When Emerald City Comicon announced that it was merging with ReedPop, everyone who knows and loves the Seattle-based convention had the same question:
“Will ReedPop change Emerald City Comicon?”
I mean, after all, exhibitors and attendees alike have loved this show — run by Jim Demonakos and an amazing staff of dedicated comics-lovers — for years.
Ask anyone who has ever exhibited there. and they’ll tell you that they’ve never been treated better. Ask the attendees. They’ll tell you the show is a highlight in their year. This show was special. And there’s more than a few people who felt a little worried that this Good Thing had come to an end earlier this year when the merger was announced.
Scott, Cory and I wondered it on a recent episode of Surviving Creativity. We got both Jim and ReedPop VP Lance Festerman on the line to assuage our fears.
They told us that Emerald City was going to continue unchanged.
We crossed our fingers and hoped for the best.
So imagine my surprise — my downright elation — when I walked into the ReedPop-run Special Edition; NYC convention this weekend. This was the first Reed show since incorporating the Emerald City staff, and it was — for all intents and purposes — Emerald City East.
Better! It was like one of the old Emerald City shows. Remember being in the bottom of Mariner’s stadium? Remember those old comics-centric Seattle shows — those shows where the hardcore love of comics was as palpable as the smell of Silver Age quarter bins?
That’s what happened at Pier 94 in Manhattan last weekend.
Exhibitors got all the one-on-one attention, the shuttles to and from the show, the care, and the respect that they thought only happened once-a-year in Seattle.
ReedPop may not change Emerald City, but from what I saw this weekend, Emerald City is changing ReedPop.
And that’s good news for people like me who love those old-school comic-book comic conventions.
I asked the former-ECCC staffers who stopped by my booth in their new roles with ReedPop the same question: “With this show proving such a success, what are the chances for Special Edition: Chicago… Special Edition: Oakland… Special Edition: Boston… and so on?”
All I got were smiles.
Wide smiles.
There was a lot of that going around last weekend. Transcript
Panel 1
(Cassie Cruz speaking to Jeremy, who is standing in front of a board with pictures of various Evil Inc employees.)
Cassie Cruz: Jeremy, we have to find out who has been leaking information to the heroes before they pin it on me! The only nursing home capable of caring for my mother is contingent on my job here! — And even they have their hands full!
Panel 2
(A flashback scene shows Cassie narrating while Princess Charming, an elderly woman in a wheelchair, is interacting with another patient in the nursing home.)
Cassie Cruz (narrating): As a top-tier mind-controller with dementia, my mom keeps reliving the past — and pulling innocent people into her world!
Panel 3
(A flashback continues with an orderly, wearing a red shirt, standing near Princess Charming. Green energy surrounds them as the orderly appears to be in a trance.)
Cassie Cruz (narrating): Last week, an orderly forgot to turn on his neuro-dampener last week. Before anyone knew it, he was reenacting a battle between Mom and Hijinx.
Jeremy: Was Hijinx a hero she used to fight?
Panel 4
Cassie Cruz (narrating): Worse. It was a villain she had a rivalry with.
Princess Charming: I wish I could be like you. It must be so freeing not to stress over every little pound!
Panel 5
(Orderly is sitting on a couch, speaking with a therapist)
Cassie Cruz (narrating): The poor guy has been in counseling ever since!
Orderly: I mean… I thought I looked cute in bangs!
(Comic strip by Brad J. Guigar. © 2025. All rights reserved. Visit evil-inc.com)
