| Big Apple Comic Con | |
|---|---|
Artists Alley at the November 2008 Big Apple Con. |
|
| Status | Active |
| Genre | Comics |
| Location | New York, New York |
| Country | United States |
| First held | 1996 |
| Organizer | Michael Carbonaro |
| Official website | http://www.wizardworld.com/home-apple.html |
The Big Apple Comic Con is a Manhattan comic book convention started by Michael Carbonaro in 1996 in the basement of the Church of St. Paul the Apostle in Manhattan. It was originally named Big Apple Convention. It has grown into the longest-running comic book, science fiction/fantasy/horror/pop culture convention in New York City. Through 2009 it held several events a year at the Penn Plaza Pavilion in Manhattan.
There has been some confusion between the Big Apple Convention and the Big Apple Anime Fest. The latter was an anime convention which was held annually between 2001 and 2003 and supported by a consortium of anime and manga companies[1] and has no affiliation with the Big Apple Convention.
There is also no affiliation between the Big Apple Convention and the New York Comic-Con, which began in 2006, occurs at the Jacob Javits Convention Center and is run by Reed Exhibitions.
The Big Apple Convention was purchased by Wizard Entertainment. Its first show under Wizard was in October 2009 at Pier 94 in Manhattan.[2][3]. This was the first time it used the name Big Apple Comic Con.