ReedPOP Bringing New Convention to Philadelphia

The organizers of New York Comic Con, as well as other fandom conventions like C2E2, and Emerald City Comic Con, are bringing a new annual convention to Philadelphia. Produced by ReedPOP, the first-ever Keystone Comic Con will come to the City of Brotherly Love September 14 – 16, 2018 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

Calling all superheroes: ReedPOP is bringing Philadelphia its very own fandom convention!

Lance Fensterman, Global Head of ReedPOP, expressed the company’s enthusiasm for the new event in a press release: “Philadelphia continues to be a strong market for pop culture and comic book sales, and we are very excited to bring a ReedPOP experience to this region,” said Fensterman. “We are talking with local fans and retailers to find out what they are most excited about so we can create a show unique to this market that will provide fans with the ultimate destination to come together for a world class celebration of pop culture.”

Apparently, ReedPOP has been eyeballing Philly and talking about putting a convention in the city for upwards of five years. ReedPOP Event Director Mike Armstrong told Newsarama that Philadelphia kept popping up as a city of interest, and the team finally decided to take the plunge and move forward on bringing an event there. Thanks to the company’s other event, PAX Unplugged, which will take place in Philly this November, the team has had an opportunity to build relationships with leadership at the convention center and with city officials. This created exactly the right atmosphere to foster the new convention.

Although it is still early to be forecasting such things, ReedPOP believes the Keystone Comic Con could see attendance of 80,000 people or more by its fifth year.

“We want to make the same kinds of investments in experience, so that regardless of the guest list, you know that you’re going to be able to spend a weekend at the show and have an amazing time,” said Armstrong. “We also understand that we’re new in town and that we are going to need to build up some trust amongst the fan and retailer community. We’re totally dedicated to making that happen and turning Keystone into an event that the city can really be proud of.”