An ICv2 Release.  ICv2 has announced its initial speaker list for the ICv2 Conference:  The New Comics Customer, a special industry event held in conjunction with New York Comic Con.  The list includes top executives from comic and graphic novel publishers, convention organizers, digital and physical comic retailers, and other experts, all coming together to discuss the dramatic changes in the comics and graphic novel audience that are transforming the business. 

“I’ve never seen anything like what’s happening in the comics and graphic novel business right now,” ICv2 CEO Milton Griepp said of the Conference focus.  “There are a whole range of factors that are driving these changes, and we’ve brought together some of the best minds in the business to explore what’s happening.” 

The new comic customers, often outside the teen and young adult male segments that dominated comics for years, are being drawn to comics and graphic novels in new ways, buying them in new formats, including digital, and choosing stories that even a few years ago would not have been able to find sufficient audiences but now are turning into big hits. 

The ICv2 Conference will bring together the data and the people that can help explain this phenomenon, the sources of growth, and the prospects for the future. 

Speakers include Lance Fensterman, the SVP in charge of ReedPOP, which runs New York Comic Con and a host of other pop culture shows; David Steinberger, CEO of comiXology, the leading digital comics company; Ted Adams, CEO of IDW Publishing; Jon Goldwater, Co-CEO of Archie Comics, and a host of other executives and experts.
For the full list of sessions and speakers, click here.

Click here to register.

The ICv2 Conference is open to all press accredited by New York Comic Con, but we need your RSVP.  Please click here to let us know you're coming. 
 
About ICv2
ICv2 is the #1 industry source on the business of geek culture, including comics and graphic novels, manga and anime, movie/TV products, and hobby games, on its Website, www.ICv2.com, and in its magazine, Internal Correspondence.  For the people on the front lines of the geek culture business, staying ahead of the trends isn't something that can be left to chance-it's a basic necessity for being successful.  That's why ICv2 is the #1 source of news and information for the buyers, gatekeepers, and tastemakers on the front lines.  ICv2 is where trend-watching is a science.

Conference Co-Sponsor: Eventbrite
Eventbrite provides a simple, streamlined ticketing platform to help organizers set up, promote, and sell out their events--from fan conventions and tournaments to local meetups, celebrity signings and press events.  With more than $2.5 billion in gross ticket sales to date, Eventbrite can help you reach more fans.  Visit eventbrite.com/cons.

Conference Sponsor: Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly is your number one insider's guide for all pre-publication comics and graphic novels.  Register for PW's ComicsWorld e-newsletter for advance listing, reviews and news dedicated to comics and Graphic Novels.  If it is happening at New York Comic Con, then we have already written about it on PublishersWeekly.com.

Conference Sponsor: Heidi MacDonald's The Beat
The Beat, now in its ninth year, is dedicated to providing the timeliest and most pertinent news and information about comics, the people who make them, the readers who love them and the world that shapes them.  Heidi MacDonald is an Eisner Award-nominated writer and editor and a veteran entertainment industry journalist. As an editor she has worked for Disney, Warner Bros., and Fox, among many others.

Conference Sponsor: New York Comic Con
New York Comic Con is the East Coast's biggest and most exciting popular culture convention. Our show floor plays host to the latest and greatest in comics, graphic novels, anime, manga, video games, toys, movies, and television.  Our panels and autograph sessions give fans a chance to interact with their favorite creators.  Our screening rooms feature sneak peeks at films and television shows months before they hit either big or small screens.  And with dedicated professional hours, New York Comic Con is a market place, bringing together the major players in the entertainment industry.  New York Comic Con is the second largest pop culture convention in America with over 130,000 attendees in 2011, and the only one that takes place in the comic book, publishing, media, and licensing capital of the world--Gotham City.