Wizard World Chicago Underground Comix Report

[oldmilwaukee6er]

My Friday at the big show (w/ wife)

Advice: If you are arriving from 90 eastbound and exiting at River Road, use the "left" right turn lane. Most everyone is exiting and using the right turn lane, but that lane backs up into the intersection and only 1 or 2 cars will clear the intersection (was backing up on the interstate when we arrived at about 1245pm). Use the left most lane to turn right and avoid the cattle by parking at the Intercontinental and walking back. You can cross River Road at a pedestrian crosswalk and even avoid the cops directing the ped traffic. ALSO, use extra caution when driving in the vicinity, as there are red light cameras everywhere and many intersections do say 'no turn on red.' My

 

Arrived and parked by about 110pm; hiked in from the Intercontinental ($22 for parking). We had to go through the usual con rigmarole, it is not enough that you purchase tickets in advance, pre -pay, you still have to wade through the cattle guards, to get your wristband to be able to enter the convention. Apparently there is some VIP section that the average fan cannot access/enter... I did not fully understand all of that, but if you wander in/out of the wrong entrance, they yell at you or will not let you back in. I heard this was true for dealers as well (x2). True?? Fine, have a VIP section if you must Wizard... but let the dealers come and go as they please. They are paying the most to be there. They are VIPs.

In the con! Woot! My wife and I split up immediately and set up our first meet in two hours’ time. We have FUNdamental differences about what our con experience should be- I am about the comix and she is about everything else. We knew this from last year... she is distracted by shiny objects and I by long boxes and discussions about underground comix. So I set about methodically working through the 100-700 aisles of comic dealers. Because I only had one day in Chicago, my technique was to approach a dealer (started with Bedrock), scan the back wall & front of the comic boxes for signs of the underground, and then wait patiently to inquire about "underground comix from the 60s & 70s; old hippie comix, hippie rags; or Freak Brothers, Zap Comix, & Robert Crumb stuff." For about the first hour, I struck out completely... the majority of responses, while cordial, were "no, I do not deal with that stuff; I do have some of that stuff, but I didn't bring it: or I do get some of that stuff, but I keep it for myself." Slowly, my strategy started to pay off. I think the first booth I hit with a cache of u-comix was probably Wyatt's booth, and it was by far the largest. He had some books on the back wall, including a VFNM Feds n Heads 1st signed by Shelton at SDCC (1200), Mr. Natural #1 1st VF (400), 3 Scott Shaw file copies of Dorghsheet Digest VF+ to NM- (120/ea), a San Francisco #1 VFish (200), a Slow Death 1 1st in VF+ (75), & a Zap 4 1st in VFNM (125). There were a few more, some stuff I had not seen, we talked quite a bit about them, some stuff that had been added to the Fogel Guide (e.g. a rare Leslie Carbala book), but since they are outside of my collecting purview I cannot tell you much more. He also had 6 short boxes of underground comix that I flipped through and picked out NM copies of Zap Comix 12 1st (no cvr price) & 13 for $20.

 

My first purchase with Wyatt/One Stop Comics, but I knew there would be more, because that Zap 4 was a 1st... perhaps the first copy I have found in the wild that I could tell based on cover stock alone & I could tell by the placement of the staples were 2 & 5/16. The only other book that caught my eye in those boxes was a FN Conspiracy Capers 1, a great Chicago underground that served as a fundraiser for the defense of the Chicago Eight. Schweet, fitting Chicago underground, and I want one in grade someday. Kept on trucking and eventually it was time to meet up with the wife. While I waited, munching on some food I brought in, I chatted with a couple of other collectors eating pizza. It dawned on me how much I do not care about cosplay, toys, & all the other stuff that accompanies a typical con. In many cases I do not even really see it, so much is my focus on comic books; and our 1-day plan tends to be very intense & focused (hence no pics). Back on the floor, my next stop was Metropolis. Over a week ago, they sent out an email whereby one could request comics on the website be brought to the show. So I searched the website and was surprised to find the Suscha News 1st print Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. We closed on the following five books- #4 (9.4), 5 (9.8), 6 (9.4), 7 (9.2), & 9 (9.6)- all first printings, and they are coming back home to Wisconsin after a 35+ year journey that took from Sheboygan > Arizona > Idaho > New York > Chicago > Milwaukee.

 

Well, I did a little dance, because I planned to purchase these books and now they were mine. I thought the prices were quite fair too, sans the #5 (9.8), which basically crushed the former $40 HRP in the Fogel Supplement (250) and likely set a new GPA bar. However, taken collectively, I am so pleased. Time for the second meet with the wife and wow was she laden down with art prints, Star Wars tees, sci fi novels, and NES Metroid (1st female lead in action game). She even had one of those huge con bags, My Little Pony I think. At this point we had both accomplished much of what we hoped, so we bummed around together, looking at artist alley, tees, and making our way over to the 1900-2300 section. I was surprised to find comic dealers over there(!), so back to work I went. I did plunder the following two Freak Brothers from a small dealer near the corner. They had $100 on the VG FFFB #1 1st and I was told that if I paid full price for that book, I could have the others for free (the #2, and an All Girls Thrills by Trina). What a deal! And what a huge upgrade to my Freak Brothers 2 1st

 

After more bumming and scrounging, but no purchasing… all that was left was for me to make a decision on my final purchase. I had pretty much locked into One Stop/Wyatt’s Zap Comix 4 1st… I definitely wanted that book. But would it be Moondog’s Bijou Funnies #1 1st in FN (a nice upgrade for me, but would have zeroed me out completely)? Or One Stop/Wyatt’s Doomsday in FNVF+ or San Francisco 1 VFish? Or both? In the end I opted for the following:

 

The Bijou 1 was a lovely, lovely book, and the door is not closed there. But I had never found a Doomsday w/ poster in the wild and I would have regretted not buying that book. Also, this left me with enough coin to treat the lady to steak & drinks at Gibson’s; a tradition, now two years running, much like a Friday at WW Chicago! Peace!

 

PS. Basement Comics had some cool underground stuff, including some HTF Joel Beck books like Marching Marvin (400) and Profit (400). They also had R. Crumb OA, one page “Schuman the Human” (16000), a page of Spiegelman, and a cool color commission of Donald Duck spiking heroin, also by Spiegelman. Metropolis also has Suscha News copies of two Slow Death books and a Freak Brothers 3 2nd. Amazing Adventures (Sal) brought a CGC 6.5 Zap Comix 1 1st (7000; same copy on eBay), an uber HG Zap Comix 1 2nd (750), and some reprint HG CGC Zaps. Moondog also had a few reprint HG CGC Zaps. I also heard a rumor that Carbonaro had a few original R. Crumb business cards from the 70s (100/ea.), but I did not see them. Finally, I came across some other caches of undergrounds here and there, mostly the usual stuff… either reprints, drek, or not in grade. Did spot one other underground fan, he had on a Zap Comix #2 cover t-shirt, and we got to chatting. He said he did like to collect u-comix and admitted to being a grade snob. I showed off my Suscha Freaks and we swapped pleasantries. If you are reading this, thanks for letting me share. Grinding on undergrounds can be lonely/tough and I was appreciative to be able to share my excitement with someone who ‘got it.’

[lizards2]

[comicwiz]

Loved the report and what a great haul Justin! (thumbs u

[oldmilwaukee6er]

The Grrl’s Supplement to the con report (and cell phone pics)…

Some superheroes, I think…

Star Wars ice cube trays, a travel mug, and NES game. Enjoyed an iced Han coffee this morn.

Some vintage video games at WW Chicago, but NES & sNES dominated

Star Wars tees

Snow troopers and some randos

Not sure why she took this pic, better start brushing up on my sci fi

Haul of low number Sandmans

R2 unit cruising the aisles

The greatest t-shirt in the history of the verse

Some super heroes… any clues (j/k 9 for 28 there, Sheldon)?

Deadmau5, I made one in red for last year’s Halloween (my eyes and mouth lit up tho, weak sauce)

Hipster R2 replete with monocle, ‘stache, & pork pie hat. Must have been 100 variations on “these are not the droids you’re looking for”

Dalek; Dr. Who was underrepresented in cosplay IHerHO

Batman’s rogues gallery

Free WoW cups, mixing a Miami vice to close out the night

[oldmilwaukee6er]

The Grrl’s Supplement II- Con observations from The Gatherer

(opposite my Hunting; all are in comparison to last year)

 

Fewer publishers with booths (and by this, I mean established but smaller presses)

 

Fewer McFarlane toys but LEGOS were everywhere

 

Fewer costumers overall. Those that were there were mostly Batman-related, the X-Men, and Spiderman was prominent among the little kid crowd (no Halo, few Dr. Who, few Portal, etc)

 

Steampunk has become the new go-to for lazy cosplayers (supplanting slutty, which is nice)

 

New layout was disorienting but cool because you could wander into anything (dealers complained about this, but the artists in Artists’ Row were pleased). The con seemed way larger this year and not necessarily more spread out. Having the celebrity guests in the middle created some congestion as lines would build and get into traffic, but it was cool to wander by and get peeks at the celebrities.

3 leather-bound journal booths (all very expensive)

 

More jewelry, but less of it high-end. There was a lot of scrabble tiles and bottle cap jewelry and half-assed Steampunk stuff (slap a cog on it type of jewelry)

 

Fewer Steampunk vendors

 

3 food courts and many alcohol dispensing stations

 

The three tv shows most represented were Big Bang Theory, Smallville, and Supernatural (Buffy is still highly visible). BBT is almost as popular as Star Wars in terms of the amount of merchandise available.

 

Less zombies and virtually no vampires

 

V for Vendetta masks were three times as expensive and very few were seen on attendees

 

Bane and Walking Dead are the hottest comics

 

Indi comic book back issues (including Vertigo, SLG, etc) are difficult to find and if you do find a booth with them, they’re hidden in an obscure box in the back. Most comics were Golden Age stuff and Silver/Bronze age Superheroes. Modern books were also underrepresented (I saw three booths that dealt with modern books and they were all 1-2 boxes for the most part) except for Walking Dead.

 

Dealers tended to be condescending to women collectors under 20 years of age which is disappointing.

 

In general, not as many freebies to gather (stickers, bookmarks, playing cards, etc)

 

Cosplayers were crankier than usual

 

Star Wars is king. You literally cannot escape it.

 

Toys were LEGOS, standard action figures (not McFarlane), and those weird squished vinyl dolls that look like bobble heads but actually aren’t

 

T Shirt choices at the mega stores (Stylin’ and Superheroes) weren’t that great, but fantastic shirts could be found in smaller out-of-the way booths. That being said, I bought the single greatest t-shirt in the history of t-shirts: Lovecraft and Tesla on one shirt!

 

Fewer non-vendors/artists were present. Last year there were lots of organizations and film makers trying to drum up interest in their groups. I didn’t see many of those this year.

 

The two movies being hyped were Expendables 2 and Hit & Run. Last year, the movies were super hero movies. Didn’t see any indie film makers at all this year, nor any musicians

 

Serenity and Firefly have fallen off the face of the planet, for the most part.

 

Character stocking caps are all the rage, but they’re very cartoony and not the cool handmade Jane caps we saw last year

 

No Sherlock Holmes this year (not even steampunk), no Transformers, no Predator, no Alien, no anime cosplayers

 

8-bit art, both 3d and 2d was very popular (4 booths either sold it exclusively or featured it prominently)

 

Only video games/consoles for sale were NES, SNES, and Gameboy, prices were super high on consoles, games were about where you’d expect

 

Many artists didn’t do original work in the sense that they were just selling their drawings of already existing characters (X-Men as anime, Batman as a zombie, Spiderman Steampunk, etc).

[Brother J]

Thanks for the report, bro! It's a shame I moved away from Milwaukee around the same time you moved there, as I used to hit up WW Chicago for undergrounds myself. Based on scarcity, I like your decision to go with the Doomsday, although price would have been a bigger factor for myself.

[oldmilwaukee6er]

Thanks for the report, bro! It's a shame I moved away from Milwaukee around the same time you moved there, as I used to hit up WW Chicago for undergrounds myself. Based on scarcity, I like your decision to go with the Doomsday, although price would have been a bigger factor for myself.

 

Yeah... I hear ya (about the move). WW Chicago has been good to me, I think, because not many hunt undergrounds. I honestly think WW Philly could be the same for you... you could have the run of that Con for undergrounds. Yes, the selection is smaller than WonderCon or SD Comic Con, but so is the competition.

 

Jen made the comment on our walk today that she feels that dealers are starting to pick up on the fact that undergrounds can be rare and that there is a group of people who are willing to pay a premium for them. The problem is that they are not knowledgeable about them, so you see common books and reprints priced too aggressively for that market. Of course, the flip-side is the deal for the FFFB 1-2 1sts. The #2 was THE book in that deal for me, yet it was a freebie.

 

I was torn between San Francisco #1 and the Doomsday. I told Steve that I never really had that book on my want list, but then again I had never held one in my hand. What tipped the scale was that I already have a comparable SF1, and while I would love two, I doubted I would see another Doomsday for sometime... at least in the wild vs feeBay. And the price tipped the scale too, the Doomsday was priced at 180 (Fogel, 2006; FN 6.0), whereas the SF1 was 200. There was also another SF1 in the room, same condition, for 300. I honestly do not regret it and find myself now admiring the book.

 

(And to answer your question from Fb... yeah, I had a little coin to spend; we had been planning this one for about 6 months and I had forgone usual purchases & even sold a few things to help fund it). We can talk via PM if your curious about the specifics; always can get a cash-money discount!

[thirdgreenham]

Not sure why she took this pic, better start brushing up on my sci fi

 

Could it be Roy speed dating?