Comic Con East, the greatest-mash up of pop culture on the East Coast, took place this weekend at the Javits Center in West Manhattan, which welcomed tons
of geeks, nerds and fans of everything under the sun and then some.

“I’ve been going to New York Comic Con for three years and I’ve watched it grow and grow and this year had to have been the busiest year yet,” Tim Rhone,
a senior TV and film major, said. “One of the shining moments of this year’s convention had to have been the 10th anniversary Firefly panel.”

The name Comic Con has become synonymous with Comic Con International (SDCCI), a West Coast comic convention that started in 1970 in San Diego and has since become the largest event of its kind in the country.  New York Comic Con (NYCC), which was started in 2006, is run by the organization ReedPOP and is the second-largest comic convention in the country.  The event has hosted more than 100,000 fanatics from every fan group that has ever existed.  This year, the convention sold out for the first time ever, meaning no tickets would be sold on site to unlucky fans who didn’t buy them in advance.

NYCC is an eclectic mix of everything that constitutes pop culture: the shows, music and people that have defined generations such as “Star Trek, Supernatural and Dragonball Z.”  There’s something sure to excite fans in every category.

The show floor was abuzz with fan boys and girls dressed as their favorite character from various shows, a practice widely known as cosplaying. They mixed and mingled with the creators of their favorite pop phenomenons.  People cosplaying  as Deadpool and Hit-girl showed off their moves at Dance Central 4, while those dressed as characters from “Naruto” and “Bleach” rubbed elbows with the creators of “Red vs. Blue,” a machinima or video series based on the wildly successful Halo series.  Game makers showed up in force, promoting their latest AAA titles, “Assassins Creed 3” and “Tomb Raider.”  Capcom surprised many as they showed off the rebirth of the long dormant fighting legend, “Darkstalkers.”  Playable demos included “Halo 4;” its multiplayer wowed fans
as they participated in team-death matches, exhibiting the new weapons and beefed up graphics.  SONY let
players take a pass at “Sony All-Stars,” their new brawler between their iconic characters.

Marvel, a comic book giant, was promoting its latest comic event: Avengers vs. X-Men.  Also, they went over the latest big change to the Marvel Universe, the death of Charles Xavier, leader of the X-Men.  DC, a rival comic book maker, showed off its multiple new cartoons that either will or have premiered under its newest division, DC Nation.

Organizations that one would not expect to be at such a convention showed up as well, including the Wounded Warrior Project, who raise money for
veterans wounded in overseas conflicts such as the War in Afghanistan and “Geeks Out” a LGBT blog that host SNIKT,” a geek dance party,” at the
convention.

While the West Coast has SDCCI, the East Coast has NYCC, creating two of the biggest gatherings and collections of pop culture the world has ever seen, attracting and entertining people of all interests.