Tag: Conventions

From Betty White to Scott McCloud. I counted 216 programs here. And they've expanded to the Marriott and....the Horton Grand Theater. Make sure to grab a toasted cheese sandwich while you're there. Most of the big movie announcements are still on ice, but some amazing comics folks, including McCloud, Gene Luen Yang, Eleanor Davis, a spotlight on Bill Finger and MORE MORE MORE. Can you feel the feels?

Using numbers from this (itself very interesting) ReedPOP media kit, Janelle Asselin ran numbers on New York Comic-Con demographics, with an eye to growth by gender. The result: Men 2010: 65% of 96,000 total = 62,400...

Yes it's that time, people as this site and all remotely connected to pop culture begin to be obsessed with nothing but Comic-Con, the glitz, the glamour, the gallons of coffee we'll need to...

As we reported the other day, in 2015 Wizard's convention schedule is expanding even more, and they are adding nine new territories in 2015, including San Jose, Calif.; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Cleveland, OH Raleigh, N.C.; Indianapolis,...

HeroesCon Day Two wound up a little while ago. The shot above is from opening yesterday around noon. The crowds have increased quite a bit since then. 

As usual it's a laid back show....

HeroesCon is well underway! Held at the Charlotte Convention Center, it runs until Sunday. Guests span the gamut from mainstream superstars—Fraction and DeConnick—to the book world—Jeff Smith—to alt.comix icons—The Hernandez Bros. So there...

Are con wars just heating up? Calvin Reid and I surveyed the showrunners after this weekend's three con pile-up and it sounds like things are just getting started. In particular, it turns out Special Edition: NYC was just a warm-up for what could be smaller comics shows everywhere.

Will every single comics creators be at a show this weekend? Since we know comics culture is booming I thought it might be interesting to check out just WHAT is happening around this nation of outs. I got most of these from Convention Scene but it didn't include the biggest show, Big Wow.

If you're going to one of these shows, feel free to report back to us here! We're keen to hear about comics culture around the world.

The parade of the CAFs continues with MeCAF in Portland, Maine, a one day event to be held this Sunday, May 18th. This year the show has moved to a new venue, The Portland Company Complex at 58 Fore Street. It's still near the ocean, and has bigger space, free wifi and food vendors. Guests include Sean Gordon Murphy, James Sturm, Kazu Kibuishi, Jimmy Gownley, Zack Gialongo and Maris Wicks. Programming is here. This is a comics focused event with a big emphasis on all-ages material that everyone likes going to. There is also an emphasis on lobster, Shipyard beer and other nautical fare. The local paper has a nice preview.

A couple of things floating around out there that quantify the rise in comic book convention profits. Rob Salkowitz quantifies some very interesting research by Eventbrite and guesses that comic book theme events could be as much as a $3 billion business, a number that dwarfs the $600-700 million usually given for the comic book industry itself. Attendance is up about 20% every year, while some profits are up by triple digits. While all pop culture events are up, comic book events are up the most, even more than video game and other industries:

This week it's TCAF -- the Toronto Comics Art Festival, which has rapidly become one of the greatest, most enjoyable, most informative comics events of the year. See the mouth watering floor map here....

Author and historian Danny Fingeroth sent along his panel programming for this weekend's Wizard World Minneapolis, and whatever the ongoing controversy, it is fair to say that WizWorld programming has improved quite a bit. While looking through the programs, we noticed that one participant is indie comics stalwart Zak Sally</a> of La Mano Press, Sammy the Mouse and more. Let's just say that if there is one person we never expected to see at a Wizard World show it's Zak Sally. Maybe he will hang out with "social media sensations" Nash and Hayes Grier and Nathan Fillion, and then the circle will be complete.