Blob's Big Apple Report

[The Less Blob]

To my shock and amzement, Mrs. Blob did not object to going into Manhattan and dragging Baby Blob post-soccer in Prospect Park (Brooklyn) to the show.

 

We hit mid-town at around 2:15 or so. Navigating around the west 30's is no wasy task, even for a native New Yorker. I meandered around looking for reasonable parking --- there was none unless you get in before 10:00 a.m. I'd be darned to spend $20+ on parking for a "free" show. Around the area of the con, there is very little street parking unless you have various governmental placards, which I do not. Eventually I found a spot on 30th just off 10th on a pretty fugly looking street with a couple of guys literally sleeping on the sidewalk and the smell of some sort of secretion in the air. But it was free!

 

So, we walked the 7 or 8 blocks to get to the show...surprisingly, my wife was not complaining much, except when we hit another block that smelled of urine...such is life in the big city (I would later add to the smell before getting back in the car, but I digress). In any event, my son has a project for school: a phot montage of "New York", so looking like tourists and snapping shots of Madison Square Garden and the Empire State Building was on the to do list (to go along with the shots from the Brooklyn Gay Pride Parade we encountered after soccer on the way back to the car --- my son was apparently accosted by a militant lesbian (apparently nicknamed "Sgt. Slaughter" where she is a teacher) who urged him to give his mother more respect after he was talking back to her)...Anyway...

 

So, we hit the show at a little after 3. I stopped by the first dealer...the guy who always has a spot by the door at the Big Apple shows ... and picked up some $3 books that were probably $2 elsewhere. My wife had to go to the bathroom and my son threw a fit when she tried to leave. We're off to a great start, crying after 3 minutes!!

 

Well, apparently, he was under the impression that a comic show is a place to get toys, so that's what we did. He apparently knew EXACTLY where to go, as 50 feet and 10 seconds later he was rummaging through a 3 for $5 toy bin where he got Sabretooth, Venom and Spidey (or was it Batman..?..). That shut him up until mommy reappeared and I could get back to work.

 

I come to these shows nowadays for the inexpensive books ... $5 and under BA and SA for the most part. After walking by some dealers who didn't seem to have the cheap stuff I was looking for, apparently I stumbled upon John Haines who had a nice selection of $3 books. As noted in another thread, without any prompting he asked my son what he liked ("Batman") and pulled out a 12 center for him (for free). Not that I wasn't going to anyway, but I wound up buying $100 in cheapies from John's table.

 

Not far from there was another dealer with $1, $2 and $4 books, of which I purchased many.

 

I bought 20 $4.85 books from another dealer who mainly had expensive stuff...I probably overpaid a bit for these books in hindsight as I did not take them out of their bags and make sure their fronts were as good as their backs. I'll do that tonight.

 

3 hours of perusing, numerous prods from my wife and son (and handing her $20's as she went hunting for star wars figures and bought my son some more action figures -- luckily my wife collects Star Wars figures...although she was not impressed with the selection) and I was done, taking home 1 1/2 magazine boxes worth of comics.

 

I will examine the books closer tonight, but I think I met some of my goals: getting some decent shape BA Marvel horror/monster, some decent shape Archies, some nice shape picture boxes, some decent condition DC war and a smattering of other stuff. I stayed away from what I often get sucked into (with a few exceptions) at shows ... VG+ and lower late 60's DC Superman/Jimmy/Lois because "it's cheap". Nothing wrong with those books, but I already have them! I also avoided picking up my 9th and 10th copies of various late 70s/early 80's ASMs because "they're cheap"....I stayed away from Disney (I don't always do that) because I didn't have the time or energy to figure out which ones were Barks and I already have a lot of Ducks. While I stayed away from the generic VG SA Supermans...I did pick up a bunch of really sharp 20 centers. Let's see how sharp they are after having hauled them home in grocery bags. I told myself to stay away from conan (as I already have a ton), but couldn't pass up some cheap low grade Smith issues as well as some super sharp 20 centers. Ditto Luke Cage...I tell myself to stay away, but it's hard to pass up 20 centers if they're sharp.

 

Well, you can't buy everything anyway! I ran out of money and had just about as much as I could carry. I didn't pushing things time-wise to the point of ticking off my wife (I promised her as much alcohol as she wanted afterward) and my son was 100% ready to go after 3 hours.

 

On the way out I asked my wife to pose with son in front of a star trek sign and she gave me an "are you f-ing kidding me" look, so no pictures were taken, though maybe I'll take a pic of Aidan and his "haul" tomorrow morning.

 

On the way out she observed that a lot of people there really needed to take a shower and needed to use soap when they took a shower. I noted my halitosis experience with a guy next to me rummaging through bins (his was so bad I actually gave up looking at one dealer) and she agreed that there was also a lot of bad breath there too and she was happy that she didn't bother showering before coming to the show. Of course, neither did I...we were a little rushed!

 

Interestingly, she di not vow to never do this again. I would not have been able to control my son or get anything accomplised without her there, so I do not anticipate dadd/son cons for a while. I suppose it will need to be free, which doesn't seem likely for the future of shows in NYC.

 

Things seem busy. Dunno how the dealers did though.

 

Weighed down by 50 pounds of comics, I didn't feel like walking 1/2 mile to the car, so we took a cab ($6 total)...so... still $14 cheaper than 3+ hours in a parking lot down there!

 

 

 

[Old Fashion PB and J]

$4.85 books

 

Gary Plat. Guy has a moustache. If so, great guy.

[The Less Blob]

Funny guy, I was hoping he'd knock a little more off my grand total, he knocked a few bucks off to humor me and stop my crying (as he was either buying or selling a pretty nice GS X-Men 1 at the time)..I would have bought more but the $4.85 box wasn't full and the books had gotten bent under eachother..turning some NM books well worth the $4.85 into some VF copies that might not be.

[The Less Blob]

Note to self: Spend more time examining the back covers!

 

But it is such a PITA doing this with cheap books that are already bagged and boarded.

 

A 20 cent picture frame BA marvel horror transformed from a sweet 9.2 copy (on the front) with bone white pages and I don't know what after I looked at the back cover last night, which was totally wrinkled up and moisture damaged.

 

A sweet giant size Little Archie from 1972..not so sweet after I noticed the huge chunk out of the back last night!

 

Oh well, you win some you lose some.

[mrwoogieman]

When you buy cheapies at a Con, you always, always, always, end up with a few that you would not have bought had you looked at them closer. It's just a rule of the game. "That's how they get you!"

 

 

[nocutename]

I noted my halitosis experience with a guy next to me rummaging through bins (his was so bad I actually gave up looking at one dealer)

 

I think we smelt ran into the same guy except I fought for my dollar tecs on the floor right next to him and he was a chatty one too.

[slym2none]

That may be an effective weapon... no crowds around you while hunting through some boxes if you smell like old shrimp, BO, dragon-breath, and @ss...

 

 

 

 

-slym

[The Less Blob]

I admit that I probably didn't smell too good having last showered Friday morning and being a big sweating type, but my wife told me afterward I didn't smell too bad and wasn't embarassed about us going to a restaurant afterward.

[The Less Blob]

When you buy cheapies at a Con, you always, always, always, end up with a few that you would not have bought had you looked at them closer. It's just a rule of the game. "That's how they get you!"

 

 

I don't think the dealers knew either...they get stuff and don't bother looking too closely when they're tossing them in these bins.

[slym2none]

I admit that I probably didn't smell too good having last showered Friday morning and being a big sweating type, but my wife told me afterward I didn't smell too bad and wasn't embarassed about us going to a restaurant afterward.

 

Oh, I didn't mean to imply that was you...

 

 

 

 

-slym

[The Less Blob]

well, the sad part is that I am, at 2:34 a.m. Monday morning, about to take my first shower since 7:15 a.m. Friday morning! I know, blech...but I was too pooped after the show, we overslept on Sunday and had to rush around on a playdate for my son (we went to the Aquarium with friends and their 4 year old daughter -- we disclosed in advance I smelled and they were cool with it), buying groceries, bed shopping for my son and dinner with my evil mother-in-law...didn't get home until after 11 pm and then I had some work to do around the house.

 

we changed the sheets on the bed and my wife will not let me sleep on the clean sheets. i could have used my pungency of right now on saturday to scare off other bargain box buyers and give myself some more elbow room out there.

 

anyway, I found another few books I missed stuff on like water damage...oh well, thankfully nothing cost me more than $5.

[HouseofComics.Com]

Sooo ... what's the idea behind pricing them at 4.85?

[thirdgreenham]

Let's see some pics or scans of the decent condition DC war.

 

Andy

[nocutename]

anyway, I found another few books I missed stuff on like water damage...oh well, thankfully nothing cost me more than $5.

 

Me too. I thought it was just the crinkle of the bag. Luckily it was only 2 bucks but next time everything gets inspected.

[The Silver-Age]

To my shock and amzement, Mrs. Blob did not object to going into Manhattan and dragging Baby Blob post-soccer in Prospect Park (Brooklyn) to the show.

 

We hit mid-town at around 2:15 or so. Navigating around the west 30's is no wasy task, even for a native New Yorker. I meandered around looking for reasonable parking --- there was none unless you get in before 10:00 a.m. I'd be darned to spend $20+ on parking for a "free" show. Around the area of the con, there is very little street parking unless you have various governmental placards, which I do not. Eventually I found a spot on 30th just off 10th on a pretty fugly looking street with a couple of guys literally sleeping on the sidewalk and the smell of some sort of secretion in the air. But it was free!

 

So, we walked the 7 or 8 blocks to get to the show...surprisingly, my wife was not complaining much, except when we hit another block that smelled of urine...such is life in the big city (I would later add to the smell before getting back in the car, but I digress). In any event, my son has a project for school: a phot montage of "New York", so looking like tourists and snapping shots of Madison Square Garden and the Empire State Building was on the to do list (to go along with the shots from the Brooklyn Gay Pride Parade we encountered after soccer on the way back to the car --- my son was apparently accosted by a militant lesbian (apparently nicknamed "Sgt. Slaughter" where she is a teacher) who urged him to give his mother more respect after he was talking back to her)...Anyway...

 

So, we hit the show at a little after 3. I stopped by the first dealer...the guy who always has a spot by the door at the Big Apple shows ... and picked up some $3 books that were probably $2 elsewhere. My wife had to go to the bathroom and my son threw a fit when she tried to leave. We're off to a great start, crying after 3 minutes!!

 

Well, apparently, he was under the impression that a comic show is a place to get toys, so that's what we did. He apparently knew EXACTLY where to go, as 50 feet and 10 seconds later he was rummaging through a 3 for $5 toy bin where he got Sabretooth, Venom and Spidey (or was it Batman..?..). That shut him up until mommy reappeared and I could get back to work.

 

I come to these shows nowadays for the inexpensive books ... $5 and under BA and SA for the most part. After walking by some dealers who didn't seem to have the cheap stuff I was looking for, apparently I stumbled upon John Haines who had a nice selection of $3 books. As noted in another thread, without any prompting he asked my son what he liked ("Batman") and pulled out a 12 center for him (for free). Not that I wasn't going to anyway, but I wound up buying $100 in cheapies from John's table.

 

Not far from there was another dealer with $1, $2 and $4 books, of which I purchased many.

 

I bought 20 $4.85 books from another dealer who mainly had expensive stuff...I probably overpaid a bit for these books in hindsight as I did not take them out of their bags and make sure their fronts were as good as their backs. I'll do that tonight.

 

3 hours of perusing, numerous prods from my wife and son (and handing her $20's as she went hunting for star wars figures and bought my son some more action figures -- luckily my wife collects Star Wars figures...although she was not impressed with the selection) and I was done, taking home 1 1/2 magazine boxes worth of comics.

 

I will examine the books closer tonight, but I think I met some of my goals: getting some decent shape BA Marvel horror/monster, some decent shape Archies, some nice shape picture boxes, some decent condition DC war and a smattering of other stuff. I stayed away from what I often get sucked into (with a few exceptions) at shows ... VG+ and lower late 60's DC Superman/Jimmy/Lois because "it's cheap". Nothing wrong with those books, but I already have them! I also avoided picking up my 9th and 10th copies of various late 70s/early 80's ASMs because "they're cheap"....I stayed away from Disney (I don't always do that) because I didn't have the time or energy to figure out which ones were Barks and I already have a lot of Ducks. While I stayed away from the generic VG SA Supermans...I did pick up a bunch of really sharp 20 centers. Let's see how sharp they are after having hauled them home in grocery bags. I told myself to stay away from conan (as I already have a ton), but couldn't pass up some cheap low grade Smith issues as well as some super sharp 20 centers. Ditto Luke Cage...I tell myself to stay away, but it's hard to pass up 20 centers if they're sharp.

 

Well, you can't buy everything anyway! I ran out of money and had just about as much as I could carry. I didn't pushing things time-wise to the point of ticking off my wife (I promised her as much alcohol as she wanted afterward) and my son was 100% ready to go after 3 hours.

 

On the way out I asked my wife to pose with son in front of a star trek sign and she gave me an "are you f-ing kidding me" look, so no pictures were taken, though maybe I'll take a pic of Aidan and his "haul" tomorrow morning.

 

On the way out she observed that a lot of people there really needed to take a shower and needed to use soap when they took a shower. I noted my halitosis experience with a guy next to me rummaging through bins (his was so bad I actually gave up looking at one dealer) and she agreed that there was also a lot of bad breath there too and she was happy that she didn't bother showering before coming to the show. Of course, neither did I...we were a little rushed!

 

Interestingly, she di not vow to never do this again. I would not have been able to control my son or get anything accomplised without her there, so I do not anticipate dadd/son cons for a while. I suppose it will need to be free, which doesn't seem likely for the future of shows in NYC.

 

Things seem busy. Dunno how the dealers did though.

 

Weighed down by 50 pounds of comics, I didn't feel like walking 1/2 mile to the car, so we took a cab ($6 total)...so... still $14 cheaper than 3+ hours in a parking lot down there!

 

 

Great write up. Would that be John Haines from the Seattle area? If so, he has great stuff. I can't remember his buddy's name at the moment, but they are great guys. Very knowledgable and have entire apartments and storage garages full and I mean FULL of comics.

[The Less Blob]

Let's see some pics or scans of the decent condition DC war.

 

Andy

 

nothing too exciting at the prices I was paying. mainly some of the late GI Combat giant size books. I need to double check. it was really hard to focus there as it was rather crowded (good from a dealer's perspective i suppose) and my wife/kid were bugging me every 10 minutes. next show I come in early and I will focus better and miss fewer yucky books.

[The Less Blob]

someone here said he was Haines from Cleveland. I looked at his pic and he's the Haines who is an OPG advisor.

[The Silver-Age]

someone here said he was Haines from Cleveland. I looked at his pic and he's the Haines who is an OPG advisor.

 

Thanks