New. York. City. It was the first time in NYC as well as at New York Comic Con for this comics fan and brand-new Dark Horse Comics employee. Taking NYC in—from the looming buildings and crazy traffic to the people, people, people—felt utterly fantastic. And then to see it all echoed at NYCC—from the brilliant banners and transporting facades to the exuberant fans and brilliant creators streaming through our booth—it all just made this fan girl’s heart swell. Sigh.
When NYCC opened on Friday afternoon, Becky Cloonan, Gabriel Bá, and Fábio Moon kicked off our signing schedule, and I had a hard time playing it cool. It was that way all weekend long because there were so many awesome creators in our booth. I had to remind myself that I couldn’t think of myself as a fan with a VIP pass. I had a job to do—to put NYCC fans first and make sure they had a great time at our booth. And it was a pretty damn cool job. I sincerely enjoyed talking with Dark Horse fans (special salute to B.P.R.D. agents) and would-be fans. Thank you to everyone who came to our booth, visited with our creators, posed in our 100% Man standee, and let me talk your ear off about our comics! I had a blast, and I hope you did, too.
A lot of exciting things happened at New York, and it felt good to be a part of the Dark Horse team. We announced our upcoming Dark Horse Bookshelf App and Digital Store and gave away a bunch of free iPhone apps (please tell me you guys checked out Beasts of Burden); revealed the next stage of our DH:HD partnership with USA Today and Toshiba, consisting of five eight-page stories published exclusively on USA Today’s website (check out comics.usatoday.com); shared exciting news about Dollhouse, Buffy, Stars Wars, and Conan; and hosted a video gaming and comics panel (hosted by Blair Butler, no less) in which Mass Effect 2 lead writer Mac Walters described how his new series, Mass Effect: Evolution, beginning in January, introduces the Mass Effect universe to new readers as well as provides unparalleled insight for existing Mass Effect fans.
It was wonderful to unveil so many of our big projects at NYCC. As Dark Horse marketing coordinator Aaron Colter mused, “Being in New York and working in comics is like coming home.” I couldn’t agree more. My first con experience as a Dark Horse employee was amazing! Thanks, NY and NYCC!
-- Kari Yadro, Events and Community Manager