Holy comeback, Batman! Comic fans converging for a bigger Wizard World

TWO YEARS AGO it looked as if Wizard World Philly was a goner. All the regional Wizard shows - including ours - were in danger of cancellation. Then earlier this year, Wizard's print magazine - comics' most prestigious mag for two decades and from which the conventions sprang - was another victim of online publishing and went kaput.

Fans wondered whether the conventions were down for the count, but, like Rocky Balboa, they have come back stronger.

"Things are going extremely well for us in a lot of different areas," Wizard Entertainment President Gareb Shamus said. "We've been able to transition from a regional comic-con producer to the largest North American tour encompassing the largest cities in America - including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and, of course, Philly - and Toronto. There are 11 Wizard shows in all this year."

Shamus believes the ability of the Wizard cons to grow over the past couple of years is amazing.

"We have a total of 2,500 artists and writers attending our shows this year," he said. "That's extraordinary."

As far as the demise of the print version of his popular magazine, Shamus said rather than a sign of weakness, Wizard is staying on the cutting edge and reaching more people with its stories.

"We went from being a paid monthly magazine to a weekly Internet publication that reaches four times as many people four times as often," he said. "Soon everybody will have digital access to what we do. Our iPad app is out now, and we are in the final development of our iPhone app."

In a way, Shamus believes Wizard has overcome the limitations of print.

"We are able to reach millions of people who have these devices now. The potential really is limitless. We just launched our own YouTube channel."

This has helped the shows have even more impact.

"We may have 10,000 people at a show, but now we have access to and podcasts of the show that can be viewed by millions of people."

As for how Wizard World is managing to thrive when other shows can barely survive, Shamus said the reason is simple.

"Each year we do a great job of bringing in a lot of new exhibitors and dealers. Philly is a great city. The Philly show itself is going to be bigger than last year. Artist Alley is going to be double what it was last year.