Quick Wizard World Wrap Up

You may find some differing views on some other sites, but as far as I'm concerned, Wizard World 2006 was as lackluster as I expected. I was brunching with family and out-of-town friends this morning, so I didn't get full view of how well today was attended, but it was pretty sparse by the time I arrived this afternoon. Dealers were dropping prices somewhat, but many booths were offering deals from the get go, so many didn't have that far to move in the first place. I saw one retailer on Friday who had signs for comics marked down from fifty cents apiece to three for a dollar. I wasn't sure whether they'd really started at fifty cents and dropped or if it were just a marketing gimmick to make buyers think that they were getting a better deal. By late this afternoon, though, they'd been marked down to four for a dollar, then five for a dollar, and finally a dime each. Whether they started at fifty cents or thirty-three cents, that's quite a drop.

I can't imagine that the show won't bleed dealers even further next year. And if dealers start to bail, how long until fans follow? The comics publishers and other exhibitors are still bringing a presence, but next year will be a repeat of this year, with Wizard World Chicago following Comic-Con International in San Diego by only two weeks. Not much time for turnaround, and it may have accounted for what seemed like a low level of energy this year.

We'll have to wait for some other postmortems (which may already be posted, but I don't have the energy to go look) to see whether I'm a voice in the wilderness or whether my views represent some sort of consensus. I can almost guarantee that the Wizard take will be that the whole thing was a roaring success. (Any resemblance to national political leaders and their views on Iraq and the war on terror are purely coincidental.)