New York Comic-Con 2006—Huge Success, Huge Problems

This story originally appeared in PW Comics Week on February 28, 2006 Sign up now!

by Calvin Reid, Peter Sanderson, Douglas Wolk, Tom McLean and Heidi MacDonald, PW Comics Week -- Publishers Weekly, 2/28/2006

Crowds outside Javits on Sunday

The questions have been answered, but those answers have raised even more questions. Up until the last minute, people were wondering if a successful comic book convention could be run in New York City, the most daunting venue in the United States. The answer was yes, but the degree of success caught show organizers by surprise, leaving thousands of fans, even some who'd purchased advance tickets, turned away by police and fire marshals. Some 20,000 people showed up on Saturday for a venue that could hold only 10,000 to 15,000 people. And while the official numbers are not yet available, the show organizers estimate that the event may have drawn nearly 30,000 people over the three days.

For those who were able to get in, the show was profitable and enjoyable, despite the hassles and disorganization. The range of exhibitors—from comics companies both mainstream and independent to book publishers to manga and anime outfits—was second only to San Diego in terms of diversity. Not every segment had overwhelming sales success, but at least on Friday's trade day, the mix of attendees and exhibitors mirrored the overwhelming excitement surrounding the world of comics, and made for a day of high-level networking for just about everyone.

Gloria Steinem at the NYCC

Some major announcements also emerged over the weekend. In a move that caught almost everyone by surprise, DC announced that Fred Gallagher's popular Web comic and book title MegaTokyo is moving to their CMX manga line with its fourth volume. The book had previously been one of Dark Horse's top sellers.

Joe Quesada's Marvel panel, "Cup o' Joe," did have a few notable bits of news: Neil Gaiman's already announced Eternals series will be drawn by John Romita Jr.' Stephen King's Dark Tower comics won't be appearing until 2007; and Marvel has made a packaging deal with Marc Silvestri's Top Cow imprint. (Silvestri, Quesada mentioned, is working on "a huge project" for Marvel.)

DC's big announcements were mostly during the Vertigo panel, but a new Batman/Spawn crossover was announced at the spotlight on Todd McFarlane on Saturday. The book will be created by McFarlane and longtime Spawn artist Greg Capullo and published by DC. The deal also will result in a statue of the two characters based on designs by Capullo. "Batman is easily my most favorite character beside Spawn," McFarlane said.

Top Shelf's Chis Staros, Aaron Renier,
Alex Robinson and Kristin Siebecker

Asked "What is 'One Year Later'?" at DC's "DCU: Better Than Ever" panel, DC v-p Dan DiDio wisecracked: "It's a shameless marketing ploy." The panel (featuring Paul Levitz, Geoff Johns and the loudly applauded Identity Crisis author Brad Meltzer) walked the audience through DC's list of spring relaunches, but the only new sliver of official information was the announcement of Jeph Loeb and Darwyn Cooke's much-rumored "Batman/Spirit" one-shot, to be followed by Cooke's ongoing revival of the Spirit series. Several audience members asked about the "top-secret new writing team" working with artist Adam Kubert on "Action Comics," but nobody was telling.

Crowds and Chaos on Saturday

However, even with all the glowing reports, serious problems in convention organization and logistics were the biggest story of all. Although the hall was, by unanimous opinion, too small and the aisles far too narrow, according to show organizers fewer than 5,000 advance tickets had been sold a week before the show began. The last-minute influx of ticket buyers caught everyone flatfooted, although the big line on Friday night should have been a sign.

Saturday's show was a logistical logjam from the moment the doors opened. Both New York State police and the NYPD were on the streets around the Javits Center warning people that the show was sold out and telling them not to go in. Even some people who had paid in advance for three-day passes were left standing in line for up to two hours—or not allowed in at all.

The HarperCollins Booth

When the convention floor wasn't completely shut down, people were being allowed in as only others left the floor, leaving even celebs like film director Kevin Smith and cartoonist Frank Miller standing in line, unable to get to signings and meetings. And with many inside the exhibit hall unaware of the problems getting back in, even a quick smoke break could lead to disaster, with exhibitors and artists unable to return to their booths.

Exacerbating the problem was a lack of organization in the lines to get badges. Professionals, people with VIP passes, three-day ticket-holders and walk-up attendees were all sent to the same line, resulting in chaos and long waits.

The NYCC Show Organizer Responds

In conversations with show' organizer Greg Topalian over the course of the Saturday afternoon and Sunday, PWCW was told, ""We did not expect to have 20,000 people to show up on one day. We thought we'd get a number like that over three days." "But that is not meant as an excuse. This is our fault. We should have anticipated it. We intend to continue to work to apologize to the fans and to win back their faith.""

Topalian immediately acknowledged the need for larger space in the Javits Center: "We are already scheduled to meet with Javits to discuss the need for more space." But he also noted that more space means a move to another time slot. "People don't always understand how this business and this building works. This place [Javits Center] is sold out all year. I was lucky to get the space that we did."

Cartoonist Kyle Baker and Family

He guaranteed that turned-away fans will "absolutely get their refunds within 30 days." Fans who had prepaid passes and did not get in "will get a full refund, and we will invite them back as guests next year." A notice will be posted on the New York Comic-Con Web site contact page today, he said, offering an apology and giving "clear directives" about how fans who didn't get in—but still have their tickets—can get their money back. Reed Exhibitions is also putting together "fan thank-you packages"&mdashcomics, posters and other schwag. Topalian said, "We know that some of the fans will never forgive us, but this is purely a gesture of apology. We know we have to try and make it up to them."

Beyond the extraordinary problems on Saturday, there were the usual, though much less dire, exhibitor complaints. Many indie press publishers we encountered clearly want the Con to pay more attention to their artists. NBM publisher Terry Nantier said the Con was "good, but they need more frontline indie stars." He quickly added, "It's their first time, and it's still a great start." Other indie presses lamented "good but not great" sales, while another exhibitor complained about "overly aggressive" marketing of services and confusing pre-registration forms for next year that lack critical information.

A Success Nevertheless

Spidey at the PW Booth

Despite all the well-documented problems, when people were able to get in, they seemed to be having a good time. Danny Fingeroth, editor of TwoMorrows' Write Now magazine, observed that on Friday afternoon, when only professionals were admitted, "before 4 p.m., the Comic-Con was like BookExpo"—full of publishers, editors and librarians looking for titles and guidance. Fantasy illustrator and comics artist Arthur Suydam observed that the many foreign publishers present made the New York Comic-Con more "multinational" than any other comics convention he'd attended on the East Coast. Suydam's publisher, Renee Witterstaetter of Eva Ink Publishing, added that she was pleased to see so many book companies that were not primarily comic book publishers in attendance.

Former Marvel editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco, present at the Con to promote his book The Ultimate Guide to the Avengers, from DK Publishing, exulted, "It's great to see New York getting the respect it deserves from the comics industry."

For Elspeth Maxwell of the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, this was only her second comics convention, and her first of this size. She marveled at the "creative energy" she saw around her on the convention floor, and was happy to see "so many young people" attending.

Jerry Ordway, inker on both DC's original "Crisis on Infinite Earths" and the current sequel, "Infinite Crisis," attended Friday with his daughter Rachel, who has the good taste to be a fan of Carl Barks's "Uncle Scrooge." The Ordway expressed his pleasure at having a major comics convention "back in New York City" after so many years.

Segamu, aka Kurt Hassler, author of
Sokora Refugees, and Tokyopop's
Mike Kiley at the Tokyopop booth

By mid-afternoon on Sunday, with the convention in its final hours, graphic novelist Colleen Doran, with a talent for understatement, noted that the space for the event had been too "small." But otherwise she was quite happy with the new Con, declaring, "It turned out better than anyone had dreamed." In the end, the main feeling for people who were able to get into the show was excitement about comics. However, show organizers will need to do major damage control and make-goods to placate angry con-goers who paid $100 for their families to get in, only to be turned away.

Getting a bigger hall, much wider aisles and running the registration and badge lines smoothly will all need to be addressed for next year's show, announced for February 25-27 at the Javits. However, having such a popular product that people had to be turned away is a problem that many people might wish for.

ADV's Chris Oarr summed it up: "Just because you can't get in to a concert doesn't mean the band sucks."