No Special Edition: NYC In 2016
By Nick Tylwalk
Special Edition: NYC was a fantastic idea. Recognizing that New York Comic Con had become a behemoth approaching (and then surpassing, in terms of attendance) Comic-Con International in San Diego, ReedPOP started the summer show as a comics-focused alternative. Fans seemed to like it, but apparently not enough to make it viable to continue.
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In an interview with Comicbook.com, ReedPOP Global Senior Vice President Lance Fensterman revealed that there will be no Special Edition: NYC in 2016, with the company preferring to focus on ways to expand New York Comic Con. That’s almost literally impossible in terms of its existing site at the Javits Center, as anyone who has been to NYCC over the past years can attest. The Javits is bursting at the seems when the show hits the Big Apple.
There also aren’t surrounding buildings that can serve as ready made venues for spillover programming the way the hotels in San Diego do. That’s a problem, but Fensterman said that other places in NYC could hold events too.
"I really want to get New York Comic-Con all over the city. We’ve been chipping away at that, with some success. Being in Hammerstein Ballroom and programming content there, great. Getting some of the NYC Super Week events out there. We really want to take a big step forward in kind of growing outside of the Javits Center, because that’s the only place we can grow. But really taking that event much more city-wide is a big goal."
It’s also not a simple goal. This is obviously anecdotal evidence, but having been to both Comic-Con International and NYCC, there’s a huge difference in the way that the former seems to take over a big chunk of the city and the latter barely makes a dent in the overall consciousness of New York. Even a few blocks from the Javits, it’s easy to find people confused by the cosplayers on their way to the convention center because they have no idea what’s going on. NYCC is enormous, but compared to the city itself, it’s still small.
ReedPOP might be able to change that equation, but it’s a shame that Special Edition: NYC is going to be a casualty of its efforts. Will you miss the summer show, or was it not really on your radar? Let us know in the comments or hit us up on Twitter.