A Day at NY is Book Country

batyatoon and I, and many friends, took in the annual NY is Book Country street fair yesterday. As mentioned, there was the presence of both DC and Marvel for the first time this year, along with MAD, NBM Publishing, and two large NYC comic shops.

I devoted an hour to getting two autographs. First, I waited on line for ten minutes to get Peter David's signature. I had planned to buy last week's issue of Captain Marvel - as PAD had indicated on his blog that some kind of new purchase would be appreciated by Marvel's co-sponsor, Midtown Comics. Alas, they only had TPBs of this series, which I already own in pamphlet form. (I am surprised but happy to see that there are now two Capt. Marvel TPBs. For a series that was nearly cancelled, this is a nice turnaround.)

So I broke down and bought "Incredible Hulk: Ground Zero," having missed most of PAD's Hulk work anyway. I read this later in the day, and found it to be more distrubing than anything else. It's a good read, marred a bit by Todd McFarlane's artwork being a bad match for PAd's writing. However, the story ends with something of a cliffhanger regarding Betty Ross Banner. If anyone knows how her, um, condition (to keep it spoiler-free) was resolved, I'd like to know.

While I was getting my autograph from PAD, he pointed out something to fans of his noew comic, Fallen Angel. In looking for hints that Batman was making a guest appearance in disguise in the second issue, the fans were looking for obscure hints but had pretty much ignored the title of the issue, "Waning Moon." He got a kick of that, I think, though I feel a bit silly in having missed that.

After PAD, it was across the way to the loooong line get Jim Lee's signature on, among other things, the Book Country poster he drew. DC almost messed this up, as it was handing out wristbands to the first arrivals. Anyone without a wristband was not guaranteed they would get an autograph. As I was on the PAD line, I didn't know this and didn't have Batya get me a band. Happily, I was the first on line without a wristband, and I got to the front halfway through the time allotted. I thanked Jim for his work on the current Batman story arc, "Hush," and told him I was excited by his upcoming stint on Superman. Mr. Lee was wearing a shirt with the logo from the Adam West Batman TV series.

After this, we roamed around, running a lot of friends and seeing a lot of familiar faces from SF fandom. We did not but buy anything, however. The books that most of the other publishers were hawking didn't grab me at all, and seemed to be mainly pop fiction and pop non-fiction. The only big name writers at this event, as far as I know, were RL Stine, John Lithgow (writer of children's books in between acting gigs), Neil Gaiman and Art Speigelman. I would go so far as to say that Gaiman and Speigelman - the winner of the Hugo and World Fantasy Awards, and the winner of a special Pulitzer - were the most prestigious authors there. Not bad for a couple of comic book guys.

Traffic Trouble? - U Can Blame George W!

Here's one of those fun things that we get every so often in NYC becuase the UN is here and all the money is here...

---NEW YORK CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT ANNOUNCES TRAFFIC CLOSURES FOR
PRESIDENTIAL VISIT AND UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY

The New York City Police Department today announced the street closures
and other traffic issues that will occur during the President's visit
and the United Nations General Assembly this week. Due to these traffic
restrictions, drivers should expect delays in the following areas.

PRESIDENTIAL VISIT

President Bush will be arriving in Manhattan on Tuesday, September 23,
and departing on Wednesday, September 24. During his visit, his
motorcade will close parts of the FDR Drive from Whitehall Street to
East 42nd Street , as well as routes between the United Nations, the
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, and the Museum of Natural History.


UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY

The United Nations General Assembly will take place from Tuesday,
September 23, to Friday, September 26. During these days, the following
streets will be closed:

FDR Drive between 23rd and 63rd Streets
First Avenue between 40th and 49th Streets
Second Avenue between 34th and 57th Streets
42nd Street between First and Second Streets
44th Street between First and Second Streets
46th Street between First and Second Streets
48th Street between First and Second Streets

The New York City Police Department encourages the public to use mass
transit during these events. Drivers should avoid the Midtown area, or
expect significant delays and heavy congestion.---

I don't mind the UN being here that much. I don't mind a seated president visiting that much. But Dubya will be here for two days. I think the president, regardless of party of politics, should really try to do all his business here in one day. (And I did feel the same way when Clinton came to town as well. He came so often that I began to call the traffic jams in his wake "Bubbalock." Guess this time it's Dubyalock.)

Of course, I also think no sensible New yorker ever drives to work in the city.