Mel The Movie Guy visited and reviewed Mike Carbo’s Big Apple Con 2015
The Big Apple Comic Con is a New York City comic book convention, the longest-running comic book/science fiction/fantasy/horror/pop culture convention in New York City. It was started by retailer Michael “Mike Carbo” Carbonaro in March 1996 in the basement of the Church of St. Paul the Apostle. During its heyday from 2001–2008, the Big Apple Comic Con often featured multiple shows per year, with a large three-day “national” convention held in November, usually held at the Penn Plaza Pavilion. The show was owned by Wizard Entertainment from 2009 – 2013, but is now back in the hands of Carbonaro.
This is my 3rd time going to a Mike Carbo show since I made my return to collecting (I went last year when it was at the Hotel New Yorker), and I have got to say, even though it was in a smaller venue it was a pretty darn good show. When I arrived at the venue I was shocked to see a line around the corner, and I’m no fan of lines, but it moved pretty fast even though there was supposed to be 2 lines (one for people who pre-paid and those paying at the door.) It was no big deal since the one line was moving pretty fast. THe price was 25.00 to get in, I thought it was $20.00, I did go back to their Facebook page and they did say it would be more at the door.
Finally I entered the Arena, and it looked like the work space in that movie Boiler Room (great movie) a lot of people wheeling and dealing. As I stated earlier the venue was very small, and there were a lot of people, so maneuvering was a task for a fat man like myself.
Lady Killer #1was no where to be found. The only vendor that had it was our friends from Comic Xposure. I have got to give a shout out to them, they were like the new kids on the block making a splash on the convention scene. They were the only ones who had the hot spec books and at fair prices like SStar Wars #2 Han Solo variant
for just $10, others were selling it for $25 (one even as high as $30.)
With most comic conventions, most, if not all, vendors over price their books and don’t really want to make deals,but this Con was different. I was able to talk one dealer down from 25 to 15 for a Hastings Variant for Enormous, also got a deal on Enourmous Phantom
for $15. I found some pretty good Gems in the 5.00 boxes like Civil War #2 1st and 2nd prints, picked up some Battle Chasers as well. I was speaking to a real cool vendor named Mike from Royal Collectibles,I told him Battle Chasers was coming back out and he said ”Are they going to put out more than 1 issue a year?” I got a chuckle out of that.
I asked all vendors what was their Hot book of the show, a lot of them said Amazing Spider-man 300 was selling more than usual. Silk #1
regular covers were going for $10. Also over heard a conversation with a vendor and he was saying expect She-Hulk to appear in the Marvel Cinematic universe real soon. Not sure if he was just talking or he had some info. Got some picks of some amazing Cosplay also. I missed the days best one though, an 8 foot Chewbacca complete was Wookie roar, damn impressive.
The one thing I did not like about the show was the issue dealers were having with Credit Card payments. The Penn Plaza Pavilion because has no wi-fi service so a lot of vendors could not use their iPads or phones for credit card swipes, I’m sure it was a big problem for buyers and sellers. However, overall it was a great show.
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Nice review. I miss the older, smaller cons with their focus on dealers and deals. Lately, all the cons I go to are dominated by ‘geek culture’ and comic books and deals have taken a back seat. Bigger isn’t always better IMO.
I agree. Philly has become a pop culture convention and not a comic convention as it used to be. Last years wizard world Philly was all about celebs and not about comics. Very few dealers there.
Big Apple Con prides itself on bringing the best comic dealers while still providing top pop-culture celebs. Keeping such diversity in a mid-sized show was a challenge, but by committing to each aspect and not just giving lip-service with a token guest or only one or two dealers, it can be done.
The Big Apple con is a shit show and a hustle. The areas have poor directional signage or none at all. No wifi, ZERO charging stations, NO area for taking a break or photo ops and no real care about those attending. Why would you have just one person taking tickets at the door? Security is rude, unhelpful and dont want to be bothered by those attending. This con is a growing problem with all these cons, organized by people who couldn’t care less about Fans. I even over heard one of the main event organizers bad mouthing cos players. They guys are old and are detached from what makes a good con these days and the real reason why people attend. The think its the vendors and stars still, a very 90’s mentality. Sure we come for some stars, maybe pick something up but we are mainly there to gather with liked minded people. We are aren’t there to just buy shit while they think they can poorly cram a bunch of vendors in a room and call it day. seriously think about your vendor placements. Some of the main reasons why we attend such as the costume contest are organized by fans and get no real support. I mean your going to have a costume contest with no sage and a mega phone? Clearly these organizers are laughing to the bank. I saw we skip this con next year and go right to the group photos and after parties.
Sorry you had such a sub-optimal experience, Jason. Conventions are not an easy thing to put together. First, let me say the the folks who run the Big Apple Conventions care very, very much about the fans. The show would not have gone on for so many years if they did not. If they are old, it is because they were born long enough ago to have started this convention 20 years ago. If they did not care about the fans they would have quit years ago, back wen no one else had a convention in NYC because it was too damn expensive.
The response to the show, from dealers, artists, and fans was greater than anticipated and the convention did the best if could to accommodate everyone. There were so many dealers and more space had to be found to put them. Because there were so many dealers and artists it as possible to keep ticket prices down, especially if you bought in advance. The costume contest was many times bigger than it ever had been and the format was changed at the last minute to accommodate. Everyone who entered the contest got to be seen, every contestant who stuck around for the results got a prize, and we had a massive photo shoot immediately following. The megaphone was a last-minute solution when the sound system, which was fine when there were 300 people in the room sitting quietly, proved inadequate when there were 450 people loudly talking. And there was a stage. I know, I was on it, and so was very contestant who got up on it and stepped off of it.
The floor space-to-tables space ratio is a tricky thing for conventions. You want to keep the ticket price down and the fee for dealer and artist tables down so you have to sell a lot of tables to cover your costs. If you have a lot of open floor space for “break areas” and photo areas and charging stations you have to raise ticket prices and/or table rates. Then fewer people would be able to come and fewer artists would be able to show their work and shoppers would have fewer things to buy with less variety.
It is these smaller, local, low-cost conventions that keep the culture going, keeping conventions accessible and affordable. Your concerns are noted, and we are dong the best we can.