NYCC is a pop culture convention. It programs for everything to attract everyone. While the consensus of comics is mostly superhero comics, there were many “small press” publishers there. Not small as in size, but small as in the spirit of alternative comics. Random House had an amazing selection of alternative titles, including Carol Lay’s “The Big Skinny” and the wonderful Flight anthologies (not to mention the Pantheon imprint). HarperCollins hosted a signing for C.M. Butzer’s “Gettysburg”. First Second, part of Macmillan, has a catalog smaller than Oni or NBM or Top Shelf, but just as amazing. (They just announced that they will publish the next two books of Scott McCloud.) And then, right next to the expansive Artists Alley were numerous small press/self published companies.

So, if you count the Artists Alley, the micro-press publishers, the alternative presses, I would say the amount of exhibitors rivals or surpasses the number of exhibitors at MoCCA. The big difference? The size of the pond. But that’s good in some ways, as there are a lot more people attending NYCC than MoCCA, and many of those people are not die-hard superhero fans. Many stopped reading comics as teens, but with the explosion of graphic novels in the mass medium, many are rediscovering the medium.

Of course, what many do not notice is the number of independent/alternative cartoonists which are also working for Marvel or DC, like Brian Michael Bendis or Abby Denson or Kyle Baker.