“New York Comic-Con. The biggest gathering of nerds, geeks, goths, otaku’s and gamers on the East Coast has descended on the East Coast for four days of news, screenings, demo’s, and much more. Lasting from the 13th to the 16th, NYCC is the biggest and most exciting pop culture convention to hit the east coast since Hurricane Irene, and Conference Hound is there covering everything, from the biggest panels to the smallest booths.

Day 1 kicks off with the opening of the show floor, with the main panels kicking off Friday. The biggest draws were the rival DC and Marvel Comics booths, with DC showing off both its brand spanking new DC Universe, along with some handson action on their upcoming blockbuster “Batman: Arkham City”, while Marvel was all about The Avengers, their upcoming big screen adaptation of their longrunning superhero super team. While the main panel is scheduled for Saturday, fans got a sneak peak with a replica of the set (complete with two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents) along with props from the upcoming film. Rounding out the comics front was a special appearance by Robert Kirkman, author of the hit series “The Walking Dead”, now a critically acclaimed tv series for AMC.

On the video game side, Nintendo was on hand demonstrating their upcoming release “The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword”, along with “Kirby’s Return to Dream Land”, while Microsoft was offering hands on experiences with both the upcoming “Halo: Anniversary” along with developer Bioware’s “Mass Effect 3″. Speaking of Bioware, they were also on hand to offer fans a taste of their upcoming MMORPG (that’s Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, for those not in the know) “Star Wars: The Old Republic”. Needless to say, the lines for all these upcoming releases were long, and, in this humble reporters opinion, well deserved.