Last weekend, Big Apple Con, a comic book, art, sci-fi, and toy convention took place. The convention was located at the Hotel Pennsylvania, which is across the street from Penn Station.

In 1996, Frederic Greenberg, host of Great Eastern Conventions cancelled his show. Mike Carbonaro, with Metropolis Collectibles CEO, Vincent Zurzolo, quickly planned a show to replace it. Over 4,000 people attended. The show was a huge success and so were the shows that followed.

On March 5th, the convention was held again. In my opinion, it was a great show. I bought and sold vintage comics for the duration of the show. There was also cosplay. Cosplay is basically like dressing up for Halloween, except that it is superhero, comic, movie and pop culture themed. Some people spend hours and hours of time making their costumes. For some of us who are lazy, we buy costumes which can cost hundreds and even thousands of dollars for the sake of authenticity. There were panels where people held discussions about a specific predetermined pop culture theme, this along with comics, of course. There were creators/artists/writers/actors/ and other celebrity guests.

This convention was definitely a great opportunity for fans to make friends and meet new people along with reestablishing old relationships. It is enjoyable and I hope more people will get to experience it in the coming years.