It’s hard to imagine a world without comic book conventions but in 2003 there were few options for fans in the United States. San Diego Comic-Con was launched in 1970 and Chicago Comic Con in 1972, but they were the only two that had found any sort of longevity. New York Comic Con was still three years away from reemerging on the East Coast, Los Angeles was eight years from having a con, and Denver still had a nine year wait.
It was within that barren landscape that Jim Demonakos decided to launch a comic book convention in Seattle, Washington. “Emerald City Comicon came about because there wasn’t a large comic convention in the area,” he explained in 2015. “There was a small one, a fun ‘longbox show’ but nothing like San Diego or Chicago which were the two major shows at that time. I was a retailer then, and having traveled out of state for many other cons, I would always come back to Seattle and wonder why we didn’t have a bigger show, especially with how many comic book stores the Seattle area was supporting at the time. That was the genesis of the idea to bring ECCC to life.”
Twenty-five-hundred fans showed up at the Westfield Plaza at Qwest Field on February 9, 2003, for the inaugural one-day Emerald City Comicon. That number remained steady for the next three years while the con itself evolved into a two-day affair. In 2008, ECCC moved to the Washington State Convention Center and attendance suddenly began to climb exponentially as well.
“After that year one and year two, as long as you’re increasing by fifteen to twenty percent each year, you’re doing really well with this kind of event,” Demonakos said. “But after that it started to really grow, going from seventeen to twenty-five to forty to sixty, seventy, eighty thousand.”
Part of the reason for the sudden growth had to do with geek culture in general reaching a mainstream audience. The first Sam Raimi Spider-Man film premiered in 2002, while Iron Man – which launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe – was released in 2008. As more and more comic book related films and television shows hit the big and small screens afterwards, so did interest in comic book conventions.
“‘Nerd culture’ has essentially become ‘pop culture,’” Jim Demonakos noted. “The amount of people I can talk to about being fans of The Avengers or Iron Man or The Flash or Hellboy has grown by leaps and bounds. It’s no longer a small group who are fans, the fanbase continues to swell. That’s been reflected in the growth of Emerald City as well, with the show reaching an even wider demographic than ever before.”
The increase in popularity of geek culture has likewise changed the dynamics of a comic book convention. Most have now added a broader pop culture scope and celebrity guests to the affair, with comic books often being pushed out of the equation as a result. Despite such changes, however, Emerald City Comicon has remained committed to its original focus.
“It’s an interesting balance to maintain, but at the core of it, this show is actually run by comic book fans,” Demonakos said. “So when we are creating a show that we’re going to be excited about, we build it on comics, simple as that. With that as the foundation of the show, we know we can add the celebrities and other pop culture aspects of the show that our attendees want to see.”
It is also another reason that Emerald City Comicon has become so popular. “We have the biggest artists’ alley in the entire U.S., bigger than New York Comic Con, which has 150,000 people,” Demonakos explained during a 2015 panel. “It really is a source of pride. We know that comics is what fuels all of the stuff that we’re all super excited about right now. You couldn’t have all of these vendors without the comics. We know that creators are the big part of our show, and what we love is trying to take that mentality and move it forward to their events as well. Try to bring people who would maybe fall off the radar at a bigger show. Basically finding the large variety of people, not only regarding what they work on but from their abilities.”
The approach has resulted in ECCC becoming one of the most inclusive in the country. “The great part about Emerald City is that that we have the ability to pick and choose,” Jim Demonakos elaborated. “The waiting list to get a table at Emerald City Comic Con’s artist alley this year was over a thousand, which means our selection of people can be almost anyone. And so instead of picking whoever is next on the list, we do have a jury system. Like, we think there should be more females, we think there should be more transgender, we think should be more everything.”
The 2015 Emerald City Comicon was the first held after being sold to ReedPop, an exhibition company whose other conventions include New York City Comic Con and C2E2 in Chicago. Although many fans felt apprehension about the acquisition, Jim Demonakos told ComicsAlliance that there was no need to worry.
“I get that concern completely, and the initial conversation we had with ReedPop was very much along the same lines,” he said. “We have a certain feel to Emerald City that is hard to put into words. And one of the things that ReedPop wants is us – not necessarily just Emerald City Comicon, but they want the people. So that’s the big thing I want to convey: it’s not just some corporate acquisition where we’re just being swallowed up, but everybody who’s working on Emerald City is going to not only continue to work on Emerald City, but actually start working on C2E2 and New York.”
It takes a lot of work to pull off a convention like Emerald City Comicon, but it’s worth it in the end as well. “It definitely went from a hobby to a job,” Demonakos said. “It started out as a bunch of friends trying to put together a show and over the last decade has turned in to a major event employing a number of people full time, with even more support staff doing part-time or on-site work for the event.”
In terms of the greatest benefit, Jim Demonakos replied, “I’ll give you the ultimate cheeseball answer, but it’s true – the fans. Knowing that this event is the highlight of some people’s year, and seeing the enthusiasm before, during and even after the show, makes it all worth it!”
(NOTE: Emerald City Comicon is now Emerald City Comic Con.)
Anthony Letizia