Mile High Comics talks about the SDCC

[samurainoir]

who was it that called this one? Mile High is not taking their ball and going home after all.

Before you read my two previous essays, however, I want you to know that I ultimately did heed the outpouring of requests that I received from fans and professionals at the show, and renewed our booth for next year. In all honesty, however, I have to admit that my decision to renew at SDCC for one more year was driven more by an emotional response to all the kind words of support that we received, rather than any kind of good business sense.

aaaand here is how he tries and parlay whatever sympathy he gains from his newsletter kvetching into the age-old sales pitch "Our Loss, is YOUR Gain!!!"

I will close today's bittersweet newsletter with a couple of very important news bits for you. First, while we narrowed our loss at the convention considerably thanks to brisk Sunday sales, we still ended up about $6,000 below break even. I am going to give you a chance to help us make up that loss by offering you a very short-lived 60% off SANDIEGO codeword sale. This 60% off sale will only run through this upcoming Saturday at noon. at that point, a 40% off sale will go into effect for the next few months. This is an unprecedented sale offered only because I need to make up our losses. Please do allow us extra shipping time, as we expect to be inundated with orders over the next three days.

I know we're all playing monday morning quarterback here, but the obvious solution seems to me is to bank-roll his own exclusives to drive traffic to his booth like everyone else at SDCC. Take some of the large budget spent this year, and allocate it by partnering up with any number of comic or toy/novelty companies. I know, easier said than done right?

[Blue Meanie]

Rozanski is absolutely right that ComicCon is no longer a comic book convention alone. It hasn't been for at least 15 years maybe longer. It's more of a pop culture event. It's the movie and TV show panels and video game displays that seem to drive it.

If you are looking to buy vintage comics and toys, you can find them there, but there are much better shows to attend if either of those are your sole focus that are a lot less of a hassle and not as expensive. items are generally going to be overpriced because of how much it costs to exhibit there, at least until Sunday. And generally retailers only bring sure-to-sell items. So if you are looking for one particular issue or one certain hard-to-find action figure, it's not the best place unless you correspond with some retailers and ask them to bring that item if they have it.

But, if you are looking for great panels about comics or just about anything else concerning sci-Fi, fantasy and genre fiction, movies or shows, the show can't be beat. I've never been disappointed at a panel at San Diego. Each one generally has a knowledgable moderator, which makes a great difference. Panels that are just Q&As are a waste of time to me because most aren't used to asking good questions because it's hard to do without preparation.

If you want original art or a convention sketch, there are a ton of options. But if you want to have a 10 minute chat or even 5 minutes with a highly popular writer or artist, it's not the right show. Small shows are best for that.

It is an overwhelming event and one you need a plan for to totally enjoy, and it is not for everyone. You will be standing in line and you might not get into panel or event you want if you don't get there early or even if you did. But unlike other shows, if you don't get in to your first choice, there is something nearly as interesting going on elsewhere.

My biggest frustration with the event, outside of parking, is the golden-age comics panel will be scheduled opposite of a Spotlight on Adam Hughes or Bernie Wrightson and the Star Wars panel, and I have to decide which one I want to attend.

And it's like that almost every hour of the 4-day show. There's just too much cool stuff to do.

I've been saying this for the last 10 years about comic cons here in NY. That monstrosity that is at the Javits center is a "wannabe San Diego" comic con. You'll have to pay me to go to one of those shows. I think the people that do the Javits shows are finally realizing that they might want to go a different route. The last show they had was put together very last minute and it was a great show. Just like the old Creation shows before they were taken over by Next Generation and Dr. Who fans....a comic show that had artists and writers that you can actually have a conversation with and thank for the work they put out. It wasn't a media event or a show to display new product....it was a COMIC BOOK SHOW. That's one of the reasons you will never see me attend a San Diego Show. I prefer substance over style in my comic cons.

[samurainoir]

I do not feel sorry for him. I have been on both ends of the comic book conventions (selling & buying) and he just cannot keep up with the times. With the digital age it is bound to have hurt comic book stores. I have a huge collection, but I still have rebought them on comicxology when the have them for 99cents an issue.

I have friends that are old school comic book dealers, and many of them are struggling if they don't embrace the back half the Diamond catalogue filled with t-shirts, Pop Vinyls, statues and toys. I'm hugely sympathetic, but the truth is, most comic stores are generally kept afloat by gaming/snacks (with tables filled with kids who hang out all day) or high end statues and impulse purchase collectibles other than comics. Back issues take up huge amounts of real estate, waiting for the right person to come along, while the margins on new comics are generally a buck or two. It's a tough market no matter what you do for brick and mortar.

[samurainoir]

Sam - you shouldn't have to hustle. I guess that's where I'm heading. The entire dynamic has to drop the flea market mentality, even if shows are originally a byproduct of them.

How are libraries, art museums, collegesetc...not the locale? You're looking at an era where the bulk of our entertainment derives from comics, so the old "it's trash" argument does not hold.

Maybe Toronto is that ahead of the curve. TIFF always was light years beyond US Film festivals.

well, by hustle I mean I do free sketches for kids... hundreds a day at the big shows.

but yeah, by far the BEST shows I've participated in tend to be events like Kids Read Comics, hosted in the downtown Ann Arbor library, or TCAF. BOTH of these events have included academic, library and educator days with amazing success. With the likes of Trina Roberts lecturing on the history of women in comics at Ryerson University, and embracing strip cartoonists like Lynn Johnston who has a decidedly mainstream following outside of the regular comic book channels.

in Toronto, the Beguiling is at the forefront of innovative events. Last year I attended the Sex Criminals launch party at a Sex Club (with Matt Fraction getting his nipple pierced on stage and subsequently fainted... Chip Zdarsky wore a full furry Garfield costume).

Tonight, the Brian Lee O'Malley book launch is being held at an AMAZING venue, the upscale beautifully renovated Bloor Cinema. Free admission with purchase of the book.

[monitor_ep]

I do not feel sorry for him. I have been on both ends of the comic book conventions (selling & buying) and he just cannot keep up with the times. With the digital age it is bound to have hurt comic book stores. I have a huge collection, but I still have rebought them on comicxology when the have them for 99cents an issue.

The man just needs to downsize his setup. There is no reason he needs that many spots just to advertise that he is still in buisness. I mean if you do not now that the ultimate website to track down comic books is Mile High than you are new to collecting. If they just reduce there display by half and offer a computer so people can check there back issues it would be best.

[hedrap]

Sam - you shouldn't have to hustle. I guess that's where I'm heading. The entire dynamic has to drop the flea market mentality, even if shows are originally a byproduct of them.

How are libraries, art museums, collegesetc...not the locale? You're looking at an era where the bulk of our entertainment derives from comics, so the old "it's trash" argument does not hold.

Maybe Toronto is that ahead of the curve. TIFF always was light years beyond US Film festivals.

[samurainoir]

From reading his newsletter and columns back to the 80s in the CBG, observing his business and seeing his setup at San Diego several times, if Rosanski can't go big, he'd rather go home. In the early to mid 2000s, he had no back issue comics in his booth, but had four or five computer terminals where you could sit down and order from Mile High's website. He did have more trades and hardbacks than he could sell at five cons the size of San Diego. It was impressive, but it seemed to me that being impressive was more important than his margin.

I don't think his assessment was wrong in his newsletter. It might have even been astute, but blaming others for your own poor business decisions is disingenuous. No one held a gun to his head to sell at ComicCon and no one forced him to try to be the Wal-Mart of the con floor, either. It was all his ego. And unless Mile High goes out of business in the coming year, that ego will ensure he's back at San Diego.

well put!

[samurainoir]

Samurai - You're right about the comic-only shows, but a number of things have to change. It's either got to feel like an antique's room which requires changing the old methods of bins or more auction house and the sellers are looking to move lots of product, or straight-up creative gathering with not as much hustle by comic creators.

I've always been amazed at the irony; a gathering based on the first visual story format being some of the most visually devoided events I've ever attended. You need real visual guys, like our Scott or Toyroom, to go in and just design the rooms. I mean, we can't ditch the white long boxes for either 4-color or clear acrylic?

I'm sure some shows have tried to tackle this, and I just haven't seen them. But even the Wizard shows feel like fanboy flea markets.

If you are talking about an artist-driven room, then I should cite TCAF which I had the absolute pleasure of exhibiting at this year. twenty countries represented, and ALL artists/creators/publishers. I've never been to SPX, MoCCA or the more recently established VCAF, but I really think this and events like Spectrum and Big Wow are where things should be moving for comics/art shows. No Dealers. No Back Issue Bins. Just comics and art direct from the creators.

http://torontocomics.com

http://www.bigwowcomicfest.com

I have to hustle like a demon to make the $450 table money for Fan Expo artist alley (generally at $1-2 a pop for each comic sold) while competing for dollars with pretty much EVERYTHING else there. It's not like I didn't draw and sell and work like crazy at TCAF, but the audience attending was specifically there to interact with artists/creators and discover new comics, and I've never done so well at a show previously selling JUST comics primarily (even with $200 in table costs for a tiny half-table).

Again, yet ANOTHER sub-culture splitting off... the indie comics and artist alley into not only it's own highly successful event, but now a decade long International institution with accolades and acclaim, and a HUGE waiting list of applicants trying to get in every year.

[madmarva]

If Rozanski can't go big, he'd rather go home. In the early to mid 2000s, he had no back issue comics in his booth, but had four or five computer terminals where you could sit down and order from Mile High's website. He did have more trades and hardbacks than he could sell at five cons the size of San Diego. It was impressive, but it seemed to me that being impressive was more important than his margin.

I don't think his assessment was wrong in his newsletter. It might have even been astute, but blaming others for your own poor business decisions is disingenuous. No one held a gun to his head to sell at ComicCon and no one forced him to try to be the Wal-Mart of the con floor, either. It was all his ego. And unless Mile High goes out of business in the coming year, that ego will ensure he's back at San Diego.

Besides, ComicCon now is about seeing and or buying things you wouldn't have the chance to see or buy elsewhere, but not necessarily vintage. There are so many other places to buy trades or every-day back issues or common toys, vintage or new.

I've not been to a show in the northeast, but I have been to shows in Chicago several times, Wonder Con in Oakland and later San Francisco, Dallas, Atlanta, Austin, Kansas City, New Orleans, Memphis, Tulsa, Charlotte and Ohio and none of them can match San Diego in terms of original art or it's artist ally.

The Heroes Convention in Charlotte, NC, is an outstanding comic-oriented show, and the two years I went to Wonder-Con before it was bought by SDCC, it was a really good comic oriented show.

But no other show matches SDCC in terms of panels. The Wizard shows are particularly lacking in terms of panels, even though its shows often have very good guests.

And maybe that's why I like ComicCon because I go for sketches and the panels. I can buy the books and toys elsewhere, but watching artists sketch, looking through piles of original art and prints and cool paintings and hearing the war stories of the industry from the creators themselves is something I can't get at home.

[hedrap]

Samurai - You're right about the comic-only shows, but a number of things have to change. It's either got to feel like an antique's room which requires changing the old methods of bins or more auction house and the sellers are looking to move lots of product, or straight-up creative gathering with not as much hustle by comic creators.

I've always been amazed at the irony; a gathering based on the first visual story format being some of the most visually devoided events I've ever attended. You need real visual guys, like our Scott or Toyroom, to go in and just design the rooms. I mean, we can't ditch the white long boxes for either 4-color or clear acrylic?

I'm sure some shows have tried to tackle this, and I just haven't seen them. But even the Wizard shows feel like fanboy flea markets.

[samurainoir]

I think Chuck is exaggerating. I find it hard to believe that he actually lost $10,000 being at SDCC. Maybe he had $10,000 less in sales than previously? But to actually spend $10,000 more going to the show, food, admission/table fee, etc than receive in sales seems a bit off. Unless he brought a staff of 12 First Class air from Colorado and put them up in a fancy hotel. Maybe ...

Having followed Chuck's business models (ego aside, he's very transparent) for a number of years (and seen his set-up at San Diego), I don't think he's exaggerating. Transport trucks filled with back issues and trades from Colorado to San Diego, investment in a HUGE convention set-up, including signage, shelving, bins etc (also transported in). Staffing on top of that for not only the duration of the show but the months of prep and set-up, including the union workers that the convention centre insists you use for load in. Plus an buying investment for enough inventory to bring to the show (was the number 20,000 additional back-issues?).

In some ways he's a shrewd business man and visionary, but in other ways the size and scope he works in tends to make his business decidedly un-agile (deadly in this day and age) and often with it's own obsolescence built in. He was the first-in for selling huge inventories of back-issues online for example, but by his own admission in his past columns on retailing comics and newsletters, that move nearly bankrupted him (something of a common thread if you do read Chuck's history of Mile High). He planted his flag, but a decade and a half later, I think it's obvious to most of us how outdated his website and inventory systems are (and I agree wholeheartedly that Lone Star Comics runs the better online back issue service, particularly their interactive want-list).

But you are right, he needs to re-examine his business model. There is nothing stopping him from making deals with any of a dozen comic companies to fund his own Mile High Comics exclusive comics (he's done so online) and figures for SDCC, and also down-scaling his operation at SDCC. Balancing out that $10,000 loss with the promotion and advertising opportunity for Mile High online, and leveraging the crowds and exposure to expand his promotion beyond just his newsletters. Take notes on the interactivity of the promotional efforts of other companies... there is no reason why he can't start engaging the smart-phone users into purchasing his online inventory on-site at san diego. But that would mean overhauling his website completely, creating a user friendly portal app to his online store, and creating new inventory management systems to leverage smart-phone and even his ebay sales (which seem to be a huge portal into his online store).

[samurainoir]

The Canadian equivalent is something called Fan Expo, it gets all the big guests and probably attracts 100,000 people every year from across the country.

Conversely, my pals at Burlington Toycon have started their own smaller comic show across town. I met dealers I've never heard of ($50 tables entices a lot of new faces), spent more money as a result and had a great deal more fun with my kids. Sure I didn't get to meet David Hasselhof but I'll be OK.

You've probably had an fascinating peripheral view of the Greater Toronto Area shows in the past couple of years watching me navigate my tables in Artist Alleys/Toy Dealing almost every single weekend..

My read on Rozanski's commentary, is that this is what happens when you start a collision of dozens of sub-cultures and Big Corporate Business.

My understanding is that Rozanski's business model is based primarily on back issues. With the rise of the trade paperback collection and digital distribution, new READERS are now now serviced differently than COLLECTORS. From my observation, back issues are generally the province now of an aging population of middle ages men.

I'm not sure if you remember our conversation at the March show with one of our retailer friends (who owns a small chain of stores in southern ontario). On a tour of his booth, he showed the back issues lined up accessibly at the back half, but made a point that the front of his booth was filled with tables of $5-25 toy/novelty/cosplay items.

Brian's Fan Expo comparison is pretty dead-on. Fan Expo is now something like the third largest show in North America. Toronto is an interesting demographic though in how starved (And greedy) the home-town population is for Geek Oriented Events. There is literally a show of some sort (often competing shows and events) every single weekend of the year.

The Fan Expo push-back manifests itself in a variety of ways as smaller shows pop in and try to service various sub-cultures BETTER than something that tries to be all things to all people.

Two examples spring to mind...

There is now a brand new small monthly show, run by the folks at Paradise Comics, that previously put on the best COMICS Convention in Toronto (Paradise Comic Con, the only rival to Fan Expo ten years back), before they sold it to Wizard World, and Wizard World ran it into the ground by shipping in a parade of washed-up wrestlers and playmates.

This is the return of the small-room one-day show. It's all back-issues and artist alley, and primarily frequented by middle aged men who just want to dig through back issue bins without the crowds and ridiculous admission prices. (and often their bored kids in tow).



On the other side of the spectrum, pull the Teens and Twenty-something cosplayers/gamers from Fan Expo, and you get THIS.... (with ZERO Comics on site, other than cosplay characters)

[Random Axe]

That's even better. What book was it?

[enyawd72]

^^^I remember you mentioning that, didn't know it was him. That's pretty pathetic but kinda funny. So what did you end up doing with the extra? Please tell me you sold it and almost broke even on the initial investment?

I actually gave it to a friend...he loved it!

[thunderbolt]

IMO, what would make the show much better is lowering the number of attendees, but that will never happen. Cedar Point here in Ohio has the same problem. I will NEVER go to that park again as long as I live, I don't care how great their rides are. They oversell admissions and the end result is almost four hour wait times to ride a single ride. I'm sorry, but for a $45 admission, $20 parking, and a three hour drive, it's just not worth it to spend eight hours standing in lines to ride two rides that last under five minutes.

Don't ever go to The Magic Kingdom, then. Ticked prices more than double of your place and lines as far as the eye can see.