Comics Convention News Round-Up

* in the big news for the increasingly crowded and I'd argue important convention circuit, Preview Night for next year's Comic-Con International is already sold out. This is astonishing in that just five or six years ago I and many other people like were still going to that show at the metaphorical last minute, easily snagging hotel rooms and a flight in about 10 days before the show and not worrying about whether or not we could get a badge at all because that was so easy to do. If I understand this interview with David Glanzer correctly, they divorced four-day passes from four-day passes with Preview Night privileges in an effort to scale that number back to "still incredibly busy but not plot assassination of CCI officials" 2008 attendance levels. I think that's smart, and the fact they have to wrestle with this kind of issue shows how much success they've enjoyed the last few years. I have to say I don't get people who see a move to scale back problematic crowds as some sort of sign that the show's gone all profit-oriented and ruthless.

* this interview with Martha Donato at what was reportedly a pretty successful Long Beach Comic Con suggests that they're in it for the long haul. If one of the two comics companies moves to the west coast, a LA-proximate superhero-driven convention could be a great gig.

* New York Comic-Con hosts its one-year out party tonight, and it looks like you can still go if you RSVP through information provided at the link. It's useful for them to do this because you can kind of get a sense of what the con will feel like on the calendar. Take a second and imagine a huge con this weekend. Okay, that's what it is going to be like one year from now.

* NYCC isn't the only show that's been seeking to buttress their profile by planning smaller events outside of the show weekend: the Angouleme Festival has been doing things for a while now like this event with the great Jiro Taniguchi. That's a bit more impressive when you consider how much the comics industry over there naturally bends towards Angouleme anyway. Only 112 days away.

* it's not all about the giant shows: paid admissions at North Bethesda's Small Press Expo were up 19 percent and overall attendance was around 2600, which is good news for that show.
 
posted 8:00 am PST | Permalink
 

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