stephenshamus12

Mark Bagley!!

Entertainment Cards (Upper Deck Marvel, Topps Star Wars), Gaming Cards (Yu Gi Oh, Pokemon), Movie Posters and other Props and replicas, as well as now Video Games (Vintage) are mainstays. And all make sense since they are the same psychographic of attendees or relatives of attendees that are likely to attend. Sports, other than WWE (more entertainment), have never mixed well. Same demographic, different psychographic.

Zoscone - Agreed. That's where it's been heading since 2016.

Golden Memories - May I suggest if you have a free weekend you attend one of our events as a pedestrian. I'll even get you free tickets. It'll be eye opening for you.

Kevin said it perfectly. And I have stated many many times on many boards. There are over 300 events. Some are Supernatural, some are Stranger Things or Riverdale. Some specialize in Comic Art (Comic Art Con or Torpedo Con). Some have crazy artist alleys like Heroes and Baltimore. If you have that many choices, and you have the right product, you will do well. Despite the heavy criticism that media shows get on the CGC boards (I get it, it's the audience), we actually do have vendors that do very well at all our shows and keep coming back. They include T-Shirts. Mystery Box, Art Prints, Replicas (our replicas dealers clean up on very expensive Shields and such), etc. Kevin does an amazing job and I've said it before - he's the best in the biz. And he has a tough job, as do we. Most comic creators want fees now, and unlike celebs, there is no recouping on these fees. That's what makes it tricky. We've actually had some great comic lineups where we invested a ton in some of these artists and people still didn't show. I think it's a reflection of the loyalty to the legacy events.

Golden Memories - I think we agree. As I stated, you have hundreds of shows to go to, and our shows are not the right fit. The record prices you are seeing for comics and cards does not indicate the age of the buyer. I said they were "aging out." That simply means people who are buying them are getting older, not that they aren't being sold at record prices. Those are two different matters entirely. We are appealing to a young audience that I suspect are not the people rifling through your boxes. I saw the end of those days around 4-5 years ago. Shows like Baltimore and Heroes Con have legacy buyers that go back 15+ years (very loyal base). New shows today that try and launch with just comics and mid tier celebs just aren't selling tickets. Those shows you list are anomalies not the norm. Everything else I agree with you. -Stephen

Hello all, As the showrunner for ACE I can give you another perspective. I will try and be as succinct as possible. You have to look at the events as a full eco-system. If you charge $5 for Admission and $500 for tables, the likelihood of survival are small. You saw this in the sports card industry. The comic book industry is aging out and you see this in the monthly sales charts. There will always be local events catering to this part of the market (as do sports cards, coins and stamps, all of which have aging out problems). So in order to survive and bring in new people, you have to bring in younger crowds that create the next generation of fan. Today, we have Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, WB Online and many more options. Just like you have in the event space. These folks no longer want to be spectators and go through long boxes. They don't even want to be in their seats entertained. Like Coachella, Lollapalooza and many other festivals they actually want to PARTICIPATE and be part of the action. That's why you see Arenas and Stadiums catering to this new type of ticket buyer. It's not just in our space. When you go to a Yankees game, people are on their phone, in the gaming areas, eating food, in the restaurants, etc. In many cases, doing everything EXCEPT watching the game. You can fight it, but that's the new reality. As for pricing, people want bigger and more and better. There are over 300 Cons in this country, so you can find EXACTLY what you are looking for. But if you wake up one day and that local favorite show is gone, do not be surprised. Costs are only rising, and everyone wants the same old pricing. Our model is different, it's a hybrid mix. We limit the # of dealers and illustrators to keep the ratio of attendees to exhibitors fair. Also, you would be SHOCKED at which illustrators have the longest lines at our shows. It's the folks with the largest Instagram or other type of presence that makes them stand out. I get it, I get it, you want Jim Lee and Todd McFarlane. And they are exceptional. But they can only do a few shows a year. Anyway, I could go on and on, but just wanted to show a slightly different perspective on this. And by the way, I suspect we do more CGC submissions at our show than maybe 10 other shows in the country. -Stephen

https://www.acecomiccon.com/bosslogic.html Bosslogic

Game of Thrones, Jon Snow, 'nuff said!!

Billy Martin from Good Charlotte https://www.acecomiccon.com/billy-martin.html

https://www.acecomiccon.com/andy-park.html ANDY PARK - Marvel Studios’ Director of Visual Development - Avengers: Endgame, Captain Marvel, Avengers: Infinity War, Black Panther, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Thor: Ragnarok, Ant-Man and the Wasp, The Avengers, Captain America: The First Avenger, Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ant-Man, Captain America: Civil War, Dr. Strange

Charlotte Flair

Geoff Shaw - https://www.acecomiccon.com/geoff-shaw.html

Ryan Ottley - https://www.acecomiccon.com/ryan-ottley.html

Chris Evans & Jeremy Renner just added!!

Also added Ariel Olivetti https://www.acecomiccon.com/ariel-olivetti.html

Added Skottie Young and many other Comic Artists... https://www.acecomiccon.com/skottie-young.html

Josh Brolin, Zoe Saldana, Don Cheadle FIRST appearances ever!! Lee Pace 2nd Appearance!! Recently in Captain Marvel!!

All our shows have been announced around 3 months out. We've had great attendances so far.

Not sure who you spoke with, but they were, in fact, accepting Blue Label. When I post here, best to DM me before the show and we could have taken care of you.

@Louie.rob.m - I think Sharp will do Blue label as well

Hey @erikdj79 - Sharp Comics is there to assist.

@inthehottub The Creator list is much better including Mike DeCarlo, who rarely does events. Full list is here - Adam Ellis has over 1m Fans on Instagram We added David Mack, Matthew Rosenberg, Mico Suayan (from Singapore), Joe Quinones, etc https://aceuniverse.com/events/arizona/creator-spotlight.html/

The Exhibitor List is here - https://aceuniverse.com/events/arizona/arizona-exhibitors.html

@inthehottub - Also there's an assumption that everyone you want to see is available to attend. As a showrunner, you would also know this is not the case in the majority of situations (probably more than 90%), and you have financial considerations as well (People want A+ talent, but in many cases complain about pricing once the guest is announced). We pride ourselves on bringing guests that have never appeared or rarely appeared. We have a unicorn in Michael Fassbender, and I'm not sure you will ever see him again...And we have two other X-Men's First Appearances (both in Dark Phoenix as well), and Taron Egerton's first (and only one that I can see) event, as well.... Please share your own experiences on this, as well...