C2E2, March 18-20, 2011, Chicago, IL.

[jessebrook1]

Aghhhh! Claudio Sanchez will be there......i wish i could go to get his autograph.

[shortstack comics]

LMK guess, the little bag on the right is your clothes, everything else is comic books?

 

From Right to Left:

 

1) Laptop Case

 

2) Carry-on with 80 books and some clothes.

 

3) Big luggage that fits 2 CGC #1 boxes pefectly side by side, packed with 100 more bubblewrapped books, and the rest of my clothes.

 

I made the mistake last year of not having enough luggage on the way home and having to FedEx some stuff back. This year I'm prepared.

 

I thought it was so asinine that the FedEx office in the Reed convention center was closed. Bad business call on FedEx's part. They would have made a ton of cash (off me included)

[HOTFLIPS]

Last Day

 

 

[Manic Eightball]

I think this show worked out really nicely this year.

 

I made out pretty good on my end getting another piece of my Amazing Spidy collection, #6, from Ted at Superworld. 1 more down, 3 to go! Other than that got a bunch of decent high grade bronze books for a song, finished off my Spirit Archives collection and picked up some Marvel Masterworks & DC Archives.

 

So what did everyone think of the show? Any good swag? I saw Roy's & Greg Reece's con reports and they seemed to have thumbs up on it.

[Ant-Man]

As the folks from Reed were visiting the dealers to talk about next year, I heard a lot of "Yes, we'll be back." They may have requested a different location, but coming back nonetheless. Also heard a lot that thought this year was an improvement from last. Sorry if I'm repeating what was said elsewhere, just my

[Mayor006]

This was too funny not to share... Hope the OP doesn't mind.

 

[mschmidt]

My thoughts on this years show ...

 

Say what you will about the pain of driving through downtown Chicago, I'll still take the McCormick Place over the Rosemont Center any day of the week. Carpeted floors, (some) natural light and an entrance that actually allows more than 2 people to step through at the same time makes for a convention appearance that's heads & shoulders above anything Wizard offers. Saturday morning I got to the show right at the opening - and it took me a grand total of 10 minutes to get through the door. At last years WW Chicago show, the entrance was so small that it took hours to get in.

 

Compared to last year, the exhibitor list was noticeable smaller - gone were large dealers like Fantasy Comics, Basement Comics & Motor City, and in their place were numerous small booths dealing in toys, dvds, and, surprisingly enough, asian snacks (my daughter was pretty happy about that last one, though). For people who like box-diving for cheap books, there really weren't that many options - in 2010 there were a handful of dealers with 40-50-60 boxes of $1 books; this year there was just one.

 

From the dealers I spoke to, however, this wasn't necessarily a bad thing - pretty much everyone reported brisk sales across the board (much, much better than the disaster that was last year) which, considering there just weren't that many options to choose from, seems logical. Attendance was much, much higher as well - on Saturday, as Dre mentioned earlier, it was jam-packed and a pain to move between booths.

 

Hopefully, the dealers who choose to pass on this years show will be lured back back by the reports of sales & attendance - whereas the show had a strong showing of Bronze, Silver & Gold in all grades & at all price levels, the Copper & Modern selection was truly dismal (with the sole exception being Brad and his usual selection of insanely-rare independents).

 

My biggest disappointment this year was that, from a comic creator standpoint, the inaugural C2E2 show in 2010 had one of the strongest lineups outside of NYCC and SDCC - it was miles above anything Wizard put together that year. This year, however, the lineup was weak in comparison - Bendis, Ennis, Willingham & Quesada were the top draws, but both Ennis & Willingham were repeats from last year - and in 2010 you had Jim Lee, Alex Ross, Mike Mignola, Jeff Smith, Chris Ware, Bob Layton, David Finch, etc to boot. Dark Horse, DC & Marvel all had huge booths at this show, so not having them bring a larger selection of their A-list talent was a bit depressing.

 

(And, hey Reed people, thanks for making the Ennis signing for VIPs only - that was a total -move :thumbsup: )

 

This was also readily apparent at the CGC booth - whereas last year it's was a whirlwind of witnesses running around the floor, clutching giant stacks of books, this year it was a much more languid affair; nobody had to hurry, and witnesses seemed readily available at any given time. I did about 50 SS books last year - this year I did around 10 (and half of those were held over from Emerald City).

 

The celebrity guestlist, on the other hand, was fairly decent - a good mix of people from different TV shows (even though, imho, less Ghost Hunters would have been nice), and the autographing area was off to the side from the main convention area which meant no gridlock as people were queuing up. And, thank the baby Jeebus, no Z-list wrestlers anywhere in sight.

 

When all is said & done, I still think this is a better show than WW Chicago - but, after a strong first showing in 2010, this one definitely felt like a (small) step backwards.

[Kevin Boyd]

I enjoyed this show a lot - I was working at the CGC booth coordinating SS so that Joe could have a break. I do agree that it could have been a lot better on the guest front, but we still managed to get just about everything signed and in. I think the good thing about this event from an SS standpoint was that bigger "draw" creators for straightforward signing SS were readily accessible on the first day when the bulk of the SS books get submitted: Bendis, Fraction, Reis, Mahnke, Prado, Moore, Hughes, McCrea, Willingham, Maguire and to some extent Quesada --- even Ennis, despite the fact his signing was VIP only as Mike mentioned.

 

The only disappointment I had was not being able to track down Nick Spencer (from Morning Glories) for SS as he was rarely at his booth and was not at the con at all on Sunday.

 

Celebrity-wise, it was Walking Dead actors Holden, Berenthal and Buffy/Dollhouse actress Eliza Dushku for the win. A lucky few obtained some Chris Hemsworth autographs and as far as I know there was only one book signed for SS by Danny McBride at his brief appearance at the Dark Horse booth.

 

It was a shame about J. Scott Campbell, but Joe agreed to take everyone's Campbell books to Megacon to get them signed there.

 

Special thanks to show MVP CAW Ryan Patterson, who did the bulk of the heavy lifting on getting autographs.

 

On a personal level, this felt like a big convention. It was nice to see the continued support of the bigger publishers - up front and centre. It was packed on Saturday and as frustrating as NYCC or Fan Expo to make one's way through.

 

I thought the Artist Alley was one of the most interesting collection of artists I've seen in some time. It was busy all weekend and there some really interesting and eclectic creators there that took me by surprise.

 

In the end I got some great artwork, picked up some t-shirts for my girlfriend, and some hardcovers to read on the way home. But mostly it was (a) fun to see everyone again and (b) kind of fun to run SS at the booth again, even if it was just for a guest appearance and I was happy to help Joe out and still get a chance to enjoy the convention. In a lot of ways this event reminded me of previous visits to San Francisco's WonderCon.

[Yodude]

Dudes, I'm back and helping the wife today after being gone for 6-days. She does not buy the whole "I'm working" and only get a few hours sleep a night thing.

 

Thank you for your professional feedback. Back at the lab we take everything into consideration from our first-hand observations to fan/exhibitor experiences and recommendations. Again, thank you.

 

It was obvious there were a lot more fans this year, programming a bit lighter than last year, and a couple top-notch comic retailers and premium companies not on the floor though ironically we have the same sqft.

 

Those who joined us were rewarded and we thank you. Move-in/out was smooth. The new building was really nice and easy to get around to the IGN Theater and panel rooms. Cabs knew where to find the building. Good weather, etc. We continue to work toward a diverse yet relative guest list reflecting how interesting Chicago really is.

 

My low point for me was sending a man to the queuing hall and failed to realize he had some walking difficulty.

 

High point - Sunday when the lights dimmed indicating the closing of the show - I can hear the crowd gave a big applause.

[Ares]

Nice reports..

Good to hear every one had a good time.

 

Is next years show Scheduled yet?

Hopefully it will not be on same weekend as other shows so there will be chance for exhibitors to go to both!

[Yodude]

Nice reports..

Good to hear every one had a good time.

 

Is next years show Scheduled yet?

Hopefully it will not be on same weekend as other shows so there will be chance for exhibitors to go to both!

 

No dates yet. Thanks for coming out to C2E2 - We salute you.

[VintageComics]

Nice reports..

Good to hear every one had a good time.

 

Is next years show Scheduled yet?

Hopefully it will not be on same weekend as other shows so there will be chance for exhibitors to go to both!

 

No dates yet. Thanks for coming out to C2E2 - We salute you.

 

This is not meant as a personal attack as I know it takes two to tango, and there is plenty of back story to every story, but it would be really great if con promotors could choose dates that did NOT conflict with another large convention. This way the promotors, artists, dealers and the fans ALL win by being able to visit both conventions rather than making them choose one or the other.

 

[Transplant]

I agree with the comments about trying to schedule non-conflicting dates and also with Mike's feedback on the guest list. Overall, I thought this was a much better show comic wise than last year and obviously attendance was up as well.

 

On additional thing. I loaded the C2E2 app on my iphone. It was pretty much useless. You couldn't resize the floor maps so it was impossible to see how to orient yourself in relation to other landmarks at the show. The guest signings, especially publishers, was never updated and were sparse at best. Overall, it was very disappointing given the info it could have provided.

[jeBailey]

I second the comments on the App. Was hoping for more having just been to ECCC and the App for that show was great.

 

John

[Yodude]

Nice reports..

Good to hear every one had a good time.

 

Is next years show Scheduled yet?

Hopefully it will not be on same weekend as other shows so there will be chance for exhibitors to go to both!

 

No dates yet. Thanks for coming out to C2E2 - We salute you.

 

This is not meant as a personal attack as I know it takes two to tango, and there is plenty of back story to every story, but it would be really great if con promotors could choose dates that did NOT conflict with another large convention. This way the promotors, artists, dealers and the fans ALL win by being able to visit both conventions rather than making them choose one or the other.

 

 

rD -

 

I could not agree more. Dates are very tricky like other events, what halls are available, holidays, etc. We reach out and try to work together because it hurts all involved if there are schedule conflicts.

[Yodude]

I agree with the comments about trying to schedule non-conflicting dates and also with Mike's feedback on the guest list. Overall, I thought this was a much better show comic wise than last year and obviously attendance was up as well.

 

On additional thing. I loaded the C2E2 app on my iphone. It was pretty much useless. You couldn't resize the floor maps so it was impossible to see how to orient yourself in relation to other landmarks at the show. The guest signings, especially publishers, was never updated and were sparse at best. Overall, it was very disappointing given the info it could have provided.

 

Transplant -

 

The app for me helped attendees find exhibitors and some panel info, but really weak after that. PDA apps can be far more robust and useful. Give us a little time you will like what we got in the works.

[Kevin Boyd]

I just don't see how these conflicts can be avoided when there are conventions scheduled all over the place every weekend of the year. Pick any weekend of the year other than Christmas and chances are you are conflicting with a convention somewhere in the Unites States or Canada and someone is stepping on another event's dates. Other problems include convention centre availability - not only do you need to worry about what other comic shows are on the schedule, but also what is going on in your facility. If you do your show in April and 3/4 weekends are booked with car shows, wedding shows, fishing shows, flower shows, home shows, etc. and you don't have a lot of options but to go with the open dates, and sometimes those dates clash with other events. C2E2 wanted the west hall (a much better location to get to than the Lakeside facility) and this is when it was available.

 

However, generally speaking, the big national shows have established weekends, while smaller regional shows should keep those events in mind when scheduling their events. Local events should avoid stepping on the dates of other local shows.

 

I know when we select our event dates we try to stick with a mixture of traditional dates (Superbowl Sunday ComiCON, March Break AnimeCON, last weekend of August Fan Expo) that work and then see what's open at the facility for others (ComiCON November, AnimeCON December, ComiCON Fan Appreciation April).

 

"The Big 10" national comics industry shows (these shows truly draw attendance in the "tens of thousands" as opposed to a few hundred or thousands):

- Emerald City Comic Con (March)

- C2E2 (March)

- MegaCon (March)

- WonderCon (April)

- Heroes Con (June)

- San Diego Comic Con (July)

- Wizard World Chicago (August)

- Baltimore Comicon (August)

- Fan Expo Canada (August)

- New York Comic Con (October)

 

Anything not on that list is a regional - not national - show. They may draw some people from outside of their immediate radius based on a guest appearance, but they are mostly appealing to local collectors and fans.

 

To be honest, I think the priority of those big national shows is not to conflict with one another. I don't think they care too much if there's a conflict with a smaller regional event somewhere else.

 

Last year we had a conflict with Fan Expo and Baltimore - and you know what? Both shows "won" in the end.

 

Next weekend there's a show in Kansas City that conflicts with MegaCon, I don't see any people from KC whining about MegaCon being on the same dates. KC will draw regionally, Megacon will draw regionally and nationally. I didn't see anyone in Edmonton or Vancouver complaining about C2E2 overlapping with their shows last weekend.

 

The only way to properly do it would be to put all of the convention promoters in a room at San Diego or something and have them carve up the calendar accordingly. Chances are they would kill each other first before reaching any kind of agreement if they were placed in such close proximity to one another...

[VintageComics]

- New York Comic Con (October)

 

 

Fixed. For a second there I panicked.

 

Kev, thanks for putting that into perspective. My view was a little myopic since I'm a little bummed that I had to miss the Toronto show to make it to Chicago.

 

It seems that the Comic Convention scene has become quite an animal unto itself and yes I agree that it would be in the con promotor's best interests to work with each other to please fans and exhibitors.

 

Let's face it, dealers want to make money and fans want as much access to product as possible. One promotor trying to squash another is only going to be a short term gain for the larger promotor. In the long run it just ticks people off. Not saying that is what is happening, but that is the perception.

 

Having well scheduled cons will make the con scene more rewarding for everyone, especially when traveling dealers can do a well planned "circuit" by hitting more than one show on a road trip, minimizing sunken costs for a show.

 

For example, east coast dealers driving past Toronto to Chicago can do both shows back to back if the dates are well planned.

 

I fail to see how having Baltimore and Fan Expo on the same weekend was a good thing.

 

[DinnerB-migration]

Nice reports..

Good to hear every one had a good time.

 

Is next years show Scheduled yet?

Hopefully it will not be on same weekend as other shows so there will be chance for exhibitors to go to both!

 

No dates yet. Thanks for coming out to C2E2 - We salute you.

 

This is not meant as a personal attack as I know it takes two to tango, and there is plenty of back story to every story, but it would be really great if con promotors could choose dates that did NOT conflict with another large convention. This way the promotors, artists, dealers and the fans ALL win by being able to visit both conventions rather than making them choose one or the other.

 

 

I believe you are referring to Wizard World Toronto. Very simple C2E2 is in the USA and WW Toronto is in Canada. 2 different countries.

 

 

[Kevin Boyd]

Kev, thanks for putting that into perspective. My view was a little myopic since I'm a little bummed that I had to miss the Toronto show to make it to Chicago.

 

It seems that the Comic Convention scene has become quite an animal unto itself and yes I agree that it would be in the con promotor's best interests to work with each other to please fans and exhibitors.

 

Let's face it, dealers want to make money and fans want as much access to product as possible. One promotor trying to squash another is only going to be a short term gain for the larger promotor. In the long run it just ticks people off. Not saying that is what is happening, but that is the perception.

 

Having well scheduled cons will make the con scene more rewarding for everyone, especially when traveling dealers can do a well planned "circuit" by hitting more than one show on a road trip, minimizing sunken costs for a show.

 

For example, east coast dealers driving past Toronto to Chicago can do both shows back to back if the dates are well planned.

 

I fail to see how having Baltimore and Fan Expo on the same weekend was a good thing.

 

 

Fixed my post. I'm not saying it was a good thing, I'm saying it's a reality at this time when there are a lot of shows going on. It happened to us and we all survived - there wasn't a negative attendance impact on either event.

 

You and I talked a bit about this on Saturday night, I mean it's wishful thinking to think that the Wizard and Reed folks would ever sit down and hammer something out, schedule-wise - it would take a lot to bring them to the table and neither has an real reason to do it in the first place. I mean, you seem convinced that Reed was out to squash WWTO (perhaps you got this impression from Peter Katz?) when I don't think they really cared - they had other concerns and helping or hurting Wizard was probably the last thing on their list, they wanted the West building which was definitely a superior spot over the Lakeside hall and last weekend was when it was an option for them.

 

The less than 10 people from Toronto who went to C2E2 didn't impact on attendance at either event. Sure, Harley, Bob and Ted made a decision based on where they wanted to go based on where they felt they could make more money (and for example, you came to them so in a way they got both), but the many Toronto area dealers that didn't do WWTO this year didn't go to C2E2 either... the impact of C2E2 wasn't a motivating factor to anyone except for 3 US dealers...

 

Sure, it would be nice to see them work on an effective schedule but I don't see them actively trying to squash one another either - at least not this year. I don't see anyone else actively promulgating a conspiracy theory of Reed squashing shows (or vice-versa).