COMIC CON’S - Straight Shooting Evaluation

Over the years we’ve done a lot of shows, here is my completely biased opinion of these shows. Going to make a lot of people angry— some people happy— that’s life.

New York Comic Con - The worst of the worst. If you love massive crowds, show organizers who have no idea how to handle such crowds, the opportunity to literally get crushed in a crowd topple (saw it first hand), like navigating through pee-smelling streets of Midtown’s West side while dodging muggers, beggers and prostitutes on what is probably one of the hottest most humid days in October (not known for oppressive weather but all four times I’ve done the show the weather followed this) then New York Comic Con is for you. No question its an important show, nowhere near as important as San Diego Comic Con because most of the publishers have moved out of New York, but still important— and you can visit some world class restaurants in the lower Village and the East Side but the show itself? I won’t go again.

Nashua Comic Con - It’s a small but old school show— with some amazing vendors and a variety of great stuff vintage and retro. I really enjoyed this show and I’ll be back this year.

San Diego Comic Con - The Grand Daddy of Every Other Comic Con— it’s in a beautiful city that embraces the event like no other town does. THIS is the show, really the ONLY show, that truly matters if you’re talking about news and signing contracts. It’s not as comic focused as it used to be and it’s a little more entertainment oriented so you might run into Johnny Depp or the cast of some upcoming blockbuster, but it’s so well organized and managed its literally the perfect comic con experience.

Chicago Comic Con - This is the FanExpo show that is in Rosemont, not Chicago proper. Rosemont is a manufactured area that built up around the convention center giving you a lot of fun things to do after the show. The show itself is a winner in my book— a lot of folks complain about the FanExpo shows because they hyper focus on Celebrities but I buy a lot from this show and find it a bit of a gold mine. Look forward to it every year.

C2E2 - People love this show, I do not. It’s usually held in the colder time of the year for Chicago and it’s actually in Chicago which is one of the worst cities for crime and climate— the show itself is massive and feels almost exactly like New York Comic Con.

Rose City Comic Con - Used to be my favorite show of the year. I grew up spending my Summers in Portland and I would ride my bike across the Burns Bridge without any trouble. The last time we did the show as we walked the short mile from our hotel to the convention center we encountered a homeless man in a park screaming he was going to kill all of us, witnessed a man in a car come to a screeching halt, step out and projectile vomit all over the street, then a homeless man sitting on the curb tear open a full sized box of Raisin Bran ™ and then pour a full gallon of milk into the box and proceed to pour the whole thing into his mouth. I give it 7.0 for performance, 9.0 for ingenuity and 10.0 for grossness. After that we stepped over the bodies of people literally tripping on the ground and I inadvertantly helped an Antifa kid get his stolen bike over a fence. When we got to the convention center I asked one of the attendants why Portland didn’t have any police presence visible like most cities do and he replied “We don’t like seeing police around, it makes people nervous.”

Yeah okay. Great restaurants though, but no longer worth the nonsense.

Little Giant Comic Con - Might be the best comic con of the year if your focus is vintage comics, no toys, no Pop figures, just aisle after aisle of vintage comic books and original art. It’s a one day show but they cram a lot into it. I love this show and if it wasn’t the same weekend of a show we get invited to I would be there.

Ace Comic Con - Another Chicago Comic Con— also held in Rosemont— this was a fun show for us— we had a great time, had to do some interviews tying us to Sabrina the Teenage Witch, got to get pictures with the original Batmobile and just had a good dern time. I really enjoyed this one, don’t know if they still do them.

Wizard World Comic Con - People started to hate these shows, and FanExpo replaced them. I don’t think they do shows any more but I always had a good experience with them, especially in Ohio, Atlanta and Philadelphia.

Boston Comic Con - There are multiple versions of Boston Comic Con— first was the Monkey House Productions Show which was a small show with nothing much to say for it, replaced by the Fred Greenberg Shows which I always enjoyed replaced with a new Boston Comic Con that personally invited us to the first three telling us they’re focus was solely comics until they went full on Celebrity and stopped inviting us. The new version (and there might be two) don’t impress me. Boston fans are cheap and there is always a lot of theft. A big pass when you add in the friendly con workers.

Austin Comic Con - A fun show we only did once— met Sandra Bullock who collects comics. It was a good show, Austin is a lot like Portland with less vomiting (but not much less).

South Carolina Comic Con - Hands down my favorite show. I love the promoters, I love the fans, we have good sales, and it’s a fun good sized comic con. It’s very family friendly and it has plenty of comics along with its share of non comic stuff to keep everyone happy.

Salt Lake City Expo - Wow this was a fun show, and Salt Lake City might be the most Beautiful city in the United States.

Bing Comic Con - This was a tiny show in Western Massachusetts. It had a lot of spirit but not enough big spenders on art for us to do it again.

OAX Original Art - Great show in Florida, we do extremely well at this show and Bill Cox is a good friend. Will do this one every time they ask us. I just covered this show last week in a Con Report.

Plastic City Comic Con - Small but growing show in Leominster, MA— it’s really becoming a show worth going to.

Rhode Island Comic Con - It’s actually a big show with some big name guests. I like this one, I don’t like Rhode Island.

Terrificon - Mohegan Sun show— its a beautiful ride in the convertible, we’ve never been invited to the show, but we would go if we were. I’ve attended a couple of times and it’s a terrific show. It’s called an all comics show— but I’m pretty sure they had insurance sellers and celebrities setup.

Anime Boston - Might be the most insane show I’ve ever done. Raving Anime fans, they don’t know anything about American Comics, and they don’t care. Nothing to offer the other way around either. I have a respect for both Anime and Manga but its not something we’ll do again.