FAN EXPO CANADA™ 2011 - August 25th to 28th in Toronto, Canada - Now 4 Days!

[jonjesper]

jill thompson again..yes! hey Jonjesper, you back again this year?

 

Sadly it looks like I won't be!

 

Fan Expo is one of my favorite shows, but to many irons in the fire so to speak...

 

 

[Raphael]

awesome! this Cap fan is looking forward to the show

[Big Daddy Kel]

The only way books are going to get done is if someone decides to be a facilitator and that person gets a witness. Both pending CGC approval. 200+ books and FanExpo has one.

Knowing the people that work for FanExpo like Tiz and Kevin, I am sure they will help to get someone lined up, but odds are someone is going to have to step forward!

Enjoy the show guys, looks like a great one as always!

 

I certainly hope that someone will be taking SS subs, because I see quite a few guest at the Fan Expo event that I would like to obtain signatures from.

 

Someone please make it happen

[Ziazmere]

I have checked with :

 

CGC - Eric Downton :I am sorry, but we have no plans to attend FanExpo at this time. Canadian shows unfortunately do not always pay the bills and we have not had luck with FanExpo in the past. It is possible that may change as we get closer to the date, but I do not expect it to change.

 

DWC: will be traveling between Conventions at that time

 

NYComics: will not be attending this event either.

 

Looks like we will not have anyone taking SS subs for FanExpo

[mndb369]

I have checked with :

 

CGC - Eric Downton :I am sorry, but we have no plans to attend FanExpo at this time. Canadian shows unfortunately do not always pay the bills and we have not had luck with FanExpo in the past. It is possible that may change as we get closer to the date, but I do not expect it to change.

 

DWC: will be traveling between Conventions at that time

 

NYComics: will not be attending this event either.

 

Looks like we will not have anyone taking SS subs for FanExpo

 

This is not surprising - I have not seen a strong effort on Expo's part to attract Top US Comic/CGC dealers/enthusiasts. It may simply be that the overhead and cost of the booth space is too high for the revenue that they generate at the show. Let's be honest - without a keynote guest like a Stan Lee this is not a Comic Collector's Show. This is a Comic-Scifi-Horror-Anime-Gaming Expo.

[Kevin Boyd]

As a person in the middle of this, having worked with CGC and with Fan Expo I will offer whatever insight I can into this.

 

CGC and Fan Expo Canada are both businesses, and those businesses have costs associated with running them. Fan Expo has exhibitor booths for sale, CGC is an exhibitor with overhead costs beyond table rental - they have to bring up staff, and that means flights and hotels. I'll get back to CGC in a minute... but as far as "attracting exhibitors" Fan Expo has no shortage of people to fill those exhibitor booths - we have a large comics section in the exhibitor area that is full of Canadian dealers selling comic books and related merchandise. While we don't have to actively seek out the top American dealers, that doesn't mean we don't do anything about trying to get them to do the show. As many members of this forum are fully aware, I, as a representative of Fan Expo personally talk to vintage dealers at U.S. shows all of the time about doing Fan Expo and talk to them about their concerns. They have border concerns for sure - there are plenty of horror stories, and we are happy to work with these dealers to get them into Fan Expo with our brokerage company, but there are still risks involved and every exhibitor has to do a risk benefit analysis. Some, like Harley Yee and Jamie Graham see it as a benefit, others see it as a risk not worth taking. Other than moving the show to Buffalo, there's no way to eliminate that risk for American vintage dealers.

 

As a business, the show requires the exhibitor to send in an application for a booth in order to get the process started. If a top US vintage dealer wanted in we would find a way to fit them in (provided we have space and it's not 2 months before the event) because we are interested in having more U.S. vintage dealers because we get asked for them, but we can't do it without that application. We can't pay the brokerage fees, or give the tables away - although our booths are not particularly expensive - they are actually less than the other company now doing shows in the area, and well below the rates charged at many U.S. cons. Our dealers make money and keep coming back - the rebook rate is the clearest sign of it, but the local dealers do have a distinct advantage because they don't have to contend with the border.

 

Take Roy as an example, he wanted to exhibit as a vintage dealer and because he is a vintage dealer he jumped the line and got in ahead of new dealers wanting to sell modern comics and other merchandise. He's in Canada, so he doesn't have the border to deal with. Art collector and dealer Jeff Singh often gets a booth, while I cannot convince US art dealers to cross the border because they are worried about fees and customs seizures - it's too great of an unknown for them. If another vintage dealer or art dealer sent in an application they would move to the front of the line.

 

Back to CGC, does Fan Expo the show need CGC? No. Do we think they should be there? Sure, they are part of industry. Does CGC need Fan Expo? Not if the risks outweight the benefits. If Fan Expo gave CGC free booths they would probably do the show, but is Fan Expo going to give CGC free booths? No. Does San Diego give them free booths? No. Does New York? No. Do any of those shows have the border as an issue? No. Rising shipping costs and a weak US dollar aren't helping.

 

If they fill out an application as they have in the past, we would get them in.

 

If you want to buy CGC 2 booths, they would probably send the staff up and it would be financially viable for them. If someone came forward and guaranteed x number of submissions, I'm sure they would do the event. But right now that's not happening.

 

As for SS, I'm surprised no one local who has facilitated in the past has stepped forward, but that doesn't mean that they won't be facilitating, they may not be advertising that they are taking books like DWC does, or maybe they aren't on the boards often, or they keep the solicits to just their previous customers. They may have enough of their own books and don't want to take responsibility for random submissions. In fact, I think CGC is pretty confident that they will be getting large numbers of SS books from the show anyway and take that into account when making their decision about coming to the show or not. If they are getting hundreds of SS books through facilitators without sending anyone to the show, why do they need to come up and do the show? One might argue other factors are important, like customer relations, blue label submissions, etc. but there are risks there to be weighed and I guess they decided it wasn't worth their while.

 

We've got guests coming from many different eras of comics, and we also have the top publishers (Marvel, DC, Image) coming in to promote their products. We have to worry about the old and the new. Joe Kubert may not be your Stan Lee, but he's still a great guest, and an amazing comics legend that a lot of fans are excited about. This year we have a larger number of great comic guests than ever before, but we can't please everyone. We do what we can. It is absolutely a comic collectors show - there are more comics dealers and comics creators at Fan Expo Canada than at any other Canadian event. The absence of CGC doesn't mean a show isn't a comic collector's show, nor does their presence make a show a comic collector's show. They do a lot of US events that are not comic collector shows.

[Tiziano]

I have checked with :

 

CGC - Eric Downton :I am sorry, but we have no plans to attend FanExpo at this time. Canadian shows unfortunately do not always pay the bills and we have not had luck with FanExpo in the past. It is possible that may change as we get closer to the date, but I do not expect it to change.

 

DWC: will be traveling between Conventions at that time

 

NYComics: will not be attending this event either.

 

Looks like we will not have anyone taking SS subs for FanExpo

 

This is not surprising - I have not seen a strong effort on Expo's part to attract Top US Comic/CGC dealers/enthusiasts. It may simply be that the overhead and cost of the booth space is too high for the revenue that they generate at the show. Let's be honest - without a keynote guest like a Stan Lee this is not a Comic Collector's Show. This is a Comic-Scifi-Horror-Anime-Gaming Expo.

 

 

Fan Expo started as a comic show. Still is a comic show and will always be a comic show.

 

JEFF SMITH, JOE KUBERT, ANDY KUBERT, ADAM KUBERT , ED McGUINNESS,

TONY MOORE, MATT FRACTION, STEVE EPTING, JONATHAN HICKMAN,

TONY DANIEL, OLIVIER COIPEL, STUART IMMONEN, JASON AARON,

JAMES ROBINSON, STEVE McNIVEN, JACKSON “BUTCH” GUICE,

SHANE DAVIS, RON GARNEY, MARKO DJURDJEVIC, JIMMY CHEUNG

BRIAN AZZARELLO, ETHAN VAN SCIVER, MARK BROOKS,

DAN SLOTT, ALEX MALEEV, DALE EAGLESHAM, FRANCIS MANAPUL

KATHRYN IMMONEN, FRED VAN LENTE, JILL THOMPSON,

BILL SIENKIEWICZ, DEXTER VINES, YANICK PAQUETTE,

MARK MORALES, CLAY MANN, KELLY SUE DeCONNICK,

DALE KEOWN, JEFF LEMIRE, KATIE COOK.

 

Plus a few hundred more.. Fan Expo Canada Full Comic guest list as of June 17/11

 

 

[Ziazmere]

Correct: FanExpo is a Comic Expo, but in the same respect so are all the other Comic Conventions that do or do not host CGC! Kevin Boyd and his team have comprised an outstanding guest list with more to come I am sure. However there are those of us that would like to see CGC at this expo simply to have some of those amazing signatures authenticated on our comics. For some people the Sig is enough but, for those of us who are exceedingly enthusiastic collectors or others who run a CGC-eBay entrepreneurial business we simply like our books to be authenticated and CGC provides this assurance option. My post was not to berate or belittle anyone in this " CGC /Comic Forum". I was simply answering the question for those individuals who wanted to know if CGC or an affiliate of CGC would be attending FanExpo.

[GoldenGuardian]

I think Kevin hit the nail on the head and the discussion can be closed. Ultimately just because CGC doesn't make a presence and just because no one has openly accepted the BURDEN of accepting subs for this show doesn't mean that there will not be Facilitators present and SS books won't get done.

 

The Fan Expo certainly looks like a COMIC show to me. Refresh my memory as to when both Ed McGuinness and Butch Guice made con appearances at the same show? Not to mention the entire Kubert clan and tons of other industry leading artists?

 

.. more sketches and sigs for the rest of us the way I see it.

 

See ya all there

[Kevin Boyd]

Correct: FanExpo is a Comic Expo, but in the same respect so are all the other Comic Conventions that do or do not host CGC! Kevin Boyd and his team have comprised an outstanding guest list with more to come I am sure. However there are those of us that would like to see CGC at this expo simply to have some of those amazing signatures authenticated on our comics. For some people the Sig is enough but, for those of us who are exceedingly enthusiastic collectors or others who run a CGC-eBay entrepreneurial business we simply like our books to be authenticated and CGC provides this assurance option. My post was not to berate or belittle anyone in this " CGC /Comic Forum". I was simply answering the question for those individuals who wanted to know if CGC or an affiliate of CGC would be attending FanExpo.

 

It's not my team- I'm just a part of this giant mechanism. Everyone should thank Tiz for assembling those excellent international guests.

 

 

[mndb369]

Kevin - thank you for the explanation but one reason for the confusion and negative discussions is because it has been since June 1st that Paul Litch and DWC announced that they are not coming and finally some comments from Fan Expo.

 

That's disappointing.

Kevin really? That is all you could provide as a comment until now? You spent more time putting together the Martin Landau announcement.

 

Other reasons:

 

#1 - Read the list below. These are all places that have had or will have CGC attending that have a population base that is 1/3 or less than the Greater Toronto Area. Why can they go to these places and not Fan Expo Toronto? It can't be because of Canada. Why not? Read #2.

 

Charlotte, NC

Columbus, OH

Austin, TX

New Orleans, LA

 

#2 - They are going to WW Toronto / Toronto Comic Con at the Direct Energy Centre March 2012. Dates already announced and confirmed. So please be honest with all of us. Either they are restricted to going to one show in Toronto or you offered no reason for them to come or you did not care. Be forthcoming next time to avoid negativity. This is the CGC Forum. Therefore many people here are interested to submit books, especially SS, with, as Tiz reiterated, such a strong line-up of artists.

 

#3 - As show organizers stop sitting on the fence and make a decision if you are going to provide a SS facilitator or at least make a proper announcememt about the dealers that are coming thus far so we can ask them ourselves.

 

#4 - Stop over-promising and underdelivering.

 

Kev, hope is overrated

Look for some BIG announcements very soon !!!!!!

 

:wishluck: STAN? :wishluck:

 

BIGGER

So unless I missed something that quote was from March 14th. Not to steal someone else's joke but unless you are resurecting Kirby and since Stan prefers Montreal how can you say BIGGER and not back it up 10 weeks before the show.

 

#5 - Explain or answer questions yourselves. Don't wait until non-Fan Expo employees make excuses so you do not address things head on. Obviously some of the lessons from last year's poor communication were not learned.

 

Example: How can you be charging $35 to ship tickets in advance if Fedex and UPS Ground secure with signature charges around $16 to as far away as California.

 

 

#6 NOW:

THEN:

 

VIP went up $20 as well and as you can see no kids free (yet).

 

 

Something that was not made clear in the news... while we have contacted dealers to let them know about the change in days and hours, any exhibitors (dealers, artists alley) who rebooked back in August will not see an increase in their fees for 2011 for the extra day.

 

 

That is right Fan Expo instead make sure you charge the consumer more for the event - especially those that had such a difficult time last year. You can't use the excuse of NOW 4 days because that was used as the selling point to "appease" those that had issues last year.

 

The costs went up, guests went down and attitudes did not change. Fan Expo proves it only cares about the almighty dollar and not this Comic collector.

[Kevin Boyd]

Why are you shouting? If you want to talk, let's talk.

 

Marco, Fan Expo Canada is not providing show facilitators - we never have, there's no fence. Is that not clear?

 

The FedEx delivery is OPTIONAL. If it's not economical, people won't use the service.

 

The show was $20 a day in 2010 and it's $20 a day in 2011. The daily ticket rate went up $1 and the Thursday rate is lowered as an attraction. The show expanded - we rented more space, and expanded it a day and added more hours. The fans that complained and spoke with our customer service agent were all given ticket upgrades for this year... if they paid daily they get weekend for the same price as daily. If they had weekend they get bumped up to VIP.

 

Tickets don't go on sale until July 1, and by that time the children's printable pass should also be available.

 

As for Paul's response and my reply ---- I was disappointed when Paul wrote that and I stand by that. I AM DISAPPOINTED. I thought my conversation with Harshen a couple of days before that was more encouraging, but I gather the company is just not interested.

 

 

[Jason Truong]

 

Marco, looking at last point for the Express Shipping Option, there is a delivery time frame of August 18-22, which is a Thursday to Monday period. FedEx Ground does not run on weekends.

 

Losing the two days, brings the ticket delivery, to potentially the day before the con, or the first day of the con (depending on what time the packages are shipped out on the 18th). So, FedEx Ground service is not an option, because tickets will be delivered AFTER the 22nd. If we are holding true to that last point, the tickets will arrive by the 22nd, the latest.

 

The next option up, which would arrive on the 2nd business day after mailing (by Monday, the 22nd), is FedEx economy. Based on the price you show above, is $58.77.

 

 

Now, if they are using the FedEx Envelope, as opposed to a regular envelope, the cheapest option is FedEx International Priority (no Ground or Economy option). This is a next business day by 10:30am service. That rate is $48.23. Using a non-FedEx Envelope, is $69.90, based on the prices you've shown above.

 

Aside from the FedEx Ground service, every other service to the US, is greater than the $35 that Hobbystar is charging. The other services will also ensure that the tickets will arrive by the 22nd.

 

I assume that they would have a FedEx account that gives them a business rate, which would make one of those services slightly cheaper than the $35 rate; thus, making it a reasonable rate to charge.

 

(Now waiting for the reply about me being a "non-Fan Expo employee" making "excuses" for them).

[mndb369]

 

Marco, looking at last point for the Express Shipping Option, there is a delivery time frame of August 18-22, which is a Thursday to Monday period. FedEx Ground does not run on weekends.

 

Losing the two days, brings the ticket delivery, to potentially the day before the con, or the first day of the con (depending on what time the packages are shipped out on the 18th). So, FedEx Ground service is not an option, because tickets will be delivered AFTER the 22nd. If we are holding true to that last point, the tickets will arrive by the 22nd, the latest.

 

The next option up, which would arrive on the 2nd business day after mailing (by Monday, the 22nd), is FedEx economy. Based on the price you show above, is $58.77.

 

 

Now, if they are using the FedEx Envelope, as opposed to a regular envelope, the cheapest option is FedEx International Priority (no Ground or Economy option). This is a next business day by 10:30am service. That rate is $48.23. Using a non-FedEx Envelope, is $69.90, based on the prices you've shown above.

 

Aside from the FedEx Ground service, every other service to the US, is greater than the $35 that Hobbystar is charging. The other services will also ensure that the tickets will arrive by the 22nd.

 

I assume that they would have a FedEx account that gives them a business rate, which would make one of those services slightly cheaper than the $35 rate; thus, making it a reasonable rate to charge.

 

(Now waiting for the reply about me being a "non-Fan Expo employee" making "excuses" for them).

 

Jason please don't take this as an insult but I think you need to re-read this for its simple meaning:

 

"NOTE: TICKETS WILL BE DELIVERED BETWEEN AUGUST 18-22, 2011."

 

Anyone with a basic understanding of that sentance will agree that is when they will be delivered to you. NOT the actual delivery period. They will arrive from the 18th to the 22nd so they can be shipped from the 12-16 GROUND AND ARRIVE IN TIME. WHY DO YOU THINK THE DEADLINE IS THE 10TH?

 

Jason for the last time stop the insane bias retorts. YOU ARE WRONG!

 

As God is my witness I will buy these under a different name from the US and I guarantee they will be shipped ground. Please someone from Fan Expo TELL ME I AM WRONG!

[mndb369]

Kevin I will reply tomorrow to this - off to GL.

[hsm]

Mndb369 (Marco?)

 

Thanks for taking the time to write these posts. I am sorry that this year's Fan Expo line-up and other offerings are not to your taste. As you might imagine it is hard to please 60,000+ people on a yearly basis. Although we put a lot of effort into each year's line-up and try to do things to improve our customer's experience, I fully understand if you decide not to join us this year; perhaps next year's line-up/offerings will be more attractive to you. Thanks all the same for writing on this board and hope to see you back sometime in the future.

 

Regards

 

HSM

[Jason Truong]

Jason please don't take this as an insult but I think you need to re-read this for its simple meaning:

 

"NOTE: TICKETS WILL BE DELIVERED BETWEEN AUGUST 18-22, 2011."

 

Anyone with a basic understanding of that sentance will agree that is when they will be delivered to you. NOT the actual delivery period. They will arrive from the 18th to the 22nd so they can be shipped from the 12-16 GROUND AND ARRIVE IN TIME. WHY DO YOU THINK THE DEADLINE IS THE 10TH?

 

Jason for the last time stop the insane bias retorts. YOU ARE WRONG!

 

You do make a valid point, I may have misread the last point, as I interpreted it differently. However, until the shipping happens, or unless someone confirms it, I am not wrong. But, I'm not right, either. Frankly, I don't care if I'm wrong. I am just stating another possible scenario, just like your scenario of it being ground shipping.

 

As God is my witness I will buy these under a different name from the US and I guarantee they will be shipped ground. Please someone from Fan Expo TELL ME I AM WRONG!

 

Do that, and see what it accomplishes.

 

When it comes down to it, it's a stated price for an optional service. As you are aware, you are not required to use the service. But, if you choose to, that's the price.

[mndb369]

HSM (Aman?)

 

Thank you for the reply but whether I decide to attend this year, or not, or continue to comment, or not, depends on how Hobbystar/Fan Expo responds to inquiries by myself and other board members. I will recap my questions with Kevin but there are still some unresolved items left out there.

 

Regards,

 

Marco.

[mndb369]

Jason please don't take this as an insult but I think you need to re-read this for its simple meaning:

 

"NOTE: TICKETS WILL BE DELIVERED BETWEEN AUGUST 18-22, 2011."

 

Anyone with a basic understanding of that sentance will agree that is when they will be delivered to you. NOT the actual delivery period. They will arrive from the 18th to the 22nd so they can be shipped from the 12-16 GROUND AND ARRIVE IN TIME. WHY DO YOU THINK THE DEADLINE IS THE 10TH?

 

Jason for the last time stop the insane bias retorts. YOU ARE WRONG!

 

You do make a valid point, I may have misread the last point, as I interpreted it differently. However, until the shipping happens, or unless someone confirms it, I am not wrong. But, I'm not right, either. Frankly, I don't care if I'm wrong. I am just stating another possible scenario, just like your scenario of it being ground shipping.

 

As God is my witness I will buy these under a different name from the US and I guarantee they will be shipped ground. Please someone from Fan Expo TELL ME I AM WRONG!

 

Do that, and see what it accomplishes.

 

When it comes down to it, it's a stated price for an optional service. As you are aware, you are not required to use the service. But, if you choose to, that's the price.

 

This is by far your most reasonable and realistic post yet Jason - thank you. However what concerns me is that we both have legitimate statements to make and had someone from Hobbystar just said:

 

A. We are shipping ground and the rest is processing and service charges

B. We are shipping priority so the cost is that high

C. We don't know we just picked a number

 

I fully understand what otional is but no one from Hobbystar (though I think everyone will agree you are a great spokesperson for them) has actually answered the question below:

 

am i missing something but $35.00 to ship a ticket to the states? on top of the cost of the ticket?

 

Probably using like UPS, Purolator or FedEx, to ship quickly, and to pretty much guarantee that the ticket arrives. Personally, I would rather it be through one of those, instead of regular mail.

WTF! I get my plane tickets/boarding passes over the Internet! They cost a lot more than these do. They can't figure out a way to send them so they could be printed by the purchaser? Are they still using dogsleds up there?

 

So Jason I guess it is ok that our CGC board brothers from the States can poke fun at us "up here" because no one has offered a proper explanation. Just to remind you the purpose of an open forum: if you are going to use it for advertising than expect comments to come back - so don't ignore legitimate questions.

 

That is all I was saying from the start.

[mndb369]

Why are you shouting? If you want to talk, let's talk.

 

Marco, Fan Expo Canada is not providing show facilitators - we never have, there's no fence. Is that not clear?

 

The FedEx delivery is OPTIONAL. If it's not economical, people won't use the service.

 

The show was $20 a day in 2010 and it's $20 a day in 2011. The daily ticket rate went up $1 and the Thursday rate is lowered as an attraction. The show expanded - we rented more space, and expanded it a day and added more hours. The fans that complained and spoke with our customer service agent were all given ticket upgrades for this year... if they paid daily they get weekend for the same price as daily. If they had weekend they get bumped up to VIP.

 

Tickets don't go on sale until July 1, and by that time the children's printable pass should also be available.

 

As for Paul's response and my reply ---- I was disappointed when Paul wrote that and I stand by that. I AM DISAPPOINTED. I thought my conversation with Harshen a couple of days before that was more encouraging, but I gather the company is just not interested.

 

 

Thank you for your limited responses but please answer the following if you can or choose to:

 

1. SS - I get you don't provide facilitators but as I already asked if you won't than maybe an early dealer list so someone can help organize it as a group. It is one thing not to have CGC but with all your guests and no SS witness? That is ludicrous...

 

2. CGC - Why WW Toronto Comiccon and not Fan Expo? If you are the biggest and best why are they committed to that show and not yours? Is there something that you are not doing to assist in this?

 

3. What happened to the BIGGER than Stan guest? Is it still in the works or did someone change their mind?

 

4. Why is the OPTIONAL ticket shipping cost so high? Why can't we pick up tickets from Hobbystar in advance?

 

5. Thank you for explaining the ticket bump process from last year. Unfortunately what if you had VIP last year? I guess we don't need any consideration because VIP's will always pay top dollar? Maybe for those that had VIP last year you could honor last year's price. I know I was never contacted about any special treatment for returning VIPs.

 

Regards,

 

Marco