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San Diego 2014 Thursday #3 The crowds were not nearly as bad in the comics area. Here's a picture around 945am on Thursday. I've been to SDCC about 10 times and each year there are less comic dealers. There seem to be a good number of the big national silver/gold dealers here. But the smaller comic dealers from years past -- the ones with inexpensive low and mid grade silver and tables and tables of dollar comics sorted in alphanumeric order -- and the ones where you might be able to get a good deal on high grade silver and SA/GA keys -- those dealers are not here. I assume it's because of the high cost of attending SDCC. I go to one big con in the summer (I'd love to go to more but too many family commitments), and I bounce back between SDCC and WW Chicago. Last year I went to WW, and comparing the 2 cons for comic shopping, WW is the clear winner. That's not to say the con isn't alot of fun. I've just changed focused and decided not to focus on too much comic buying. The key to any con is learning how it works. For example, WW Chicago has a back door into the con. They'd be long lines at the front door, while you could walk right in at the back door. Unfortunately the con shifted space last year so that door didn't work. At SDCC there are a couple things I've figured out. One, you don't have to wait in line to get in, unless you want to. And it can be fun to wait in the long line because there's alot of excitement and energy there. But you don't have to. Yesterday the con opened at 930 and I (along with alot of other people) walked right in at 930. So I probably got in before alot of people who'd waited for hours in the long lines. Another key to SDCC happiness is bag check. Each year they have 2 or 3 bag checks. It costs $2 for each bag and it is really a savior. I bought a few statutes and a number of books, and rather than having to lug them around or waste time going to the hotel, I checked them into bag check. The problem is the bag checks get full pretty early. But the staff does a good job of rearranging things to open up new space. Today I ended up checking 4 bags and it really made the con alot more fun not having to carry around all that weight. Now walking around the con ... The Lego booth had a bunch of these message boards. I texted it to my kids and my 17 year old immediately noticed the "yaoi." One of the art dealers had this original Vargas. The price? $85,000.

San Diego 2014 Thursday #2 I'll post more observations later, for now here are some cosplay pictures I took: The last was of the young girl helping Joe Benitez at his booth. A CGC witness helped me out with signatures at Joe's booth. It took some time though. I apologized to the witness and he said "Yeah, you forced me to look at the pretty girl longer." Ah, youth ... This isn't cosplay but still very cool, RASL from Jeff Smith's booth:

San Diego 2014 Thursday Took the boat from Coronado to a dock behind the Marriott Marina (where I wish I was staying!). In past years I've waited in the long lines to get in, but this year I've decided to hang out and then try to walk in when the con opens at 930am. That's worked before, which makes you wonder the point of waiting in line unless you're at the front and planning to race for an exclusive. So I wonder why I'm here. The sidewalks are incredibly crowded, I can only imagine what it will be like inside the con in 35 minutes. I think back to last year and the relative calm and laid back atmosphere of WW Chicigo. But you can't beat SDCC for the total immersion in comic and popular culture. There are huge building size banners everywhere, there are more each year. Here's one on the hilton right across the street from the con, that I snapped while walking to get breakfast at Rockin' Baja for breakfast. I had to text this one to two of my kids who are into Walking Dead with me. The breakfast at RB was good, Huevos Rancheros: Update at 940, the crowd 10 minutes after the con opening:

San Diego 2014 Con Report - Wednesday Sorry, no pictures of preview night, I was only able to get the 4 day no preview night ticket (and I feel lucky to get that). Badge pick up for the 4 day tickets was at the Town & Country resort. It was supposed to open at 3pm but in fact opened before 1pm. Very easy process, no lines. I'll never stay at the Town & Country though. Too far away and too crowded. The check in line had to be 30 minutes long. I'm staying at the Marriott Coronado Island as I didn't win the hotel lottery. I'd rather be in the Gaslamp. Taxis cost $30+ each way and are not nearly as convenient as walking, and Coronado (while nice) doesn't nearly have the energy of Gaslamp. Ah well, I'm just happy to be here. Here's a picture of the convention center from behind (from Coronado Island): What's kind of cool are the hotel convention-themed keycards. Here's what the Marriott gave me:

Getting Ready for SDCC 2014 #3 I leave for SD tomorrow. My flight's crazy, it takes off at 6am and the airport is about an hour away. It goes through LA with a layover, so I don't get to SD until after noon even with the early take off. Oh well ... A bummer is my hotel is not in Gaslamp, I missed out on the hotel lottery. I'm staying on Coronado Island, my first time staying there. I'm got some stress about that, as I always shop the dollar boxes to fill in holes in my collection. To give you an idea, at 2012 SDCC I bought 900 comics. At the 2009 SDCC I bought 1200 comics. Most were out of the $1 boxes or inexpensive low- or mid-grade silver. The challenge is always how to get the comics back to the hotel (getting home isn't too hard, I just ship them). Staying in Gaslamp is easiest as I can walk from the con to my hotel during the day to drop off purchases. But staying on Coronado I'd have to take taxis and that'll suck away alot of time. I hope to be able to use bag check to store comics and then bring them all back to the hotel at the end of each day, so I only have to take 2 taxis (one to the con in the morning, and the other back to the hotel at night). Another bummer about not staying at Gaslamp is not being able to hang in the neighborhood after the con in the evenings. I really like the energy and the restaurants. At least I've got the restaurant issue figured out. So I've decided to check out the restaurants in Coronado. They look really good, and I've never spent any time there. My tradition is to get chinese food the night before flying out to San Diego. So here's what I got from the local chinese carryout.

Okay, I shouldn't have done it ... #2 As I worked on my SDCC want list I stumbled on these books on eBay. They were on my want list (for my Gwen Stacy collection) and they were at a price hard to resist. I'm trying to save money for SDCC but if these were offered at the con at the seller's prices they would be a good buy. And he combined shipping so I went for it.

Okay, I shouldn't have done it ... I'm trying to save for the SDCC later this week. But this popped up on the marketplace and I couldn't resist. Aquaman's first tryout? It's a book I want, but not enough to pay alot for it. Yes, this is only CGC 1.0, but it looks nicer than a 2.0 that's currently on sale on eBay (IMHO). The cover's detached but once slabbed it's hard to notice. The price was right and it let me cross it off my list. Thanks StingerMcK! A great start to SDCC week!

Getting Ready for SDCC 2014 #2 So I've got my want lists for San Diego all set. This weekend I've been planning out my days. SDCC is so huge and so much going on that's the only way to make efficient use of time. I'll only be there Thursday and Friday so planning ahead is even more important. I'll be spending most of my time in the dealer's room, but I'd like to see a few panels. The programming schedule is online. You can make your personalized schedule and then access it from your phone. Here's my schedule. Not too ambitious because I know the lines will be impossible. I thought about whether to drop books off at the CGC booth. I decided against it. There's no on-site grading, so the only advantage would be saving on shipping to CGC, and to me that's not worth the hassle of bringing the books. I wonder if Alfred Trujillo will be there? I'd be able to ask him about the sketch op from a while back. As far as I can tell no one has gotten their books yet although I've seen pics of some of the books (including 1 of the 2 I commissioned; it looks great, I'd just like to know when I might be getting it, and also find out the status of the 2nd one I commissioned and paid for via the facilitator). Here's the thread if interested: http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=7059652&fpart=1

Dr. Balls - Thanks. Lately I've been getting into cast photos. I'm working on Walking Dead cast photos myself, as the actors seem to be available at cons (like WW). I'd love to buy a Game of Thrones cast photo, that's on my list for SDCC.

Most Recent CGC Invoice #3 - The first Margaret and some GGA covers Here are a few other comics I got back in my most recent CGC invoice. I was really happy about the grade on this one, the 1st Margaret Wade in Dennis the Menace. These comics tend to be beat up as they were read over and over again by kids (including me). And a few GGA covers:

Most Recent CGC Invoice #2 - My "Original Marvels" Collection With this invoice I also submitted a couple comics for my Original Marvels collection. At the moment I've completed runs of Cap, Incredible Hulk and Iron Man. I need #1 to complete the Avengers and #7 to complete Daredevil (I actually have reading copies of these books but I'm looking to upgrade). I need 8 more issues to complete ASM and 8 more to complete FF. I'm actually pretty close to completing Thor and Submariner too, but I've never considered those titles part of this collecting goal (just like I've never included X-men in this project). I probably spent too much for both comics (from a deal making point of view, now is not a good time to buy the 1st appearance of Electro of course; at least I bought the key Gwen issues years ago). At least both came back blue. And, while not high grade, they're good enough for me to check them off my list without invoking an OCD desire to upgrade.

Most Recent CGC Invoice #1 - How Accurate Are Comic Connect's Grades? A few months back I won some raws on a Comic Connect auction. They were part of my most recent Value submission that I got back from CGC the day before WW Philly. Here are the results from CGC CC graded Adventure 307 at 8.5 and it came back from CGC at exactly that, CGC 8.5. CC graded Adventure 350 at 9.0, and again it came back as advertised, CGC 9.0. The only disappointment was House of Mystery 156. CC graded it out at 8.5, and it came back from CGC at 7.5. To be fair I thought the book was 8.5 too. So overall I think CC did a good job with grading. I love these books! 1st appearances of Element Lad, White Witch and (best of all!) Dial H For Hero! And it always amazes me to see books like this, almost 50 years old, in such great condition.

Getting Ready for SDCC 2014 With WW Philly over I’ve got to get ready for SDCC. I was lucky enough to get 4 day tickets (unfortunately, no preview night). Last year I was only able to get a Sunday ticket. Not enough to make it worth the trip from the east coast, so I went to WW Chicago instead. But I kept the SDCC Sunday ticket, to qualify for early registration this year. You didn’t need to go to last year's con to qualify for this year's early registration, only have a ticket. That might change for 2015. This is controversial. On the one hand, they’re making it hard for 1st time attendees to get a ticket. On the other hand, they’re trying to support people who go every year. I'm not sure there's any good solution to this. I do hope they keep the con in San Diego, as opposed to moving to a different (larger) venue like LA. SDCC wouldn't be the same if not in San Diego, at least for me. I actually think WW Chicago is the better con for buying comics. Flights are cheaper (since I’m from the east coast), and hotels are much cheaper, less hassle and more convenient to the con. So why do I go to SDCC over Chicago? Because SDCC is mecca for comic fans. If I’m lucky enough to win the ticket lottery I’ll always pick SDCC over any other con. Due to family commitments I’ll only be able to be there for Thursday and Friday, so I’m trying to figure out the best way to take advantage of my time there. I’m thinking, for the most part, I won’t chase after CGC certified signatures, as I don’t want to take time running back and forth to the CGC table to get a witness. But I’ll see how it goes. I would like to get an SS of Joe Benitez. If doing that is relatively painless (given the lines and demand at the con), I might go for others. But, for the most part, I’ll reserve the signature hunt for future WW cons like I did in Philly (at least for actors). I’ve learn that, given the size of SDCC, you have to have a plan (especially since I’m only there for 2 days). I’ll figure out my plan for programming later, once the schedule is out. I do want to attend more panels this year, but I’ll pass on the big events like Walking Dead and Game of Thrones. I’d love to go to them, but I’m not willing to spend all my time waiting in line. And you can watch the panels on youtube after the con. I have to watch what I buy because there’s nothing worse than being bogged down by heavy bags (and the bag check often fills up early). I didn’t get room in Gaslamp this year, so I can’t easily dump my stuff in my hotel room (I’m staying a cab ride away). Anyway, this is what I’ll try to pick up in the dealer’s room. • Work on completing a few Silver Age titles, including: Atom, Aquaman, Batman Family, DC 100 Page Super Spectacular, Hawkman, Justice League of America, Spectre, Sub-Mariner, Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen, • Buy a few (2 or 3) “original silver age Marvels” comics. I only have 18 issues to go to complete my runs of ASM, Avengers, Cap (complete), DD, FF, Hulk (complete) and Iron Man (complete) • Discover a few new writers / artists in the Small Press Pavilion and Artists’ Alley • Visit Joe Benitez table, find out the latest news on Lady Mechanika, and see if he’ll do a sketch cover (SS by CGC) • Also visit other favorite writers/artists, like Terry Moore. I’ll need to update the list once all the guests are confirmed. • Buy 1 cool statue to add to the collection • Buy a few Walking Dead action figures and maybe a signed photo • Buy a cast photo from Game of Thrones • Pick up some cheap action figures for the collection (DC, Star Trek and Star Wars) • See a couple movies at Horton Plaza and Pacific Gaslamp movie theaters • Get a beer (or two) from Dublin Square • Get a few tapas and a couple glasses of Spanish wine from Café Sevilla • Walk through the antique car place in Gaslamp (I’ve done this every time I’ve gone to SDCC!) • If I feel like steak, go to Greystone for dinner; if I feel like Italian, go to Asti Here are a few pictures from my last SDCC in 2012. The last pic is of my favorite place to get breakfast. Egg, cheese and double sausage on an everything bagel. I pick that up first thing and then join the line for the long wait to get into the con.

WW Philly - While I was waiting in line ... I managed to buy almost a long box of comics at the con, mostly $3 mid-grade silver and $1 modern books. The best comics actually came from these boards! While waiting in line on Thursday, CaptTodd offered a number of sketch covers for sale. I couldn't pass up this Garza sketch cover: Then that evening after the con, I was sipping bourbon at the bar when skypinkblu offered this Startling #1 for sale. Sharon and I traded a few PMs and within about 30 minutes I'd bought her comic. This comic presents really well for 1.5. Kinda funny the best comics I bought while at WW Philly were from these boards!

WW Philly - Getting Signatures Witnessed Leading up to WW Philly, I bought a Walking Dead #10 on eBay to get signed by Lauren Cohan (Maggie). It was somewhat of a rough copy with a number of stress lines, maybe a 8.5 to my eye. I wished I could have gotten a better copy but I couldn't find a better copy at a reasonable price at the time. Once I got to the con I realized Scott Wilson would also be there (Hershel). I was really excited to get both their signatures, as #10 is Maggie's and Hershel's first appearance. But how does it work with CGC when you want to get multiple signatures? Well, it was easy. On Friday a CGCer witnessed Scott's signature. Then I opened an invoice at the CGC booth. CGC kept the book at their booth. Saturday morning I got the book from CGC. A CGCer walked with me to the Lauren Cohan line and left me there with the book. As I got close to the front of the line, I texted the CGCer. He returned and witnessed as Lauren signed. Then we went back to the CGC booth and I closed out the invoice. SS costs a little more, so instead of the onsite modern price of $25, I think it was $33. As we were finishing the paperwork I remembered they were doing on-site pressing too. I decided to throw that in, hoping for a better grade. I think the pressing did help, getting the book up to 9.0. I was hoping for a little better but I can't really complain. I'm just really happy to have both Maggie's and Hershel's signatures on #10.

WW Philadelphia: On-Site Grading On-site grading = Immediate gratification. Okay, I get it now. I've read posts here about people who go to cons solely to submit books for on-site grading. I never understood that until now. At WW Philly I submitted 17 modern books when the con opened on Thursday. By Saturday morning I had the books back. Yes, it costs a little more ($25 versus $18) but you don't have to pay shipping either way. I got back fourteen 9.8s, two 9.9s and one 9.6. During the con I got 2 signatures for my Walking Dead #10. I got the 2nd signature on Saturday, right before I had to leave the con. But it still qualified for on-site grading (because I opened the invoice on Friday while on-site grading was still open). So CGC expedited the grading and shipped it to me. I just received it today, just 10 days after my submission, and I only had to pay for return shipping (instead of both ways). Also during the con, I bought 4 trade paperbacks. I wasn't sure if the TPBs were too thick for submitting. The CGC rep said they could grade them, but they might not have brought the right holders to Philly. She'd try on-site grading but if they didn't have the holders they'd do regular modern. Well, they must have brought the right holders because I also got those 4 books today. Three 9.8s and one 9.9! So on-site rocks! I'm planning to go to the Baltimore con if only to submit books for on-site grading. Here are pictures of the 4 TPBs. They're wraparound covers by Jen Broomall, so I've shown both the front and back covers.

WW Philadelphia -- Star Trek the Next Generation The past couple years I've gotten into photos and comics signed by actors. I think they're great momentos of shows and movies I really like. The ability to authenticate signatures using CGC has put an additional spin on that, but more on that in a future post. My big buy at Philly was this STTNG 8x10 photo signed by the cast. Whenever you buy things like this you have to worry about fakes. Certificates of Authenticy mean little since they're usually issued by the people you're buying it from (unless it's a reputable third party like CGC, which of course makes things certain). I've found the best way to gauge authenticity is to ask the dealer how he got the signatures, and then do a gut check of whether it sounds real. Also notice if the dealer is a regular at cons. Not scientific but not sure what else can be done at cons. Anyway, I've also bought from this dealer before so I'm pretty confident the sigs are real. I got this Voyager cast photo from the same dealer last year at WW Chicago: What's kind of cool is I use Shutterfly to blow the 8x10 photos to 20x30. I frame those big poster size photos and put them into my office. People I work with always stop by to look at them.

I'd love it in 9.8, but I've never seen it in that grade. There's a 9.4 on sale right now on eBay for $50. A few raw copies, but nothing advertised as high grade. That's why I decided to grade my own raw copy. For a couple months before Philly I searched for a better copy but I struck out.

Hi Kystix - so far I'm keeping all the dups. Someday I might open an eBay store, but not enough time right now.

WW Philly On-Site Comics #3 I picked up World of Wood #2 for its Dave Stevens cover a couple years ago for $33 on eBay. It's a nice copy but has a ding along the left bottom corner. That's held me back from grading it. I decided to take a chance and submit it for on-site grading. Well, as expected it came back at less than 9.8. Ah well ... it's hard to complain about 9.6. Definitely a nice book to add to my Stevens set. I also collect J. Scott Campbell GGA covers. Superior Spider-man 29 La Mole Con goes for about $100 in CGC 9.8. I don't like the cover enough to pay that. So I took a chance and won this copy on Ebay for $21. I crossed my fingers and it came back 9.8 (so all in at $46, including the $25 on-site grading cost). So on this one I came out ahead -- doesn't always work out that way! I bought this one raw from a boardie, Giroux. He advertised it as 9.8, and it came back as 9.8. Thanks Giroux! Finally, this is the comic I'm most happy / surprised by. I'm a big Cerebus fan. I think I've bought 5 or 6 copies of this issue trying to get a 9.8 candidate. This is the best one, but to my eye it's flawed (look along the right edge, for example). I decided to go for it and submit it ... and it came back 9.8! This one really made by day.

WW Philly On-Site Comics #2 (Joe Benitez and Lady Mechanika) My Lady Mechanika set is almost complete, Before Philly I needed just 2 more issues. The hardest to get has been #2 3rd print. This comic has the same cover as 2A dated July 2011, but it has a cover date of April 2012. It's not rare, and I've bought 7 copies (at $10+ each, plus shipping) trying to find a 9.8 candidate. With Philly coming up I picked my best one. I always find flaws in my own comics and so I wasn't optimistic about getting 9.8, but I would have taken a lower grade just to fill in that hole. Anyway, I was obviously very happy it graded out at 9.8. I also graded 2 additional comics with Lady Mechanika covers. The Worlds of Aspen was impossible to find in high grade. I must have bought 7-9 copies. Fortunately they're cheap (although not so much when you add shipping). Again, I picked the best one for WW Philly and was lucky enough to get 9.8. The Las Vegas program I got off eBay. The last one is the Gwen Stacy sketch cover by Benitez modelmaker generously got for me at ECCC (I talked about this above). It graded out as 9.8 as well, although obviously Green. Someday I hope to get Joe to sign the case using a black permanent ink Sharpie.

WW Philly On-Site Comics #1 (Frank Miller & Sin City) As I mentioned, I submitted 17 modern comics for on-site grading at WW Philadelphia. (I also submitted 4 trades, 1 double signed comic and 3 photos during the course of the con.) Here are a few I got back. I'm a big Frank Miller and Sin City fan. (I like the comic much better than the movie.) I have all the Sin City comics in raw, but I wanted a few graded comics. I've never seen the ones I want on sale. That's no surprise when you check out the census: Sex & Violence: 6 in 9.8, a total of 15 graded Hell & Back 4: 4 in 9.8, 6 total Hell & Back 5: 3 in 9.8, 5 total Hell & Back 6: 2 in 9.8, 3 total Hell & Back 8: 4 in 9.8, 4 total So I decided to try to find nice copies on eBay and take my chances with submitting myself (my own copies are well read and have stress marks along the spines). It was actually not too hard to find 9.8 possible copies. For some I only needed to buy 1 comic. At worse it took 3 copies. I was still surprised when all came back 9.8. I thought they were 9.8 candidates, but I judged them based solely on the front and back covers, not the insides. There are a few other Sin City comics I'd like to get graded, but these allow me to cross alot off my want list.

WW Philly Con Report - Saturday (And losing out on Daryl but getting Michonne instead) I spent 4 hours at the con today, the entire time either at the CGC booth or waiting in lines. The first thing I did was go to the CGC booth to pick up my on-sites, and also coordinate witnesses. I was one of the 1st at their booth. Did I mention how important it is to get a VIP ticket at WW cons? You always get in first, and on weekends you also get in 30 minutes early. That's important for on-site grading and to get into celebrity lines, if you're into that. Even if you're not, you waste alot of time in general admission. Of course, VIP tickets cost alot more. Even WW general admission tickets cost alot. Frankly, if you're not into the celebrity lineup WW isn't a good value (except for Chicago maybe where there are so many more comic dealers). My goal today was to get autographs of Lauren Cohan and Norman Reedus (Maggie and Daryl on WD). Both were scheduled to sign at 1030. But that's not how it worked out. Norman's plane from Atlanta arrived about 90 minutes late. WW had Lauren scheduled for 1030, then they shifted it to 1230 after we were in line for the 1030 signing (none of the staffers could explain why), and then Lauren arrived at 1130. As I waited in line for Lauren I went though the 17 comics I just got back from CGC. Let me just step back for a minute. I turned these books in on Thursday at 3pm, and I had them back on Saturday at 930am. Less than 2 days! Maybe people who are used to on-site think this is no big deal, but I'm still blown away by it. On top of that, as I mentioned above, I got fourteen 9.8s, two 9.9s and one 9.6, exceeding my expectations. The on-site experience alone made the con a success for me. I want to thank Bob and Michael, the two CGC witnesses who helped me this weekend. I texted and called Bob thoughout the morning to update him on Lauren's ETA, and when Lauren arrived he was there immediately. I got my 3 items signed, and then we went back to the CGC booth to finish up the paperwork (that's not me in this picture). I gave up on Norman. They were only letting Norman VIPs line up, and there had to be at least 300 in line (I would not be surprised if it was more like 500). I was a Lauren VIP so I'd have to wait hours, and I needed to leave by early afternoon. This is just part of Norman's line (and he didn't arrive until over an hour after I took this). The problem was, I'd bought 2 Reedus signature tickets yesterday at $80 each. Would WW give me a refund? Well, they did, and without much hassle. But they made it clear I was lucky, they normally didn't refund autograph tickets based on my reason (that I had to leave). I think what convinced the WW rep was when I said "If I don't leave my wife will kill me." (By the way, I understand WW's policy. They look at it like a concert, if you leave early you don't get a refund. Somewhat draconian IMHO because a 4 day con is not the same as a 2 hour concert and people plan based on the schedules they published, but hey it's their party they can make whatever rules they want. In the future, I just won't buy autograph tickets in advance.) So now after the refund I had $160 in my pocket. This was discovered money! As it happens, Tibex82 had offered a Walking Dead #19 (1st Michonne) in the Comic Market that morning. Before the con opened I PM'd an offer and Tibex82 politely declined. But now I had an unexpected $160 burning a hole in my pocket. And Tibex82's book looked really nice. So as soon as I got the refund I jumped onto the boards (via my iPad mini) and dropped a flag. So, I lost out on Daryl but got Michonne instead! As I was leaving the con to drive home I ran into Gwen Stacy. A great end to a fun con!

I just got back my on-sites and I was blown away by the grades. 14 9.8s and two 9.9s. One 9.6. Was surprise by a few of the 9.8s (a couple shocked me) and ecstatic of course with the 9.9s. Disappointed by the 9.6 but it'll still be a nice add to my Dave Stevens set. I'll post a few picks when I get home. I'm definitely liking this on-site thing. I'll have to make time for Baltimore if only to submit some books.

WW Philly Con Report - Friday I had alot of anxiety going into today. I wanted to get CGC to witness some signatures. Having never done this before, the CGC witnessing thing, I was worried about 2 things: (1) would a witness be available when my turn came up to sign? (2) I hate imposing on people's time, would the witness have to wait in line with me? Well, things went pretty smoothly, alot easier than i thought. As for (1), there were alot of CGC witnesses available. It looked like there was an initial run at the CGC booth of on-site submissions, but once passed that the booth looked pretty slow. I didn't have any problem getting a witness for both my signings. As for (2), the witnesses were both really laid back and easy going. Both times the witnesses ended up waiting about 30 minutes, but they didn't seem to mind. It wasn't awkward at all. Still, the con hasn't been too crowded so far. The 2 witnesses I talked to said they hadn't had many requests for witnessing so far. So getting a CGC witness at a crowded show might be a different story. On the other hand, my views of witnessing are based on reading these boards, where it seems like alot of people get signatures witnessed. It may be the witnessing population is mostly limited to people on these boards. In which case overall there's not a big demand for witnessing. Of the 7 hours the con was open yesterday, I probably spent 5 hours waiting in line for signatures. This is a difference experience for me, usually at cons I'm going through long boxes all day long. The good news, I'm not spending as much money. I'll probably spend my budget though (I just won't go over my budget, as I usually do). I'm spending alot on CGC grading and on celebrity signatures (each signature costs from $30 for Sarah Wayne Callies to $80 for Normal Reedus -- Lori and Daryl on WD). The comic dealers don't look very busy. There are a few high end dealers and I saw little traffic at their booths. Saturday might be different but I doubt it. This show doesn't have the vibe of a comic show. Most people seem to be here for the toys, anime and actors. I had a view of Neal Adams from a line I was in, and his booth was slow for most of the day. If I'd thought ahead I would have gotten CGC to witness a couple Neal signatures on comics from my collection. This would have been the show for it, there are no lines. I have to say, his prices for art is really high. $1000 for a sketch of Batman? $2500 for a Green Arrow and Black Canary? This will come across as heresy as Neal is the man, but his stuff is too expensive. As of early afternoon CGC was still open for on-site submissions. They finally closed on-site later in the afternoon (not sure exactly when). I was told they will take some on-site Saturday morning because they want to give Saturday only attendees a chance at on-site. Seems very fair to me. I've been very impressed with CGC at this show. Jen Broomall is one of my favorite new artists ("new" being a relative term; certainly way new compared to Neal Adams). She's not here but BDI is. Jen is done a series of trades where the cover has the character covering the front and back covers. This is certainly not new, but her covers are striking. On eBay the trades go for $75 each, but here at the con BDI was selling them for cover at $25 each. I bought all 4 they had for sale. I have 2 other Broomall trades in my collection. Last year I called CGC and asked if they coud grade these trades. They're pretty thick, more than twice the thickness of the old Marvel graphic novels. On the phone the CGC rep told me they probably couldn't grade them. So I took the 4 I just bought to the CGC booth. I asked if on-site was still available. I was told yes (this must have been around 130 or so). I showed the Broomwall trades to the rep and asked if CGC could grade them. After looking at them, she thought CGC could grade them because they have thick wells they use for Playboy magazines. But she didn't know if they could grade them on-site, because she didn't know if they had brought any of those wells to the show. She said she would try to do them on-site, but if not they would go regular Modern. How great is that! I mostly just wanted to get them graded. On-site would be a major bonus but I'd be okay if it went regular. Here's a pic of the Broomall trades as the CGC rep fills out the form. By the way, here's a list of CGC's services at the con. I wish I'd known they were doing on-site pressing, I would have brought a few more to get graded. Given this is mostly a pop culture show, you'd think there would be more cosplayers. They are alot around, but not as much as I thought they'd be (or maybe I've just gotten used to taking my daughters to anime shows where everyone is in costume). Here's probably the best costume I saw, from Attack on Titan. My kids love this show. The last thing I did before leaving the show was check the CGC booth to see if my on-site submission from yesterday was done. Here she is checking. There were a few lucky souls, but mine were not yet ready.