As the Beat has slowly made its way through it’s 20th anniversary celebration, everyone kept asking when there would be a party, and I kept holding out for NYCC because, simply, I live in New York City! Not having a festival at my home town show seemed wrong somehow, and we managed to come through with a banger of a fête.

Held on Saturday, October 19 at Turntable Chicken Rock bar/restaurant in Manhattan’s K-Town, to celebrate both the anniversary AND the launch of Korean manhwa, mobile webcomics and graphic novels sister site K-Comics Beatthe party was filled with comics fun, spicy Korean fried chicken, gimbap and even a special lavender cocktail, the Manta Ray, in honor of party sponsor / webtoon app/publisher, Blanket.

The bash brought together creators, publishers, librarians, Elite Beat Squad members past and present, along with special K-Comics guests TurtleMe, creator of Tapas Media / Yen Press series The Beginning After the End (which just got an anime adaptation announced by Crunchyroll at NYCC) and Undead Gamjacreator of Ize Press/WEBTOON fantasy action series The World After the Fall for a party that will long be remembered.

Here’s a taste of the fun times from the Beat’s 20th Anniversary / K-Comics Beat launch party from NY Comic-Con 2024. All photos by Gabriel Serrano Denis, unless otherwise noted.

Huge thanks to the party’s sponsors: Blanket, Ize Press and Yen Press, Medium Caps, Zero Zero, Anime Trendingand Miles Atherton and Chloe Catoya from White Box Entertainment for helping us throw an amazing party, and the biggest thanks to all the Beat readers who made this 20 year journey possible.