The website made it official: Flying in the face of a bad economy. this year’s New York Comic-Con is sold out for Saturday:
Saturday and weekend passes are sold out. Sunday-only passes are available for $40.
The cautious optimism that has gripped the comics industry remained in full force at the show. Although the worsening economic conditions affecting much of the world were much on everyone’s mind, they didn’t seem to be affecting most of the show — or at least not to levels anywhere near what other sectors are experiencing.
Obviously, attendance isn’t a problem. We only had time to poll a few vendors, but they were reporting good sales, if nothing that was record setting. To paraphrase Milton Greipp’s industry white paper, if flat is the new up, comics are still doing well.
More later.
It’s not about attendance. Between free passes and sold tickets, anyone would expect it to fill to full capacity and sell out. What I want to know is how sales are in the end. Not some comic store guy saying, “it’s great.” San Diego SUCKED last year. A lot of independent guys, I think, will be slashing their wrists and wondering why they did the show and that they threw all that overpriced table money out the window. People will be taking or spending less cash at this event than in previous years. Unless they have nothing else in their life and this is their nut to go crazy at once a year and that’s fine. But the general person I expect will take around $100-200 max with them. That’s after the rape fee to get in is paid…
With the economy as it is, great news with those sellouts! And it took NYCC just 3 years to do so… when it took SDCC some 38 years to do so! ;)
But, 2 questions:
1)What’s the Max Capacity of Javitz, or at least the 2 floors the Con had it this year? And how does that compare to the SDCC floors?
2) And never was clear on just how NYCC totals its attendee count: as a WIZARD-like 1 day pass= 1 attendee count/ 3 days pass =3 attendee count, or the SDCC-like 1/2/3/4 day pass= 1 attendee count? Sure would clarify those “30K”, “60K” ,”120K”numbers…
Ed – I don’t think that’s a fair comparsion: 3 to 38 years- considering that all these new mega filled- to- the- gills capacity conventions are riding on the coattails of which ball San Diego got started rolling.
~
Coat
Cary, that emoticon at the end was more for the first half of the sentence…
Reed’s backward-engineering SDCC’s extravaganza for the East Coast couldn’t help but succeed in due time— genre fandom longingly looking westward every Summer for all those years NOW have their own local megacon! I’m just surprised that first NYCC sell-out happened under 5 years; then again, I suppose the eastern seaboard should have about the same number of comics/anime/movie/tv/gaming/etc. fans as out west to buy those Con tix. Next marker: the NYCC Sells-Out! all its 3-day passes.
And: 77K “unique” NYCC total attendance? Divvying that up to the 3 days, some 20K+ roamed both Javits floors during the Con?? And I thought that
’06 SDCC Saturday Exhibit Hall was crowded! Haven’t heard anything about NYCC being shut down— so does that mean the New York Fire Marshall was more *ahem* amendable for Javits to exceed its Maximum Capacity during the event?