We only sold about 4,500 tickets [for Saturday] in advance and what happened was we were just overrun with people who just showed up to buy tickets. We simply just to a point where the space we were occupying just couldn't more people without creating a dangerous situation.

What's interesting about anime is that it's almost equally attractive to males and females, which is very much not the case of traditional comics. Anime has more strong female characters that are relatable to women and girls. It's amazing how much the female plays a role in anime.

I ran Book Expo for five years, and while running that show, I started recognizing the explosive growth of comic books and graphic novels. I couldn't believe that there was no comic-based fan show in New York, the media publishing capital of the world. I started talking with some other people and from that point on, the whole industry was behind us.

I absolutely feel like our biggest mistake is simply underestimating the fervor the New York audience have has and the passion they have. I absolutely take the blame for that and feel terrible for what happened.

There are too many things being legislated that should be left up to the DOE.

I guess rock stars are role models for the kids who listen to that music. My role models have all been geologists - you know, the guys who are doing fieldwork until they're 70.