|
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 24, 2021 17:42:26 GMT -5
Gem City Comic COn 2021 Day One Today was the first day of the 2021 Gem City Comic Con, the first larger regional post-pandemic shutdown con I have attended. Going with me was my wife, one of the players from my D&D group and his girlfriend. While my wife and I are con veterans, this was their first ever comic con. Doors opened at 10, but we didn't get there until 10:15 or so. We split up with an agreement to meet back up around noon. It was slightly overwhelming being on a large con floor teaming with people again, but fun. I spent the first couple hours just wandering around artists' alley, mostly catching up with old con friends and seeing what kind of offerings were there. I did stop by the booths of the three featured guests I wanted to make sure I got to-Michael T. Gilbert, Dan Parent and Don Simpson. Chatted with Michael Gilbert for a while and got a couple books I brought signed an Elric issue and the first volume of the Mr. Monster collections...    then stopped and chatted with Dan Parent for a few minutes and picked up a copy of Jetta, a book I considered backing on Kickstarter, but took too long too pull the trigger and the campaign ended. Dan signed it for me...  and the last of the three I stopped at Was Don Simpson's booth, and I am glad I did, as he mentioned he was only going t be there today, not tomorrow. I brought two books for DOn to sign, my copy of Border Worlds #1 and my copy of King Kong #1...   Don had some back issues of his work for sale, and I picked up two more issues of the Kong series that I needed (#2 and #6 for $5 each, a better price then I've fond in the wild for them), and Don signed them both...   talked to a lot of small press creators too, most of whom I had bought stuff from before but didn't have new issues ready yet (though one, Neil Moherman's Doomspeaker) had the series picked up by Scout Comics, which is cool, as I really dug the first issue and was hoping to find #2, now I can get it form my shop when it comes out). I did pick up one book, which is a bit of a story. In 2014, I was manning a table at ICE (Independent Creator Expo) with my wife for the local studio we were working with at the time, and young creator, Travis Horseman, approached us at the table to talk up his new project that was upcoming-it was his first book and he didn't have copies yet as the artist was in Italy and the first issue wasn't done yet so he hadn't gotten his own table. The book was called Amiculus and it was set in the waning days of the Roman Empire. The sample pages looked really good and I liked the concept a lot, and took note of the book as one to get later. The first trade came out in 2015, but I kept missing the opportunity to get it. I almost ordered it online from him, but never pulled the trigger. Flash forward to 2021, three volumes of it had come out and a collected omnibus edition of all three volumes was now available. I saw he was on the guest list for the show, and decided it was finally time to pull the trigger and picked up the omnibus...  I picked up a couple of marketing cards for upcoming projects he has as well. Ended up talking to Travis for a while. His table was right next to Neil's so I spent close to 45 minutes there. It was now a little after 12, so I went to meet up with the others. I hadn't made it to the dealers area yet, so after we touched base, I did a walk though, mostly catching up with dealers I knew and seeing what was what. Stopped an talked to a con friend, Aaron Deitrich who owns Roma Collectibles, a toy seller who specializes in G.I. Joe, and chatted to him for a few minutes about the Mego G.I. Joe deal that just went down. After walking though the entire dealer's area, I started digging through a few vendor's boxes, picking up a few things. The dealer I started with had a large wall of high end books (I ogled the two copies of Hawkman #4 he had, a raw copy for $500 and a slabbed 4.5 copy for $1000, but both were way out of my budget), and boxes and boxes of books from all eras for $3 each, which I spent a while digging through. Here were the 10 books I found there (all $3 each)... G.I. Joe #14 from the 1952 Ziff Davis series...  Classics Illustrated's The World Around Us #7-The Illustrated Story of Pirates from 1959...  Four Color #939 featuring Milton Canniff's Steve Canyon (though not by Canniff) from 1958  and how could I do a con and not get a red dress cover... Sherry the Showgirl #2 from Atlas Comics (1956)  cover by Dan DeCarlo. It's a bit rough, but for $3 it was worth it (especially since Lonestar has a copy in 1.8 selling for $165). Then I got a pair of issues of The Phantom out of the boxes, to knock a couple off my want list...  and lastly 4 issues of Twisted Tales from Pacific Comics, including the Wrightson severed head cover...  more to come... -M |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 24, 2021 17:56:08 GMT -5
Day One continued... Next dealer I went to is one I have bought from several times before. He's a regular at the Jim and Dan shows and rotates his stock for different shows. Today he had several boxes of magazine sized comics with color stickers for price (green $2, blue $5, yellow $10, red $10) and several $2 boxes, plus a ton of high end books. I pulled the following out of the $2 boxes... Black Orchid #2 & 3 finishing off the Gaiman/McKean mini..  and six more issues of Scooby Doo books...  and the following from the magazine boxes... two of the three issues I needed to finish the run of Will Eisner Quarterly...  Spirit Magazine #1 (I paid the most for this of any single issue (not trade) today, $10)  and two more issues of Spirit magazine...  knocking three off my want list for this run. two of the three issues of Frank Frazetta Fantasy Illustrated I needed to complete the series...  a half dozen issues of Elfquest magazine ($2 each)  and the first two issues of Don Rosa's Comics...  at that point, it was about 2:30 and my wife and our friends had pretty much seen and bought everything they had wanted to get. I could have hunted longer, but they were ready to go, and I had another free pass for tomorrow, so we headed out. I may head back tomorrow, I may not. There's construction and parking is a pain in the ass (a parking garage a block away with a three part skywalk access to get to the convention center) which make trying to navigate the area while driving frustrating, but if I feel up for it, I will head back for day 2 tomorrow and do a little more hunting. -M |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2021 18:34:52 GMT -5
Got wrapped up in something this morning and lost track of time, and my wife wasn't up for a second day, so decided to pass on going for a second day, so nothing new to add. I've got a Jim and Dan Show coming up on the 8th of August, so I'll get my con fix again there.
-M
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 8, 2021 20:18:03 GMT -5
So today was another quarterly Jim & Dan's Comic and Toy show on the campus of Wright State University. It ran from 10-4, but I had to make a short day of it, as we were scheduled to play D&D at 3 and I was the DM, so I needed to leave by 2 at the latest. There was a weird vibe at the show. It was only two weeks after Gem City Comic con, so there might have been some con hangover. The university also announced only 48 hours before the show was scheduled to take place that masks were required at all indoor events on campus, which included the con, and I guess a couple of vendors chose not to show up because of it, so there was a handful of empty tables at the show. Turnout was also a little light. There was a good surge when the doors opened, but after that initial rush, it was more sparse than usual. The result was a lot of the remaining vendors looking to make deals to move product. There is a small artist alley on the way in to the vendor room, and I knew most of the artists there-Craig Boldman, Jeff Austin, and Adam Fields were the featured guests, plus a handful of small press guys, including Frank James Bailey, who I knew form my days working with the studio. I bought the first issue of Frank's self-published book, Tercona to give it a shot...  and Frank likes to snap pics of the folks who buy his books, so he immortalized the moment of me getting the book...  I also spent some time chatting with Craig Boldman, who was asking me for suggestions for newer comics to try since our tastes on older books have a lot of overlap. Chatted a bit with Adam Fields as well, and ended up chatting about Masters of the Universe Revelations. Finally I stopped by Jeff Austin's table as well, and as usual he had raided his personal collection to put out a couple of boxes of dollar books to make a little money and make more room since he recently relocated to a smaller apartment. I ended up picking up 20 books for a buck each from him including... an issue of Merchants of Death with a gorgeous Alex Toth cover...  a Herriman volume...  and a bunch of misc. comics from series I am filling in and a Robert E. Howard comic I had never seen before...      then it was off to the dealer room... see next post. -M |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 8, 2021 20:37:16 GMT -5
Once I got into the dealer room, it turned into more of a collected edition day than a back issue day. One of the vendors there was Gem City Books, whom I wanted to check out at Gem City, but didn't get the chance. They were doing one of their damaged books sales today, i.e. clearing out all the books that have gotten dinged up or had flaws for way cheap-most standard trades were $2, regular hardcovers $5, Masterworks $20 and Marvel Omnibuses $50, They also had some other $10 and $15 special buys. And I bought a metric ton of stuff form them, and had to make a trip back out to the car afterwards to drop off the books. Here's a rundown of what I got... Baltimore Omnibus Vol. 2 ($5)-I have vol. 1-3 of the trades, and am reading through the series currently. This collects Vol. 5-8, so I am now only missing Vol. 4 (which I have access to on Hoopla for the same of the read through).  A Dresden Files OGN Dog Men ($2)  The Mike Mignola Quarantine Sketchbook (a gorgeous oversized art book normally $40, on sale for $10 because of a dinged corner)  The collected Masters of the Universe Mini-Comics (normally $40, but only $10 because of a couple of dinged corners and an overstock market dot on the outside of the bottom of the pages)  Paper Girls Deluxe Hardcovers Vol. 1 and 2 ($5 each, excellent shape but shrink wrap torn)  The Complete Peanuts Vol. 1 and 2 Slipcase Edition (covering 1950-1954; normally $60, on sale for $15)   Marvel's Art of Savage Sword of Conan still in shrink wrap, normally $30 on sale for $10  The Stuff of Legend Omnibus Vol. 1 HC ($5)  The Oversized Critical Role Vox Machina Origins I and II HC edition (normally $40 or $50 on sale for $10)-my wife and I have become huge fans of Critical Role over the last 4 months, and I read the regular trade versions of the two volumes collected here from our public library a month or two back, and wanted to add it to my library, I love this hardcover edition, but it was a bit pricey, but for $10 it was a no-brainer)  some $2 trades...  two of these were also $2 trades (Monstress and Black Monday Murders Vol. 1), the other 4 were form another local dealer (Bell, Book and Comics) and were $5 each.  I got more from Bell, that I will post in the next post, but that wraps up the Gem City Books haul, which got dropped of fin my car before I returned for round two (see next post) -M |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 8, 2021 20:49:42 GMT -5
Returning to the dealer room, I went to Bell. Book and Comic next, and in addition to the four trades shown above I picked up the following: two more $5 trades...  a bunch of Uncle Scrooge comics from the dollar bins...  and Usagi Yojimbo Vol. 2 #3 featuring a TMNT x-over for $5  after that I hit the tables of another dealer I buy from regularly (I got all the magazine sized stuff from him at Gem City Con two weeks back). He had brought some different stuff, including today's theme of collected editions, so I picked up a bunch of collected editions and mag sized books again from him... Gray Morrow's Buck Rogers strips ($10) and the Dragon Lady Press collection of some of Kubert's Tales of the Green Beret material ($5)  Chaykin's Time2 ($2.50)  the first volume of Love and Rockets ($5)  Scott Hampton's adaptation of Rob Howard's Pigeons form Hell which I hadn't found before ($5) and Vol. 1 of Kelly Green by Drake & Starr ($2.50 this and Time2 were from a 2/$5 box)  2 volumes ($8 and $10 of Eisner's The Spirit Archives ($20 each)  that left the rest of the day to dig through back issue bins (mostly $1 bins) form various dealers until I had to leave (see next post) -M |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 8, 2021 20:57:19 GMT -5
There were a few books that weren't dollar bins, but all were good deals anyways... one underground book...Barbarian Comics #1  a pair of Groo #2's (one the Pacific series, one the Marvel/Epic series) ($4 for the pair)  and then a couple more Groos from the dollar bin  another Scooby Doo back issue, this time from the short-lived Marvel series and one more Skywald book off the list...  and some dollar books from the same dealer...   and then one last dealer on the way out with dollar bins... a couple random DC books  and a bunch of Gladstone Disney Ducks...  and with that, with just a single dollar bin left in my money clip from my cash budget for the show, I left to return home and roll some dice... -M |
|
|
|
Post by brutalis on Aug 8, 2021 21:33:19 GMT -5
Soooooo jealous. You had a con to attend AND the astoundung purchases.
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 8, 2021 22:41:25 GMT -5
I agree! Would have loved to have been able to get over there today and joined you. Awesome hearing your reports, and some really great deals there.
|
|
|
|
Post by Icctrombone on Aug 9, 2021 6:01:15 GMT -5
A lotta nice books, mrp. That's the first pic I've seen of you, almost. You look like Wilson from the Tool time show.  |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2021 9:18:19 GMT -5
One other note about Gem City Books, it was an even better bargain than the prices I posted, as my stack came to $88 but since I as paying cash and not on a card, they knocked it down to $80 flat for the stack, so essentially four of those $2 trades were free.
-M
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2021 9:19:10 GMT -5
A lotta nice books, mrp. That's the first pic I've seen of you, almost. You look like Wilson from the Tool time show. It should be noted, that's not a glare from the lights in my glasses, that's my actual eyes glowing with my mutant power...  -M |
|
|
|
Post by commond on Aug 9, 2021 20:33:28 GMT -5
What a haul.
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 26, 2021 9:30:48 GMT -5
Set up at Torg Summit (Gaming Expo featuring Comics and Toys) which was how the questionable marketing for the show billed it, a slight change from Torg Summit Games, Comics and Toys as it was originally announced and as it was in previous years. Of course two weeks ago I had never heard of this show, so I really didn't know what to expect. It was held at Kicksports Complex-a soccer training academy on the north side of Columbus, and we were set up on the very bad astroturf (i.e. fuzzy concrete) of an indoor soccer pitch (which meant I ended up having to take off my slip on shoes and dump out bits of astroturf that got inside them 26 times during the course of the day. Show ran from 9 to 5 with the first hour for those who sprung for VIP admission passes, and after 10 for general admission. They ran video game tournaments all day, and other videogame oriented material. 90% of the exhibitors were selling videogames and videogame adjacent material The other 10% were the artists (all of which I knew from the con circuit already, most were self-publishers or indy comics guys, very few of which had many video game ties), myself and 2 other vendors (both set up directly behind me in the other center aisle), 1 of which had all action figures, the other toys, statues and 4 long boxes, and then my table, which probably stood out like a sore thumb as being a different spread of merch, which was good and bad. When we got there, they told me my table numbers and gave me the vague directions "it's near the front corner"-they weren't, they were in the middle of a center aisle. And of course the table numbers did not proceed sequentially because one of their promotions was a "scavenger hunt" to find where products were being sold and getting the table numbers, so table #1 was next to table #17 which was next to table #50 etc. making it a nightmare to try to find the tables to start getting set up. Took us nearly 15 minutes, and my guys found it just after I went back to the coordinator and asked, hey where the f*&k is my table, your directions were s*&t. It was an hour drive to get there, we needed to be set up by 9, and had got there by 7:45 so we'd be ready in time and had to waste 15 minutes wandering around a soccer pitch to find a blasted table because they had no clue how to actually organize a show and support their vendors. But, other than that... We got the table ready with about 5 minutes to spare, and ended up having a modestly decent show. I had no idea what to bring, so I brought a little bit of everything, comics, toys, trading cards, CCGs, Tarot cards and art prints of my wife's fantasy art. Set up a candy tray and a bottle of hand sanitizer to draw people to the table (get the kids to come to the table for the candy, the parents will follow...). I had a modest goal-I had no ability to take credit cards before the show, so when Jesse offered us the tables, we decided to go legit with this and opened up a separate business account and get a card reader. My goal was to make enough at the show to cover the cost of the card reader and the fees for it for the rest of the year, so the shows I do the rest of the year would be pure profit and not have to cover operating costs (my table for the next show is also free so I don't have to cover table costs for either of these shows, and depending how we do I may buy a table at the quarterly Jim and Dan show in December. I exceeded my goal by a large margin (a little more than double it), so I was satisfied. My hottest seller was the few pieces of vintage D&D supplements I had. I sold everything I brought, and could have sold a lot more if I had it, however, that's what I have been mostly selling online that last 4 months and my inventory on it is tapped out, and prices are too high to restock and be able to sell at a profit right now. I have a bunch of rpg minis left to sell, but that was the one thing I didn't bring. About half my sales were comics and trades, the rest split between tarot, toys and cards. The Tarot got a lot of interest (the $100 deck with art by Salvador Dali caused arguments between 3 different couples where one wanted it but the other said it was too expensive, and even my offered deal didn't persuade any of them to bite. And I had a lot of people ask for my store (online or physical neither of which I have) to shop the rpg minis, but I gave them info to get to the FB group where I do sell, so maybe one of two will actually follow through and by some stuff there. It was a long day, and abyssmally hot in the building on astroturf in a metal roofed building with only 2 ceiling fans in the whole facility to circulate the air-I managed to sweat through everything by the time we finished setting up. Restrooms were an issue-2 men's room and two ladies' rooms each with a COVID limit of 2 occupants each in the entire building that had between 800 and 1000 people in it most of the day, so the longest lines anywhere there the whole day was for the restrooms, with nothing to make it quicker for vendors who had to be away from their tables to use the facilities. Their only concession to the heat all day was to give each vendor a single 10 oz. bottle of water about an hour after the show opened. There was nowhere to buy food or beverages on site either. They had contracted 3 food trucks to set up in the parking lot, but two didn't show, and the third only sold snowcones. So it was a good thing I brought a few bottles of water in an insulated lunchbox with an icepack, and my guys ran out to the main road to grab lunch for us (which also was an issue because they didn't want to let food onto the soccer pitch). SO despite the shortcomings of the venue and the organizers, we managed to have a decent show, decent sales and met a lot of cool people. Here's a look at my set up for the show...    The pics are from after lunch, when we had been inthe heat for several hours and were a bit frazzled. That's me in the tye-dye peace symbol shirt. So yeah, wound up making the best of it, but I am not sure I would do another show with these organizers again. -M |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 31, 2021 20:58:48 GMT -5
Set up at Champion City Comic Con in my hometown today...  It was an interesting show. First year in a new location after not taking place last year on Hallloween. My two observations, it was a small but mighty show-attendance was a little light, but those that were there were spending freely, and it was a dig show rather than a big show-i.e. people were digging through boxes looking for stuff rather than buying big ticket wall books. I had the same variety of stuff I had at Torg Summit, but went a little heavier on RPG stuff, adding more D&D minis and Star Wars RPG minis. One vendor who had reserved 6 tables "called in sick" and since there was only 40 tables total, it was a big chunk, but a couple dealers there took extra tables, and my wife set up with her art at the table across from me to take another one. We did well, I doubled, and almost tripled dollars sold from Torg, so it was a good day in that regard. I didn't do a lot of hunting, I had some trade credit coming still from my friend who ran the show, so I picked up a few things form his dollar bins (mostly some Unknown Soldier issues with Kubert cover, a couple of Corben books, and a chunk of the Verotik Jaguar God series with Frazetta covers and Frazetta-inspired content-I'll post those in the purchases thread tomorrow when I have a chance to take some pics). The venue was a little smaller than the previous one (it was in a KofC hall instead of a hotel event room), but the space worked better and made for a good environment so we will see where it goes next year. I know my firend was contemplating adding a second show in town for next year, so I think everyone who was there did pretty well. -M |
|
