Frankfurt Book Fair 2004
Sunday October 10, 2004



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Report #1 - Thursday - Report #2 - Friday - Report #3 - Friday

As expected, the show started off a bit slowly this morning. Many Germans attend church, so it wasn't until after noon that the crowds in the Comics area rivaled yesterday's police estimate of 50,000-60,000. To put that number into perspective, San Diego draws about 50,000 on a Saturday. Those fans however are spread out over an immense convention center of 750,000 square feet. Here we have only three rows of booths that are about 100 meters long (330 feet), plus about 10,000 square feet of exhibition space. Just imagine all of San Diego trying to fit into only three aisles! This photo shows the crowding in the aisles at 1 PM. It would have been unpleasant, except that everyone was having such a good time!
Here is a view looking down our aisle at 1 PM. I think this clearly illustrates why I believe that Frankfurt has become one of the premiere places in the entire world for comics publishers to exhibit their new projects. It's a complete mystery to me why only the American comics publishers have failed to realize that Frankfurt has evolved from being only a licensing rights fair, to being a great way to build their respective brands with International consumers.
As a case in point of how American publishers could gain great benefit from exhibiting at Frankfurt, here is a signing in one of the booths for a very popular German creator. The line to meet him stretched far outside the confines of the comics area. While the big German comics show at Essen (where some American publishers exhibit) reaches a certain dedicated audience, the Buchmesse actually draws far bigger crowds, and they are very interested in learning about new comics projects. The Japanese publishers have very aggressively capitalized on this potential for exposure, which has then been a significant contributing factor to the explosive growth of Manga sales in Germany.
As this picture clearly illustrates, TokyoPop's sponsorship of this year's costume contest was a brilliant marketing move. As I predicted yesterday, there are at least 1,000 fans dressed as various Manga characters currently in the hall. Most are young women, but there are also more than a few young men. Not one person in the entire comics area is dressed as any sort of American comics character. What could it be that the Japanese comics publishers are doing right in marketing to the German comics fans, that the American comics publishers are collectively doing wrong?
Since over 17,000 of the readers of my newsletter have visited the Frankfurt link since I mentioned the pretty girls in my newsletter on Friday, I know that many of you would like to see more young ladies. In today's instance, however, almost all of them are in costume. If you don't like pictures of pretty girls, skip to the last few photos now.
Some of the nicest costumes are done in groups, or pairs. This young couple really matched up very well!
As I'm sure you can understand, these three ladies were in constant demand for photographs!
Some of the costumes were incredibly elaborate. The one drawback to these larger costumes, however, was an inability to traverse the aisles. I eventually found a couple of hidden corridors where the kids in costumes stepped out to relax a little, before once again heading into the crowd to be admired.
Here is one hiding place, in the viewing part of the mezzanine, above the Comics Centrum. In case you're wondering how so many people could possibly fit in such a small area, it involves a great deal of creativity. At one point I discovered that there was a 6' wide corridor between the back of the Comics Centrum bookshelves, and the building wall. There were over 200 fans resting in that tiny area!
When all else failed, the people in costume used the floor of the Comics Centrum as a resting-place. Then it became really hard to not step on them.
This girl's costume was not overwhelming until she went into character for the camera. What a fantastic pose! The way she lit up for the picture reminded me a lot of Bettie Page!
Just in case you thought that all German girls were conservative and demure, this picture should make you think again... Even German girls like to have fun!
Two more nice costumes.
One slightly naughty costume!
While all the American publishers are still asleep at the switch, the Taiwanese are working hard to get their comics accepted by the German comics audience. These three ladies were working the crowd in costume, trying to draw fans over to the Taiwanese booth. Just imagine the excitement that could have been generated this year simply by having an actor in a Spider-Man costume standing in the aisles. It would have been absolute pandemonium! Sigh...
In addition to the Taiwanese, the Koreans were also set up to display their comics. This gorgeous young Korean woman didn't work in their booth in the comics area, but she was so striking that I simply had to ask for permission to take her picture when I saw her sitting by herself in a hallway leading over to building #4. This picture actually brings up a good point, which is that the Buchmesse actually contains far more stunning older women than my pictures would imply. The photos I've shot have been primarily in the comics area, which has been overrun by girls and young women. In all of the more standard book display areas, however, I would estimate that over 60% of the staff of the stands are female.
In addition to the beautiful women working the individual stands, the women who run the actual Buchmesse are also very beautiful. This photo is of Birgit Fricke, the Project Manager in the Buchmesse Marketing Department. I know Birgit especially well, as she handles all new innovations at the fair. Six years ago she was assigned to act upon a suggestion I made to the Buchmesse to create a special area for comics. It took over a year to work out all the details, but Birgit is the one who ultimately made the entire Comics Centrum come to life!
Sadly, while Birgit Fricke helped bring the Comics Centrum to fruition, she then had to move on to other projects within the fair. In her stead, however, are now are two wonderful comics specialists. There is a picture of Andrea in the photos for Friday, and here is a picture of Wolfgang Strzyz. "Wolle" is the program manager for Fascination Comics, the forum in which guests from around the world are invited to speak about new trends in comics publishing. This picture shows Wolle in his usual position on stage, introducing yet another guest to the audience.
My final photo for this year's fair is a goodbye picture of Zum Ochsen, our wonderful hotel in Wenigshösbach, a tiny village about 35 miles from Frankfurt. The service from the father and son team of Dieter and Marco Stenger is fantastic, and the food they serve in the restaurant on the second floor is unbelievably good. Their prices are also quite reasonable, especially as compared to Frankfurt.
I hope that you've enjoyed this photo essay, and that you will consider making the trip to Frankfurt next year. It is one heck of a fun experience!

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