Wizard May Double Shows In 2011

A bunch of folks jumped on a statement by Gareb Shamus in a broad WonderCon/what cons mean wrap-up that Wizard Entertainment is thinking about expanding their shows from their current 12-show slate into conceivably twice that.

I don't know how seriously that statement needs to be taken. Casting Wizard's string of regional/area shows as a serious challenge to Comic-Con and Reed is sort of silly when the smaller, several-show strategy seems much more clearly to be Wizard's way of gathering itself after getting its ass kicked by the bigger shows when they were actually in direct competition. It's like allowing John McCain to recast his Arizona election struggles as a new strategy to take the White House. You should also probably have to be more than one show -- and maybe not a show where you could drive a F-350 down the aisles on one of its three days -- into a new strategy before you get a PR platform to boast about a bigger version of that strategy. Perhaps most scorn-worthy is Wizard trying to cast itself as a champion of those elements neglected by the bigger shows. That should be laughed at, not published as a potential pull quote. Wizard's entire history is front-running and capitalizing on the biggest trends. I don't know anyone who thinks that if an Iron Man pavilion and a bevy of A-list stars were made available to them, any smaller elements in the way wouldn't be shoved right into the parking lot.

Still, could they go to that number of shows? Well, sure. You may recall that many of today's top comics professionals got their start holding conventions as broke-ass teenagers in a time where there wasn't extra convention space all over the country and people eager to fill it in order to do business with fans. So I think they could expand, just as long as there's some basic minimum standard of quality met that assures the modest number of exhibitors and attendees necessary to make that sturdy economic model work on everyone's behalf. But for now, with their generic brand name and eagerness to criticize, they're just drafting behind the success of better show organizers. They should be left out in the cold for a bit longer, at least until they can prove this new strategy is minimally workable for more than 2/3 of a single weekend and in shows from the future that exist in Gareb Shamus' head.
 
posted 7:00 am PST | Permalink
 

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