Back from New York Comic Con (NYCC)

My New York City virginity has ended and … well, let’s just call quits on that sentence before it gains steam.

Amy and I flew up to New York last weekend for the big convention, but even moreso to see our good friends Richard and Brian. It was my first visit to the big city, so I spent more time sight-seeing and less time behind the Top Shelf booth.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to meet up with nearly as many people as I planned to see (Casey Seijas, Rick Marshall, Jonah Weiland, Denis Kitchen, and so on).

I’d only been to smaller regional cons before (like SPX and Heroes), so the explosion of humanity inside the Jacob Javits Center was a little overwhelming. There’s something of a disconnect curve to conventions, I think. As in, the bigger the con gets, the harder it is to really connect with anyone.

NYCC ’09 registered quite high on the “no personal connection” side of the curve. Although, to be fair, I did squeeze a few minutes to make some new acquaintances.

It was very cool to meet some of the people involved with production of “The Surrogates” movie — adapted from the Top Shelf book by Robert Venditti — and to see the first screening of the trailer. The second Surrogates book, by the way, is coming out this summer.

Most of our time went to walking around the city, taking in the sights, dining at hole-in-the-wall Korean and Brazilian joints and catching up with friends.

Being a writer, of course I’ve always thought about eventually moving to New York and plugging into that scene. And while the city was impressive — the gaudy barrenness of Times Square aside — I don’t see myself ever living there.

Remember, I grew up in a town of 300 people. In New York, you bump past that many people in a couple seconds. On the disconnect curve, that’s way too high.