I've attended Wizard World Philly and Big Apple Comic Con under the Wizard regimes. Philly did not have any programming worth attending, although they did have some great deals on cheap trades, dollar bins and toy discounts. You should expect an increase in washed-up celebrity guests over comic book veterans; Adam West and Burt Ward were the headliners at Big Apple, Jim "The Hammer" Valentine was a typical wrestler guest.
While Wizard Philly felt like a small con trying to be a big son and failing, Big Apple Comic Con is just plain sad. In 2009, Wizard bought Big Apple and moved the con to Pier 94 on East 55th and the West Side Highway. The space was huge, but around five people attended on the Friday we attended. It was pretty sad, really. Again, some great deals, but those were mainly because all the great deals were still sitting there from lack of attendance. Saturday was better attended from what I heard, but that was probably just people clamoring for a New York based convention in between the year and a half con-less gap created by NYCC changing its date.
Wizard announced at the end of the '09 con that they would be going directly against NYCC date-wise in 2010. Two cons, same weekend. Most laughed this off due to NYCC having the better and bigger space, name guests, and positive press going for it. Gareb Shamus balked halfway through the year and moved the date and venue, back to the Penn Plaza Pavilion across from Penn Station. This was where Big Apple had been held a few times before Wizard bought it.
lampbane and I atttended, and it was sad. Artists were relegated to a cramped, dark basement area, while the dealer's room was upstairs. They stuck a bunch of other artists in the far corner of the dealer's room without even bothering to tell anyone they'd be there, much to the artist's chagrin. Registration was outside and around the corner, in a vacant storefront of what used to be a discount store. The dealer's room was cramped, lacking any of the real deals '09 had (probably because most dealers waited an extra week to vend at NYCC), there were bootleg DVD vendors all over the place, and one of them was smoking behind a false partition while we watched. Another dealer accosted a friend and I as we were chatting in front of his booth to move because we were blocking his booth and he "was paying rent here." Another guy had no idea what comics he was selling because he outright purchased the entire booth from another guy.
The artists look miserable downstairs, and poor Jim Shooter had nothing to do to pass the time other than shuffle his pen back and forth on a desk. Their celebrities were in an another part of the hotel you had to exit and re-enter just to get to. And to top it off, there were people giving out entries to win a door-prize of a vacation in Orlando that was in realty a way for you to get a free hotel and pay $1000 or more to provide your own transportation. This is Wizard's pedigree of late. You might get lucky and still have a fun con experience, but from what I've seen, it's not anything really worth it.
The Winnipeg Convention Centre is the largest venue in the city for this type of event, so I doubt they'll move it, and I expect the "one large space with everything in it" approach to remain next year (though it might get more crowded). The only other catch-all local con here is in May, and it's no competition for this--in focus, size, or especially organisational skills.
From what you mentioned and what I've read elsewhere, it seems like there were some specific-to-New-York issues going on with those two cons going head to head, and the locations they were using. Again, this is the only general media-oriented event in the area, with the other con I mentioned and Winnipeg's four anime conventions not posing much of a threat...
...and to top it off, we also had a scam contest at the con this year! People mentioned the details on the "original" Facebook Group I linked to above, and the con chairs claimed they "didn't know" the scammers had set up shop there--even though everyone could see the big booth (complete with "Grand Prize" motorcycle) right near one of the exits.
While Wizard Philly felt like a small con trying to be a big son and failing, Big Apple Comic Con is just plain sad. In 2009, Wizard bought Big Apple and moved the con to Pier 94 on East 55th and the West Side Highway. The space was huge, but around five people attended on the Friday we attended. It was pretty sad, really. Again, some great deals, but those were mainly because all the great deals were still sitting there from lack of attendance. Saturday was better attended from what I heard, but that was probably just people clamoring for a New York based convention in between the year and a half con-less gap created by NYCC changing its date.
Wizard announced at the end of the '09 con that they would be going directly against NYCC date-wise in 2010. Two cons, same weekend. Most laughed this off due to NYCC having the better and bigger space, name guests, and positive press going for it. Gareb Shamus balked halfway through the year and moved the date and venue, back to the Penn Plaza Pavilion across from Penn Station. This was where Big Apple had been held a few times before Wizard bought it.
lampbane and I atttended, and it was sad. Artists were relegated to a cramped, dark basement area, while the dealer's room was upstairs. They stuck a bunch of other artists in the far corner of the dealer's room without even bothering to tell anyone they'd be there, much to the artist's chagrin. Registration was outside and around the corner, in a vacant storefront of what used to be a discount store. The dealer's room was cramped, lacking any of the real deals '09 had (probably because most dealers waited an extra week to vend at NYCC), there were bootleg DVD vendors all over the place, and one of them was smoking behind a false partition while we watched. Another dealer accosted a friend and I as we were chatting in front of his booth to move because we were blocking his booth and he "was paying rent here." Another guy had no idea what comics he was selling because he outright purchased the entire booth from another guy.
The artists look miserable downstairs, and poor Jim Shooter had nothing to do to pass the time other than shuffle his pen back and forth on a desk. Their celebrities were in an another part of the hotel you had to exit and re-enter just to get to. And to top it off, there were people giving out entries to win a door-prize of a vacation in Orlando that was in realty a way for you to get a free hotel and pay $1000 or more to provide your own transportation. This is Wizard's pedigree of late. You might get lucky and still have a fun con experience, but from what I've seen, it's not anything really worth it.
Reply
Adam West and the somewhat creepy Julie Newmar were headliners here last year, and we've already had some wrestler guests.
The Winnipeg Convention Centre is the largest venue in the city for this type of event, so I doubt they'll move it, and I expect the "one large space with everything in it" approach to remain next year (though it might get more crowded). The only other catch-all local con here is in May, and it's no competition for this--in focus, size, or especially organisational skills.
From what you mentioned and what I've read elsewhere, it seems like there were some specific-to-New-York issues going on with those two cons going head to head, and the locations they were using. Again, this is the only general media-oriented event in the area, with the other con I mentioned and Winnipeg's four anime conventions not posing much of a threat...
...and to top it off, we also had a scam contest at the con this year! People mentioned the details on the "original" Facebook Group I linked to above, and the con chairs claimed they "didn't know" the scammers had set up shop there--even though everyone could see the big booth (complete with "Grand Prize" motorcycle) right near one of the exits.
Reply
Leave a comment