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New York Comic Con is the largest comic convention in North America, with over 200,000 attendees over a five-day weekend. As part of that, it's also the largest gathering of professionals working in the worlds represented at comic cons as well. That's why event organizer ReedPop (our parent company!) has actively been building festivities not just for fans and their hobbies, but also professionals and their careers. For New York Comic Con 2025, ReedPop announced today their largest line-up of Professional Programming yet for the October 8 - 12, 2025 weekend.

“New York Comic Con has always been a place where professionals in many industries that touch the comic con community could attend quality panels and networking sessions," says ReedPop's VP of Content Brien McDonald. "The successful introduction of our Wednesday Comic Book Retailers Day in 2024 showed there is strong demand for us to continue expanding. This year we're excited to offer Pro, Exhibitor, and Artist Alley badge holders a dedicated space in the Javits Center for this and expand our programming to five full days covering timely topics in pop culture, important industry debates, and multiple networking opportunities."

Industry professionals looking to attend the NYCC 2025 Pro Programming track can apply for a Professional Badge to this year's con now through September 5 at this link.

And don't forget that ReedPop has a Press & Pro Lounge at NYCC where working professionals can relax, recharge, and connect in a space designed for their comfort and productivity in mind. If you need a quieter spot to work or conduct interviews, ReedPop has rentable media suits and private office spaces at NYCC 2025 that are ideal for editing, recording, or catching up on work between events. For any of these, contact ReedPop's Manager of Publisher Relations Mike Negin at [email protected].

And now, here's highlights of the programming for all five days of New York Comic Con 2025 available for pros with badges: 

NYCC Wednesday: Comic Book Retailer’s Day

There will be over four hours of comic book publisher presentations on Wednesday October 8 in the Javits Center's River Pavilion, including a Popverse-led chat with Kickstarter CEO Everette Taylor and a rare comic shop retailer-specific panel with DC Comics' president, publisher, and chief creative officer Jim Lee.

NYCC Thursday: Library & Education programming and Comic Industry Mixer

The New York Public Library is presenting a full day of programming for librarians and educators (and any professional!). Highlights include ¡Wepa! Puerto Ricans in the World of Comics, Misogynoir and Multiverses: A Black Girl's Guide to Fandom Culture, and Creepy, Crafty & Curriculum-Ready: Spooky Stories for Classrooms, Libraries & Beyond!

Then in the evening, ReedPop's annual Comic Industry Mixer presented by Comc Sketch Art takes place. With a bar sponsored by IDW Publishing and event bags sponsored by Yen Press, this mixer will have food and drink, along with presentatations by Tom King, Tiny Onion, and the owners of the Chicago comic book store Challengers + Conversation. 

NYCC Friday: The Harvey Awards and The PopCultr Marketing Summit

Friday will be a big day at New York Comic Con 2025, if only because it's the day of the prestigious Harvey Awards ceremony. Recognizing outstanding achievement in comics since 1988, this year there will be awards in multiple categories highlighting what the industry itself believes are the best comic books, graphic novels, manga, and more.

Earlier that day we'll kick off the inaugural PopCultr Marketing Summit at NYCC, in collaboration with the global experiential marketing and events agency Experience12. Sessions include:

• Live Engagement & Events - Learn why live experiences are an essential marketing strategy as digital attention spans fragment, and audiences crave authentic connection. 
• Tabletop Games - Learn how TTGs and TTCs create brands people belong to, and the strategies driving their passionate communities. 
• Anime - Learn how Anime has become a dominant cultural force while flying under traditional marketing's radar, and what other industries can learn from it.

There will also be panels on 'The Art Knight: Batman in Animation', 'The Return of Backyard Sports: Celebrating the Joy of the Game,' and 'Voices in the Dark: The Art of Horror Audiobooks,' 

NYCC Saturday: Workshops on Writing, Comedy, Crowdfunding, and more

Saturday at New York Comic Con 2025 for the Pro Programming track will be a day of workshops, with leaders in the worlds of prose novels, stand-up comedy, influencing, and interviewing sharing what they've learned. Sessions include: 

• Kickstarter 101 with Kickstarter's Head of Publishing, Oriana Leckert
• Writing Workshop: Carving Out Your Niche with authors Matt Dinniman (Dungeon Crawler Carl), Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files), Alexandria Bellefleur (The Devil She Knows), Kimberly Lemming (I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I’m Trapped in a Rom-Com), and Rachel Harrison (Play Nice)
• Comedy Fandom: How Audiences are Built in 2025
• How Influencers Drive Music Discovery with Josh Bernstein (President of Z2 Comics + Records), Sean Rameau (Digital Marketing Director at MNRK Music Group), Skye Sweetnam (Singer of Sump Cyco + Influencer), and Pablo Douzoglou (VP, Head of Marketing at Beggars Group)
• The Art of the Interview with Josh Horowitz

NYCC Sunday: An insider's view of indie publishing, online content creation, and more

And on the final day of New York Comic Con 2025, the Pro Programming track will conclude with an insider's look at being a nonfiction author, a guide to indie publishing, and being an online content creator with:

• What Comes Next?: A Nonfiction Insider’s Look at How To Get Published with nonfiction literary agent Alia Hanna Habib (Take It From Me)
• Everything You Need to Know about Indie Publishing
• Beyond the Mask: VTubers, Identity and Content Creation in the Digital Age

Get ready for New York Comic Con 2025 (and all its spooky themes!) with our guides to who's appearing in Artists' Alley and Writers Block, as well as our pick of favorite panels at the show, not to mention the best places to eat near the Javits (and IN the Javits!), the whole bathroom situation at NYCC, and a map of all the iconic comic book locations you can visit while in NYC.