Tampa Bay Comic Con - April 6-7, 2013 -- LAUREN COHAN from WALKING DEAD!

[gcstomp]

I freakin love the venue, so it will be sad to see it leave Doubletree. But clearly show has outgrown the capacity of the hotel.

[Webhead1981]

Steve, Bill, and Neal did an amazing job this weekend.

 

The popularity of this show has taking it to new heights, which I hope will carry to the Tampa Convention Center. I trully believe that this show has the potential to be the NEXT BIG show in the South.

 

Congrats guys!

 

Hopefully this is the case and they learn from the unorganized chaos of Sunday. Enjoy supporting local shows but that place was out of hand yesterday. Once you got past the line and into the dealer room it was ok. But I've never been to a more unorganized show before. Good luck with the next one.

[Mark 1]

I heard this show was a mess. Glad I didn't go.

 

 

[lookwhoitis]

I heard this show was a mess. Glad I didn't go.

 

 

I am sure everyone appreciates your opinion.

 

Thanks for the support bro!

[Mark 1]

I heard this show was a mess. Glad I didn't go.

 

 

I am sure everyone appreciates your opinion.

 

Thanks for the support bro!

 

Sorry...

 

I wanted to attend this past weekend but didn't work out.

 

I asked a friend to get Maggie's autograph for me but they were cut off from the line.

 

It wasn't cool...so that's why I'm a bit upset.

 

 

[JiveTurkeyMoFo]

I heard this show was a mess. Glad I didn't go.

 

 

The show was fine and the staff did the best they could to manage the chaos, but it has grown so much in attendance-wise in just the past 2-3 events, that it clearly needs to go to a bigger venue. I don't think anyone really anticipated the draw that two Walking Dead cast members would bring in terms of attendance.

 

I feel bad for anyone that had to drive half the day, only to be turned away. Hopefully, after the change to a bigger venue, those folks will give it a chance, as Bill, Stephen, Neil, and the rest of the group have really worked hard to make this an up and coming event, and one pivotal for florida Comic fans and collectors.

[Pike's Comics]

I went Saturday only. I got their a few minutes early and left around 2. Was able to quickly check out all the booths, watch Clayton Crain paint an insane Carnage (per his usual,) and get autos from Clay, Clayton, Jenny, Jusko and Layton. I have to say though, the deals were pretty amazing. I didn't plan on spending too much but some of the dollar boxes were too good to be true. I got some incredible reading material and a few things for the collection.

 

Big purchase (not in a dollar box) of the show:

Pike hooked it up w/ a Batman 227.

 

"Should have bought it" moment of the show: (2 of them)

First:

I may have been blinded by the Sixth Gun #1 FCBD's I found but I swear a vendor (not a big one) had a Batman #15 CGC 6.0 for $650 and I feel like that was a sweet deal. He may have said $800 but that is even a deal.

Second:

I should have had Clayton paint me a Batman. His prices at this show were so affordable and by time I actually asked, his list was just long enough to where I wouldn't have been able to pick it up. Had I just asked early, there might have been an amazing sketch on my wall today.

 

Favorite Cosplay:

Tampa Comic Con dressing up as a small show! Love this show, glad you guys have one in Orlando coming up. Hope for continued success. I can see this show and the Orlando one being a 'can't miss' pair of Florida shows each year.

 

Thanks for stopping by! Always enjoy talking with you. I am still amazed you found those Sixth Guns!

 

I definitely had a great time at the show and plan to do it again later this year. The guys know what happened that went wrong and I am sure will plan to fix it.

 

Favorite Costplay:

My favorite cosplay had to have been the guy dressed up as the kid from UP. He even had the balloons and merit badge sash!

[Pike's Comics]

 

 

Shout out to Tyson from Comic Central I see in the photo there. He was set up right next to me and was great working with. If you ever are up in the Sanford area you should stop by his store!

 

Also is that a certain Walking Dead girl I see there in the front?

[TupennyConan]

Lookwhoitis: "YOU'RE GONNA NEED A BIGGER BOAT."

[lookwhoitis]

Here is the skinny on the situation yesterday:

 

The Walking Dead is a white hot property. The most popular show on TV.

 

We have great marketing and many people came out. We were limited by the size of our venue and did the best that we could with the situation at hand. We owned all of the convention space in the venue and it still was not enough. The layout of the hotel is un conventional and not the best for that high of a volume of attendance. We certainly did not expect that high of an attendance.

 

We made a lot of people extremely happy by giving them the chance to meet their TV idols. Dealer satisfaction was excellent across the board. The artists were all VERY busy and drawing all day long as fast as they could complete sketches. Art Suydam told me he drew close to 100 free mini sketches for kids on Sunday.

 

We want to please everyone that got left out and will do so when we get a bigger venue.

 

Thanks so much to my two partners for all their hard work, all the boardies who came out and supported us (and whom are offering kind words), and all the Artists who worked really hard all day long

 

Special thanks to all the volunteers and staff who went above and beyond the call of duty in crazy chaotic situation.

 

Onward and upward!

 

 

 

[lookwhoitis]

Favorite Costplay:

My favorite cosplay had to have been the guy dressed up as the kid from UP. He even had the balloons and merit badge sash!

 

Do you have a pic?

 

I personally answered that kids email when he contacted us through the website asking if he could bring real baloons for use in his costume.

 

Of course I told him yes! But i never got to see him

 

#runningaroundlikeachickenwithyourheadcutoff

[Pike's Comics]

Favorite Costplay:

My favorite cosplay had to have been the guy dressed up as the kid from UP. He even had the balloons and merit badge sash!

 

Do you have a pic?

 

I personally answered that kids email when he contacted us through the website asking if he could bring real baloons for use in his costume.

 

Of course I told him yes! But i never got to see him

 

#runningaroundlikeachickenwithyourheadcutoff

 

Let me ask the girlfriend. She was the one taking pics.

[HOTFLIPS]

Glad to see the show was a success guys. Nice to see that the show is growing. Seeing at how hard you guys work I know this is just the tip of the iceberg for you guys. I wish you lots of success in the future and hopefully we will be able to get down there for it. Congrats guys and keep it up!!

 

Jeff

[KingOfRulers]

I've been calling it "gross overload".

 

The turnout was colossal. Basically, we were in the venue of a local small-town 500 attendee show but had the turnout of what would be considered a mid-sized convention. We had about 2,500 people on Saturday and an undetermined amount on Sunday that dwarfed the already record breaking Saturday attendance...somewhere in the 4,000-5,500 range I suppose, many of which never got in because we were forced to turn them away by order of the Tampa fire marshal. It was simply beyond what the venue could handle by a great margin.

 

We didn't think we'd need the Tampa Convention Center until 2014, which is what we have planned for.

 

Stay tuned for updates.

[lookwhoitis]

 

Favorite Cosplay:

Tampa Comic Con dressing up as a small show!

 

[mangbus]

 

Favorite Cosplay:

Tampa Comic Con dressing up as a small show!

 

 

 

I'm good for a funny post here and there.

 

Seriously though, the amount of butthurt on FB is hilarious.

 

The measure of a good show is how they respond in this exact situation. I have no doubt that this will remain a top show in the south east!

 

Oh and Jenny Frison

[UnboxingTreasures]

Anybody got any pictures of "Maggie"?

[Mark 1]

Anybody got any pictures of "Maggie"?

 

[Mark 1]

I've been calling it "gross overload".

 

The turnout was colossal. Basically, we were in the venue of a local small-town 500 attendee show but had the turnout of what would be considered a mid-sized convention. We had about 2,500 people on Saturday and an undetermined amount on Sunday that dwarfed the already record breaking Saturday attendance...somewhere in the 4,000-5,500 range I suppose, many of which never got in because we were forced to turn them away by order of the Tampa fire marshal. It was simply beyond what the venue could handle by a great margin.

 

We didn't think we'd need the Tampa Convention Center until 2014, which is what we have planned for.

 

Stay tuned for updates.

 

That's an awesome turnout. I applaud your success.

 

Too bad about those folks who drove half a day and were turned away or cut off in line for autographs.

 

I didn't mean to make it seem like the show is a mess...I can only imagine the work that must go into running and organizing such a show. I'm happy there are folks who go out of their way to do this.

 

It's understandable that stuff happens that makes customers unhappy. I was a little upset I missed out on the autographed WD comic for "maggie". Maybe someone in this thread got two and is willing to part with one.

 

 

Best of luck next year.

[TupennyConan]

To put things in perspective, Lauren Cohan has appeared at a large number of cons in the past year. Her LA agents & managers established her estimates with us weeks ago.

 

We all considered them conservative.

 

By the end of the day, after one 5 minute break & one 30 minute lunch break, she had tripled those numbers.

 

She met with a large number of fans. Lots of folks were happy.

 

& then she put on a terrific panel with Emily.