Monday, February 27, 2006

It was a big ol' messy mess

Yeah, the New York Comic-Con was a bit of a nightmare. They underestimated both the amount of space they'd need and the audience who'd show up (because, apparently, no one knew that there are lots of people in New York friggin' City). So on Saturday, they closed off the floor, leaving fans, professionals, and even the press barred from the place that most of them paid to get into. There are plenty of comics sites that extensively covered this debacle (this is a good starting point), so I won't get into it. I'm just glad that I took the day off on Friday and did what I needed to do then.

I'm not mad about how I was treated, even though I eventually had to do the thing I didn't want to—get in on the strength of my press status rather than the professional badge that I paid for. I just feel incredibly sorry for the poor souls like my sister-in-law and her boyfriend, who endured a crappy bus ride from Boston to come to the show...only to be told that they couldn't get in.

And I will go to the next one, simply because it's in my backyard. But unless they get more space (which, allegedly, is in the works), I'm going to avoid the whole damned island when they open it up to the fans.

4 comments:

Ken Lowery said...

The eternal question: was it worth it?

And by that, I mean was it worth the stress to have a comics con in a place long deprived of a good one, and will they consider it a success despite the setbacks?

I hope to god they keep going...

marc bernardin said...

I think they will consider it a success, if for no other reason than that having to turn so many people away points to a demand that wasn't met. And could be met with a bigger, better show.

But they'll have a serious PR hurdle to get over: How do you get those people who had such a bad experience to come back for Round Two? If I flew into town and put myself up in a hotel and then couldn't go to the con, I don't think I'd be eager to even think about doing that again...

Cunningham said...

They are definitely going to have to turn that around --- starting with something like:

"Due to the overwhelming success of this year's con..."

Then lots of press releases about the new facilities, expanded hotel room availability, bigger floor space, more restrooms, etc...

marc bernardin said...

along with a "Show your proof of registration from the 2006 con and get 25% off the admission for the 2007 con." Or some similiar show of good faith...