Comic Vendor Ends 44 Year Run at Comic Con

Normies ruin everything.

timesofsandiego.com/business/2017/07/06/angry-and-sad-comic-con-vendor-ends-44-year-run/

>Jason Kleinman added: “It’s such a shame. I miss the old days when comic book shows were at dark out of the way hotel conference rooms and the only people who went to them were comic fans who found out about the show from their comic shop!”

>“I remember when SDCC was about comic books, artists, inkers and the writers,” Jitsu said on Facebook. “Now it’s just a media circus promoting everything beyond just the comic book stuff. Now it’s just about waiting in line to buy the next toy.”

>Hugo Valentin Negron wrote: “It’s sad when the backbone of the industry is treated in this manner. It was the comics that started this mega pop culture ride, and seeing them pushed aside in favor of everything BUT comics at events that literally were grown by them is a shame.”

It seems like the cons have basically become fandom socials for corporate shilling. Not that that there is anything wrong with companies marketing their stuff, but they do so in a way that it effects the core products and markets that built up those conventions in the first place. It shows a trend of utter shallowness and disrespect for everyone involved.

It's about dressing up as characters and getting one's picture taken for social media, while the people who created those characters serve as background props.

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I can't say I speak from experience because I've never been to a convention. I live in Louisiana and we just started having them in my area recently, but they're advertised as "COME MEET OBSCURE CELEBRITY FROM NERDY SHOW YOU MIGHT LIKE!... oh and some comics or something." It's kind of pathetic.

I'm hoping to go to my first one next month.

really sad this piece of news. And now look even here in Sup Forums a comic board almost nobody but a few people like us talk, speak and debate about comics.

>tfw Phoenix Comic-Con still gets ass tons of inkers/writers/artists, tons of comic book stands, only niche VA's and actors
>attendance outpaced San Diego's years ago because we don't give a shit about the bureaucracy of early pass tickets or some shit and aren't a huge media circus
>110+ degree weather helps keep out the faggots

The valley of the sun's comic-con will be the savior of the industry in the coming years

"Ugh, why do I want to read sexist comics before Captain Marvel was female?"

Actual comics are irrelevant. Only their brands and IPs are useful to these big companies as they want to turn them into movies and merch which sells tons more than any comics could dream of selling today.

>Old industry fails to adapt to changing times.

That's all I read. I've gone to Comic Con every year for the past dozen years, and all that particular booth sold were back issues in white boxes. They failed to realize that business model doesn't work any more. People still do come to Comic Con to see their favorite comic writers, artists, inkers, and colorists.

But their favorites are no longer old guys who had their hey day in the late sixties and early seventies, which is what this shop mainly peddled.

It's funny, when I go to cons, I normally take advantage of Trade sales. The "Buy 1, get 2 free" kind of stuff.

You can make that argument but I think the point is like... It's a lumber company that's not replanting the trees it cuts down. They'll run out of fuel and fuel in this case is the trailblazing fans that read the original works and get it big enough to warrant an adaption in the first place.

>It seems like the cons have basically become fandom socials
>It's about dressing up as characters and getting one's picture taken for social media, while the people who created those characters serve as background props.

I think you're really misinterpreting the quote you posted, OP. "Corporate shilling" was the focus here, not the fans and how they choose to be fans.

too bad PCC got fucked by that power ranger shooter this year and now the security lines and prop ban are gonna turn a ton of people away

Hey, the fans aren't buying all these old back issues or these graded, sealed number ones, so they must not be doing it right.

Better analogy is cutting down old growth and planting shitty fast growing trees because quality doesnt matter when you are making chipboard for the lowest bidder.

>let's force the industry to cater to vapid self-absorbed queers that love liberalism and LARP as nerds
>uh oh we're gonna have to stop including comics because nobody reads them anymore

Bravo Marvel!

Yeah that sucks but I don't think that's going to be a permanent thing, props will be let back in eventually and security was not that bad, I went through it several times fairly quickly. You don't need a huge ass prop for a good cosplay anyhow, maybe it will convince all the mallet-swinging Harley fags to try something original

This guy literally will not be missed. Someone will fill his booth space and SDCC will continue on.

>going to big city cons instead of the near-secret ones in smaller towns

You're doing it wrong. Of course NYCC and SDCC are going to be corporate and Hollywood wankfests because they're held in those industries' backyards.

I went to a con in Biloxi Mississippi and I guarantee it was a better experience than any northern con

>not making as much money as possible
Why do you think vendors go to conventions?

On the brightside when the Capeshitmovie well runs dry you better believe that Disney will shutter Marvel.

> trailblazing fans that read the original works and get it big enough to warrant an adaption in the first place.
Maybe 80 years ago when super heroes where a new thing but now a lot of people know Batman, Superman or Spider-man because of the movie and cartoon and never bothered to read a comics about them. Marvel and DC could both die, no new comic about thel could be even written and there would still be Batman , Superman and Spider-Man movie and toy.
Just look at Tintin (last complete book was released in 1976) or Dragon Ball (ended in 1995), pretty sure a lot of people didn't read any of the original BD/manga but there is still movie, video game etc... made about them.

Comic Cons are usually like that, especially the slightly smaller ones because the only celebrities they can get are like background characters in GoT and they really try to hype it up.

I've only been to CCs in Denmark and Sweden but those are pathetic and only use the name to attract normies. The Swedish one (a former gaming con that's for some reason using the name) doesn't have any large comic book exhibitors and can't even get any of the big gaming companies to come there, not even Dice even though their HQ is located like 20 minutes away from the con.

You're right. They should instead be catering to the abusively demanding neckbeards who deplorable secret club behavior irreparably destroyed the reputation of comic books in the first place, and turning the entire industry into a broken, perpetually self damaging machine that cannot be fixed.

Face it, comic books are, and have been dead for a long time. This is only the first step towards the final collapse of the major publishers, and frankly, it'll be a mercy killing.

>people who read comics, play video games, enjoy fandoms or fantasy are so insular and weird they are the reason for all the problems in the industry
>sexist,racist,homophobic etc.

>What are you into then?
>Oh I like Marvel movies, mboile games, doctor who and Game of thrones

If we're so bad, stop making us the nexus of pop culture, we were more than happy before normies felt the need to lower the average IQ in the room

>muh reputation

Comics were at their creative peak when they catered to weirdos. Now they're glorified propaganda.

>DURR DA INDUSTREE IS DYING XD
Yeah print and wrestling are dying too, but somehow they're still here twenty years later. Hang yourself.

thats what happens when diversity eats your hobby

Yeah Dragon Con is the big convention around this area and the comics guest line up is usually really thin, last year they had Art Adams and Jim Steranko which was great besides the ones who come most years like Don Rosa or Peter David. This year's announced line up sucks so far.

They actually shell out for the big media guests though.

I've been going to comic cons since the early 90's and in a way he is right. It has evolved to be more about "pop/nerd" culture than just comics.
However that shit has ALWAYS BEEN THERE. There has always been a mix of Science fiction, horror, anime, and what have you. It’s never been totally about comic books.
There has been a huge surge in younger generations of people coming to these things. Smart vendors are just following that market.
Look I get it, these are the older people that feel like they are getting pushed out of their venues. They want to get together with people that share the same interest as them. However there are smaller conventions they can go to. Little comic book shows in hotel conference centers and VFW halls (and honestly you can find some good deals there or at least hard to find items).
Not to mention there will always be (at very least) a niche market for actual comics. Good booths that offer a wide variety of comics (IE: more than just hundreds of marvel comics only) are always busy in the conventions I have attended.
Celebrities, and events bring in the crowds, it’s a vendors job to try to sell those crowds things. Try to be proactive and figure out what products sell instead of whinging about how it’s not like “the good old days”. If you can’t do that go to a smaller venue.

Although I will agree that San Diego Comic Con has become a miserable bloated mess that needs to be reined in a bit (or at least needs to be restructured).

It's always been like that and people forget that when sdcc started it promoted Star Wars and other sci fi non comics stuff.

Also back then it was more about the comics because there was no internet and cons were the only chance for fans to meet and communicate with comic talent, get your comics signed or art from your favorite artists.

Also if your LCS didn't carry a comic that you wanted or you wanted to get an old trade the cons were the place to go.

>San Diego Comic Con has become a miserable bloated mess
This. They need to change the location or hold all the media shit in another building or something.
Everything about SDCC is madness. I mean the tickets sell out stupid fast, most people can only attend ONE panel due to overly long waits, and the floor gets super packed to the point you can't even get from one end of a row to another.

>almost nobody but a few people like us talk, speak and debate about comics
Even then, a lot of those are people who just skim the wikis and/or watch the movies and think they know everything.
Spider-Man and X-Men threads are increasingly bad because of this.

The one in my town had literally one person even related to comics and it was an inker that did work on Death and Return of Superman. Everything else was anime and wrestler shit. I can't really understand why they even called it Comic Con when it was more about anime than anything.

>no COMIC vendor at COMIC con
what

Any time people (normies, trendy urbanites, etc.) come into geek subcultures I fucking hate it. They always go "we're not trying to take this away from you" while demanding everything appeal to them and slowly pushing out the established fans who, like was said, built the thing up in the first place. It's not just cons but basically all forms of nerd shit: comics, video games, pen and paper, even wrestling is filled with hipsters now.

SDCC doesn't want to leave (they just extended their contract with San Diego) and San Diego has an asshole sue crazy lawyer who is always stopping development by suing the city over environmental BS or other crap.

Now that the Chargers left, the city is making the con expansion a priority but there are people who will try to stop it so we'll see how it goes.

Those two other anons already said the gist of what I would, but I need to tell you that you're a fucking idiot who doesn't actually know anything.

Best comment in the thread.

That said the moment SDCC went down for me was when Twilight got invited to the con.

Yeah I have this huge pet peeve with people using the name of something popular or well known just to get people to like their thing too. I see this every where nowadays. Like people don't respect or understand names. They think on terms of association only, not logical description.

>Nerds doing a thing.

>Nerds do things at "Comic-Con"

>Call it a "Comic-Con" !

It's got what plants crave... it's got electrolytes!

so, can comic culture be saved? will normies leave? what will replace it?

> this guy is 10 years late
Comicbook vending at sdcc has been irrelevant for almost a decade. And it only accelerated with comixology. Other vendors left a long time ago, this guy thought things were going to change?
Really they should just been moved to the sails pavillion and make space for the indie studios/artists.

Also, he acts like he wont be at san diego comicfest sdcomicfest.org

If you care about shit like "nerd culture" you deserve everything bad happening to it.

Comic Fest sounds a lot better then Comic Con

>Hugo Valentin Negron.
>Negron
I'm triggered, his name should be censored.

> REEEEEEEEEE
hey man, i'm as nerdy as they come but calm down, go for a jog or something. It's not healthy to get pissed about little things. The world turns, trying to stop it turns you into a /poltard.

...

I feel for the guy, but he's complaining about them only wanting money when his big reason for not going is probably the losses he took and wanting to blame it on the show. Don't go to that one. Start a new one or find smaller ones in the area.

When I went the SDCC the Comic booths felt very cold and unwelcoming. I remember the older guys manning the booths were usually grumpy and very Carnival barker-y. It felt like as a person who wasn't as deep into comics as I am now that they could sense that and didn't want me there, or the 40 something guy going on about old comics was getting on their nerves. If they had a younger person it was usually a little nicer.

Maybe because I'm a shut in that was only there because someone paid my way. If I went now I'd be able to handle the way comic shop owners talk.

The Creators were all very pleasant though and were the biggest reason I was there trying to get into comics myself.

>I live in Louisiana
Same, but I have a hard time talking myself into going because of the drive/expense to get in. No interesting creators show up and I heard the local comic clerk bitching to hell and back about having to go and how much he hated it.

wow REALLY?

fucking duh, geez, this shit all happened once fucking Iron Man became a hit back in 2007

i can still remember that change in comic shows too, mostly in NYCC, that it started to be more for entertainment and NORMIES than for people who read actual comics

tl;dr FUCK 2007-2008 THEY RUINED EVERYTHING!

It was 2007 and it was the Big Bang Theory, rather than Iron Man.

what people don't realize is that comic-cons or cons in general have a hard time surviving or even breaking even, which is why they try their hardest to find sponsors, investors and c-tier celebrities. The cons that are mostly on topic and not heavily commercialized survive on good will of the event managers.

This guy's booth is always there trying to sell over priced old comics, so I mean, it makes sense he would shut down.

Dragon Con is just for sex parties
pic related

>The Creators were all very pleasant though and were the biggest reason I was there trying to get into comics myself.

Yeah this is my reason for going now and is trying to network with actual creators and get into the industry.

>Same, but I have a hard time talking myself into going because of the drive/expense to get in. No interesting creators show up and I heard the local comic clerk bitching to hell and back about having to go and how much he hated it.

Yeah we had the first one in Bossier and there was a line for it wrapped around the convention center. No one thought anyone was going so they didn't buy tickets online and they were sold out/had too many people. I think people saw that and are getting greedy and just having conventions for the sake of it now. Like no one had any faith in it but wanted the nice things other places had -- which is so typical of Louisiana.

And all the people who I know who did get in? None of those fuckers read comics. They were just there to cosplay. None of them even told me they were going either, because they don't notice my love of comics since I just read comics, I don't wear it on my sleeve as fashion. It's just another social event for the people who don't get invited to other social events.

How many girls actually reply to things like that though?

i'm gonna miss this dude last year i manage to get the entire official handbook of the marvel universe trade from them

>kids say the darndest things

It actually started with the xmen/spiderman movies.

> 5 desperate chads is a sex party

that's so sad

Sounds like he's mad at the SDCC people themselves for dicking him around rather than the people who go to the cons.

Just went to one that its share of comic people, including Allen Bellman. Half a dozen comic vendors amid all the Funko selling ones. Can't speak to how popular any of them were, but the aisle right at the center was designated for the industry people, and they never seemed busy when I passed. Granted, certain celebs at the far side of the room like wrestlers and Power Rangers had their off periods as well.

But yeah, it's the nature of the beast. Blame the internet, blame digital media, blame lazy kids who would rather watch TV than read, blame whatever.

You can, however, still find plenty of local comic "cons" in the ballroom of a Holiday Inn that are basically just wall to wall white boxes. We actually had a proper comic con in the same building as this pop culture con earlier this year and it was definitely more comic based, few if any celebs (think the guy from Toxic Avenger was there.)

>xmen
>spiderman
Fuck off, retard.

This is poetry. Nothing more true has ever been said.

>not muh con
the shittiest argument possible

>Those Guys
>Chads
user you are quite funny

Fuck off, you're likely exactly who I'm talking about. I sure do like feeling like I'm becoming more and more unwelcome in hobbies I've had my entire life by Johnny Come Latelies who just want to jump on a trend.

>Blaming normies
>Not blaming the big industries that wanted more money than they need

fucking this
hell the most famous celebrity that went to our local con was one of the guys who did the hair of the actors in game of thrones and some stuntman from the new power rangers movie

Threads full of older fans are the best. Always chill and you usually learn things. There was a good Avengers thread like that yesterday. RE threads on Sup Forums are usually good for that too.

Former porn cameraman here.

I used to film for a cheap-as-dirt studio that made "amateur" videos. At first they tried to use actual amateur volunteers through craigslist, but literally ZERO females EVER replied. They eventually had to stick to using professional pornstars.

>Not blaming the big industries that wanted more money than they need
>need
How much do they need user? What's the magic number?

Count the threads in the catalog sometime. On a normal day (meaning no Wednesday or Thursday, since 0day storytimes will still be up and people will still be discussing the latest comics releases, and not the same day of a big comic leak or announcement) Sup Forums will be approximately 60% cartoon threads, 10% off-topic shitposting threads, 10% adaptation threads, 10% webcomic threads, and only 10% comic BOOK threads.

Half of what they have.

>Threads full of older fans are the best

This. And especially the part about learning things.

I do agree with you, I'd just like to add that younger fans are excellent too, provided they are indeed legitimate fans.
Skimming a wiki and shitposting is the worst.
Genuine enthusiasm for comicbooks is such a great thing that needs to be fostered.

>It's never my fault! It's the normies who ruined my hobby! It's not like I was acting like a whiny, hateful piece of shit. It's not my fault. It's not my fault.
Keep living in denial, but this industry is unsustainable, and you're part of the problem.

Keep on believing you're not part of the problem and blame lifelong consumers.

Meanwhile, NYCC is only selling one day badges, you have to pass a test to get them, and they've jacked up the vendor prices while cutting the number of vendor badges a booth gets in half, so vendors won't have enough people covering their booths unless they buy multiple one-day badges for everyone.

>tfw a friend of mine scalps for both nycc and sdcc

Lifelong consumers who actively discourage any newcomers or genre variety, thus preventing the industry from actually growing.

but user theyre not muh fan types

Yes, the lifelong consumers, not the people who only want to jump on as a fad when they're being pandered to.

Local comic cons are still about comics. Go to those

>Old geezer can't compete in current times
>leaves shitty con
>people who never bought comics at CC in the first place cry crocodile tears

Sad!

>who actively discourage any newcomers or genre variety
Stop right there you normalfag fuck. If you actually care to get into it's not hard, especially with the internet. Sup Forums alone has tons of images that offer recommended readings for certain characters. All types of classic vidya is free on torrent sites and being re released on digital, there are tons of ways to get into old material but people don't actually care to. What they care about is acting like they're a "nerd" without having to be one. People have watered down shit that's enjoyable to this bull shit funko pop trash

>new consumers show up, thinking there might finally be something to like about comics
>oldfags get angry because it's not exclusively about them anymore
>"Stop pandering to trend chasers! Only pander to me!"
Seriously, you're doing it right now.

Comics have bent over backwards to appeal to new readers and completely abandoned old fans in recent years and guess what, those new readers don't care. Sales indicate that new readers aren't buying comics and have no interest in the hobby outside of the look. But please keep pulling shit out of your ass

So what?
Just because you want to paint it as a bad thing doesn't make it so.

If you only consider liking something because it changes drastically, then you never would have liked it in the first place.
What's wrong with you that you think this is a healthy way to think and act?
Seriously, honestly, what the fuck?

He got fucked out of a whole day of sales by something the con didn't tell him about until later.

>mfw I'm a creator and I can get a full week pass no problem
I get to hang out at the con every single day. Suck it, loser fans.

Better idea than the whiners on Sup Forums who also only pretend to read comics so they can be outraged by them. At least the liberal nerds buy merchandise instead of nothing.

Again, you're angry that that companies are trying to appeal to other demographics that aren't you.

And consider something. Say you're new to comics, and you'd like something to read. You pick up some titles here and there, but you quickly realize that there's only one genre that's widely available, and frankly, you don't have the time nor patience to dig around to find the variety that ought to be common anyway. Most likely, you're just going to fuck off and go back to watching TV.

It IS a bad thing. Stagnation IS a bad thing. The industry can't grow if it keeps doing the same shit over and over. Eventually, even the "core" fan base is going to get bored of the constant recycling of concepts and storylines, and sales will steadily drop until costs outweigh profits.

The major publishers need to do different shit, or they are fucked.

They were st their peak in the 70's when they catered to all sorts. Only the kind of mongoloid who thinks Avengers Disassembled is a masterpiece thinks otherwise.

>companies are trying to appeal to other demographics
demographics that only buy it as a fad?

>It IS a bad thing. Stagnation IS a bad thing. The industry can't grow if it keeps doing the same shit over and over
Like pandering to said demographics for the past several years?

No I'm angry that companies throw away years of continuity and characterization for people who aren't interested. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
>Say you're new to comics, and you'd like something to read. You pick up some titles here and there, but you quickly realize that there's only one genre that's widely available, and frankly, you don't have the time nor patience to dig around to find the variety that ought to be common anyway. Most likely, you're just going to fuck off and go back to watching TV.
Then that person obviously isn't interested in comics. If they aren't willing to look into it and are just going to go back to what they know then that's their loss. People are willing to put the time in and find things they enjoy. They don't need to be catered to

This

Yeah, cause they were doing so well exclusively pandering to their so called "core" audience, who only barely support them on big names, and are more than happy to let non A-listers and new IPs shrivel up and die.

Seriously, a measly 20,000 copies is considered baseline sales for this industry. That's just fucking pitiful.

They weren't pandering exclusively before, you mongoloid. Then again, have sales really improved now? How many times has Captain Marvel had a reboot? Did anyone actually pick up a copy of Hellcat?

I probably be more open to their shit if maybe the writers weren't so fucking terrible at execution of their stories.

>lurk moar noob!
Yeah, I can't imagine why most people aren't interested in comics. The community is so welcoming.

>They weren't pandering exclusively before, you mongoloid.
Yeah, they pretty much were, and technically still are, but possibly don't realize it.

Cause, I'm gonna let you in on a little secret; Most people don't like superheroes.
>B-but, the movies!
Are summer blockbusters, which are expected to be at least partially dumb. The comics, which feature serious storylines and esoteric concepts that aren't actually that interesting once you think about them? Yeah, the vast majority of people could not even begin to give a shit. The medium is choked by a single niche genre.

My point is this; even if the 12 or so Captain Marvel relaunches had each been fucking masterpieces, they're still superhero stories, thus, sales wouldn't improve anyway, cause nobody gives a shit. But it's still dumb that you're bitching out companies for TRYING to reach a new audience.

Nice straw man fag. I said you have to put in time, you have to do the same for every hobby. As I've said before there are plenty of list available of recommendation of what to read. It's no one's fault but yours if you don't want to put in a little work. You can't have everything done for you

If you don't live in NY or LA it doesn't matter much anyway, none of your favorite writer or artists will ever come to your shitty comic con. It sucks.

>dedicating time and effort into entertainment
Yeah, see, that's part of the problem too. The whole point of entertainment is to sir back, relax, relieve some stress by doing something you enjoy. Most people don't enjoy sifting through tons of samey crap to find something worthwhile.

>mfw I bought $50+ of "near-mint" comics from (((milehigh)))
I might as well have bought a fucking dildo to ram up my ass. That shitty fucking website is just salt in the wound.

Also, fuck mile high comics.

You can just sit back and read entry level stuff you enjoy or look deeper into it. The same goes for movies, television, video games etc. I'm not saying you have to go deep into comics but if people are truly interested in it they will. If people just want to browse the surface fine but the whole industry shouldn't turn into the the surface level

What do you think would sell then? What is it that you know that would bring in a wave of new readers over night?