Phoenix Cactus Comicon 2006

[OldGuy]

Anyone thinking about attending this little show? It's only and 8 hour drive for me and I can stay at my moms place so I may go.

 

http://www.phoenixcomicon.com/index.htm

 

Not a bad guest list for a small show.

 

Johnny Bosch

Eyeshine

Terry Austin

Jake Black

Josh Blaylock

Bret Blevins

Mike Bullock

Amanda Conner

Shannon Denton

Ron Garney

Justin Gray

Raven Gregory

M. Alice Legrow

Marat Mychaels

Jimmy Palmiotti

Brian Pulido

Steve Rude

Billy Tan

Devils Due Publishing

[BrianR]

I am thinking about it since I live in Phoenix. Hopefully there will be a decent turnout of vendors. There has not been much talk about it in the local comic shops. Funny two of the biggest stores Atomic and All About Books and Comics don't seem to be participating stores. Only the "small" stores and I have been to a couple of them and haven't been impressed. I am not thrilled with the location they picked for it either. This Con will be a coin toss if I decide to go it would mainly be to give support for hopefully larger Cons in the valley later.

[Apotheosis]

I have been to this "Con" three years in a row now. It has gotten worse every year. I had actually pondered not going at all this year, but then things started to look up.

 

Last year they had about 5 pro's there and that was only because they mostly lived in town. This year they have 20+ booked so far. A vast improvement. They're also making it a two day event instead of the 8 hour event it has been in the past. This is apparently due to the location that they've had in the past.

 

The old site was the Glendale convention center. At this site they require that a banquet be held for any convention that rolled over more than one day. They also required that the banquet be catered by them. There were also numerous other charges if they were in the building more than a certain number of hours. Due to the restraints that they put on the promoters the con was cut to a short day. This is the reason that this years show is in Mesa (oh the fun of a Phoenix Con that's never been held in the city of Phoenix).

 

As for the big stores not being there.... I don't know about "All About Books And Comics", but Atomic is a waste of comics. Last year they attended Anizona (the AZ anime con), but not the Phoenix Cactus Con. They lost huge respect from me on that one. They're doing NOTHING to help promote or support our hobby in this state and as such deserve none of my money. With that said I think that they may reverse their stance on that one this year with the anouncement of A.C.T.O.R., Devils Due Publishing, and CGC being there. There's alot more interest in the con this year and they'd look pretty bad not being there.

 

Personally I'm looking forward to the artists that are going to be there and the fact that it might be a bit easier to get sketches from guys like Josh Middleton, Billy Tan, and Marat

 

I wonder if we could set up a mini forum dinner with cgc for this one Me... Rob... and cgc... mm... real small

[Rob]

I wonder if we could set up a mini forum dinner with cgc for this one Me... Rob... and cgc... mm... real small

 

Yeah, I'll be there. If not a dinner, maybe we can hold a forum chat in a corner of the convention hall, and take some pics to post on the forums.

[BrianR]

Is cgc going to have a booth or presence there? Last convention I went to was the one back in the nineties with McFarlance. Do you know if there are going to be a large number of vendors selling comics? I went to the website and there seems to be a large gaming crowd which I am not into.

[Rob]

Yeah, Phoenix doesn't have a good crop of comic dealers. The big chain comic shop (4 or 5 locations) is all modern and gaming. There's a few dealers who sell low grade silver. I'm always disappointed. I'm sure a few dealers will have some decent CGC books, but I'm not saving up for it or anything.

[sterlingcomics]

I'm working in Phoenix...I may check it out if I happen to be there during the show.

[shadroch]

Interesting show,very nice web-site.

[jedi_sennin-migration]

Funny two of the biggest stores Atomic and All About Books and Comics don't seem to be participating stores.

 

When did you look at the site? Atomic Comics has been suporting us since May(Free Comic Book Day). Oh and you can buy your tickets there too.

 

__________________

 

Responding to the rest og the posts, thank you for the compliments on us getting ACTOR and CGC. We continue to strive to put on the best convention in Arizona we can - and it's nice to see that some of our efforts are being noticed. We still have more guests to announce and others who might be able to attend. So stay tuned.

 

Here's an updated guest list:

 

Christy Lijewski

Greg Ayers

Noel Neill

Terry Austin

Greg Ayers

Christine Auten

Jake Black

Josh Blaylock

Bret Blevins

Johnny Bosch

Mike Bullock

Amanda Conner

Shannon Denton

Jay Fotos

Ron Garney

Justin Gray

Raven Gregory

Matt Jacobs

Nat Jones

M. Alice Legrow

Christy Lijewski

Mike Mayhew

Josh Middleton

Marat Mychaels

Noel Neill

Steve Niles

Jimmy Palmiotti

Brian Pulido

Steve Rude

Billy Tan

Tim Vigil

Joe Vigil

Armand Villavert

 

We also have an exclusive Wolverines Origins #5 Variant Cover for our show.

 

As for your dealers - There are more dealers this year than ever before. That was always something holding us back - that we were a one day convention. We have more dealers from out of state, and from what I can tell, a much wider variety of product. Including some silver age dealers as well!

 

We still have room for more vendors and have seen great interest from dozens of dealers ... we're working to get as many to commit as possible. One of the requests we heard from people was wanting to see a wider range of product. It's something that we have little direct control over, but are finding that by putting on a better show, we are getting greater interest from vendors who hadn't considered us in the past.

 

We're also already working on our 2007 show and have several surprises to reveal in September.

 

Thanks again for showing interest and see you in September!!

[Rob]

Nevermind.

[jedi_sennin-migration]

Ohh for those who remember last years vendor room at glendale, well this is how much it's expanded in our move to mesa.

 

 

And it's a pipe and drape this year

 

"Yeah we Movin' on up! To the east side!"

[jedi_sennin-migration]

Sorry to double post, but I thought a few of you might be interested in knowing that Harley Yee will be at the show this year!

[Apotheosis]

[mister_not_so_nice]

With any luck I'll be living in Yuma this time next year and The guest list would definitely make the trip worthwhile.

 

I hope anyone that goes this year bings a camera and takes plenty of notes for a con report (perhaps the promoters even)

[Apotheosis]

With any luck I'll be living in Yuma this time next year...

 

 

 

 

Oh... you were serious weren't you? Why Yuma? Even Tucson is better than that. Yuma has something like a 19% unemployment rate... and they won an award for that (used to be over 25% so they got the improvement award). You have something lined up down there?

[mister_not_so_nice]

You have something lined up down there?

 

Yep, Marine Corps.

I'm trying to "get a job" at Yuma Search and Rescue

[ComicSupply]

We also have an exclusive Wolverines Origins #5 Variant Cover for our show.

 

Yeah, too bad I am getting the 5 I could order with a Diamond account tomorrow. Geez, try selling it with something that actually is true.

[Mattman-migration]

Actually our statements are true. And the sketch cover you are getting from Diamond was made possible by our convention and Samurai Comics. And the version you are getting does NOT have the "Phoenix Comicon 2006 Samurai Comics" logo on it.

 

Here's how it works:

 

Marvel releases Wolverine Origins #5 with two covers. Both in full color.

 

Samurai Comics and ourselves approached Marvel about doing a variant cover exclusive to tie in with our convention. Marvel was not planning on doing one. But in order to get one Marvel has to offer the variant to ALL Diamond account holders, hence the five you order. HOWEVER - those five do not have any of the convention tagline or Samurai Comics logo which makes it a Convention Exclusive.

 

So is the version we're offering and promoting exclusive to our convention? Yes. The only way to get that variant cover with the appropriate logos is through Samurai Comics and our convention.

 

Can you get a copy of just the variant cover - but not the convention exclusive? Absolutely. That is what you are buying.

 

Will fans make a distinction between the two and covet one over the other? I dunno. I'm still trying to get over all the polybagged, holo, foil, glow in the dark covers of the nineties.

 

But are we accurate in our statements? I'll let others decided based on this information.

 

Thanks for bringing up the copies Diamond offered and for giving us a chance to further explain our convention exclusive. And we've got more exclusives and more guests coming so stay tuned.

 

Matt Solberg

Convention Director

matt@phoenixcomicon.com

[OldGuy]

...we've got more exclusives and more guests coming so stay tuned.

 

Matt Solberg

Convention Director

matt@phoenixcomicon.com

 

[BrianR]

Here is a question. Based on the map you provided you have enough for 97 dealers. How many are filled at this point and what is the ratio of comic to gaming dealers? I do not want to pick on the convention I want to know what to expect for my money. Most of your events don't interest me like gaming , the concert etc . I am out to find product and see artists/writers. Is the exclusive free with the ticket or do you have to pay extra and if so how much? The room looks like it is approx 150 x 150 based on the dimensions on the map how small was it last year.