Day 0 and Day 1 of New York Comic Con 2026 were packed – with events up in the Professional area, and down on the floor. Tuckered out as I am from battling through both, a few notes.
Retailer Day kicked off at the reasonable hour of 11 am on Wednesday and saw a steady stream of publisher presentations broken up with keynote speeches by Stephanie Phillips, Todd McFarlane and Steve Wacker.
I think it’s fair to say the spotlight was on Marvel Comics with their new leadership and impending move. John Perretti and Jim Nausedas started the day with the Marvel presentation building off the excitement of the Midnight launch the previous (sort of) day. The projects they presented were mostly long in the works, like a Marvel/Star Wars event, but what really got people excited was the “Marvel Brick” reprint project – a single slide of a pile of hefty tomes that promises a good sized chunk of reprints. The news was broken in 2026 fashion by YouTubers Near Mint Condition, and the line will launch with Uncanny X-Men: All New, All Different, Superior Spider-Man: Hero or Menace?, Uncanny X-Force: The Apocalypse Solution, and The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl: Eats Nuts, Kicks Butts.
The Marvel Renown line is another reprint edition aimed at keeping sturdy storylines in print, including Punisher: Suicide Run by Steven Grant,Chuck Dixon, Hugh Haynes, and Gary Kwapisz; Daredevil: The Devil in Cell-Block D by Ed Brubaker, Michael Lank, and David Aja; and All-New Hawkeye by Jeff Lemire and Ramon Perez.
Marvel perennials in print and available? Boffo idea!
Phillips delivered an inspirational speech tying together the synergy of creators, retailers and social media to help good stories find an audience.
McFarlane did McFarlane things, and it was highly entertaining.
The biggest stage was set for Wacker, making his debut at a retailer event as Editor in Chief of Marvel Comics. He touched all the necessary bases, including his own story as someone who started out working at comics shops, including the Golden Apple in LA, meeting stars and meeting stars like Jim Lee and McFarlane.
He pledged to make Marvel a place where new ideas and approaches could be tried, He mentioned that Kevin Feige had been at the most recent Marvel Comics summit, and that Feige’s veiw is that the comics should be “15 years ahead of the MCU” creating new storylines and ideas. Wacker also said that “You’re gonna see names on Marvel books next year and beyond that haven’t been on Marvel in a long time. And some that have never been on Marvel at all. I do not believe in a house style. And I think to compete… In 2026, our tastes need to be broad, not thin.”
It was all what people wanted to hear about a reënergized Marvel. Top Marvel Studios execs Brad Winderbaum and David Abdo were there to hear the talk, and coupled with Feige’s clear interest in Marvel Comics, it all seemed to indicate broader corporate support for Marvel Comics.
Of course it’s early days, and still just talk…but there’s no shame in being hopeful.
The thing is….everyone wants a strong Marvel again. Other presentations reinforced the idea that comics shop sales are still doing well, led by the Absolute Batman phenomenon. At Thursday’s ICv2 White Paper, Milton Greipp estimated that comics sales are up 19% thus far in 2026 and graphic novels up 28% in comics shops. This is against last years even bigger growth.
According to another retailer I was chatting with “sales just keep going up,” and it was the same message with most people I spoke with.
Comics were doing just fine with Marvel staying flat – if the House of Ideas lives up to its name once more, trends could be even more positive.
ICv2’s three hour event presented more news on manga’s growth and digital trends, but I’ll have more details or that when I’ve had a little sleep.
One more little detail: I moderated a talk with Marvel’s outgoing publisher Dan Buckleywhich including lots of interesting details (more the come) but I also asked him a simple question: will Marvel ever license out it comics?
His answer was simple: “No.”
As positive as the news was, the format was a little shaky. Retailer Day was plagued by issues with the sound in the room – The River Pavillon is a difficult sound environment at the best of times, and with muddy sound at the back of the room, people kept talking over all the presentations, making everything even harder to hear in a feedback loop of doom.
The format of hours of short presentations from dozens of entities may also need a rethink. While the single person talks were good content, a panel with different views from retailers, publishers or creators would have broken up the constant stream of promotional talk and fostered more of a dialog. Audience Q&As were also lacking – although these can be fraught with peril at retailer events, a little back and forth is always good at conferences.
As the show proper kicked off on Thursday I spent most of my time in the press area, where a constant stream of colleagues kept coming through, and catch-up conversations broke out everywhere. As a schmoozefest, the professional programming area is a bonanza.
I made a brief sortie to the show floor – sadly lacking a giant Luffy this year – and it was packed and hectic as always. At one point I didn’t look where I was going, and someone rammed into me with a trash dumpster. That was a first. At least the popcorn smell has been moved away from the DC booth. I think the food stalls were moved to the front of the hall, but I’ll need further exploration to be certain, if I dare another excursion away from my nest.
Two days down, three to go!
Stay tuned to The Beat for more coverage fromNYCC ’26.
