"The Big Rotten Apple" or "Look Ma, No Scruples!"

Well, it's been a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time since I've posted anything at all here. But this one? Had to put it somewhere. I've been reading and hearing about this from every direction that my niche fandom provides me, so I'm just gonna dump my brain out here on the issue. A lot of this information comes from all over, if I quoted sources I'd just be writing down a list of every website I ever go to, so let's just boil them all down to http://www.google.com

So the New York Comicon...great show, by the way...happened in February. Next year, it's being held on October 9th and 10th. That's been public knowledge since February.

Recently, Gareb Shamus (Wizard) aquired the Big Apple Comicon. I've been to Big Apple a few times...an ok-yet-forgettable show that's fine to go to if you're in the area and have nothing better to do. Fair to say it's more of a pop culture show than a comic convention.

Just a few weekends ago, the latest Big Apple Con happened. They announced their dates for 2010. Care to guess? October 9th and 10th.

Now, this isn't automatically anything sinister. Maybe that particular venue only had a limited number of dates available, maybe something about schedualing on Gareb's end needed to line up and this was the only way, so on...but both Wizard, and Gareb himself, really seem to be going out of their way to show us that, no, for them this is personal.

First of all, this isn't the first time Gareb's done this. Reed Exhibitions, which runs the NYCC, also has a con in Chicago. Gareb promptly schedualed a convention in Anehiem in direct opposition to it. He's also schedualed a show in Toronto for March (it's usually in June) because March already hosts Planet Comicon in Kansas City.

But whatever. It's his con, he can do with it what he wants to. Right? Well then let's look at how he treats those he chooses to look at as his competition. This is from the blog of Lance Fensterman (mediumatlarge.net), the guy who puts together/runs the New York Comicon:

Just got a call from the NYCC crew (Larry, Mark and Tonya) that the Wizard people kicked them out of Big Apple Con! Too funny. They had a whole bevy of security guards escort them out. Wow. Little different than the last few years when Joe Yanarella, Adam Tracey and the Wizard crew would come to NYCC and we'd have a nice chat, catch up, be professional and then they'd hang out and see customers.....

To be fair, Peter Katz of Wizard did hand them cash to refund the ticket cost. Classy.

So why were they so afraid of having some NYCC staffers there?

On top of that, a friend of a friend was banned from Wizard World Philly. He had worked at Wizard cons for years, but now is associated with the Long Beach Comicon. So he paid for his table at Wizard World Philly like everyone else who was setting up there, and Wizard removed him.

So at this point, you may be wondering...what's Wizard got to say about all this? Well, Wizard as a whole is only issuing a "no comment" at the moment, and is actively deleting any talk of this from their site's message board, but one of their freelancers Mark Allen Haverty had this to say:

If Reed had shown any respect, they would not have shown up to not one but two Wizard cons to hand out their fliers for their con. They did so not as vendors, retailers, or exhibitors, but as people buying tickets. That's unethical on multiple levels.

But, please, feel free to think that Wizard is somehow a bad guy.

This will be my last reply here, because I really don't want to sit here and listen to 20 people scream at me. Here are the facts, though:

1. You don't call Marvel a--holes when they make you choose between buying X-Men or a DC book.

2. You don't call Sony an a--hole if they release a movie you want to see at the same time as another studio releases a movie you like.

3. You don't call Coke a--holes because they force you to choose between Coke and Pepsi.

Business is business. Just because some comic fans on a message board want to make it personal does not make it so. In business, there is going to be competition. Wizard and Reed are competing for the convention market. Reed has been playing dirty by walking into Wizard shows and handing out fliers - which, by the way, is a fact that multiple sites will confirm. Wizard shot back by deciding to go head-to-head with them. That's called the free market -- if Reed is better, it will win; if Wizard is better, it will win.

In case you're wondering, Wizard shows have been falling out of favor for a long time. DC and Marvel no longer even bother to staff booths at most (if not all) Wizard shows. Upon this schedualing news, creators like Bendis took themselves off the guest list for next year's Big Apple. As for this year's? You can see the epic photos here:

http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2009/10/20/october-photo-parade-from-balto-to-apple/#comments

...isn't that Jim Lee panel something? I think the list of last minute cancellations is particularly telling as well.

So you may be wondering...ok, what's the big deal? Why is having two cons going on at the same time a bad thing?

Creators depend on con apearances to make some money. This goes for profesionals, indie guys, everybody. Any time they spend traveling to and from a con, sitting at a con, that's time they can't be working, and thus need to pick a show that's going to supliment some of that income they're not earning for that week. So say a creator can't get a table at NYCC because it's all booked up, and thus gets a table at Big Apple...well, he's probably going to wind up losing money, as the bulk of his turnout turned out at the other, more popular (fact) show that's going on at the exact same time. Add to that mix the fact that Big Apple tends to put almost more focus on profesional wrestlers than it does on comics, and any artist who sets up there is going to have a rough weekend.

For Gareb/Wizard his/its self...if Big Apple were any other time, most of the people who would go to NYCC would also go to Big Apple! If Gareb keeps these dates, he's shooting his own convention in the foot, settling for overflow from the droves of people who will be clawing to get into NYCC.

For the fans...I can tell you from my own personal experience that when I lived in the city and found out that, hey, there's a Big Apple con happening, and it was the only such con around, I went. I even did that multiple years, because of availability and lack of competition. But nobody is going to do both Big Apple AND New York Comicon. Too expensive, too much chaos. People are going to pick one or the other, and NYCC just has too much more to offer, and Big Apple frankly can't compete with it (which makes this whole stunt even poorer in taste, if you ask me). Ultimately, this is dividing the comic community against itself...instead of providing two good quality shows at different points in the year, Gareb Shamus is forcing everyone involved on every level to choose one over the other and effectively diminish the success either show could have had individually...which is bad for the comic community as a whole.

So in the end, will Big Apple keep the dates? I really don't think so. There's no way Gareb Shamus can be THAT stupid to think that this dinky little show can hold its own against the goliath that is the New York Comicon, let alone all the other shows he's set up to fight this battle on multiple fronts. Who knows, maybe 2010 will be the year Wizard finally falls off the map (they've already ended Wizard World Texas forever, and even took the Wizard Name off their Chicago show because of how unpopular they are with the fan community). Either way, I'm done with them. They provide a piss poor product, and conduct themselves with the kind of business practices you'd expect from a shake oil salesman.

...oh, and as a contrast to this, Lance Fensterman recently announced that as of 2010 the New York Comicon will be merging with the New York Anime Fest (also run by Reed). They will be occupying 100% of the Javiz Center this time. One regular priced ticket will effectively be giving you full access to two full sized conventions.

See ya at NYCC.