In the runup to King Con, the Brooklyn-based comics show held at the Lyceum in Park Slope this weekend, it was asked many times, “Do we NEED another New York comics show?” Starting with the Big Apple Con back on October 1, running through New York Comic Con the next week and on to the Brooklyn Comics and Graphic Fest on December 4, King Con made a total of four cons in three months, not really a heavy workload for a comics town as huge as NYC, but definitely a strain on the wallets of attendees, especially after the NYCC epic. (New York’s fifth show is MoCCA Fest in April.) So from the outset you have a show with big questions hanging over it.

Friends had asked me to come out for various events and I was slotted for the Kids Comics panel on Sunday morning so I ended up going out on three out of four days. What I saw was a scene with enough energy to overcome a lot of logistical mistakes and misconceptions to still create a fun and informative afternoon activity. But it didn’t answer the fundamental question of what King Con’s mission should be.