Yes, Denver Comic Con attendees this year can spend $150 for the best seats at a partial cast reunion of Star Trek: The Next Generation, but they can also visit with the 300-plus comic artists who will be in attendance, 80 percent of which are based locally. And so when Wizard comes to your town, they may not kill your show, but they will make your show work around them."ĭenver Comic Con, for its part, is taking a middle-of-the-road approach: "We aim to do a lot of everything," says MacIntosh. "A lot of these conventions have fanboys and girls running their shows," says Parrington. So what's the best way for independent conventions like Denver Comic Con to stay afloat in the increasingly cutthroat industry? One option is to turn professional. (Emerald City Comicon convention director Jim Demonakos, however, says this is not the case and "we did not have to pay out guarantees to any guest at our show.") Since Wizard World set up shop in Portland, Parrington says for the first time, several celebrities booked at Emerald City haven't made enough selling autographs to meet their event guarantees, meaning the convention has had to pay them the difference. "They're branching out like the Borg," says Joe Parrington, Emerald City's former PR director.
Who wouldn't want to be part of that? A lot of local shows are trading on that reputation." >"San Diego Comic-Con has become one of the world's biggest media events. And last month, Wizard World held its first convention in Minneapolis two weeks before SpringCon, which has been held in the city for 26 years. Last year, for example, Wizard World Portland debuted just a month before the longtime Emerald City Comicon in nearby Seattle. We are simply at the mercy of the schedules of the event centers." But in practice, such conflicts have repeatedly arisen. "We try to put a show in city that does not conflict with other events. "It has never been my strategy," he says. Wizard World's Macaluso, however, denies that's the case. "They find somewhere that has good show in a strong market and try to take it over." "They have a predatory model," says Steve Menzie, general manager of Fan Expo Canada in Toronto. And Wizard World's tendency to enter a new city by scheduling their event right before a preexisting con. A lawsuit over who gets to use the term "comic con" in Toronto. Hence, the so-called " con wars" have erupted over control of various convention markets: One-time event co-organizers in Cincinnati that now go head-to-head with competing events.
"Who wouldn't want to be part of that? A lot of local shows are trading on that reputation." These days, MacDonald estimates there's between 600 and 700 pop-culture conventions doing so around the world each year.Īnd where there's that sort of money and attention involved, there's conflict. "San Diego Comic-Con has become one of the world's biggest media events," says Heidi MacDonald, editor of the comics news site The Beat.
convention, Comic-Con International in San Diego, is projected to generate nearly half a billion dollars in economic impact between 20. Just as superheroes and sci-fi have come to dominate Hollywood and the videogame industry, comic book events have morphed from niche festivals to behemoth pop culture celebrations. >Just as superheroes and sci-fi have come to dominate Hollywood and the videogame industry, comic book events have morphed from niche festivals to behemoth pop culture celebrations. Wizard World CEO John Macaluso will neither confirm nor deny the rumor, noting only "we have a more expanded calendar for next year, and there is probably not a city in the country we are not looking at." Wizard World might not be the only operation eying Denver convention companies like ReedPop and Informa are also expanding their comic-themed lineup and could try to get in on the geeky action. Denver Comic Con organizers say they've heard that Wizard World, a major pop-culture convention chain that doubled its offerings to 16 cons this year, is aiming to hit Denver in 2015. There may also be a new foe on the horizon. We've been developing Rock Comic Con since 2010 and I'll be expanding that concept and its market reach in 2015." "My mind is constantly bustling with ideas and I'm ready and prepped to take that next step. "After a year of intense life changes, I'm getting back in the Quinjet and strapping in for blastoff," La Greca says when asked about the ordeal.
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