AndyFish

^{My favorite show of the year for buying comics-- picked up a lot of great stuff including a BATMAN #20-- a great MARVEL TALES #118 some early Green Lanterns (Golden Age) and some others.  LOVE this show.  Theft has always been an issue, always bad.  We closed off the Superworld booth and only let one person in at a time, when we heard from Austin Reece that he'd had a book taken we went to full on lockdown and closed the booth.    This is a show that needs FOUR guys (we had three booths) because it takes forever to get lunch and to use the bathroom, plus just general fatigue that kicks in.   Great sales for SW, already signed up for next year.}

^{I'd suggest the show organizers have police walk the show floor, especially on Saturday.   This is the only show I know where you don't see any.}

On 8/8/2023 at 10:39 PM, captainzombie said:

Are there a lot of comic book vendors at the Expo? I always go to C2E2, but have never been to Fan Expo.

I've been to both-- I think there are more vintage vendors at FanExpo, but I don't care about crafty art, modern comics, pops all that kind of stuff.  I find more of that at C2E2 which is also at a worse time of year and IMO.  FanExpo is actually in Rosemont, it's like eight minutes from O'Hare and much more family friendly than Chicago proper can be.

On 7/2/2023 at 12:10 PM, kimik said:

How is this show for buying books? I am looking at lining up shows in the US to go next year now that time and $$ are freeing up with both kids graduating high school.

I picked up some great golden age books at this show last year-- a BATMAN #7, a couple of EXCITING COMICS with Black Terror, the machine gun cover from AMERICA'S GREATEST COMICS and a few other really rare books.   I highly recommend the show-- if I weren't away I'd be there all three days.

It's got a real charm to it.

On 7/13/2023 at 5:40 PM, Half-Gringo said:

Kerry Drake 2, complete and attached

$Sold

Whiz 43, compete, attached, tape and tears

$45

 

 

 

 

 

 

Take the WHIZ #43

Superworld Comics, Harley Yee, Dale Roberts, High Grade Comics (Bob Storms) and Reece's Rare Comics are the ones I know of, this has always been a tremendous buying show for me and one I always look forward to.      

Not completely on point, but I'd love the see the categories broken down a bit further-- GOLD-SILVER-BRONZE-COPPER-MODERN or if that's too much GOLD/SILVER - BRONZE/COPPER - MODERN/MISC

As a golden age collector I'd rather not scroll through pages of silver I have no interest in.
My

That was a great run and a lot of fun-- I'm with the rest - no amateur restoration here-- just printing errors which I think sometimes improve the book.

Not a spokesman for Zettle by any means, but I'm open to discussions, I just want to emphasize that before I switched to it there were many times at shows I would actually groan because someone wanted to pay with a card-- at our last show in South Carolina, we had 90% paying with cards and the transactions were night and day over all the other services I used.  So fast I thought sometimes it can't have gone through.  To me, that's worth the money I'm paying them, and I live by the old proverb you get what you pay for.

On 6/20/2023 at 2:32 PM, aardvark88 said:

I use Square in Canada. Zettle UK website states lower fee rate than Square which is amazing. Retail sales funds seem to be transferred fast into one's PayPal account then u move funds over into your personal or business acct at your bank/cr union later. Will have to research more, as my PayPal usually has US funds transactions but my home bank acct is in Canada.

Fees are reasonable, 2.29% plus $0.09 for in-person sales and 3.49% plus $0.09 for keyed-in sales, you definitely want a reader, I don't think they give them away but it was beyond worth it.  This was my fourth or fifth time with a card reader service and they were all terrible,  I would groan when someone would pull out a card-- not anymore-- I sound like a commercial but it's honestly that good.  Never had a connection issue.

I can't speak for Canada or overseas, I'm in the USA.

Payout is within 72 hours and I think it's even faster than that.  Love the service.

On 6/11/2023 at 7:04 PM, Robot Man said:

Capt. Midnight 1947 Secret Squadron Official Manual

Ovaltine premium for members. 4-1/2" x 6" 16 pages. Beautiful full color throughout and printed on heavy paper. Pictures the Code-O-Graph Whistle and how to use it. Reminders to watch for saboteurs and instructions for members. 

Flat, and bright with no tears or creases. Staples have rusted and migrated to center but still well bound.

Cool piece!

$30.

I'll Take it!

PayPal now has something called Zettle-- they have a reader you can get to go with it or you can just manually enter stuff in your smart phone.   The reader is a million times better than Square or any other processor I've used, it connects quickly and reads every card (although I'm sure it requires your phone to have good service).  I've used it at about a dozen shows-- and 90% of customers use a card and it's lightning fast.

On 6/6/2023 at 6:35 AM, ft88 said:

Nyoka jungle girl 11 G/VG $30

Got lucky here as the lowest demand comic in the collection had the most flaws.  Still a nice book.

TAKE IT

On 5/27/2023 at 10:23 PM, MattTheDuck said:

Is this true?  Are there special implements that are only used for comic book character commissions?  I could understand during the Pandemic and "supply chain" but the local art stores don't seem to have any lack now.

As suggested above, this looks like one the OP should just walk away from.  Money's one thing, but some things just aren't worth the psychic pressure.

Jetpens.com -- they carry everything except Bristol, which can be ordered through DickBlick.com, Michaels.com or pretty much any online art retailer.  JetPens has titanium nibs and comic specific ink.  I once left a bottle of the Deleter brand ink in the DC Freelancer room by mistake and it soon became THE ink by many of the creators-- it's that good.  So the artist might be telling the truth if he's someone that doesn't like to order online.   He definitely took offense (IMO) when there was no need to, but by the same token just show some class and decline the commission.   I say no far more than I say yes.

Unfortunately John is not in the condition to sign anything and it's best left at that.

From 1980 to 1988 I collected pre Robin and early Robin DETECTIVE COMICS, I amassed a pretty good amount of them, some of the highlights were a #34 in high grade for $90, a #35 I paid the "ungodly" sum of $300 for in what was probably 6.0 and a whole bunch more, I had most of them with the exception of a #27 and a #28 (I never wanted them because I'd read the #27 in reprints and the #28 had such a lousy cover).  I probably paid in total about $1k for them and at the time that was a LOT of money to a kid who worked a part time job up until 1986-- 1988 I got engaged and sold most of them to buy the ring for $3k.  I thought it was a pretty good deal at the time.  Got 3x my money for them.   How's that stack up today?  That wife is long gone (and good riddance) and now I'm buying back the Detectives at 100x and more the price I initially paid.   If I'd gone to the bank in 1988 to buy that ring I would have paid back probably $4.3k with my then lousy credit.  How much would those same Detectives be worth now?

I see comics like stocks, long term investments and not tradable commodities.  I'm a lot smarter now than I was then.  I'll never sell a Golden Age Batman Comic again.  

I think it really depends on what you're looking for, I'm primarily a Golden age and original art collector, so I don't care about moderns, dollar bins  toys especially walls of Pops, cosplay and shirts.   I like organization, books that aren't so packed in a box I can actually flip through them, a staff who acknowledges that I'm there and I don't have to interrupt their intense conversation to get some help.

Rosemont has always been a better show for me buying wise, by far, but with Chicago seeing an uptick in crime I know of several dealers who are cutting it from their lineup.   I'm surprised at Baltimore's reputation because I've been twice and that was a bust both times for me.  That said, Heroes is truly comics only (at Baltimore this year a dealer was saying to me he loves Baltimore so much because it's only comics oriented, and then we were interrupted by the Disney Princess parade that marched down the aisle-- what comics are they in?), although there are a lot of toys and modern books at Heroes too.

Price wise I see a lot of books priced aggressively and that seems to turn a lot of buyers off.  I've found that if you have cash and you don't mind negotiating like you're buying a new rug in a Moroccan street bazaar you'll do ok.  Bundles bring value.

Some great books-- I love the early Actions!

Had a great time, picked up a whole pile of Golden Age including some Captain Marvel's, Early Batman's some great LB Cole Covers, pre-code horror and more-- really top notch books.   Got some great deals from @TerrysComics and Bunky Bros.   Really enjoyed this show.

Always great books!

100% with the above comments.   Just buy another copy without the flaw, it'll be cheaper than having someone try to fuss with it and you won't have a restored copy.  For the record, you'd need a colorist not an inker, and even more to the point you'd want a pro restorer like Susan Cicconi-- and she's not cheap.