Indiana Comic Con

I am local. This convention is ONLY worth selling at because of that. In its first year or two, it was gangbusters. Now, they have about 30% too many vendors and table prices are bad for what you get.

STAFF: Staff is fine and sweet enough, so let's get that out of the way. Nothing wrong with the people there.

VENUE: The Indianapolis Convention Center is a great building made for this sort of thing. However, with the con taking up massive exhibit halls, attendance felt weirdly sparse.

LAYOUT: The AA was placed in the middle of the exhibit hall in a weird staggered layout that interrupted the grid of the rest of the vendors. People instinctively tried to walk around it rather than through it, really lowering traffic through the AA specifically. There are also just...too many vendors. This convention has become more of a "stand in line to get expensive celebrity autographs" convention, meaning between that and the AMOUNT of vendors available, people just aren't spending much on the exhibit floor. (There were also like-vendors clustered together (4 dice vendors clustered together, 3 different figurine booths all smooshed around the same corner, etc,) which nuked all of their business. There were also SEVERAL bootleg pin/charm vendors placed in prominent locations, which was disappointing.

PRICE: I got a premium table for $500, expecting I would get more space. I was lucky and got an end cap I was able to expand on. The two people to the side of me ALSO paid for a premium space but had NO extra room. It was purely based on placement and one obviously arrived expecting to be able to have a corner like what was implied to them. They were stuck with a single 6' table. Considering a few of the people I spoke to didn't even make their non-premium tables back, the table price is absurd for the revenue many are making.

AFFORDABILITY: I am local so costs were low for me. For the attendance, there is not a lot of income. I want to specify- I was okay. I made enough that I'll probably go again, but ONLY because I am local. DO **NOT** TRAVEL TO SELL AT THE AA AT THIS CON! If you have to pay for a hotel, or god forbid a flight, it will almost certainly not be worth it to you. One artist I spoke to flew in and said this was the first time they've not broken even at a con before.

Overall? Try it if you're local. Avoid it if you have to travel. The only way for the con to really fix this is to shrink the exhibitor hall a bit and make the layout of the floor nicer to encourage more traffic. They aren't going to get rid of the high end celebrities because that brings in the tickets. And they probably won't lower vending costs because we're basically paying for this convention to exist.

So went to this really wanting to meet a couple headliners. Ended up waiting 2.5 hours for a photo, and 3 hours for an autograph. Celeb photo ops ran this con into the ground for me, by overbooking, having a complete lack of organization, and no communication. If you go to this con I would recommend not going to the headliners unfortunately

Let me just say, if you go, you WILL get your money's worth. I just started doing conventions in late 2017, and this year was my first EVER Indiana Comic Con (and first ever traditional "comic con" for that matter). I do a lot of anime/manga-influenced art so i didn't know how I would necessarily do, and boy was I surprised that I made more money at this event than I did at Youmacon, a con that is one of the largest anime cons in Michigan (where I'm from). All in all it was a great time, I would wholeheartedly do it again. If possible though, try and take a friend so you can split the cost of the hotel and gas if you're driving from out of town or out of state.

To try to offset the... other review just about the venue staff (were they... even an artist?) I'll review my first year TABLING at ICC! Pricey table ($300) and pricey hotels and parking in the downtown area, so only go if you KNOW you generally do well at intersectional/comic cons. Very nice venue, con staff seemed a bit overwhelmed at times but were helpful. Plenty of families, so having some kid-friendly, smaller merch is definitely a good idea. Friday and Saturday were packed- it was my busiest Friday sales-wise to date! Weird layout with AA in a ring around featured guests that I was unsure of at first, but worked out well for some artists, I think- since you had to pass us to get to the guests. That said, I was on the side closer to the entrance, so it may not have worked out for those on the further side. Solid, but again, because of the hefty pricetag only go if you can cut costs one way or another or you do really well at comic cons in generally.

I am an adult who paid good money. Normally love cons feel accepted and in my element. Staff constantly questioned my son and I like we were criminals. Spoke rudely to me. I was headed for the exit having trouble walking and the staff was talking to me like I was headed the opposite direction! They made it a miserable time! I will never pay another dime to the Indiana Convention Center!