What the COMIC CONVENTIONS can do for you...
Monday, August 21, 2006
I got home from the Wizard World Chicago show about 2 weeks ago, and have been in “recovery” mode ever since. With traditionally two biggest conventions of the year only a week and a half apart, let alone half a country apart, it was a difficult task to display at both the San Diego Comic Con and the Chicago shows. JayCompanyComics.com did it anyways… it’s just talking a few days to catch up and bounce back to our everyday activities…
In the days since getting back, I have been consuming all types of convention reports from both shows. From the breakdowns of the publisher panels, to Fan Reviews, to artist alley accounts, to message boards, to gossip columns, to editorials- seeking a totality of the complete convention experience. I scoured the net seeking all divergent outlooks. One thing I thought was missing was a report from the convention retail point of view. Hopefully this column should fill that void.
In an earlier column, I wrote that conventions were key to the comic industry because the con floor generates buzz on projects. The floor marks the beginning of trends, the end of trends, and the confirmation of trends.
If this is true than MARVEL COMICS was hands down the big winner of this season with their onslaught of CIVIL WAR books. To put things in perspective, it is estimated that several THOUSANDS of each of Civil War issues #1, #2, and #3 were sold by a half of dozen retailers on the San Diego floor. And this number might be a mere fraction of the amount of books moved when compared the size of the San Diego show floor, and the number of comic retailers in the hall. The majority of these Civil War books sold to people who don’t make the familiar pilgrimage to the Wednesday storefront. Some of these people were people who have been away from the hobby since the boom years of the 90s. Some of the people were attending the convention for its pop culture flavor rather than the funny books. Regardless, “Civil War” as a concept had to be explained to this crowd. And it was indeed explained AND talked about, not only from retailers collecting the cash, but more importantly the WORD OF MOUTH from other consumers. One person would look at the stack of books, and several others shopping at the table would chip in- “that’s my favorite book right now”. It was cool to check out the big Marvel Event, and pass on that approval.
Marvel Comics fortified their heavy release schedule the week of the SD Con with a plethora of Civil War tie ins led by Civil War X-Men #1, some short print variants like the CW#3 Thor Variant, and number of high profile second print “variants” such as the Civil War #2 unmasked, Amazing Spider-Man, Wolverine, New Avengers Illuminati, She-Hulk, and more. For fans at the show, now it became relatively easy to pick up any of the pieces of the greater story. Everything was in print, and in stock for the convention.
Other notable books to come out with this year’s San Diego show was the DC jam book of Justice League of America #0; the follow-up issue to FLASH. Both these DC offerings, along with a recent Wonder Woman #1 went a long way to promote new series to fans, planting seeds of a hopeful return to subsequent issues.
Both Marvel and DC seem to be realizing the impact of releasing their BIG GUNS books in conjunction with the large comic conventions. Last year, All Star Batman & Robin was the big winner on the floor of the San Diego Con, playing with familiar aspects of the crowd. The Batman Icon is arguably the most recognized in all of comics. Batman Begins was a solid favorite to the movie crowd that summer. Dark Knight visionary, Frank Miller returned to the driver’s seat. And San Diego’s own native son, Jim Lee, was safely on the property that rejuvenated his career with HUSH. Folks attending the San Diego Con were familiar with one or more of these aspects, thus THOUSANDS of books again moved, with regular and variant issues scooped up. Whereas, the 2006 season was a confirmation of the heat index of Civil War, 2005 was interesting in that the All Star brand was launched with strength. It could be argued that buzz on the floor during that one single week gave a lot of juice to the imprint carrying the title into high sales for nearly a year.
Given these sales trends it seems as if the Big Two Publishers are using the grand stage of the show- with its national media exposure and monstrous attendance, to take advantage of another sales push. With this potential outreach to new fans, and the energy generated with word of mouth, it should come to little surprise that I think both Marvel and DC should take a very close look at linking some of their sales behemoths to these shows. It’s good for both the short term and long term growth of the industry. Bigger orders with regard to the calendar, and potentially new weekly consumers hooked on the most commercial, highest profile projects.
In the days since getting back, I have been consuming all types of convention reports from both shows. From the breakdowns of the publisher panels, to Fan Reviews, to artist alley accounts, to message boards, to gossip columns, to editorials- seeking a totality of the complete convention experience. I scoured the net seeking all divergent outlooks. One thing I thought was missing was a report from the convention retail point of view. Hopefully this column should fill that void.
In an earlier column, I wrote that conventions were key to the comic industry because the con floor generates buzz on projects. The floor marks the beginning of trends, the end of trends, and the confirmation of trends.
If this is true than MARVEL COMICS was hands down the big winner of this season with their onslaught of CIVIL WAR books. To put things in perspective, it is estimated that several THOUSANDS of each of Civil War issues #1, #2, and #3 were sold by a half of dozen retailers on the San Diego floor. And this number might be a mere fraction of the amount of books moved when compared the size of the San Diego show floor, and the number of comic retailers in the hall. The majority of these Civil War books sold to people who don’t make the familiar pilgrimage to the Wednesday storefront. Some of these people were people who have been away from the hobby since the boom years of the 90s. Some of the people were attending the convention for its pop culture flavor rather than the funny books. Regardless, “Civil War” as a concept had to be explained to this crowd. And it was indeed explained AND talked about, not only from retailers collecting the cash, but more importantly the WORD OF MOUTH from other consumers. One person would look at the stack of books, and several others shopping at the table would chip in- “that’s my favorite book right now”. It was cool to check out the big Marvel Event, and pass on that approval.
Marvel Comics fortified their heavy release schedule the week of the SD Con with a plethora of Civil War tie ins led by Civil War X-Men #1, some short print variants like the CW#3 Thor Variant, and number of high profile second print “variants” such as the Civil War #2 unmasked, Amazing Spider-Man, Wolverine, New Avengers Illuminati, She-Hulk, and more. For fans at the show, now it became relatively easy to pick up any of the pieces of the greater story. Everything was in print, and in stock for the convention.
Other notable books to come out with this year’s San Diego show was the DC jam book of Justice League of America #0; the follow-up issue to FLASH. Both these DC offerings, along with a recent Wonder Woman #1 went a long way to promote new series to fans, planting seeds of a hopeful return to subsequent issues.
Both Marvel and DC seem to be realizing the impact of releasing their BIG GUNS books in conjunction with the large comic conventions. Last year, All Star Batman & Robin was the big winner on the floor of the San Diego Con, playing with familiar aspects of the crowd. The Batman Icon is arguably the most recognized in all of comics. Batman Begins was a solid favorite to the movie crowd that summer. Dark Knight visionary, Frank Miller returned to the driver’s seat. And San Diego’s own native son, Jim Lee, was safely on the property that rejuvenated his career with HUSH. Folks attending the San Diego Con were familiar with one or more of these aspects, thus THOUSANDS of books again moved, with regular and variant issues scooped up. Whereas, the 2006 season was a confirmation of the heat index of Civil War, 2005 was interesting in that the All Star brand was launched with strength. It could be argued that buzz on the floor during that one single week gave a lot of juice to the imprint carrying the title into high sales for nearly a year.
Given these sales trends it seems as if the Big Two Publishers are using the grand stage of the show- with its national media exposure and monstrous attendance, to take advantage of another sales push. With this potential outreach to new fans, and the energy generated with word of mouth, it should come to little surprise that I think both Marvel and DC should take a very close look at linking some of their sales behemoths to these shows. It’s good for both the short term and long term growth of the industry. Bigger orders with regard to the calendar, and potentially new weekly consumers hooked on the most commercial, highest profile projects.
