, I, I would be very curious to hear your thoughts on kind of the exhibit hall, which I'm sure we'll get into here in just a moment. But yeah, I mean, I was stuck in artist alley basically

[00:27:15] Badr: the entire time.

[00:27:16] Badr: I was most impressed by how many big brands and companies were there. And not just talking, you know, comic books, but like, it felt like every single manga. Uh, uh, app company and, and, you know, anime was, was also heavily represented, like the amount of, of those, of that side of like pop culture and nerd culture was there, but also like the, the size of the booths, the complexity of, of the, uh, the setups, um, was really impressive.

[00:27:43] Badr: I go to a lot of conventions. Um, and she goes to a lot of logistics and trucking conventions and they do a big man, like the booths that you see there, like they, I've literally seen like giant Mac trucks on the convention floor. I've seen like robots, you know, for warehouses on convention floor. So, you know, when I go to her, her shows, it's like, you know, I'm going to see like some major technology and a lot of money.

[00:28:05] Badr: This one was probably, It's by far the biggest convention I've been to, and to see it done to that level left me like with my jaw dropped, you know, like to go to the Marvel activation and they're promoting Spider Man 4 and you get, you know, they got the life size statues of Miles and Peter, or you go to the Shonen Jump, uh, section, I believe it was the Shonen Jump section, and they've got like Original manga art, but it's the reproduction.

[00:28:29] Badr: But they've got, like, it set up really well. They've got, like, these photo areas. It was really And the giant Goku. Oh my pfft, come on. Ha ha ha ha. Life size it's not even the right word. It's like, skyscraper sized Goku, right? Yeah. Skyscraper sized Piccolo. A massive Luffy. You know what I'm saying? It the spectacle and scale was so big.

[00:28:49] Badr: And just impressive, man. It really had my jaw, you know, on the floor. And as someone that works in marketing, That is stuff that I pay attention to. We do a lot of activations at my work. So to see like, Oh, wow, this is a marriage of like, you know, what I do at work, but also my passion and to see, like, there is a, uh, a middle ground and, you know, it was really awesome.

[00:29:06] Badr: The main exhibit floor left me very impressed. And that main

[00:29:10] Chris: exhibitor floor, it's that version. What you just witnessed at your comic con is only really at New York and San Diego. You know, you even go to like C2E2. I've been to C2E2 a couple of times in Chicago. They don't really go all out like that.

[00:29:24] Chris: You know, it's again, it's mostly just New York and San Diego. So, uh, you know, for what we're talking about here and we don't, I'm not, I hope I'm not coming across as gatekeeper here, but if you want to experience that, you really honestly do have to go to New York or San

[00:29:35] Badr: Diego for that experience. I'm not saying I've been to a ton of cons or, you know, a lot of different ones.

[00:29:40] Badr: I've, you know, MegaCon is probably, prior to this, been the biggest one I've been to. HeroesCon is obviously one of my favorites because of how, uh, the scale and, and, uh, how close, you know, everyone feels. This was kind of like an amalgam of both, like the scale of MegaCon with the celebrity aspect, the big names, the big draws, meets HeroesCon where it's like about the spotlight on comic books, on the artists, and every artist feels like, you know, their family.

[00:30:05] Badr: This was like, New York Comic Con was both of those things mashed together. HeroesCon, to me, always feels like the family barbecue. You know, everyone's family, everyone's friends, you know, most of them are there just to catch up. Um, and obviously, you know, do business, but New York Comic Con was like best of both worlds spectacle and, um, you know, just this, the people, so I've got actually, which that was my next point, uh, every artist comic artists imaginable was there.

[00:30:29] Badr: And for me personally, it was like the Mecca. Of two things I really love. The fact that, like, comic books and hip hop were there at the same time. For me, I, dude, I was smiling. The best thing I did all weekend was go to a hip hop and comic book panel. That starred, uh, that had Sanford Green on the panel, Bill Sienkiewicz.

[00:30:46] Badr: I wanna say it was Dennis Cohen, I could be, I could be wrong. But, uh, DMC from Run DMC was there and it was hosted by like someone that I really respect, uh, and, and, you know, admire his work, Rob Markman, who is a hip hop journalist and he hosts a lot of hip hop podcasts, uh, on Amazon right now. So like, you know what I'm saying?

[00:31:03] Badr: It was like an amalgam of these two worlds that I live in and love a lot. And sitting in that panel, I had a moment where I looked around and it was full, you know, standing room only. And I'm like, I am in a panel. Hearing about comic books and, you know, the intersection of hip hop, I'm in heaven. I remember saying, I kind of said that under my breath.

[00:31:21] Badr: I was like, I'm in heaven right now. This is the best shit in the entire fucking world. And I missed the Kid Cudi panel. I missed another panel that had a bunch of, like, rappers I wanted to go see. I'm like, there's, there's no way you can do everything. And you were saying about that cloud of FOMO.

[00:31:36] Chris: Yeah.

[00:31:36] Chris: When I want to kind of, I want to preach a little bit what you were saying. You were, so you. We talked about the recap you, you and Drew did over on Patreon. You talk about this panel a little bit more in depth during that episode. And what I found really interesting was the inclusion of Bill Sienkiewicz, who I think we all love, but like what, why, when I first heard that, I was like, Bill Sienkiewicz, why is this, you know, let's be honest, this older statesman white dude in a hip hop panel, not to say that, that, you know, there's anything wrong with that, but like.

[00:32:03] Chris: Your explanation, I'd love to hear, you know, I'd love to tell the people about it.

[00:32:06] Badr: If you're in the know, Bilsankiewicz, you notice that Bilsankiewicz has done, uh, hip hop art covers before. I believe, like, the most famous, and it's kind of hard to say most famous because some people could easily make an argument for other things, but, like, he did the, he did an album cover for OutKast, and, um, you know, even if you look at his stuff now, he'll do portraits, um, you know, anytime, unfortunately, there's, like, a passing of, like, a pop culture icon, he'll do, like, You know, throw up a, uh, a portrait on Twitter.

[00:32:31] Badr: So you already know that he's kind of tapped into like pop culture in general, but. Even I learned a lot of different stuff about work that he's done and his appreciation for hip hop. Like he was talking about, like, you know, he was a punk guy. He was a punk. He was really into the punk scene in New York, uh, when he was starting out.

[00:32:48] Badr: And there's a lot of ties between punk, the punk scene and early hip hop. So it made a lot of sense to me, but. They were showing a slideshow of his work and different album covers that I hadn't even, you know, recognized or knew that he did. And, you know, like to see Sanford Green give him props and like be equally impressed.

[00:33:05] Badr: And I had a chance to go to Sanford Green after the panel and I was like, dude, great panel. Like, did you know all that about Bill Sienkiewicz? And, uh, he was like, dude, I ain't gonna lie to you. When I first, found out it was him. I was like, no way, you know, he had the same kind of attitude. He's like, no way.

[00:33:18] Badr: But he, he, he kind of backed it up to that. Bilson coverage is genuinely like a supporter and fan and like a comrade when it comes to, uh, hip hop culture. So, uh, that was awesome. And then also like DMC for run DMC, you know, like I got a picture of them. It was like, I was like, I cannot believe I'm, I'm doing this, you know, I'm here and I'm, I'm in New York.

[00:33:37] Badr: At a comic convention, and I'm enjoying, like, you know, this other, uh, medium that I, I love a lot. So. Yeah. That was one of the things I've done, and I'm Sounds like you're heaven. Oh, dude, I was, I was. So let's go ahead and move into highlights because I think that's a good segue into highlights because I got three more that also like just kind of wowed me but I want to hear your, your highlights outside of like comic sketch artists and doing the work.

[00:33:58] Badr: What are some of the highlights that come to mind? Well, I

[00:34:01] Chris: think it would be incorrect to not just start off with the biggest highlight which was our panel on Saturday. Are we going to get to that eventually or should I just go ahead and say it? We're here right now. All right. All right. So here we are.

[00:34:12] Chris: So Saturday evening, the Oblivion Bar podcast, Aaron and I. Short box, you and drew, we had the combo couples, counseling, Brad and Lisa. We had Rex go comics with Troy. We all got together and we did a panel about comic book podcasting. And this is something that we had been kind of building towards for a long time.

[00:34:30] Chris: And I want to kind of briefly just give you major props right off the top bar. This was 110 percent you're doing. I know we kind of talked about how we were going to go about doing it, but you were the one who filled out the application. You're the one who knew people. You're the one who got us in there.

[00:34:42] Chris: So first of all, thank you very much for including us and. Yeah. I mean, it was great. And you did a great job hosting. I think it went about as good as it could have been. Cause when I was thinking about kind of the lead up to it, I remember thinking, I just really, really hope we're not just talking to an empty room.

[00:34:58] Chris: You know, that's like, that was my number one thing was like, please let there be more than like four people. And we had a big crowd. I mean, not that people were necessarily showing up for us, but there was a large group, a large room of, you know, what would you say, maybe like 75 to a hundred people there?

[00:35:14] Badr: Easy. Yeah. Yeah. You know, we're all of them there to see us or there to enjoy like the table, you know, a break from being on their feet. Who knows? Who's to say? Who knows? We don't know. Regardless, they were exposed. All right. They were, they were exposed to our panel willingly or not willingly. And they were

[00:35:28] Chris: participating.

[00:35:29] Chris: They were clapping. They were, you know, laughing. Like, it was fun. It was a lot of fun. And I'd say that it was by far the highlight for me in terms of New York

[00:35:38] Badr: Comic Con. No secret here. I dropped the, uh, the audio from the panel for this week's episode on Wednesday. Um, I'd be curious if you are a brand new listener to the, to the short box.

[00:35:48] Badr: Uh, if, you know, if you were someone at that panel that, you know, you hopped on the short box, uh, train after that, let me know if, if this is your like, you know, first introduction, thanks to that panel. I'd be curious how many folks. Went ahead and started following the show because of that. But regardless, I do appreciate anyone that they gave, uh, the panel a listen.

[00:36:04] Badr: Well, and

[00:36:04] Chris: also one of the other coolest things about it was after the panel, once it was done, we had a, we had like a bum rush of people that were listening. Yeah, that was

[00:36:11] Badr: pretty cool. Yeah, I do think that was pretty

[00:36:13] Chris: cool. We're handing out stickers and giving advice. Like I'll tell you, here's one of the coolest experiences that I had in all of New York comic con.

[00:36:20] Chris: I, I have two more, I have two very cool experiences. Then I'll shut up. Uh, number one was, One of the very first people that approached us after the panel was this guy who came up and he had this like little, it must've been like a beanie baby or something. And at one point, Aaron embarrassed me. He it's from a place of love, but he embarrassed me by telling everyone that I had cancer earlier this year.

[00:36:39] Chris: And I had something I didn't want to really highlight. Cause I don't, you know, that's not my personality. You know, I don't, I I'm a very like, I'm a Leo, you know, I was born in August. I I'm a very like in your face. I'm not afraid to be a little arrogant sometimes, but the last thing that I want people to attach me to is cancer.

[00:36:54] Chris: So. Uh, when Aaron said that, you know, of course I knew Aaron was just trying to highlight that we got, we did the podcast through all that a gentleman came up to me after the, after the panel and said, Hey, I just lost someone from cancer and I want, I want you to like hold this thing that was theirs. And kind of, and then we talked about it, we talked about it for like 10 minutes.

[00:37:15] Chris: He took a photo of me with this little thing that used to be this person that they loved who just passed away. And that was like a totally incredible moment for me. You know, like, I think it had less to do with the podcasting than anything, but just the fact that we had any type of visceral, that may have been butter possibly the first, like visceral experience that I've gotten from someone face to face via the podcast, you know, we've been doing the podcast for four years, almost so.

[00:37:39] Chris: Uh, that was a very cool experience. And, uh, I will say just very quickly, a couple of hours before the panel, I got to meet Chris Evans. That's all I'll say. It was very cool. It was a 10 second, nothing experience, like nothing meeting. It was just, Hey, how are you? Arm around each other. Take the photo, walk away.

[00:37:55] Chris: That's all it was, but it was still very cool.

[00:37:57] Badr: Yeah. You were in his aura, man. You weren't, you weren't Captain America's aura, you know, and his bubble.

[00:38:01] Chris: If you've ever done any of these photo ops at these conventions, specifically the celebrity photo ops, they are very like a factory. It's a factory, dude.

[00:38:10] Chris: It's a total human list. Emotionless experience until you get to be right there in front of the person. You're like, you're, I have my arm around Chris Evans. And by the time that I can like fully realize it and soak it in, I'm already walking away. And it was, and he was great. This is nothing against Chris because I've, and I told you and Brad, this, After the fact totally warm, like you can totally ruin someone's perspective of you in those 10 seconds, but he totally didn't like he was so warm and he saw my shirt.

[00:38:37] Chris: I had this like Taylor Swift homage, Chris Evans, uh, era's tour t shirt on and he like noticed it immediately and was so excited by it and he put his arm around me and he smelled like bourbon must like, he just like, it was like, he just like, he was everything you could imagine. Chris Evans would be. And.

[00:38:55] Chris: And again, by the time I could like fully appreciate it and wipe the smile off my face and let my face not be red anymore, I was walking away and I was going through the curtain, picking up my, my, you know, my, my, uh, picture that they, they had for me. So there's really not a lot to analyze there. Chris Evans is a very good looking, warm guy.

[00:39:12] Chris: That, that's what you can take from it. You know, that's about it. That's

[00:39:15] Badr: about it. So you just double down on what I already think.

[00:39:18] Chris: Exactly. Your opinion on Chris Evans is validated. Everybody, you know, this, I know this. Let's,

[00:39:22] Badr: let's move on. Thank you, Chris, for paying that price to verify that.

[00:39:25] Chris: I will gladly pay the 350 to reaffirm that for everybody.

[00:39:29] Badr: All right. Some of my highlights. I already mentioned hip hop panel is like at the very top of it. I went to an Avenger celebration panel that was hosted by, uh, Ryan Penagos. I think that's how you say his last name, AKA Agent M. He's like the face of Uh, Marvel's kind of digital, you know, uh, podcasts and, and shows.

[00:39:46] Badr: He's a good, really good guy. I've had him on the show a couple of years ago, but he was hosting it. There was Jed McKay, you know, current writer of damn near every Marvel title. You might as well say writing Moon Knight, Avengers. Uh, there's a third one, Doctor Strange. Yeah, he was on there. Al Ewing was also, uh, on this panel.

[00:40:03] Badr: He was there to talk about Immortal Thor. You had, uh, the greatest mind in comics

[00:40:07] Chris: currently. No big

[00:40:09] Badr: deal. You had the editors. You had two editors. You had C. B. Cebulski and then Tom, uh, Brevert. Brevert? Brevert. Brevert. Yeah. It was a good amount of people, but not like standing room only. So that was nice. And it just gave me a more, a bigger appreciation for Jed McKay.

[00:40:23] Badr: You know, I am, I want, I want to dive into one of those titles and I think I'm leaning more towards Moon Knight. Cause I just really liked the artwork in that, but he seems like a very down to earth guy, very like passionate about writing comic books and to even hear like the editor's kind of joke, like how much he's juggling and doing really well.

[00:40:41] Badr: Uh, was rad and then Al Ewing, right? Someone that I've come to respect, uh, especially from his Immortal Hulk run. You know, he's there talking about his new project, Immortal Thor, and getting to see like covers that haven't even been hit solicitations yet. And, you know, hearing him talk about future issues as someone that likes behind the scenes and getting into a creator's mind.

[00:41:01] Badr: When you hear them talk about a project and you see their passion, sometimes that stuff's infectious. And after I left that panel, you know, I hit up Ben, I'm like, yeah, put me down for Immortal Thor for sure. And, you know, Jed McKay, yeah, I'm gonna, he's definitely on my radar even, you know, in a bigger way now.

[00:41:17] Badr: Can

[00:41:17] Chris: I recommend really quickly if, have you, have you read, um, Jeb McKay's Black Cat as well, which seems like an odd recommendation,

[00:41:23] Badr: but have you read that at all? No, but me and Drew have this, this running theory that it's gotta be amazing because he did like two or three volumes of Black Cat, right? He has a

[00:41:33] Chris: whole omnibus worth of work from that Black Cat run, and it is, it's definitively the best Black Cat, I mean, granted, this is a character that doesn't have very many...

[00:41:40] Chris: Definitive runs, but Black Cat by Jed McKay was a secret hit for, you know, for a lot of people. Uh, him and now Fuji, Fuji, I think was the artist on that. Uh, incredible. Uh, also kind of a deep cut, but have you read The Ultimates by Al Ewing?

[00:41:54] Badr: Oh yeah. With, uh, Kenneth Rockefurt on the art. Yep.

[00:41:57] Chris: Yeah. So good. One of my favorite, one of my favorite teams in Marvel comics, like just totally.

[00:42:02] Chris: Like if you get, if, if you were to come to me, if Kevin Feige and Kevin, we know you're listening right now. If he comes to me and he says, what team do you want to see in the MCU? Ultimates baby. I want the Ultimates. Give me that. Give me that blue Marvel. Give me that black Panther. Give me that captain Marvel.

[00:42:19] Chris: Give me that photon. Half of them are in the MCU already.

[00:42:21] Badr: Let's do it. America Chavez, uh, T'Challa. Yeah. All that. Yeah. So hearing them talk about like the projects and being like, you know, sitting at a, in a Marvel panel, you know, that's kind of what it boils down to. I was sitting in a Marvel panel and, you know, getting to like see previews and exclusives.

[00:42:36] Badr: This is news that I would check for if I wasn't here, you know, and I'm getting to kind of get this like in real time was a really cool experience as someone that's like in the industry that has to cover the stuff, um, had a good time in that panel and last but not least. And I tried to just keep my list kind of like top three for some of this stuff.

[00:42:54] Badr: Did you walk by the Manga Dive XR thing? No, I don't think I did. I'm going to try to describe this, but this was really something you just had to see or kind of be there, but There was a lot of manga and anime representation there. So much so that I was a little surprised by how much, you know, Like I said, Shonen Jump was there.

[00:43:13] Badr: Viz Media was there. There was another manga reader app. Uh, there was another manga publisher. There was a Korean, um, comics... Uh, Korean comics publisher there. It was just a lot of representation. I

[00:43:24] Chris: think we should like really double down on this. It is a large portion of the exhibitor

[00:43:29] Badr: hall, like huge. Heidi McDonald probably had the best quote from the weekend that perfectly, perfectly encapsulated one of the biggest feelings I had on that first day.

[00:43:41] Badr: She said, if you walk on the convention floor right now, you're going to see a giant Luffy and a giant Goku. You're not going to see. A giant Batman and a giant Spider Man at New York Comic Con. And I thought that was so simply profound. That observation was something that just re you know, uh, that resonated with me.

[00:44:00] Badr: Cause on my first date, I was blown away by like, Oh, wow, first thing I'm seeing is Piccolo? First thing I'm seeing is Goku and Luffy? And you know, like, alright, well, I'm, I'm obviously gonna see, like, you know, Batman, or at least Spider Man, you know? Not really. It was, like, a lot, you know, like, manga and anime dominated it.

[00:44:17] Badr: And at one point, I walked by what I'm about to share, this manga, um, this manga dive XR thing. And, like, there's this dude, I think, watching it with, like, his girlfriend, or someone was with him. And I heard him say, He was like, man, New York Comic Con is like, 80 percent manga, you know, and you know what I'm saying?

[00:44:35] Badr: So even like the other con goers had noticed like the prevalence and dominance of manga and anime, which doesn't help, you know, the, the argument that you see online a lot about manga killing comics, all that bullshit. But yeah, I was, that was kind of a big surprise. This company called MangaDive, and I think they're either a publisher or a reading app or something like that, you have to look it up.

[00:44:56] Badr: But they set up what was essentially the smallest IMAX theater, is the best way I'll describe it. And it had like little chairs that you could sit down on the floor, like these little cushions. And this quote unquote theater, or this screen, we'll just call it a screen, was like a three sided screen. And they were basically doing...

[00:45:15] Badr: They were showcasing different manga. I think one of them was like Chainsaw Man, and I forget what the other two were, but they were just showing like, live action panels coming to life? Which was insane, the sound. That is what you heard, when you walked on the convention floor? Or the exhibit, uh, exhibitor floor?

[00:45:33] Badr: More than likely the loudest thing you heard was coming from this big ass screen because you know it had like the the it felt like Surround sound and you know it was like giant kaiju monsters fighting like the panels coming to life like the sound effects popping up And you know the panels moving and the characters going about it was really fucking impressive for lack of better terms I would go to an IMAX theater to watch you know like a live action Comic book come to life or a live action manga come to life it was It was really impressive like the technology aspect, you know what I'm saying?

[00:46:02] Badr: It goes back to that presentation to see comics and manga, uh, presented in such an interesting way with like big theatrics and technology was like, you know, it was really impressive. Yeah, I think the

[00:46:14] Chris: best way to describe the exhibit hall at New York comic con is imagine being in like a very large arcade, you know, you go to arcade, you got like.

[00:46:22] Chris: You get the multiple sounds from the different machines kind of, kind of going over top of each other along with the jukebox playing at the same time, that's the exhibit hall. You hear Dragon Ball Z, you hear Bleach, you know, you hear all these different, well, I just named off two mangas, but like there are multiple things happening at once.

[00:46:39] Chris: And it is truly, and again, we said this earlier, it is truly sensory overload from the moment you walk onto that. You will not see everything, you just have to accept that. But it is truly awesome, just from the jump, not to make a pun there, from the shonen jump, it is amazing.

[00:46:54] Badr: That was good, Chris. Thank you.

[00:46:55] Badr: And then also to feed off the energy of the crowds. And I know I sound like a complete, you know, an out of towner, a tourist, and a first timer. Like, kind of harping on how many people were there. But I've never seen so many people under one roof. Over 200, 000 over the weekend. And you hear that number, right?

[00:47:13] Badr: And you're like, you think you have an idea of what that might look like. You're like, I've seen pictures of a lot of people. I've been in crowded concerts and places. I'm telling you now, you have not experienced it, unless you've been to like, you know, San Diego Comic Con or New York Comic Con or, um, you know, a sporting event that holds, you know, that many people.

[00:47:31] Badr: It was surreal, dude. I was having multiple out of body experiences. I feel like I'm part of a living organism that's just like, you know, like just moving, you know what I'm saying? It was like, I was a part of this sea of human bodies.

[00:47:42] Chris: Well, if you think about it like this, the biggest stadium in sports right now is the big house.

[00:47:47] Chris: It's Michigan. It's the University of Michigan's football stadium that holds 102, 000 people. Two of those, two of those is the, what, why do I have balloons? You see that? Why did I have

[00:47:58] Badr: balloons on the screen? Chris, why the fuck

[00:48:03] Chris: did you put that in the big house, everybody, I have

[00:48:07] Badr: to just point this out. You can edit this part out if you want.

[00:48:09] Badr: No, no, if you're watching the video version, some random balloon graphics just popped up on Chris's screen. Is Riverside sponsored by the big house? Did they think it was

[00:48:17] Chris: my birthday or something? I don't know. Um, anyway, 102, 000. There was 212, 000 at New York Comic Con this year. So not even two full stadiums in a co Dude,

[00:48:28] Badr: I have no idea what I'm saying that's making this happen.

[00:48:31] Badr: Someone has hacked our recording and doing some crazy shit. I don't know. Anyway,

[00:48:36] Chris: New York Comic Con is two big

[00:48:37] Badr: houses. If you're someone that gets claustrophobic, easy. I'm telling you now. Might want to, I'm not going to say like completely don't consider going, but, you know, definitely be prepared to, to be, you know, elbowed up, you know, you're going to be like scrunched up and nut to butt, as they like to say, yeah, nut to butt.

[00:48:53] Badr: Well said. Yeah. Nut to butt all day. I think it was on Friday. Me and Drew were in line for the Marvel activation. They had it, um, where if you sit in line. If you stood in line, you got to take a photo with, uh, these, like, really highly detailed, life size, uh, statues of Spider Man and Miles Morales, well, Miles Morales and Peter Parker, I should say, and then you got a, an exclusive, like, PS4 Spider Man bag, which I'm gonna come back to really quick on that, but We were standing in line, and I think me and Drew had said something out loud, because you know we're loud as hell.

[00:49:25] Badr: Me and drew are talking loud all the time. And the guy that was Drew's laugh

[00:49:29] Chris: especially is super loud. No offense Drew, wasn't on the

[00:49:34] Badr: panel, but he had a cameo just from the laugh, I think you could hear him laughing on the panel, in the crowd. But we were standing in line and I think me and Drew were talking about how many people were there, and this was Friday.

[00:49:43] Badr: And the dude, uh, that was working the line looks at us and he's go, and he goes, this is nothing. And I go, man, it's Friday. You know what I'm saying? Tomorrow's, we got two more days. How much, you know, I know Sunday's not going to be nearly as big cause a lot of people are flying out. How bad could it be tomorrow?

[00:49:58] Badr: And he kind of chuckles. He's like, this is nothing. I'm telling you. He was not wrong. He was not wrong in the slightest. And I doubted him up to the point This is Friday when I'm having this interaction. On Saturday, I went to the Brooklyn Museum to go see this Jay Z exhibit and then I was on my way to the convention.

[00:50:15] Badr: It was raining. And I'm walking up to the convention, soaking wet. I had my brain jacket stood no chance against New York weather. That is one thing I will advise. Buy you a nice rain jacket, just in case. But as I'm walking, I'm like, Oh, there's no way there's gonna be this many people here. Like, it's raining.

[00:50:28] Badr: Like, yo, it's coming down. Like, who wants to... You know what I'm saying? Like, this might be a day, I'd be curious how this impacts the, uh, attendance. Wrong. Wrong! Like, it felt like even more people showed up to seek shelter. It was insane, man. It was like, yeah, I know, I sound corny, harping on the amount of people, but it was a really surreal moment being surrounded by that.

[00:50:47] Chris: It's almost like, the way I like to describe it is like, you know when people, like, take pictures of, like, fireworks or the full moon, and you just don't get the gravity of it from looking

[00:50:55] Badr: at pictures? Yeah, yeah, pictures don't do it justice type thing.

[00:50:58] Chris: It's exactly like New York Comic Con. Like, you really don't understand the gravity of it until you're looking

[00:51:03] Badr: at it face to face.

[00:51:04] Badr: Alright, and I think this is, um, this is a good way to kind of put a bow on this part, but there are so many people at this convention that a famous actor can walk around and no one will recognize him until after the fact. And I'm talking about the, the picture that you probably, I know we shared it on, on the Short Bikes Instagram.

[00:51:23] Badr: I know I've seen it all over Twitter, but Charlie Cox was at New York Comic Con dressed as Bluey from the kids show. I know I walked by him and I thought, one, I didn't recognize Charlie Cox. I just remember thinking, wow, that's, that's a weird Blue's Clues costume outfit, right? That guy has a man who's a Blue's Clues?

[00:51:44] Badr: He really likes Blue's Clues. But you know what I'm saying? Like the fact that he could just walk around and I think only one person had noticed him. It's a lot of folks. I want to, uh, I want to move on. Oh, actually I'll take a step back. Cause I can go back to that Spider Man bag. The amount of exclusives for everything, dude, when I was in line for this Spider Man, there was a girl right behind us.

[00:52:04] Badr: And when I say, she wanted this Spider Man PS4 bag, it was like a plastic tote, it was like, you know, the, basically like, the cover, the game cover art was on this bag. She wanted this fucking bag. Dude, she wanted this bag, cause she kept asking like, are there any more bags? Are there any more bags? Oh my god, I really want a bag.

[00:52:23] Badr: I bet she didn't

[00:52:23] Chris: know about that bag like 40 minutes before you guys were standing in line. Guarantee it.

[00:52:27] Badr: I remember telling her, I was like, hey, If there are any bags, you may have mine. If I get the last one, you please

[00:52:33] Chris: shut up. You can

[00:52:34] Badr: have my bag. You may have my bag. Of course they had 20, 000 bags.

[00:52:39] Chris: You know, I got a bag and I didn't even know about them.

[00:52:42] Chris: No, I'm joking.

[00:52:43] Badr: I guess, I guess what I'm getting at is. The exclusive merch and how people were like go there seeking these things out, you know, like they're folks that are looking for the exclusive stuff. One thing that me and Drew did on Friday, the first day, which was I think pretty smart in hindsight, was we went to, we got in line for New York Comic Con merch.

[00:53:01] Badr: I'm wearing one of the shirts I bought. Um, we got in line for New York Comic Con merch. And I remember staying in line with Drew and I was getting a little antsy. Cause the doors had just opened up, it was 10 o'clock. I'm like, yo, I got to meet Chris downstairs in Artist's Alley. I want to stop by Daniel Warren Johnson.

[00:53:14] Badr: He's got like this Transformers, he's got the Transformers basketball cover. And Drew was like, he was like, dude, I think I'm going to stay in this line. Cause I have a feeling if we don't get this New York Comic Con merch today, we're not going to be able to get it. And I remember standing in line with him.

[00:53:27] Badr: It didn't take that long. I got a bunch of cool stuff. I was like really impressed by how cool the New York Comic Con merch was. The rest of the weekend, that line was the bane of my existence. Not because I had to stand in it anymore, because it was so long, it wrapped itself into the main, like, walkway. I thought it was the merch.

[00:53:48] Badr: It's like, this is right in the middle of everything. You know, get the f you know, I'm like, get the fuck out

[00:53:52] Chris: the way. That's San Diego too, by the way, that both of those lines are stupid long for, and again, I understand, like, I love that shirt that you have on and the merch is usually pretty cool. But yeah, why, why is, why is it so sought after?

[00:54:03] Chris: I

[00:54:04] Badr: ended up finding out that apparently they had a bunch of exclusive Funko's because I just started asking people, like, Hey, what are you getting? And I'm the only one that's like, I want to get a shirt and a pen and a lanyard. Everyone's like, I'm going to get this one of 20 Funko, you know, it's like these people, when it comes to exclusives.

[00:54:21] Badr: There are some serious folks out there.

[00:54:22] Chris: They also do the, uh, they do the gentle giant pens too. Like usually when they have those gentle giant comic con exclusive pens, they will sell them at the main store, like kind of what you were talking about with like the New York comic

[00:54:34] Badr: con merch. Okay. I want to move on from highlights to.

[00:54:38] Badr: Um, let's talk regrets or things that we wish we would've done maybe a little different. Do you wanna kick it off? 'cause I got, uh, I got three or four. Do you wanna kick, actually, I

[00:54:46] Chris: want, I want you to start off because, you know, as I said, I'm gonna have to think about it a little bit because I feel like this was maybe one of the most ideal convention GOs that I've ever had.

[00:54:54] Chris: So I need to think about it a little bit while you're, while you're talking. While we're talking.

[00:54:56] Badr: Fair enough. And I think I've got my list up, you know, and, and going, 'cause it was my first time, you know, there's a lot of rookie mistakes. I'm, I'm looking at mm-hmm. . I did not attend the next big thing in Marvel panel, and that was one I really wanted to go to.

[00:55:08] Badr: That one was also hosted by Agent M, um, that one was going to have Jonathan Hickman, it was going to have, I want to say also Al Ewing, I forgot who else was going to be on that panel, but I wanted to hear Jonathan Hickman speak about, you know, gods and, and, um, uh, the ultimate comics relaunch and all of that.

[00:55:24] Badr: And I thought this was going to be like the other comic panels, where it was pretty, or the other panels, period, where it was going to be pretty easy to walk in and grab a seat. So this panel, I think, was on Saturday at 3, 3. 15, and I got up there, let's say it was 3 o'clock, I think I got, I started making my way up there around like 2.

[00:55:41] Badr: 50. And I thought I was just gonna walk in security guard puts his hand on my chest. He's like, whoa, man. What are you doing? He's like you don't see this long ass line, buddy You got to go through the back and straight New York, right? Like, you know, no kindness to it, you know He's not shooting me in your bail because the for anyone that has been the the third floor is Your panels and then your second floor your main floor is your exhibition hall and then your third I'm sorry, the bottom floor is the artist's alley.

[00:56:06] Badr: This line for the Marvel panel was not only the whole third floor, but it also was part of the escalator. And when me and Drew were coming up, we were like, wow, what line is that? We were like, oh, this has got to be for Tom Hiddleston. This has got to be for, you know, this actor or this celebrity. Just walk right past it.

[00:56:21] Badr: And when he said, oh, no, this is for the next big thing in Marvel, I had conflicting, I was like, bipolar. I was like, wow, this is pretty rad that this many people are here waiting for this panel. My second reaction was like, I'm not fucking standing in this. You know, it's like, we're not doing this. I was like, no way.

[00:56:37] Badr: No, I just could not fathom that this many people wanted to be in this panel. But it's also not surprising because, you know, it's like the next big thing in Marvel, you know, they're talking about the next thing.

[00:56:46] Chris: The next couple of years of Marvel, you know, the, you know, just like the, the launches of

[00:56:51] Badr: the next couple of years, basically laying out like the, uh, giving you a preview and, uh, you know, the, the plan, the game plan.

[00:56:57] Badr: Yeah, exactly. We should also

[00:56:58] Chris: say that DC didn't really have much of a footprint at New York at all, really like Marvel had a lot of stuff and DC was just kind of there, you know, a lot of their artists were there. Jim Lee was obviously there, but like in terms of like panels and such, there weren't

[00:57:11] Badr: very many, in my opinion.

[00:57:12] Badr: Did they, did they have a bigger presence at San Diego Comic Con? Because being based out of the West Coast? Yep. Okay.

[00:57:16] Chris: Yeah. It was, and it was completely opposite and it makes sense now thinking back on it in retrospect, but yeah, DC was much more prevalent at San Diego. Marvel was much more prevalent

[00:57:24] Badr: at New York.

[00:57:24] Badr: Got it. Got it. I think I just got a little spoiled with the other panels I had been to prior to that was that it was pretty easy to get in like the hip hop one I got in because I had a press pass. I didn't know that one was like press only. So I would probably advise, you know, taking some consideration that, you know, the bigger stuff are going to have giant lines.

[00:57:43] Badr: I think I just got a little cocky, a little, um, I let my guard down. So it would have been cool to actually sit in that one because that was a panel where yeah, I saw the news pieces immediately after, right? It was like, Jonathan Hickman announces, da da da, Peach Momoko's doing this, and you're like, Damn, they announced all of that in this panel?

[00:57:58] Badr: Like, uh, should have been a little more patient. Uh, I already mentioned that not meeting Jim Lee or Daniel Warren Johnson, that was kind of a regret mistake. I should have maybe hunted them down a little, a little better. Um, seeing Jim Lee would have been a, a big highlight. Yeah, I still,

[00:58:11] Chris: of all my experiences, I still have never met Jim Lee.

[00:58:13] Chris: And I really want

[00:58:14] Badr: to. That's definitely one that I, yeah, I definitely want. And then last but not least, I feel like this is kind of a rookie move, and maybe more of a personal thing. I didn't get not one sketch, not one little head sketch, not a signature. And I brought my sketchbook. It's clear why so many artists go to this, you know, people are there to buy artwork.

[00:58:34] Badr: They're there, you know, how many people had, Hey, my commission list is closed, you know, it's already closed. It's, it's Saturday. I'm already, I'm good. You're not getting anything out of me. To kind of speak on

[00:58:43] Chris: like exclusives. You know, when the, the exhibit hall opens, you see people sprinting to a certain part of the, of the exhibit hall.

[00:58:50] Chris: The same thing happens in artist alley. The moment, the moment the doors open, people are sprinting to these artists, you know, cause the short opens the store, the show opens at nine o'clock. So the moment those escalators turn on, these people are sprinting down into artists alley to get on these commissions lists because you know, and I think your wallet probably is thanking you a little bit for not getting on any of these sketch lists because they are quite expensive, but if you wanted to get a peach, a mocha, which I think she had a couple of slots open this, you know, at this.

[00:59:16] Chris: You know, show you could get on it, but it was going to cost you five

[00:59:20] Badr: or 600. I think next year I'm going to one budget and save. And it would have been really cool to get some sort of, like, sketch. I'm trying to think of, like, what I would get. It would have been cool to get Sanford Green to do like a, a hip hop artist like bust, you know, like a biggie or something very New York, like a Jay Z or something, something a little outside of the, uh, the usual.

[00:59:41] Chris: I think it might be a good game plan for everyone listening right now. If you do plan on going to one of these big conventions and you have an artist in mind that you do possibly want to get a sketch from, follow their art dealer. So for instance, for Sanford, it would be Felix Comic Art. They always, if you're on their newsletter, go, go to their website, get on their newsletter because they will not only tell you if they're going to have commission lists, but also they will give you early access to those commissions lists.

[01:00:04] Chris: So you don't have to do it at the con. You can actually get the commission done before the con and then you pick it up at the con the first or second day.

[01:00:11] Badr: Well said and you know what that is a good pivot to let's just do general tips and then we'll actually show off some of the can

[01:00:18] Chris: I while you were talking that I want to I want to quickly point out two main regrets that I had and I was thinking about why you were talking about it number one was recently on the show we had Davis, David does motion and Leah Kilpatrick, the, you know, everyone knows David and his work in the acting world.

[01:00:33] Chris: But Leah, of course, now working on the headless horseman annual over at dark horse. We had both of them on the show and we released that episode on Saturday of New York comic con. And at one point I heard that they were at a booth close to comic sketch art. So I ran over, I said, hi to David. I said, hi to Leah.

[01:00:48] Chris: I was so excited and I didn't even think about it. I really wanted to get a picture with them, totally spaced it. They were also, they had a long line and I kind of just like popped in and said, hi. And, and the moment I just like popped in and said, hi, they wanted to like, chat for a moment, which I was very grateful for, but also didn't want to like, take up all the people who were like sitting there waiting.

[01:01:04] Chris: I didn't want to be like that guy that's like pops in, says hi. And like, stays there for like 10 minutes. So I felt like I was feeling a little bit of FOMO from not getting a picture with them. Cause I love, uh, those two together. Uh, and then the other one was, and I kind of spoke about it earlier was there were, even though I spent the entire time trying to see people and chat with people and put faces to emails and faces to social medias, there were still a bunch of people that I missed.

[01:01:29] Chris: And I'm kind of bummed about that. One of the things I really wanted to do is go around to each publisher that, you know, these, uh, marketing and publicists that we talked to for the show to get interviews and whatnot. I wanted to like go up and physically shake their hand and thank them for not only getting us interviews, but also just always being a great resource.

[01:01:45] Chris: And I didn't get to do that one time at the show. And that was a huge bummer because I really wanted to meet, you know, uh, Shannon from, uh, skybound and, and Caitlin from the dark horse. And, you know, all these people that I talk to all the time via email and, you know, who help us get all these amazing creators on the show, I really wanted to go up and like shake their hand and say, thank you for, you know, helping us out.

[01:02:04] Chris: So that, that was a, definitely another big bummer. And I also didn't get any comics graded. At New York ComicCon. I did a It's different for you. Yeah. I did 17 at San Diego and for some reason I did zero at New York ComicCon. I went way overboard at at San Diego this year.

[01:02:18] Badr: that. That might be why. That might be why, yeah.

[01:02:19] Badr: You were recovering. Yeah. All right. Let's, let's pivot into tips and tricks. All right? Mm-hmm. , so this is, this next segment is for, Aspiring, uh, New York Comic Con first timers that want to go next year that are planning to attend New York Comic Con 2024 or folks that have attended a few times and might want to pick up something new.

[01:02:36] Badr: So let's share, uh, our tips and tricks. Chris, I'm gonna go first just from a, um, you know, a newbie rookie perspective. I got a few things written down. And a lot of these tips actually, you know, have come from you or, you know, big shout outs to Trey Namah, who has given me a ton of advice and whatnot. If you're used to going to conventions, a lot of this stuff is kind of common sense.

[01:02:55] Badr: I think you just got to plan for a larger scale in New York specifically, right? Like the geographical elements that come with being like in a, in a big city like that. And first and foremost, because you had asked me actually prior to us in record, you were like, Hey, what was the name of that empanada stand that was within, that was in the center?

[01:03:11] Badr: That was one thing I did not do. I did not buy any food within the center because I heard all the horror stories, right? Like 12 bottles of water. And You know, very expensive food every morning and it might just be my situation, you know, coming, having to drive in from New Jersey. I had to catch a bus. And when we got to the port authority, it was kind of like a mini mall.

[01:03:29] Badr: Like there was food stands. So every morning I got the same breakfast. I got a turkey and Swiss croissant. A, uh, uh, a coffee, and then I got a spicy beef patty. Cost me less than ten bucks. I would eat the, the croissant on my way up, I'd have the beef patty in my book bag, or, you know, vice versa. Plan to bring food if you can.

[01:03:48] Badr: And, you know, the further away from the center you are, I think the cheaper the options. You know, and have a book bag and a means of actually, like, carrying that stuff. Cause it, it came in clutch so many times, where it's the middle of the day, and I realize... Oh, shit. I haven't eaten anything. You know, I've got something in my book bag.

[01:04:02] Badr: Yeah, it might be a little smushed or, you know, cold, but it was better than paying, you know, exorbitant amount of money for, you know, some chicken tenders.

[01:04:10] Chris: I need to take that advice, Botter, because this year I think I had empanadas four times for lunch and it was 15 for five of them each time. They were good.

[01:04:19] Chris: But yeah, they were very expensive and it was not great for my stomach to eat empanadas every day for lunch. So, uh, I'll, I'll definitely next year, that is going to be something that I put into my toolbox is to kind of bring in my own stuff, put it in my book bag. You can, you could buy, like you said, buy things before you go into the convention hall and just

[01:04:34] Badr: snack on it all day.

[01:04:36] Badr: All right. I would also recommend living or finding a spot central to the, uh, you know, to the center somewhere in Manhattan. Yes, yes, yes, yes, I stayed in Hoboken, New Jersey, just because it was cheaper, um, mainly for the price, uh, and just, uh, the timing too, we were kind of running out of time to find a place, and I feel like I might have missed out on some things, or it was just a lot harder, you know, a little more inconvenient to try to go to places sporadically, or, um, you know, like, I forgot what night, but I think you had hit me up, like, hey, we're gonna go out, And it was already kind of late and it was like, all right, well, I'd have to get on the bus, then catch a subway.

[01:05:12] Badr: So I think if you live central, you know, you, you open yourself up for the opportunity for sporadic or spontaneous hangouts, or, you know, you're just kind of close to the action. Um, you know, you don't want to lug, there was, I forget it was Friday or Saturday, where I got a little overambitious of like buying my merch.

[01:05:27] Badr: And it's like, oh shit, the train that I took. Doesn't run this route, you know, in the evening. So now I've got to walk, you know, 10 blocks to catch the next, you know, a subway. So I think having a central location, finding a good Airbnb or even just a hotel. It'll save you a lot of, um, it'll just save you a lot of effort down the line.

[01:05:45] Badr: Yeah. I'm also gonna say, uh, I was very self conscious about, like, getting sick and, you know, I know, I knew I was gonna be around that many people. Granted, it was a risk I was willing to take anyways, right? There's an inherent risk in knowing you're going to, one, be going on an airplane, two, being surrounded by that many people, and, you know, just three, just, you know, being out in the elements.

[01:06:05] Badr: The con crud, as they call it. Yeah, exactly. I, and I knew I had stuff to do when I got back. So I took like some immune boost stuff, you know, I had a hydration packs. I was really kind of

[01:06:13] Chris: like is that what's called vitamin C or vitamin D? Well,

[01:06:16] Badr: I had like some zinc, like, uh, candies, like, you know, like, uh, what are called coldies.

[01:06:20] Badr: So like, Hey, take these before a cold and all that. So I would say, you know, pack some immune booster stuff, some hydration packets. Especially if you're doing a couple of nights of, like, karaoke and drinking. You'll thank yourself in the morning.

[01:06:30] Chris: This is all good advice, Botter. Why didn't you tell me any of this before the convention, huh?

[01:06:34] Chris: Because you're a pro. I

[01:06:37] Badr: bet you had this a lot. I would say getting there the day before. Just to get a lay of the land. Me and Drew arrived, flew in on Wednesday. We got there, like, during the afternoon. We had to scope out, like, our neighborhood, the Airbnb. But we also went to the actual center, uh, after learning, like, Hey, we can go pick up our badges up until seven o'clock the Wednesday before the convention even starts.

[01:06:55] Badr: So it was nice to just get there, get a lay of the land, like, you know, understand our route and just kind of like, you know, have the convention to ourselves, even though it wasn't to ourselves, there's still people there, but no, to be able to see the before and after it wasn't like immediately going into like the chaos, it was like, Oh, wow, before it gets wild.

[01:07:13] Badr: Yeah. Yeah. So I highly recommend if you can get the end the day before, that's great. Uh, I might give credit to Trey for this next tip, which is walkie talkies. You know, he was telling me, like, hey, the reception's really bad. And I'm used to bad reception at a, uh, most convention centers. Uh, he advised I bring walkie talkies.

[01:07:28] Badr: And I bought, like, a cheap pack of three from Amazon. Didn't use them once, which was kind of foolish, because I know for sure on Saturday, the busiest day, no matter how many times I'd find Drew or he'd find me, and we'd be like, okay, we're rolling together. You cannot account for, you know, Oh, squirrel, you know, like, Oh, this is cool.

[01:07:47] Badr: And you turn your back for one second and you turn back and they're gone, you know, versus, and it just saves you the hassle of having to text, hope your text goes through or trying to call them. And, you know, like a walkie talkie would have just been, yo, where are you at? I'm right around the corner. What

[01:08:00] Chris: was your guys call signs?

[01:08:02] Badr: What was mine? I think I was, uh, Oh my god, uh, they'll come back to me. They'll come back. I forgot which one we chose. I think it was like Beige Thunder. I think I was like Beige Thunder. Beige Thunder. I think for Drew, even though he didn't pick this, I was gonna call him Drizzy Drew because he had the braids like Drake.

[01:08:19] Badr: Uh, alright, let's see. I would also advise, if you are a content creator, a podcaster, or someone that dabbles in this world, to plan your content. The amount of photos and videos I have that I haven't even posted, you know, uh, the, the interviews I kind of wanted to get, I brought my recorder, didn't even use it once, outside of the, um, recording the panel.

[01:08:37] Badr: If you are a content creator, I would highly recommend coming up with some sort of plan of like, or even like just dedicating time, like, okay. I'm going to go to the con, you know, for this many time and I'm going to, you know, find an hour to like post, to organize like my content and get it ready. Cause trying to do that the day after or on the plane or when you get back, it's just, it's just exhausting, right?

[01:08:58] Badr: You're tired. You don't, you know, you don't even want to really look at all that content. So I would, I would advise, I know. I'm going to do a better job next year of figuring out ways to like, you know, post and try to get interviews.

[01:09:10] Chris: We tried to do that this year. We did the, we did the interview a thon over at the Oblivion Bar where we released an interview every day from Wednesday until Sunday.

[01:09:17] Chris: And so the weeks leading up to New York Comic Con, we planned out. Yeah, interviews with Christian Ward, Danny Warren Johnson, again, David Dos Machin, Leo Kilpatrick, uh, David Boer, Drew Zucker, David Weiner, all of these interviews we did leading up to New York Comic Con, and then that way, during New York Comic Con, we can kind of relax.

[01:09:35] Chris: Now, as we know, As podcasters, there's no relaxing, come on. That's a lie. That's a farce. You don't relax. You keep adding onto the pile of content. And we did that. We, there are definitely, uh, you know, a lot of things that we haven't even posted yet ourselves. And to kind of speak on what you were saying and kind of along with me being sick, the last couple of days, I just, you know, we're recording this exactly, but just about a week after New York comic con, I have, I just now posted our first photo dump and I still have like two more planned.

[01:10:03] Chris: So there's

[01:10:05] Badr: a lot out there. If you plan better, then it'll, you can kind of ride the, that topical wave, right? Like we're, we're a week out and admittedly, I think New York Comic Con content, or even like any type of convention content, like after, I think after a week, it started, you know, it's kind of like, all right, man, like, you know, move on, you know, that was a week ago, especially, I guess, just considering how quickly society moves when it comes to like news and, you know, our attention span, um, just plan better.

[01:10:30] Badr: And that's something that I want to do a little better next year is dedicating time to like, Figuring out what I'm going to share because, you know, it kind of goes, you kind of feel a little bit of FOMO too, as like a, you know, someone that's supposed to post content and, you know, provide coverages, you know, like I know I was feeling like, damn, I haven't, you know, posted a video, I haven't done this, you know, like, you know, I should, I'm here as a press, I need to be doing my job and thinking about the fans and the listeners.

[01:10:54] Badr: So there's a little bit of that kind of hovering over you if you're going as a professional.

[01:11:00] Chris: You know, what's funny is that, uh, that thought, that exact thought we're talking about right now in terms of like capturing the moment and, uh, providing that to followers and listeners on our platforms, I selfishly kind of took a step back this year to kind of speak on living in the moment.

[01:11:17] Chris: I purposefully, you know, of course I still posted shit all the time, like more so than most people would, but I didn't go in with any real goals to like. Try to post anything, right? Like, I, I really wanted to like, enjoy this for myself a little bit this year for Aaron and I, we wanted to like, fully live in the moment a little bit.

[01:11:34] Chris: And I think if you're anything like bot or I, you're going to capture moments that are fun and we're sharing, but like, you're, you're not in a very similar way to like talking about the exclusives and, and, and all the things that lead up to New York comic con, you're never going to be satisfied Ever if you plan it all out and then try to accomplish everything there's there.

[01:11:54] Chris: Of course, they're going to be highlights that you want to hit. You, there's a certain level of just kind of accepting the madness and being like, I'll get whatever I can get. And I think that will be good enough. And I feel very happy with what Aaron and I captured during our time at New York. And to like, think that you can capture it all and post every day and post all the time with the internet issues with trying to do everything all everywhere, you know, a 24 reference, everything, everywhere, all at once.

[01:12:19] Chris: Like you just can't, you just kind of have to just, you know, again, endure and then like kind of gather yourself into the night. And then,

[01:12:26] Badr: see what you can share. Really quick, uh, a quick little tangent, cause I know how much you love A24. I finally watched, uh, Past Lives, by the way, on the plane, on the way back.

[01:12:36] Badr: I don't know what possessed me to watch such a beautiful movie. It was me! I told you to watch it! Romantic, sad movie, on the plane! I'm like... You know, like everyone's asleep and I'm, I'm the idiot, like, you know, with the light beaming in his face, like, you know, she exists in your mind, buddy, you know what I'm saying?

[01:12:52] Badr: It

[01:12:53] Chris: was good. That's probably one of my favorite movies of this year, everyone. If you're listening, sorry, I was out of New York Comic Con, go watch Past Lives. It is so

[01:12:58] Badr: good. All right, I got a couple more tips and tricks. I'm gonna go through these pretty quick. Uh, I printed a map thinking I was going to, like, market, you know, I printed, like, a physical map.

[01:13:07] Badr: I was gonna market, write down certain vendors. I will say their app? Worked pretty well. Yeah. Um, I, I built like my panel schedule on the app. I think they also had the, the maps on there as well. So, you know, it's one less thing I had to carry or worry about getting outta my backpack or back pocket. So I will, uh, recommend utilizing that app.

[01:13:24] Badr: Now granted, you know, I did run into a couple of issues where sometimes they would like, uh, erase the schedule or I had to reset it, and that was a little annoying. Um, and obviously, you know, you run into, um, service issues, but I think just having, you know, the map or a screenshot of the map on your phone goes a long way, you know, like, think one less thing to carry or have to take out your bag.

[01:13:45] Chris: If I can quickly point out as well, sorry, I just want to say, if you have a vendor or a creator or someone that you want to see at these conventions, definitely mark them. Mark them for sure, but also if you have any internet connection, just check their social media. A lot of times they will post where they're going to be at, at the, at, you know, at these cons and they will, they'll tell you what booth that they're at.

[01:14:04] Chris: So like a lot of times, if I didn't know where, you know, Zoe Thurgood was or Daniel Warren Johnson was, I could just go to their more times than not. They will put again, if you have service, you're, you know, botters. Route is much more efficient than mine, but if you do have the service somehow you that's like a quick like

[01:14:19] Badr: second plan That's a that's a very good point That's honestly how I found David Harper because I was trying to buy one of his zines and I knew he was set up somewhere and I think I had Checked his Twitter and he was like, oh, I'm at Declan Shelby or hey, I'm not there right now You know I'm saying it saves you time because you know getting anywhere there is a hassle You know just fighting the wave of people going up and down escalators like save yourself time Next tip.

[01:14:42] Badr: I brought cash. I actually took my advice. I brought, I think I pulled 200 bucks out. I used all 200 bucks. I did have to dip into the cards. There was a couple of times where I went ahead and swiped the card, but it was extremely helpful having cash, right? Like it was a physical representation of my limits.

[01:14:59] Badr: It was, you know, a haggling tool as well. You know, like, you know, it's getting a good deals. Um, and you also avoid, and it's also like a time saver. You're having, you're avoiding. Bad system processing, right? Like, oh, there's, you know, PayPal isn't going through. My card reader isn't working. I'm looking for a signal.

[01:15:15] Badr: It's like, boom. Quick transactions. You might knock your, uh, knock a couple of bucks off on a few occasions. You know what I'm saying? It was like, okay, that was my first line of defense. And when I'm starting to dabble with the cards, that's when I started getting more self conscious because now I couldn't see the cash.

[01:15:28] Badr: And I was like, all right, B, this is a dangerous, you know what I'm saying? It's kind of dangerous. So I will highly, highly advise cash. Cash is king. Bring what you're comfortable bringing.

[01:15:37] Chris: Yeah, that's a big one. I wanted to highlight that specifically when I saw this on the list because For more. So, you know, you, you say that it kind of helps you gauge how much money you've spent, but also these creators, these vendors will give you deals for cash.

[01:15:50] Chris: They want that, they want that, that green, right? Like, like you said, the, the invisible electronic money, it doesn't exist. It's all in the ether, right? But you can hand them a 20 and say, listen, I'll take these, I'll take this a 50 worth of books for 35. I have 35 in cash right here. And they'll do it eight out of 10

[01:16:07] Badr: times.

[01:16:08] Badr: And if you can keep your cash until Sundays, you know, that's kind of like the, not the unspoken rule, that's like the well known rule on Sundays, you get your best deals, people don't want to carry things back, they're trying to offload. If you can keep your cash until then, I mean, you probably could sweep.

[01:16:22] Badr: Alright, last three. I highly advise bringing a change of shirt and or deodorant, a rain jacket is clutched, you know, something light. That Saturday, like I told you, walking through the rain. And then, you know,

[01:16:35] Chris: walking into the sea. Imagine us walking through downtown Manhattan, 11 blocks, in the pouring rain.

[01:16:40] Chris: And

[01:16:41] Badr: then walking through the sea of people. The first Thing I thought aside from holy shit where all these people come from was holy shit This place is going to stink. Yeah in about two hours if it hasn't already I think maybe I was used to it But it would have been nice if I had like a change of shirt to like a dry shirt or something Some do or whatnot because it kind of I started a Saturday just like kind of pissed.

[01:17:02] Badr: I was like, I'm wet You know, I know I stink, I'm hungry, and uh, big shoutouts to, to Kyle, uh, Kyle Willis, I, he was kind enough to let me just crash, to sit at his, you know, at his booth, and just let me eat my sandwich and dry off, it was a game changer. Um, obviously bring a water bottle, I feel like that's kind of, um, Uh, that's kind of obvious.

[01:17:23] Badr: Definitely don't want to be, like, dehydrated. Because, you know, you kind of forget to do that. You know, like, you forget, oh, I should probably drink some water. Oh, I should probably eat. Like, your energy and you're going off the adrenaline and just being around all, like you said, sensory overload. You forget to do the basic things.

[01:17:38] Badr: Like, I should go use the bathroom. I should go, you know, wash my hands. I should, you know, eat. I should, you know, have some water. So, um, you know, you got to take care of yourself. Yeah, you really do.

[01:17:46] Chris: And honestly, like the sodas and the energy drinks, if you want to drink one in the morning with like breakfast to kind of get your energy high.

[01:17:52] Chris: Sure. I get it. But like, do not drink a monster at 2 2 PM on Saturday at New York comic con. You're going to tie yourself out. You're going to ruin the rest of your day doing that. Because it's a lot of walking. You're putting in like, I mean, if you're walking as much as Bader and I, you're putting in like 20, 000 steps.

[01:18:06] Chris: I don't even know how I didn't even look, but I know it was well over like 20, 000 each day.

[01:18:10] Badr: And the last thing I have on my list of a piece of advice is bring a book bag that you know, you can carry. Okay, no matter how comfy you think your book bag is, it's got, you know, the, the mesh, you know, the extra padding and all that, I guarantee you, no matter how good, and this goes towards your shoes too, no matter how good you think your book bag or shoes are, they get heavy, and after you've been walking around for four or five hours, it don't matter how comfy they should be, they just get really heavy.

[01:18:35] Badr: I had brought, I utilized a two tote kind of, uh, I had my backpack, and I had a tote, like the tote was where I was putting in like, The merchant things, my book bag had, you know, the food, my jacket, water and things like that. So just kind of like to distribute like the heaviness where it's not all in my book bag.

[01:18:52] Badr: I've got something handheld. Some of the sounds pretty obvious, but I'm telling you now when you get there and you're, you're, you know, part of the excitement and hype and the adrenaline kicks in, you forget very obvious things. For my first time, I'm pretty happy about how I went about it outside of some of those regrets and things I was mentioning.

[01:19:08] Badr: But you leaned into

[01:19:08] Chris: pretty much, I think everything you covered is exactly spot on. And I would, I would give a lot of that same advice. The number one thing, and you kind of spoke about it there at the end is take care of your feet, take care of your back. Those are number one and number two. I think if I were to, and again, we were both in the military, so that's kind of like.

[01:19:26] Chris: Uh, mission number one is those two things. Cause if you're, if you can walk and you can carry shit, you're going to be good. But if I were to give you the best piece of advice, get you a pair of on clouds, everybody listening right now on clouds, one of the best running slash walking shoes you can buy. And then I know this sounds silly because a lot of us don't have this problem, but.

[01:19:43] Chris: Dr. Scholl's odorex spray. Now, I don't have like naturally stinky feet, but I'll tell you the number one thing you don't want your feet doing when you're at these conventions is to sweat because that's when you start to chafe. That's when you start to, um, again, smell. Yeah, Dr. Scholl's odorex for sure.

[01:20:00] Chris: Invest in that. I, every day I give it to people that I room with like it's, it's a great kind of equalizer and then some really comfortable shoes. Again, I recommend on clouds are, are my two main pieces of advice along with that. I will say. Uh, if you're going to get things signed, go to cgc. com. They have these really great kind of, uh, it's like a bag and board openable.

[01:20:22] Chris: That's not a word, but you know what I mean? Like it's like a window bag and board. So that way when you're getting things signed, you can quickly hand it to the creator. They can open the window, sign it, and then close the window right there and it doesn't smear. You don't have to take it out of the bag and board.

[01:20:34] Chris: You don't have to worry about your cover getting attached to tape or whatever. It's a really quick thing. And, uh, it's saved my ass many of times of getting a quick signature.

[01:20:43] Badr: Very good advice. Well, I also feel like we almost sound kind of like a mom. Like, make sure you pack your deodorant and drink your water.

[01:20:49] Chris: Two pairs of underwear.

[01:20:51] Badr: Let's wrap this up with a bang, alright? Let's talk about some of the cool merch we got, some of the exclusives, what we picked up, our New York Comic Con haul. Most of the listeners know that I am terrible at just picking three things. You know, if I'm like, hey guys, uh, let's do three things.

[01:21:08] Badr: I'm like, but I'll do ten. Give seven. Yeah. I tried to, uh, to do good on this one, so. Um, Chris, I'm gonna go first and then I want to hear yours. Sure. First and foremost, I think the first thing I bought the whole weekend was, and this is probably where you might want to go to the video version of the podcast.

[01:21:24] Badr: But I'm going to try and bring my best to describe it. I picked up, uh, David Harper had created from off panel, uh, had created these zines, these little zines that included a bunch of like. Detailed interviews, uh, he had, uh, Kyle Starks do like a NBA, like, comic book draft. Like, you know, if he was making like a basketball team with comic book folks.

[01:21:46] Badr: I'm a big fan of Off Panel and the, the content that he puts out, the work that he puts in, the aesthetic. So for him to, like, make a physical book that, you know, showcases his work and the interviews and, you know, Just as, you know, be able to kind of flex, like, yeah, I can get Kyle Starks to do a little article for the zine.

[01:22:03] Badr: It was really cool. It's really well done. It was ten bucks and it was like something I was actively looking for. So to like finally meet him and also like support, uh, was really humbling. That was,

[01:22:13] Chris: uh, one of the things, sorry, that was one of the things I said to him whenever I met him was that we look up to him.

[01:22:17] Chris: You know, us, we're, I, it's so weird. We, and we talked about this during the panel. What is success in comic book podcasting? I don't know, Botter, I don't know if you know. But I think whatever it is, David is there, he, he has that special, he's got the special sauce that we're all kind of striving for and we all look up to him.

[01:22:36] Chris: And I told him that, and he, you know, graciously and humbly was like, no, you guys are doing amazing work too. Don't, you know, don't sell yourself short and, uh, you know, all the power to him and off panel, what he's doing with, with both off panel and sketched is truly like, it's for us, it's our, totally

[01:22:49] Badr: our jam for sure.

[01:22:51] Badr: And, and just to flex a little bit, cause, cause you're right. He has someone, I definitely, you know, admire and look up to his work. He signed it, uh, to Botter the best, the best podcaster I know, which will, you know, meant a lot to me for him to like sign that and, you know, it seemed like he meant it so , so no, I, it was, it was really humbling.

[01:23:09] Badr: He's at least a really good liar. . Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He said it was smile all. I did stop by the massive publishing booth and I picked, shout out to what, not picked this. Uh, yeah. Shout out to whatnot. Shout out to Kevin Elli. Uh, I think, uh, Trevor Richardson, uh, was his name too, the artist that was there, but I picked up this Harriet Tubman Demon Slayer comic.

[01:23:26] Badr: Oh, very nice. That is this, uh, this is, um, oh my God, what does it cover? Homage. Homage to? Captain America number one. Captain America number one. Jack Kirby, Joe Simon. Yes. So it's Harriet Tubman, uh, as a demon slayer, punching Hitler in the face. And you know what? Sometimes you've got to be reminded there's pure evil in this world that deserves a punch in the

[01:23:43] Chris: face.

[01:23:43] Chris: Hitler always deserves those hands. It doesn't matter who it is. If you see a Hitler, punch him in

[01:23:47] Badr: the face. So I picked this issue up because I love the cover. It was one of their variants. Uh, it was awesome to meet, you know, the massive publishing team and they're making a Disney Plus series out of this.

[01:23:56] Badr: So I was kind of like, well, damn. What? Yeah, we know what I'm saying. It's like, I don't know if it's a Disney Plus series. I'm pretty sure it is. But I know they're making like, uh, Either an animated or a live ac it's probably not live action, but animated. So I had to pick that up. So that is one of the comics I picked up.

[01:24:11] Badr: Oh my god, I can't wait to share this one. This is an art book that might as well that tricked me into thinking it was like a nice trade paperback. Not to take anything away, but it's by, uh, Ben Caldwell. He has these, and Chris, honestly, me flipping through it like this doesn't do it justice, but I'll try my best.

[01:24:28] Badr: It is this art book of just amazing doodles and sketches. And he had like, I swear to you, like 10, at least 10 of them. Wow. And I guess this is like something he does every year. He just makes like a new art book. And they, they look like giant treasury size edition comics. There's over 200 pages of this, of just his imagination on paper.

[01:24:50] Badr: And this one is from 2018 to 2019. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. And every single one of them looked amazing. Like they got a front and back cover, a nice glossy finish on the cover. Like those are quality. Definitely. Yeah. He's definitely sketching. Like, you know. Original stuff, but also he's got, you know, like some Marvel stuff, DC things in here and every single book had a different like style and flair and this one, uh, I forget what was the, the theme for this one, but I mentioned like, Hey, is this supposed to be like a, one of those old Marvel, um, I remember when, uh, Marvel, I think it was epic, like they were having like adult magazines, their take on heavy metal.

[01:25:22] Badr: He's like, Oh, exactly. So yeah, Ben Caldwell, he's on Instagram does amazing work. I almost bought like three of those books, but I was like, yo, that was when I started cash. I was like, nah, just one of these. Yeah. So that, uh, Boondocks had a booth at the Oh, no kidding. You know what I'm saying? And this was something that Drew found on Friday and was like, Dude, I know how much you love Boondocks.

[01:25:44] Badr: They're right here. I made it a mission. They had shirts. They had merch I've never seen for Boondocks. But I went with this sticker pack. Um, and you know, I love me some Boondocks. So to see Boondocks represented there was awesome. I'm also a massive Gundam fan, so I picked up this, uh, Zaku model kit, which apparently was a New York Comic Con exclusive, uh, it was called the Gundam base, is the little section they had, and you had to get in line to go shopping, but it really felt like you were in a store that might have been based out of Japan, like the, the model kits they had, some of them, like, only had Japanese writing on it, and, you know, just to be surrounded by other Gundam fans and hearing, like, you know, like, I'm getting the high grade, I'm getting the master grade, uh, so yeah, I had to, I had to pick that up.

[01:26:27] Badr: And I'm going to show off two, two, uh, prints I got, because I got a ton of prints, but I just limited myself. This is making me

[01:26:33] Chris: really excited to just see you with all of your New York stuff, because I know exactly how this feels.

[01:26:39] Badr: So I went to Kyle Higgins booth, and he had these limited, um, edition, Uh, Radiant Black posters.

[01:26:47] Badr: Yeah,

[01:26:47] Chris: they're

[01:26:48] Badr: like, aren't they glow in the dark? Well, this one, this one is Blacklight. Okay. So, you know, it features the, you know, it features Radiant Black on there. And he had a couple of others where it was like more of a portrait headshot, but I had to go for the Blacklight, because it'll go great with the Jim Rugg Blacklight I got.

[01:27:02] Badr: And it's pretty big, too. He signed it. Kyle Higgins was really awesome, too. And, uh, it sounds like he was interested in coming on the pod. I was like, hey, man, I think Radiant Black is one of the best. Comic books and superhero comics out there. You're doing great. So, well,

[01:27:13] Chris: speaking of, uh, Lance from the comic book keepers, that cover was actually a San Diego comic con exclusive from last year, and I, I was able to grab one for him and I shipped it to him because that's what we do here.

[01:27:23] Chris: Everybody, we look out for the pot, our podcasting friends. He's a giant

[01:27:27] Badr: radiant black fan. Damn right. All right. And then maybe one of my most prized possessions is the last one I'll show, but I got two prints from Sanford green. of rappers. One is of Nas and the other one is of another one of my favorite rappers ever, uh, Rakim.

[01:27:42] Badr: You know, like Sanford Green might be the most perfect artist for someone like me that loves hip hop and comics because he just embodies it so well. And yeah, I had to pick these up. They were affordable and he signed them and he was just such a good conversationalist. And I definitely want to get Sanford Green on for

[01:27:59] Chris: sure.

[01:27:59] Chris: I think that that's like one of the true benefits of these experiences is you can make. True fan. Like I will say this every convention I go to, I become a giant fan of a new creator because of an experience that I have with them during that convention. Like you can, you can. Uh, just as easily create like a long time fan as possibly ruin it.

[01:28:19] Chris: But like that again, very rarely ever happens more times than not. Like one that comes to mind is like Daniel Sampir from San Diego. Back in 2022, we had this great conversation. Of course, now he's doing a wonder woman with Tom King. He's just one of the nicest guys ever. Uh, and this actually kind of ties into really, because again, I talked to earlier how I didn't really kind of invest in exclusives this time around.

[01:28:38] Chris: I didn't really like go out and search for stuff, but that doesn't mean I didn't buy things, everybody. Cause that's what I do. I still buy things. And, uh, one of the things that I, uh, well, okay, I wasn't, I didn't buy this. I'll be, I'll be honest. I was gifted this, uh, a great. Interaction that I had from that same convention, San Diego, 2021 was, uh, I worked Sweeney boo, who is the artist on Harley Quinn currently with a teeny Howard, who's writing it.

[01:29:03] Chris: I worked that booth with her quite a bit that weekend and we just totally meshed. I mean, she came onto the podcast a couple of weeks later and we've been great friends since then. And she told me, cause I asked her very offhandedly. I was like, Hey, do you ever do any commissions? And she's like, well, not really, because I'm mostly a digital artist.

[01:29:18] Chris: And I was like, okay, no biggie. Like we honestly just kind of moved on. This year at Sandy or excuse me, this year at New York comic con, I walk up to her to say hi and she, she gives me a hug. We're kind of chatting and she goes, Oh my gosh, I have something for you. And she goes around and she's small.

[01:29:32] Chris: She's like maybe barely five foot. She walks around to her booth and she pulls out an original sketch by her of Ms. Marvel. Of Kamala Khan and she hands it to me. She said, this is for you. This is, I know you, we talked about it at San Diego and I want to give you something. I'm just so happy that you brought me on the show and that we're friends.

[01:29:47] Chris: So she handed it to me and I have that posted on social media. It was truly just one of those core con memories.

[01:29:54] Badr: Good stuff. I knew that we were going to go long. I was like, you know, we're covering a lot of things, uh, two hours in. I hope the listeners enjoyed an almost two hour New York comic con recap.

[01:30:05] Badr: Um, hopefully it inspires some of you to maybe consider going for the first time next year. Uh, maybe some of you, uh, are like, Fuck that, I'm just going to enjoy. You know, uh, Botter and Chris doing these recaps and living vicariously through them. We'll do it, too. We'll do it every year. Yeah, exactly. Look, if you want me to go to New York Comic Con every year and then get on the mic and blab about a good time, I'll do that.

[01:30:26] Badr: You know, that's a responsibility I'll take. But regardless, Chris, I really appreciate you finding time. I know that you were overcoming Con Crud and all that stuff. Thank you so much for, you know, getting better and then hopping on the podcast and talking to you at Comic

[01:30:38] Chris: Con. Happy to be here. Happy to have spent a large portion of that con with you.

[01:30:43] Chris: Uh, we had a great time. Uh, you, I mean, you were as great as I thought you would be. And I think, I think every night that we hung out, we had, we had. Uh, you know, great conversation, great time. Uh, now I just gotta get you to San Diego next year. San Diego and New York. And then eventually working for Comic Sketch Art.

[01:30:56] Chris: And then have you moved to Indiana. There's a lot of things I need to, I need to just

[01:31:00] Badr: make sure happen. Yeah, that's funny. You're like, uh, and then I gotta wear your skin. Yeah. Take over your life. That's funny. That's good stuff. Alright. Chris, uh, one more time. Do you wanna go ahead and plug Oblivion Bar?

[01:31:09] Badr: Where can people find you? What do you got lined up? What do you got

[01:31:11] Chris: lined up? The building bar podcast, a weekend review of all things nerd where my co hosts and BFF, Aaron Knowles, and I get together each week and just kind of talk about whether, you know, again, the weekend review of nerd, it could be a movie review.

[01:31:23] Chris: It could be a television review, series review, whatever, a creator interview. We do battle Royales. We do anime. We have a new anime segment coming up called midnight rewind. We have comic spotlights. We have so many things planned for the future. It was essentially just to kind of round out. 2023 stay tuned.

[01:31:39] Chris: We're going to have great stuff regardless of what we have planned. It, you know, I'm always very proud of what we put out with, you know, our content over at the oblivion bar. So that's oblivion bar podcast. com. Go check us out. We're on all the streaming platforms. Uh, check us out on YouTube, youtube. com forward slash a billion bar pod.

[01:31:55] Chris: And, uh, yeah, be on lookout for more new

[01:31:57] Badr: things. Done deal. And for you listeners, I'm going to have links to all of that in the show notes so you can give Chris and the Beloved Bar a follow. I also want to give a big shout out to Aaron, your co host, who I finally got to meet for the first time. And I'm convinced that Aaron and Drew were separated at birth.

[01:32:12] Badr: Alright, that is a theory I'm going to prove one day. Kindred spirits. Yeah, yeah, exactly. If you enjoy me and Drew's banter, then I guarantee you're gonna enjoy Chris and Aaron's banter. Once again, big shout outs to everyone I met at New York Comic Con. I apologize if I didn't call you by name or call you out by name.

[01:32:29] Badr: It was one of those busy weekends, but I truly appreciate everyone that I got to meet for the first time and shake hands and meet in person. With that being said, there you have it, Shortbox Nation. That is the end of the show. Thank you so much for sticking with us. If you're hearing this part... You're someone that I like, alright?

[01:32:45] Badr: You're someone that finishes the job, alright? The real ones. Yeah, you know what I'm saying, if you're still listening to this, if you're hearing this outro, I truly appreciate it. If you enjoyed this episode, I'm asking for, I'm asking just for one small favor, alright? Help us spread the word. Share this episode with a friend, or someone that you know that loves comics as much as we do.

[01:33:01] Badr: And if you're feeling extra generous, you know, if it's not too much, if I'm not being too pushy, feel free to leave us a review on Apple podcast or Spotify. It won't cost you anything, maybe just a couple of nice words and some time, but it does go a long way. Now, as far as next week's episode, I can go ahead and share that.

[01:33:17] Badr: Uh, we've got maybe a top five time. I don't know. It's a, it's a hall of fame, short box interview, because me and Cesar had the opportunity to interview. Acclaimed horror author and amazing comic writer himself, Joe Hill. We talked for almost two hours. Maybe I, I, it was damn near two hours, uh, about horror comics, the psychology of a horror, we talked about his imprint in Hill House Comics, we talked about Locke and Key, we talked about ghosts, he told us like a really epic ghost story, it was by far one of the best interviews we've done and I can't wait for everyone to hear that next week, just in time for the spooky season.

[01:33:50] Badr: If you're a Patreon subscriber, you're gonna hear that, uh, very soon, alright, you're gonna hear that days before everyone else, so if you're not a Patreon subscriber, hopefully that is, you know, a little hint hint to hop on the Patreon. Bandwagon at patreon. com slash, yeah, patreon. com slash the short box.

[01:34:06] Badr: If you want more New York Comic Con coverage and, and content, there's that episode of me and Drew, the day two recap. Hey, I'm

[01:34:12] Chris: over there, by the way.

[01:34:12] Badr: Come join me. It's fun. Yeah, yeah, Chris is there. I'm on Chris's as well. They've got a great, uh, Bolivian Bar's, Bolivian Bar's got a great Patreon page as well.

[01:34:21] Badr: But, enough of the shameless plugs. Thanks once again for listening. You guys do what you do best. Continue to make mine and your short box. Take care of yourselves, read your comics, and I'll catch you next week. Peace.