Been home a week, time for SDCC 2011 recap

[G.A.tor]

hello all...

 

This year my SDCC report is delayed a week as when we returned from the con, I had 4 days to finalize preparations to open our new store in Panama City...

 

so, with that behind me, on to the report!

 

This year was a bit different for me as not only did Bridget and I come out to California, my entire family did too, as well as my mother and an aunt and uncle!

 

In addition, Daniele and Adam (filter81) decided not to make the trip this year, so I split a booth with our ever-loving, too tall texan from Houston, Mr. Bedrock himself!

 

Bridget and I arrived on Tuesday, got a couple of rooms at the Manchester Hyatt Grand (prefer Mariott for its proximity, but I couldn't get 2 rooms there)...and headed down to get our badges and take a gander...

[G.A.tor]

Tuesday afternoon/evening we met up with a buddy of mine from LA and headed out to dinner (at the brazillian steak house, an annual tradition)...

 

We walked around a bit, had some ice cream, then went back to the room to prepare for the con!

 

My mother and kids flew in Wednesday, so we had a little time to "relax"

[swapto]

 

 

[G.A.tor]

Wed morn we get up and go shopping at Target and Homedepot for supplies and such and when we return to the hotel, Richard and crew have already unloaded and set up the display racks (talk about good timing!)...

 

So, I gather up all our cgc books (we ship 4 boxes to my buddy Frank who drives them down from LA to the con for us...we shipped 4 boxes of raw to the Bunky Brothers who were kind enough to transport to and from con for us, and bridget and I bring about 4 slabs on the plane with us!) and head to our booth. Bridget has to leave to meet my family at the airport (they flew in a day later), so I begin the set up process...

 

Richard was kind enough to have a wonderful duel banner made for us:

[G.A.tor]

I took various other shots of our "wall" through the con, mainly for insurance and inventory purposes:

Here is the opening night look:

 

here are the 5 raw boxes we had, from some recent purchases:

[G.A.tor]

So Wednesday evening, after the family got settled in, they all dropped by (in 2's, since I only had 2 extra badges for them) and I got to take a snap shot :

 

first up is Bridget with my 13 yr old Alyssa:

 

Then the 2 older girls Britan and Shea (She turned 16 during the con!) came by for a pose:

 

finally my mother and son (little dude) popped in for a quick hello and photo op:

 

[swapto]

best wall ever!

 

you have some beautiful books rick and a beautiful family.

 

a lucky man (thumbs u

 

p.s. little dude looks just like you!

[G.A.tor]

So Richard/Bedrock is "da bomb" when it comes to selling books... in fact, by Saturday, he sold out his entire booth, so I got to use all the wall space and our set up looked a little like this :

 

[TheShadowKnows]

So Richard/Bedrock is "da bomb" when it comes to selling books... in fact, by Saturday, he sold out his entire booth, so I got to use all the wall space and our set up looked a little like this :

 

His entire wall?

[G.A.tor]

So, like our previous con at NC, the "majority" of our sales, volume wise, seemed to come from our raw boxes (books priced from $25-$300)... we did some nice wall book sales too...

 

some sales highlights for us were:

in no particular order (cgc)

Superman 17 , 7.5

More Fun 65, 4.0

All American 61, 6.0

Brave and the Bold 29, 6.0

Avengers 4, 9.2

Avengers 4, 8.0

Marvel Mystery comics 8, 7.5

Amazing Fantasy 15, 4.0

Sgt Furry 1, 7.5

JIM 83, 7.5

Silver Surfer 4, 9.0

Wonder Woman 6, 2.0

Brave and the Bold 28, 4.5

More Fun 62, 7.5

Crime Does Not Pay 24, 3.5

Detective 73, 6.0

[G.A.tor]

Bedrock sold out his half of the wall and all box stock (thumbs u

[G.A.tor]

Some Raw Sales Highlights (again, in no particular order)

Pep 22, gd (with back cover trimmed)

detective 31, pr/fr

Flash 79

spy smasher 9

space adventure 6

wings 80

true to life 16

hot rods 26

wonder 19

true life secrets 23

real life 5

planet 45

terry toons 12

atomic war 3

sports thrills 15

wings 39

fight 21

wings 59

wings 45

jungle 99

jo jo 9 (8)

sunny 8

contact 3

wings 79

brick bradford 6

blue bolt 4/1

sugar bowl 4

terror of the jungle 5

startling terror 10

funny frolics 1

comic caper 1

choice comics 3

krazy comics 8

krazy comics 15

terry toons 27

terry toons 36

terry toons 12

speed 29

speed 34

speed 35

silly tunes 1 and 3

batman 227

all new 9

boy commandos 36

justice 25

Jungle 99

wonder woman 64

captain america 28

thrilling 44

super duck 27

sunny 13

sugar bowl 4

speed 14

startling terror 9

seven seas 6

perfect crime 7 and 21

marvel family 76

junior 16

jungle king 7

famous crimes 3

detective 187

blue bolt 111

blue boltt 108

battle 13

krazy comics 1

daredevil 27

[nearmint]

Some Raw Sales Highlights (again, in no particular order)

Pep 22, gd (with back cover trimmed)

detective 31, pr/fr

Flash 79

spy smasher 9

space adventure 6

wings 80

true to life 16

hot rods 26

wonder 19

true life secrets 23

real life 5

planet 45

terry toons 12

atomic war 3

sports thrills 15

wings 39

fight 21

wings 59

wings 45

jungle 99

jo jo 9 (8)

sunny 8

contact 3

wings 79

brick bradford 6

blue bolt 4/1

sugar bowl 4

terror of the jungle 5

startling terror 10

funny frolics 1

comic caper 1

choice comics 3

krazy comics 8

krazy comics 15

terry toons 27

terry toons 36

terry toons 12

speed 29

speed 34

speed 35

silly tunes 1 and 3

batman 227

all new 9

boy commandos 36

justice 25

Jungle 99

wonder woman 64

captain america 28

thrilling 44

super duck 27

sunny 13

sugar bowl 4

speed 14

startling terror 9

seven seas 6

perfect crime 7 and 21

marvel family 76

junior 16

jungle king 7

famous crimes 3

detective 187

blue bolt 111

blue boltt 108

battle 13

krazy comics 1

daredevil 27

 

+ Whiz #44 (thumbs u

[G.A.tor]

Some Raw Sales Highlights (again, in no particular order)

Pep 22, gd (with back cover trimmed)

detective 31, pr/fr

Flash 79

spy smasher 9

space adventure 6

wings 80

true to life 16

hot rods 26

wonder 19

true life secrets 23

real life 5

planet 45

terry toons 12

atomic war 3

sports thrills 15

wings 39

fight 21

wings 59

wings 45

jungle 99

jo jo 9 (8)

sunny 8

contact 3

wings 79

brick bradford 6

blue bolt 4/1

sugar bowl 4

terror of the jungle 5

startling terror 10

funny frolics 1

comic caper 1

choice comics 3

krazy comics 8

krazy comics 15

terry toons 27

terry toons 36

terry toons 12

speed 29

speed 34

speed 35

silly tunes 1 and 3

batman 227

all new 9

boy commandos 36

justice 25

Jungle 99

wonder woman 64

captain america 28

thrilling 44

super duck 27

sunny 13

sugar bowl 4

speed 14

startling terror 9

seven seas 6

perfect crime 7 and 21

marvel family 76

junior 16

jungle king 7

famous crimes 3

detective 187

blue bolt 111

blue boltt 108

battle 13

krazy comics 1

daredevil 27

 

+ Whiz #44 (thumbs u

yepper depper dooooo~!

only listed about 1/2 of the raw sales, just too much to type

[Senormac]

Nice display Rick

[nearmint]

Rick, how would you compare this year's sales to previous years?

[TheShadowKnows]

Bedrock sold out his half of the wall and all box stock (thumbs u

WOW

[G.A.tor]

Rick, how would you compare this year's sales to previous years?

from a dollar comparison standpoint, we did 50% less than any previous SDCC I have set up at...from a volume standpoint, we killed, due to all the "cheaper" raw books we sold...

 

I have opted in for next year already, but if sales continue to trend down (the con is NO longer a comic con, but a media event), it just won't be worth the expense to set up any longer, unless we break off the comics to a different/separate location, with separate sales of tix, etc....

 

comic buyers are just getting squeezed out, as are the vendors...once again, I heard of a myriad of dealers NOT setting up next year or reducing their space

[Stronguy]

Rick, how would you compare this year's sales to previous years?

from a dollar comparison standpoint, we did 50% less than any previous SDCC I have set up at...from a volume standpoint, we killed, due to all the "cheaper" raw books we sold...

 

I have opted in for next year already, but if sales continue to trend down (the con is NO longer a comic con, but a media event), it just won't be worth the expense to set up any longer, unless we break off the comics to a different/separate location, with separate sales of tix, etc....

 

comic buyers are just getting squeezed out, as are the vendors...once again, I heard of a myriad of dealers NOT setting up next year or reducing their space

 

This has absolutely become more of a trade show than a comic con. Nearly 3/4 of the room is dedicated to manufacturers showing off their wares. That being said, the show is still has the largest (area wise) comic dealers' section in the world (if you believe their numbers). The difficulty is justifying the cost and hassle of getting to the show for the average person just looking for comics.

[1koko]

Wish I'd been there this year.