Lessons Learned With A New York Comic-Con Press Badge

Because today is mostly press, there is no cosplay parade to follow on the way to the Javits. I’m very lucky to not get lost.

The press lounge is exactly like a panel room but with less people, all of whom are Very Important, and more cardboard coasters for our Very Important Drinks. Sidebar: No drinks were actually served.

At the “press and pros” only panels, all of which are about libraries integrating video games into their collections and programming, I learn that somewhere there is a library that uses their computers to host a Minecraft server. Note to self–find that library.

The show floor hasn’t opened yet, which leaves me to wander the lobby and talk to cosplayers. I meet Goku and Kairi (seperate occasions) and sign up for a 5 Gum Newsletter. That’s OK, because Goku has cool hair, and the newsletter entitles me to free gum and a t-shirt. I try using my press badge to get into the show floor early, but no dice.

I have an interview with Michael Grant, who wrote the Animorphs series among other teen/young adult fiction. We talk about his new book, BZRK, which already has a huge online community consisting of a bunch of websites, even though the book doesn’t come out until February. The book is about micro-biological war. Michael tells me there are two and a half pounds of bacteria on a person at any given time. There is even some in our eyelashes.

I skip the after-parties I’ve been getting emails about for weeks, and head home to vigorously wash my eyelashes.