New York Comic Con, the second-largest comic convention in the country, starts today. Thousands of fans, many dressed up like their favorite comic book heroes and video game characters, will make a trek over to the Javits Center and eat, breathe, and drink everything comics for the next four days.
This might seem a bit weird for people who have never picked up a comic book or ever had the spirit move them to dress like Batman. Here then is a brief guide to the phenomenon of a comics convention.
1) What is a "Comic Con"?
(Photo by Laura Cavanaugh/Getty Images)
When people talk about "Comic Con", they're usually talking about a comics convention — an event where comics fans, creators, experts, and guest stars, congregate to attend panels, go to parties, and have discussions that are all centered on some aspect of comics.
They first comics convention, according to Pop Matters, was an event called "Comiccon '64" held in New York City in July of 1964. Science fiction conventions started gaining popularity in the 1980s. The first San Diego Comic-Con, the most-attended comic convention in the country, was in 1970.
In more recent years, these conventions have become more popular, and at some cons, the subject areas have expanded from comics into television shows, movies, and other forms of art and fiction that are more mainstream.
2) Is there more than one Comic Con?
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Yes. There are comics conventions all around the country. But San Diego Comic-Con trademarked "Comic-Con" in 2005 and has threatened legal actions against conventions that use "Comic-Con" in their name. In August, San Diego Comic-Con sued Salt Lake City Comic Con, claiming that SLCCC had hopped on the back of San Diego's "creativity, ingenuity and hard work," and deceived the public about the convention.
In response, SLCCC pointed out that there were multiple conventions or "comic cons" that existed before the 2005 trademark. The latest news is that both sides are meeting and are reportedly in talks to settle. This was as of September.
The point here is that there are multiple conventions, there are different companies behind each comic convention, and that there's a lot of value in them. If there weren't, why would San Diego Comic-Con apply for a trademark? And NYCC is one of the big ones. It will run through Sunday.
3) What's the difference between New York Comic Con and San Diego Comic-Con?
The main difference between the two, and really what sets San Diego apart from all other comic conventions, is how connected Hollywood and its many marketing teams are to that particular convention. SDCC's watershed moment of Hollywood saturation came in 2010, when Robert Downey Jr. introduced the cast of The Avengers, two years before the monster hit even hit theaters. But the convention's pop culture dominance has been growing since the late 2000s, when SDCC would see things like the casts of Glee and Twilight, two franchises which have nothing to do with comics, come to the convention and promote their shows to the delight of fans.
Even though New York City Comic Con has gotten more and more popular (attendance in 2013 was 133,000), it has a lower profile. In terms of scale, the biggest event at New York Comic Con tends to be the panel for The Walking Dead, whose cast members pay a visit to the convention every year. It works out well because the season premiere is usually around the corner, and, indeed, season five debuts Sunday night. But even The Walking Dead is no Avengers.
This lack of Hollywood hype translates to more attention paid to smaller projects and more of a focus on comics news.
4) How many people go to cons?
Hundreds of thousands. Here's a look at San Diego's, New York's, and the up-and-coming Emerald City's attendance figures over the years. You'll notice that San Diego has had a sustained 100,000+ audience since 2006 :
A note on the graph: San Diego Comic-Con reports their attendance as "130,000+", while New York Comic Con rounds to the thousands. We plugged in 130,000 as San Diego Comic-Con's numbers. New York Comic Con considers itself the "second-largest comic book and pop culture event in the country."
There are many factors as to why comics conventions have gained so much steam in the last few years, including mainstream pop culture being inundated with comic book projects, comic book marketing, more people being interested in comic books, and so on.
San Diego's constant popularity has probably affected the profile of other conventions too. In terms of attendance, there are people who can't make it to San Diego year after year, and instead go to conventions closer to their home. In terms of business, higher-ups who work on movies on television shows might seek out going to other conventions like New York or Emerald City if those cities are a better fit or if they are backing projects that aren't as huge as The Avengers.
5) Do you have to dress up to go to Comic Con?
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No. What you're talking about is cosplay (costume play). Lots of people go to a comics convention in costume, but it's not a requirement.
6) Can a convention ever be too big?
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This is one of the biggest complaints you hear from devout comics convention goers. These events have capacity limits, and when you get to the big two — New York and San Diego — they're going to hit those limits, and people will be shut out. Tickets to these events are a hot commodity and draw the attention of scalpers who sell the tickets for inflated prices.
This year, New York Comic Con had its passes sell out in minutes. Those passes were resold on sites like eBay and StubHub for higher prices. That sucks for fans.
But there's also a cultural dilemma too. Because Hollywood has gotten so involved, you might have someone diehard Twilight fans show up (as they did in San Diego in 2012) to a convention for one event, while actual comic book fans, ostensibly the people the convention is for, get shut out.
Jim Demonakos, the founder of Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle, explained to me that what drives Emerald City Comic Con is whether or not his fans are happy. His rule is that the fan experience dictates capacity.
"You can grow as big as you want … as long as you're still delivering a good product to your fans," he said. "So really, what is too big? When you're creating an experience that is overall negative."
ECCC, which has grown exponentially in the last few years and welcomed an estimated 70,000 people in 2014 and is expecting around 80,000 in 2015.
7) How did comics conventions get so popular?
(Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney)
There are a lot of reasons. Something like the cast of The Avengers appearing is guaranteed to put a lot of butts in seats, and it also puts pressure on other movies and studios to come to comic conventions.
But probably the most important factor for the growth of comics conventions is that nerd/ geek culture has gone mainstream. It isn't just comic book fans who know about the Guardians of the Galaxy now, and it's not just geeks who know about the Dark Knight. Liking comic books or superheroes has become like having a favorite band, and these conventions are like concerts.
You also have to consider the marketing that goes into these conventions. People running these things want to make money — at least as much money as they're putting in. And in order to get people to attend you have to advertise and get the word out. And having big names on the poster (or even simply rumored to possibly appear) helps a lot in that marketing.
"Marketing is the most important job there is when it comes to a public event," Ben Penrod, who founded Awesome-Con, told me, explaining that he spends four to five hours per day on marketing. "That's not to downplay the amount of work that goes into making the event happen, but none of that matters if people don't show up. "
Penrod is expecting an attendance figure of 50,000 at Awesome-Con DC next year.
8)What's happening at New York Comic Con this year?
This year, in addition to the aforementioned tradition of The Walking Dead panel, Damon Lindelof will be talking about his upcoming film Tomorrowland as will the team from Disney's Big Hero 6. There will also probably be some news about Birdman, the Michael Keaton movie where he plays an actor primarily known for playing a superhero, who is trying to get on with other projects in his life (which kind of sounds like Keaton's experience with Batman).
In terms of comics, New York Comic Con will probably be punctuated by Batman's 75th anniversary, as well as the death of Wolverine.
9) How can I keep up with New York Comic Con?
Getting a ticket at this point is going to be difficult, and you're probably going to be dealing with scalpers. But you're in luck. Not only will a lot of outlets be covering the news, but NYCC will also be streaming footage from its Main Stage, Empire Stage, and Show Floor on Twitch.TV.