Көне Америкалық комикс конвенциясы

Defunct American comic book convention

The Comic Art Convention (CAC) was an American comic book fan convention held annually New York City, New York, over Independence Day weekend from 1968 through 1983, except for 1977, when it was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and 1978 to 1979, when editions of the convention were held in both New York and Philadelphia. The first large scale comics convention, and one of the largest gatherings of its kind until the Comic Con International in San Diego, California, it grew into a major trade and fan convention. It was founded by Phil Seuling, a Brooklyn, New York City, teacher, who later developed the concept of comic book direct marketing, which led to the rise to the modern comic book store. The New York Comic Art Convention's growth in popularity coincided with the increasing media attention on comics that had been building since the mid 1960s, feeding off the then novel notions of comics being a subject worthy of serious critical study and collectibility.

Circa 1961, enterprising fans including Jerry Bails, Shel Dorf, Bernie Bubnis, and future Marvel Comics editor in chief Roy Thomas began following the pattern of the long established science fiction fandom by publishing fanzines, corresponding with one another and with comic book editors (most notably DC Comics' Julius Schwartz), and eventually arranging informal and later professional, commercial conventions. Among the first were the 1964 Tri State Con (a. k. a. the New York Comicon) and that same year's precursor to the Detroit Triple Fan Fair (officially established in 1965). As Seuling described his convention's genesis, "In 1964, about a hundred people found themselves in a New York City union meeting hall, a large open room with wooden folding chairs, looking around at each other oddly, surprised, not really knowing what they were there for, a bit sheepish, waiting for whatever was going to take place to begin. It was the first comics convention ever [and t]hat one day assembly grew step by step into an annual tradition in New York and then elsewhere." In 1965, the Academy of Comic Book Fans and Collectors, led by Dave Kaler, hosted a convention at New York's Broadway Central Hotel, continuing that tradition in 1966 and 1967. The so called "Academy Cons" featured such industry professionals as Otto Binder, Bill Finger, Gardner Fox, Mort Weisinger, James Warren, Roy Thomas, Gil Kane,

As Seuling told it, "In 1968, I became involved in [staging] my first convention." Guests of honor at the 1968 show were Will Eisner and Burne Hogarth. Featured speakers included Stan Lee, Milton Caniff, Lee Falk, and Charles Biro. Professional guests included Neal Adams, Dan Adkins, Murphy Anderson, Dick Ayers, Vaughn Bodē, E. Nelson Bridwell, Nick Cardy, Gene Colan, Leonard Darvin, Sol Davidson, Arnold Drake, Creig Flessel, Woody Gelman, Dick Giordano, Archie Goodwin, Bill Harris, Larry Ivie, Jeff Jones, Gil Kane, Gray Morrow, Joe Orlando, Jerry Robinson, John Romita, Richard Sherry, Jerry Siegel, Leonard Starr, Jim Steranko, Roy Thomas, Sal Trapani, John Verpoorten, Al Williamson, and Wally Wood. The 1969 convention, the first official Comic Art Convention, was held Independence Day weekend at the Statler Hilton Hotel in New York City, and the guest of honor was Hal Foster. Admittance to the convention cost $3.50 for a three day ticket, with daily passes at $1.50. Admittance was free with a hotel room rental, which cost $15 and up per day. After the demise of the Alley, later years featured the Goethe Awards (later renamed the "Comic Fan Art Awards"). The 1971 show featured Guests of Honor Jerry Iger and Will Eisner, and their sale of hundreds of pages of original Golden Age comic book art, mostly from Fiction House (a prominent client of the Eisner & Iger comics packaging studio). As comics historian Robert Beerbohm remembers, "Iger & Eisner had brought in a few five foot tall pallets of original comic book art, mainly Fiction House. Using a forklift. Many multi thousands of pages. The Lou Fine covers, etc., went early on for bigger bucks [In] the last few hours they made the art $10 an inch." In 1973, Seuling persuaded Dr. Fredric Wertham, author of the industry changing 1954 book Seduction of the Innocent, to attend what would be Wertham's only panel with an audience of comics fans. The 1974 show featured a panel on the role of women in comics, with Marie Severin, Flo Steinberg, Jean Thomas (sometime collaborator with then husband Roy Thomas), Linda Fite (writer of The Claws of the Cat), and fan representative Irene Vartanoff. By 1984, as his comic book distribution business occupied more time, and as other comics conventions, most notably in San Diego and Chicago, became larger, more prominent, and more commercial rather than fan driven, Seuling segued the Independence Day centered Comic Art Convention into the smaller Manhattan Con, which took place in mid June. Seuling died unexpectedly in August 1984, and the Comic Art Convention/Manhattan Con died with him.

Following Seuling's death in 1984 and continuing until 1988, Creation Entertainment continued producing large annual conventions in New York City, usually taking place over the weekend following Thanksgiving (Creation had begun hosting New York shows in 1971, and sometimes put on as many as a half dozen New York City shows per year). In 1996, Greenberg, at a very late point, cancelled what had been advertised as a larger than usual Great Eastern Conventions show, which the fan press had suggested might herald a successor to the Comic Art Con. As a substitute event, promoter Michael Carbonaro and others on the spur of the moment mounted the first Big Apple Convention in the basement of Manhattan's Church of St. Paul the Apostle. These small shows nonetheless attracted many comics creators and pop culture figures, and by 2000 the convention had moved to the Metropolitan Pavilion on West 18th Street in Manhattan, and by the mid 2000s were taking place at the Penn Plaza Pavilion at the Hotel Pennsylvania — the same location of the original Comic Art Conventions. In 2002, the first MoCCA Art Festival, focused on alternative comics and the small press, was held at New York City’s Puck Building; it has been held annually since. In 2006, the first New York Comic Con was held in the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center; it also has been held annually since.