Here’s a brief local TV news spot showcasing the unfortunate timing of the new Wizard World Minneapolis—May 3-5—and the long running Spring Con thrown by the MCBN (Midwest Comic Book Association) —held May 17-18. I first reported on this last year, and Wizard’s John Macaluso insisted that they hadn’t known about the local show, and weren’t trying to conflict with anybody—even though at one point Wizard had offered to purchase the MCBA show.
According to Nick Postigliano, one of SpringCon’s organizers, the controversy has actually helped his show, as social media activity is way up and a lot of local cartoonists are supporting the show.
By this time it should be fairly evident that Wizard shows are here to stay and should be given the popularity of the events. They aren’t for everybody, but they are for somebody. The show calendar schedule is dotted with these kinds of “near misses” however, and you’d have to be pretty naive to think that there isn’t some overall strategy in show planning.
That said, this con culture shows no signs of slowing down, at least not as long as Bruce Campbell and Nathan Fillion are in need of some extra cash. Wizard is smartly targeting smaller markets like Tulsa, Reno, Nashville, Richmond, VA and so on…places that don’t have huge established shows. (It looks like the New York show from last year is off the schedule.)
While the timing—planned or not—is far from ideal, it sounds like SpringCon 2014 is also on its way to being a successful show.
Are you going to either or both of these conventions? Tell the Beat how they went!
[Via Kevin Melrose]
I live in northern Minnesota and can only make it to one con each year. It has always been MCBA’s SpringCon. I wont be changing my plans even if Wizard puts on a bigger show. The MCBA guys put on non profit show that supports charity. Pretty tough to pass that up to feat the beast that is Wizard.
Interesting article on the effects of Wizard coming to town and the local reaction, in City Pages, a Villiage Voice-owned alt weekly: http://www.citypages.com/2014-04-30/news/wizard-world-comic-con-minneapolis/
weheartmusic.com will be at both shows and providing coverage on each…
Watching this article, I was particularly pleased by the bit where it mentions that Wizard World offered to let Springcon promote at their show. I saw the local Geek Media Expo promoting at WW Nashville back in October.
It makes me happy that companies can push for the success of the whole culture, but I’m also curious as to how many people are going to refuse to hear that part. :/
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