NYC Comic Con draws stars, maxes out capacity

By MORGAN GIORDANO

Spiderman traded swinging from skyscrapers for subways this past weekend to get to New York Comic Con.

Although largely considered a second-class citizen in comparison to the famous San Diego Comic Con, the East Coast event exploded in size this year. The New York Times reported that the 151,000 tickets sold out within hours and the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Midtown Manhattan was packed beyond capacity.

The fledgling, 9-year-old comic convention is starting to generate some star power at its panels. George Clooney made a surprise visit to promote his new Disney movie "Tomorrowland." He toted a never-seen-before clip from the flick, freaked out co-star Hugh Laurie and joked around with the audience telling them that "It is not lost on [him] that [he was] spending my honeymoon at Comic Con" and "Since his Batman, [he] was disinvited from Comic Con."

Watch George Clooney speak on the "Tomorrowland" panel:

Other highlights of the fest included footage of "Avengers: Age of Ultron," a trailer for "Ant-Man," a new "Guardians of the Galaxy" cartoon on Disney, ABC's "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D," and "Agent Carter."

There was seriousness, however, that underlay the costumes and celebrities.

Comic Cons have come under fire in recent years for sexism. The Associated Press wrote back in July that a petition by Geeks for CONsent gathered nearly 2,600 signatures on an online petition supporting a formal anti-harassment policy at Comic Con.

NYCC focused on the issue and signs posted about the center listed an explanation for its zero-tolerance policy for harassment. This included stalking, harassing photography or recording, bathroom policing and more. The signs urged people to "be respectful, be nice, be cool and be kind to each other."

Geeks for CONsent did not put out a formal statement on the signs, but they did re-tweet a statement showing satisfaction.

If you weren't lucky enough to score tickets to the event, then live vicariously through these cosplayers and check out the best outfits from NYC and San Diego in the slideshows.

Which coast did it better? Tell us in the comments!

See images from the San Diego Comic Con 2014:

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