Boston Comic Con - August 11-13, 2017 New Venue New Dates 10th Anniversary 3 3

[Junkdrawer]

4 hours ago, smithdatura said:

Set-up looked great, Chris! How did that Archie collection do? And that Jughead monster book in particular?

 

Sold quite a few, although the boxes were on the floor so that's a big factor. The small congested booth is another factor. Double my space and double my cost for it I don't think would have doubled my sales. I did sell a bunch, had a great time, and met quite a few new peeps that I think I'll see show up someday at the shop. 

I few hard looks on Jughead79, but alas I still own it. I did sell off 9 of the 53 short boxes and the only wall books I sold were a ASM50, ASM20, ASM121&122, Xmen 12, and my biggest sale was an original JSC sketch. 

[Kevin Boyd]

Thanks to everyone that came out for a very busy 10th Anniversary Boston Comic Con event.

As of this weekend, the show will now be known as FAN EXPO BOSTON.

Edited August 15, 2017 by Kevin Boyd

[Kevin76]

12 hours ago, Kevin Boyd said:

Thanks to everyone that came out for a very busy 10th Anniversary Boston Comic Con event.

As of this weekend, the show will now be known as FAN EXPO BOSTON.

Cause it's not about comics anymore?  

[Kevin Boyd]

1 hour ago, Kevin76 said:

Cause it's not about comics anymore?  

 

We doubled the space and increased the number of comic guests at the event and the old management was working with us to ensure that. If anything comics are as much of the event as they have ever been.

[Murphman13]

Then why the name change?

[1Cool]

3 hours ago, Kevin76 said:

Cause it's not about comics anymore?  

I love the name change since see above.  Nothing wrong with people being honest and calling it a Entertainment Expo or Fan Expo since the actual sale of comic books is third or forth fiddle at this point.

[Kevin Boyd]

Fan Expo is the company brand.

 

[eewwnuk]

can we please get a fan expo Chicago?? 

[Dick Pontoon]

The number of comic related guests may have increased, but dealers selling comics did not seem to. Among the big boys who have set up previously who did not this time: Marc Nathan, Bob Storms, Greg Reece. There were several other regional/national dealers I can think of who were not there. Off the top of my head I can name at least 5 local dealers/shop owners who have always set up in the past who did not attend. There were no original art dealers, either; both Bechara Maalouf and Anthony Synder used to set up.

 

A multimedia “fan” show is all well and good, but I don’t see how comics are as much a part as they’ve always been, nor how moving forward this change in focus will attract comic book dealers.

[Kevin Boyd]

I see, your definition of comics is narrower than mine. I know many of you judge based on comic dealers alone. Comic dealers are vendors, we certainly welcome them and want them there, but they have to decide for themselves. There were certainly a fair number of comic dealers at Boston, probably less than in previous years. I'm curious to hear how they did, Harley said he did okay. I know a few stepped back because they didn't know what to expect. Word of mouth among dealers will decide whether or not they return. .

We took an 120,000 sf show and doubled the space to 240,000 sf. The extra space was certainly used to add more floor space for the other things (increased celebrity signing area, Stan Lee zone, cosplay section, photo ops, a stage on the show floor), not to take anything away from comics and that's what I meant by "as much a part of it as before".

Re: art dealers observation: 

- Albert Moy was there with art

- More Great Art was set up with Ed McGuinness.

Anthony was there buying art and doing sigs. Scoping it out, deciding if he'll come back.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 16, 2017 by Kevin Boyd

[BDaddyDogg]

I hope to attend next year.  

[Robot Man]

Sounds like a name change is a good idea.

Comic book dealers are getting to be a distant memory at "comic cons" Very sad. It appears that pretty much the only ones making money at these big shows are the promoters...

[Kevin Boyd]

I know how sad we all are, but I agree to an extent about the name change. The brand name is more INCLUSIVE of the other fandoms under the same roof. 

However, if only the promoters are making money at our shows then we would have no exhibitors at all, no one would ever book or rebook. We have comic dealers at all of our shows. I myself have a booth at our Toronto show and I usually do very well there selling trades and graphic novels. 

[Junkdrawer]

Is the facility in Boston larger than the facility at SDCC? I know we only used a fraction of it and the show does have room to grow. 

[Kevin Boyd]

I hear it's moving to the front hall next year.

[Kevin76]

On 8/15/2017 at 5:04 PM, Kevin Boyd said:

FanBoy Expo is the company brand.

 

Fixed that for you!  - No charge   

[Kevin76]

15 hours ago, Kevin Boyd said:

I know how sad we all are, but I agree to an extent about the name change. The brand name is more INCLUSIVE of the other fandoms under the same roof. 

However, if only the promoters are making money at our shows then we would have no exhibitors at all, no one would ever book or rebook. We have comic dealers at all of our shows. I myself have a booth at our Toronto show and I usually do very well there selling trades and graphic novels. 

That's the problem, other fandoms are getting in the way, hardcore comic collectors don't want cosplay, video games and toys in the same room as the comics, trades and GNs can be bought online for pennies on the dollar so we don't want those either, and anyone who actually has higher end stuff, doesn't do the Boston show.  I'm not paying $50 admission to go look at action figures and video games.  

[Kevin Boyd]

Thank goodness for church basements and rec halls.

[Kevin76]

1 hour ago, Kevin Boyd said:

Thank goodness for church basements and rec halls.

Better than the conventions being put out by Fan Expo 

[Jeffro.]

3 hours ago, Kevin Boyd said:

Thank goodness for church basements and rec halls.

I believe you are missing the point Kevin is trying to make. There was time when comic book conventions were just comic books and comic book professionals. In some cases, these cons were very large and very well attended. I remember going to some Javits shows that were huge and did not contain superfluous non-comic book related content. I remember going to a couple Boston shows that were similar.

Now, in fairness to you, you seem to be constructing a show that has comic books as a much lesser focus, and that's fine but please don't attempt to compare the content of a modern "fan expo" to comic book centered shows of old. There is no comparison. Perhaps those old time shows are no longer viable for the larger venues and that's a shame.  Although, there are a couple that seem to still be bucking that trend, Baltimore for one and perhaps Chicago? (not sure about that one)

Thank goodness for church basements rec halls indeed. That's where I'll be spending my money and time these days if I'm looking for a comic book centered event. And for the higher ticket items that I can't find at these smaller shows, the internet is a good source. I won't be attending events in the larger cities because when you factor in the costs and the travel for someone like me that just wants comic books, the juice just isn't worth the squeeze.

I wish you the best of luck (seriously, no sarcasm) in growing your brand into what you want it to be and I suppose changing the name to Fan Expo and removing "comic book" from it is a good first step. 

Edited August 18, 2017 by Jeffro.