Wizard World Chicago Comic Con, Thoughts

I write this 2 full days after WWCC has ended, giving myself some time recuperate and gather my thoughts.

First off, I'd like to address the show from a fan's perspective. Bear in mind, I spent only a couple hours on the actual show floor, most of my time was spent manning our table in Artist's Alley. Speaking of which, it was easily the largest Artist Alley I've, or anyone I've spoken to had ever seen. The area seemed to take up nearly half of the show floor. Wizard touted a guest list of over 500 artists (who knows for sure). There were more than a handful of tables that stayed empty all weekend, even though they bore the name of an artist. I have a hard time believing that someone would shell out a few hundred bucks for a table and not bother to show up. This leads me to believe that quite a few tables were given away, perhaps with the hope of filling up the space. I'm well aware that Cons regularly invite high profile artists and offer complimentary tables, but some of these tables seemed to belong to "relatively unknown" artists, with all due respect. Now, why make Artist Alley larger if it is difficult to fill? This leads to another interesting observation: The larger Artist Alley came at the expense of a dwindling retailer area. The amount of comic and collectible dealers on hand were much less than in previous years. Unfortunately, this meant less deals were to be had. Don't get me wrong, with a little determination and luck, you can find some true treasures. Unfortunately, they seemed fewer and further between. Less dealers meant less competition, which is too bat at what is considered a "shopping show". With the ever-increasing popularity of the autograph section, it seemed as if the dealers were getting swallowed between the celebrities and the comics. Weird.

Now, for some thoughts as an exhibitor. I appreciate Wizard giving our company the opportunity to exhibit, I truly do, however, their organization left a lot to be desired. I'm not going to get into the details, mainly because they're boring. What I will say is that they made mistakes and weren't able to rectify them, even with my persistent, but well delivered, complaining. From what I hear, C2E2 has them beat in this department. As for the action our table saw, I was pretty pleased. Thursday and Friday were more than dead, we only sold a few items and things looked bleak. Saturday, however, was an onslaught. The crowd was enormous, and a surprisingly high number of them were willing to take a chance on a comic they've never heard of. The original art we sold kept my sister busy while I pitched our comic to many curious customers. We were so busy, we weren't even able to eat lunch. It was good. Sunday was also well attended and provided some decent business. What can't be calculated is the invaluable relationships made during the show. My sister and I made numerous connections with various industry professionals. All of them were extremely supportive and helpful. This aspect made us even more excited to further pursue this venture.

In closing, Wizard is still a good show, for attendees and exhibitors. Sure, most people aren't there for the comics, but enough of them trickle in to make a difference.