by Aaron Einhorn
Maybe you’ve heard, maybe you haven’t, but comic-book fan and convention goers planning to hit the Big Apple next October are going to find themselves in a bit of a conundrum. The New York Comic-Con, put on by Reed, which has done it’s level best to challenge the San Diego Comic-Con, put on by Comic Con International, is going to be challenged by the Big Apple Comic-Con, produced by Wizard Entertainment. Both the Big Apple Comic-Con and the New York Comic-Con are going to be happening in New York City, on the same weekend in October.

That’s right. Two major conventions will be happening across town from one another. Not in an attempt for synchronicity, but in direct competition with each other. And you may be asking yourself “Why?”

Well, there are plenty of reasons. There is no love to be lost between Wizard and Reed, with employees from both companies attending conventions put on by the rival organization and passing out flyers for their own shows – although until now, their events weren’t in quite so direct competition.

Where did the bad blood begin? After all, Wizard promoted and sold tickets for the first New York Comic-Con (NYCC from here on out). And the first NYCC was much closer in theme to the San Diego Comic-Con, as opposed to the more collector-focused theme of the Wizard World conventions. But then Reed announced C2E2 for the Chicago area, which Wizard might have seen as encroaching on their Chicago Comic Con.

Things got ugly from there, with Wizard announcing the Anaheim Comic Con on the same weekend as C2E2, Reed promoting C2E2 with some marketing materials which directly denounced the Wizard show, and the above mentioned incidents where employees from each rival show went and passed out flyers for their conventions at the rival events.

And now, Big Apple Comic Con and NYCC are going to be happening on the same weekend in 2010.

Where are things going to go from here? Well, it’s hard to say. The major publishers (Marvel, DC and Dark Horse) didn’t have an official presence at Chicago Comic Con or the Big Apple Comic Con – although they did send some very big name talent, with Marvel’s Joe Quesada present as one of the Guests of Honor at BACC. So, it certainly seems like the major comic publishers are siding with Reed.

There have been additional unkind words said about both Reed and Wizard in private and semi-private venues, and since we’re not generally a gossip site, I’ll leave those be for now. You can Google them if you’re curious. But the general consensus seems to be that the Reed shows (C2E2 and NYCC) are going to be more comic-book focused, while the Wizard Comic Cons will be a bit more pop-culture-centric.

This seems to be a trend in conventions in any case. It’s often been joked that you need to look long and hard at the San Diego Comic-Con to find anything related to comics, and that’s not entirely an exaggeration.

How does this affect me? Not at all, honestly. In some ways, it makes my life better. I’ll most likely be attending both BACC and NYCC next year as a member of the press, so I won’t have to choose between events (although I may be running back and forth across New York City, depending on what the schedule looks like). But I think that this year is going to see some serious drops in attendance for both shows, as convention goers find themselves forced to pick and choose. Hopefully calmer heads will eventually prevail, and the companies will work to find schedules that allow fans, publishers and guests to attend as many events as possible.

Underneath My Mask features thoughts, ideas and opinions about superheroes in all forms of media. These ideas belong to Aaron and no one else – and he frequently finds himself in arguments about the ideas put forth here. Feel free to offer up your own arguments in the comments below.