JayCompanyComics.com is the largest "new" book dealer on the convention circuit. We set up at all four of the Wizard World
Conventions, regional shows such as the Emerald City Con in Seattle, mid-size venues like the San Francisco WonderCon, and the grand daddy of them all- Comic Con International San Diego. Chances are, if you've gone to any of these shows in the since the mid 90s, you were greeted by my brother or me. You might have even picked up a few books from us along the way, books that you might have thought were next to impossible to get.
Comic Book Conventions are essential to the retail community- and this isn't necessarily in the form of the panels, advanced announcements of future projects, exclusive artist signings, or the swag given away by booth babes at the show. All of that is great- but a major key to the convention show floor is the actual buzz generated by certain projects. Grass Roots Heat. It's contagious, and when publishers use this to its advantage, it can extend shelf life to projects to creating sales spikes for future issues. Conventions are valuable because they can be a true litmus test for consumer trends, both their start, and the end.
In the time when we first started going to the cons professionally, we saw the advent of the Bad Girls Books, the rise and fall of the 90s B&W indy, the shift toward the Dark Dollar Image, the pop of the Cliffhanger video game era, Marvel Knights transforming into Quemas, fuzzy 80s nostalgia and its subsequent backlash, Ultimization, the commercial superpackages that HUSH ushered, Mega Crossovers& Mega headaches of Didio's DC, and now Marvel's crack back with CIVIL WAR.
What did this year's Conventions bring?
This will be explored in a series of journal entries over the next few weeks. These reports will compare and contrast both the Wizard World Chicago, and the Comic Con International San Diego, both which took place within 10 days of each other, yet represent completely different perspectives. Hopefully, this extra set of eyes on the Comic Market will prove enlightening if not entertaining, in exploring of where this industry
is headed.
EJ- thanks for checking out the blog. The PLAY OF THE DAY is suppose to be less of a shill to sell comics, but to have an actual soap box where i can give my takes on the industry. It seems like companies make such an effort to grind it out on the convention circuit, but I think the general buzz from the floor is often missing from the various news sites. Panels, slide shows, press releases, and interviews are great- I eat up all this stuff- but i hope to take an IN THE TRENCHES approach.
Be sure to bookmark the blog, and keep checking back-
Your pal-
Jimmy
hey Jason- thanks for the kind words. I think the perspective of this blog has a bigger scope than just being from "the guy that works with Rob Liefeld". As i said in the introduction, JayCompanyComics.com has been in business for 11 years now. Our company has created a brand of exclusive comics, and collectibles. We have partnered with the likes of Aspen, Top Cow, Avalon Studios, various Image Studios, as well as top name talents from MARVEL and DC. I don't mention this kind of stuff to beat on our chests unbtil we're black and blue, but the way our retail company is set up, we are extremely low to the ground, gaging trends and market heat. This is our life blood...
Jason-I hope you check back to this BLOG often though, as more and more stuff should be added to the mix. From a purely informational standpoint, it might sere as another independant, and informed opinion on the comic market.
I look forward to what you have to offer down the road and I plan on making apurchse in the near future.
I wish you the Best,
EJ