This year’s annual meeting for ComicsPRO — the trade organization for comic shops — felt different than previous editions, and that was true even if you didn’t attend in person. Maybe that was to be expected. It was just a month after Diamond Comic Distributors announced its bankruptcy, and it was also in the midst of the world’s worst “Will they or won’t they?” as America actively flirted with but didn’t actually commit to tariffs, or at least it hadn’t yet. There were enough stressful things happening one wouldn’t have been surprised to see Tums as a sponsor of the event. But that wasn’t why it felt different either.

It was because ComicsPRO seemed like an even greater focus than ever before. The biggest creators were there, all pitching their books and rubbing elbows. The publishers were making a full court press, connecting with retailers and building awareness in the process. And the announcements were massive, with headliners like Matt Fraction taking over Batman and DC and Marvel crossing over for the first time in 20 years coming out there. It felt like the year ComicsPRO shifted from being an important but niche event to a focal point in the direct market’s 10 calendar, and something publishers save their biggest announcements for.

One word keeps appearing here, though: “felt.” So far, it’s just my interpretations as an outsider, both to that event and the industry as a whole. As knowledgeable as I try to be, I don’t work for a publisher or market comics or anything of that sort. Even though ComicsPRO felt like a big deal, the heat generated by this year’s event made me curious about how it’s valued these days, especially relative to other events.

And by other events, I mean comic conventions. While the average fan views cons as a good time, a place to meet your favorite creators or celebrities and to pick up a whole lot of neat things, at least part of the utility each offers direct market publishers is how they allow these houses to maximize the impact of big announcements. While you’ll get new title reveals and creative team changes and who knows what else at random times throughout the year, these publishers often save their biggest swings for the biggest events. With so many eyes on them already, the presumptive hope is you’ll get some area of effect benefit, with your reach being amplified by the excitement surrounding the convention already.

And despite the enormous difference in attendees — the biggest conventions bring six figures plus through their doors while ComicsPRO might not even touch four figures — these different species of experiences have seemingly evened out in terms of utility recently. But again, that’s just my take as an outsider as I try to get a read on this situation. All this made me wonder, though. If I think that, how do the pros see it? How do marketing and PR professionals in comics view the current convention and event landscape, and the ability each has to elevate announcements into higher heights?

I wanted to find out, which is why I recently did my best to do just that, as I surveyed a bevy of people with comics marketing and PR experience about this very topic. This list included folks from publishers both big and small, as well as freelance operators in that space. And the survey itself was simple. The goal was to get a sense of how likely certain conventions and events are to move the needle for comic-related announcements. 11

To do that, I laid out a list of eight of the most prominent and well-attended comic conventions in the U.S. 12 as well as ComicsPRO and asked folks to rate each on a one to five scale, with the former meaning the event offers the lowest possible promotional value while the latter delivers the most. It was all anonymous, and each person was given space to add context or to highlight other events if they so desired. Many of them elected to do that.

It was pretty simple, but it was also not necessarily an easy exercise for people to take on. Each event has its own flavor, and more than that, there’s value beyond the power they bring from an announcement standpoint. As one person said, “It was challenging trying to generalize comics announcements in relation to these events.” I get it! It’s difficult to separate announcements from everything else. But even if that was the case, it did result in some clear and consistent answers, and enough for me to find five big points amidst all the feedback. We’ll be exploring those points today, as well as some interesting asides along the way.