The pop culture feast that is New York Comic Con returns to the Javits Center from October 9 through October 12, bringing with it all manner of merchandise, collectibles, fan art, and vintage comic books. The event may have comics in the name, but it’s grown over the years to celebrate a wide range of books, toys, video games, television series, movies, and cosplay.
It’s a great place to meet original comic book artists and graphic novel authors, especially in the dedicated Artist Alley section downstairs. Most of these artists are completely independent, some traveling from across the country for the chance to sell their art and share their passion for all things superheroes, anime, science fiction, and fantasy.
This year’s edition of the con is of special interest to the art world at large, as Los Angeles’s eagerly awaited Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is hosting a special panel previewing the institution, slated to finally open next year. On Sunday, October 9, Hollywood legend Martin Scorsese will moderate a discussion between JR, the French artist famed for his photography and street art installations; Boris Vallejo, the noted science fiction and fantasy artist; and Julie Bell, illustrator and fantasy and wildlife artist.
And it’s an interesting time for the comic art world as well—even as the fine art market falters, the late fantasy artist Frank Frazetta just set a new record for the most expensive work of comic book or fantasy art with a $13.5 million sale at Heritage Auctions in Dallas.
But even if you didn’t snag tickets to the main event, there are exhibitions across the city celebrating the art of the comic book. Here’s our list of what to see during New York Comic Con.
“¡Wepa! Puerto Ricans in the World of Comics” at the New York Public Library
October 4, 2025–March 8, 2026
Installation view of “¡Wepa! Puerto Ricans in the World of Comics” at the New York Public Library. Photo: courtesy of the New York Public Library.
In 2022, Manuel Martínez Nazario, a retired librarian in San Juan, Puerto Rico, made a major gift to the New York Public Library, donating the collection of some 1,600 comic books, political cartoons, and original art by or about Puerto Ricans that he had been amassing since the 1990s. The works on view in this bilingual show include comics set in Puerto Rico, as well as stories that focus on Puerto Ricans here in New York. There’s even Marvel’s first Puerto Rican superhero, White Tiger, who made his debut in 1975. Nazario and Rosa Colón Guerra, cofounder of Soda Pop Comics, whose 2014 anthology of female comic artists is featured in the exhibition, will speak in a Comic Con panel with curators Paloma Celis Carbajal and Charles Cuykendall Carter on October 9 at 3:30 p.m.
“Super Duper” at the Metropolitan Opera House
September 21, 2025–2026
Art Spiegelman, (2023). ©Art Spiegelman.
This fall, the Met is hosting the premiere of the new opera , based on Michael Chabon’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name about a pair of Jewish cousins who create a superhero comic during World War II (through October 11). This accompanying exhibition is inspired by the American origins of the superhero, featuring new works by contemporary artists such as George Condo, Dana Schutz, Rachel Feinstein, Roz Chast, and Rashid Johnson exploring what the superhero would look like in 2025. Only one work in the exhibition, by Art Spiegelman, author and illustrator of the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel , was not commissioned for the occasion.
“Nightmares in Blood” at Below Grand
October 4–November 8, 2025
James O’Barr, (2018). Courtesy of Below Grand.
Artist Arthur Peña has curated this group show featuring important horror illustrators ranging in age from 36 to 76, celebrating artists who have pushed censorship to the limits with their gory imagery. There are well-known fixtures of the genre such as Clive Barker, who has turned his tales of horror into films like , which he directed, and , which he executive produced. But the show also includes underground cult figures like “The Gurch,” a mysterious British artist making his U.S. debut here. Expect plenty of blood, guts, and monsters—perfect not just for Comic Con, but for Halloween.
“Frank Cho” at Philippe Labaune Gallery
September 18–October 25, 2025
Frank Cho, (2025). Courtesy of Philippe Labaune Gallery, New York.
Comic artist Frank Cho prides himself on melding art and storytelling, letting his expert draftsmanship help guide the narrative in his illustrations for leading Marvel and DC titles such as and . He is particularly known for his work in ballpoint pen and his fine crosshatching technique, which he uses to create impossibly detailed drawings that appear to leap off the page.
“Worm: A Cuban American Odyssey, Edel Rodriguez” at the Society of Illustrators
July 19–October 11, 2025
Edel Rodriguez, . Photo: courtesy of Metropolitan Books.
Illustrator Edel Rodriguez, who has done covers for publications such as and —you may remember his powerful image of President Donald Trump beheading the —presents the original art from his graphic memoir . It tells the story of his flight from Cuba aboard a tiny shrimping boat in 1980, one of the “worms,” as Fidel Castro derisively referred to those leaving the island nation in the boatlift. The show also includes Rodriguez’s political art, silkscreened posters, and paintings.
“Comics in the City: Sequential Art Is” at Flushing Town Hall
September 25–October 20, 2025
A comic by Chris Gomez. Courtesy of Flushing Town Hall.
Comics writer Regine L. Sawyer, the founder of Women in Comics NYC Collective International, has curated this showcase of New York City comic book artists such as Will Heydecker, Bryan Angrand, and MARICAMA. It focuses on the narrative power of sequential art and how comics use panels to to tell a story image by image.
Source: Exhibition - news.artnet.com
