![]() ![]() The industry no longer had Wizard’s back. A long simmering resentment by some on the comic industry towards Wizard came boiling to the surface. What they found out was that their influence wasn’t as strong as it once was as comic creators pledged their allegiance to Heroes in droves. I imagine Wizard World thought that their influence in the comic book community would bring the top name creators to their door, crippling Heroes. It seems unlikely that Wizard did not know that Heroes was going on for those dates, so this new convention seems like an opening salvo in a war for comic con supremacy. That was the same dates as the long running Heroes Convention in North Carolina. It made plans to put on a show in Atlanta from June 30 to July 2nd of 2006. Wizard World cancelled a planned 2006 Wizard World Boston, but it wasn’t done expanding. But I felt that that after a lackluster Boston con, what Wizard World needed to do was regroup until they could put out a stronger product. I don’t believe we went to every day of the con that year. It had the appearance of an organization that was spreading itself too thin. But the lack of people was just another sign that the convention had gotten worse from the last Wizard World con. The headline guests, Kevin Smith and Jay Mewes, cancelled at the last minute due to “scheduling difficulties.” And the New York Yankees were town to play their arch-rival Boson Red Sox, which might have kept some locals away. The only major comic book company there was DC–no Marvel, no Image. There are a lot of reasons why the count was so low. But the final attendance was only 8,800 attendees, thousands less than other Wizard World cons. To this day, I have no idea why the line was so long. ![]() At least, not at the levels of other Wizard World cons we attended. When we got inside, we were surprised by the crowds…or lack thereof. Not wanting to deal with the line, we waited it our, bracing ourselves to prepare the shoulder to shoulder crowds inside. My wife and I didn’t really think this to be odd, being a new convention in a big city. When we got there the first day, the line to get in wrapped around the building. I was able to see the start of the decline of Wizard World with my own two eyes. ![]() My wife and I made the trip up to check that one out. In 2005, Wizard World’s expansion reached Boston. The Start of the Slow, Sad Decline of Wizard World But the risks they took backfired and started the company’s decline. Wizard Entertainment was expanding at an alarming rate, fully attempting to dominate the comic book convention market in the United States. The year after that, they expanded to California with Wizard World Los Angeles. The next year, Wizard World expanded to Dallas Texas with Wizard World Texas. Wizard used its influence to set up a VIP mixer where fans could meet up with stars such as Smallville‘s Allison Mack and comic artists like Joe Kubert, Alex Ross and Jim Lee. Wizard World expanded to Philadelphia, a whole lot close to where I lived. This was Wizard’s heyday, when it could make or break a creator, comic book or company overnight, so everybody wanted to play ball. Top name creators were there and all the major publishers had exhibits at the con. It holds a special place in my heart as it was not only the first big convention I attended, but also the first convention I attended with my future wife. Two years later, they renamed it Wizard World Chicago and an empire was born. They did so by buying Chicago Comicon, at the time a show almost as influential as the San Diego Comic Con. In 1996, Wizard Entertainment, flush from the monstrous success if its industry magazine, Wizard, decided to expand their business into the world of comic book conventions. Those creators will be lucky if Wizard World doesn’t cancel the show in the area… Or if the company even exists by the end of the year. Well, fairy tales aren’t real and dreams are hard to come by. Now, they have a major movie studio partnering with a comic convention in their home town actively looking for properties to adapt to the big screen. However, these aspiring creators do not have the ways and means to get to either San Diego or New York City in order to get their concepts seen by the Hollywood elite. There are small-time creators in places like Boise and Oklahoma City and Peoria who think they are sitting on comics that can be turned into billion dollar movie ideas. ![]() On the surface, this seems like a fairy tale come true. How else would you explain the deal made last week between Sony Pictures Entertainment and Wizard World Comic Conventions.Īccording to The Hollywood Reporter, the studio is partnering with the convention company to search for IP amongst the artist that attend the convention with an eye on developing and ushering their stories to the big screen. Rank desperation makes for strange bedfellows. ![]()
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