Conventions

Thursday, November 4, 7pm Artist and SVA alumnus Dash Shaw (BFA 2005 Illustration) will deliver the fall Distinguished Alumnus Lecture. With the publication of...

People who have recovered from New York Comic Con are gearing up for King Con, Brooklyn's home show. Tonight King Con kicks off at the Brooklyn Lyceum. Guests include Chris Claremont, Kyle Baker, Sarah Glidden, and more. The four-day schedule this year allows for two panels tonight, a party tomorrow, and two days of exhibits and panels Saturday and Sunday. We'll be moderating the Kids panel Sunday at 12:30.

Along with the announcement of Wizard's new Winnipeg show, the press release contained a list of all 16 Wizard shows, and although we had previously announced that the most violent conflict of Con Wars was over, based on this schedule, maybe it isn't.

Well it seems Wizard is on an acquisition spree this week, as they have just announced annexing the Central Canada Comic Con, a mid-size show held in Winnipeg that just wrapped up this weekend. It already had a guest mix of random Jedi, Star Trek crew members and local creators, so it's a natural fit for Wizard's show brand. It's Wizard's second foray into Canada, after the Toronto Comic-Con. For those not versed in Canadian geography, Winnipeg is in the Manitoba province, about halfway between Toronto and Vancouver. We're not enough of an expert to know whether this is a competitor for the Calgary Entertainment Expo, a well-established show that is moving to June from April next year.

Just last week it was announced that Wizard was bringing its Wizard World tour of pop culture-themed autograph shows to New Orleans -- at the exact same venue as the existing NOLA Comic Con. Now it turns out that Wizard has acquired the NOLA con, and is moving it to their earlier, January date. Many of Wizard's convention acquisitions have been more of an organizational shift than an actual purchase—the two entities share leads and resources and the original show runners get to broker exhibit space. New Orleans is a notoriously difficult locale for vendor conventions, so in this case, teaming up makes a lot of sense.

The combination of Halloween and the MCM Expo in London this past weekend has left me incredibly drained. About 46,500 people attended the three...

As you may recall, four=day and single day passes for the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con went on sale today, and while the Comic-Con site was a bit sluggish immediately after the 9 am PDT on sale time, now you can get through and so far...plenty of tickets!

Tim O'Shea has his own Talking with Tim blog now, and his interview with Regan Jay Fishman has lots of details on next weekend's King Con in Brooklyn. We haven't time to really dig in now but here's the programming:

Wizard is going Miami! Dexter! Sonny Crockett! Horatio Caine! Michael Westen and Sam Axe! Miami Sound Machine and LeBron! The show will be held...

The looooong convention schedule is just about set to wrap up with the last big regional show of the year, the Long Beach Comic Com, in balmy downtown Long Beach this weekend. Guests include Marv Wolfman, Jimmy Palmiotti, Jeph Loeb, Stan Lee, Thomas Jane, and more. One last chance to frolic! Programming is here in a form you can import right into your social media. It's going to be a fun, Halloween themed weekend with lots of Walking Dead-related activities.

Some announcements about the 2011 Comic-Con International San Diego: mostly a reminder that four-day passes and single-day tickets go on sale on November 1 at 9 am PST. (Preview Night has been sold out since this year's show.) The fact that this is all being announced to the minute -- very much like Hoteloween -- suggests that there will be a ticket rush of Bieber-like proportions. How quickly will passes sell out? The Beat will be hitting refresh quite often! What's the over/under on a one-day four-day pass sellout? Ticket prices have been raised slightly this year -- a four-day pass is $105 and a one-day pass is $37. Last year they were $100 and $35, respectively.

By Matthew Murray This weekend the ExCel Centre in London will be taken over by the London MCM (Movies Comics Media) Expo. For three days the convention centre is playing host to probably the biggest comic related event in the UK, and there will be plenty of fans and guests on hand. Comic book guests include Sean Phillips (Criminal, Incognito), Chris Claremont (Uncanny X-Men, X-Men Forever), Jamie McKelvie (Phonogram, Suburban Glamour), Antony Johnston (Wasteland, Daredevil), Paul Cornell (Captain Britain and the MI: 13, Action Comics), Jock (The Losers, Detective Comics), Kieron Gillen (Phonogram, Uncanny X-Men), Andy Diggle (The Losers, Daredevil), and a gaggle of other artists and writers less well known outside of the UK. They'll be there selling their wares and participating in panels, or maybe just sitting in the pub. MCM is also the new home of the Eagle Awards, and those will be presented over the weekend.