VintageComics

How is it any different than a nightclub or a restaurant or any particular venue that has a dress code? That's not antagonistic is it? It might be unusual to request no costumes but it's not 'wrong'.

Tickets. To be fair, some cosplayers do buy comics. But I don't think I've ever seen a cosplayer buy the type of books that it takes to get a serious international dealer to set up. It's usually smaller fare items. So while they do spend money, the dealer who is geared towards the vintage collector doesn't see much benefit from them. Hence the niche market of vintage collectible shows.

It's popular because many can have their 15 minutes of fame for the price of a ticket.

What really got me about the discussion was that there is a legitimate feeling among an ENTIRE GENERATION (probably 10,000's of people over all) that truly believe that it wasn't a 'Con' unless it had cosplay. That's how far we've come. It was a real eye opener for me. And I think the pendulum has swung too far from it's roots and is now swinging the other way as collectors just want shows about collectibles (hence the many smaller shows showing growth).

Are Comic Book conventions really Comic Book conventions? I've been meaning to start this conversation for about a week now but it's spring break and time is scarce (no, it's actually scarce in real life - not just Overstreet 'scarce' but actually being hoarded by collectors). And then I read this article and it inspired me to start this thread (for a point of reference, Wizard World Chicago is this weekend). Greater Cleveland comic book fans seek alternatives to large conventions like Wizard World ------------------------------------------------------------------------ But what got me started about this topic was the Facebook page for a new con that got started called Elite Con in Tampa, Florida a week ago. We have a board member who decided to start a Convention strictly for collectors. No media guests, no actors and actresses, no T shirts (no offense but I wouldn't want to be set up next to a T shirt rack the size of the Empire State building)...heck even no creator signings. just comics, old toys, old books, old collectibles. You'd think that was all fine and dandy and that everyone would be happy. Organizers can run a con any way they like to, right? Free country, right? As long as there is no bigotry and hate it's all good. Wrong. You should have seen the public reaction when they made the announcement that there would be no Cosplay allowed at the show. Within a day there were 450 comments in the discussion that I saw before the FB discussion was pulled sometime in the night. Hate, venom, protest. The cosplay crowd was mortified that they wouldn't be allowed to walk in with their costumes after paying ticket price. Bleeding Cool actually made an article about it. You know it's half serious when BC writes it up. It was actually quite ugly at times. There were many rumors circulating online. One rumor was that people who were going to cosplay and wanted refunds weren't going to be given refunds. There was mockery of the organizer's business model stating the show was going to be a 'loser'. There are arguments that they shouldn't even be allowed to call a "Con" because technically it wasn't a "Con". They even resorted to name calling saying it wasn't a "Con" (as in convention) and that it was a con (as in from the Latin word 'contra', meaning against, or used in the phrase 'con artist'). And yet the organizers were very respectful. The clearly stated that refunds were offered, that nobody had asked for a refund and that cosplay would be turned away at the door in an effort to create an atmosphere that was more about the collectibles for sale than the spectators themselves. Obviously, me being the person I am I asked if the Cosplayer's started their own convention and said there were no vendor's allowed would that be OK? I had a feeling no vendors would protest that idea. - Nobody replied. I asked it at least 3 times. Nobody replied. So I just thought I'd ask you guys: Would a show strictly about the collectibles themselves interest you and how do you feel about no cosplay being allowed at a show? I for one have nothing against cosplayers. Louise has cosplayed at shows. I also have no problem respecting the wishes of a con organizer. What say ye?

Agreed. Those blues pop so nicely.

I don't know how true that is, but wasn't there a Big Apple / NYCBM a few years ago that was also supposed to be his last? I would believe that as long as he is floating around the scene, he will be, at least, part of a show. I read it on Facebook - wish Id remembered who.

People's reputations can also be affected by those they associate with. It's my understanding that Patz was at Carbo's show promoting the LI and AC show. I didn't see him (or maybe I don't know to recognize him) but I was only there on Friday. Dave Arnold was also tat the show, I assume working along with Mike.

The book already 'took off' about 5 or 6 years ago. And then it softened. And now it's picking up steam again. Are you asking when it's going to surpass Amazing Fantasy #15?

I haven't. The only thing i saw was the Bleeding Cool article with stills taken out of the video footage. Where there videos circulating?

Not any video that I have seen and I'm pretty sure I saw everything that was put out for public consumption. It wasn't the video footage that Reed's decision is based on. It's the Javits security report, which was done with the NYPD. The security report at the end of the Bleeding Cool article states this: "The preliminary on site interview / investigation by NYPD implicates the owner of Vintage Movie Posters (Mike Carbonaro) as knowing that these thefts were occurring and that product was being brought back to his booth."

Really? Con-promoter rivalry? I really would not be to worried if Mike was my competition in NY. Funnily enough, I read (one Facebook if I'm not mistaken) that this was Carbo's last Big Apple show. Has anyone been able to verify this?

The MF #73 was a book that was for sale at the NYCC with another dealer a couple of years ago IIRC so it's not Berk's. The Detective #27 CGC 5.0 was a Universal 5.0. Also not Berks. Metro had it available at their booth in NYC last October.

Is there an earlier CGC 9.8 of a GA book? Anybody know? It was stunning to see.

The problem with going just by serial numbers is that people who have invoices with those serial numbers can submit them at any time.If CGC has graded north of 3 MIL books (which they have) then that means there are over 3 MIL serial numbers out there. There are people submitting today that still have paper invoices with old serial numbers and so even though it has an old serial number the grading is recent, and visa versa, there are people who submitted during older periods who had newer serial numbers. It's not necessarily the serial number that matters as much as the time period.

Is that the time you were set up next to the bathroom? Wheeling and dealin' high end GA from the can!

They were for not tying the Nolan movies in and they're paying for it now.

I thought Logan was a good film. It wasn't your typical Wolverine film as it was more about his age and his relationship with Lauren. I actually thought it was one of the better superhero movies made. The main antagonist was a bit hokey but this was probably the best Wolverine move of the bunch IMO.

Gotcha. Not an outlier. Not even a 4.5 price. Understood.

DC is pretty much out of time to catch up to Marvel as BVS was supposed to be the movie to put them on the map. Rather than spend the last few years building a cohesive and mature movie universe, they've flip-flopped with every move they've put out except for the Batman / Nolan movies. Even if they have a few blockbusters they are still a decade behind Marvel. Sad.

I thought Kong was horrible. After what start out looking like a regal and classy movie it quickly spiraled into another B movie that I will never watch again. The only redeeming quality in the movie that I took away from the film was Kong himself. He looked terrific and moved well. But outside of that the complaints are many. The story is a little hokey. It could have been better done with a few less characters to worry about, less distractions, better dialogue, better writing, less plot gimmicks. The main opposing creature was silly. I think we see too much of Kong and that the director was interested in showing Kong off more than the quality of the story telling. The soundtrack was OK. I thought that the last Godzilla was much better done over all (although I would have liked to have seen Godzilla more, just as I said when I first watched it a couple of years ago). I hope upcoming movies are of better over all quality. This movie really didn't meet the same classy bench marks that the other Kong movies made. The only other thing I enjoyed about the movie was the time piece and how well that was done.

Do you think a 6 month zero interest payment plan causes someone to bid 40% or 50% over fair market value? I don't. I think that some people think that this is an old label, a tightly graded copy and an upgrade candidate. That's the only explanation I can understand under the normal laws of valuation. If people think that 4.5 copies are now worth $30K then I'm going to say that it's not healthy and the sky is about to start falling.

There's a middle of the road CGC 4.5 in this week's Heritage auction. No MC, OW pages, no really glaring defects. https://comics.ha.com/itm/silver-age-1956-1969-/superhero/amazing-fantasy-15-marvel-1962-cgc-vg-45-off-white-pages/a/121712-13208.s?ctrack=1087068&type=spotlight-6--comic--news--tem031517# If everyone believes that a 4.5 is now all of a sudden a $30K book then this one should sell for close to that as well.

And its a unique circumstance that rarely will come up. Outlier prices on standard in grade copies I think have value. But this guy isn't really a 4.5 unlike the vast majority of CGC books that are the grade they report to be (and I'm not talking a half grade off). If equal quality 4.5's come up and one sells in public auction for 30k and one for 24k within weeks of each other, that is telling a story that has consequences. Ill listen to that. It might not be the rule going forward but it didn't happen in a vacuum. But when one book is a 5.5 hiding in a 4.5 case (which is very rare obviously) than its so different it shouldn't even be considered in the discussion. So you more or less agree with me. For me an outlier is when it doesn't fall into a 'normal' range. And when there are perceptible reasons for why the price not falling into a normal range then that is enough for me to discount it as a 'normal' sale.