Opinions of Wizard World Texas?

[Stronguy]

Ok House, here's the dope...

 

I was there all three days helping out at an OA dealer's booth. Traffic was pretty heavy but NOWHERE near 9,000 people. Maybe 5,000. Don't try to compair it to any of the Dallas Fantasy Fairs. This was about a third to a half the size.

 

There were plenty of comic dealers -- several con-only guys, a few mid-size locals, and several of the big boys. Deals could be had but there were very few great bargains.

 

The guests were top of the line -- Joe Qusada, Kevin Smith, George Perez, Jim Lee, Kurt Busiek, et al. All of them went out of their way to take care of the fans thus there were lots of happy people willing to spend their money.

 

If you are planning on coming next year you would probably do well with a double booth area close to the front. There were lots of people looking for cheap lower to mid-grade Silver, high-grade Bronze and cheap trades done by the guests. There are lots of guys with high-grade slabbed books asking stupid prices. I doubt too many of them will move unless you a) have something really rare, or b) get into a bidding war with one of the other dealers.

 

It's definately a show worth doing. Folks around Dallas and Ft. Worth are straving for more of this. Several of the people I talked to were from Austin (200 miles away), San Antonio (300 miles away), Houston (250 miles away), Oklahoma City (250 miles away) and were more than happy to make the drive to get to a relatively large "local" show.

[Stronguy]

Find me some price variants if you go

Last year there were none to be found. Being the local expert on the matter I hit ALL of the booths looking. Nada!

 

Most of the dealers were from out of town and not from test areas.

[Foolkiller]

house--

 

heard mixed things about Texas from the dealer standpoint... I know a lot of dealers who skip it, mostly because of when it falls... but the Wizard Worlds are generally well run, so they're worth doing.

 

But I wanted to second Donut on the Baltimore thing... I've been to most of the major East Coast Cons, and Baltimore is, hands down, the best comics show. Plus, I'll also be taking a ball game or two in, so it'll be a good time. This is one of the shows I'm REALLY looking forward to.

[texasknight]

House,

I was there, and too be honest with you, one of the boths that had the most people around it was one that was selling TPB's. I had to circle around the floor 3 times before I finally got to get 'in line' to look at all the TPB's the booth was offering. This was Saturday morning as well, so who knows how packed it might have been Friday evening. It was one of those deals where you look thru one box, and then wait for the crowd to move on around before you could look thru the 2nd box, and then the same for the 3rd box, 4th box, etc etc. And people weren't just looking, they were buying. I came out with 6 TPB's myself, and I saw one guy that ended up buying about 20 or so just in the short time I was there. I have been to some of the other comic and sci fi conventions here in Dallas in the past, and from my experience, the Wizard convention blew them all out of the water. I spent well over 200$ on back issues to fill runs, and at least 50$ on TPB's. My wife wasn't happy about that, but I sure felt good ! In my opinion, it would be worth the trip down here in light of the fact that not only could you sell a ton of TPB's, but you could also promote your eBAY store as well just by having a bunch of cheapie business cards made up, and handing out as many as you could. Also, the DFW area does have a highly reputable comic store chain with 7 or 8 stores thoughout the area (Lone Star Comics, or on the web, www.mycomicshop.com) which provides a heavy fan base just in the metro area alone. Either way, I'll be there, and if you are, I'll hunt you down and make fun of the month of April that you endured!!! Who knows, might even spend some of my hard earned $$$ at your both.

[FlyingDonut]

Do Baltimore 9/11-12.

 

Not sure I could justify dragging 3,000 lbs of stuff quite that far... although the way things look now, I will probably be shipping my stuff to Dallas if I do the show... works out to be substantially cheaper than driving it... I may even do that for San Diego. It doesn't save me any money for SD, but it does save me 2600 miles of driving...

 

Got a link for the Baltimore show?

 

Baltimore Comicon. Best comic show in the United States. Tremendous guest list, run by good guys (staffed by me!). Plus I have Yankees-Orioles tickets for that night, AND Baltimore has the best strip clubs between New York and Atlanta. Or so I've been told.

 

Grrr... none of the info I was looking for is there...

 

What's a booth space run? And do you have an idea of the head count?

 

That is a nice guest list... and it might be nice to visit the strip clubs baseball game.

 

Baltimore tables are $400 for a 10x10 booth, not an end cap. Attendance last year was in the 1k-1500 range, but those were real buyers, not lurkers.

[FlyingDonut]

house--

 

heard mixed things about Texas from the dealer standpoint... I know a lot of dealers who skip it, mostly because of when it falls... but the Wizard Worlds are generally well run, so they're worth doing.

 

But I wanted to second Donut on the Baltimore thing... I've been to most of the major East Coast Cons, and Baltimore is, hands down, the best comics show. Plus, I'll also be taking a ball game or two in, so it'll be a good time. This is one of the shows I'm REALLY looking forward to.

 

Yankees-Orioles Saturday night. I have fabulous seats! Perhaps a "Forum Special?" followed by eating and drinking?

[musicmeta]

I organized the CGC dinner at the WW Texas and had a blast meeting Steve B. and some of the CGC staff. As far as comic sales, There were a lot of dealers but most of the dealer prices were pretty high and not too many buyers were finding bargains, at least from my observation. There were a lot of dealers selling anything but comics. It did seem pretty crowded to me though.

I think it was a great show anyway and will attend in November for sure.