Posted in: Comics | Tagged: canada, comic con, Comics, wizard world

Wizard World Toronto – Appearing Saturday And Sunday

Published Sun, 15 Apr 2012 15:17:01 -0500

It's not just C2E2 this weekend you know. Alexander Hoffman writes for Bleeding Cool from Wizard World Toronto Comic Con.

The con spectrum in Toronto has always been a little strange. The Silver Snail (Toronto's most famous comic store) strictly attends FanExpo and Toronto Comic-Con (both Hobbystar conventions). The Beguiling runs TCAF (Toronto Comics Arts Festival), which is a free two day graphic novel/comic festival held at the Toronto Reference Library. Paradise Comics used to own/run this convention until they sold it to Wizard Entertainment in 2009 and who then ran it from 2010 to the present.

To be as politically correct as I can: Wizard/Paradise and Hobbystar/FanExpo do not co-exist happily. There has long been enormous enmity between the two conventions. The result of this has been that a number of shops, artists and dealers will attend either the Paradise/Wizard show or the Hobbystar shows but not both. Ken Lashley (Excalibur, Black Panther for example, only attends Wizard.

In theory, this could actually have a benefit for both cons. If you want to see X artist and Y artist then you might have to attend both shows and subsequently we have a healthy attendance and a vibrant con scene. After all, competition in the marketplace is generally to the benefit of consumers.

In practice, it is becoming clearer and clearer that rather than an Amazon/Apple 2012 level of competition, what we have is more like Microsoft/Apple circa 1992. Wizard's Comic Con has shrunk from it's original three day (Fri-Sun) schedule in 2010 and 2011 to a new two day incarnation for 2012. That change resulted in the amusing "Appearing Sat and Sun only!" underneath Scott Bakula's profile on the Wizard website for a convention that has no Friday.

The general consensus (all off the record of course) is that Hobbystar's "Fan Appreciation" event which used to be held in February, be $10 per day and was comics focused has been renamed Toronto Comic-Con, moved to mid-March, and vastly expanded in size and scope is a direct attempt to compete directly against Wizard's April show. As a result, I was really expecting Wizard to respond in kind and deliver a superb show.

With that background, Wizard 2012 observations:

– The convention started very slowly. No lines, at all, at either the advance ticket pickup windows or day pass purchase windows even up to the opening at 10am on Saturday. I have never seen a con so quiet in the first two hours. Things absolutely picked up later in the day and all the retailers I spoke to estimated that, for a Saturday, they were having as good or slightly better conventions when compared to previous year's but there is simply no denying that this was not a huge crowd.

In 2010 FanExpo in the same venue, the Fire Marshall actually refused to let people into the building because it was "over capacity" (resulting in their move to the much larger south building of the convention center for 2011 and beyond). At Wizard about 15-20% of the room was not used and it still never felt like there were too many people.

Which, as an attendee is great, there is no doubt that short lines benefit the consumer. One would reasonably assume, though, Wizard would be much happier with FanExpo levels of attendance.

– It is clear Wizard needs to work on its brand awareness. I ducked out in the early afternoon to attend a Christopher Moore book signing nearby and chatting up the people around me revealed a lot of regular FanExpo attendees who weren't aware Wizard was happening. Wizard did take the interesting step of actually advertising the show (via cute girls with pamphlets) to attendees walking into the Hobbystar March event (not directly outside the convention but on the route most people would take from the subway to the show) but those efforts were not enough to solicit a huge crowd.

– I think the move to the Metro Convention Centre (downtown) from the Direct Energy Center (farther out) will be a big positive down the road. This was a move that Wizard had to make to hold ground and/or gain traction in the community.

-Wizard needs to pick a direction and go with it. I really have no idea what value having "Edge" (a WWE wrestler) sign for four hours on Saturday adds to the guest list. If there is overlap between comic fans and wrestling fans (personally I don't see it) then Wizard has to have a contingent of wrestlers that would draw out ticket buyers. Having one guy with a short signing window just smacks of trying to be all things to all people. Don't get me wrong, if "Edge" was in Toronto anyway then sure. If they had to fly him in for this appearance, I think they are better off spending money on guests that fit the rest of the show.

– In a chicken/egg scenario, I think the show could vastly benefit from an increase in guests. Wizard Chicago lists 61 "Special Guests" while Wizard Toronto lists 29. The problem (per the 10-Q financial results document filed in March) is that only the Philadelphia and Chicago shows ran a profit in the previous 12 months. Anecdotally, the group of friends I tend to attend these events with all skipped this con because of lack of enthusiasm for the guest list. However, if the show is already running a loss, how do you fly in an additional 30 guests without a significant deficit looming?

– While Scott Bakula ($75 autograph fee) and Jeri Ryan ($70) had busy days, others were not as fortunate. Some of the celeb contingent need to re-evaluate their place in the autograph hierarchy. Sean Maher (from Firefly and Serenity, and a super-nice guy) just isn't a $40 autograph, and I think that high prices meant for some very quiet lines in what should have been the busiest time of the show (middle of the day on Saturday).

Martin Landau (academy award winner), Ernest Borgnine (Academy Award winner), Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange), Bruce Boxleitner (Tron) are all legit stars who have signed at recent conventions in Toronto for $40 or less. In short, it seems to be a trend that Wizard shows feature higher autograph prices for lesser stars than other shows.

All in all, I am sure this sounded harsher than I meant it to be. As a consumer it's actually a great convention. Short lines, reasonably managed etc…etc… The "problem" is that in a market with three other serious conventions on the calendar the Toronto market is not a place where you can rely on being the only game in town. You can't miss FanExpo or TCAF, so the question consumers face is Toronto Comic-Con in mid-March and/or Wizard in April. They are similar in scope and size and occur a month apart. Is there enough demand in the market for both?

I have a soft spot for Wizard as it was the first convention I ever attended and volunteered at, but it is clear to me that if Wizard wants more of their live shows to be profitable (and 5/7 were not in the past year) then they have to start upping their game.

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