The story that has been the buzz of the convention scene the past week and a half has the been the scheduling of next year’s Big Apple Comic Con from Wizard. Set for October 7-10, 2010, the 2nd show since the Gareb Shamus buyout will put it head-to-head with Reed Exhibitions’ popular New York Comic Con, scheduled for October 8-10. Eyebrows had already been raised when Wizard scheduled their 1st Anaheim Comic Con for April 16-18, 2010, the same dates for Reed’s first C2E2, the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo, but at least those were geographically some distance apart. Now, we have two major conventions set to go head to head in the same town in the same weekend, with perhaps only business philosophy keeping the two apart.
While Wizard owner Gareb Shamus has yet to comment on the situation publicly, Reed’s Lance Fensterman has spoken to CBR and Newsarama about the situation as well as commented on his own MediumAtLarge.net blog:
There is a fundamental difference in philosophies between our organizations. We approach our shows by thinking about the fans, the industry and the exhibitors first and ourselves second. We believe that if we serve the fans, the industry, the guests and the exhibitors first we will be rewarded with a good show thus a good business proposition. How does putting an event on the exact same dates as NYCC (or even C2E2 for that matter) do anything to help the fans, exhibitors or guests?
More as it develops, but in the meantime, here is some recommended reading: