My very short GA San Diego Con Report.............

[Forbush-Man]

......or "Jon Berk! What have you done to me?!?"

 

I Had a great time at the SD Con this year as usual. Saw and spoke with a few forum members: Esquire Comics, Silver, Greggy, SACentaur, filter81 and others (please excuse me if you're not mentioned here, I don't mean to leave anyone out).

 

Anyway, I went on a mission for three books in particular and.......... didn't find a one. .............Oh well, maybe next year.

 

"Plan B" was to look for early Fox, Fiction House, Quality, Centaur/ pre-Centaur (Thank you, Jon Berk) and Catman Comics.

 

Here's what I managed to scrape up between Wednesday & Saturday:

 

From Steve Ritter's booth:

 

Star Comics, May 1939. Edgar Church with an assist from SACentaur (he already had a copy of this issue) White pages & my first Church book..........

 

 

A very nice formerly CGC'd VG- with the label.

 

 

The next three were an impulse buy. This series is strange and sad at the same time. From the creators of Superman.......what a difference 10 years can make.

All three are Davis Crippen "D" books. Funnyman....................

 

 

 

 

Steve is a very interesting fellow. We spoke about the up-coming pedigree book. I can't wait for it to come out. He had some interesting books too,

 

__________________________________________________________

 

 

From Harley Yee's booth:

 

It may be a little rough, but it's a Larson........

 

__________________________________________________________

 

 

From Dale Robert's booth

 

A little beat but hey, it's the first appearance of Kitten....and it was priced right. (thumbs u

 

You don't see these two often.

 

 

 

Dale is a great guy & easy to deal with, plus his inventory is as interesting as Al Stoltz' books.

 

____________________________________________________________

 

 

From Ted at Superworld's booth:

 

Secured this one again with an assist from SACentaur.

 

____________________________________________________________

 

 

And from my friends, Jamie & Gino, at Southern California Comics:

 

I had to have this one.........after all, it's by Bill Everett.

 

and I needed this last one.......so I could get Bernie's signiture.....

 

It was a great week, visited friends in Dallas before the Con.......visited friends during the Con.....and came home with some fun books. It's all good!

 

 

 

 

[CentaurMan]

Great books, Fuel! Seriously, those are some of the coolest, hardest to find, obscure issues around. I obviously like the Centaurs (nice Star!), but I think that Larson Jumbo might be my favorite in the bunch.

 

I don't even need to go the Chicago Con now! The good stuff's been picked over!

[Forbush-Man]

Thanks Win.......the Jumbo really is one of my favorite of the bunch too.

[Point Five]

What a haul! Congrats, Bob! Too many to single them all out, but a ton of Fox & Centaur gems there.

 

And how much was that bargain Catman #5? (If you don't mind me asking.)

[sacentaur]

Didn't know you were after Catmans (I scored similar copies of 18, 21, 23, 24 and 26a at the Con). If you ever want to trade away the Cat 5 (or any other Cats) for some scarce Centaurs, please let me know!

 

I should mention that FUEL and I scanned the entire hall several times for a copy of Superworld 3 - oddly enough we found multiple copies of 1 and 2, but not a single 3. Tough book!

 

I think FUEL had the best show....I was glad to play a small (very small) role in a great guy getting some great books

 

STEVE

[Point Five]

Nice, Steve!

 

I asked about the Catman #5 because I've virtually never seen a Catman for sale at the NYC cons (and believe me, I looked). I guess they're all on the West Coast!

[Scrooge]

A very nice formerly CGC'd VG- with the label.

 

That's a great looking VG-!! Congrats on all the tough Centaurs you've scored (thumbs u

[Forbush-Man]

The Catman was priced at $160.00, but I got a little off in the whole purchase.

 

I might add that there were some great books to be seen. A-1 Comics had a beautiful CGC 6.5 Fantastic Comics # 3 with the classic Lou Fine cover. The book had white pages.............only $19,900.00..........a little outside my range.

 

Some new dealer's filling the void. Absent this year was Marty Hay.

[Forbush-Man]

Thanks Michael......there's some tape inside the covers which knocked it down a little, but it does present well. (thumbs u

[Forbush-Man]

Didn't know you were after Catmans (I scored similar copies of 18, 21, 23, 24 and 26a at the Con). If you ever want to trade away the Cat 5 (or any other Cats) for some scarce Centaurs, please let me know!

 

I should mention that FUEL and I scanned the entire hall several times for a copy of Superworld 3 - oddly enough we found multiple copies of 1 and 2, but not a single 3. Tough book!

 

I think FUEL had the best show....I was glad to play a small (very small) role in a great guy getting some great books

 

STEVE

 

 

Oh yes, Cat's & Dog's (Rex the Wonder Dogs that is). Nice score on those Cats, you got two I could've used.

[october]

A very nice formerly CGC'd VG- with the label.

 

That's a great looking VG-!! Congrats on all the tough Centaurs you've scored (thumbs u

 

I found the book for him and I didn't even get a mention. Andy is sad.

[Point Five]

The Catman was priced at $160.00, but I got a little off in the whole purchase.

 

That IS a great price. I've never even seen a #5 for sale before. (I have one, but it's coverless.)

 

You'll love the Kitten story!

[Scrooge]

A very nice formerly CGC'd VG- with the label.

 

That's a great looking VG-!! Congrats on all the tough Centaurs you've scored (thumbs u

 

I found the book for him and I didn't even get a mention. Andy is sad.

 

Why didn't you buy it for yourself?

[october]

A very nice formerly CGC'd VG- with the label.

 

That's a great looking VG-!! Congrats on all the tough Centaurs you've scored (thumbs u

 

I found the book for him and I didn't even get a mention. Andy is sad.

 

Why didn't you buy it for yourself?

 

Only after the Lou Fine covers. That one is Tuska.

[lou_fine]

A very nice formerly CGC'd VG- with the label.

 

That's a great looking VG-!! Congrats on all the tough Centaurs you've scored (thumbs u

 

I found the book for him and I didn't even get a mention. Andy is sad.

 

Why didn't you buy it for yourself?

 

Only after the Lou Fine covers. That one is Tuska.

 

Yes, but that's an absolutely gorgeous George Tuska cover and would put it close to some of the Lou Fine Mystery Men covers. Love the combination of colours used on this particular issue. (thumbs u

[143ksk]

Really nice books

[Forbush-Man]

I found the book for him and I didn't even get a mention. Andy is sad.

 

OMG!!! How could I be so cold??? Andy did in fact find that book. He decided to pass on it & I picked it up right after that. Sorry about that Andy!

 

As for the Mystery Men covers by Lou Fine or by others; I most like the first 10 covers or so. The covers after that are nice but just don't have the charm the earlier covers have. But decide for yourselves....GCD Mystery Men Comics

[Robert Beerbohm]

The Catman was priced at $160.00, but I got a little off in the whole purchase.

 

I might add that there were some great books to be seen. A-1 Comics had a beautiful CGC 6.5 Fantastic Comics # 3 with the classic Lou Fine cover. The book had white pages.............only $19,900.00..........a little outside my range.

 

Some new dealer's filling the void. Absent this year was Marty Hay.

 

So was Sal Dichiera from Amazing Adventures San Francisco who had not missed setting up since the mid 1970s, not a perfect record, but close to the beginning towards the end of the El Cortez days. Sal was there the first few days, we talked of the cyrrent & future market.

 

He told me he felt squeezed out finally, it had beenbuilding for a few years, and was a bitter pill to swallow considering his 30+ years of continuous support. Or at least that is what i gleaned from him - in some ways he is correct, and i feel the same pain, and so do others.

 

but i feel as Comicon has grown into 150,000 people streaming thru, it becomes more of a crowd control thing, and let's face it, even though we all love them-thar funny books, and is what brought em to the party 38 years ago (and i have been selling at every one of them), the studios & their movies is what is generating the over-whelming crush of people this show has been experiencing as of late.

 

What i am now advocating for is a larger percentage of the TV face time to be explored if possible and i think treating an Antique Roadshow concept as a Potential Plan for 2008 is something the collective old comics/collectibles aspect of the show could interest the media outlets like G-4, ABC News, CNN, Spike, might go for and run snippets

 

The old comics market at San Diego is very much alive and kicking, i was well pleased with the results of selling, buying and trading, though I am short 3 Bob Powell Cave Girl stories i was talked out of for cash/trade Sunday - jury is still out in my mind whether i should have done that or not - I had just picked up the complete book to Cavegirl 14 (I still have the Bob Powell Thunda story with a King King motiff to it) and a five page Triple Terror story from Tip Top 59 1940. But it was a nice stack of books (a Happy 33 would have been icing on the cake)

 

it's just with the outside media coverage slanted towards all the other media, to get noticed we will have to come up with some sort of semi-organized front to let em know we are still alive

 

I looked for Marty, did not see him either.

 

Marty is one of the good guy dealer/collectors - always had a few good conversations every show, i thought maybe i just did not hit the right rows in the infrequent times i got out into the aisles out spending money as there were tons of good stuff at the show as always, and deals could be made, here and there.

 

And here is a lead to go chase if it is still there: the fellow who had a large pile of the Church Centaurs was/is Tim Collins RTS Colorado - i saw them at his place previously - he might be talked out of an issue or so, trade bait always interests him. His ad is in Overtsreet. If you do not already know him, tell him i sent you and he will know you are a serious contender.

 

He likes LB Cole and Alex Schomburg a lot

[october]

A very nice formerly CGC'd VG- with the label.

 

That's a great looking VG-!! Congrats on all the tough Centaurs you've scored (thumbs u

 

I found the book for him and I didn't even get a mention. Andy is sad.

 

Why didn't you buy it for yourself?

 

Only after the Lou Fine covers. That one is Tuska.

 

Yes, but that's an absolutely gorgeous George Tuska cover and would put it close to some of the Lou Fine Mystery Men covers. Love the combination of colours used on this particular issue. (thumbs u

 

I won't argue with that. It's more of a budgetary limitation than a stylistic one...have to draw the line somwhere.

[sacentaur]

the fellow who had a large pile of the Church Centaurs was/is Tim Collins RTS Colorado

 

Ah, this may explain what someone related as seeing a large pile of Centaurs dropped off at the CGC/Heritage? booth.

 

I don't collect Church books anymore, but...