13 Oct 2013 04:10:00
If the costumed hoards at New York Comic Con this weekend were to elect an unofficial geek culture ambassador, Felicia Day would be a top contender for the role. A few years ago, Day was best known for her role as Vi on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but it is her work on the web that has propelled her to geek stardom.
Day's resumé now includes recurring roles on TV shows including Supernatural and Eureka, an empire of geek-themed web series including the YouTube channel Geek & Sundry and more than two million Twitter followers.
It began with a web series based on her experience playing video games, namely The Guild. The critically acclaimed show's sixth and final season ended in January, and Day is happy with how she closed it. "For the webseries journey, I feel like I definitely told the stories I wanted to tell and I didn't want to continue it past the time where I was doing it just to do it," she said.
Given the thousands of hours she spends on and behind the screen, conventions are a welcome opportunity to see her legion of fans in person. "Having been behind the computer typing to people for 12 hours a day it's really a breath of fresh air to meet them face to face, even if it's just a handshake or a wave," she said.
Day said she appreciated how even though New York Comic Con is large, it manages to avoid "the crushing overpopulation" of San Diego's more famous Comic Con. She said the event also provides fans more opportunities to engage with the top names in geek culture who don't work in film or television.
"I think New York City Comic Con is kind of unique in that they do have a very robust roster of comic talent and literary talent, which is a little less common, especially than the bigger cons which are focused on film and TV," she said.
Day has panels and autograph sessions lined up through the Comic Con weekend, at which she will talk about a slate of new shows premiering on Geek & Sundry. She also offered her recommendations for the guests and panels she hopes to see this weekend.
Authors: NK Jemisin and Scott Lynch
Day hopes to have the two fantasy authors autograph her copies of their books. Jemisin is the author of The Inheritance Trilogy and is taking a break from working on her new novel to attend the festival on Saturday. Lynch, author of The Lies of Locke Lamora, is at the Con on Friday. "If you love a certain manga, or book, or artist in artist's alley – those are the people you are going to be able to have an experience with because you'll be able to spend more time with them," Day said.
Comic writers: Greg Rucka, John Layman and Brian Wood
Comic-book writers Rucka, Layman and Wood are all on Day's to-see list for the weekend. Prolific writer Rucka is around on Saturday and Sunday and will be doing signings in the afternoon – he also announced a new comic on Thursday. Layman, creator of award-winning cannibal cop series CHEW, is attending the entire weekend. Wood has a table set up in artists alley and will be speaking at panels on Friday and Saturday.
Television: The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones
Day said if she wasn't busy with her own panels, she would try crashing these the panels for two of the year's most popular series: The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones. "Those are two series I absolutely love," Day said. If she wasn't bound to Comic Con guest duties, she said she would also try and check out panels for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Sleepy Hollow – "Which I am kind of obsessed with."
