NYC Convention War

[Web Head]

It looks like comic convention attendees in the NYC area will have a big decision coming in October 2010. The Big Apple Comic Con (run by Wizard magazine) has announced it will take place on the same weekend as the New York Comic Con

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=23386

I personally think this is a bad move. I attended the BA show this past weekend and have been to NYCC in the past. To me there's no comparison - NYCC is the far superior convention experience. It has a far greater selection of panels and a much better location (Javits Center).

That being said, what does everyone think of two major comic conventions being scheduled on the same weekend, in the same city? Has anyone else attended either of these cons, and if so what were your impressions of them?

 

[Temple Fugate]

This is very surprising news. BACC has already been petering out the last few years, from what I understand. This move doesn't make any sense.

On the other hand, it might help NYCC's insane overpopulation. Compared to 2008, NYCC 2009 was a terrible experience due mostly to the shoulder-to-shoulder crowds. By contrast, BACC 2009 was a total breeze.

Perhaps Wizard figures to draw some of that crowd for themselves. I don't see that being too successful, though, if they have the same percentage of last-minute cancellation/no-shows that they did this year.

 

[Web Head]

I do agree that NYCC was packed last year and will probably only get more so. But if nothing else it seems a poor business decision on Wizard's part. No matter how many people they draw away from NYCC, I've got to imagine it still won't be as big a crowd as it would have been if BACC had a weekend to themselves.

It will also be interesting to see what effect it had on panel guests. Joe Quesada usually has at least 2 panels per NYC con, will he still give this kind of attention to both? What about Didio and the DC crew?

From the one BACC I attended, it seems they put more emphasis on artists, where NYCC seems to lean towards writers. I generally prefer the later

 

[GWOtaku]

Not only is NYCC bigger, but it's also sharing space with the New York Anime Festival in 2010. It's basically two conventions for the price of one. I can't see how BACC isn't going to be overshadowed.

 

[Ed Liu]

I don't think it's the plan for BACC to try to seriously compete with NYCC. Even without any competition, NONE of the major American comic companies bothered to show up at the last BACC. I never saw them at BACC before they were taken over by Wizard, and given a choice between NYCC (now one of the largest trade shows in New York City, comics or not) and BACC, I'm pretty sure I know where they're going to go.

At best, I think Gareb Shamus might try to create as much confusion as possible between BACC and NYCC in the hopes of confusing the less attentive audience into coming to his show instead of NYCC. I don't think this is about attempting to compete as much as it's attempting to leech off the spillover. Skeezy, but parasites can survive quite well on large-enough host organisms.

Also, the folks at Wizard who run BACC and the other formerly-known-as-Wizard-World cons are apparently doing the same thing with some of the other events Reed Exhibitions is holding, although not necessarily in the same cities.