Turning A Party Into A Thriving Enterprise with Comic Con’s Gareb Shamus

Today’s guest is Comic Con founder and Ace Universe CEO Gareb Shamus.


Topics include:

  • Gareb’s background in comic stores and how he started a magazine about comics
  • Building a multifaceted business out of a small-scale vision
  • Why he bought the Chicago Comic Con (and turned it into a party)
  • How honesty, determination, and luck will carry your business above others
  • Gareb’s nickname (and how it arose out of his persistence)
  • Comic Con’s evolution into a more modern and inclusive enterprise
  • How (and why) comics and superheroes have shifted from uncool to cool
  • Managing the expectations of networking and introductory power

Gareb Shamus is an American contemporary painter and part of New York’s emerging Connectivism movement. He is the founder of the country’s largest producer of Comic Cons. Gareb started and published, for over twenty years, Wizard and ToyFare the award winning magazines that transformed the superhero and character based genre worldwide.

His paintings are noted for breaking the ‘3rd wall’ with their three-dimensional textures and use of a proprietary painting technique designed and developed to provoke conversation by reaching out to the casual viewer. His artwork is currently on display in galleries in Los Angeles and New York City; and he has exhibitions lined up over the coming twelve months in England, Italy, Germany and Asia. Gareb recently showed at Scope Miami during Art Basel and is the Artist in Residence at The Pivot Gallery in Chelsea, New York City.

Learn more about Gareb Shamus:

Learn more about Michael Schein:

Learn more about Michael Roderick:

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