Okay Wizard World Chicago was this weekend, and I saw some people and I talked to some pros and I attended some panels, but the real news is apparently....
that nobody cares about the show.
All some people could talk about was how few people were at the show, and most of the stuff I saw on the web in the aftermath is talking about how small the show is, and how more people were at Comicon International in San Diego, and what have you.
But let's examine that. San Diego might call itself "Comicon," but is it really a comic book convention? They had the cast of "Lost." They had Ray Bradbury and Peter Beagle and Forrest Ackerman and Roger Corman and Walter Koenig and J. Michael Straczynski. Samuel L. Jackson was there. It's a huge media convention an hour or so south of Los Angeles. Yes, they have lots of comic book guests, but they also have Samuel L. Jackson and Ray Bradbury. Wizard World has had some big names in the past, but come on. That's not merely a comic book show out there on the left coast. The comparisons about attendance would perhaps be put into perspective if people would take a look around at the programming. It's like comparing the Superbowl to the Olympics. The Superbowl is a huge event, but an Olympics which drew that many people would be a colossal failure. Last year more people attended the opening ceremony at the Olympics than attended the Superbowl.
Additionally, there's a scheduling issue. Comicon is the biggest thing going in San Diego. That weekend, in San Diego, I imagine the world famous zoo was open. The Peking Acrobats were in town. The US Open Sandcastle Competition was going (which actually sounds pretty cool.) The Anual, Mexicali en la Playa Festival was going on, which is a big deal, but just maybe appeals to a different crowd. The Padres were on the road playing the Giants. The Comicon, which is a genuine event on its own, was also the biggest thing going, though I guess 35,000 people attended the Mexicali Fest last year.
Chicago last weekend was a whole other deal. We had in town The Tall Ships tour, Lollapalooza 2006, and Chelsey FC, one of the top soccer teams in the world, was in town playing the MLS All-Star team. Your World Champion Chicago White Sox were on the road, but the Cubs were in town playing the Pirates. Also, Chicago has some of the finest museums in the world, a zoo, and a large amusement park, Great America.
Basically, there was some competition for the public at large. And Chicago is a huge city, so it's not like moving it to a different date would help. The world famous Chicago Jazz Festival is coming up. Then the Air and Water Show.
Wizard World used to be earlier. It was before San Diego. It was usually during the stretch when Taste of Chicago was on, which, I think, made more sense. However, let's not kid ourselves about the likely attendence comparisons given the programming differences, or about why people are attending San Diego. Or about what else the citizens of the San Diego area have to do with their time.
Whatever issues the Chicago show has with the people in the comic book industry can probably be resolved, but I don't expect to see the cast of "Lost" here any time soon. San Diego would be a bigger show even with the other media stuff gone, but with it, it makes Wizard World look even smaller if one only compares them as comics shows, so I would submit that's an inappropriate basis for comparison, at least without taking into account the outside factors. Wizard World was a very enjoyable show.
Posted by Mike Chary at August 9, 2006 12:34 PM
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It might've looked like a smaller-than-normal show, but since when have you started believing your own lying eyes? The attendance numbers were actually record breaking. Wizard says so.