April Showers Bring Mail

By Mia MacHatton
April 1, 2007

Our ST Respondent has gathered the comments our readers have sent in about the latest issues of ST and presents them here. We encourage all of our readers to chime in with a comment or two; and though we love praise and worship, we want to hear the constructive criticisms, too.

What Happens in San Diego ... Should Happen in Las Vegas (Features, March 2007)

"Based on these facts, name me one reason it should not be Las Vegas."

Because it's not San Diego, or in the immediate area?

I don't disagree with anything you wrote with regards to Vegas' superior convention logistics over San Diego. However, you do overlook that 124,000 people go to the *San Diego* Comic-Con.

Remember the last attempt to do a big comics show in Vegas? Reports I read described it as under-attended to the point of starting to watch out for tumbleweeds in the aisles. That doesn't bode well for moving Comic-Con to Vegas.

Yeah, in this case you'd be moving an established show, rather than starting a new one. But the things to consider are:

1) While Vegas is certainly a growing city, it's nowhere near the size of Southern California. I don't know the exact breakdown, but a lot of San Diego's attendance is from, well, San Diego, as well as clear up to Los Angeles from which it's at least possible to do a one day attendance and sleep in your own bed after that one day.

2) Comic-Con is a well-known event in San Diego. I'm guessing a fair amount of repeat local business from year to year. You don't have to persuade locals to give it a try (and I'm referring to non-fan locals). If you move Comic-Con to Vegas, you completely lose the "casual" Southern California market. At a 4+ hour drive, you only get folk from there who want to spend multiple days at the con (or, to be fair, are interested in combining Comic-Con with a Vegas trip). The local Vegas attendance is unlikely to be more than a small fraction of this. I'd guesstimate at least a several tens of thousands drop in attendance.

3) This one's more borderline; what about Hollywood? I think a lot of the reason for Comic-Con's growth is the amount and level of star power of the Hollywood presentations bringing in the casual fan of TV shows and movies audience. Vegas is just far enough from LA, relative to San Diego, to make it a bit more difficult for people to pop in for a little while. At the very least, it becomes necessary to fly rather than drive or helicopter in. On the other hand, at least some Hollywood folk would prefer to spend time around the con in Vegas over San Diego.

The key year here would probably be the second year it's in Vegas. If the first year is successful in terms of star power logistics *and* the con still draws 80K+, it'd probably continue to maintain or grow attendance and get the big Hollywood names. But if there's a more substantial drop-off in attendance in the first year, it'll become a positive feedback reaction; less attendance leads to less or smaller name Hollywood leads to less attendance leads to still less Hollywood, and so on.

Of course, one can argue that a smaller Comic-Con that again focuses more on comics is a good thing. But a sudden large drop in attendance could really hurt the con's overall finances.

Personally, I think the only other option Comic-Con has is Anaheim, although that has its own set of problems. The downtown LA convention center has an even worse nearby hotel problem, as well as not being a great neighborhood in general. Anaheim's the only possible option where they can easily maintain the local walk-in attendance (although not as easily as with San Diego, but still better than Vegas) and if anything improve the distance between them and Hollywood. Anywhere else, including Vegas, and I think they have to at least plan on a 50% drop in attendance and possibly more. It'd improve the logistics to move to Vegas, but it'd also be extremely risky for attendance.

Tom Galloway

Tom,

The last Vegas convention, Extrosion, was put on by a group that knew nothing about comics, ignored the advice given to them by people in the industry about how to promote and organize this event, did a very haphazard job promoting the con, and had their most competent person poached away by Wizard about half way through the process.

Things also weren't helped by the fact that there were massive forest fires raging in Southern California that shut down the I-15, the I-5, and Hwy 14 — the major routes out of southern California. The So-Cal fans who did attend either flew in or took the I-10 or the I-40 deep into the desert before cutting north to the I-15.

CCI, on the other hand, knows how to organize and promote a convention. They are an established organization. (They also know better than to name one of their conventions after a biological process which describes the way in which deer grow their antlers.)

I would also counter argue that yeah, the con might lose some attendance from the casual day visitor, but trust me, So-Cal loves any excuse to come up to Las Vegas. (Our economy is built on it.) Flights are short and cheap, and four hours really isn't that bad a drive.

Hollywood stars also love to come to Vegas. Don't believe me? Take a peek in the "high limit" rooms at several popular resorts in the wee small hours of a weekend. And it would be easy for CCI or any of the major media vendors to partner with, say, the MGM Grand or the Palms. The Palms in particular has an established track record of holding Hollywood related events.

Finally, when I talked to Dr. Curtis Love about convention attendance in Vegas, he pointed out that historically speaking, moving a convention to Vegas increases its attendance by 10% in the first year.

I'm not saying that a move of Comic Con International: San Diego to Las Vegas would solve all the problems and have no new hangups of its own. But I am saying that the situation in San Diego is rapidly breaking down in terms of lodging and outgrowing the convention center, shows no signs of improvement, and Las Vegas is the only workable alternative with sufficient hotel rooms and a large enough convention center.

Thanks for writing in. I think you bring up several excellent counter arguments.

— Katherine Keller

But I offer a compromise.

Las Vegas can have the Chargers.

In fact, I'm feeling generous, I'll let you take the Spanos family, too.

And I won't even ask for Howard Hughes back.

How 'bout it?

Gabriel Neeb

Gabriel,

We can't take the Chargers. The Vegas Sportsbooks would lose a huge source of revenue if we had to stop gambling on Football.

As for Howard Hughes — take him!

— Katherine Keller

PS. And if the con moved to Vegas, you could update your how to train for attending the convention to include sections on what to pick up at the buffet, how to deal with dry heat, and how to speedily traverse a crowded hotel-casino while wearing a fully loaded backpack.

Order of the Interview - Richard Burlew (Features, March 2007)

I like your site. I am an Order of the Stick fan and followed Rich Burlew's link. After reading his interview, I went to your home page. From there your link to 'comic strips' gave me a 404 error message "page not found". I'd like to know of other really good web comics, so please let me know when the page is available.

OOTS is extremely good, so I may just be too spoiled, but I'm always willing to read at least a few frames of a new comic before making a decision on whether to read further. Granted, others spend more time on the artistry and some draw very beautifully. But I love that Rich chose to simplify the character drawings so that he could focus more on the plot, subplots, twists, and turns. It's an amazingly satisfying strip to indulge in.

With blessings,
Lark

Hi, Lark,

Thank you for your email. I'm glad you like the site! We really hadn't decided on what to do with that section once the web comics we were subscribing to ended. But your idea is really very wonderful, and we'll put that together very soon! Thank you. :)

Yours,

— Lee Atchison

A Long Time Reader Writes!

Hello Tarts! I just realised that it will be seven years this April since I first discovered your online magazine. Uh-oh. That makes me feel pretty old!

I figured that an anniversary like that deserves a note of acknowledgement, so I'm writing in to let you know that I'm here and that I have been enjoying Tart for several years now. I can't honestly say that I have read every issue, but consistently good reviews, varied interviews and fun articles keep me checking back here whenever I have the time.

Keep it up ladies!

Thanks!

— Mike D.

Thanks for letting us know you're out there, Mike! We're always happy to hear from readers and it's great to know there are people who have been reading our magazine from the early years that are still out there enjoying our work. I hope you enjou this month's issue as much as the rest!

— Marcia Allass