mysterio

Comiclink win from a few nights ago.

Top staple issues are unfortunately common when the Tattooz are removed. My reader also has a similar problem I only figured out years later.

Looks like CGC is in Boston this weekend. Any word on facilitators for SS? I know I will have a good couple to several to do.

Excellent show, as always, one of my favorites on the schedule! Lots of books in the room, excellent guest list, just a wonderful old-school comic show. Can't wait for the next one in February!

@kat123 the official club had been buried a few pages back, here you go.

Many thanks to @manetteska!

Maybe you were drinking when you scanned it??

So apparently the series is ending?

How many years will dealers want to show up in the hopes that buyers will appear? Even at $500 a table it would still be overpriced when compared to smaller local shows that may very well have more actual buyers show up.

That was basically the point I was trying to make earlier. If these "pop culture" phenomena are what it takes to make 90% of the large shows run so I have an opportunity to buy comics, then I'll put up with it.

Fair point, but outside of those few exceptions I think it’s a fair statement.

Just to clarify, which show took the 40% drop? The Calgary Expo or the Red & White Show?

 The Fear.  Yep. The MO matters not without the FO.

I'm with you, but I don't think any other show matches the cache that SDCC does in terms of attracting dealers. In other words, the dealers are clearly still doing to San Diego even if they sell books on the prior Sunday at the Torpedo show. But what other show would both attract the dealers to make the trek a week early, and then make it worthwhile for them to stay? It is a huge ask in terms of time and investment for a dealer, and I don't see any other shows (certainly not off the coasts) that would work that same way.

Yep. There is room for different kinds of conventions, clearly. The key is figuring out the best situation to maximize dealer and buyer participation. Dealers will go where they can make money, and buyers will go where they can buy books. If either is traveling a long distance it must be worthwhile. It is a classic "chicken or egg" situation in terms of figuring out new shows or types of shows. WW Chicago benefitted from the tradition of the Chicago Comicon, but if Wizard slips out of its preeminent situation for books in Chicago I am left to wonder if someone jumps into that spot or whether all the top tier comic-centric shows will be on the coasts.

Ace seems to be focused on celebs, which is fine, but I wouldn’t expect that to translate into good sales for dealers. If folks are spending hundreds (if not over a grand) on photos and autos then they aren’t buying books or anything else. I remain convinced that sooner or later someone will do a vendor free show. Yes, having vendors helps pay for the venue, but I have no doubt there is some formula to be just as profitable without them. I find the model of the Torpedo pre-SDCC show really fascinating. Premiere shopping from top dealers with significantly less expense and hassle. If someone could work out that sort of model in other cities it’d be spectacular. Inexpensive tables for dealers and a great batch of buyers wanting to spend money. The issue is putting that together in any other place and convincing everyone (dealers and buyers) to go. The draw of SDCC a few days later gives that Torpedo show a huge (and probable singular) edge in those regards.

Navy Pier is not ideal due to the difficulty in parking, plus you’re driving through awful downtown traffic to get there. Not sure about nearby accommodations, but they can’t be cheap either. If Wizard doesn’t discount Chicago it won’t matter in terms of attracting dealers.

I meant it in the past tense, Wizard has had a history of raising booth rates in previous years even when their attendance was in decline. Even their small shows in Des Moines had booth rates over $1000 with attendance well below their bigger shows like NO or Chicago. To put that into perspective, last time I checked Chicago had a $1500 booth fee for a large four day show. Wizard's other shows simply weren't paying out for those exorbitant booth rates. The only reason for a company to drop fees this precipitously is because they aren't getting anyone to buy those booths at full price. They haven't kept up with the Joneses who have basically taken the Wizard model of huge celebrity shows and started doing them better with bigger names. Name a dealer who would be happy about a high booth price. Dealers do shows to make money. Inventory costs money. Their time and travel costs money. Hotels, food, all of it costs money. Tack a high booth fee onto that, and dealers have to make a lot in sales just to break even. A respected dealer on here said they need to make a minimum of 5x expenses to make a show worthwhile. If a booth in Des Moines is costing you $1000, plus all the other expenses, how confident are you that you'll make $10,000 to make that show worthwhile? What other reason would you suggest Wizard would have for slashing their booth rates? Don't they like making money?

Seems that any titles that aren’t in the “big 4” that spawned heroes fall into that category to some degree. The “World of” books, Strange Worlds, Uncanny Tales, Journey Into Unknown Worlds, etc. are all great books that just lack the following of the titles that survived into the late 60s. This seems especially true for those that don’t have a pre-code component.

Can those dealers take that credit as a refund of the excess fees paid, or are they forced to apply them to a future Wizard show?

Hi Josh! The plot thickens even further.

A giant convention hall in a major city costs money. Professionals to run a good show cost money. Travel, etc, for all those people cost money. Pipe & drape, tables and chairs, etc, to put on a professional looking show cost money. I doubt any of those are being discounted to Wizard. Any giant show that is going to bring in 10,000+ attendees is not doing that with comics. The celebrities bring those people in the door, and most of those attendees would be surprised that comics are still a thing (we often get clueless folks who accidentally wander into the comic section of the vendor floor looking at the booth in disbelief). Dealers at giant shows get to see the hundreds of buyers that will come to those large shows because of a guest list that will draw tens of thousands. Dealers benefit from the economics of scale that come from larger shows. If Wizard is slashing booth prices, my guess is that they are doing so because they’re in serious trouble. If it was the “right” price they would have charged it 5 years ago and most of their shows wouldn’t have chased dealers away. Raising booth rates on dealers that had poor sales was not an excellent business strategy. I’ve heard that Wizard demanded payment last week from dealers interested in a Chicago booth. The same dealer who told me this had paid the booth fee at the show for years prior. They’ve done the show over a decade, and this is the first time that the booth fee was demanded months ahead of the show. Coincidence? Wizard used to be the only game in town for celeb shows, and those benefits of large attendance trickled down to dealers (at least at some shows). Now other shows have outdone Wizard on the celeb side, and they’re not able to compete. This price slashing is not a good sign for Wizard as an ongoing business.

So they’re putting admission to the shows on sale, and now they’re radically dropping booth prices. I wonder what will be next.

Sure, but if one is looking to shop for books why not just hit the Torpedo show the Sunday prior and get first crack with none of the expense/hassle?