New Anaheim Comic-con announced

So as of yesterday, Gareb Shamus, CEO of Wizard Entertainment, announced a brand new convention in Anaheim California. And lookie here, the dates are the same as the new C2E2 in Chicago. I guess you could say the war is now on between Reed Expos (the guys behind the New York Comic-con and the new C2E2) and Shamus. Shamus also recently purchased the New York Big Apple show and one of the Toronto shows. Shamus is collecting shows or so it seems. Interesting to note that none of his recent acquisitions have the Wizard name attached in any way shape or form. He is trying desperately to get back to a position of power in the convention world. I wish him luck, I'm sure he can do it if he hires the right person to promote and run these three shows. That is one on the main problems with the last few years of Wizard shows across the county, no defined character for any of these shows. It's like Wizard just expected to put the con on and then people would come because it's a Wizard show. That worked when fans liked Wizard Magazine. They don't like it as much anymore. It still comes out monthly which is nice, but with the advent of all the online news sites, there is little point to read Wizard, when you can get the same information online months ahead of magazine publication and Wizard magazine has gotten thinner and thinner as time goes on, but the same price point of $5.99. What Wizard Magazine could do is make a bigger monthly price guide, and maybe every month focus on a different aspect of the back issue market, you know information that isn't as readily available on line. Or focus on ONE good lengthy interview with a big name creator (ala Comics Journal) but with more mainstream folks. Perhaps tease the interview on the Wizard website and then print the FULL interview in the magazine. I don't know, I'm just coming up with ideas out of the air here.

Ok, I didn't mean to derail into a discussion of Wizard Magazine. I originally just wanted to point out that Wizard Entertainment CEO has decided to declare war on the guys behind C2E2 and the New York Comic-con. At this point, I can't say with any certainty that the Chicago Wizard show will even exist in any capacity next year. This year is iffy at best, since the big companies aren't even going to be there and Bryan Hitch pulled out recently too. Not looking good, but we will see how it pans out. It could still be a good show, and if it manages to pull in big enough numbers of attendees, then next year could still be viable. I just think he is being silly to schedule his new Anaheim show at the same time as the new C2E2. The guys at Reed have been drumming up guests and announcements for a while now. I imagine we will see more info about who is going to be there at the San Diego show, that's my guess anyway, or maybe they will time some big announcement to be made the same weekend as the Wizard Chicago show. Shamus will not be competing so much for the attendees, obviously since the shows are like 1800 miles apart or something, they will be competing for the big companies and names however.

The war is on! Who will be the victor? My money is on Reed, but who knows? The con line-up for next year looks to be crazy, with big cons all over the county at all different times of year.