38enso Inc

I attended the Comic Con on Sunday. I took my 15 year old son. The event ran from Thursday-Sunday, with Thursday for professionals and the press only. The other three days were open to the fans. And boy did the fans come out. The show was sold out. The aisles were packed. I saw lots of excitement for new items and people were truly energized by the place.

I attended the NYCC for the first time, four years ago. It was quiet. It was small. Yes, fans could still come but it had not opened up like it was this year. It is amazing to see how much growth there has been in a few years.,

Some thoughts:

• Having fans come together and pay admission and also buy goods is a good idea. Instead of having shows where industry people talk to others, let the fans come in. The business can be done on a single day, and open it up to others and see what happens.
• Captain America was the most popular costume from my unofficial observance. Followed by Green Lantern and Superman.
• The Black Eyed Peas new dance video game drew the biggest crowds.
• There were 200+ artists in ‘Artists Alley.’ Most looked bored, but a few were doing business.
• A lot of Japanese vendors.
• The crowd was very multi-cultural. Although the male-female ratio was probably 75-25%.
• A lot of women in “Lolita Fashions.” I didn’t make-up this phrase, I saw it at one of the shops. A bit strange.
• Probably 1/3 of the people were in some sort of costume.
• Javitz has no free wi-fi and the signals in the convention center were horrible. Give us free wi-fi.
• I saw publishers Abrams ComicArts; Simon & Schuster; Penguin and Disney.