Bumble Kitty

Arrived at about 5:30 PM on Wednesday. The line to check for Covid vaccine or tests was quite long. I didn't want to spend hours in that line. I was getting a bit annoyed at the situation, but I checked the Con website to see where the other stations were located. I found one a few blocks away and the wife and I headed there. It took all of 5 minutes to obtain our Covid wristbands. Ok, I'm starting to feel better! The wife headed into the Gaslamp district for dinner and I headed back to the convention center for Preview night. The doors were to oen at 6 PM! I was very excited!

This is a picture heavy report on my experience at San Diego Comic Convention 2022. I was there from Wednesday's Preview night through Saturday night. At the end of the report I will give you my conclusion on whether it was a worthwhile experience or an expensive dud or my final visit. Let's get going...

Love Tales 55…. I will take it!

Ok, but that will be late Sunday or Monday.

Preview night is in the books. Looking forward to a full day tomorrow!

This show is starting to get very interesting and exciting! I will make sure to visit your booth, Dale.

I actually was able to get Group 1 parking. The wife is really looking forward to this convention. I am excited about this con now that Torpedo Con was cancelled.

Terry plans to do his one day show when all (and I mean all) the Covid uncertainty and Covid restrictions go away.

Very disappointing. Well, it seems San Diego now has more importance. I really thought San Diego would be an afterthought. Not anymore!

...per PM!

You might want to edit the title of this thread to show there is a new show in April 2022. Those who take a quick glance of the thread title will not know there is another show on the schedule. Just a suggestion...

Unfortunately, this is happening way too much. I believe most (if not all) of the defects you are seeing happened at CGC. A good presser would press these defects out. I had one of these type of CGC "defects" happen to me. I also have passed on a few Bronze books that were in "9.6" holders that had several NCB creases. You might expect this from PGX, but not CGC. I guess this is what happens when you have tremendous uncontrolled growth. Boy, I wonder if this is what cancer looks like in the comic hobby. For me, I did not renew my CGC membership earlier this year. I still get my books pressed, but I am keeping them raw. As far as selling books, I am bypassing the auction houses, so I have no need of CGC services at this time. I have developed personal relationships with a few boardies, so I sell to them. This is working well for me. I hope CGC gets their act together quickly. I would hate for CGC to correct this problem because the hobby loses confidence in their service. That would be disastrous for everyone.

Bingo! When a "flash mob" crime occurs, it makes you wonder why the FBI are on the scene the next day. It made me think that organized crime is at the core...at least in these cases.

I agree. $ 150 for a "forced" three day pass was too much. I wanted a one day pass for Friday. Since none were available, I was going to skip the November show. So instead of SDCC light, I went to the Las Vegas mini-con the previous weekend. In Vegas, Harley was surprised I wasn't going to the SDCC light convention, so he offered me a pass. What the heck, I accepted. The show might be disappointing, but at least I wouldn't have to shell out 150 bucks. Plus, Harley had only a fraction of his stock in Vegas. In San Diego, he was going to have all of his books. I was still able to buy parking online and I gathered my paperwork for vaccine/PCR testing verification. Luckily, Friday's opening was 12 noon. That allowed me to sleep in and get over my turkey hang over. Friday traffic from North Orange county to San Diego was heavy, so I arrived a little after 12 noon. The verification line was long, so I leisurely walked over to Kansas City BBQ for some lunch. Then I headed over to the Embassy Suites front desk to pick up my badge. I slowly walked back to the Convention Center and was surprised the verification line was very short. Within 7 minutes, I was verified! I walked in the south end of the convention floor and it immediately felt like Wondercon, or at least the size of Wondercon. I hung out in the art area, and I was going into the Artists Alley. But I figured I should hit Harley's booth first. As I walked through the hall (heading to the north end), it was busy, but not crowded. I noticed a mom and pop comic booth and I made a mental note to come back. You never know what gem you can find in these type of booths. Once I arrived at Harley's booth, I started going through each box with a fine tooth comb. I had forgotten how much fun it is to look at so many funny books. For all you boardies who did not make it down -- thank you. You left all the good stuff for me. I ended up with a nice stack of books priced in the 30 to 200 dollar range. I even picked up an Ohio pedigree book. I also bought a high grade Four Color book that I felt was priced somewhat cheap -- at least compared to a slabbed 8.5 on line. I had been looking at this book for so long, and now I have a nice copy. I also bought three big books that I had to think about for a while. I figured they would be gone in the next one or two convention stops, so I added them to the pile. I ended spending 3 hours and 15 minutes looking at all of Harley's stuff! This included a box of new stuff that he had not yet priced. For some reason, it feels like Christmas when you get to see books that no one else has seen. Harley had a several boxes of books priced at 25 % off. Those were selling briskly. A lot of people were asking for Moderns, so that era does not appear to be slowing down, at least not at the moment. Those collectors were directed to another booth that was selling nothing but Moderns. One lady bought an early Batman Joker cover. I gave her an and she was quite happy with the purchase. Pricey, but a super cool cover. I was meeting a fellow boardie for dinner at 6:30 PM, so I had very little time to see the rest of the floor. I took a quick look at Shortboxed booth, Torpedo and Graham Crackers booths. I looked through one box at Jamie's set up, but I ran out of time. I never made to Artists Alley and I did not make it to the mom and pop booth. Oh well. I had a great time! If I had to do it over, I would have arrived by 9:30 AM, 10 at the latest. That way, I would have been "verified", grabbed an early lunch and been ready to go right at 12 noon. Here's looking forward to Wondercon 2022, SDCC 2022 and maybe one other major convention on the East coast.

A big thanks to @Inaflashfor setting this up! I know it disrupts his work life by setting this up, so a big to Ken!

We had dinner with some boardies and a few dealers. I'm sure you can figure who's who.

Here are the Con pics...

Did some sightseeing on Saturday...

Just back from the Las Vegas Mini-Con III (a.k.a. Ken Con). I'm tired, but we had a good time. So here are a few pics of the weekend...

Hotel booked! We will also arrive on the 19th and do some sightseeing on Saturday. It should be a lot of fun!

I sure hope there is a dress code for this event!

Oh heck..........

HighGradeComics web site does not show them going to SDCC. A few months back, Bob's web site said Thanksgiving weekend made it very difficult for him to attend. I think Harley Yee and Brad (FVF Comics) were planning to go. Of course, those plans might have changed. Even with the lack of information of some (or any) dealers attending, I would still go if there was an option for a one day ticket. Without that, I'm staying home, eating turkey left overs and watching the Sunday Heritage auction. For those of you going, I hope it is fun and worth while.

It wasn't me either. I figured those books would go for about half that amount, but what do I know. I really am curious to know who the winner is AND who is the under bidder. Obviously more than one person is willing to pony up. May be I just need to have another selling thread.