New York Comic-con Teams with Wizard

by Calvin Reid, PW Daily -- Publishers Weekly, 12/7/2005

A promotional partnership with Wizard Conventions, a graphic novel conference organized by ICv2, and a new celebrity guest-- filmmaker and comics writer Kevin Smith--were among a series of announcements made by New York Comic-con, the new Reed Exhibition organized comics convention planned to debut this February at the Javits Center.

Wizard Convention organizes a series of comics conventions in L.A., Philadelphia, Chicago,Texas and Boston. Its sister company, Wizard Entertainment, publishes magazines on comics, collectibles, toys, games and much else. Greg Topalian, group v-p at Reed Exhibitions, said Wizard would be involved in promoting New York Comic-con.

The graphic novel conference is organized by Milton Griepp, CEO of ICv2.com, a comics and pop culture trade news Web site. The conference, a series of panels, will bring together industry professionals to discuss the business and cultural facets of graphic novels, from super-hero comics to manga and art comics. The participants will include Liza Coppola, executive v-p at Viz Media; Mike Kiley, publisher and editor-in-chief of Tokyopop, James Killen, graphic novel buyer at Barnes & Noble and David Webster, graphic novel buyer at Midtown Comics.

Kevin Smith, a producer and director known for films like Clerks and Chasing Amy, will join a number of previously announced celebrities making an appearance at NYCC.

Topalian said Smith's appearance "marks the uniqueness of a comics convention—people can come from comics, licensing, books and filmmaking and find something in common."

This article originally appeared in the December 7, 2005 issue of PW Daily. For more information about PW Daily, including a sample and subscription information, click here »

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