Frankfurt Book Fair 2004
Thursday October 7, 2004

1) Here is just one photo from the stopover we made in London, before the Frankfurt show. We're all having dinner at Zia Teresa, a very nice Italian restaurant on a side street directly adjacent to Harrods. From left to right are Chuck, Aleta, Wesley Walker (Aleta's significant other), Elsbeth, Lynne, Nanette, and Chuck's uncle, Christoph Sauer.

2) When you first arrive in Frankfurt, your booth is completely bare. We had hoped that our freight would already be there, but no luck. We also had no Internet connection. Everything worked out in the end, but it was very stressful all during the set-up on Wednesday. We started at 8 AM, and didn't get finished until 7 PM.

3) The security presence has been great increased at the fair over past years. This greatly slowed down set-up for the fair as a whole, as they had six policemen go through every arriving truck, including UPS and FedEx. There are also armed policemen in every building, and on every floor. Visitors entering the International hall (#8) also have all bags searched.

4) One factor that makes Frankfurt a very hard show is that you have to lock away all of your merchandise each evening, or risk having major portions missing when you arrive the next morning. While there are some attempts to provide booth security, the halls are all open to maintenance workers of all kinds all evening long. In past years there have been instances where exhibitors have arrived in the morning, only to find nearly their entire booth stripped. For that reason, we put all of our books in the small locking cabinets provided by the fair. It takes us an hour to set up each day, and about 45 minutes to break down, but we consider the effort very worthwhile.

5) DC Comics always has one of the nicest comics booths. Sadly, however, they remain adamant that they want their licensing team to remain in the International hall, far away from building #3, which contains the combined worldwide comics center. If only DC could afford to also have a small booth in hall #3, I believe that they would accomplish much to enhance their positive perception within the International comics publishing community.

6) Dark Horse has a booth smaller than DC, but they also have a very nice display. Just like DC, however, they also do not have any kind of presence in hall #3. While I certainly understand why the licensing staffs of Dark Horse and DC need the quieter atmosphere of hall #8 to negotiate overseas reprint contracts, I still wish they would make some attempt to become a part of the comics center.