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Comic Conventions - Have they lost their way? Did they ever have one? :)
Torchsong
Posts: 2,794
http://comicbookwife.com/2014/09/20/the-hidden-truth-about-comic-book-convention-earnings-for-creators-have-comic-book-conventions-jumped-the-shark/
We get articles like this more and more these days. This is the big one du jour. I have my thoughts, but would be interested to hear yours.
We get articles like this more and more these days. This is the big one du jour. I have my thoughts, but would be interested to hear yours.
Comments
I'm new to cons, but here in Michigan it seems we have many tiers of cons. There are monster shows like Motor City Con which attract the Stan Lees and William Shatners and other C-list Hollywood types. We have medium sized cons like one taking place in Grand Rapids in November. And we have tiny shows (comic expos) that take place in a community college and where you can still meet comic pros like Keith Pollard and William Messner-Loebs (guys who live in Michigan). I'm assuming the smaller shows allow vendors and artists to pay less money for a table. Why not focus on those?
Even at these smaller shows, there is cosplay going on. It seems some people really like to dress up. I suppose someone should explore this phenomenon for a Master's thesis, because it's pretty fascinating and probably is a great commentary on our culture. It may be that cons could break out and become specialized; for instance, what's stopping a con organizer from having a Back Issue Show, which is almost totally focused on the sale of comics? Or -- what if a con organizer divided a convention center into autograph pods, artist pods, back issue pods, and Hollywood panels? Let's face it, people are going for very different reasons.
It's hard to say that cons have jumped the shark when the attendance figures are so strong, and growing healthily from year to year. I think what she's experiencing is that her particular niche is getting crushed, as people's dollars and attention is moving elsewhere. Perhaps she'll adjust her business model and offer different products, or she'll make better decisions about what events to attend and what events to skip.
What comic book have they done?
We in Minnesota have a COMIC BOOK CONVENTIONS. We have comic book dealers, comic book creators and we draw over 4,000 people over two days in the spring and about the same in the fall for the one day show. No washed up actors, no pro wrasslers, no models, no video game exclusives. Comic Books.
We have Bronze and Silver Age artists as well as modern folk and they make a KILLING. We allow just about everyone who is doing an indy book in the area to set up, and they make money by selling their comic books.
Quit pissing and moaning about how you don't make money at comic book conventions if you go to places that push whoever Erin Grey has under contract and hides the comic book people in the back of the hall. Go to a convention where they have comic books on sale and comic book creators and maybe you can sell something. People who show up to get an autograph from the 2nd lead in SyFy's latest reality show aren't going to buy a damn thing from you and it's your fault for thinking they will.
You can't say comic cons have jumped the shark IF YOU DON'T FRELLIN GO TO ANY!!
And THAT'S the bottom line because Solitaire Rose Said So!
In the article she says her husband only made $40 at a gaming convention...you know, if I brought a box of High End Golden Age comics to the LEGENDS OF THE RING PRO WRESTLING FANFEST, I would probably make about $40....is that the convention's fault or my fault for buying a table at a show where no one came to see me?
That being said, I don’t think you can blame cosplayers for a decline in art sales. Cosplayers aren’t replacing the people who come to cons to buy artwork, they’re coming in addition to those people.
I think one of the problems artists are having with sales is due to the number of cons there are now. That guy who a few years back might have come from two states away and dropped $2,000 on a painting or $400 on a page is now just going to the con in his back yard. And there are a limited number of those guys out there, so that money is being spread out over a lot of shows, instead of being concentrated at a few big shows, which means less money per show for a lot of artists.
And shows have different personalities. HeroesCon is an original art show. Some shows are better for selling prints, some are better for selling books. Artists talk to each other about these things, so it’s important for them to have that network so they can find out what sells better where and figure out the best gameplan for them.
When I had a more active role in the Minnesota con, I could tell which dealers and artist would be complaining about the show: The ones who sat back and when someone came up and looked around, they kept doing what they were doing or chatting with their buddies.
Colleen Doran has a nice counter-point to the discussion as well:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Official-Colleen-Doran-Fan-Page/311416896313
Motor City still has a good mix of celebrities and comics. I haven't been in the last three years but this what the perception is still in my opinion. Fortunately the same organizers have a show about 9 times a year in a Masonic Lodge and people come to get only comics. I think if someone does these smaller shows you can do pretty well for folks who don't want to pay $40 to shop.
As far as an artist unless you can drive and get a cheap hotel I can see going to any of these big shows now.
(I think I know what someone is getting for Christmas. . . )
Nice to see you using your super-grumpiness power for good!
:D
Creators "of a certain age" are seeing all these young fans walking past their tables, not even giving them a sideways glance, because they're not there to see their stuff. The want to see the things that THEY are fans of. They have no nostalgia for stuff that came out before they were fans, but they have wonderful enthusiasm for WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW!
My favorite comic series is Green Lantern/Green Arrow. I lost my shit when Denny O'Neil showed up at my most recent Wizard World Austin show. (Unfortunately Wizard is the biggest con down here, so I'm stuck with that)
I'm only 27. When I was at NYCC...let's see....2 years ago(?) I saw Joe Staton and spent a good deal of time talking to him. Dude barely had a table presence in as far as signs, things available for sale or anything.
But, I am sad to say I DID notice many people my own age just walk right on past Joe. I'll readily admit to my reason for stopping a Joes table being half healthy respect and half pity (because if so many people weren't paying attention to this great creator, I was going to do my darndest to make my time there worth at least 5 people stopping by)
To be fair though, I think any one of us here on the forums (regardless of age) is usually the exception to the rule when it comes to comic book fans. We participate far more in the discussion, history and dissection. So I suppose me being into classic comics and creators despite my age....doesn't really prove much of anything...
You beat me to pointing this out, you self-aware, reasonable whippersnapper!
As for not having a table presence: It's about marketing. You HAVE to Market yourself. The self publisher with a banner sign and lots of different price point items will outsell the guy who has a table with a stack of art, a sketch pad and credits from 20 years ago. It's just the way of things...it's not 1985 any more where people are automatically in awe of someone with a DC or Marvel credit.
Angel Medina shows up at our con every year (whether we want him or not....I KEED, I KEED!) and he makes a killing despite not having a high end Marvel or DC book in over ten years because he has signage, interacts with fans, has a lot of different things available and treats the convention like a job. Another artist of about the same caliber I won't name, shows up with a stack of his art from books he's drawn, uses the tag we use to tell him which table is his and bitches EVERY YEAR that the fans don't buy anything and it's a bad con.
You get out what you put in.
I loved Al...and he ain't hurting for money (at one point in the 70's he was the highest paidd editor in the world because he had points in MAD). Probably wasn't the con for him. In any business, you can do everything right and still fall flat.
It's a shame I never got to meet him and thank him for all of those EC books as well as MAD back when I liked it.
Go to cons that make you money. Stop going to ones that don't. Observe what is similar about the cons that you make money at. Go to more that match those similarities.
Observe how other are making money and emulate their practices.
Adapt. Adapt. Adapt.
Or, if you go to interact with others in your industry and to try to get new work, admit it and be willing to lose money. The same holds true if you go to meet a few fans and want to be in the background of selfies. If that's why you're there, then don't complain. Otherwise, change something (and don't complain).
If every retailer and mid-level creator at San Diego is losing money, then they should stop going! Go to shows that are really about comics. Maybe if the creator attendance for next years show in San Diego was half or a quarter or an a thirty second or whatever, they'd change the name to what is really is.
'The Media Show Based on Old Comic Book Characters for People who Don't Read Comic Books.'
Just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it.
Also, most of the artists I know already do the things you suggest. They talk to each other about what items sell best at what shows. They know what they want to achieve, be it making contacts, building a fanbase, or simply making money, at each show. Some are just better at adjusting than others. Some artists, shocking as it may sound, just aren’t good salesmen and/or good businessmen, and never will be.
So after spending all of that, and assuming you don't spend the outrageous prices for autographs, you have a little bit left over for original artwork, or comics. I was at NYCC a couple years ago and there was this amazing booth devoted to Jack Kirby. I wanted to buy something, but just couldn't afford it.
- "Sympathy for the Devil" - The Rolling Stones
has done more damage to the industry than Fredrick Wertham.