Wizard World: Chicago ‘08 Round-Up



* Rick Marshall provides on-the-ground analysis of Wizard World's flagship Chicago show -- one, two, three -- of the kind that's invaluable when it comes to drawing conclusions about a show that don't depend on pre-existing wisdom. Marshall notes that Avatar invested heavily in the show with significant reward, Marvel's booth operations were carried out with great enthusiasm, and that the show itself seemed desperate for a renewed sense of identity.

* Sean Kleefeld attended the show as a fan and industry observer, compiling a small list of publishing news items and providing a nice, short essay about the experience of going to the show on Saturday.

* Todd Allen looks at the show and some on-site rumors.

* Here's Newsarama's index of publishing news. Here's CBR's.

* ICv2.com's article looks at the show from the perspective of Wizard's recent personnel changes, but doesn't get too deeply in to the issue of whether this is a good thing or not. Gareb Shamus sounds enthusiastic, though.

* my general impression from those articles and what I've been seeing in my e-mail is probably closest to some of the stuff that Marshall suggests with his coverage. Wizard World: Chicago still sounds like a viable show, which may distinguish it from some of the other Wizard conventions that as a group have been listing to one side or the other the last few years. At the same time, it doesn't sound like a particularly strong show or solid flagship as currently constituted. Chicago is a great town for a convention like this -- Chicago has a ton of comics readers that aren't served by any other show, the convention can draw regional visitors from cities like Minneapolis, Detroit, Indianapolis, St. Louis and Milwaukee, and there's a long history there of summer convention-going. Heck, there's even a more recent history of it being a place where certain groups of mainstream comics fans gather. As a Midwestern kid, I have fond memories of my trips to the show and how large it loomed in a year of comics buying.

* despite being what sounds like a pleasant, reasonably well-attended show, I think the takeaway here is the emergence of danger signs as to WW: Chicago's continued, long-term vitality. This includes administrative carelessness like moving the dates as to the 2009 show back to late summer and the way that news kind of seeped out, outright blunders like idiotic scheduling against popular local events like Taste of Chicago (maybe not direct competition for asses in seats, but definitely one for local press coverage), an unclear overall retailing strategy emerging (the ability to move high-ticket items to hardcore collectors was a stated strength of this show just five years ago), and a lack of major announcements from the big publishers in addition to those rumors about the extent of their future involvement. While this year's Chicago show might mitigate against rumors of an imminent Wizard Convention program collapse, it's not exactly strong in a way that should make anyone confident moving into a potential recession. No one would be surprised by a move in any direction at this point; while it's hard to believe Chicago would ever go for very long without a major comics show, the next few years should prove very interesting.

* my suggestion would be they dump the other shows, make their stand in Chicago, and lock in a traditional date starting as early as next year.
 
posted 8:10 am PST | Permalink
 

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