Love them or hate them, conventions have become the industry standard for fan-engagement and giant announcements. Of course, very few fans can make it to any one con. Fortunately, Retcon Punch is there when you can’t be with our exclusive con coverage, ComicConPunch.

Drew: Day two of the NYCC, and the size of this event is starting to sink in. Patrick and I were both overwhelmed by the size of the Javits Center on Thursday, but Friday was when the fans started showing up in earnest, and it was crowded. There were very suddenly lines for events, lines for autographs, lines to use the bathroom (for girls, anyway), which meant we needed to invest significantly more time waiting to do things. It’s absolutely unavoidable for an event this size, but it made me question the utility of having events this size.

Patrick: For sure – it’s like being at an amusement park, only there aren’t any roller coasters. This is true no matter where you are, but it is especially true when you want to engage in some of the BIG PANELS being presented in room E-1 (always, E-1 by the way – if you have to ask, you should be in E-1). Panels are almost always a letdown at cons this size. You get a bunch of “announcements,” but they play more like commercials for upcoming comics than people in-the-know sharing their secrets with you. Those fans Drew mentioned eat that shit up, dutifully applauding whenever someone asks “hey, are you enjoying Forever Evil?” or “who’s excited for the return of Nightcrawler?”

But the real kicker comes in the question portion of the panels. Fans will use the opportunity to literally waste everyone’s time. (This is, mind you, on top of all the time you’re already wasted standing in line for the panel.) Twice, fans approached the microphone and asked “will you sign my comics?” Twice! This is the only time during the con they won’t be signing stuff. And then there are the ridiculously myopic questions: “I’m a big Juggernaut fan, when can I expect to see him again?” The inevitable answer is “stay tuned” but the more honest answer is “we publish 900 X-Men books, so yes, eventually you’ll see Juggernaut again.” Drew, am I being too grumpy here, or does the culture at these panels get toxic fast?

Drew: I don’t think you’re being too grumpy — fan Q and A has long been my least-favorite part of any panel, and it’s frustrating that panels this size seem to be comprised solely of plugging upcoming comics and fan questions. It makes me long for the smaller panels of the Boston Comic Con, where — in lieu of any big announcements — the moderators feel compelled to ask the panelists a few process-oriented questions before turing things over to the fans.

The fan questions are so predictable, we even joked about how someone was sure to ask about bringing Stephanie Brown back, and how it was sure to garner applause from the audience. Sure enough, it happened, but apparently DC was tired of the predictability of that, too, opting to announce that Steph would be returning in the pages of Batman Eternal, a new weekly Batman series that will be “run” by Scott Snyder. It’s an exciting piece of news, but it’s also a bit of a spoiler (no pun intended), which is how I felt about most of the announcements — wouldn’t it be more exciting to actually be surprised by her return? That’s actually how I felt about most of Marvel’s reveals, which largely consisted of new series announcements which give away the endings of Infinity and Battle of the Atom.

Patrick, you were taking notes at all of those panels: care to make any of our readers share in our spoiledness?

Patrick: Eh, I feel like most of the spoilers were in the vein of “such-and-such is still alive.” I think you might be coyly referring to the fate of the Original X-Men, which I suppose I’m happy to share in the spoilage. SPOILER: They stay in the present. Big surprise – the characters that were so popular, we had to arbitrarily travel through time to bring them into current stories, and you’re telling me that they’re too popular to send back to the past? Well, now I’ve heard everything. That spoiliness also allows for the one announcement that I actually got kind of excited about: The Trial of Jean Grey story that will be occupying the pages of Guardians of the Galaxy and All-New X-Men.

But there’s also just a shit-ass-balls-ton of information — information that all the news sites are no doubt tweeting the second it was announced. Sorting through the information live is about as unwieldy as doing so from the comfort of your couch, only… you know, not as comfortable. I was hit with the overwhelming sensation that I know nothing about X-Men, and that there is increasingly little in DC’s line-up that gets me excited.

If Thursday served to get me excited about reading comics, Friday served the opposite purpose. Drew, do you have a favorite announcement? Or even a least un-favorite?

Drew: I’m actually not sure I do — or at least, nothing more insightful than trying to describe my favorite moment from a fireworks display. I oohed and aahed along with the rest, but ultimately, these were as exciting as solicit announcements tend to be. I suppose the announcement that stood out to me most was the new Avengers World title. Not because it’s anything new — it will actually offset the fewer issues of Avengers, which will stop double-shipping after Infinity — but because of the reason for it: writer Jonathan Hickman simply can’t keep up the pace of writing every damn book. The more he joked about finally being able to go home and sleep in the same bed as his wife, the clearer it became that he wasn’t totally joking. Unlike all of the other announcements, this information wasn’t given to drum up excitement, just to explain a practical change. In an event where everything seems to be focused on the narrative, I was grateful to get any peek behind the curtain.

Whew. That was negative. Well, Saturday looks to have fewer demoralizing panels, which means we should have more time to interact with the writers and artists we came here to meet. It also promises to be less rainy, which should boost our mood in general, right?

Patrick: Probably.