New York Comic Con organizers have pledged to swiftly remedy a computer error that resulted in numerous comics veterans being denied industry badges for the October event.
“We are doing everything we can to figure out the glitch and rectify the error today,” Mike Armstrong, event director for parent company ReedPOP, said in a statement to CBR. “Our team will be in touch with those professionals who were rejected when they shouldn’t be. The creator community is what makes New York Comic Con so special and we’re bummed that a misplaced Excel column gave that community the impression that they weren’t as valued as they are.”
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Armstrong also tweeted early this morning, “Many of you are getting rejections but shouldn’t be, clearly.”
The industry professional badges aren’t free, and don’t entitle the creators to table space, but they do permit them to more easily navigate the convention, which in recent years has expanded beyond the exhibition floor and away from the Javits Center.
The mass rejections spurred speculation Thursday night on social media, where some began to theorize comics creators were being rejected by convention organizers in favor of other professions, such as marketing.
Debuting in 2006, New York Comic Con has swiftly grown to become second only to Comic-Con International among U.S. comics and pop-culture conventions. A record 200,000 tickets were sold to the 2017 event, although that doesn’t translate directly to the number of attendees. NYCC 2018 will be held Oct. 4-7.