Canadian National Comic Book Expo....who's going?

[comicwiz]

Fan Appreciation Day has mysteriously migrated to April 23 or May 1, depending on who you talk to. Hmmm... wonder why that would happen?

 

I've always tried to remain objective, not having ever met the people running the Canadian National, but if the date for this Fan Appreciation Day has really been set close to the date of the Toronto Comicon, then I guess the proof is undeniable.

 

As a pure comic collecting enthusiast, I have never once witnessed competition between the Toronto Comicon and the Canadian National. Coming from Vancouver where shows lasted only one day (barely) and there's even more excitement generated at the local Blockbuster in comparison, I thought what a good thing it is to be in Toronto where there are actually two weekend-long conventions with real dealers and healthy numbers of guests.

 

If a competition between the two shows does exist, is there any proof to back that claim? In other words, do the people running the Canadian National have any concrete numbers showing that since the Toronto Comicon's inception, the attendance numbers for the Canadian National has gone down?

 

I don't believe it's out of place to say that the Toronto Comicon is a comics-only show while the Canadian National has become the Walmart of collectibles shows. You want comics, bingo! You want anime, bingo! You want sci-fi, bingo! You want authentic weapons, bingo again! Just calling 'em as I see 'em. Where's the direct competition?

 

For me and many collectors I know, it's simple. If you're running a show that we're interested in attending, then we'll be there. If there are two shows we're interested in attending, we'll be there too. But if you try to force us into attending one show only by publicly and blatantly attempting to kill off the so-called "competition", well, then there are plenty of US shows that offer so much more to me, the comic collecting consumer than the Canadian National. One show does not a monopoly make. You still have to offer what people are looking for.

 

Alone, I affect nothing, but multiply a disgruntled me by 10, 100, 1000 and then we'll make a difference. To make it simple, grow up!!! Redirect all this "let's squash the opponent" energy into running a better show and everybody wins. The consumer wins because they want to attend the show and the more consumers that want to attend the show, the more tickets sold.

 

Hey mitol

 

The frustration Toronto Comicon organizers have had with Aman has less to do with healthy, free-market competition, and more to do with sneaky, dirty and downright underhanded scheming that has resulted in brand confusion. If I'm pumping X amount of dollars to advertise and promote a show, and Aman decides to interfere with that promotional effort by spending his time, money and resources to promote with the intention of confusing the collecting community with bogus dates, guest appearance lists and convention locations -- all planned to run on the same days as the Paradise show, then this is enough proof that Aman is not only crossing the line in the sand, but has badly overstepped his boundary. Had Aman, the owner/promoter of the Canadian National Expo devoted as much time to creating a show with a unique and differentiating style, and concentrated more on pleasing the diverse community of fans he is attempting to allure with his show, instead of messing with Pardise conventions efforts to run their convention, there might be more positives and favourable feedback coming from the shows attendees and exhibitors.

 

Objectivity aside, I have yet to hear one person who has attended the Canadian National Expo that had anything good to say about it. A few people really had an issue with the line-ups and registration protocol (what the heck do I have to give them my name and address for?? -- its not like they have ever used it for anything related to promoting the show).

 

I specifically have an issue with the fact that when I have registerred in the past, that Aman and his organizers have NOT taken the time to include, in the pre-registration form, a disclaimer which mentions that they observe, and follow all laws related to the privacy act. It's remotely worth mentioning that I've kept a few forms from past shows for record-keeping purposes, and this issue alone could get Aman, his show organizers, and the people maintaining the thousands of records of attendees in SERIOUSLY HOT WATER! In addition, having worked in the hospitality industry to pay part of my way through University, if Aman thinks that his promotion efforts to confuse potential attendees for the Paradise shows by announcing bogus show dates and locations is harmless, all it would take is a phone call to the Ontario association of Restaurants and Hotels to let them know that Aman enjoys sending thousands of flyers around with bogus dates and convention locations, bearing reputable hotel and convention establishments names, and he WOULD be indefinitely banned from ever booking a show, not only in the city, but from the entire province. Its remotely worth mentioning ANY promotional tactics which position the hotel industry in a negative light are severely frowned upon, even if its something as minor as promoting a bogus show date, specifically in light of the [!@#%^&^]-kicking the industry took during SARS.

 

These are some of the non-objective observations I have seen firsthand, and quite frankly it disturbs me that anyone would do business with such a despicable human being. If your looking for proof that competition exists between the shows, then you may not ever find it, because Aman and his show organizers buried healthy competition when they caught wind Paradise was going to do their darndest to put the city of Toronto on the Comic Convention map.

[Kevin Boyd]

The annoying part of it is that we would like nothing better than to ignore them and go about our business. That is still our intention.

 

I specifically have an issue with the fact that when I have registerred in the past, that Aman and his organizers have NOT taken the time to include, in the pre-registration form, a disclaimer which mentions that they observe, and follow all laws related to the privacy act. It's remotely worth mentioning that I've kept a few forms from past shows for record-keeping purposes, and this issue alone could get Aman, his show organizers, and the people maintaining the thousands of records of attendees in SERIOUSLY HOT WATER!

 

http://www.neoengel.com/openletter_scifiexpo_harassment.html

 

Basically the fellow who runs that site decided he wanted off that company's mailing list. As he continued to receive mail he became more and more frustrated and one of the conrunner's decided to goad him and even confronted him at a public event. Since then he's made it his mission to inform people about the kind of people that run that con and their tactics. It's very enlightening reading.

[justiceleaguer]

Wow, very interesting reading. It's more than obvious that the con organizers are as unproffesional in their dealings with people as they are with their ability to co-ordinate a con. How pathetic.

[Kevin Boyd]

At first I thought we were on our own with the problems that we've had with them... turns out that many of the other conventions that deal with other aspects of fandom have had all sorts of problems with them... particularly Anime North, which is currently the second biggest fan event going in the city.

[justiceleaguer]

You know Kevin, if you guys over there decided to play hardball, you'de instantaneously become the number 1 con in t.o. I understand that you guys are very respectable in the way you run your con and your not looking to take any buisness away from the other guys, but you have stronger ties to the industry than the competition. Paradise has the reputation as the best and most knowledgeable comic shop in t.o, young and old clientle alike, hell, i almost trip over the kids at the shop when you guys have your card tournaments. You have a very close business association with CGC and steve borock....heck, i remember seeing him at one of your old hotel shows years back before almost anyone knew who he was. You have proved that you can get great talent by the great job you did bringing in artists at this years con. Plus, from what iv'e heard you have excellent reputations with many of the big name dealers at the shows. Given how many young artists and fans alike there are in the city, advertising in a few of the smaller press newsprints like NOW would gain you a tremendous increase in attendees. I realize you guys are the small guys with an obviously smaller budget, but you definetely have the ability to snowball into a con that could very well parallel the Wizard cons.....even though iv'e never been to one. I hope you guys keep getting bigger, because we as fans need a better run con, and your the group that can definitely give us one. Just my two cents.

[Kevin Boyd]

Thanks JL, I am making it a personal goal to ensure that we an improved promotional campaign for next year's show. There's always a question of where our advertising dollars are best spent and no doubt we will continue to debate this at our con meetings over the next 7 months. What's fun about those meetings is that we have reps from all over at them - dealers, writers, artists, former con runners, fans... everyone in the community (with only a small handful of exceptions) is really pushing for us to succeed.

[AlexH]

At first I thought we were on our own with the problems that we've had with them... turns out that many of the other conventions that deal with other aspects of fandom have had all sorts of problems with them... particularly Anime North, which is currently the second biggest fan event going in the city.

 

Kevin,

 

There are a ton of people that have had terrible experiences with these "gemtlemen". I have had numerous issues.

 

My favorite problem goes back to their 1999 con where they invited Mick Foley (the wrestler known as Cactus Jack, Mankind, etc.). They advertised in the newspaper that he would be signing autographs for FREE!!! So I get to the Con, buy my $15 ticket, and line up to see him, to get my free autograph. While in line, someone comes around and says, "Please make sure you have your autograph tickets".

 

So I ask the guy behind me and he says you have to buy a comic book upstairs to get the "FREE" ticket. So I asked this guy if he would mind watching my spot, and he said yes. I then went up and found out you had to spend $8.00 to buy this Mankind comic book to get the "FREE" ticket. I argued with this guy for almost 10 minutes saying it was advertised as free (I even showed him the ad that said FREE). All he said was the book cost $8.00 but the autograph was free. WTF???

 

I was so pissed off that I asked to see the organizers; they of course did not show up. So I reluctantly bought the book because I was worried about losing my spot in line.

 

This is just one example of their greed. They don't care about the people that go to their show, they just want your money.

[CGCMINT]

wha else?

 

john

[Kevin Boyd]

"Please make sure you have your autograph tickets".

 

I must confess that this was a new experience for me, as I don't think there is anyone who I would actually pay an additional autograph fee (beyond admission) to have something signed by, but that's just me.

 

In a sense you were lucky that all you had to do was buy a comic (this is beyond the implications of false advertising), as in subsequent years fans have had to pay upwards to $200 for an autograph "experience" - that includes entry into a ticketholders only chat with the guest and they pick up an already signed photo and get to shake the actor's hand.