Emerald City Comic Con Explained

Emerald City Comic Con (ECCC)
Status:Active
Genre:comic
Venue:Seattle Convention Center
Location:Seattle, Washington
Country:USA
First:2003
Organizer:ReedPop
Attendance:98,000 in 2019

The Emerald City Comic Con (ECCC), formerly the Emerald City Comicon, is an annual comic book convention taking place in Seattle, Washington. Originally taking place at the city's Qwest Field (first at West Field Plaza, then at the Event Center), the venue changed in 2008 to its current home at the Seattle Convention Center. The show expanded to a three-day event in 2011 and began using the entire convention center for the first time in 2013. In 2014, the Gaming portion of the show was moved to the third floor of the nearby Sheraton Seattle Hotel to make room for an expanded show floor.

Programming

The convention features a wide array of activities and programming including industry guests, various discussion panels, celebrity signings and photo opportunities, prize drawings, and costume contests. It features a large and lively Exhibitor's hall with comics retailers from across the entire Pacific Northwest bringing a large stock of modern and vintage comics, as well as other products such as statues, action figures, models, etc. CCG, RPG, and tabletop gaming is supported in specific areas of the convention center.

History

The event began as the Emerald City ComiCon, a one-day event at the Qwest Field Events Center in 2003. It was founded by comics retailer and comic book creator Jim Demonakos of Mukilteo, Washington, and broke even with an attendance of 3,000 people.[1] The event was acquired by Reed Exhibitions in 2015, after it had grown into a multi-day event at the Washington State Convention Center.[2]

On March 6, 2020, ReedPop announced that the 2020 Emerald City Comic Con would be postponed from March 12–15 to August 21–23 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which had been spreading in the Seattle area for several weeks.[3] [4] The rescheduled event was later cancelled in June and was replaced by a virtual event.[5]

In 2021, the convention resumed as an in-person event, scheduled for December 2-5, 2021.[6]

Locations and dates

Dates Location Attendance

Notes and References

  1. News: McInnis . Andrea . March 29, 2007 . Look! Up in Seattle! It's a comics convention . . March 12, 2020.
  2. News: Brown . Molly . January 13, 2015 . Emerald City Comicon sold to pop culture events chain ReedPop in 'classic superhero team-up' . . March 12, 2020.
  3. News: Oxley . Dyer . March 6, 2020 . Emerald City Comic Con 2020 has been postponed . . March 6, 2020.
  4. News: Talbott . Chris . March 16, 2020 . Emerald City Comic Con organizers work to reschedule a number of shows as coronavirus outbreak spreads . The Seattle Times . March 16, 2020.
  5. News: Craighead . Callie . June 16, 2020 . Seattle's Emerald City Comic Con and PAX West canceled for 2020 amid COVID-19 pandemic . Seattle Post-Intelligencer . June 17, 2020.
  6. Web site: A Statement From Reedpop – Organizers Of Emerald City Comic Con . ECCC website . July 24, 2021 .