Conventions

Book Expo America 2012 just concluded here in New York, and once again it's been an interesting trade show. Some stuff was normal, some was new, and overall, I felt it was a good show. My thoughts and discoveries follow.

Looks like we'll be slogging over to the Javits Center for a while yet, as NY state Governor Andrew Cuomo's plan for a giant convention center in Queens has fallen apart for now. The reason? Negotiations didn't go so well with Genting, the Malaysian casino company that would have funded the plan in return for building a giant casino adjoining the facility:

Although Box Brown had a middling time at the past weekend's Wizard World Philadelphia, by all accounts the media events—like appearances by Chris Hemsworth and Stan Lee and various Starfleet captains, went very well. This first time ever meeting of the five Star Trek captains—William Shatner, Patrick Stewart, Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew and Scott Bakula— was commemorated with a photo.

Our friends at Idle Hands have posted Diamond Select's SDCC exclusives. Yes, we're on a rolling avalanche that will end in about six weeks. All of these are available from Diamond Comic Distributors (Booth #2401) and Diamond Select Toys (#2607).

Retrofit Comics' Box Brown went to Wizard World Philadelphia for a day and here is what he saw and did.

This Memorial Day weekend, downtown Phoenix was invaded by the nerdy, as the 10th Phoenix ComiCon was held. This con, which saw more than 30,000 people over four days, has grown exponentially over the last several years. It, like most “comic book” conventions, has become a celebration of all things geeky, and featured programming tracks for comics and superheroes, anime and manga, science fiction. It is the highlight of the year for many in the geek community in Arizona. I had not attended Phoenix Comic Con for several years, and for the first time I attended with my daughter. Mari, age 10, is a veteran of San Diego Comic Con, but had never experienced a smaller, local convention. Although she’s been reading comics since she was old enough to know what a book is, she is just starting to explore the comics landscape on her own, getting a feel for the different types of comic art and stories. What follows is a conversation we had about our Phoenix Comicon experience.

While contemplating yesterday's story about how the dinky, hated Javits Center is in danger of being razed, we got to wondering just what are the biggest convention centers in the U.S.? Finding this information isn't that easy Google-wise. However, we found the information buried in Wikipedia:

A few notes about this fall's New York Comic Con. ReedPOP has made official what everyone took for granted: the New York Anime Festival will officially fold into NYCC. Launched as a separate event just before the manga/anime implosion began, the event was soon co-located with NYCC while keeping a separate identity. This year, the programming and guests list—which are pretty extensive and popular among the fan community—will stay the same but the event itself will be part of NYCC.

Anyone who was at last year's San Diego on the comics side probably remembers Tr!ckster as a highlight -- founded by cartoonist/animator Scott Morse and his friends as a comics-centric place to hang out, it featured books for sale, parties, concerts and an awesome spot right across the railroad tracks from the convention center where people could watch the madness and sit on the grass while drinking a glass of rose. Well, the venue is new this year (rumor has it a nasty old Hollywood studio stole the old spot) but it looks to be just as awesome :

The creator of Fables and Fairest has started hinting that next March will see a new convention appear on the horizon, focusing on the characters and world of his fan-favourite series.

by Mike Scigliano

-- One of the biggest elements in the production of a comicon that attendees will never see is the show decorator. Once you are locked into doing your comicon you'll absolutely need to have one. And they aren't cheap either. Before we get to deep into this let me explain what a decorator does.

Comic-Con has just announced a change to their terms and conditions regarding badges that indicate things are getting more real.