The 9 Must-Have Items We Saw at New York Comic Con

U.S.S. Reliant Artisan Replica When you get serious about making that Kickstarter trailer for “a new and improved” Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn, this is the first line item in the budget. (Expand the gallery to widescreen for more details) Quantum Mechanix

U.S.S. Reliant Artisan Replica When you get serious about making that Kickstarter trailer for “a new and improved” Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn, this is the first line item in the budget. (Expand the gallery to widescreen for more details)

Quantum Mechanix

Detective Comics #27 Everyone knows about Action Comics #1 , the world’s most expensive comic book. Fewer people know about Detective Comics #27 , the other holy grail of comics. The Dave & Adam’s booth had a copy tagged at $550,000. Not only is this the first appearance of Batman and Commissioner Gordon, it’s also the highest graded #27 in existence: 9.4 CGC, “off-white to white pages”! Dave & Adam's Card World

Detective Comics #27 Everyone knows about Action Comics #1 , the world’s most expensive comic book. A 9.0 copy (10-point CGC scale) that sold in August for $3.2 million attracted bigger crowds than the Mona Lisa at the Louvre. Fewer people know about Detective Comics #27 , the other holy grail of comics. The Dave & Adam’s booth had a copy tagged at $550,000. Why so much? Not only is this the first appearance of Batman and Commissioner Gordon, it’s also the highest graded #27 in existence: 9.4 CGC, “off-white to white pages”!

Dave & Adam's Card World

Star Wars By Vans Boba Fett figurine Comic Con exists to sell tiny vinyl figures at huge profit margins, and the belle of the ball this year was this mashup. Given away with a purchase of Star Wars Vans earlier this year, the promo has since become a collectible. Hollywood heroes

Star Wars By Vans Boba Fett figurine Comic Con exists to sell tiny vinyl figures at huge profit margins. They are the lifeblood of the convention, the thing that keeps the whole bloated sci-fi-anime-comix-blockbuster-Netflix ecosystem afloat. Nearly everyone at the Javets sold “limited edition” miniatures. Highlights included a Breaking Bad Vamonos Pest Jesse Pinkman figure, a pair of Daft Punk robots designed by Japanese artist Kidokyo and, for retro-cons, a $190 figure Steve McQueen from The Great Escape. They all pale in comparison, though, to the Star Wars By Vans Boba Fett mashup. Given away with a purchase of Star Wars Vans earlier this year, the promo has since become a collectible. Asked why vinyl freebie now commands $80, Hollywood Heroes president and Toy Hunter host Jordan Hembrough was succinct: "Because he’s fricking awesome!"

Hollywood heroes

30th Anniversary Voltron: Gold Edition Every Comic Con features a limited-edition toy that is ridiculously overpriced, sells out immediately, and ends up on eBay selling for an even more inflated price. The 11-inch plastic robot, with LED eyes and interactive display base, sold for $300 at the show—and there are already eBay Buy It Now listings as high as $600. Rene Chun

30th Anniversary Voltron: Gold Edition Every Comic Con features a limited-edition toy that is ridiculously overpriced, sells out immediately, and ends up on eBay selling for an even more inflated price. At this year's NYCC, that toy was the 30th Anniversary Voltron: Gold Edition. The 11-inch plastic robot, with LED eyes and interactive display base, sold for $300 at the show—and there are already eBay Buy It Now listings as high as $600. Still, it’s a small price to pay for the sci-fi icon that begat Power Rangers, Transformers and every other wannabe mega-bot in the universe.

Rene Chun

CubePro Trio 3D Printer You could buy the default Central Casting Stormtrooper costume to impress your friends on Halloween, or you could just 3D-print your own shiny, ABS suit of Star Wars armor with the CubePro Trio. The printer features the largest build platform in its class—big enough to print an entire Stormtrooper helmet in a single piece. At $4,399 the CPT isn’t cheap, but neither are those shiny $1,000 Stormtrooper getups. CubePro

CubePro Trio 3D Printer You could buy the default Central Casting Stormtrooper costume to impress your friends on Halloween, or you could just 3D-print your own shiny, ABS suit of Star Wars armor with the CubePro Trio. In addition to three separate print heads, the printer features the largest build platform in its class—big enough to print an entire Stormtrooper helmet in a single piece. At $4,399 the CPT isn’t cheap, but neither are those shiny $1,000 Stormtrooper getups. (And if you've got an entire regiment to outfit, it’s a bargain.)

CubePro

Nerd Anxiety T-Shirts Honorable mention for best T-shirt goes to the creators of FX's The Americans, who sported COMMIE CON shirts onstage, but the unanimous winner was this bad boy for being so damn Comic Con. If casting Ben Affleck as the caped crusader in the upcoming Batman V Superman is the worst hire since Keanu Reeves played Buddha, what about Jesse Eisenberg playing Lex Luthor? Look Human

Nerd Anxiety T-Shirts Honorable mention for best T-shirt goes to the creators of FX's The Americans, who sported COMMIE CON shirts onstage while flogging season three. But the unanimous winner was the this bad boy because it was just so damn Comic Con. Fans think casting Ben Affleck as the caped crusader in the upcoming Batman V Superman is the worst hire since Keanu Reeves played Buddha—but shouldn't they be more worried about Jesse Eisenberg playing Lex Luthor.

Look Human

Minifigures of Yourself The crowd was three-deep at the Forge Studio 3D exhibit. Most were caped and spandexed cosplayers waiting in line to have their bodies scanned in order to be immortalized as miniature figurines—if you’re a superhero, why wouldn’t you want a full-color gypsum statuette bearing your likeness? Forge Studio 3D

Minifigures of Yourself The crowd was three-deep at the Forge Studio 3D exhibit. Most were caped and spandexed cosplayers waiting in line to have their bodies scanned in order to be immortalized as miniature figurines—if you’re a superhero, why wouldn’t you want a full-color gypsum statuette bearing your likeness? Prices range from $59 for a four-inch wedding cake topper to $299 for a 10-inch full-blown egomaniac special. Want to add a six-pack or sculpt those glutes? No problem: For a nominal charge, all Photoshop rules apply.

Forge Studio 3D

75 Years of Marvel: From the Golden Age to the Silver Screen The most coveted piece of old media at NYCC was this volume of Marvel getting the full Taschen treatment: "XL format" pages, scholarly essays, fancy Italian printing (on metallic foil) and 2,000 images tracing Marvel's long and storied lineage from the Human Torch to Avengers Academy. The magnum opus bonus: a 4-foot wide year-by-year timeline suitable for geeking out to. Taschen

75 Years of Marvel: From the Golden Age to the Silver Screen The most coveted piece of old media at NYCC was 75 Years of Marvel: From the Golden age to the Silver Screen . Even at $200, advance copies sold out within minutes (Amazon's preorder price is a mere $115.81). That's mostly because Marvel gets the full Taschen treatment: "XL format" pages, scholarly essays, fancy Italian printing (on metallic foil) and 2,000 images tracing Marvel's long and storied lineage from the Human Torch to Avengers Academy. The magnum opus bonus: a 4-foot wide year-by-year timeline suitable for geeking out to.

Taschen

The Joker—Again The most ubiquitous costume at the Con, hands down, was Chris Nolan's Dark Knight vision of Joker. (Somewhere Heath Ledger is smiling maniacally.) That may explain why this Rubie's $50 Joker mask was such a big seller. The spongy foam latex clings to the face and conveys grotesque expressions with eerie accuracy. For those who can’t be bothered with hair dye and grease paint, it's the cosplayer's Happy Meal.

The Joker—Again The most ubiquitous costume at the Con, hands down, was Chris Nolan's Dark Knight vision of Joker. The classic Gotham villain outnumbered all video game, comic and cable characters 3 to 1. (Somewhere Heath Ledger is smiling maniacally.) That may explain why this Rubie's $50 Joker mask was such a big seller. The spongy foam latex clings to the face and conveys grotesque expressions with eerie accuracy. For those who can’t be bothered with hair dye and grease paint, it's the cosplayer's Happy Meal.

Last week’s New York Comic Con was the usual grab bag of pop culture detritus. Hollywood hype carried opening day as newlywed George Clooney crashed the party to plug his role in Tomorrowland (and apologize for the nipples on his anatomically correct batsuit back in 1997). He was forgiven, and the teaser trailer went viral. Scholars who braved the congested menagerie—150,000, if you believe the promoters—were rewarded with a full slate of panel discussions on topics ranging from the practical (How to Survive in a Dystopian World) to the whimsical (Harry Potter: The Art of Wand Dueling). And, as always, there was cosplay galore: mild-mannered adults in tights, posing for photographs with strangers, each one a case study in sexual sublimation. Lots of disposable swag, too, mostly promo posters that nobody wanted, enough littering the Javits Center floor to start another landfill in Staten Island.

All of that, however, was just window dressing. Operating beneath the sugarcoated veneer of Q&As and colorful latex costumes was a shadow economy of considerable proportions. Forbes reported that up to $20 million changed hands on the Javits floor during NYCC 2012. Two years later, that figure seems conservative. A complete set of Palitoy Star Wars figures (England, circa ‘70s), displayed in a glass case like Etruscan bronzes, was selling for $17,000. Big Fine Legs , a four-page story by the legendary underground artist R. Crumb, was firm at $65,000. Want a photo-op with a Comic Con stalwart like William Shatner or Lucy Lawless? That’s a bargain ($80 and $85 respectively) compared to a group shot with the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation ($345). Want that photo autographed? Sorry, separate concession. For those on a budget, Ralph Maccio, Jerry Springer, six professional wrestlers, everyone remotely associate with The Walking Dead, and even Lucy Liu can be had for far less. We skipped the celebrity fluff altogether, and instead headed straight for the exhibit floor. Of all the merchandise that was up for grabs, these items most captured the collective imagination.