Report: BoomCon '12 in Costa Rica - this past weekend (Jan 21-22)

[Luis Cerdas]

Kinda late, but I only found out about this on Saturday.

 

It seems somebody decided to organize a comic-related, two-day event here in Costa Rica and named it "BoomCon". (Pretty sure Boom Comics could sue for trademark infringement... :: )

 

Anyway, my family and I attended late Sunday afternoon to at least check out what was going on.

 

There were three non-local comic creators who flew in for the con: Phil Noto, Tim Townsend and Tom Bancroft.

 

Townsend had to leave earlier than planned, so he wasn't present on Sunday. We got Wonder Woman sketch from Phil Noto (who didn't charge for the sketches), and we also got sketches from Tom B.

 

He had a sketchbook made for the con and was offering it at ¢5,000 (about $10 USD), and he would would draw a small sketch on the inside cover at no charge if you bought the sketchbook.

 

Sketches were also about $10 USD, but he drew Ariel on a Darkwing Duck blank for free for my 4yr old daughter. However, as he was working on it, he smudged by mistake and had to start over. After working really carefully, I smudged it as I placed it in the comic bag ... :duh: I couldn't ask him to start again in another blank (I also had Avengers, Thor, and Xmen blanks which I believe were much better material for sketching and absorbing the ink...).

 

 

We bought his sketchbook and he drew a really cool WonderWoman sketch on the inside.

 

 

Aside from them, a lot of local artists had stands, YaYa Han (a model/cosplayer) made an appearance, and the 501st local chapter showed up for photo ops.

 

I believe they were to hold an auction for charity later that evening, but we did not stay (the only thing that seemed sort of interesting to myself was an original cell of He-Man the cartoon) ...

 

Oh, and as we were about to leave, I asked the organizer if they actually had a comic store somewhere (there are none in the country). He mentioned that they would be opening one in the coming weeks.

 

Since he had comics for sale (about 20 long boxes, all comics $2 USD), I asked if he would be interested in buying as well. He said yes and I went ahead and showed him one of my Spectacular Spiderman #1 signed by Stan Lee, and his first comment was:

 

"Well, I don't like those"

 

My initial reaction was to think that it was because of the grade (9.4 SS) or because it wasn't "Amazing Spider-man" ... but when I inquired, he said he didn't like CGC because "they were completely arbitrary and who were they, anyway, to tell whether a comic was in good condition or not"...

 

Obviously things went downhill from there. He brought out a printed Overstreet Guide from 2003 (!) , was unable to find Spectacular ... then went to a computer, came back telling me it was listed for $40 USD in that grade (the 2010 guide has a 9.2 at $90), completely disregarded the signature, and went on to offer me $20 for it ...

 

I guess I won't be a regular customer at that store ...

 

[Sonofpromoterman]

cool report !

[Ringfinger]

Very cool.

[Luis Cerdas]

Thanks.

 

I left with a bittersweet feeling. It was cool that at least something is being done around comics, but it felt very shoddily put together and the organizers sort of high strung...

[Ringfinger]

Sorry to heat that.

[Baron]

Pretty cool that they were able to get name artists like Phil Noto and Tim Townsend to attend.