Comic World News | Making It Up As I Go

April 22, 2008:
CWN and the Grand Finale! -

February 4, 2008:
In Conclusion - David ends his CWN run with Tezuka's MW from Vertical

February 2, 2008:
Acting Like You Have Nothing to Prove -

February 2, 2008:
The Shoegazer Returns - A New Year Begins, And Our Narrator Makes A Pledge

January 30, 2008:
Tim's Reviews -

September 13, 2007:
Wizard World Chicago Loot, Part One - Stykman, Empty Chamber, the Ztarian Saga, and yes, Little Bunny Foo Foo

February 15, 2007:
I Come Not to Bury Nick Cage... - But to mourn the death of my punchline

November 20, 2006:
The End - Rich's last Chicks & Romance

November 8, 2006:
Joann Sfar's Klezmer - And a Front Racks Hiatus

October 4, 2006:
This Month's Guest: Dave Gibbons - From the pages of Elephantmen!

September 18, 2006:
Back in Berlin - or How I spent my summer

July 29, 2006:
KICKING UP A STORM - An interview with David Lloyd

June 19, 2006:
You Ain't Never Had A Friend Like Me. - Graeme looks at Spidey's "genies"

December 18, 2005:
Disappointed - Sad news for fans of Busiek's CONAN, Stephen King, and others

December 13, 2004:
JUSTICE UNPLUGGED 2 at last !!! - By Fabrice Sapolsky & Xavier Fournier

December 2, 2004:
THE TWELFTH AND FINAL STEP - Say it ain't so, Dan.

November 23, 2004:
The importance of editing -

September 29, 2004:
Mystery and Conundrum indeed! - Where in the world is Jason Pomerantz?

September 13, 2004:
Hello and Goodbye and Hello Again - Change is in the air at CWN and it smells sweet.

August 12, 2004:
The Rise of the Web Toon - New Business Model or Dumb Luck?

July 30, 2004:
The Name Says it All... - Spin Doctors revamp Boomerang.

July 27, 2004:
Bigger Isn't Always Better -

June 8, 2004:
Pre-emptive Strike: MoCCA Arts Festival - Looking forward to the con, rather than looking back at it

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Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Bigger Isn't Always Better

I'll be the first to admit that I'm a little guy in the comic book industry. You mention GeekPunk to most people familiar with the comic book industry and more often than not the response you'll receive will likely be "who?" Then if you mention Hero Happy Hour you might get the response of "Oh, they had to change the name of their book because of the bigger guys, right?" So, I'm a little guy in the comic book industry, and I'll acknowledge that being bigger would probably have its advantages.

But, I'm not actually talking about my own self-publishing company here. I'm talking about the San Diego Comic-Con. Anyone who knows anything about comic books knows that the San Diego Comic-Con is the biggest comic book convention in the world. In fact, anyone familiar with the city of San Diego knows that the Comic-Con is the biggest convention that the city hosts each year. So, we're talking about a pretty big convention here.

Now, if you take into account that the main showroom is somewhere between .5 and .7 of a mile long (those are the estimates that I've heard anyway) with an additional floor devoted to an autograph section and rooms and halls for panels and screenings we're talking about a show that goes from being pretty big to huge-ass big.

A convention this big is bound to attract a lot of people � say somewhere between 75,000 and 100,000 (again, some estimates I was told). So, let's say that a smaller self publisher gets a table at a show like this with the opportunity to have their product seen by many thousands of people. Sounds like a pretty good opportunity, right? A lot of traffic means the possibility of a lot of exposure. Well, maybe if it was a comic book convention.

What's that? I'm saying that the San Diego Comic-Con isn't a comic book convention? Alright, that might be a little harsh. But, there's a helluva lot more there than comic books. In fact, there might be too much. Maybe these are the words of a bitter self-publisher that didn't do as well sales wise as expected. Fair enough. But, here me out here�

Other than comic books, the Comic-Con offers exhibitors and retailers promoting motion pictures, computer games, role-playing games, toys, collectable card games, etc� Now, the fore mentioned elements often tie in with comic books quite easily. Comic book fans tend to dig their movies, games, and toys. And, I've really got nothing against movies, games and toys � I dig them too. But, there was a lot of it there. I'd be willing to say there may have been more space devoted to movies, games, and toys than comic books. And all of that represented competition for the attention of the average comic book convention attendee.

Now, it's cool to have Buffy the Vampire Slayer show up. Or, to reveal the title of the next Star Wars flick during a presentation. But, the San Diego Comic-Con seems to pack as much programming as they can that it tends to detract the attendees from exploring the aisles of comic book publishers looking to promote their wares. The competition between publishers can be challenging enough. Throw in an overwhelming number of media presentations and additional programming and we're talking about sensory overload here.

And, then there are the convention exclusives � action figures and such that are supposedly exclusive for certain conventions (yet many of which show up at additional shows). Neat concept a few years back, but now it seems like there are way too many exclusives for any single attendee to possibly obtain even half of them � scratch that � a quarter of them. People will wait in lines for hours for an "exclusive" ten-dollar action figure. Then right after that there's another line to get in for an "exclusive" forty-dollar statue. (A statue! Come on. The more it costs the more articulation it should have, right?) An attendee could spend their entire day at the con waiting in line to purchase exclusives � not to mention their paycheck. And, that time in line means less time to discover any new potential comic book finds, as well as less money to spend on any new potential comic book finds.

Basically, I found the show to be just overwhelming. I'm finding that I enjoy the smaller conventions now. Sure, San Diego Comic-Con is the biggest three-ring circus of them all (probably more like thirty rings), and I'll have to go regardless. Maybe the organizers of the San Diego Comic-Con could pull the reins back a bit. Yeah, that'll happen. More than likely it looks like I'll be taking a different approach with future excursions to SDCC. I'll need to rethink my plan of action. Speaking as a self-publisher, a lot of work and a lot of money went into exhibiting at the San Diego Comic-Con, and it might have turned out to be a gamble not worth taking.

But, then again, I'm probably just a bitter fanboy who didn't get to see the Serenity footage at the Joss Whedon panel or get the Batman Unmasked Summer Con Exclusive because I was trying to entice con attendees to at least glance at the direction of my comic books while they hurried off to purchase a Galactus HeroClix.

-- Dan Taylor

Dan Taylor is the creator/writer of the comic book Hero Happy Hour published by Geekpunk. For more info please visit geekpunk.com. Also, be sure to check out his other column at Scryptic Studios, another great resource for aspiring creators.

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Dan Taylor (writer and self-publisher of the critically acclaimed Hero Happy Hour) talks about the thrills and threats of publishing your own comic book.

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