Remember cons?
You would pay money to walk in circles around a crowded hall for hours, mingling among cosplayers and guys with messenger bags as they fist-bumped creators, commissioned sketches of Cyclops or Batman having a good day and thumbed through endless dollar bins looking for buried treasure like that X-Men state fair comic but more often than not finding 30+ copies of that issue of Amazing Spider-Man with Obama on the cover.
Sigh.
Last year made comic conventions — heck, any convention — largely untenable, as we learned about how the coronavirus works, how it spreads more easily indoors and how large-scale gatherings from political rallies to motorcycle meetups turned into superspreader events.
As a stopgap, conventioneers attempted to pivot to virtual events, moving the panel experience online but failing to replicate a lot of the physical and social elements that made cons reasons to take vacation time.
But as we wade into 2021 like late-spring beachgoers unwilling to dip more than a toe into the frigid ocean, event promoters are hopeful vaccines will get us to a place where we can fill those halls once again.
As of this writing, Seattle’s Emerald City Comic Con — the first big show canceled due to COVID-19 last year — has moved to Dec. 2 to 5. Chicago’s C2E2 — the last big show to be held in person — has moved to Dec. 10-12. San Diego Comic-Con, the granddaddy of them all, is tentatively scheduled for July 21 to 25.
And New Jersey’s Garden State Comic Fest: Winter Edition is scheduled for Jan. 29-31.
As in this weekend.
Showrunners Dave O’Hare and Sal Zurzolo have traded their usual perch at the Mennen Arena in Morristown for the roomier Rockaway Townsquare Mall, a trade-up they say will allow for more social distancing and has the added benefit of being located next door to one of the Garden State’s six mega vaccination sites.
Anyone who’s been vaccinated gets in free.
In an interview with ComicsXF, O’Hare said he and his team made the decision to move forward with the show about three months ago. 2020 was the first year for Winter Edition, one of three GSCFs held throughout a normal convention year, along with a summer Morristown show and a Memorial Day weekend show at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson. It was the year O’Hare was supposed to set aside his pest control business to go into event promotion full time.
This year, he said, “I don’t plan on making any money on this show whatsoever.”
So why do it?
“A lot of our vendors have been out of work, just like everyone else, and they were happy something like this was coming along, so they could put a little money in their pocket to help their families,” O’Hare said.
To keep those vendors safe, and to keep them and the attendees from coming down with the worst version of con crud, O’Hare and his team have instituted a number of measures, including your now-standard mask requirements and hand sanitizing stations, but also what he says are enough air purifiers to clean 80,000 square feet in a 20,000-square-foot space. Tickets will only be available at the door, so they can ensure 20% capacity and avoid having to give refunds should the event be canceled last minute. Ticket prices will be cut in half halfway through each of the show’s three days, in a bid to spread attendees out over the course of the day.
The inaugural Winter Edition, a one-day show, drew 700 to 800 people, O’Hare said. This year, he said, “we’d be very happy to see 700 to 800 people over the course of three days.” But he recognizes it’s a gamble. In the current climate, they could be presiding over a ghost town, or they could be turning away people desperate for something, anything to do in a normally dead time of year made deader by a global pandemic.
“We’re rolling the dice on that, and the vendors understand that as well,” he said.
Under current executive orders in New Jersey, indoor gatherings for entertainment centers are limited to 150 people or 25% of a room’s capacity, whichever number is lower. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not pooh-pooh such events outright but advises commonsense practices such as not going if you’re sick, washing hands frequently, keeping your distance from others and avoiding high-touch surfaces.
And GSCF isn’t the only convention on New Jersey’s near-term calendar. The Progressive Insurance Atlantic City Boat Show recently announced April dates. Like GSCF, it is planned for a venue doubling as a mega vaccination site.
Among the artists rolling the dice alongside O’Hare is Dan Parent. In addition to pens and markers, the artist, known as one of the modern masters of the classic Archie Comics house style, plans on keeping hand sanitizer and Clorox wipes at his socially distanced table in artist alley, and wearing an N95 mask with another mask on top.
Hugs and handshakes with fans are out. Elbow bumps are a possibility.
“I did one store signing in November and it went well, so I think we can make this work as long as everyone cooperates,” Parent told CXF.
While admitting he didn’t feel organizers had done enough to guarantee a safe experience, Sean Wolfe said he planned to check out the show this weekend. The Randolph resident and frequent attendee of cons and comic shops in North Jersey said he was looking forward to seeing artist friends, vendors and generally interacting with society — safely.
That means the kids stay home.
“Both my children are asthmatic, so there’s too much of a risk bringing them out while there’s still irresponsible people carrying on,” Wolfe said.
The last show he attended was ToyCon NJ, a three-day show in October held at a Police Athletic League building in Wayne.
Asked when he thought cons might be reasonably held again if we waited until America crossed the minimum herd-immunity threshold of 70% vaccinated, he said, “We live in America … ‘reasonably’ does not apply. Realistically? Late 2021-early 2022 if we’re lucky.”
Asked what he wanted people to take away from this weekend, O’Hare said the main thing was that “we can still do these things, but they have to be different now.”
“I don’t ever want anyone to get sick on my watch, and I’m doing everything to make sure of that,” he said. “But I want people to realize they can still go out, have a fun time and be safe, which I don’t think will be a problem.”
Dan Grote is the editor-in-chief of ComicsXF, having won the site by ritual combat. By day, he’s a newspaper editor, and by night, he’s … also an editor. He co-hosts The ComicsXF Interview Podcast with Matt Lazorwitz. He lives in New Jersey with his wife, two kids and two miniature dachshunds, and his third, fictional son, Peter Winston Wisdom.
