Saturday, June 20, 2009

BARRED! Wizard World denies entry to Square 1 Press



Well, interestingly enough, I am not as upset about this as you would think.
Wizard Entertainment, in their infinite wisdom, (are you catching the sarcasm? I hope so, I'm laying it on pretty thick) have decided to bar my entry back into the Philly Wizard World con today. I attended the show all day on Friday, was setup in Artist Alley and generally had a decent time. Peter Katz, #3 idiot in charge over there at Wizard even walked past our setup in AA not once, but twice and never said a word to us. I can only guess that he was so involved with whatever he was doing ( i.e. nothing) that he didn't stoop low enough from his perch-on-high to notice us down in the depths of AA. We even saw Gareb Shamus, #1 idiot-in-charge, 1 row over and we were sure he saw us, but apparently not. Or maybe they didn't want to make a scene on the show's 1st day to the several hundred fans in attendance. Who knows.

I approached the entry gate this morning bright and early ready to go, offering up S1P's sketchbooks to the masses. Howard Chaykin, after having been tricked by Wizard, had to sign all day at the Dynamite Entertainment booth, apparently as some sort of deal setup to lure Dynamite to the show, as they were not going to setup there, or at least not as big a setup as they had this weekend. He had fixed the gitch tho, and was all set to sign in AA the rest of the show with Walter Simonson, our other attending artist.

I was asked my identity as I approached by a rather average-looking gentleman claiming to be Wizard's "head of security" I told him my name, and at this point he informed me that I was barred from entry to the show by mgmt. I asked to speak to someone over his head, he said re-iterated to me that he was the "Head of security". I informed him that I used to hold that distinction myself, and that he needed to contact either Peter or Stephen (Shamus:#2 idiot-in-charge and driving force behind the fall of Wizard Ent.) He then called Peter. Peter appeared moments later and approached us slowly shaking his head. I asked what the problem was, explained my attendance on Friday and that I was there representing my 2 artists and selling sketchbooks for them. He then, said to "hold on for a minute" and hurried off, I assume to double check with Stephen, to reinforce my barring. He then called the security guard to inform him that yes, I was indeed barred. He didn't even have the guts to return and tell me himself.

I was able to contact my artists before they entered the show and inform them as to what had taken place were both dumbfounded at Wizard's incredibly childish behavior.

They have yet to give me reason as to why I was asked to leave.

More as it transpires.

Either way, I apologize to anyone looking for the sketchbooks this weekend, they will be available at the Square 1 Press website for sale here as of right now. Walter Simonson sketchbooks are also available.

7 comments:

  1. Wow, what an amazing story. Are you going to share the reasons for the ban? There is a lot more meat left on the bone...looking forward to when you serve it up. :)

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  2. Once I get a reason from them, believe me, I'll let everyone know.

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  3. This is complete bullshit and just another example of why Wizard is going out of business. They are so unprofessional and clueless!

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  4. Wow that is nuts! I am glad I ran into you Friday, I didn't go back Saturday, mostly because I was finished what I wanted to do Friday. Looking forward to seeing what (if they even ever say) what the reason was.

    Shane

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  5. Yeah, I came by your table to check out the sketchbooks. Sorry I missed you. What con will you be at next?

    Buddy
    http://www.wordspicturesweb.com

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  6. We will be at SDCC, not exactly sure of location yet, still working on it. We will also be at Baltimore and Long Beach this year for sure

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