Pulp friction

Despite being a town that harbors numerous comic book creators, shops and publishers, Portland has always lacked a blockbuster comics convention. Local shows like Stumptown Comics Fest and the experimental festival The Projects have put a focus on indie artists, as opposed to the movie- and TV-fueled pop-culture blowouts that attract fans in the tens of thousands.

Portland Comic Con, which starts this Friday, may be the first con of its kind in the city. Backed by Wizard World, which puts on several comics conventions across the country, the convention boasts an impressive roster of comics talents and celebrity guests.

“Portland has been on our radar for the last few years,” said John Macaluso, CEO of Wizard World. “We felt that it was an underserved city, with a great amount of comics interest [and] creator interest, and it was a natural fit for our company now having headquarters also on the West Coast.”

Highlights of the con’s celebrity guest list include Norman Reedus, who plays fan-favorite Daryl on cable TV juggernaut The Walking Dead, Morena Baccarin from the Emmy-winning Homeland and cult hit Firefly and Bruce Campbell of Evil Dead and Burn Notice.

Several comics writers and artists will also be attending the con, headlined by Stan Lee, co-creator of Marvel Comics icons like Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four, The Incredible Hulk and The X-Men.

“They are a lot of glitz and glamour, a lot of Hollywood-type stuff, not so much for the small collectors and the people who like to read their comics,” said Matt Ashland, owner and operator of Matt’s Cavalcade of Comics in Corvallis and the recently opened (and spectacularly named) Mattcave in nearby Albany.

That Hollywood flash comes at a price, and it’s one that smaller shops and vendors can’t afford to pay. Adam Healy manages Cosmic Monkey Comics in Northeast Portland. His store won’t be represented at Portland Comic Con, and the steep cost of exhibiting at the convention is a large part of the reason for that absence.

“It’s $1,000 [for a table], which is two to five times the cost of a table at a normal Portland show,” Healy said.

Portland Comic Con opens just a week before Seattle’s Emerald City Comic Con, which has established itself as the premiere Northwest comics convention over the last few years.

Many small retailers can only afford to go to one show, and Portland Comic Con faces an uphill battle against the well-regarded Seattle convention.

“It’s [Portland Comic Con’s] first show, it’s totally unproven [and] there’s no guarantee of how many people are going to show up,” Healy said. “Whereas Emerald City, which costs less for us to exhibit at, is a much better deal for us because it’s another town, so we’re exposing ourselves to people who otherwise aren’t familiar with us. And they’ve already proven that they can get 20–30,000 people to show up.”

Macaluso noted that Wizard is a public company and cannot disclose forecasted attendance numbers, but assured a healthy crowd. Estimates from various Oregon retailers put the attendee cap at 10,000.

Portland Comic Con tickets have shown up on online bargain sites like Groupon, Google Offers and Amazon’s LivingSocial. It’s unclear whether this implies that Wizard is having a tough time getting the con-curious to take the plunge on admission.

Ashland is hoping for a big turnout, as he footed the bill for his store to get into the convention. He’s got a sweet spot on the show floor, right across from Stan Lee.

Though Ashland admitted that he’ll have less competition since so many other stores are priced out of exhibition, he noted that the absence of some vendors comes down to the curious timing of Wizard’s new show.

“I think it’ll affect [Portland Comic Con] more than Emerald City, because I know people [who] are actually boycotting Wizard World because of their policies,” Ashland said.

The folks who run Emerald City haven’t been shy about calling out Wizard on their aggressive timing.

In a recent Oregonian article by Steve Duin, Emerald City’s public relations director, Joe Parrington, compared Wizard opening Portland Comic Con a week before Seattle’s con akin to opening a lemonade stand on the same week and “essentially on the same block.”

“They were obviously aware of Emerald City and were well aware of it before they scheduled [Portland Comic Con],” Healy said. “So their show indicates that either they’re malicious and out to steal the thunder from that show, which would indicate that they’re not the kind of people that most reasonable adults would want to do business with, or that they have an ignorance of what’s going on and an incompetence that is alarming.”

Healy confessed that the latter was unlikely. Wizard claims that the scheduling matter is a coincidence, and suggested a conciliatory approach to next year’s convention.

“We took the available dates that the Portland convention center had to offer,” Macaluso said. “Next year we’re moving the show earlier so it doesn’t conflict with the other show.”

Without precedent, it’s tough to say how Portland Comic Con will fare in a city known for its vibrant but largely independent comics culture.

“It’s a big unknown. I think we’re all watching to see what happens with this show,” Healy said. “If they get a ton of people coming in, then we’ll have to rethink whether or not it’s worth it for us to be there next year.”

For his part, Macaluso is confident that Portlanders are game for a new kind of comics convention.

“We think that the city is ready for what we have to offer.”