Thousands of comic fans descended upon Midtown Comics Downtown today in the hopes of purchasing tickets to the upcoming New York Comic Con.
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The tickets are otherwise unavailable and this is an exclusive sale, the combination of which which led people to line up since early morning yesterday, trying to improve their chances of claiming their own golden ticket. As of 3:00 p.m. today the line still stretched three blocks from the Fulton Street entrance, with fans patiently waiting while they were called into the store 10 at a time.
"It's been pretty crazy," said Andrew Cohen of Midtown Comics. "We definitely got a larger number than anticipated. Last year about a hundred people camped out overnight for tickets and this year about a thousand people camped out. It wasn't something we weren't necessarily recommending, but it happened."
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Stepping foot in the store, you wouldn't assume that this was a place that had just seen thousands of people walking through it. It was remarkably calm and well-organized, perhaps a testament to the hardcore fans that were patient enough to wait hours to get a ticket.
Sadly, your chances for a ticket are dwindling with every hour. "We already capped the line because we still have a couple of hundred waiting," said Cohen. "We got well over 2,000 people here today, and are trying our best to get everybody in here and get the tickets they want."
But there's still hope! Midtown Comics will be selling tickets at all three of their stores tomorrow, August 8, the locations of which can be found on their official site. Three-day passes are completely sold out but one-day, four-day, and Kids-Day passes are all available, as well as Super Week Tickets.
What's Super Week? "It's basically SXSW but for comic books." Cohen explained. The whole week leading up to Comic Con you can go to participating bars and venues that give discounts to anyone who has the Super Week badge. Midtown is participating and you get 10% off if you show up with a badge. It's another big reason there are a lot of people here wearing Super Week shirts, too."
"It's been pretty crazy, but it's been a good time so far."
Outside, tourists gawked at the enormous line winding through the alleys of downtown Manhattan, wondering what could compel individuals to wait outside in the heat.
"I've been here for three hours," chuckled one person waiting in line, who was carrying a folding chair and standing around with a group of friends who each had their own.
Will it be worth it, though, I queried?
"Oh, definitely," he replied. "What's better than comics?"
The New York Comic Con will take place this year from October 9 to 12 at the Javits Center in NYC.
