San Diego Update - Saturday, July 21, 2001

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San Diego Comic Con Update
Sunday, July 22, 2001

Howdy!

Boy, are we all ever tired. This year's convention has been as wearing as any convention I've ever attended. Not only has the traffic at our booth been overwhelming, but the overall energy drain of being a part of such a large group of very excited and happy people has worn us all down. This is not a complaint, but simply an observation that spending 40 hours, over five days, in a huge hall surrounded by tens of thousands of people who know you, can be very exhausting.

Earlier today I did a survey of the dealers, to get an idea how everyone had done in sales. There was simply no consensus. There was, however, a pattern I discerned. The dealers who did the best were ones who were offering goods or services that were not easily replicated at local stores, or on the Internet. Fans attending large conventions have become much more canny, and they simply save their money for unique items, bypassing things they think they can obtain at a later date. This has put quite a strain on dealers who are operating in a conventional fashion. Unless they are willing to cut price significantly, their sales are mediocre, at best. Dealers who do have unique items, however, such as new manga items, are selling huge quantities. Fans have some disposable income, but they are being very selective about where they spend their cash.

Speaking of disposable income, one of my contacts in the San Diego community brought to my attention that energy bills in the San Diego region have cut dramatically into people's cash flow. She owns a small local restaurant, and mentioned that her gas bill was $9,000 last month! Rents are also up, so there is definitely a squeeze on local consumers. If the convention wasn't such a wonderful experience As it was, I think everything worked out rather well. next year, with the convention early in August, I think we will do even better. It will be much closer to most folks payday...

On a side note, one factor about the convention I wanted to mention yesterday, but forgot, was the amazing increase in the number of strikingly beautiful women who are now attending the show. I can clearly remember in the early 1970's when Summer Hamilton (Gladstone Publishing founder Bruce Hamilton's gorgeous daughter) was the only eligible girl in the entire convention. Oh how we boys all longed for a smile or a glance from her... Today the situation is entirely reversed, with quite literally, thousands of stunning women walking the aisles. Most are accompanied by big, aggressive boyfriends and/or husbands, but they are still quite willing to strut for all the fanboys. For you ladies in the audience this doesn't mean much (except, perhaps, that my daughter Rowan has mentioned that the number of cute guys is also waaay up...), but I know my male readers would appreciate knowing that San Diego has become an incredible girl-watchers delight. I have no idea how this came about, but for me, it makes working the booth just a little more fun.

With that thought in mind, I was going to have Pam take babe shots all day. Her enthusiasm for that plan wasn't high, however, so as an alternative I suggested shots of a sampling of booths, featuring all kinds of differing merchandise genres. I figured that in either case, a certain amount of lust would result from seeing the photos (hee hee hee!). Pam went for the booth idea, so there are about 30 photos, ranging from bargain back issues, to original art, to manga, to art books. We also got some shots of new products coming from Dark Horse and DC. Enjoy!

The final item included with this last San Diego convention report is a list of all the Eisner winners from this year's convention. We all have Lynne to thank for taking the time to type in the complete summary of results. It took her quite a long time, particularly since she was also helping consumers at the same time. Thanks Lynne!

That's it. I'm done. Toast. Now it's time to pack up our computers, and get ready for the retailer trade show. That begins this evening, and runs through tomorrow afternoon. Then we catch a plane for Denver at 5 PM, arriving at DIA at 10 PM on Monday night. It's going to be hard to get up for work on Tuesday... Getting up will be easier, however, knowing that this year's San Diego convention was such an incredible success. I know we've all had fun this year, and I certainly hope that by presenting all of you with these small reports that I've given you a taste of how much fun San Diego can be. Next year's show is August 1-4, and you're all invited to attend. For details on registering for next year's show, go to www.comic-con.org.

Happy collecting!

Chuck Rozanski,
President - Mile High Comics, Inc. Advance Previews
of next weeks comics from
Marvel and DC

Chuck with Matt Hawkins (Top Cow) and his baby son Mark