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August 9, 2009: DC Comics a No-Show at Chicago Comic-Con & Tonner Update

By Barry Freiman

The big question on everyone's minds at this year's Wizard World Chicago Comic-Con 2009, going on this weekend at the Rosemont Convention Center, was - "Where are DC Comics, Marvel, Image, and Dark Horse?" None of the major comic book companies had booths or official presences at the convention this year for the first time in recent memory. Although DC's Stuart Schreck was seen walking around, and DC Senior Story Editor Ian Sattler is a special guest and the planned host for the DC Nation panel, convention regulars like Dan Didio and Geoff Johns were nowhere to be found.

At previous Wizard World Chicago conventions, the first thing one usually saw on walking onto the convention floor was the enormous DC Comics and DC Direct booth, usually with Mattel nearby. This year, where DC's booth had always been in the past, there was a booth for doll company Tonner Direct. Among the DC characters Tonner showed at the convention yesterday - including a Chicago exclusive Silver Age Catwoman - were Superman and two versions of Supergirl.

Everything about this year's convention felt smaller than in the past. At previous Wizard World Chicago conventions, the show's enormity was apparent the minute you entered the convention center's main doors. There used to be a large entry arch welcoming people to the convention loaded up with pictures of comic book characters mainly from DC and Marvel. This year, the Wizard World convention's new name and logo, Chicago Comic-Con, was featured on small columns at each side of the entrance to the convention floor - with Superman on one column and Captain America on the other. The missing arch was replaced with two text signs reading plainly "Exhibit Hall".

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I attended the convention on Friday with three friends, all of whom are comic book geeks and all of whom have attended the Chicago convention many times in the past. To all of us, this year's show felt different. Vendors and other fans felt the same way - as if we were attending the last or one of the last Wizard World Chicago shows. Rumors of why the Big 4 companies didn't show flew faster than Superman across the convention floor yesterday. Without an official statement from DC Comics or any of the other majors, though, there's nothing factually known at this point about what caused the no-shows.

Most of the speculation centers around the new April 2010 Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo (C2E2) which is bringing a major comic show into the city of Chicago itself at McCormick Place. C2E2 is being planned by the organizers of the New York Comic-Con (i.e., not Wizard). Last week, as the Superman Homepage reported, C2E2 issued a press release in which a DC Comics spokesperson released an official statement strongly supporting C2E2:

    We have had enormous success with our participation at New York Comic Con and we look forward to more of the same in Chicago," notes Steve Rotterdam, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for DC Comics. "New York Comic Con has proven to be very effective for us, providing a good business atmosphere for connecting with fans and customers, as well as being a great environment for promoting our product and extending the reach of our many writers, artists, and creators. We're happy to be part of the debut of what we're confident will become one of Chicago's main events.

The coincidence of Wizard adopting the Chicago Comic-Con name just as the organizers of the New York Comic-Con are extending their reach to Chicago helped fuel the rumors of a rift between the majors and Wizard Entertainment. In fact, the name change from Wizard World to Chicago Comic-Con could not come at a less apt time. The guest list is overloaded with non-comic book personalities like Todd Bridges from "Diff'rent Strokes" and 1980s singning sensation Taylor Dayne. And the presence of ultimate fighters and wrestlers was even more prominent than in previous years. Poor Margot Kidder was seated directly in front of a booth that constantly blared loud electronica and trance music and sold knives, glass pipes and other smoke inhalation devices.

Overall, my friends and I had fun at the show. DC's absence certainly made my reporting job a lot easier so I had time, unlike previous years, to actually look at some back issues. The Superman Homepage ended up with an exclusive interview with Adventure Comics artist Francis Manapul (who was there as an artist in the Artist Alley and not in an official capacity for DC Comics), and the scoop he shared that the girl on the last page of the Adventure Comics preview is not the "Smallville" TV show character Chloe Sullivan. At least we ended up with some exclusive Superman news - not an easy thing to do without Superman's corporate parents there.


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