You heard it right. Strike while the iron is hot. In an announcement on his Facebook page, Broderick has announced his intentions to start what he hopes will be a eventually a four-show artist focused circuit of events:
Interesting how things go, how they come together. Synergy, Timing, Fate, I don’t now. But what I do know is to stay ahead of the wave. After this last year of conventions in discussing our years experiences my wife Patricia and I had isolated what we considered to be a problem trend developing at some of these shows. Huston, this last year, handled these problems quite well. Cosplay got to do their thing and have a great time. the isles were large so there wasn’t a congestion problem. The media attendance was a little higher than I felt comfortable with but over all it was a well scheduled event. San Antoine was also a great experience as the promoters really took the best care of the guest as any convention I had ever had the pleasure of attending. So after the rest of the year played out I sat down with my wife and made a decision. We could do this and do it right. I spoke with talented and experienced people in the industry who have offered their guidance and it will be advice acted on. I’ve spoken to my attorney and in 5 minutes he lined up a backer.
I am now officially announcing that next year I will be sponsoring the first of what I hope to develop into a 4 show convention circuit. And I can assure you that it will be a con devoted to the industry of comics, I will bring creators and collectors together and promote it to fill the halls.
Now I was planning to make this announcement the first of the year, But anyone who has ever worked in advertising knows that with this I can ride the tide of conversation going on right now… Watch the boards starting in January for more announcements and web site direction. It will truly be family friendly and of course I intend to have a spectacular cosplay event.
Pat Broderick…… Game is on…
Is he spoofing us? Even with the best of intentions, it’s a crowded convention schedule, and Broderick will struggle to find openings for his shows.
You may recall that Broderick made headlines last week when suggestions that cosplay and media guests were drawing attention away from comics artists at conventions. I know there were a lot of hot feelings on this every way but I would make one suggestion:
Comics GUESTS, before you sign on with a show, make sure that they are actually PROMOTING THE ACTUAL COMICS at their show and not just former cast members of SF TV shows that people watch on TV Land. Seriously — the only way this will improve is if you stand up for yourself. Or put your money where your mouth is.
Yes, he’s going to make his own convention! With blackjack! And hookers!
Hey good for him. I think there is a market for a show that focuses primarily on comics and not on z-list TV personalities.
And rather than sitting idly by and bitching, he’s trying to take action to service what he sees as an untapped market. – I think that’s great. Good on him.
I would also state publicly that Pat Broderick is a conman who cheated me off $525 in unfulfilled commissions and won’t refund my money.
I’ve always loved his art…why is he controversial? I never read anything about him or his actions outside of comics
Doesn’t he realize that there are already existing cons with a primary focus on comics? HeroesCon springs immediately to mind, since it’s local to me. They do have the dread cosplay competition nowadays, but there’s no movie or TV stuff that isn’t directly related to comics. Comics are definitely center stage, and there’s a huge artist’s space.
Hey… more shows! Great! Especially one run by a comics professional. We need more of those! (Tip: East Coast Comic Con tickets are now on sale!)
I would suggest the following:
1) Attend Spectrum Fantastic Art Live, held in Kansas City. It’s affiliated with the Spectrum annual, and has a strong illustration/art focus. Network, and see what they do best.
2) Attend Art Basel in Miami, or one of the art dealer shows in New York City.
3) Rent a ballroom at the Manchester Hyatt in San Diego during CCI. Stage a mini-con, focusing on artists, art dealers, antiques, collectibles, and rare books. Make the tent as big as possible… comic strips, comic books, web comics, mini comics, comics art…
4) Attend a comics arts festival.
5) To make it unique, set the primary programming goal of education. Workshops on writing, illustrating, selling, running a business… That tends to be sidelined at other shows. Schedule portfolio reviews around the clock if possible.
6) Make it family-friendly. It’s one thing if a kid wants to draw comics. But if a parent sees something questionable, chances are they’ll encourage that kid to do something else…
Pat Broderick is not controversial. Comicsbeat is clearly desperate for some kind of “controversy” so they’re getting a guy who was a solid if unspectacular artist with fans being decently aware of him twenty years ago, exploiting something he said that was grumpy and crotchety on his own personal FB page (sharing his own opinions, no matter how “get off my lawn” they seemed), and now trying to drum up the kind of interest the Denise Dorman story did. I really liked that ComicsBeat was NOT like BleedingCool. Please, let this rest. Pat Broderick is no threat to Cosplay or the rights of others. He should be allowed to say misguided nonsense in that particular controlled enviroment if he isn’t saying things hateful or cruel- which he wasn’t. This is a non-issue that the Beat is trying to make into an issue. And am I a Pat Broderick supporter? Hell to the No. But I am not into baiting and instigation for story’s sake. If people are threatened, remember the old wisdom of “ignore them and they go away”. Mr. Broderick is not relevant to the current pace of fandom and cons. I wish him well. He’s not untalented. But this is so ridiculously overblown that the Beat should be mildly embarrassed.
Pat Broderick takes money for commissions and then doesn’t deliver. The next time we hear about him, will be from all the guests, vendors, and exhibitors who got stiffed on his proposed show. The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior and all that.