A celebration of comics, creators, and collectibles—
The inaugural Minnesota Fan Fest wrapped its first year in the Twin Cities last weekend, with a two-day event held inside the Rivercentre in downtown St. Paul.
In our previous installments, we gave you a taste of the show, focusing separately on a Photo Gallery, the various panel discussions, and the Saturday evening costume contest, but wanted to wrap up the event with a few of the show’s highlights, as well as mention its challenges and opportunities going forward.
The show is a production of Arizona-based Square Egg Entertainment, who has put on the similar Phoenix Comicon and Fan Fests on for several years, with each successive year growing in size and scope. Their next event is at the Phoenix Convention Center happening Nov 11-12th (relatively cool temps in AZ then), with guest announcements forthcoming starting this Monday.
Unfortunately, at Square Egg’s Phoenix Comicon held over the Memorial Day weekend, there was a security scare, potentially targeted at guest Jason David Frank (Green Power Ranger) where a person brought in live weapons but the perpetrator was caught before any harm was done. As a result, security measures at Square Egg’s next event, (MN Fan Fest) were understandably on high alert, with Frank being a premier guest here as well.
Guests (Media):
A good, but maybe slightly thin roster appeared, with Frank having the most popularity and longest lines, of the weekend.
Star Trek was represented by Voyager star Garrett Wang (though no one for the Star Wars fans)
Sean Patrick Flanery from Young Indiana Jones and Boondock Saints was chatty and personable at his panel
Eddie McClintock was there to talk about all things Warehouse 13 and the Shooter TV show
Conclusion: What was missing that could have been a draw, were personalities from Dr. Who, Marvel Studios, Game of Thrones, and other properties that have a strong following locally.
Guests (Comic Creators):
In addition to the full support and appearance of most of the local luminaries (Dan Jurgens, Pat Gleason, Doug Mahnke, Ben Percy, Gordon Purcell, etc) a few national names appeared as well:
Jae Lee, Bob Layton, Peter Tomasi, Mike McKone, and Francis Manapul were among the out-of-towners appearing, with Tomasi adding to the already strong roster of current Superman book creators (Gleason, Mahnke, Jurgens), Layton and Lee full of stories from their prolific 80s and 90s period, and Manapul currently riding high creating DC’s Trinity after a long stint on The Flash.
Most were sketching for a nominal fee and signing least a few books for free, with McKone’s policy maybe being the most ideal in these times where it seems like anyone with a name is charging money- any personalized signature- Free; anything CGC or not personalized-$10.
Conclusion: A couple more notable high-profile names (i.e. McFarlane, Lee), older creators and/or up and comers (Zdarksy, Nick Spencer) would have helped round out a good lineup and made more of a splash for a first area show.
Operations: Overall, the show seemed well organized and efficiently run, with the Rivercentre space ideal for a show of this size. Easily accessible with plenty of parking (though most on Saturday was at pay meters or a garage)
Panel rooms were unfortunately on an upper level across the other end of the building, the result of a shoe buyer’s summit being held directly above, but expect that not to be an issue going forward.
Security was a bit extreme and at times annoying (see above for reasons why) with walk through detectors, wanding, and bag searches, occurring every time you left the show floor and/or returned from the panel rooms (which meant multiple times per day). Cosplayers rules were made more strict as well, though compromises were made to accommodate those fans as best possible.
Conclusion: In terms of guests and dealers, a well-run show with plenty of potential, with security maybe being too over-the-top, but expected after their previous scare and with recent intl. terrorist events in the news- unfortunately, it’s the world we currently live in.
Attendance/Marketing: This was the most challenging aspect, with the show being unknown or sneaking up on a good many area fans that otherwise maybe would attend.
In addition to Wizard World Minneapolis and the MCBA’s Fall and Spring Cons, there are a handful of smaller, more local shows that also compete for the comic fan’s dollar and anything held in the summer in MN is a challenge, as many are at lake cabins, or doing other outdoor activities, while the weather is good.
While the show name has local recognition in the Phoenix area, the term Fan Fest could relate to anything (and is similar to things like Twins Fest), so maybe adding Comicon or similar to the name, might help the show’s awareness.
Conclusion: Marketing and awareness for next year’s show (already scheduled for Aug 25-26th) should begin now, as that weekend will again pose its challenges (opening weekend of MN State Fair; potentially the same weekend as Wizard World- Chicago which will potentially hurt media guest bookings; and the late summer timing, which has back-to-school looming and is aforementioned difficult to succeed in MN).
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All in all, we loved Minnesota Fan Fest and know that it has great potential as an area pop culture show—we’re glad to see it return in 2018, and hope it has a long run after that, though we know there are challenges.
This show seems to have the full support of local dealers and stores, area comic creators, and the non-profit Midwest Comic Book Association which is a huge advantage; it just needs to broaden its reach to be made more aware of and appeal to the masses that just know of the big San Diego show, are fans of related movies and TV, and want to be an active part of area pop culture.
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