by CAT CORNWELL, Contributor

The New York Comic Con was back in town from Oct. 3-6, and fellow lovers of Saint John Baptist De La Salle shared their experiences with their fellow New Yorkers.

Comic Con is a four day event where people of all ages and backgrounds come together and dress up, or “cosplay,” as their favorite characters from TV shows, video games, comic books and other media. People travel hundreds of miles to attend this iconic event.

Among those who attended are juniors Megan Lawlor and Ryan Askin and senior Carrie Jimenez

Lawlor has attended Comic Con five years in a row, starting her junior year of high school. Before attending her first Comic Con, Lawlor would “closet cosplay”, casually dressing up as characters like Rose from the classic tv show “Doctor Who”.

When asked what made her interested in Comic Con and cosplay, Lawlor said, “I’m an actress and I love comic books, so it’s kind of the natural direction to be heading in.”

This year’s Comic Con marks Askin’s second appearance. His first time going was when he was in eighth grade when his mother, father and uncle surprised him with tickets.

Ryan’s love for Comic Con developed from his love of video games, watching tv shows and reading.

Jimenez has also gone twice, her first time attending being in 2016. She wanted to attend last year but the tickets were sold out when she was ready to purchase them.

“It’s like another day for Halloween,” Jimenez said.

This year, Lawlor attended all four days of Comic Con, assuming a different persona each day; Thursday she was Spider Woman, Friday she was Sailor Venus from the manga series “Sailor Moon”, Saturday she epitomized the villain, Shego, from the old Disney TV show “Kim Possible” and Sunday, she dressed as Daphne, and her sister as Velma, from “Scooby Doo”.

“Comic Con is like Disneyland; it’s the happiest place on Earth,” Lawlor said.

While at Comic Con, Lawlor was graced with the opportunity to meet David Tennant, the actor that played the Tenth Doctor in “Doctor Who,” because she became friends with a girl at Comic Con the year before and that girl was going to meet him, asking Lawlor to tag along.

“I feel like [my friend] is just representative of the people that you meet at these conventions, they are so open. They are like, ‘You like something that I like, let’s be friends!’ It’s really lovely,” Lawlor said.

Askin went to Comic Con on Sunday (10/5) dressed as Steven from the show “Steven Universe”. When asked how long his costume took to prepare, he said it didn’t take very long, as it was mostly online shopping.

“Some cosplays take a longer amount of time to get together just because they are really intricate and it depends on if you’re using makeup, if you’re not using makeup, if you’re building your costume or not,” he said.

Askin attended a panel called “Women of Marvel”, where women who work for Marvel Studios speak about “the different female representations within Marvel Comics.”  This panel was Askin’s favorite part of Comic Con.

“[It shows] that super heroes aren’t just for men and being a nerd is no longer just for men, it’s for everyone,” he said.

Carrie pulled her boyfriend along on Sunday, cosplaying a convincing Kida and Milo from the Disney movie “Atlantis: The Lost Empire.” Jimenez described the stress of putting together her costume last minute- both the day before Comic Con and during midterm week.

“If you didn’t catch me on the day of my hardest midterm, I would have probably said getting ready for Comic Con.”

Jimenez enjoyed playing the new video games and “crushing [her] boyfriend because we’re both new to them.” She then said that the advanced technology is her favorite part about Comic Con and went into detail about a particularly advanced gaming system she experienced when she first attended Comic Con in 2016.

“They had this virtual dome that you lay down in for 20 minutes and you experience this trippy feeling of ‘Oh my gosh, I feel like I’m being transported to someplace new!’” Jimenez said.

Lawlor described Comic Con as a “wonderful, exhausting, beautiful event.” While taking me through her journey through Comic Con, Lawlor said that so much was going on around her, she managed to overlook a bus that was on display right in front of her, she was distracted by all the people in costume.

Megan then went on to talk about how huge the Javits Center, where Comic Con was held, is. Although she attended all four days of Comic Con, she was still unable to see the entirety of the center.

Lawlor went on to say why she loves the Comic Con environment.

“It’s the culmination of a year long effort and being able to produce something and then getting to go somewhere where people appreciate it,” she said.

Askin said Comic Con was, “an awe inspiring and overwhelming experience. When you step in there, there are a lot of people there, so it’s definitely not for the claustrophobic.”

He continued.

“I just like the atmosphere, it’s nice to have a lot of people there who are there for one interest, and just to be able to express themselves and be themselves,” he said.

When Jimenez described Comic Con, she said, “It’s like window shopping but more intense. You spend so much and get, like, toys.”

Comic Con remains to be an event with special meaning to Lawlor.

“Next year, I’m definitely dragging my girlfriend with me at least one of the days,” because “it’s a gathering of people expressing their love for one another and for the things they all value,” she said.

“I definitely think that Comic Con is something everyone should go to at least once,” Askin said.