New York Comic Con (NYCC) is in the books and though the show is over that doesn’t mean the fun has to end. With four full days of programming and events NYCC brings hundreds of thousands of fans each year to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan to celebrate all things pop culture from comics, anime, video games, TV, movies, collectibles, art, and of course the best artist alley there is. Additionally, with the writers’ strike over NYCC was able to finally feel like a fully formed show with a full slate of programming, top tier booths, and a tremendous amount of content over the course of the event.
Now that the dust has settled and I get to cover all the sights from the four day convention which means covering everything from the show floor, panels, offsites, and after hour events. As my coverage over the years is always expanding and I try to cover a bit of everything going on at the convention it sometimes means that I stretch myself in many different directions.
Normally I separate my collectibles article from my art galleries article however this year as I tried to cover a wider range of events I find myself with a more tighter list of booths in this space and therefore I am for this year combining my coverage of collectibles and art. The collectible figure market continues to be a strong force on the floor and though Sideshow has not been to a convention in a number of years booths like Mezco have come back to exhibiting while other booths like PureArts, Premium Collectibles Studio, and Jada Toys have stepped in to fill those shoes. These companies are producing everything from 3.75” figures with just a few points of articulation to 1/6 and 1/12 scale figures and statues.
The art market also shows no signs of slowing down with plenty of new and amazing artwork available weekly if not daily. Although some of my favorite companies were missing this year there were still many familiar faces as well as an older company, Mondo, on the floor for the first time in many years. This also doesn’t even include artists alley which features rows and rows of today’s best talent.
The breadth of available collectibles and art at NYCC is astounding with products for nearly almost every property. So let’s look at a few of these companies.
As always while I encourage you to check out every company I covered since there are so many I’ve included a list of companies covered in this article; a quick ctrl+f will shoot you over to the relevant company:
Mezco Toyz, NECA, McFarlane, Premium Collectibles Studio, PureArts, Jada Toys, Spoke Art, Jason Edmiston, Dave Perillo, Ian Glaubinger, The Art of James C. Mulligan, Mondo
Mezco Toyz
https://www.mezcotoyz.com/
Mezco Toyz, based in Long Island City, makes action figures and other collectibles based on original and licensed properties. Mezco Toyz has long been a favorite company of mine and I continue to enjoy their offerings. While they still have lots of IPs they work on they have in recent years shifted their offerings to their own Rumble Society IP with many original figures being produced in their One:12 collective line. They also had a good display of their other figure lines outside of the One:12 Collective including 5 Points, Living Dead Dolls, Mez-itz, and Mezco Designer Series lines. Recently Mezco Toyz has started to attend in-person events as well as hosting online shows running concurrently. At NYCC along with an exclusive Rumble Society Doc Nocturnal there were a smattering of new products including a Marvel Thor, Samurai Jack, Conan, The Mask, and Deadpool and Wolverine One:12 collective figures along with some sweet Batman: The Animated Series 5 points figures.
NECA
https://necaonline.com/
NECA continues ot be a powerhouse in the collectibles market. The company which has been around for close to 30 years is still at the height of popularity producing a full range of collectible action figures and prop replicas for a variety of licensed properties. They are also the parent company to a few well known names including Wizkids, Kidrobot, and Enesco. At NYCC they definitely leaned into their horror products with M3gan, Saw, Dracula, The Evil Dead, What We Do in the Shadows, and Nosferatu figures along with other lines including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Foot Clan display, Sesame Street, Beetlejuice, and Alf. Their Pee-Wee Herman figure is truly amazing.
McFarlane
https://mcfarlane.com/
McFarlane toys always has relevance in the collectors space with a line-up that includes sports figures, DC, Spawn, anime, Game of Thrones, and many more licenses. They have been in the game for many and with their DC line they continue to be relevant. While technically they did not have a booth at the show they did participate in the retailer event which was held on Wednesday before the show started. McFarlane also now has a few Marvel figures including statues of some famous covers including Hulk 340 and 345. For DC they showed of a line of Batman Cowl Busts and more DC multiverse figures.
Premium Collectibles Studio
https://collectpcs.com/
PCS works tirelessly to put out extremely high quality sculptures with superior value while maintain low edition sizes and superior value. Their award winning team of artists are producing characters from movies and TV, comics, and video games in a verity of scales and prices points. Some standouts this year continued to be their Street Fighter Characters, Scream, and Conan Statues. They also had some nice figures across a range of properties including an amazing Marvel Wolverine and Blade as well as Star Wars Darth Maul states and busts. However the main item on display was a huge Transformers diorama featuring classic scenes from Transformers: The Movie. The other item I was truly impressed by was a Soundwave figure with a truly animated paint job.
PureArts
https://www.purearts.com/
Founded in 2008 PureArts is an award winning and highly recognized company creating and selling high-end statues run by Hugues Martel. While I was introduced to them last year at NYCC it was good to see them on the floor again. For NYCC 2024 they had some of the same products as last year including a line of 1:1 replica cowls, helmets and busts as well as a few scale statues from a host of licensed IP including Warner Bros, DC, Riot Games, and more. Standouts included a ’66 Batman and Robin and Lord of the Rings Gondor replica.
Jada Toys
https://jadanextlevel.com/
While Jada Toys was a company that for many years focused only on die cast metal cars and metal figures the company has expanded into the collectible figures area. While they continue to sell metal cars and figure Jada continues to push into the collectibles figure market with a series of 6.5” figures for Street Fighter II and MegaMan. In their cars line they offer a range of scales from 1/64, 1/32, and 1/24 as well as mini dioramas and remote control vehicles. At NYCC they were showing off a Back to the Future R/C Delorean and Wednesday Thing R/C. For figures they continue to produce Street Fighter II, Mega Man, Cyberpunk 2077, Scooby-Doo, and Cereal Mascots.
CODA Curates – Spoke Art
https://www.codacurates.com/
https://spoke-art.com/
Similar to other years Spoke Art was again at NYCC with a range of posters from today’s top artists including Izzy Burton, Stephen Campanella, Tracie Ching, Rose Couch, Doaly, Krzysztof Domaradzki, Garbhán Grant, Alex Gross, Housebear (Justin Froning), Sarah Joncas, Andrew Kolb, Aaron Lea, Lit Escalates x Pierce Brown, Matt Needle, Phil Shelly, Matt Taylor, Van Orton, and more! Additionally they continue to have other items including pins and 100% Soft Vinyl figures. Their Gareth Goblin King from Labyrinth and Tacie Ching’s Studio Ghibli line were standouts for me from the show.
Jason Edmiston
http://jasonedmiston.com
The Eyes Without a Face (EWAF) master was back with new prints in his series including David Dastmalchian, Chappell Roan, Lady Gaga, Godzilla, and a massive timed edition King Kong. Also available were smaller horror houses prints.
Dave Perillo and Ian Glaubinger
https://www.daveperilloart.com
Dave Perillo continues to offer his comic style art including Peanuts and The Simpsons.
https://hasunow.com/
Sharing space with Dave was Ian Gluabinger who creates unique and vintage inspired designs for posters, character design, toys, apparel and more. Ian is also a fulltime illustrator and production designer for The RSVLTS (or Roosevelts), his clients include WWE, RSVLTS, AMC, Disney, Marvel, and Fox to name a few. His posters have a throwback feel. I especially liked his Peanuts What We Do in the Shadows print.
The Art of James C. Mulligan
https://theartofmulligan.com/
James’ art was on display on the show floor featuring his Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars art. His artwork is featured on Reavensburger Disney’s Lorcana cards. I was very impressed by his portrait series.
Mondo
https://mondotees.com/
Mondo has taken a bit of a swerve recently focusing a bit more on figures and vinyl recently but that didn’t stop the crew from being on site in their parent company Funko’s area with booth space showing off their Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Masters of the Universe figures. There were poster and vinyl releases during the convention as well.
