Posted in: Comics | Tagged: comic shops, comic stores, Comics, comics pro, comicspro, diamond, Diamond Comics, entertainment, portland, retailers

ComicsPRO's Annual Summit to Follow Image Expo 2018 in Portland

Both Diamond Comic Distributors, the monopoly distributor of most comic books to the direct market of comic book stores, and ComicsPRO, the retailer advocacy group, are both holding three-day summits in the next couple of months.

Some retailers may go to both, many will go to one, most will go to none. But can any of the details change any minds?

Let's take a look at ComicsPRO's annual summit. With its 12th Annual Meeting to Portland, Oregon on February 22nd to the 24th, the day after Image Expo. If you are going, do let us know…

Portland is now the home of Dark Horse Comics, Oni Press, Image Comics, CBLDF and IDW's satellite office as well as many comic professionals.

The ComicsPRO Annual Meeting brings together comic book retailers and vendors to discuss major industry issues and to develop ways to improve the comic book specialty market. All comic book retailers with storefront locations are invited to attend. Every attending retailer will be presented with a gift bag including graphic novels, toys, promotional items and comics. Publishers will create exclusive comics for ComicsPRO, many with very low print runs.

Platinum Sponsor: DC Comics

Premier Sponsors: Aftershock, Boom, Dark Horse, F1rst Comics/Devil's Due, IDW, Image, Lion Forge, Marvel, Titan, Vault, Valiant

Roundtable and Showcase Sponsors: Anomaly, Ata Boy, BCW, Black Mask, First Second, Oni, Skybound, Viz Media

Here's the week's schedule:

2/20 Tuesday

8:00 PM – 10:00 PM Wine and Cheese Reception

2/21 Wednesday

10:00 AM – 5 PM IMAGEEXPO This event is Offsite and not associated with the ComicsPRO conference.

6PM – 8PM ComicsPRO Welcome Reception Portland Hilton

ComicsPRO Registration

7PM – 11PM ImageExpo Party (Offsite)

2/22 Thursday (Retailers, DC, Marvel only)

8:30 – 9:30 ComicsPRO Registration

9:30 – 9:55 Welcome

10:00 – 10:55 How-To-Workshops

11:00 – 11:55 Marvel Presentation (Retailers Only)

12:15 – 1:25 Retailer Lunch (Retailers Only).

Themed Tables

1:30 – 2:00 Discussion (Retailers only) State of the Industry.

2:00 – 4:00 Break-out-Rooms – Solutions (Retailers Only)

4:00 – 5:15 Retailer/Creator Meet-up

5:15 – 6:00 Closed Membership Meeting (Members Only)

6:00 – 7:15 DC Presentation (Retailers Only)

7:30 – 9:00 DC Dinner (Retailers Only)

9:00 – 10:00 Dark Horse Reception

2/23 Friday

7:30 AM Vendor Registration

8:15 – 9:30 Breakfast

8:30 Showcase Vendors (5 min)

8:40 Titan (8 min)

8:50 Hero Initiative (8 min)

9:00 Image (16 min)

9:35 – 10:30 Workshops

10:40 – 11:00 Keynote Speaker/Industry Awards

11:00 – 12:00 Industry Discussion

12:15 – 2:00 Lunch

12:30 Dark Horse (16 Min)

12:50 Art Brand (8 min)

1:00 Lion Forge (16 min)

1:20 IDW (16 min)

1:40 Valiant (12 min)

2:10 – 3:30 Roundtables

3:30 – 3:45 Break – Snacks

3:50 – 5:00 Sponsor Presentations

3:50 Aftershock (16 min)

4:10 Eaglemoss (8 min)

4:25 Boom (16 Min)

5:00 – 6:30 Roundtables

Galleria North – 9 roundtables

Galleria South – 9 roundtables

Grand Ballroom (SW Corner) – 9 roundtables

Grand Ballrom (NE corner) – 9 roundtables

6:30 – 8:30 Break for Dinner (On your own)

8:30 CBLDF Cocktails

9:00 Auction to Support CDLDF

2/24 Saturday

8:30 AM – 9:30 AM Breakfast

8:45 Diamond Comics International

9:30 – 10:30 Roundtable Shuffle
Vendors sit at their tables and retailers can go to any table they want. Vendors can also set
up appointments with retailers. This also allows vendors and retailers to have longer
conversations.

10:30 – 10:40 Break – Snacks

10:40 – 12:10 Roundtables (see Roundtable Assignment pages)

12:10 – 12:30 Break

12:30 – 2:00 Roundtables (see Roundtable Assignment pages)

2:00 – 2:30 Closed Membership Meeting (Members Only)

2:30 End of Meeting

After Conference Activities

For those staying after the conference:

4:00 – 6:30 Bus Tour of Local Stores

Meet at CBLDF for bus

VENDORS ATTENDING

Action Lab
AfterShock Comics
Anomaly
Archie
Art Brand Studios
Ata-Boy
BCW Supplies
Black Bird (Sam Humphries/Jen Bartel)
Black Mask
BOOM! Studios
Comic Book Legal Defense Fund
CGC
Collection Drawer
ComicHub
Consortium/Ingram
Dark Horse
DC Comics
Devil's Due LLC/1First Comics, LLC
Diamond Comic Distributors
Eaglemoss
Fansets
First Second Books
GTS Distribution
Hero Initiative
Humanoids
IDW Publishing
Image Comics
Lion Forge
Marvel
Max Protection
Oni Press
Papercutz NBM
ReedPOP
Renegade Comics
SitComics
Skybound
Titan Comics
Valiant Entertainment
VIZ Media

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!