Okay. Mid-Ohio Con from another perspective

[conditionfreak]

I was only able to attend the Mid Ohio Con on Sunday afternoon because of a wedding I had to attend. Bummer.

 

Anyway, I haven't been to a Con in many a year and now I remember why I quit going.

 

I should preface my statements with this: I am not a fan of artists. I am a fan of comic book covers, but for the life of me, I could not tell you who did what cover, with any chance of getting it right. I like good art, and I dislike bad art, and there is a lot in between that is okay.

 

I did not get any books signed and I did not get any sketches. I was there mostly for Golden Age books, and maybe some other ages if they "called my name".

 

I met Big Mike, although I never introduced myself as conditionfreak, and he semed a very nice person. I met Dale Roberts and did introduce myself and he also seemed very nice. I bought a couple of books from him. Tec 448 (which was on my list) and Tec 412 CGC 9.2, just because it "called my name".

 

I was really only there for Golden Age rarities and found a couple but they were just too darn expensive. Kid Colt Annual #1 (tough to find) was on my list, but overpriced (800 bucks). I talked with several dealers about a Kid Colt #1 or an #11, which are both on my list, and no one had seen one in quit sometime. Everyone agreed #1 is a tough book to find, especially in high grade. Mikey did send me to John Haines, who was very nice, but no KC # 1, but maybe in the future.

 

I obtained some email addresses and web site addresses to help me find a #1.

 

Back to my opening statements. I remember now why I prefer to search and seek on the net, as opposed to attending Cons. The Con was boring. Granted, I didn't know anyone so that might have been a hinderance in enjoying it more. I live an hour away, so I did not spend the night as many did either. Very few people there (again, on a Sunday afternoon), and anything I actually wanted was way overpriced, as compared to GPA or even Overstreet. I found that even some relatively brand new books (Wolverine 55 variant, ASM 301, and a couple of others that I wanted in very high grade) were not to be found. The thing that suprised me the most was that one of the things on my list to purchase at this Con, was a Signature Series Stan Lee book. Just about any book would have done. There were none, with the exception of an ASM 24 in, if I remember correctly, a 5.5.

 

That was it. Stan Lee is known for signing thousands and thousands of books, yet nothing for me. I would have bought the ASM 24 but I have a couple and wanted something I didn't have.

 

Yep. It was a little boring, even though I enjoyed it. But not enough to do it again probably. I get better books and better deals on this site. No doubt about it.

 

P.S. A hot dog cost me 8 bucks and a small pepsi cost me 3.50, in the building. $11.50 for a dog and a drink. That's an ASM 301 for criminy sakes. P.S. I didn't believe what someone wrote on this site recently about the ASM 301 being tough to dind in grade, so I looked just for fun. There was only one in the whole darn place and it was probably an 8.0 at best. Gonna keep my eye out for them, for the right price. Hard to believe though, as they were very popular and they printed millions not that long ago.

 

Okay, not so good a Con report. Maybe I will try Baltimore next year. Make a weekend of it. Bring some rubbers, a sketch book, and force myself to mingle

 

 

[sborock]

I have SL SS Books, Pm me.

 

Sorry we missed you at the Saturday dinner!

[Ringfinger]

Great report. Try harder next time. ;-)

[DrWatson]

You picked the wrong con to go to. Mid-Ohio wasn't bad, but it wasn't anything to write home about, especially by Sunday afternoon.

[nik]

You buy anything Doc?

[DrWatson]

Not until I got home.

[nik]

Snap

[DrWatson]

I wasn't the only one. Toronto Jim picked up a sweet book... off of Pedigree's web site.

[seanfingh]

 

Should have pulled the trigger on Ritter's Jumbo. Wait a minute, that doesn't sound quite right . . .

[nik]

[Rich_Henn]

I used to go to Mid-Ohio every year, it was tradition.

From 1987 to 2002, I think I went solid every year.

 

Moving it from early Nov. to Thanksgiving weekend hurt a LOT.

 

Then moving it all over Ohio didn't help either.

Well, keeing it in Columbus was a good start, but then it was all over Columbus.

 

Roger Price put on a good show, it was a staple for me.

But the holidays and family take priority, and I had to finally bail.

 

I was wondering what the new venue and new ownership would change, if anything...guess I have my answer.

 

Baltimore Comicon seems to be the way to go.

 

I even enjoyed Wiz World philly.

[jools&jim]

Hey Walt...glad you got to meet John Haines. He's one of the good ones!

 

I don't go to Cons anymore for a variety of reasons, including some of the ones you listed. People with bad personal hygiene, freaks in even freakier costumes, pro wrestlers, porn stars, TV and B-movie actors, strippers, carnival hucksters, and other oddities have their place in this crazy, mixed-up world of ours. But a comic book show ain't one of them, especially if I want to take my 8 year-old kid with me so she can look for Archies...

[seanfingh]

 

I was wondering what the new venue and new ownership would change, if anything...guess I have my answer.

 

 

The real answer to this is:

 

(1) If you were interested in creators, it was the best Mid-Ohio in 6 or 7 years. Hands down.

 

(2) If you bought high end, high grade books or keys it was the best show in many years. The wall books were amazing at this show. NO ONE WAS BUYING THEM!

 

(3) If you were looking for good quality run fillers, there were a number of dealers with great stock. (Also, the dealer that I bought my Archie/Punishers from had five (5) copies of Wolverine 55 in his variant box )

 

(4) There was a dealer from Montreal that had high grade Copper and Modern for $2 a book if you are into that type of thing. 9.4-9.8 copies of Preacher, Dark Horse Presents, New Mutants etc.

 

The show was solid. The comic buying community did not show up with much verve. I feel like Mid-Ohio took a big step forward this year, but am afraid that many of the dealers will not come back due to sparse crowds and little $$.

 

PS: To the original poster. The bar across the street was awesome and you could have gotten half an appetizer, a sweet burger with pierogies on the side and a beer for about $5 more than you paid for the dog and drink.

[conditionfreak]

Yep. I probably didn't get the "full flavor" of the Con due to a number of issues. One being the wedding in Cleveland the night before. Two, being that I brought a friend with me and he isn't in to them as I am That is funny because he is in to reading them, but only buys books at cover price and just passes them to his son who is in Iraq. He mails them over after he reads them. Plus he had a commitment for that Sunday morning to attend a high school football breakfast thingy in Cleveland and I went with him. It kind of made us rush through the day.

 

Additionally, I am bothered by the geeks in the costumes as well. Not that I am "bothered" by them, but I believe they give a bad impression of "our kind" to the rest of the world. Some guy running around looking like The Phantom is just kind of weird to me, unless he is being paid by the Con organizers, then maybe I can understand.

 

To each his own, I guess.

 

There were some "eye candy" babes around, but to be honest. There was one girl there that was a Playboy centerfold and an actress, that looked SO much better in the movies and mag, than she does in person. I was surprised at the difference. Not that I would have thrown her out of bed, but If I had seen her on the street, I would have never thought she was a centerfold. Airbrushing does wonders I guess.

 

On Sunday afternoon, I did not see any children that seemed interested in the actual comic books. A couple being towed around and eyeing the costumed guys and gals, and the Batmobile, but none looking at comic books. Absolutely no teenagers looking through books. That is a bad sign. Maybe it was different on Saturday.

 

Yes, there were some quality books there to be had, but the prices were just so high, except for the modern drek. I mentioned on another thread here (selling thread) that a Tec #412 CGC 9.4 had a price of $350.00, and it has a GPA of 150.00. You can now buy a 9.4 on this forum for 150.00, so why was the asking price 350? Neal Adams cover doesn't explain that, does it? There were many examples of this kind of thing.

 

Now, one would think that someone like I, who has thousands of books, would be thrilled on the high prices being asked for certain (a lot) of books, but realistically, if I posted a Tec #412 9.4 on here, there is no way I could sell it for 200 bucks, yet at the Con the prices were way over that.

 

I am not a business man but I would think that "cash flow" would be the way to go. Is it different with our collectible hobby? Does a book dealer not mind holding onto these things because the theory is that they can only go up, so ask for the sky and if it doesn't sell, no worries because it will be worth even more next year?

 

I did go through the modern stuff looking for what I thought would be a potential 9.8 in something desirable, but didn't find any that peaked my interest. I am sure that they were there, but I couldn't look at every book.

 

As a side note, I did see the helper at one of the bigger stands, push a few modern books roughly back into the boxes, in order to make room to lay something down on top of the open boxes of books. You know how there will be a few books standing halfway up from the boxes, just to catch your eye, and they usually are something that is sort of sought after (say a Thor, first Beta Ray appearance or something like that). Well this "helper" just crushes these books sticking up, bending them over and actually wrestling them back in to the box, so he could lay out a Golden Age book I was interested in having him take out of the bag for me. I thought, what a way to ruin what may have been a 9.6 or 9.8. I would never treat my books like that, even my mid or low grade books.

 

I guess you just can't get good help these days.

 

I did see a Vampy #1 that was just plain sweet, that I almost bought (800 bucks if I remember correctly). Best I have seen personally. But I just can't seem to pull the trigger on those books that are not regular comic book size. Just a hang up of mine. I wanted to buy a Savage Conan #1 so bad, that was a SS on this site awhile back, but I can't make myself do it, because of the size. It is a personal hang up I guess.

 

Size does matter, to me anyway. My wife says it doesn't, bless her sweet heart.

 

I have some over size books that I am going to post on here for sale, just to get rid of them. Also, some undersized books (same hang up about them also).

 

I wish I would have met Steve Borock (a legend), and Buck Biggins (I want one of those pins, preferably #6), and a couple of other members here.

 

I heard years ago that Borock had a 9.9 ASM #1. Was that just a rumor? There are no 9.9's listed and only one 9.8. I always wondered if he was keeping a "surprise" for the future. Would be sweet if he was. But it was probably just a bad rumor, as who could keep something like that under wraps.

 

C'mon................. confess

[Buck Biggins]

I wish I would have met Steve Borock (a legend), and Buck Biggins (I want one of those pins, preferably #6), and a couple of other members here.

 

Steve was riot (as everytime I see him) and I got you a #6 in my sales thread coming up. They turned out sweet.

[Loki]

P.S. I didn't believe what someone wrote on this site recently about the ASM 301 being tough to dind in grade, so I looked just for fun. There was only one in the whole darn place and it was probably an 8.0 at best. Gonna keep my eye out for them, for the right price. Hard to believe though, as they were very popular and they printed millions not that long ago.

 

That might have be me, as I made a remark recently about the #301 in 9.8 being the rarest of the McFarlane run. I'm pretty sure it's common in grade up to about 9.4. I certainly would have expected you to find one better than an 8.0!

 

Good luck with your hunt!

[carcrawfordfan]

I was there Sat morning and had plenty of money to spend, but not very many books to buy. I mostly collect CA-Moderns and was disappointed at the number of tables and dealers with comics. I am also disappointed I had to spend $15 to get in when the local shows cost $3 and have just as many tables. I have been to Chicago, NYCC and other big shows and this one was a huge disappointment. The only good thing was that it was only an hour and a half from home. I hope next year they at least double the size/number of dealers. Just my 2 cents.

[Mike Bray]

There was one girl there that was a Playboy centerfold and an actress, that looked SO much better in the movies and mag, than she does in person.

funny what 26 years does to a person ......

[Pirate]

There was one girl there that was a Playboy centerfold and an actress, that looked SO much better in the movies and mag, than she does in person.

funny what 26 years does to a person ......

 

[conditionfreak]

There was one girl there that was a Playboy centerfold and an actress, that looked SO much better in the movies and mag, than she does in person.

funny what 26 years does to a person ......

 

Wow, how time flies Maybe CGC could do some life size slabs for the women folk.

 

Seriously, I haven't changed in the last 26 years (look just as bad then as I do now), so why did others change? Bad food?