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Looked at the calendars for both Moscone and Anaheim. If I'm reading it right, Moscone is busy just about every weekend in March/April while Anaheim has a lot of free dates. Take that for whatever it's worth...
This has been suggested before, but APE and WonderCon are not the same at all. APE is *Alternative* Press Expo. Small, independent publishers of comics and graphic novels. No big names, no Hollywood, not even Marvel/DC/Dark Horse/IDW. Turning APE into WonderCon means that APE goes away altogether. The people who attend APE want the antithesis of what SDCC has become, whereas the people who attend WonderCON want another SDCC.
It probably won't be April of 2015.
I agree that they're not the same, but I think they could find a way to incorporate the independent publishers into a bigger convention like WonderCon. A convention with an attendance of about 50,000 won't work with only APE material, but it could still have a strong focus on APE material like 30-40%.APE states that 2013 will be their last year at the Concourse Exhibition Hall since it is scheduled to be demolished, but that APE is definitely returning to SF in 2014. That, and with the talk about WonderCon returning to SF with fall dates, makes me believe that they could be planning to merge the two and that this has been in the works for some time.
I have heard talks about it returning to SF, even talks about them possible splitting the event into two slightt smaller WonderCon's, one in the spring in Anaheim and one in the fall in SF. At the end of the day though, it's all talk and speculation on the part of fans and such. CCI isn't giving anything away at this point.
While I know there are a lot of fans up in SF that are desperate for WonderCon to return there, it seems that for either better or worse, it could stay in Anaheim. It makes sense for CCI when you think about it. There has seemed to he an increase in Hollywood presence at WonderCon over its many years, and being in Anaheim gives filmmakers and TV producers easier access to the convention and more incentive to be involved.
No, it's not just fans that have said that. While it's true nothing official has been set Glanzer said it himself that CCI was looking at splitting it into two cons: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login (I also heard from a couple people that the WonderCon program book said something to that effect too, although I haven't been able to get a copy of it so I can't say for sure.)Although by this point I take what Glanzer says with a grain of salt until I see it.Yes, this is one of the reasons why I suspect they moved...there's more to it than the construction. I doubt they would have promoted it as "WonderCon Anaheim" if they really thought the move was just temporary.
1. Don't lose the APE aspect of it! I think they should still set aside at least 35%, if not more depending on the new locations size compared the room they had at Concourse, of Exhibit Hall exclusively for independent and self publishers. Doing this could actually help those independent publishers. APE bring in about 5-6 thousand attendees every year. By expanding the Con around them, they expand the "audience" of people who attend and boost overall attendance close to WonderCon numbers in the tens of thousands. They would have the opportunity to present their work to guests who would have skipped APE all together.
2. Don't brand it WonderCon and rebrand WonderCon in Anaheim. I have two reasons for this. Firstly, if they do go the route of expanding APE, the convention would be a new animal all together, a hybrid of sorts, and branding it WonderCon I think would do a disservice to the APE roots. It would almost be a whole new con. Give it a new name it can grow by on its own merits, not on the tails on WonderCon.
Secondly, WonderCon itself has already made a name for itself in Anaheim and has been picking up Hollywood support. Up and rebranding it could cause apprehension on the part of Hollywood studios who would be willing to back WonderCon because of the recognition the name carries, but possibly would be more hesitant of giving support to the Con, especially when they don't know how the rebranding will effect attendance numbers and how people view the Con. Of course that apprehension could be lessened because of CCI being behind it, but it's still a gamble.