Thursday night’s preview at the Jacob Javits Center was strictly for VIPs only, but that alone didn’t prevent thousands of local hobbyists from heading to the west side for the 2011 New York Comic Con. The convention opens to the remainder of the public today at 10am in a massive celebration of all things nerdy- from video games to anime, super heroes to their action figures, and enough nostalgia to make you wish you could be a kid again.

There’s the life-sized action figure boxes where fans can pose for pictures.  There’s the typical cavalcade of comic vendors dishing out some of the most rare collectibles available anywhere. There’s a ton of massively constructed gaming preview sites from Capcom, Activision, and Rockstar Games. There’s an Artist Alley to meet a ton of comic and graphic artists, or to simply admire their craft. There are a ton of action figures. You can even buy a terricloth Rocky robe!  More importantly, there are fans dressed up as characters trolling around the space, willing to pose for pictures of any kind! 

Although we got in early for a sneak peek at everything Comic Con has to offer, the rest of the weekend is jam-packed with activities, with panels, celebrity signings, and interactive games.  Mentioning all of the fantastic sounding events here would likely require us to purchase a new server, so you’re better off visiting the convention’s site here. The highlights of the weekend though, aside from taking in all of the sights the convention has to offer and the massive collection of items for purchase are the following: 

Friday, October 14th-

Batman: Arkham City- 12:15pm- Get a preview of the new super hero game with the voice of Batman (Kevin Conroy) and Claudio Sanchez, frontman of Coheed & Cambria

Robot Chicken- 5:15pm- Creators Seth Green, Matthew Senreich, Doug Goldstein and Zeb Wells gather to preview season 5.5 and discuss the Adult Swim series

Jay and Silent Bob Get Old- 7pm- Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes perform a live podcast, which requires a special event ticket

Saturday, October 15th-

AMC’s The Walking Dead- 5:15pm- The creator, cast, and producers preview season two and have a panel discussion about the show’s successful first season

Marvel Studios: Marvel’s The Avengers- Perhaps the most highly anticipated event- a panel with some of the stars from the film- Captain America, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, and Thor- previewing never before released footage

This year’s Comic Con offers you the opportunity to meet and greet some of the stars you grew up watching. Lou Ferrigno, Mark Hamill, Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes, Chad Michael Murray, Kevin Sorbo, and even Judah Friedlander and Rose McGowan will be on hand, to interact with guests throughout the weekend.

Hopefully you aren’t planning on tackling the entire Comic Con experience in one day, because we can tell you first hand- there is simply too much to see. As soon as you arrive, make sure to grab a free copy of the program which has a map of the massive space, a weekend schedule, and a load of information that you probably didn’t know would interest you. Although this is our initial foray into covering Comic Con (we’ll be back at it tonight), we grabbed a couple of shots of things (and people) that caught our eye in our brief visit to the preview. But rest assured, we underestimated it- and now that we know what to expect, we’ll be donning our capes and wigs, and maybe even a sword, as we return to take the 2011 Comic Con on one-on-one.

- Jane Van Arsdale