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 1 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. 2

To do that, I laid out a list of eight of the most prominent and well-attended comic conventions in the U.S. 3 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.

A Big Three separated from the pack

Two clear tiers quickly showed up in the results. Amongst the nine events people were surveyed on, three scored around four on the five-point scale on average, meaning they are viewed as offering significant potential value for announcements. Everything else finished at half that number or lower. 4 At least when it comes to comic announcement oomph, it was clear that New York Comic Con, San Diego Comic-Con, and ComicsPRO were viewed by respondents as the most impactful events from the set highlighted in this survey.

That makes sense. The former two are perceived as the biggest comic conventions in the U.S. and tend to draw people from a variety of key roles for industry events, while ComicsPRO offers the most opportunity to connect with key decision makers in the direct market. Still, each might surprise for different reasons. SDCC and NYCC are often viewed as shows with a focus on other media like movies and TV shows, while the latter is an extremely small event, especially relative to the rest.

We’ll talk about ComicsPRO soon, but SDCC and NYCC didn’t suffer because of that perception. Each earned acclaim for the marketing power they bring to the table, even if there is a significant focus on other media. One marketer said, “If you do it right, SDCC can be a great driving force,” before noting that they’ve “found success for comics focused media at NYCC,” with the programming itself offering a lot of value. These events may have expanded beyond their roots, but each can still make a major difference on comics if your announcements are positioned properly.

One interesting note was that while SDCC earned more maximum ratings, NYCC actually had a higher average score. It’s seemingly viewed as having very little downside, while some were seemingly skeptical of how much a comic announcement could break out from the noise of SDCC. But regardless of the path there, it was clear it was those two and then everyone else on the conventions front.

NYCC and SDCC have a lot to offer…but you still have to be smart about it

While New York Comic Con and San Diego Comic-Con were clearly the favored conventions, one consistent bit of context folks offered was that while they have significant value, you need a good plan to take advantage of that. It isn’t as simple as rolling out whatever new comic or status quo change or creative team shift you have and reaping the benefits. That’s because plenty of others will be doing the same thing for their own comics, movie, TV show, or whatever. If you’re not thoughtful in your approach, your big deal could fall flat.

“New York Comic Con and San Diego Comic-Con offer great opportunities to be part of a bigger pop culture conversation,” one person noted, before adding, “It also runs the risk of having your announcement get buried in the rest of the news.”

That’s true, and something I’ve seen time and time again. I cannot tell you how many seemingly major announcements from those events just slipped by simply because the competition that year. When dozens of announcements are hitting every day, it can be easy to lose one, two, or ten of them in the noise. That’s why that same person emphasized that “you really need to make sure to swing for the fences and deliver something truly exciting for the intended audiences.” 5 If you don’t, it could be lost in the mix.

I suspect that’s part of the reason some publishers have started making announcements at these events before they arrive. It’s not atypical to see NYCC and SDCC reveals hit a week or two in advance, with the initial news item coming early and details arriving during the event itself. That clears space for your announcement while offering two bites of the same apple, which can be valuable.

But even the best laid plans might not work out in the end. As one person put it, “true comics news tends to get buried around those events.” That’s even the case with reveals that seem like locks to hit, and hit big. While there’s a lot of power in those two heavy hitters, even the biggest swing you take might result in a miss simply because of how much competition there is. That’s why it’s important to be strategic with everything you do at these events.

ComicsPRO is the biggest riser

I attended ComicsPRO back in 2018 when it was held in Portland, Oregon, and it was a much different animal at that point. While there were plenty of important players in attendance there to woo retailers as well as an array of creators hoping to bolster orders in their books from comic shops, 6 it also didn’t have itself totally figured out yet. At that point, it seemed like it was viewed as an event you should have some presence at, but it wasn’t necessarily essential yet. That was the 12^th ComicsPRO, and it was clear that it was still dialing in what it was.

Fast forward to today, and it’s obviously viewed much differently. Amongst all the events, ComicsPRO earned the second most maximum ratings behind only SDCC, with one person saying, “San Diego and ComicsPRO are the only two events that really register at this point” when it comes to announcements. While not everyone viewed it like that, it was clear many have grown to recognize its value.

Part of that is because of how comics-centric it truly is. As one person said, “ComicsPRO is always key for us, as we make early announcements there every year to retailers, and it’s not overly saturated, definitely focused on just comics.” There isn’t noise to get lost in there. Comics are the entire game, with the event’s website even saying one of its objectives is to bring “together many segments of the comic book industry with the goal of working together to improve the sales and the profile of comic books.” That’s exactly what publishers are trying to do, making ComicsPRO a dream scenario for your average industry marketer.

The other crucial thing it offers is the best access to retailers themselves. These are the folks who decide what will be ordered and how much of it they should buy, exactly. They make or break titles through their actions. If there’s one stakeholder in the direct market that can truly impact orders, it’s them. And as one person told me, “When it comes to overall effectiveness for ordering, ComicsPRO presents the best opportunity.”

“Retailers are the backbone of the industry, and this event gives publishers the chance to speak directly to them,” they said. “While it may be not as good for fan-facing buzz or overall optics as SDCC or NYCC, it’s arguably more important for the overall business.”

Every event has value, just maybe not as launching pads for announcements

When it comes to launching something new, two thirds of the events respondents were surveyed on weren’t viewed as especially valuable. Take Emerald City Comic Con as an example. It was the fourth highest rated event, and yet Seattle’s biggest comic convention only scored a 2 out of 5 on average. While they can be effective, they aren’t necessarily as potent at amplifying comic announcements as the others in the survey.

That doesn’t mean they don’t have value, though.

Those other events generated support from respondents, but they were simply viewed as a different class of an event. One person described them as “networking conventions,” which felt like an apt descriptor. These events offer opportunities to connect with creators, retailers, distributors, other people in the industry, and beyond. While that’s not the same as debuting a new title or anything like that, those connections are part of the larger pipeline of how the comics industry does business. There’s value in that, even if it’s a different kind of value.

They also can be effective at the very thing they’re designed to do: connecting with people at a big, exciting event. Conventions are places where people go to embrace their fandoms, to be wowed by everything they see, and to perhaps find their next favorite thing. Sure, some may not be as comics-centric as they once were, but these events act as a showcase for potential fans, and offer publishers and creators an opportunity to connect their work with new people through direct engagement. One person emphasized that as one of the most crucial aspects of cons, as they described these events as “a useful to way to reach fans, but moreso for in-person interactions” than reveals. While that’s not what our focus was on in the survey, it is impactful nonetheless.

And it’s important to note that plenty of events and conventions that weren’t featured in the survey received compliments from respondents. Thought Bubble over in the United Kingdom earned a lot of love, and HeroesCon and Baltimore Comic Con had supporters as well. While one person emphasized that each of those “likely have low value for announcement purposes,” they still bring other things to the table.

More indie-centric events were viewed positively as well. SPX (Small Press Expo) and CAKE (Chicago Alternative Comics Expo) generated multiple mentions, as did the Toronto Comic Arts Festival. These were considered “valuable for information provided outside of the typical U.S. media market,” as well as being effective places to promote “indie comics and artists.” While these and others like Short Run, MICE (Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo), and MOCCA (Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art) may not be the place where the next hit comic from the direct market is announced, each is viewed as useful in other ways.

“The most innovative things and some of the best interviews come out of those shows, but they are harder to track the metrics in terms of press hits,” one person emphasized. “However, those shows are driving the industry as a whole.”

Expanding even further, the American Library Association’s annual meeting earned mentions, if only because of how potent libraries can be for a publisher’s book market efforts. Connecting with educators and librarians is a good way to potentially bolster orders of trade paperbacks and graphic novels, as well as enhancing how a publisher or creator is viewed overall. Consider that the book market equivalent of ComicsPRO, but with a much higher budget backing it. One person even emphasized AnimeExpo and related events as being important, if only because they believe that converting the “younger manga audiences into traditional comics is paramount to our survival.” There’s value everywhere you look, if you position what you do correctly.

That said, there’s only so much you can do. Budgets are limited, as are staffs. You can’t do everything, nor would you necessarily want to. That’s why one person emphasized that it’s “important to not spread too thin and focus on key events.” The return on investment isn’t going to be there at every one, so you need to be smart about your approach.

How conventions are viewed may have shifted since the pandemic

If you’ve been to a comic convention since the pandemic, but particularly one of the major ones, you might have noticed a significant change in the composition of the show floors when compared to before: a lot fewer direct market comic publishers have booths at these events.

NYCC is a great example of this. While it’s still viewed as a useful event to market comics, it used to be a place you could go and find a presence for effectively every publisher. The last time I went in 2023, barely anyone was there. Amongst the more notable houses, IDW, Vault Comics, and Mad Cave Studios had very comic-centric presences, while Marvel’s booth was entirely focused on other media. When compared to the previous time I was at NYCC — 2019 — the publisher booths had probably dipped by two thirds. That’s a major change!

No one specifically talked about how publisher presences had been dialed back since the pandemic, but it’s useful context for something that was mentioned. One respondent commented on how much the pandemic had shifted things for comic publishers, and it seemed worth bringing up because of how significant a change that really was. This is what they had to say.

“The convention business was, obviously, utterly rocked by the pandemic and none of the major players have been able to meaningfully reassert their utility to publishers,” this person shared, before adding an example of this idea. “One of the biggest parts of ReedPop’s pre-pandemic pitch was ‘You can’t afford to miss NYCC, you will be excluded from the conversation around the show and suffer for it.’ But the worst thing in the world happened to them: There was no NYCC for a few years, and business thrived without it.”

Again, this is just one person’s take. But given how this entire piece is about how these events are perceived, it’s worth noting because it emphasizes just how much direct market publishers are still figuring out what conventions mean to them in a post-pandemic world. Yes, there is still value when it comes to announcing projects at some of these events, to say nothing of everything else they offer. But does that mean you need a presence there? Maybe not, especially when it can be easy to get lost in the noise. Maybe that’s why the way ComicsPRO is viewed has shifted. It’s all signal and no noise, something that is atypical for comic events.

Ultimately, the potential impact of these events all comes down to a recurring point throughout this piece, and it was true before the pandemic and after it. Conventions offer a lot to publishers and the marketers who work for and with them. These events can elevate a new title or status quo change into a different level of awareness, amplifying the work you’re already doing through the heat they bring to the table. But you still have to be smart about it. Being strategic with your approach is crucial, as it can be the difference between making an impact and being lost in the chaos.

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