Well, Team Beat is out in force, scurrying around Javits, meeting people we know, discovering stuff we kinda knew about but forgot, and just immersing ourselves in comics culture!

So, here are some pictures from yesterday, taken by yours truly via my cellphone, before the ICV2 Conference convened.

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Hall 1-B before the autographing and bookstore are added.
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The view from the (brand new) grand staircase which leads to the Third Floor. On the right can be seen the “King of the Road Cars” in a temporary parking space. Still lots of construction going on, but the Third Floor exhibition halls are done. No more tunnels!
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The main entrance. Most of the major booths (“Grand Central”) are to the right… Marvel, Boom/Archaia, video games… (Yes, Boom has one of the largest publisher booths on the floor.)
The view north, of Halls 3A-C.  Noon Wednesday.  No carpet yet.  Marvel is the big red area on the left, with the future parking spot of "Lola".  (There's another Corvette on the floor, in the Chevy display, but it doesn't have the style of fifty years ago.)
The view north, of Halls 3A-C. Noon Wednesday. No carpet yet. Marvel is the big red area on the left, with the future parking spot of “Lola”. (There’s another Corvette on the floor, in the Chevy display, but it doesn’t have the style of fifty years ago.)
The Archaia/Boom booth, at Noon Wednesday. To the right, the "storeroom" for a videogame company takes up half of their booth.
The Archaia/Boom booth, at Noon Wednesday.
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A shot down the middle.
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The view south, of Hall 3-E.
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That big tree house is the Hyundai Walking Dead promo.
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The front half of 3-E. Where the cool kids hang out.
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DC’s Superman display. On the far right is DC’s meeting room.
Only the first two costumes (Christopher Reeve) are ready.
(What? No “Adventures of Superman”?)
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The “stockyards” for Hall 1-E. Some 2400 seats await behind the black drapes.
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Hall 1-D. Some 2000 seats.
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The Bonfire Agency preaches The Gospel of the Passionates.
Yes, “mostly male” is a bit of weasel wordage, but that’s Madison Avenue wordage, not Bonfire’s.
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Yes, sometimes the information faucet is a fire hose. Or a beer bong. Or a morphine drip. And sometimes it’s Angel Falls, where the water never quite reaches the jungle floor.

And that was that… except for Abram’s fall preview, where I got to meet some great creators (Dan Mishkin, Frank Cammuso, Deb Aoki), pitched a few ideas to Abrams (Pee Wee’s Playhouse Fun Pack, a comic strip collection), and ate and drank and was merry.  Then I schlepped home two bags of books and previews, all quality stuff!  (But, alas, no advance copies of Wimpy Kid.)

A nice way to ease into NYCC…