NYCC Wrap-up

Both Newsday and USA Today followed up on the New York Comic Con this morning. USA Today focused mostly on movie news:

Footage from A Scanner Darkly, director Richard Linklater's sci-fi film that blends live action with animation. Though the movie is scheduled to hit theaters July 7, producer Tommy Pallotta told the crowd he wasn't sure how widely it would be distributed. "They're not sure how to sell it."

A deal is in the works to make a live-action Archie movie, says Archie Comics chairman and publisher Michael Silberkleit. As for casting, he says, the company hopes to "conduct a reality-show-type search for Betty and Veronica."

As well as celebrity appearances:

The celeb quotient: Actress Milla Jovovich dropped by to promote her action flick Ultraviolet, opening Friday. And feminist icon Gloria Steinem was touting Carrie Giver, a comic book whose heroine can be in two places at once.

They also mentioned the Batman/Spawn comic. Meanwhile, Newsday also picked up on Steinem's appearance:

But save the Comic Book Guy references from "The Simpson's" because women's movement pioneer Gloria Steinem was among 35,000 people who stopped by the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center this weekend for what was touted as the biggest comic book show ever to hit the city.

Steinem made an appearance to promote "Carrie Giver," a new comic about a superhero with powers of ESP and astral projection. The character defends mothers and other caregivers from various evil onslaughts.

"I love the atmosphere," said Steinem, herself a "Wonder Woman" fan, "because it's an atmosphere of possibilities and of imagination."

And covered the overcrowding issue:

"We only sold about 4,500 tickets [for Saturday] in advance and what happened was we were just overrun with people who just showed up to buy tickets," said Greg Topalian, the director of the show. "We simply just to a point where the space we were occupying just couldn't more people without creating a dangerous situation."

He said at least 400 people who had purchased tickets in advance for Saturday were turned away, along with several thousands who showed up at the door hoping to get tickets.

People who made it into the show have said they had a good time. Those who didn't, of course, have been a little pissed.