Jive's Heroes Roadtrip with the CFP....(Photos)

[DrWatson]

Is that why it was stuck to floor?

Are you insinuating yours is long enough to stick to the floor?

By no means, Sir.

Dang

No kidding.

[seanfingh]

 

 

[DrWatson]

There are more ways to kill someone besides death, Harman.

[seanfingh]

[THE_BEYONDER]

Hey George,

 

This is more or less a preemptive strike. If you post that photo from Wild Wings (you know the one I am talking about) I will kill you.

 

xoxo

 

Doc

 

Obviously......he HAS to post it now.

[seanfingh]

Hey George,

 

This is more or less a preemptive strike. If you post that photo from Wild Wings (you know the one I am talking about) I will kill you.

 

xoxo

 

Doc

 

Obviously......he HAS to post it now.

 

+1

[THE_BEYONDER]

[seanfingh]

 

[THE_BEYONDER]

 

 

 

[MCMiles]

Hey George,

 

This is more or less a preemptive strike. If you post that photo from Wild Wings (you know the one I am talking about) I will kill you.

 

xoxo

 

Doc

 

That was Saturday night, so I think he would have posted it already. It may have been Steve that took the picture. I thought it was with Jive's camera though.

 

I hope it doesn't get posted.

 

[DrWatson]

Hey George,

 

This is more or less a preemptive strike. If you post that photo from Wild Wings (you know the one I am talking about) I will kill you.

 

xoxo

 

Doc

 

That was Saturday night, so I think he would have posted it already. It may have been Steve that took the picture. I thought it was with Jive's camera though.

 

I hope it doesn't get posted.

 

I concur.

[THE_BEYONDER]

If you REALLY didn't want it posted....you would have PM'd him.

[TupennyConan]

Hey George,

 

This is more or less a preemptive strike. If you post that photo from Wild Wings (you know the one I am talking about) I will kill you.

 

xoxo

 

Doc

 

That was Saturday night, so I think he would have posted it already. It may have been Steve that took the picture. I thought it was with Jive's camera though.

 

I hope it doesn't get posted.

 

I concur.

 

 

I forget which night this report is on.

 

This is for Heroes '09, right?

[DrWatson]

I didn't even think about PMing him.

[seanfingh]

 

A leather thong and ballgag soaked in hot wing sauce might have sounded funny if Watson had enough Mojitos . . .

[MCMiles]

Hey George,

 

This is more or less a preemptive strike. If you post that photo from Wild Wings (you know the one I am talking about) I will kill you.

 

xoxo

 

Doc

 

That was Saturday night, so I think he would have posted it already. It may have been Steve that took the picture. I thought it was with Jive's camera though.

 

I hope it doesn't get posted.

 

I concur.

 

 

I forget which night this report is on.

 

This is for Heroes '09, right?

You're right. He hasn't posted about Saturday yet. My bad.

[MCMiles]

Well, It's bound to be anti-climatic at this point.

[slym2none]

POST THAT PIC! POST THAT PIC! POST THAT PIC! POST THAT PIC! POST THAT PIC!

 

 

 

 

-slym

[Senormac]

[JiveTurkeyMoFo]

Heroes Report (Days Three + Four plus the trip home).

 

Saturday morning was probably the least restful night of sleep I had the entire trip, as it was my turn to grab the floor. Needless to say, it was pretty uncomfortable, and when you have a tight back like me, it was a killer. Then add in the Snore Whores (Mike & Joey both) who can both make the windows shake within a minute of their heads hitting the pillow, and you have a recipe for a long, restless night. I swear, if the Olympics had a Synchronized Snooring Event, those two should represent the USA in the doubles competition. Eventually, they reached a point of snoring harmony where one took up where the other just ended, and the subsequent result was one long, giant, unending snore. It was at that point that I knew Karma was kicking my for something really bad that I did in this life or some other.

 

Now, I snore like a banshee too, and I’m sure I’m hardly pleasant to room with, but man can those two crank out the volume.

 

Anyway, I’m up at 6:00am, working on maybe three hours of total sleep. Its off to the shower and I then head to the lobby to login to the hotel's i-fi network to check email, ebay, etc. Passing on the rather expensive Westin buffet that morning, I instead opt for a $7 muffin and Starbucks combo as I made my way over to the convention center around 8:00am.

 

The day before, Joey and I had bought two large stacks of books from a dealer in the back end of the room. The guy had five long boxes of just processed unread Bronze books at $3/each. We had cleaned him out on Friday, but had heard he was restocking overnight, so we made his booth the first stop. I must have spent 2-3 more hours pouring through the guys material and pulling out another $250 worth of books, including some beautiful unread booksl he had squirreled away in his dollar bins. Considering I’m primarily a high grade Golden Age collector now, most people would probably find it surprising to know I spend hours “dumpster diving” in dollar boxes, but it’s a lot of fun. While nothing compares to buying and owning a great Schomburg cover, finding an obscure 80s book that I’ve been searching years for in a dollar bin is a much less expensive pleasure. I acquired lots of great books, including several later issue Valiant/Acclaim books, a dozen or so NM Valiant/Nintendo comic mags, about 50+ super tough Star Comics, and quite a few nice 20, 25, & 30 centers.

 

(When I totaled all the books I got in the 25-cent to $20 range, I picked up roughly 350 books for a hair under $700….so roughly $2/book on average. Here’s a small sample of what I got for two bucks…)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After I load up half a long box from that gent, I start walking the room looking for wall books. Before too long, I end up at Harley’s booth where I snag two nice GA books for what I think is a great deal. The gem in the deal is a nice mid grade Black Terror # 3. Mike Miles later told me he sold a low grade copy for $325 earlier this year, so paying less than that for a much nicer one is sitting pretty well with me as you can imagine. The “ugly sister” is a VF+ copy of Battlefield # 4..a book with NO census representation in any grade and a great war cover to boot. I also spot a super nice copy of Tales of Suspense # 49 on the wall with a hefty $1,100 price tag. The book looks like a 9.4 from the front cover, but has a small staple tear on the back, which probably limits it to a 9.0 at best, but it has much better appeal than the 9.0/White I recently received back from CGC. I pack up my two acquisitions, make a mental note of the TOS 49, and set off for more shopping.

 

 

 

Mike and I then stop by the Motor City Booth where a nice mid-grade Black Terror # 8 awaited Mr. Miles. One of the benefits about going with buddies is that you generally know one another’s collecting interests and tendencies, and I knew Mike had wanted a VG copy of that book that had been offered on the boards the week before Heroes. Motor City’s copy was nicer, and the better bargain, so he was happy to pick it up for his run. (Just remember that favor Mike as you contemplate my other offer… ). I also noticed that Motor City had a great Schomburg sketch of Torch and Toro for sale, but I felt the $2,500 price tag was a little steep.

 

Not long after, a group of us heads off to a Mexican (well Tex Mex) restaurant just across from the convention center, and we spend the better part of an hour and a half there. I got to sit next to and talk with Sal (real bright guy), Nik, and Steve Borock. The steak burrito was pretty good, as was the chips and salsa. I ended up buying Joey’s lunch as a thank you for all his help with recent submissions, and I gave Jim (Watson) a brownie to take back to Dale Roberts since I was too full to even touch it and since Dale was probably still hungry after his convention vendor-provided lunch of $7 soy burgers and stale nachos (well, that's what his lunch looked like... . Later, Watson found it uproariously funny to let me know that he had earned “brownie points” (yes, pun shamefully intended) with Dale for giving him the surprise desert. Something about not wanting to contradict Dale’s assumptions about the desert being from him once they were made…great guy that Jim.

 

Back on the convention floor, I scoop up two books from the much picked over inventory of Terry O’Neil (Mike Miles got some freakin’ gems on Friday!), and eventually head back over to Harley’s where Joeypost was working a deal with the shrewd Mr. Yee. Joey asked me to offer my opinion on a book or two, and then asked if there was something I wanted to work into a deal in hopes of a better discount. I spent another 5-10 minutes looking at the TOS 49 and eventually bought it after Harley made it worth my while with a decent little cash discount.

 

 

Some of Friday's acquisitions:

 

 

 

 

 

I pick up some misc books for the rest of the afternoon, and start heading back to the hotel around 7pm. A group of seven of us head out for some dinner, and eventually find a bar and wing joint called Wing World. Nik, Mike, Arex and Joey devour a plate of 50 hot wings between them, while Borock, Jim and myself watch in amazement (and possibly disgust). The food is good, and Steve is gracious enough to pick up the lion’s share of the bill.

 

Arex, Joey, & Mike.

 

 

Nik and Steve, can you guess which one holds their alcohol better? NOTE: Nik had a couple of beers, but was nowhere near incapcitated...this was just bad picture captured by my camera. Sorry Nik... Ok, so the "reveal" was pretty anti-climatic...sue me!

 

 

We eventually head back to the hotel, mingle in the packed lobby for a few minutes, and then head back to our rooms. Jim hangs out with us for a bit more, and departs sometime after midnight. We knock out after 1am, with me getting an actual bed to sleep in that night….

 

The next morning, the five members of the CFP start packing the minivan for travel after a brief stop back at the convention center for some last minute deals and some fond farewells. We’re on the road before noon, and after a fine lunch at Cracker Barrel, we’re heading back to Florida.

 

Eight hours later, we drop off Joey first and are heading to Mike’s house on a state road west of Orlando. The road goes right through a sizable Florida state nature preserve, which would explain the Bear Crossing sign we see as we enter it. I make some off-handed comment about the miniscule chance that we see a bear, and no sooner do the words leave my lips than a massive 350-400 pound male black bear darts across the road not 300 feet ahead of us. Bill was driving and just about cr@pped a brick at the sight. Now Bill is normally an even-keel guy, but he was clearly taken aback by the spectacle, as evidenced by the numerous times he exclaimed “holy , did you fu*king SEE that!?!” over the course of the next five minutes. What a great way to end a fantastic weekend…

 

All members of the CFP made it home safe with their newfound treasures, and its safe to say, a good time was had by all. For me, it was a great weekend to hang out with old buddies and to meet some Boardies (Nik, Sal, Ciorac, etc) for the very first time. Heroes was a blast, and Charlotte was just awesome. I know I'll be heading back next year. (thumbs u

 

Thanks for reading my Heroes Con report....see y'all soon!