There was something different in the air at New York Comic Con 2026. Not only was it the con’s 20th anniversary, which definitely brought a new special moment for the long-running convention, but it was evident as fans walked around the iconic show floor and Artist Alley that the con was also for the girls this year.
I’ve gotten the chance to attend New York Comic Con for the last 13 years, meaning that I can quickly tell when something is making its first appearance, and there have never been more things that have stopped me in my tracks than in previous years.
Of course, there are all the veterans who have held it down over the years and kept the con from turning into a total boys club in its previous iterations. Artists like Erin Lefler—whose art includes Disney icons and pop stars like Taylor Swift—and Brazilian duo hanavbara—who recreate iconic pop culture moments into anime-style art—made their big return to the convention at the show’s Artist Alley.
On the show floor, book publishers took up more space than ever—a learning curve from this year’s BookCon (BookCon and New York Comic Con are both run by ReedPop)—and were dropping more books from the romance and fantasy spaces than before. One publisher, HarperCollins, already had certain ARCs completely gone for the entire weekend after only one hour on Thursday, and there were still three more days of the convention to go. There was also TotesThirsty, who came back with more options including a Heated Rivalry bag that was a clear favorite throughout the weekend.
But now they were joined by some brand-new faces that had everyone excited and showed us that NYCC wasn’t afraid of dipping more into the femme side of fandom.
Sunny Song, who is known as Miss Sunshine, scored a last-minute booth at the convention just last week after someone else dropped out. They sold just one kind of item: press-on nails. But there wasn’t a single second the booth wasn’t packed.
“We always had a community of people who love comics and anime. We did Anime NYC twice,” she revealed. “We were also applying for Comic Con since maybe like three, four years ago. But this time we got lucky.”
This was the first time I ever saw press-on nails being sold at the convention, with at least three other booths throughout the con also selling their own products. Some were also offering custom sets for those who could come back over the weekend. Sunny revealed that her Spider-Man nails were the biggest seller of the con with some cosplayers even using their purchases as part of their costumes.
“There are definitely a lot of girls who are into comics, who also want to feel pretty or just even just complete their outfits,” Sunny added.
Skylar, also known as Femmewow, was one of the new artists who got their chance to set up at the show. Their retro and vintage-inspired pulp cover art stood out amongst the show’s many artists thanks to posters that say “The Dead Vibrator” and another warning about “Film Bros,” a special choice the artist made to bring especially due to NYU’s iconic film school.
After vending at several other conventions, Skylar was sure that NYCC would be a good fit for their art.
“It’s just everybody is living their best life and free and super accepting,” she told Cosmopolitan. “There’s no better place to like be yourself.”
It was evident in the programming as well. Amazon brought out the highly anticipated Blade Runner 2099 starring Michelle Yeoh and Hunter Schafer to the biggest panel room in the entire convention, the Empire Stage. Meanwhile, authors Tessa Bailey, Scarlett St. Clair, Ivelisse Housemann were joined by Cosmo Reads author and Fantasy Fangirls podcast host Nicole Holleman for a special Sunday morning brunch. The separately ticketed event completely sold out and gave fans a special chance to chat and mingle with their favorite authors in a more intimate space than the chaos of the show floor.
Magic: The Gathering announced a new series of cards for their Darkhold Destiny set. While there are plenty of characters featured in the new release that comes out in April 2027, it’s Marvel’s iconic female characters that are gaining a giant buzz thanks to a special twist that brings them to a whole new light.
“With this set, I wanted to show the many different ways these iconic characters hold their own power. Hela and Scarlet Witch are the names everyone knows, but you’ll also find Amora, Jennifer Kale, Nico Minoru, America Chavez and more,” Merideth Mulroney, Art Director of Magic: The Gathering, said. “Hero or villain, each one has a distinct look that’s uniquely empowering to that character. Strength, power, and beauty come together differently for every one of them.”
AMC held a special block that featured four women-led TV shows including the highly anticipated series Yaga. While many of the show’s fans were in line hoping to catch a glimpse of Heated Rivalrystar Hudson Williams—who did not attend—it was series creator Kat Sandler who drove the show’s main point home.
“We’ve had people saying this whole time, like, Kat, your brain is so wild. It’s so fucked up. What a fucked up thing,” she said during the series’s panel on the NYCC Main Stage. “And I just actually don’t think a world where women are powerful and punish the invisible monsters in society is fucked up at all.”
While we’re going to have to wait another year to see if this energy will stay at the convention, with the way that fandom is changing, it will no doubt set a precedent for what the next 20 years for New York Comic Con can look like. And I, quite frankly, can’t wait to see it grow.
