New York Comic Con is coming back to the Javits Center Thursday–Sunday, October 17–20, and this year’s event will be the biggest to date. Retailer Day, with programming aimed at comics retailers, has been added on Wednesday, October 16, on top of Thursday’s annual ICv2 conference, presented by industry analyst Milton Griepp, and a full slate of library- and educator-focused programming.
The move inches NYCC closer to a full five-day show and makes it even more of a professional conference than it has been. Yet fewer traditional comics publishers plan to attend than usual, citing skyrocketing exhibiting costs. Of the top direct market publishers, only Marvel is attending. Notoriously high drayage fees at Javits, which make it one of the most expensive venues in the country, are a culprit, as are inflation in general and what some see as a diminished focus on comics publishing at the increasingly pop culture–focused show. That opens up the show floor to collectibles and video game companies, manga and book publishers, and comics startups looking make their mark by filling the empty spaces left by bigger companies.
Industry hands, take note. Wednesday’s Retailer Day activities kick off with a presentation by Lunar Distribution and continue with programming from retailer organization ComicsPRO. On Thursday, Griepp presents his annual white paper on comics sales, among other industry-based programming, including the end-of-day ReedPop Industry Summit, featuring “industry heavyweight” keynote speakers yet to be announced as of press time. An Educators Day is also slated for Thursday, and on Friday, NYCC’s long-running programming aimed at librarians includes a Manga in Libraries day.
Expanding professional programming at NYCC has long been a goal for showrunner Kristina Rogers, VP of global comics at ReedPop, and demand for industry programming has risen following the years of pandemic separation. Since attendees are already in town on Wednesday setting up, Rogers explains, it just made sense to run industry-facing panels before the hurly-burly kicks off on Thursday.
“One of the things that we’ve been hearing from our customers and attending professionals is a big need for more networking, more content, more programming,” Rogers says. “They’re all ready for Thursday, so let’s maximize the money they’re already spending to be at New York.”
This isn’t NYCC’s first attempt to expand to a fifth day; other pro events have been tried, but none lasted more than a year or two. What might make it work this time, Rogers says, is keeping it gratis: attending retailers get a free pass for Wednesday and Thursday, and those with a pro badge can also get in.
San Diego Comic-Con has had a preview night for fans on Wednesday for decades. Could this be a preview of a preview night for NYCC? “It could be,” Rogers says. “But for right now, we’re really focused on the industry B2B side. We’re a consumer show, but I consider this part of increasing the value, and it helps us make the show bigger and better.”
Professional programming is just one of the ways NYCC is picking up elements from BookExpo, which parent company Reed Exhibitions killed off during Covid lockdowns, in an effort to expand its appeal to the trade book publishing industry. For the first time, NYCC is offering a separately ticketed author brunch, NYCC Brunch with Your Favorite Romantasy Authors, featuring guests Carissa Broadbent, Danielle L. Jensen, Brigid Kemmerer, and Elise Kova—the sort of event that was a staple at BookExpo. But this one is aimed squarely at fans and readers (the intended audience of BookCon, BookExpo’s similarly defunct consumer-focused sibling) rather than the trade. NYCC has also doubled the size of Writers Block, an author-focused offshoot of its immensely popular Artist Alley.
“We have found that New York has always leaned literary, just as San Diego leans more toward Hollywood,” says Lindsey Elias, director of brand events at Penguin Random House, which will once again have a huge booth at the show, spotlighting such new graphic novel–focused imprints as Inklore and Ten Speed Graphic. Also in focus for PRH are romantasy, the hottest category in publishing, along with authors Grady Hendrix, whose novel Witchcraft for Wayward Girls is coming out this fall, and R.A. Salvatore, who will have a spotlight panel. (While the house acquired comics publisher Boom! Studios this summer, it’s too early for the Boom catalog to be included as part of PRH’s NYCC presence.)
New ways to exhibit
With the cost of booths ballooning, major comics publishers are engaging with the show in different ways. DC, for instance, will use NYCC to tout the kickoff of its Absolute Comics line—one of its biggest initiatives in years, featuring reimagined versions of Batman and other key characters—but will rely on panels to get the word out, rather than a dedicated space on the show floor.
Rogers says ReedPop is aware of the rising costs—and the reduced presence of comics publishers. “It’s a concern, and I really want to see a robust comic publisher presence, but we’ve got to figure out how to deliver the ROI for larger publishers. At the same time, I can also point at the small press publishers and new and growing comics publishers that are at New York Comic Con, so I do think we’re bringing really good publishing to the table.”
Indeed, a plethora of new comics ventures are set to make a splash at NYCC—many in innovative ways that aren’t as expensive as hauling big booths across the country.
Dstlry, a company launched by former Comixology heads Chip Mosher and David Steinberger, is cosponsoring this year’s Artist Alley alongside Abu Dhabi–based Sandstorm and collecting supplies company HotFlips. With Dstlry’s emphasis on creator equity—such debut authors as Becky Cloonan, Jock, and Tula Lotay have shares in the company—“Artist Alley is where Dstlry needs to be,” Mosher says. It’s important, he adds, to have a presence at both comics megashows, NYCC and San Diego Comic-Con. “Being a new publisher, we’re mostly focused on getting our books out and really connecting with fans.”
Ghost Machine, an imprint of Image Comics led by writer Geoff Johns, was announced at last year’s NYCC and will return this year with actual comics, setting up in retailer Midtown Comics’ oversize booth. Ghost Machine creators including Bryan Hitch, Johns, Brad Meltzer, and Ivan Reis will sign exclusively at the Midtown booth, which Johns hopes will give them more access and impact. “It brings more attention to the booth, more attention to our books and each other, and we can do giveaways,” he says.
Bad Egg Publishing is another small company with big NYCC plans. Launched two years ago by streamer Charlie “MoistCr1TiKaL” White, it focuses on IP from fellow content creators, including comics and merchandise. The company will make its NYCC debut with signings by creators including Sean “JackSepticEye” McLoughlin, Lauren “LaurenZside” Weber, and the three members of the sketch comedy troupe Viva La Dirt League, who are flying in from New Zealand.
Bad Egg director of editorial Robert Meyers says that NYCC’s youthful audience is a good fit for the company’s lineup of streamers and content creators, some of whom have millions of followers. “It’s worth it for Dirt League to fly out, both to promote their book and to get actual face time with their fans in the U.S.,” Meyers says. The company previously focused almost entirely on mail order sales, he adds, so it’s also “a little bit of a coming-out party for us.”
Tiny Onion, a studio founded last year by writer James Tynion IV (Something Is Killing the Children, Batman), is perhaps leveling up the most among exhibitors of its size. The studio, which oversees Tynion’s work at various publishers and offers marketing and production services to other creators, is sponsoring Retailer Day—the kind of expensive placement usually taken by bigger houses. The move is part of Tynion’s commitment to helping retailers, says Jazzlyn Stone, Tiny Onion’s director of communications. “They’ve always been his biggest cheerleaders, especially in the beginning. We’re trying to make their experience better.” It’s also inspired by something retailer Katie Pryde said during NYCC 2023’s industry programming: “She wished more people would let retailers in on their secret plans,” Stone says, “so they could help creators make it successful.”
The fact that Tiny Onion, and not a larger publisher, is sponsoring Retailer Day is an example of how upstart companies are filling in for traditional direct-market publishers that are sitting NYCC out. “It’s about the state of the industry, but it’s also the state of the economy in general,” Stone says. “It’s just one of those things where sometimes you have to bite the bullet, and because it’s our local show, we really feel pride and responsibility to make it work.”
Though the increased programming days and author signings are about marketing, exhibitors stress that NYCC, like other comic cons, is about building community. Ghost Machine plans to hold its second editorial summit at NYCC, after holding its first there last year. It proved the perfect location, because “creators were able to fly in from around the world, including Brazil, Italy, and Canada,” Johns explains. “A lot of people never met before, but by the end of day two, everyone was so galvanized, because we were all able to be in the room talking about the industry.”
Read the rest of our NYCC 2024 Preview feature:
NYCC 2024 Preview: Definitely for Mature Readers: PW Talks With Patrick Horvath
Described as Dexter meets Richard Scarry’s Busy, Busy Town, Patrick Horvath’s six-issue series Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees was a hit in comics shops following its release last year and was released this month by IDW in a collected trade paperback that marks Horvath’s first book publication.
NYCC 2024 Preview: Program Highlights
Thursday, October 17Keep Bans Off Our Books12:30 p.m., room 1B02Scott Chantler, Lewis Hancox, Sharee Miller, Matthew Noe, Taylor Robin, and Irene Vazquez address graphic novels, literacy, and what people can do about censorship in their communities.
