SMOF News, volume 1, issue 8

Convention sued over failure to happen, and news in brief.

Great Philadelphia Comic Con! Sued

The Great Philadelphia Comic Con! was originally planning to hold its next event on April 3-5, 2020. According to local TV station WPVI, it was pushed back to September 2020, then April 2021. And then the organizers, Christopher and Andrew Wertz, dropped out of sight completely:

They're not the only ones, and no one seems to be able to talk to Chris or Andrew Wertz - not the Expo Center, not an event vendor we talked to, and not even the Troubleshooters, who left multiple voicemails and sent multiple emails.

However, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office was interested and responsive, and now has filed a lawsuit over it:

The lawsuit, filed this week in the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County, seeks a permanent injunction on business dealings by Northampton County company Great Conventions LLC as well as restitutions for Comic Con ticket holders. It also requests organizers pay civil penalties of $1,000 for each violation of consumer protection law and $3,000 for each violation involving a customer aged 60 or older. 

And also:

Additionally, Great Conventions LLC and Wertz allegedly operated under the fictitious name “The Great Philadelphia Comic Con!” though that entity was not registered with the Department of State, as is required for business operations, per court documents.

The last official communication about the convention comes from a March 25 Facebook post explaining that it was impossible to hold an event under the local capacity restrictions at the time and the company was in a dire financial state:

All of you who have paid for a ticket or a table – we are still working towards honoring those, as previously stated. The shutdown of the 2020 show just one month prior to its start came at the worst possible time, as venue and hotel deposits had been made, as well as flight, marketing and advertising dollars already spent. We have been making attempts to recover some of the deposits that were made, but at this time we are not in a position to be able to offer refunds for tickets or tables.

As previously noted here, event insurance could theoretically have covered some of those already-spent dollars, but only if the pandemic managed to fall under the specific list of scenarios covered by the policy. And if the event had insurance at all, which is not known.

It is unlikely that those civil penalties will ever be paid. The lesson for other conventions in a similar bind is that it is probably better to go ahead and declare bankruptcy.

In Brief

• The bid to hold the World Science Fiction Convention in Memphis in 2023 has folded, citing the complications of campaigning during the current pandemic. The remaining candidates are Winnipeg, Canada and Chengdu, China.

• The Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund will be holding a westbound race (sending a European fan to North America) in 2022. The winner will attend Chicon 8, next year’s Worldcon. Full announcement (PDF).

Event Calendar

Weekend of October 22-24

• BuchmesseCon, Dreieich, Germany

• Sirens (gender and fantasy), Denver, Colorado, USA

• Atlanta Game Fest 36, Alpharetta, Georgia, USA

• GaelCon (gaming), virtual (usually Dublin, Ireland)

• CincyCon 2021 (gaming), Hamilton, Ohio, USA

• LAN All Night: ZombieLAN (video games), Dallas, Texas, USA

• Biggest Little Fur Con (anthropomorphic), Reno, Nevada, USA

• Sci-Fi-London 21 (film festival), London, UK

• MEX (anime), Berlin, Germany

• Anime Nebraskon, Council Bluffs, Iowa, USA

• Anime Fusion, Plymouth, Minnesota, USA

• Another Anime Convention, Westford, Massachusetts, USA

• FedCon (media), Bonn, Germany

• Hal-Con (media), Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

• Baltimore Comic-Con, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

• FicZone 2021 (media/gaming), Grenada, Spain

• TR25 (Tomb Raider), Derby, UK

• TFcon Baltimore (Transformers), Baltimore, Maryland, USA

• VoltCon! 2021 (Voltron), Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Weekend of October 29-31

• SpoCon: Revamped, Spokane, Washington, USA

• BristolCon, Bristol, UK

• Les Utopiales, Nantes, France

• Hallowcon 2021: Gambler's Nightmare (fantasy/horror), Dalton, Georgia, USA

• The Surrey Steampunk Convivial, Epsom, UK

• Ohio Valley Filk Festival (music), Worthington, Ohio, USA

• Dragonflight 41 (gaming), Bellevue, Washington, USA

• EuroQuest 2021 (Eurogames), Pikesville, Maryland, USA

• Golden Leaves Con XI (anthropomorphic), Hasliberg, Switzerland

• Furry Blacklight 9: Space Travel, Tremblay-en-France, France

• Anime Halloween, Schaumberg, Illinois, USA

• Oni-Con XVII (anime), Galveston, Texas, USA

• SNAFU Con (anime), Reno, Nevada, USA

• LumiCon (anime), Tampa, Florida, USA

• Manga Barcelona (anime), Barcelona, Spain

• Destination Tokyo (anime), Monthey, Switzerland

• Anime Weekend Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

• DerpyCon 2021 (anime), New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA

• Yunicon 2021 (anime), Schwechat, Austria

• Youmacon 2021 (anime), Detroit, Michigan, USA

• SMASH! (anime), Sydney, Australia

• 31st Festival of Fantastic Films, Manchester, UK

• All-Con (media), Dallas, Texas, USA

• Soda City Comic Con, Columbia, South Carolina, USA

• Fan Expo Denver (media), Denver, Colorado, USA

• Fanboy Expo Knoxville (media), Knoxville, Tennessee, USA

• Cherry Capital Comic Con, Acme, Michigan, USA

• Music City Multi Con (media/video games), Lebanon, Tennessee, USA

Weekend of November 5-7

• ArmadaCon 2021, Plymouth, UK

• IceCon 2021, Rejkjavik, Iceland

• World Fantasy Convention 2021, Montréal, Québéc, Canada

• Pulp Adventure, Bordentown, New Jersey, USA

• Corflu 38 Concorde (fanzines), Bristol, UK

• Carnage 24: Lost in the Carnage Triangle (gaming), Dover, Vermont, USA

• Midwest Gaming Classic, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

• Retro World Expo (gaming), Hartford, Connecticut, USA

• BottosCon 2021 (gaming), New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada

• Hexcon 2021 (gaming), Trondheim, Norway

• AmberCon NW (diceless RPGs), virtual (usually Troutdale, Oregon, USA)

• PAWCon 2021: The Home Furront (anthropomorphic), San Jose, California, USA

• NekoCon 23 (anime), Hampton, Virginia, USA

• Kumoricon (anime), Portland, Oregon, USA

• Anime Destiny 2021, virtual (usually Berkeley, California, USA)

• FACTS (media), Ghent, Belgium

• Comic Con Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden

• CoosaCon (media), Rome, Georgia, USA

• Akron Comiccon, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, USA

• CONjuration (Harry Potter), Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Weekend of November 12-14

• Novacon 50, Nottingham, UK

• TusCon 48, Tucson, Arizona, USA

• Windycon 47: Urban Fantastic, Lombard, Illinois, USA

• OryCon 42, Portland, Oregon, USA

• ArmadilloCon 2021, Austin, Texas, USA

• Multiverse 2021, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

• OmegaCon Fall 2021, Siren, Wisconsin, USA

• New England Crime Bake 2021: Home Sweet Homicide (mysteries), Dedham, Massachusetts, USA

• MEPACon 41 (gaming), White Haven, Pennsylvania, USA

• Heroicon (gaming), Decatur, Illinois, USA

• Bride of Geekway Mini (gaming), St. Louis, Missouri, USA

• MACE 2021 (gaming), Charlotte, North Carolina, USA

• Ludo-Outaouais (boardgames), Gatineau, Ontario, Canada

• Historicon 2021: Aircraft of War (historical miniatures gaming), Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, USA

• MillenniumCon (historical miniatures gaming), Round Rock, Texas, USA

• Flüüfff Grand Casino (anthropomorphic), Brussels, Belgium

• Bewhiskered: Prepare for Blast Off! (anthropomorphic), Durham, North Carolina, USA

• Aquatifur (anthropomorphic), Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, USA

• CanFURence 2021: The Furs Are Back in Town (anthropomorphic), Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

• Anime Dallas, DFW Airport, Texas, USA

• Anime Iwai, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA

• WasabiCon (anime), Jacksonville, Florida, USA

• Thought Bubble (comics), Leeds, UK

• Grand Rapids Comic Con, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

• Destination Star Trek London, London, UK

• Empire City Con (Steven Universe), Charlotte, North Carolina, USA

Weekend of November 19-21

• Fantastika 2021 (Swedish national sf convention), Stockholm, Sweden

• HispaCón 2021 (Spanish national sf convention), virtual

• Philcon 2021, Cherry Hill, New Jersey, USA

• Anime NYC, New York City, New York, USA

• Consequences O: Otherworldly Consequences (gaming), Christchurch, UK

• U-Con 2021 (gaming), virtual (usually Ypsilanti, Michigan, USA)

• BGG.CON (gaming), Dallas, Texas, USA

• Anthro Northwest 4 (anthropomorphic), Seattle, Washington, USA

• Con Nichiwa (anime), Tucson, Arizona, USA

• Colossalcon Texas (anime), Round Rock, Texas, USA

• Sin City Anime, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

• Anime Town: Pensacola, Pensacola, Florida, USA

• London Film & Comic Con, London, UK

• New England Super Megafest Comic-Con, Framingham, Massachusetts, USA

• Heroes Dutch Comic Con, Utrecht, Netherlands

• Vienna Comic Con, Vienna, Austria

• Time-Flight 2021 (Doctor Who), Holtsville, New York, USA

Coda

• The Monty Hall problem is not complete without accounting for Monty Hall (Tedium) (Hat tip: Money Stuff)

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