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Geeks, nerds, celebrities, artists, and vendors came out in full force for New York Comic Con in Manhattan. The New York convention has grown in size since its launch seven years ago, rivaling the king of comic-book conventions, San Diego’s Comic Con. IBT

Geeks, nerds, celebrities, artists and vendors came out in full force for New York Comic Con in Manhattan. The New York convention has grown in size since its launch seven years ago, rivaling the king of comic-book conventions, San Diego’s Comic Con.

Roughly 130,000 people are expected to attend this year’s show at the Javits Center, which runs until Sunday. That is up from 116,000 last year, and way up from the 95,000 three years ago.

Lance Fensterman, New York Comic Con’s manager, told the Wall Street Journal, “I think we’ve got an excellent show for people … It’s a million moving pieces. You’re trying to herd a lot of cats.”

From what IBTimes TV witnessed on the show room floor on day 1, the NYCC team has done a fantastic job lining up a strong list of the fan’s favorite celebrities, setting up the latest video game technology and offering hundreds of artists the chance to share their latest nerd-inspired creations. Attendees can also buy an assortment of comics, graphic novels, books, toys, costumes, video games and collectibles.

The day kicked off with the unveiling of Madame Tussauds New York’s latest wax figure, Marvel Comics superhero Nick Fury, played by Samuel L. Jackson. It took three months for a dedicated team of studio artists to transform Jackson’s figure into the character, who recently made a cameo appearance on last week’s hit show “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”

Most of the panels on Thursday (10/10) were not celebrity driven, focusing more on comics and education, with a few brief video game appearances. The big hitters will appear on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Here are a few highly anticipated events coming up over the next few days.

Friday:

Curse of Chucky (12:15 PM)

Big Ass Spider! (4:00 PM)

Oldboy (6:00 PM)

Saturday:

Archer (11:00 AM)

Teen Wolf (1:30 PM)

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (5:00 PM)

The Walking Dead (6:30)

Batman: Arkham Origins (7:45 PM)

Sunday:

TimesTalks: Adventure Time (11 AM)

The League (12:15 PM)

Sleepy Hallow (2:45 PM)

X-Files – Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny (4:00 PM)

Xbox