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Brief Toronto Con report

Started by drewincanada,

36 posts in this topic

drewincanada

drewincanada

Posted
Posted

This is from a first-time Con attendee...

 

I arrived around 12:30 today, and was dismayed to see the endless lineup snaking back and forth. I'd heard that lineups could be as long as 2 hours, and it appeared that this would indeed be the case.

 

But it turned out this was the line to purchase tickets. With my pre-purchased Ticketmaster ticket, I completely bypassed this line. I went to the Advance Tickets window – where there were only 2 people in front of me – exchanged my Ticketmaster ticket for a daily pass, and headed straight down the escalators and into the show floor. No waiting whatsoever. For once, the $4 Ticketmaster service fee was worth it.

 

As for the show itself... this was the first con I'd been to, and I was underwhelmed. I thought there would be more dealers, and I thought the dealers would have more high grade stuff. About 20% of the floor space was comics-related (including dealers, the artists' alley, etc.), and the rest was allocated to the anime, sci-fi, horror and gaming part of the Con.

 

I was looking exclusively for Silver age stuff, and admittedly, there was tons of mid-grade silver available, but it was almost exclusively in the F- to VF+ range. Most dealers had 40-50% off their "regular" prices, but even with the discount, I didn't find anything that wasn't still priced well above OSG. A 40-50% discount is great, but not if the regular price is 80% too high to begin with.

 

Not many dealers had high grade books, and when they did, they were still priced too high for my liking. I was tempted by a couple of VF Avengers (a #11 and a #93), but eventually decided to stick to my goal of only buying NM- or higher.

 

I'd guess that 95%+ of the books were raw. The dealers that had CGC slabs only had a few, and most of them were for Bronze books, or Silver books in mid-grades. Some dealers who had CGC slabs were selling them for big discounts, but again, they were for run-of-the-mill books in mid-grade.

 

The dealer with the best high-grade presence was Harley Yee - but from everything I've read about him, this is no surprise. Lots of nice books, and quite a few slabs. Still... prices were too high compared to what I've seen elsewhere for the same books in grade.

 

I did get one good deal: I picked up three volumes of the Spirit Archives that I was missing for $100 CDN including tax = $33 each. The Canadian list price on these books is nuts, so I've been picking them up from US dealers for $40-42 each. Even with exchange and shipping costs, it was cheaper than buying from a local dealer. So $33 CDN was a steal for new, shrink wrapped copies.

 

Finally met Wes Hagen. After my Ebay-deal-gone-wrong troubles with him that I posted about on this board a month or so ago, I was surprised and pleased to discover what an outgoing, genial gentleman he is.

 

Like I said, a brief report of a brief visit to the con on a muggy, humid, rainy Saturday in Toronto. All told, I spent about 3 hours on the show floor and I was done for the day.

 

Glad I went, but not sure if I need to do it again. Maybe I'll try the Paradise show next year instead, since it's exclusively comics...

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dekeuk

dekeuk

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I was looking exclusively for Silver age stuff, and admittedly, there was tons of mid-grade silver available, but it was almost exclusively in the F- to VF+ range.

 

 

This is not surprising at all. High grade silver is in high demand that can be instantly sold for good money any time. If a dealer has high grade silver he sells it on a website, ebay or comiclink. Or first he sends it to CGC, then he sells it online.

 

If you have high grade silver, it makes no sense to physically haul high grade silver over the border, through customs, pay table fees, worry about theft at a show..... only to deal with a regional audience instead of a worldwide audience ready to bid up those prices.

 

The internet has relegated the comic-dealing part of comic shows to the sidelines, replaced by promos for Hollywood superhero movies.

 

 

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drewincanada

drewincanada

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I was looking exclusively for Silver age stuff, and admittedly, there was tons of mid-grade silver available, but it was almost exclusively in the F- to VF+ range.

 

 

This is not surprising at all. High grade silver is in high demand that can be instantly sold for good money any time. If a dealer has high grade silver he sells it on a website, ebay or comiclink. Or first he sends it to CGC, then he sells it online.

 

 

Yeah, that makes sense. All of my high grade deals to date have been done via CL, Heritage, Ebay or dealer sites. I'd hoped to do a few good deals today at the con, but I'm still glad I went... if only to confirm for myself that online is the way to go for high-grade silver.

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TheWatcher

TheWatcher

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I was looking exclusively for Silver age stuff, and admittedly, there was tons of mid-grade silver available, but it was almost exclusively in the F- to VF+ range.

 

 

This is not surprising at all. High grade silver is in high demand that can be instantly sold for good money any time. If a dealer has high grade silver he sells it on a website, ebay or comiclink. Or first he sends it to CGC, then he sells it online.

 

If you have high grade silver, it makes no sense to physically haul high grade silver over the border, through customs, pay table fees, worry about theft at a show..... only to deal with a regional audience instead of a worldwide audience ready to bid up those prices.

 

The internet has relegated the comic-dealing part of comic shows to the sidelines, replaced by promos for Hollywood superhero movies.

 

 

 

Or it was cherry-picked by the other dealers before the show.

 

 

Angelo

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Dale Roberts

Dale Roberts

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I was looking exclusively for Silver age stuff, and admittedly, there was tons of mid-grade silver available, but it was almost exclusively in the F- to VF+ range.

 

 

This is not surprising at all. High grade silver is in high demand that can be instantly sold for good money any time. If a dealer has high grade silver he sells it on a website, ebay or comiclink. Or first he sends it to CGC, then he sells it online.

 

 

Yeah, that makes sense. All of my high grade deals to date have been done via CL, Heritage, Ebay or dealer sites. I'd hoped to do a few good deals today at the con, but I'm still glad I went... if only to confirm for myself that online is the way to go for high-grade silver.

 

This is not altogether right. You go to most conventions and you can find a better selection of high grade comics than you can find on line, and many times the books you find will be FRESH material, not stuff that has been around forever. Harley, Bob, myself, Dave Kapelka, Ricky Evans, and several other guys have a large convention inventory of high grade. What makes no sense is to pay someone else to sell your comics, which is what you do if you use Heritage, Comiclink, and Ebay. And occasionally, I use all 3, but mostly for specific circumstances.

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HouseofComics.Com

HouseofComics.Com

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Yeah, I'm not quite in agreement either. While there are always some people who can't grade or won't grade and end up with crazy prices on their average silver, I see plenty of people at shows whose discount takes the book below guide. My stuff is stickered near guide but then I discount at the shows by 30% on almost everything so it all ends up below guide. I've never been to the Toronto show so I can't speak to it, but I'm surprised there aren't below guide deals there.

 

As for the HG stuff, it's perfectly fine to prefer to do it online, put more work in, and pay less. But there's still a lot of impressive stuff at shows and you get to examine it in person.

 

Marc

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CycloneComics

CycloneComics

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I was looking exclusively for Silver age stuff, and admittedly, there was tons of mid-grade silver available, but it was almost exclusively in the F- to VF+ range.

 

 

This is not surprising at all. High grade silver is in high demand that can be instantly sold for good money any time. If a dealer has high grade silver he sells it on a website, ebay or comiclink. Or first he sends it to CGC, then he sells it online.

 

 

Yeah, that makes sense. All of my high grade deals to date have been done via CL, Heritage, Ebay or dealer sites. I'd hoped to do a few good deals today at the con, but I'm still glad I went... if only to confirm for myself that online is the way to go for high-grade silver.

 

This is not altogether right. You go to most conventions and you can find a better selection of high grade comics than you can find on line, and many times the books you find will be FRESH material, not stuff that has been around forever. Harley, Bob, myself, Dave Kapelka, Ricky Evans, and several other guys have a large convention inventory of high grade. What makes no sense is to pay someone else to sell your comics, which is what you do if you use Heritage, Comiclink, and Ebay. And occasionally, I use all 3, but mostly for specific circumstances.

 

I only sell my books at the Paradise show in Torornto, very rarely will I sell on Fleabay and I don`t use any of the auction services provided by Heritage or Comiclink.If I am going to pay to set up at a show I want to make sure I have stuff to sell to make the show worth while.

 

John

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Foolkiller

Foolkiller

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I was looking exclusively for Silver age stuff, and admittedly, there was tons of mid-grade silver available, but it was almost exclusively in the F- to VF+ range.

 

 

This is not surprising at all. High grade silver is in high demand that can be instantly sold for good money any time. If a dealer has high grade silver he sells it on a website, ebay or comiclink. Or first he sends it to CGC, then he sells it online.

 

 

Yeah, that makes sense. All of my high grade deals to date have been done via CL, Heritage, Ebay or dealer sites. I'd hoped to do a few good deals today at the con, but I'm still glad I went... if only to confirm for myself that online is the way to go for high-grade silver.

 

This is not altogether right. You go to most conventions and you can find a better selection of high grade comics than you can find on line, and many times the books you find will be FRESH material, not stuff that has been around forever. Harley, Bob, myself, Dave Kapelka, Ricky Evans, and several other guys have a large convention inventory of high grade. What makes no sense is to pay someone else to sell your comics, which is what you do if you use Heritage, Comiclink, and Ebay. And occasionally, I use all 3, but mostly for specific circumstances.

 

This particular show is not indicative of most shows to me. First of all, I'm not sure how many "major" dealers made it across the border. Second, as Dale points out, there are many dealers who show up with plenty of raw high grade (and slabs too). Third, finding the high grade gems often requires some real digging if it's not immediately apparent. I attend the little local show here, frequent LCSs and manage to get many wonderful finds (especially if you are willing to "settle" for those "lowly" 9.0s and 9.2s).

 

If you are looking for top census copies and graded 9.4s, then the major National shows are the ones to go to here in the states. Unfortunately, unlike the Paradise show, this show seems more geared towards entertainment rather than comics. Still, the bottom line is that the high grade bronze or silver you were looking for may not have been there, but a friend called me saying they found a beautiful DC 10 center high grade at the show... so hence my comment that it often takes a lot of digging.

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drewincanada

drewincanada

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Thanks for the feedback/input, everyone.

 

I had a feeling this con wasn't the ideal one for a con-newbie. I'll definitely check out Paradise next year, and try to make it to one of the majors south of the border.

 

As I admitted up front, my interests are specific and limited. I spent most of my time scouring the booths for Avengers, and I looked at pretty much every copy at every booth. Of the issues I need, Harley had a couple beauties including a slabbed #18, and Wes Hagen had a VF or VF+ copy of #93. I also saw lots of #4s including a stunning 9.2 slabbed copy... but I already have a #4 and that 9.2 was way out of my budget at the moment.

 

I had a friend at the con who picked up about $600 of raw silvers, but all in mid-grade. Mid-grade was exactly what he was looking for, and he knows his values and I've never known him to over pay, so he was pleased with the con. He did spend the entire day there, though, in order to fully scour the floor.

 

Like I said, my report was brief and subjective. Then again, how could it not be subjective? Isn't that the nature of report?

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rodan57

rodan57

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Like I said, my report was brief and subjective. Then again, how could it not be subjective? Isn't that the nature of report?

 

We love con reports! (thumbs u

 

I agree. Thanks for the report. I'm going to drop by the show Sunday.

 

Dennis

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CAP Freak

CAP Freak

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Thanks for the feedback/input, everyone.

 

I had a feeling this con wasn't the ideal one for a con-newbie. I'll definitely check out Paradise next year, and try to make it to one of the majors south of the border.

 

As I admitted up front, my interests are specific and limited. I spent most of my time scouring the booths for Avengers, and I looked at pretty much every copy at every booth. Of the issues I need, Harley had a couple beauties including a slabbed #18, and Wes Hagen had a VF or VF+ copy of #93. I also saw lots of #4s including a stunning 9.2 slabbed copy... but I already have a #4 and that 9.2 was way out of my budget at the moment.

 

I had a friend at the con who picked up about $600 of raw silvers, but all in mid-grade. Mid-grade was exactly what he was looking for, and he knows his values and I've never known him to over pay, so he was pleased with the con. He did spend the entire day there, though, in order to fully scour the floor.

 

Like I said, my report was brief and subjective. Then again, how could it not be subjective? Isn't that the nature of report?

 

Great report drewincanada (thumbs u I suggest that if you do go south of the border for a con that you make your way to Chi-Town for Wizard World Chicago!

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Subliminal

Subliminal

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I work nearby that con and for the third year I walked in, saw the endless ticket line and walked out. Next time I'll definitely pre order tickets. This con never gets me excited enough to waste time in the line and pay $25 minimum. I prefer the smaller comics only ones.

I see so many people pay the big bucks to get into that con and come out with nothing but a few posters.

 

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