By Rohan: 

For students, summer is a time for relaxing under the sun while reading a good book or devoting time into beating a hard video game instead of studying for a biology exam. Meanwhile, Hollywood is hard at work adapting our favorite comics into silver screen, big-budget productions. Living on the East Coast, we feel separated from the tinsel town magic used to bring our favorite characters to life. However, there are plenty of opportunities throughout the year to learn a bit more about how a panel from a comic is transformed into a blockbuster production.

The best way to do this is to find a convention near you. The west coast is blessed with events like San Diego Comic Con, PAX Prime, and the E3 Electronics Exposition in Los Angeles. However, the east coast is home to some little-known events that are comparable to our neighbors out west.

This September, the famous Comic Convention that takes place every year in sunny San Diego is coming to New York City. The event runs from the eleventh to the fourteenth and tickets are on sale now. For those of you who aren’t familiar with New York geography, NY Comic Con is located at the Javitz Convention Center, a stone’s throw away from Penn Station. Living in New Jersey, this is a godsend.

For Video Game fans, the best place to catch up on all the latest news and products is PAX East, located in the Hynes Convention Center in Boston. If you book your tickets ahead of time, you can reserve a room in the lovely Marriott Copley Place, a stunning and towering hotel that is built on top of the convention center. The convention is over this year, but if you’re interested, stay up to date on next year’s events.

Speaking of PAX, if you want to go to one of their events (either PAX East in Boston or PAX Prime in Seattle), I highly recommend booking your hotel reservation through their website. Companies like Penny Arcade offer fantastic hotel deals that are unavailable any other time in the year. When conventions roll into town, that’s usually a sign for hotel owners to spike up prices. However, PAX does something very unique in the sense that they allow your ticket to act as a coupon. You can get a great downtown hotel for 75 dollars instead of the usual 200 dollars.

Conventions are a ton of fun, but they can seem stressful and unwelcoming to first-timers. However, if you are savvy enough, you can definitely enjoy the convention and a nice hotel room without breaking the bank.

For more information on New York Comic Con, visit their website at

http://www.newyorkcomiccon.com/