Gareb Shamus has purchased yet another comic book convention; this time the New England Comic Con. This expands the Wizard World Comic Con. The complete press release is after the jump, and there’s plenty of room for the Legion of Spoilerites to voice their opinions.
Press Release
Gareb Shamus, CEO of New York based Wizard Entertainment, announces today that he has purchased New England Comic Con, in a move to further expand the Wizard World Comic Con tour.
“We’ve known Larry for many years, and his exceptional 35-year old New England Comic Con gets us into Boston in a big way. New England has a long legacy of cartoons and comics embedded in their history, making the fans there very appreciative of comics’ impact on society and pop culture,” said Shamus. “I’m excited to bring these discerning fans an even better Con experience and everything they expect from a Wizard run show.”
Larry Harrison, owner of Harrison’s Comics & Collectibles, and Jimmy Tournas, the former owners of New England Comic Con, will be intimately involved in the new show production to ensure fan favorite traditions are maintained.
“Working with Gareb is an awesome experience. The folks at Wizard World have a great sense of how to grow the show in a way that I’ve always wanted to see it flourish. This should be the best comic con the city of Boston has ever seen,” said Harrison.
The New England Comic Con acquisition is the first of several Comic Con tour expansion announcements expected in the weeks ahead.
“We bring together more fans, in more cities than anyone, to celebrate their passion for pop-culture. We’ve had such a strong positive fan and industry reaction to our new show launches that expanding the tour just made sense,” said Shamus.
New England Comic Con venue and dates will be announced soon.
Wizard World 2010 Comic Con Tour:
Toronto Comic Con, Direct Energy Centre, March 26-28, 2010
Anaheim Comic Con, Anaheim Convention Center, April 16-18, 2010
Philadelphia Comic Con, Philadelphia Convention Center June 11-13, 2010
Chicago Comic Con, Donald E. Stephens (Rosemont) Convention Center, August 12-15, 2010
Big Apple Comic Con, Pier 94, October 7-10, 2010
New England Comic Con, TBD
2 Comments
I know as far as comic book/entertainment news “Print Is Dead”, yadda-yadda-yadda, but it sure would be nice if Shamus would put a little attention into his magazine that poor fools are still being tricked into buying, rather than pull a Galactus on the Convention Circuit. Geez Louise!
Seriously, I picked-up a Wizard recently just for kicks, and the whole damn thing was a magazine equivalent of Splash-Pages. Each page, one large paragraph and some clip art.
So boo on you, Gareb.
The sad thing is, the con that was purchased is nothing more than a glorified flea market that has been leaking vendors and show-goers for years.
And up until Harrison bought it this year, it was called the Boston Comic Book and Toy Spectacular, which occurred ever 3-4 months. The only reason they changed the name is because of the much more successful (and awesome) Boston Comic Con, which is held twice a year, in an attempt to compete.
I hope Shamus did not pay for the show, because if he did, he was ripped off.