Back on February 6-8 I attended the New York Comic Con in New York City. This is the second NYCC I've gone to - the first was in 2007 - and in the intervening two years the con went from huge to gobsmackingly ginormous. Weekend passes to the show were sold out by Saturday morning, and the comics press is putting attendance figures somewhere in the 77,000 range. It showed. On Saturday, the main convention floor was PACKED, and there were times you could barely get through the aisles. (An aside: the Jacob Javitz Center, which hosted the show, was simultaneously home to the New York Times' Travel Show. I felt bad for the uptight travel types who had to stand in line for coffee next to a guy dressed like Cobra Commander or a girl in a Psylocke costume.)

NYCC, like all big comic cons, is an experience in and of itself, and it's not limited to just comics. It's also for gamers, with several different video game companies offering up playable demos of upcoming games. It's for anime/manga fans, with tons of magazines/movies/toys for sale. And it's for TV and movie fans too, as major player Pixar screened a big chunk of its upcoming summer flick "Up," and sci-fi TV shows "Fringe," "Dollhouse," and others ran panels featuring stars and writers. It's also a primo people-watching opportunity, as a sizable chunk of the attendees come dressed up as their favorite characters, and spontaneous cosplaying (that's costumed role-playing) breaks out fairly frequently. And it is hilarious.

Although I checked out a few quality professional panels, my favorite part of the con is that it makes me feel better about my own life choices. Like a trip to Wal-Mart at midnight on Friday, I left feeling secure that no matter how bad I think I'm doing, it's not nearly as bad as it could be. At least I'm not a paunchy middle-aged guy dressed like Blue Beetle walking around Manhattan in the middle of the day with my junk barely kept in check. It's life affirming, in a vaguely twisted way.

To help you feel better about yourself, or in some cases just to provide a little genuine eye candy, feast your eyes on the slideshow to the right, showcasing some of the best and worst amateur costumes of NYCC '09.