Uh...yeah...no...They have very limited sway over the even the hotels (and thus what the hotels do on their property), as is evidenced by them continually attempting to pressure the hotels into not price gouging, and getting the finger. The parking lot with the big carnival (I looked  into...because no one else did) is co-owned by the city and Major League Baseball. Whatever sway CCI has been allowed to think it has over that, is for niceties sake. I know people who work for MLB, I can tell you when push comes to shove MLB's policy is "we're gonna do whatever TF we want in *enter name of city* AND you, *enter name of city*, are going to do whatever TF we tell you". Because they are the 800 pound gorilla in the room. They generate a stupid amount of money for a city, and not just one week of the year, 80 plus days out of the year.

MLB smells that nerd money. They like how it smells. They want to see if it feels as good as it smells. They want to feel it in their pocket. And If you are thinking that a baseball stadium isn't a venue that's very suited for XYZ. In Milwaukee this very year, Brewers Stadium has held graduations, concerts, trade shows....they hosted "Banana Ball" (which is like...a ..hmm...a WWE version of baseball) Here were the hallways in the stadium during that event...

All those merch tents could easily be comic book crap, and there are confernce rooms and areas that could be used for panels or autographs. You could have a cosplay masquerade ball in there, you name it...MLB can use Petco Park to encroach on/take the nerd money in any way someone can come up with.

 Back to the story.  Mr. Glanzer, CCI strategy officer, seems to be implying/want people to think that CCI has some sort of agreements with some of these entities? I don't know how that'd work, since these outside events aren't demanding you have a CCI ticket/badge, and I don't see how CCI could charge companies for space on property they don't control/own. MLB, the city, the Hotels, the random property owners...CCI can't stop them from doing jack squat. Not really. Other than to threaten to leave. Which is a card they've floated out several times already. The problem is it's 2026, and there's about 6 other well run, very large, convention companies that could and would take up those dates, and the pop culture machine would roll on, while CCI attempted to get people to go to Las Vegas in July, to die of heat stroke. 

As far as any exhibitors, vendors or pros, hoping CCI would be able to figure out how to keep the attendees IN the exhibit hall so they could make some money...instead of OUTSIDE at the ad hoch carnivals that have popped up, this segment from the San Diego Tourism Authority, will tell you everything you need to know on that.

Read that as- the city is thrilled and motivated to have those people outside, unfortunately away from you and your wares as an exhibitor/pro. And (see below) actively helping this happen.

That decreases the value of exhibiting at this show, considerably. Because ( for those of you who need it spelled out) them selling 130,000 tickets ( re: charging a premium for booth space because of this massive attendance) don't mean 130,000 people are going to spend much time at all in that exhibit hall, much less ever pass by your booth.

Look at all those people! Milling around downtown at the street fair....People who are NOT in the convention center.

Let's go back to these quotes here. But, first, to make things clear, for those who my not know, Hall H is where the celebrity panels go on.  The one's you see online where Robert Downey Jr. or whoever comes out dressed like a movie character and they show you some sneak preview and talk about the movie.

Yeah... "that problem" solved itself, my friend. They all got space outside from local businesses. And are capitalizing on, not only your attendees, but all the locals who don't want to pay to go to your show.  Why the f*ck would they now pay to be in the hall, where there are only your attendees?! They're GONE, Mr. Glanzer. And they took your attendees with them.

He seems to be living under the mortally flawed hope that if he removes the single thing that they foolishly allowed to become the central focus of their event (the celebrity panels in Hall H), then somehow he will lure people back into paying to be in the building. Away from the sun, and fresh air, and wide open events, next to restaurants, and bars, and clubs. With what, Mr. Glanzer, are you going to make being inside your building seem better than that?

"we don't have enough space". Space for what? and for who? As I pointed out last time...this show ain't exactly packet to the gills anymore with impressive exhibits. (I'll give you the highlights of this years blight, shortly).

His plan is...to fill Hall H with exhibitors? Who?! Is he going to move the big companies up there? Because that would akin to walking up to the law of unintended consequences, pulling your pants down, bending over, and finding a happy place in your mind, while you are ravaged.

Here's the playing field to understand, as I explain the punishment CCI's rectum would have in store for it.   Hall H and the exhibit hall are on two different floors.  

So if you move all the big companies up to Hall H...that will piss off all the exhibitors who pay a premium for this show because they want to be in the same hall with big companies. And they will, en mass, stop paying to exhibit at your show. OR if you move them up to Hall H so the big companies can spread out in the space of the exhibit hall...the result is the same.

He defined the problem as they "don't have enough space". Talk about a perfect example of "still fighting the previous battle". This is Germany saying the problem is Normandy Beach is vulnerable to attack...in 1945 when the entire Allied army is already rolling into Germany. The main event is now OUTSIDE, and those entities and future ones, ain't gonna be much interested in being in the Hall. Because they'd be IDIOTS to do so. That would, repeating now, limit their exposure from the entire population of San Diego and everyone visiting to see your show...to ONLY the people who paid to see your show.

The frog has been boiled, Mr. Glanzer. They are not waiting for you to free up space, they are your competition now.  Which means your PROBLEM...is what the f*ck are you going to put in your exhibit hall that gives anyone a reason to pay to go into it. 

Someone please...tell me I'm an idiot who's missing something obvious. Because all his plan does is make everything worse. It pisses off everyone who likes Hall H, it pisses off exhibitors...and however you shuffle things, it gives you 400 some odd more tables to try to find exhibitors for. Where the f... I've been to shows all over this country. There are not 400 more exhibitors that are worth a damn that haven't already tried this show. By the time he'd have table 52 filled he'd be down to booths of cat ladies selling home made soap.  Homemade soap, dream catchers, bad turquoise jewelry...those different kinds of polished rocks that single women over 30 think have magical healing powers. That's what would make up those tables. Assuming he could even find any of those willing to pay through the nose for the booth space.

...I... realize now...I have pissed off no less than five different women I know in my actual life, who are in the position to make my actual life miserable. Look, could be they do have magical powers, how the hell would I know?  I see them sold at flea markets and they have nothing to do with comic books, that's why I used them as an example.

Sigh...Which bring us right to what I observed exhibiting this year

Regarding the drop in quality exhibitors overall and specifically in the section I'm in. Which (repeating for effect) is about smack dab in the middle of the entire show, and THEORETICALLY, where you would want some impressive stuff, and it is LISTED as the independent press pavilion... a section for independent publishers. It is in a strategic place in the building, to benefit the show. Indy Publishers, by nature, having the weird edgy stuff, Avant garde stuff, booths that make attendees go "oh wow, what the hell is that? Let's check that out!". 

Be patient, I'm setting the stage here...

Most shows make sure such type publishers/pros, and things like artist alley have all the attendees traffic going past. The reason ,which I learned years back from a very successful convention operator the late great Nick Post, is that if someone goes to your show and all they get is what they came looking for, they don't have a reason to come back. You want each of them to have a moment of "If I didn't go to this show I would never have know this existed!" or " I would have never met that person!" or "I would never have gotten this!". You need them to find something they didn't expect, so they see the value of having gone to the show. As opposed to next time just finding what they want on the internet. Getting traffic past your indy booths, your artist alley, your young punks with a dream, ensure that eventually happens for everyone.

There's strategies to who/what you put where, in your convention and different schools of thought on it. Some shows put the biggest draws in the back so people go past everything else first. Some shows have similar type content next to each other, some shows have everything scattered randomly so every isle is a surprise. Whatever the specific strategy, the smart ones try to increase the odds that people will find more thngs they were not even looking for that make them go "wow, what the hell is that?!".

NOW, with the role/benefit a section of edgy/weird/up and coming stuff provides for a convention, and the importance of who and what you put where, fresh in mind... we'll look at what was in the section front and center of main entrances at CCI.

The 2 for $5.00 sticker booth was back...

This is embarrassing. And in comparison to what is outside, pathetic. This is a Midwest flea market level of exhibitor.  Do you think any attendees were impressed by this? Do you think any publishers/pros who paid a premium to be in that area were happy to be next to this guy? I happen to know they were not. Quality pros/exhibitors don't want to be next to blight like this...and they stop paying to be there...and more blight fills in and more exhibitors go elsewhere...attendees end up being wildly unimpressed with the hall and don't come back. Downward spiral.

What's curious is...I'm doing the math in my head of how many stickers you'd need to sell, in five days (42 total hours of the hall being open) to make a profit buying 6 full tables, and it seems to be a mathematical impossibility.  There is no "promotional value" or  value of "having a presence at CCI" for a discount sticker booth. So, there's no reason for them to be there if they take a loss. Yet, this is their second year, so it makes me wonder...if perhaps...maybe...they were given a discount.

I mean...it's either that or they sold in the ballpark of 22,000.00 worth of stickers. Where's my calculator...hold on...twenty two thousand 5.00 sales in 42 hours is...104 sales an hour. Actually, no, what am I thinking? They'd need to sell more than that because the stickers cost money to make and ship. They aren't pure profit.  Whatever, they didn't sell 22,000.00 worth of stickers so... if it's a money laundering scheme, it's non of my business.

Moving on...in the row behind me this year, was this fellow selling discount graphic novels.  Not graphic novels he published or created...just a retailer...a discount retailer.

That's a 20x10 ft booth, of graphic novels you could get online. Anybody out there impressed yet?

Anything screaming "prestige" to you?

And do not take this as criticism of this guy. Could be a smart move for him, could be he sold a lot of stuff. BUT he's benefitting from who is at the party, not bringing anyone to the party. Knowwhatimean? He came to the party alone, didn't bring anything, did a bunch of our cocaine, and left with someone's drunk sister. Also...I feel he could have maybe bought a nicer banner.

I looked and he's a retailer who has a store, in a mall, outside of Chicago. Two tables, flight, hotel, shipping...even on the cheap, by my math...unless he sold 700 graphic novels in 42 hours, he took a loss. That's one sale every 3 minutes by the way. (I keep mentioning the time vs sales to make a later point) Who's going to be there next year? Someone better, or someone worse? I guess it depends on if he's asked about his experience, haha.

  The college recruiting booth was back, with a full corner and annexing the booth space to the left facing the MAIN ISLE, ...that is one of the most valuable spots in the entire building.

That makes the second largest booth in the entire indy press section...a f*cking medical college.   Anybody out there want to pay a premium to be an exhibitor flanked by a medical college and a discount store?   Anybody going to walk past this booth and go "oh wow! Cool! take my picture next to this"?

What was that quote from story?...

Not enough space for what? More flea market bullsh*t? 

I said something last time but didn't point out why It was important- there ARE really sold new indy publishers out their who are looking to make a splash, but they ain't going to this show. If it was just me and other weathered veterans, who already have a name for themselves, second guessing the worth of this show...you could rationalize that away. But if the next wave of talent ain't f*cking with your show...THAT is a problem, you can't blow off.

That problem would, boil down to three things. The attendees that come through that door not exactly being the sweet spot for a new publisher to make use of. CCI may be viewed by the new generation as "corporate", "lame", "Old school".

Young punks with a dream are valuable currency. I tried to get people to understand that when I was just a young punk, and I'm trying again now...as an established veteran when no self serving motivations can interpreted. They bring energy, they excite people, they make things feel new, and make it seem like hip the place to be. AND...some of them become the next big thing. And if they become the next big thing...somewhere else...that somewhere else instantly becomes more appealing to everyone, than your place. EVERYONE in any position in the comic book industry...Re-read that, memorize it, pin it to your f*cking forehead. I am the ghost of Xmas future telling you, it's in your best interest have young upstarts around.

And of course, the third reason being the excessive cost to have a booth at this show ain't appealing or even possible for some indy/new publishers.

I went back and checked, and CCI has raised the cost of a booth about 30% since 2020. That's in the Indy publishing area, I hear it's similar in artist alley and other sections, but I have not seen any invoices with my own eyes. So, we can call that hearsay, if you like.

It was a jarring moment when I looked at the past and present invoices side by side. "Wait a minute...What the F*ck am I paying 30% more for?! "  Why am I paying over market value at all? They were overpriced in 2019, and that was BEFORE paying for that placement meant being in between a local college and a discount store, at a show where 50% of the attendees are outside. And don't give me that "but you make contacts and can do business stuff"  Because that all goes on outside of the show or after the show hours. You don't need a booth to make things happen for yourself on the big picture business end.

 There's something a pro brought up to me, after reading my last blog, that I failed to mention. Every other show is actively fighting for quality exhibitors and pros. They have people going to shows, glad handing with pros and publishers to get them to come to THEIR show. Every show I'm at I have two or three such people come by. They offer comp space, comp hotel, comp travel for pros, and they do what they can to entice vendors.  Because, they understand that the key to being on the right swing of the upward/downward spiral is having as many quality guests and exhibitors as possible. The better your line up, the more people pay to come to your show. It's a bare knuckles fight out there for who has the best line up. Meanwhile CCI is just CCI-ing it's way to tables of discount blight.

I...think a visual might help address that point. There are companies/exhibitors who can write off a loss, it's a minor chunk of their ad budget, and/or they feel their stature in the industry compels them to be there. Then, there is everyone else, who while they may have other reasons and ambitions to be at CCI, they do in fact want to make a profit selling their wares to attendees. We'll call them small and medium sized business, for the sake of attaching this to grown up reality. And every year they have to consider their profit margin at this show vs other shows...those types are in the green areas on this CCI floor plan...

Perhaps...the plan is to drive all the small and medium sized businesses out, so they can sell all the space at a higher price to big companies? And make the whole event a big brand name corporate thing?  Something that attracts the type who go to Disney land for vacation. Uh...okay...that's a plan. It  would be really slimy implementation. Because it would make suckers out of everyone who continued to pay for a table, in good faith. That plan'd also be dependent on CCI being able to fill that hall with only big corporations.

That artist alley section alone is almost one full city block. You think Marvel is going to pay to set something up that big? And what??? Let's say in a drunken stupor they agree to do that, and...I don't know...move an entire movie set there. What do you fill the rest up with? What do you do when the MCU movies stop making money and/or Disney decides to stop investing in this show? This is at least 4 city blocks worth of space in green, we're talking about, to add to what those companies already use.

So, something like this?

That's...unlikely, but also unsustainable. Since on any given year any of those big companies could change their long term plans or get bought by someone bigger. If 25% your show is Sony and 25% is Disney and one buys all the content from the other...you think they are going to keep paying for two sections? Or do you think they'll scale down...OR maybe tell you they want both for the price of one because f*ck you what are you going to do about it, LOL?!

Absent being able to, on a prolonged yearly basis, sell 7 city blocks of space to a handful of companies...You need small and medium sized business there, that each in their own right can impress/attract attendees.

How many times can you flip those tables? How many potential new exhibitors are out there, that would be impressive for a passerby? How many times can you replace 60% of this hall, before it is a glorified flea market? and how many tickets can you sell to come into that hall once the word is out, that a glorified flea market is what awaits? Before you answer...those good exhibitors didn't disappear off the face of the earth...they would be at other shows, promoting those other shows. Now, how many tickets can you sell?

Do we all understand now, how very precarious the reality of the situation actually is for CCI?

CCI did find takers for some sections that were missing last time and some publishers did step up to give something to "holy cow look at this!" about. Image comics for example had a badass display, with rows of actual comics front and center, and fan favorite pros signing autographs.

Dystilery (below) publishes Manga books (Japanese comics) and is a big deal, even though their display looked like temu special.  They had some people there signing autographs, that fans cared about. Manga has A LOT of readers, and this would be a impressive thing for those readers to run across.

I don't know much about manga comics. Thus, I can't speak to the quality of their pros. But it seemed like they brought a line up that made people happy. 

So, there were some people/companies who showed up and brought their A game and...apparently some that did not.

Artist alley was either good or bad depending on who I talked to. I didn't look because it's literally 4 blocks away at the far back wall. So, it could be a "in the eye of the beholder" situation. If most of the artists are one particular flavor or genera this time around and you ain't interested in that...it gonna seem crappy. Then again, there are some pros who decided not to go. and that surely disappointed some people.

That goes right back to what I'm saying about competition. If you have/want a life, there are only so many weekends you are going to devote to sitting behind a folding table drawing stuff. And this show is expensive and time consuming. We're talking three to six weeks of getting everything together for this show. That means one entire month out of your short ass year, taken up by one event. More and more pros have decided to give this one a pass and make up for it with other shows that are less stress, less time consuming and higher value.

Speaking of value...The outside carnival has grown. The section of downtown San Diego near the convention center is called "the gas lamp district" and it was shoulder to shoulder people pretty much the entire weekend.  There were more people outside than inside, always.

Thus, traffic on Saturday...about the same as last year. There was a lull like this for a few hours.

Biggest Comic-Con in the U.S. everybody. The isles looked like that, because outside looked like this...

(it was seven square city blocks of that...I know because I walked through all of it from the downtown FedEx to the convention center.)

Comparing it to competition, if that was the traffic past my booth on a Saturday at say...C2E2 in Chicago, I would assume the show is going belly up.

Note the pictures below. This is an apples to apples comparison. In front of door C, on a Saturday afternoon..

  To fairly lay out the situation, as I said last time, traffic does have an ebb and flow, and there are times when one area is slow and another is jam packed. BUT...this show used to be packed everywhere, all the time (like in the "few years ago" picture). And, for it's price, it needs to be. Remember that time vs sales stuff I was mentioning...how long do you think traffic past your booth can look like that ("this year" picture) before you're questioning your decision to be at this show?

So...that's all of that. Make of it all what you will. I don't have much else to tell you that wouldn't just be me repeating everything I said last time. At face value...it's a good show, you can sell a lot of stuff there, but that's true of NY Comicon, Dragon Con, Emerald City, C2E2, Megacon and a bunch of others. But those shows are all priced competitively against each other and CCI is out in the stratosphere as though it's still leaps and bounds better than everyone else...it's not. Not for pros, exhibitors, or attendees.

They are still currently viewed as the show of all shows...but, that not really based on anything anymore. The rise one might get out of... "heya lookit us everybody, we're at Comic-con International"...is fading. It's becoming an Emperor's New Clothes situation. The new wave of pros/publishers don't seem to see much value in it at all. It doesn't matter to them.

It's perhaps akin to...in the 90s if you were a stand-up comedian, your ticket to fame was getting on a late night talk show and doing a five minute set. That would make your career. Now...that's the refuge of the normie-est of normies, and no one looking for the next big thing, or some fantastic set, is going to see anything that happens there. Because they are looking elsewhere, because what they are looking for is elsewhere.  If someone said to me "I saw the funniest stand up bit the other day" and they followed it with "it was on the late show on NBC", I'd assume they were being sarcastic.

 And maybe, all the things I've said and reasons I've given, are just me being "too smart by half". When it's all just the philosophical reality that...the world changes...

Woodstock 1969 was a tremendous cultural moment, but it ended. You could put a bunch of new bands at that space and sell tickets to people and call it Woodstock, but it would not be Woodstock...knowwhatimean. I think they tried that actually, in 2000, it didn't matter to anyone. The vibe of the culture was different, giant concerts with multiple bands was no longer rare, it wasn't during some paradigm shift in music. It was just another concert full of good bands. And there were plenty of other such events all year across the U.S.

Do I have to explain that analogy? I hope not.

Peak Comic-Con International was roughly 2009-2014. It was a perfect storm, of a lot of things coming together at the same time. And the energy, the growth, the people, the focus from around the entire globe on that one hall, full of creatives and their work and their fans...It was really special. It was a once in a generation event, and I'm really really glad I was a part of it. And next year an event will go on with that name, in that building. and...yeah...

As far as where it goes from here, analyzing things stoically, logically, there's several probable ways it can go, none of those are- it getting better. It could get a little worse each year, and find it's proper footing, or it could collapse under its own weight/operational costs. I do not see a way that it ever reaches it's peak again, and (and this is a case of being a victim of one's own success) if something's reputation is the hype of being the biggest and the best, once that veneer has faded, what people will notice, for the most part, is that it's not as good, even if it's still good. And if your cost does not reflect your diminished market value, that compounds the problem.

Lemme put a hypothetical to you, to better make that point. Mercedes makes high end luxury cars, everyone knows them for that. If next years model had no leather seats, it's suspension was the same as a Toyota, the engine was as good as a Honda, and it was missing a few fancy things in the cabin...it would still be a pretty good car, but that would not be what anyone said about it. They would say "this is real crappy Mercedes." And if the sticker price for this model was the same as for the previous more luxurious model...they'd be in a hell of a spot wouldn't they?

That was a great analogy...why didn't I just say that at the beginning? This blog could have been two paragraphs.

I haven't talked about "fun" or the "vibe" of the show, because that's subjective and not quantifiable. But I don't know anyone who thinks it's as fun as it used to be. I couldn't tell you why, exactly, that is. It could have something to do with the...we'll call it -personality demographics. If every year more and more of the attendees are uber nerds with a specific genera/brand in mind and a specific goal, and less and less are there for the goal of seeing what's what and having fun, that does affect the overall tone.

Different years, and different shows have different vibes. They range from curt/cranky (this is usually because of weather and longs lines), to loud fun and raucous (most horror cons) . I'd call the vibe at CCI this year similar to...a super market. No one's in a bad mood, but they're there to get stuff, they have chores. The wide eyed excitement and overwhelmed expressions of previous years...absent.

If I went back next year it would be my 25th year. What do you think would be waiting for me? A bunch of handshakes and pin from CCI of some sort commemorating my 25yrs?  Or would I just be at a pretty good convention... that's costing me 3 times as much as a bunch of other pretty good conventions? Or would I have a seat to watch Rome burn?

This all might seem dour, and it likely is for CCI. But, looking through the other end of the telescope, whether CCI overcomes the issues I laid out or doesn't...all of the rest of us will continue on. That map I showed of their competition, that's THEIR competition. It's our opportunities. Conventions are as big as ever, and the comics industry can live without CCI. It's slow separation from comics themselves (their pitch in recent years has been "a celebration of the popular arts"...the word "comic book" conspicuous by it's absence) means that comics themselves won't get tarnished if CCI sinks. The story will be that they imploded, not that comics or comicons are dying. Everything else and everyone else will still be pressing forward.

Anyways...