MH Chuck's SDCC Lament

[slym2none]

The new Sasha Cohen movie, for example, died within a day of release, with a stunning 40% drop off in ticket sales between Friday and Saturday.

 

I was disgusted by the previews for it on TV. Horrible piece of crud.

 

That's because SBC is a one-trick pony, and he's exhausted his supply of TV antics, and apparently done the same with any movies. It's time for him to fade away, along with Larry The Cable Guy, Carlos Mencia, and Dane Cook.

 

 

 

-slym (all those are truly unfunny individuals)

[dopy02]

MH Chuck

[TupennyConan]

sadly chuck has this one right and i don't think it's going to be five years before comics are a complete afterthought at SDCC

 

Which is pretty sad. I had dreams of someday going to SDCC because it was THE premier comic con in the country. Every year though it seems like more and more people say that SDCC is not the best place to buy comics.

 

I don't know. I did better this year than the last two.

Most I've ever spent at any con.

 

Money is no object for you Legend. So your post means nothing.

 

All week my most conservative prediction has been 5 years for the flea market at the "A Gate" to the hall to go the way of the Mastodon.

 

I talked to Chuck about this myself.

 

If I owned the show & looked at it from a purely business perspective, I'd end all of the retail activity in 2 years.

 

The comics dealers need to take a different approach to the problem very soon. Ideas have been promoted among some. They should begin to get aggressive if they still want to travel to SD in July.

[blazingbob]

Thank you Rick and Jeff for some "real perspective" to what San Diego is.

 

To me Chuck is giving his view on the "trade paperback" segment of the Comicon.

 

Rick (Detective27kid) had a Action #1 and Detective 27 at the show, frankly for one booth he had quite a bit of "action" and "wows".

 

Now granted it's not like that you are going to see more Action #1's on the floor unless you are at Metro's booth but if you have the material people will find you. Even though the book didn't sell it gave my row some "buzz".

 

Media companies have more money, no kidding. What's new there? How "TV" presentable is our industry? Except for Vinny who else is on TV promoting the Back issue Comic book market? Is there a Antique roadshow of Comics with television exposure? We are antique sellers, we sell memories and items that bring us back in time. We take those stories and create our own animation in our heads, we sit at dinners and argue stories, artists etc. San Diego and conventions in general are not just the buying and selling of books, they are the meeting places to network, make deals, etc. I've heard of guys getting together to show each other books, I've heard that a few good books got bought at this little "swap meets". Just because a sale hasn't occurred at the convention doesn't mean that the convention didn't influence it a bit.

 

I walk around the Dealer area and wonder how many dealers really know how to run a business. If you have the material, know how to present it, know how to market it and frankly are fair I think you will do well at this show. I am at conventions to introduce myself to my customers, to give them a "wow" when they look at my wall display. I want them to visit my website, to feel comfortable dealing with me and seeing my grading. I can't bring 26K books to a show and frankly why promoters haven't linked up collectors to the dealer show list in regards to books customers are looking for is beyond me. Anybody ever heard of a group email list?

 

California is also one of the hardest hit states recession wise right now. I had a lot of customers that frankly are restating what the nation probably feels right now. Conserve some money, be a little more frugal and maybe wait and see if things get better.

 

Overall the show was good for me and I'll be back next year.

 

 

[paperheart]

Thank you Rick and Jeff for some "real perspective" to what San Diego is.

 

To me Chuck is giving his view on the "trade paperback" segment of the Comicon.

 

Rick (Detective27kid) had a Action #1 and Detective 27 at the show, frankly for one booth he had quite a bit of "action" and "wows".

 

Now granted it's not like that you are going to see more Action #1's on the floor unless you are at Metro's booth but if you have the material people will find you. Even though the book didn't sell it gave my row some "buzz".

 

Media companies have more money, no kidding. What's new there? How "TV" presentable is our industry? Except for Vinny who else is on TV promoting the Back issue Comic book market? Is there a Antique roadshow of Comics with television exposure? We are antique sellers, we sell memories and items that bring us back in time. We take those stories and create our own animation in our heads, we sit at dinners and argue stories, artists etc. San Diego and conventions in general are not just the buying and selling of books, they are the meeting places to network, make deals, etc.

 

I walk around the Dealer area and wonder how many dealers really know how to run a business. If you have the material, know how to present it, know how to market it and frankly are fair I think you will do well at this show.

 

California is also one of the hardest hit states recession wise right now. I had a lot of customers that frankly are restating what the nation probably feels right now. Conserve some money, be a little more frugal and maybe wait and see if things get better.

 

Overall the show was good for me and I'll be back next year.

 

 

 

plus Bob sold me the only slab i bought

[Sal]

I walk around the Dealer area and wonder how many dealers really know how to run a business. If you have the material, know how to present it, know how to market it and frankly are fair I think you will do well at this show. I am at conventions to introduce myself to my customers, to give them a "wow" when they look at my wall display. I want them to visit my website, to feel comfortable dealing with me and seeing my grading. I can't bring 26K books to a show and frankly why promoters haven't linked up collectors to the dealer show list in regards to books customers are looking for is beyond me. Anybody ever heard of a group email list?

 

My guess, based on a LOT less convention experience than many, would be around 25%. One could argue that the sentence should read "...to run a business well" but that's just quibbling.

 

For a lot of dealers, selling books seems almost ancillary to the process. It's still just a "hobby" to them or something

[Ringfinger]

Poor Chuckwheat as always.

[bigfiver69]

I've been to the SDCC twice in 2002 and 2003... and even then, I was hearing that the dealer room stunk and that it was a shadow of its former self. (That said, I was still blown away.)

 

Which brings me to an important question... if I were to travel to just one convention purely for back issue comics, which is the best one. I've head Chicago, Charlotte and mid-Ohio. But I'd be interested in opinions.

 

I just wish I could have gone to SD to hang with war comic collectors at the dinner....

 

Shep

[kimik]

As an SDCC virgin, here are a few things that I noticed that might help to improve traffic flow to the comic area (and I apologize if this has already been discussed in this thread):

 

1) Logistics - Let's see, artist alley features mostly comic book artists and dealers, then you have toy companies, the big studios, Marvel and DC mixed in with toy companies (and other media plays), then a few artist/art and toy related booths, then comics, then comics and toys, and finally tiny toy sellers. The whole layout made very little sense to me since you had the comic books separated from the artists that drew them.

 

If I were organizing the show floor, I would keep artist alley and the art dealers as is, then move in the comic/comic related retailers (one aisle up and down would probably do it, unfortunately) right next to the art area, then put DC/Image/Marvel/Darkhorse/etc. next, the big studios in the middle, followed by the smaller media outlets, then the big toy/movie memorabilia companies, and then the tiny retailers at the end like the currently are.

 

2) Allotment of passes - this idea came from conversations with Ted Vanliew and Dale Roberts. Basically, a lot of the passes sell out well in advance to the movie/tv crowd so comic collectors might get shut out. The suggestion here would be for a comic related organization (maybe CGC?) to approach the SDCC organizers about getting an allotment of passes in advance to register comic fans/buyers with. Put a best before date on them and have all of the unsold passes auctioned off by the SDCC on eBay like this year.

 

3) SDCC Premium at the booths - Looking at the furor over the Graphitti GL figures, maybe the comic dealers and/or CGC (and Clink and Metro) should talk to DC Direct, Marvel toys (whoever that is), or another premium company (Paul's tumblers?) and have a limited SDCC giveaway each year. Heck, maybe Marvel or DC would be willing to do a different book with the dealers each year. It would cost a bit, but I am certain that Graphitti made a bit with each figure (the cost was $21.75 with tax) AND it drew in a lot of people to the booth for t-shirt purchases (they were sold out of a lot of sizes/shirts by Sunday). Maybe a toy would be too costly, but looking at the number of dealers who were there it might make sense to pool together and look at something for future shows.

 

 

[drice6900]

From Chuck today - quite a sales dip it seems. Guess Greggy was the only one buying

 

Some troublesome info on the Convention Committee too...

 

 

Howdy!

 

After a quick 1,100-mile dash across California, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah, I am now back home at my beloved farm in Boulder, Colorado. This is the moment when I can finally breath a blessed sigh of relief, as the rigors and risks of yet another San Diego Comic-Con International are finally behind me. I cannot even begin to express to you how happy it makes me to have yet another San Diego trip concluded. This is true not because I dislike exhibiting at San Diego (I actually love almost every minute...), but rather because there are so many critical moving parts to such a complicated endeavor that it is an astounding miracle when nothing major goes wrong. Since I am ultimately responsible for everything we do on this epic journey, and bear full personal responsibility for our financial success, I am filled with indescribable joy when I am finally able to pull into my driveway with nothing major having gone wrong. Whew!

 

As regards the convention itself, it ended up just about exactly as I had predicted. The Southern California economy is particularly weak, so our sales at the convention were down this year by a little over 20% from last year. Because we had shifted a larger proportion of our stock to out-of-print and first edition books, however, and reduced our operating expenses, we actually ended up generating more in earnings on our books sales in 2009, as compared with last year. I wish that I could say the same of my fellow comics exhibitors, but I heard not one positive report. While a few of my friends just flat out refused to reveal how badly that they had done this year, the numbers that I did hear indicated an overall 30%-50% decline in gross revenues by comics dealers. With most comics retailers not having been able to cut costs, any earning that they might have generated in 2008 were greatly diminished, if not entirely eliminated, in 2009. I heard from even the most experienced of comics retailing veterans that they were seriously considering not renewing their booths for 2010. Unless the economy suddenly improves, I'm estimating that San Diego will lose yet another 10%-20% of their existing comics exhibitors in 2010.

 

At the end of the day, the question this raises is what the convention committee is going to do to keep the comics portion of the dealers room vibrant and attractive for fans. We already know that the convention has a 300-company waiting list of vendors seeking booths in future shows. How many of them, however, are comics retailers? And, more importantly, will comics dealers be given preference for space being vacated, or will the convention tilt even further toward media and consumer goods companies dominating the exhibit hall? Under normal circumstance, I would not be even asking this question, as it is so clearly obvious that you cannot call yourselves a "Comic-Con" unless you have comics for sale in the dealers room. What I have previously failed to take into account, however, is that the members of the convention committee do not consider the dealer's room to be an important part of the convention.

 

This vastly differing view of what constitutes the core of the convention was clearly spelled out for me this year, when the committee focused an enormous amount of energy into creating panels about the 40 year history of the convention, and invited not one dealer to participate. It is almost as though they consider us to be their hired help at what is really their own private party. After 37 years of participating at "their" convention, I am finally realizing that the fans and staff who run the San Diego Comic-Con International consider me to have just been a part of the sideshow entertainment, not an actual participant in the convention. That being the case, I now also understand that this overwhelming institutional myopia is precisely why they have reacted with such outrage at past columns that I have written implying that the comics portion of the convention is eroding rapidly. In their eyes, based upon the amount of energy that they put into creating comics programming for the show, comics are just as important to the San Diego Comic-Con International as they have ever been. What the committee fails to recognize, however, is that the comics that we dealers have struggled to make available for sale at the convention for all these many decades have been a significant drawing card to the nationwide/worldwide audience of comics fans. With progressively fewer comics for sale each year in the dealer's room, the number of actual comics fans attending the convention is now plummeting. Yes, they are still selling all 125,000 tickets to the show. But even the most significant comics events, such as the once-a-year Dark Horse Comics new projects announcement panel, are now drawing fewer than 200 fans. Meanwhile, fanatical media fans are lining up outside the convention center the night before in order to be the first (of standing-room-only crowds) to be able! to Twitter on the latest TV or movie project. If you love comics, it should be clearly evident that there is something seriously wrong with this picture, at least if you want San Diego to remain a comic-con.

 

 

[Forbush-Man]

In Chuck lingo, he's down 50-70%.

[thehumantorch]

From Chuck today - quite a sales dip it seems. Guess Greggy was the only one buying

 

Some troublesome info on the Convention Committee too...

 

 

Howdy!

 

After a quick 1,100-mile dash across California, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah, I am now back home at my beloved farm in Boulder, Colorado. This is the moment when I can finally breath a blessed sigh of relief, as the rigors and risks of yet another San Diego Comic-Con International are finally behind me. I cannot even begin to express to you how happy it makes me to have yet another San Diego trip concluded. This is true not because I dislike exhibiting at San Diego (I actually love almost every minute...), but rather because there are so many critical moving parts to such a complicated endeavor that it is an astounding miracle when nothing major goes wrong. Since I am ultimately responsible for everything we do on this epic journey, and bear full personal responsibility for our financial success, I am filled with indescribable joy when I am finally able to pull into my driveway with nothing major having gone wrong. Whew!

 

As regards the convention itself, it ended up just about exactly as I had predicted. The Southern California economy is particularly weak, so our sales at the convention were down this year by a little over 20% from last year. Because we had shifted a larger proportion of our stock to out-of-print and first edition books, however, and reduced our operating expenses, we actually ended up generating more in earnings on our books sales in 2009, as compared with last year. I wish that I could say the same of my fellow comics exhibitors, but I heard not one positive report. While a few of my friends just flat out refused to reveal how badly that they had done this year, the numbers that I did hear indicated an overall 30%-50% decline in gross revenues by comics dealers. With most comics retailers not having been able to cut costs, any earning that they might have generated in 2008 were greatly diminished, if not entirely eliminated, in 2009. I heard from even the most experienced of comics retailing veterans that they were seriously considering not renewing their booths for 2010. Unless the economy suddenly improves, I'm estimating that San Diego will lose yet another 10%-20% of their existing comics exhibitors in 2010.

 

At the end of the day, the question this raises is what the convention committee is going to do to keep the comics portion of the dealers room vibrant and attractive for fans. We already know that the convention has a 300-company waiting list of vendors seeking booths in future shows. How many of them, however, are comics retailers? And, more importantly, will comics dealers be given preference for space being vacated, or will the convention tilt even further toward media and consumer goods companies dominating the exhibit hall? Under normal circumstance, I would not be even asking this question, as it is so clearly obvious that you cannot call yourselves a "Comic-Con" unless you have comics for sale in the dealers room. What I have previously failed to take into account, however, is that the members of the convention committee do not consider the dealer's room to be an important part of the convention.

 

This vastly differing view of what constitutes the core of the convention was clearly spelled out for me this year, when the committee focused an enormous amount of energy into creating panels about the 40 year history of the convention, and invited not one dealer to participate. It is almost as though they consider us to be their hired help at what is really their own private party. After 37 years of participating at "their" convention, I am finally realizing that the fans and staff who run the San Diego Comic-Con International consider me to have just been a part of the sideshow entertainment, not an actual participant in the convention. That being the case, I now also understand that this overwhelming institutional myopia is precisely why they have reacted with such outrage at past columns that I have written implying that the comics portion of the convention is eroding rapidly. In their eyes, based upon the amount of energy that they put into creating comics programming for the show, comics are just as important to the San Diego Comic-Con International as they have ever been. What the committee fails to recognize, however, is that the comics that we dealers have struggled to make available for sale at the convention for all these many decades have been a significant drawing card to the nationwide/worldwide audience of comics fans. With progressively fewer comics for sale each year in the dealer's room, the number of actual comics fans attending the convention is now plummeting. Yes, they are still selling all 125,000 tickets to the show. But even the most significant comics events, such as the once-a-year Dark Horse Comics new projects announcement panel, are now drawing fewer than 200 fans. Meanwhile, fanatical media fans are lining up outside the convention center the night before in order to be the first (of standing-room-only crowds) to be able! to Twitter on the latest TV or movie project. If you love comics, it should be clearly evident that there is something seriously wrong with this picture, at least if you want San Diego to remain a comic-con.

 

 

Chuck is nuts if he thinks the organizers think the dealers room is unimportant. The dealers room was packed from open to close and a steady stream of fans carrying bags of loot purchased in the dealers room could be seen for blocks away. I think the organizers don't think Chuck is important. :shrug:

[kimik]

Chuck's problem is that all he sells are TPBs at 20% off of cover. Aren't there online sites that offer a bigger discount than that without the expense of attending the con?

[MisterX]

More anecdotal stories about weak sales at the Con in Steve Grant's CBR column this week.

 

http://comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=22311

 

Or, just read this qoute--

 

"While it was a winning con, there were clear losers. Probably retailers and back issue vendors were the biggest. Many retailers were breaking out the desperation discounts, usually reserved for Sunday afternoons to reduce return shipping costs, by Saturday, while back issue vendors continued to feel the blight begun years ago by eBay that collapsed prices and made buyers considerably more selective than they'd been in years. Image (not the publisher) might have something to do with it; as I was signing on Sunday, a woman came by with her daughter and expressed considerable relief that the main media booths were yet ahead of her. Not because she had anything against comics per se, but because, in their first visit to the Con, they'd come in at the Marriott end, where many of the back issue vendors are clustered. Given what she'd heard for years about how great Comic-Con is, she was shocked that it looked like, as she put it, 'a flea market.'"

 

Ouch!

[blazingbob]

Given what she'd heard for years about how great Comic-Con is, she was shocked that it looked like, as she put it, 'a flea market.'"

 

Hmmmm, I'd have to agree with that.

 

Perception is everything and sadly not too many are looking in the mirror.

[drice6900]

Chuck's problem is that all he sells are TPBs at 20% off of cover. Aren't there online sites that offer a bigger discount than that without the expense of attending the con?

 

He also has his computer terminals so people can buy his stuff online.

[sckao]

Chuck's problem is that all he sells are TPBs at 20% off of cover. Aren't there online sites that offer a bigger discount than that without the expense of attending the con?

 

He also has his computer terminals so people can buy his stuff online.

 

He used to do that... but not any more I think.

 

 

(From flickr: AV zombie. 2008 Comic-Con)

 

 

[paperheart]

Chuck's problem is that all he sells are TPBs at 20% off of cover. Aren't there online sites that offer a bigger discount than that without the expense of attending the con?

 

50% off cover TPB's were common at SDCC

[Buck Biggins]

Chuck's problem is that all he sells are TPBs at 20% off of cover. Aren't there online sites that offer a bigger discount than that without the expense of attending the con?

 

50% off cover TPB's were common at SDCC

 

My lcs never puts trades on sale. So aggravating.

[vacliff]

I've been attending this convention for the past six years. I absolutely love it. I enjoy all the multimedia stuff. In fact, if it was just a comicbook convention, I doubt I would make the trip. I found very few books off my want list.

 

I also attend most all of the major conventions (I'm usually hanging out with or working for Steve Ritter). Sales this year at San Diego were down. In contrast, Wizard Philly was consistent as well as New York with previous years. I don't know if the blame is just with the California economy or the changing face of the show.

 

There is no doubt that the number of back issue dealers there is shrinking. There were several dealers that did not show up this year, but i didn't notice any new dealers replacing them. That tells me that the space that dealers turn in is being used for other things. As the costs for booths continues to escalate, I think the number of dealers will continue to shrink.

 

See you all in Chicago!