(The following was written on the plane on the way to New York City. By the time you read this I’ll be napping. – Chris)
It’s been 20 long, long months since I last hopped on a plane to head out to the New York Comic Con. This weekend’s show marks the first since NYCC up and moved their show from their initial late-winter/early-spring time period to the (theoretically) more-stable Beginning Of October time period. The show is, to my mind, the hallmark for the explosive boom in the popularity of comic cons over the last 4-5 years, with NYCC considerably over capacity in its very first year. It’s not hard to glance at the con schedule and see stories of shows reaching or past capacity, sometimes dangerously so. I think the mainstreaming of nerd culture is at the heart of it, the idea of shows like this as a gateway into not just the comics and graphic novels that inspire Hollywood, but direct access to Hollywood itself. Before 5 years ago it was basically impossible to meet an A-list Hollywood Celebrity—now they advertise their public appearances and your chance to meet them 3-6 months in advance, and all you have to do is be determined.
But that first NYCC was, I think, a tipping-point. Showrunners Reed had never run a consumer show before, only fairly sedate—though expansive—trade shows with the occasional consumer element. Their advertising wasn’t a patch on what it is today, and yet still in that first year the folks who showed up to the con nearly doubled the capacity for the allotted space. Their entire set-up was both ineffectual and inadequate, and the stressfulness of the situation was at a fever pitch for most of Friday and Saturday. It couldn’t be much fun for the folks trying to run the event, but as an observer? The cacophony was glorious… and what a story!
Since then I’ve seen the show grow and change considerably—I’ve made it a point to attend every NYCC so far after that fireworks first-year. I’ve seen the staff fight tooth and nail to increase the size of the show and their space within the Javitz Centre, with 2009 really feeling like the first year that the show had come into its own. I’ve seen Reed expand further into the consumer-show business, most-notably their partnership with Penny Arcade on the PAX shows in Seattle and Boston. I’ve seen them become incredibly media savvy, leveraging their number-two-within-the-industry position to attract an almost unheard-of selection of A-list guests to the big event. I’ve seen their preparation for the 2010 NYCC which, I have to say, has felt more than a little slap-dash considering the 18 month lead time they had to prepare. Now it’s time to see what 2010 has to offer.
Today I’ll be attending the ICv2 Conference focusing on Digital comics, and I’ll try to update with my thoughts throughout the event. Tomorrow, I’ll be attending Diamond’s retailer breakfast to see what my number 1 supplier has to say about the industry in 2010, and then following that up with some fun professional programming and apparently 2-3 video game demos. Saturday I’m on a panel and giving a lecture, and then Sunday I’m just going to get lost in the crowds.
Feel free to say hi if you see me around!
– Christopher