Innocuous 2008 San Diego Comic-Con Report, ADDED: Freaks 'n Geeks and Chicks

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This is my first of two reports for the 2008 San Diego Comic-con. This is my main report, the next one will be pics of, well, freaks, geeks, chicks. Here we go.

 

I drove down from L.A. on Wednesday afternoon. No traffic. I arrived at my hotel and checked in at about 3pm. Then went straight to the convention center. I took up the offer from Filter81 to grab some booth space. This is the first time I ever saw the convention center look like this...

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I helped to set-up the booth with a couple of other board members. Here is Socratic Wonder and Detective27Kid. The AF15 is the one I bought to exchange (but not with either of these two).

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The crowds were pretty much as I expected, crazy. For example, the following is a foodline inside, in the sails pavilion and the crowd in the middle of the day outside.

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Here are some generic crowd pics

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I stopped by the CGC booth a few times. So, I snapped a couple of quick pics.

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A quick statement about "comic books" at the SDCC. There were some quality comics present. But, overall, I was disappointed at the number of dealers present. The selection quality, compared to the past, was poor. It really does appear as if the dealers are being pushed out. I honestly had a hard time spending my budget on what I was looking for, so, I bought some OA. More on the later. Here are some of the dealers.

 

How many board members can you identify in the Dale Roberts booth?

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More dealer booths.

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For you OA fans, I found this amazing Kirby original art in a portfolio and not on a wall. $17k

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Heartened in the OA forum organized an awesome dinner. I viewed some great art and had a great conversation with several members from the comicart fans list.

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Be back in 5 minutes, my son just woke up from his nap and needs a snack.

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I tossed him some pretzels and now he's happy. Back to the report...

 

I attended some panels. I took pics at two I thought everyone here would be interested in. First, the Golden Age panel. From left to right, Mark Evanier, Al Jaffee, Russ Heath, Larry Lieber, Jerry Robinson, Al Feldstein. I most enjoyed Jerry. He gave a couple of great stories. First, giving Bill Finger props for helping create Batman. Second, relating how he helped Siegel and Schuster in the lawsuit against DC. He really did a lot to help them out, even conducting the final negotiations on their behalf. Jerry is a true life hero.

 

Here is a pic of the crowd and panel.

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The other panel had board member Esquirecomics as the moderator, Comic Book 102. I missed middle-half, but enjoyed the panel overall. I was a little disjointed with differing topics based on the expertise and experience of the panelists. The questions ranged from the history of DC, to restoration to how the guide is priced. The panelists in the picture are: J. C. Vaugn, Susan Cicconi, Mark Zaid, Douglas Wheeler-Nicholson and Nicky Wheeler-Nicholson Brown.

 

Sorry, no crowd pic, but there were some board members present.

[thirdgreenham]

Nice so far! (thumbs u

 

Andy

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I spent a lot of time getting sketches. It was the first time I really focused on this and had a lot of fun. I have way too many, but here are a few.

- Jonah Hex by Tony De Zuniga

- Hulk by David Finch

- Robin by David Hahn

- Joker by Jerry Robinson

- Iron Man by Brian Denham

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Well, I finally made the jump and bought some OA. It's a small test with two modern covers. First, I bought the cover to Flash 239 from Freddie Williams Jr. at his table in Artist Alley. It was the only cover he had in his book and I thought have a flash cover would be great.

 

The second is Superman Confidential #11 by Tim Sale. I bought this from his rep at Graphic Collectibles.

 

For my first two pieces, I am really happy. However, I'm also concerned about the can of worms I just opened myself up to.

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Well, that's all. I left the convention at noon on Saturday as I had to be home Saturday night. My feet hurt and I'm exhausted.

 

 

 

 

Oh wait, I bought some comics as well. Here are the books I purchased for my kids.

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First up, Flash Comics #7. Purchased from John Dolmayan at his Torpedo Comics booth. I bought this Wednesday night. When browsing his booth, I saw this on his wall. I offered him a lowball purchase amount. He was gracious with my insult and offered a counter, which I declined. However, he did offer to flip a coin, if I won, I would get a good price. If he won, he would get a better deal. Well, I suck, even though I flipped and lost, not one, not two, but three tosses in a row. Nevertheless, he split the difference in the purchase price and I was a happy customer.

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Next, I purchased Famous Funnies #211. A classic cover from Frank Frazetta. Brian Peets at A-1 Comics had 5 of the Frazetta covers. Unfortunately, he had already sold the one at the top of my list, the red planet cover. Anyway, this one is in a nice mid-grade with bright colors. So, I purchased a near his asking price.

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Finally, I really wanted a Batman #47 from one dealer. I was willing to pay over guide for a solid Fine plus copy. However, he was several hundred dollars overguide. So, I walked. I noticed several copies of the first Famous Funnies at a few dealers. I have recently been considering this for its historical significance. So, given that I didn't buy the Batman #47, I bought this at Filter's booth. I asked for the Detective 27 and Superman 1 to get thrown in the deal, but that didn't work out.

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Thanks for checking out my thread. To close, here are my three new golden age beauties.