Pinoy comic book creators, fans gather at New York Comic Con
Every year, Filipino Americans troop to the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York to attend the New York Comic Con. Through the years, the convention has brown by leaps and bounds, with more and more people attending and enjoying the sights and sounds, mostly sights, provided by their fellow attendees and the idols they watch and follow.
We had a conversation with a FilAm single mom who makes it a point to attend with her son every year.
Jim Jimenez started doing comics in high school working at Graphic Arts Service Inc. After that, he worked in Walt Disney as an assistant animator for “Winnie the Pooh”, “Hercules”, “Thumbelina”, among others. Later on, he worked in Hanna-Barbera and then in the Philippine Animation Studio Inc. for “X-Men”, “The Mask”, “Biker Mace from Mars”, among others. Dennis Crisostomo is the group head and editor in Epik Studios. He was able to work with various U.S. publishers such as Majesco Entertainment for “Advent Rising”, Devil Due Publishing for “Forgotten Realms”, Random House/DelRey for “Dark Wraith of Shannara”, and Dynamite Entertainment for “Vampirella”. He is the illustrator of the inside pages of “Republika”, which was launched in Asia Pop Comic Con 2017, and worked on a few chapter pages on other Epik titles such as “Pedro Penduko: The Legend Begins”, “Bernardo Carpio”, and “Osyana”.
What makes you come back to the comic con year after year?
The first year I decided to go to Comic Con was really because of my fascination with the show. I wanted to know what the hype was about and experience it for myself. Then year after year, this became one of many annual bonding events for me and my son. We’ve been going for 5 years. I am glad that as he grows up, he can have all these fun, amazing memories to look back on and that I am able to be there with him and share them. I hope he continues to go every year because he wants to become a comic book/graphic novel artist someday. Who knows that maybe in 5-10 years, he will be part of the panels on Comic Con or have his own booth at Artist Alley?
Giselle Yengo &Jaryx Ringor pose with a fellow cosplayer at the New York Comic Con
What would you consider as the highlight for you and your son this year?
Honestly, there was really no ONE highlight. Every year, the highlight is us getting a real kick of people recognizing my son’s costume and talking to him about it. He loves the social interaction and the attention. He is very creative and built his prop out of Legos and white clay. Last year, he went as Master Chief from Halo and fashioned his weapon from a cardboard box. He got so many compliments this and last year.
He also loves seeing all the new things being introduced, such as the newest video game or animated show.
What are your favorite shows/comics/characters?
Whilce Portacio is a Filipino-American comic book writer and artist noted for his work on such titles as The Punisher, X-Factor, Uncanny X-Men, Iron Man, Wetworks and Spawn. AJPress Photos by Troi Santos
His favorites change every year. He was super into Undertale, which is RPG, and he once went as Sans (from Undertale) to the Comic Con. He also went as Master Chief from Halo last year and so far, still likes the character. Of course, what kid doesn’t like Pokemon? He is a walking Pokedex!
He loves watching shows on Cartoon Network and also he started getting really into anime after he watched his first Hayao Miyazaki film.
Romel Bulanhagi displays his form at the New York Comic Con
Some parents dissuade their children from comics and cartoons – you go to the comic con with your son. What made you decide to do so?
I am a big animation fan. I grew up watching all these 80/90s cartoon shows like Voltron, X-Men, Transformers, He-Man/She-ra, and till now, I still love watching cartoons and am always fascinated with new superhero movies and shows. I love that Bryce loves it just as much as I do and I am able to talk to him about them. I honestly haven’t met a lot of parents who dissuade their children from comics and cartoons.
Fred Flores from Washington, DC enjoying the sights and sounds at the New York Comic Con
My son is a big reader and loves poring over graphic novels and books about the characters being featured in Comic Con. Again, he has always been a creative and artistic boy so allowing him to have access to comics and cartoons (all of course tempered with the appropriate age rating) inspires him to dream and see big.
I want to continue nurturing his imagination and creativity in any way I can.
Any anecdotes you can share – about comic con as a bonding with your son, meeting like-minded people, among others.
I think the fun part about Comic Con is being able to talk to him about all these cosplayers we see and figuring out who they are and then take pics of and with them. If we didn’t know who they were, we would Google and then we would see if there’s a movie or show about them and put it in our queue for a weekend movie night. The cool thing one time is that he pointed out this anime called RWBY to me and here I thought, I was the one who would be the one introducing him to the shows. But he got me hooked on RWBY and now we can talk about it over lunch and dinner.
Eva Tran, Natalia Tran, and Dahlia Tran at the New York Comic Con 2018.
As a fan, how do you think can organizers improve on the comic con?
Comic Con has definitely improved over the years. The first 2 years, it was a pain trying to get tickets. I would be on the phone or an online queue for anywhere from 30 mins to a good 2 hours. It has gotten more organized compared to when we first started going.
I only go on Sundays because it’s the only day they have kids tickets. I know the die-hard fans go the first 3 days so that will be the real gauge of whether in the recent years, the improvements have proved effective.
Elmer and Anna Concepcion take a breather at the Jacob Javits Convention Center.
