Atlantic City Boardwalk Con (ACBC) Draws Over 15,000 Comic Con Fans

Story, photos by Lou Perri

Atlantic City Boardwalk Con’s (ACBC) second year was a great success both for comic con fans and Atlantic City’s economy. Explore-NJ was there to capture the action in photos.

The event, which took place at the Atlantic City Convention Center May 13-15, drew fans and families from across the region. More than 15,000 people attended the three day convention, which featured some of the comic industry’s best illustrators and creators, celebrities and vendors. The focus of the show this year was getting the crowd more involved and the feedback was overwhelmingly supportive. Fans loved the level of interactivity ACBC provided – from the Battle Zone to the ACBC Kidz Zone – and the events creators believe this is just one of many things that sets this show apart from other comic cons.

“Our mission from the very beginning was to create a much different experience than the traditional comic conventions,” Mike D’Alessio, founder of ACBC and CEO of New Jersey-based marketing agency, Promoguys Marketing Group, told Explore-NJ. “This being the second year, we wanted to make sure fans could come and experience something completely different than the year before. It’s important to be able to provide the same quality dynamics that the fans want to experience, but we also wanted to make sure the experience is fresh and different and that is something we will strive for every year.”

The comic con also supports the CRDA’s mission to attract new visitors to the resort by offering non-gaming attractions. ACBC brought business to hotels, restaurants and other entertainment venues throughout the city. Based on the attendance number of 15,000 and the trackable rooms, Meet AC determined the economic impact of this year’s ACBC was $3.2 million.