Atlanta Comic Convention - Sunday - February 3rd

[capt_comics]

I was looking for new FH and pre-code books to look at. I just feel like a majority of the books I've already flipped through over the past few shows that I've been in attendance for. Still had a good time. Did everyone get their free t-shirt?

 

 

You can go to major shows and not see a big turnover in this kind of material. Most of it sells privately......in major auctions.......on ebay........or on this board

[capt_comics]

I was looking for new FH and pre-code books to look at. I just feel like a majority of the books I've already flipped through over the past few shows that I've been in attendance for. Still had a good time. Did everyone get their free t-shirt?

 

I have that feeling too but it's because I see these guys at least twice a month during con season. It's hard to have all new rotating stock in that short of a time frame. You get to know the guys and who's stuff to even bother digging through. When I go to a show like Atlanta, I can usually skip 1/3 of the dealers because they either have the same stuff, they know all the hot books thus no gems to be found, or they're just so overpriced it's not worth the time. The first thing I look for is a guy that I've never seen before or a man who only does a few shows a year. Unfortunately it's getting to the point that if you're not a dealer, thus in the room hours before the general public, that super gem is going to elude you. At Heroes MiniCon I found a Vengeance of Bane in a first time dealer's 50 cent box well before the show opened. You think that would have been there at 11am when the show opened to the general public?!?

 

I agree with this 100 percent, I got to the show early to get a shirt and when i saw people going into and leaving the showroom all i see is other dealers going through other dealers boxes.

 

This is a problem I hear all the time.......I think it's been discussed at length on these same boards.

 

Gems can still be found after the show opens to the public though............I've found great books with an hour left in a show

[capt_comics]

And I hate to say it to you guys................but 99% of collectors don't have such a critical spin on these things.

 

If you don't enjoy the show.............there IS something you can do

 

 

[thehumantorch]

Seeing how "discovering new collections and characters" is the foundation of comic collecting (for me at least) it would be great if there were:

 

- More than one room to the layout

- structured cosplay

- better networking among crowd

- education

- bigger artists/industry names

- a variety of dealers and collections (think Costco "surprise" factor)

- higher grade books (and a better-promoted way to sell them)

- original art (goes as much with education as dealers)

- support services (supplies, grading, etc.)

 

This of course suggests a higher burden on the organizers. Yet how can we have the biggest airport in the world (close enough) and have this 450-600 person event be the biggest comics show in Atlanta (DragonCon is no comic show)?

 

There have been three attempts at this in the last 10 years. The most successful was a series of two day shows run at the Gwinnett Convention Center for about 2 or 3 years. The guys that ran it supposedly lost money and never even came close to breaking even on the shows and it died. Lots of bigger guests and 75-100 booths and attendance (if I remember correctly) of about 3000+ people for a two day event. This was the first time I remember Chuck R. coming to the east coast and buying books and the news was big as he was paying extremely high prices for bulk comics ($75-$125 a box).

The next attempt was by Pat Henry (the promoter of Dragon-Con) and even though it was fairly successful, he ran it in downtown Atlanta and I remember attendance not being all that great. It was one show and out.

The third attempt was by Wizard a few years ago...........I didn't go......I'll let you guys describe what was wrong with that one.............

 

For a myriad of reasons it just hasn't worked.............

 

 

For many years all we had was small, regional cons. Then the Calgary Comic Expo started growing.

 

http://www.calgaryexpo.com/

 

They've been building the show for the last five years and it's been growing exponentially. Last year's attendance was about 60,000 and they turned scads away. The organizers are smart and they've concentrated on bringing in something or someone for everybody.

 

Here's our con report from last year.

http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=5641099

 

Yes, Calgary is a decent sized city of about 1 Million and the average income is one of the highest in N. America, but if they can do it I would think Atlanta could grow their show.

 

Growing the Atlanta show would be the only way to draw some of the Harley Yees of the comic world and increase the variety of books for sale.

 

 

[capt_comics]

Seeing how "discovering new collections and characters" is the foundation of comic collecting (for me at least) it would be great if there were:

 

- More than one room to the layout

- structured cosplay

- better networking among crowd

- education

- bigger artists/industry names

- a variety of dealers and collections (think Costco "surprise" factor)

- higher grade books (and a better-promoted way to sell them)

- original art (goes as much with education as dealers)

- support services (supplies, grading, etc.)

 

This of course suggests a higher burden on the organizers. Yet how can we have the biggest airport in the world (close enough) and have this 450-600 person event be the biggest comics show in Atlanta (DragonCon is no comic show)?

 

There have been three attempts at this in the last 10 years. The most successful was a series of two day shows run at the Gwinnett Convention Center for about 2 or 3 years. The guys that ran it supposedly lost money and never even came close to breaking even on the shows and it died. Lots of bigger guests and 75-100 booths and attendance (if I remember correctly) of about 3000+ people for a two day event. This was the first time I remember Chuck R. coming to the east coast and buying books and the news was big as he was paying extremely high prices for bulk comics ($75-$125 a box).

The next attempt was by Pat Henry (the promoter of Dragon-Con) and even though it was fairly successful, he ran it in downtown Atlanta and I remember attendance not being all that great. It was one show and out.

The third attempt was by Wizard a few years ago...........I didn't go......I'll let you guys describe what was wrong with that one.............

 

For a myriad of reasons it just hasn't worked.............

 

 

For many years all we had was small, regional cons. Then the Calgary Comic Expo started growing.

 

http://www.calgaryexpo.com/

 

They've been building the show for the last five years and it's been growing exponentially. Last year's attendance was about 60,000 and they turned scads away. The organizers are smart and they've concentrated on bringing in something or someone for everybody.

 

Here's our con report from last year.

http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=5641099

 

Yes, Calgary is a decent sized city of about 1 Million and the average income is one of the highest in N. America, but if they can do it I would think Atlanta could grow their show.

 

Growing the Atlanta show would be the only way to draw some of the Harley Yees or the comic world and increase the variety of books for sale.

 

 

I commend the Calgary show

 

 

[Darrell F]

I spent 9 bucks at the show today and it was all at Finecomic's booth on 50 cent books. Really poor showing today and if it keeps going like this I am going to be done with this show as well.

I should say I bought from your wife. You were running around buying from the looks of it.

[finecomics]

I was looking for new FH and pre-code books to look at. I just feel like a majority of the books I've already flipped through over the past few shows that I've been in attendance for. Still had a good time. Did everyone get their free t-shirt?

 

I have that feeling too but it's because I see these guys at least twice a month during con season. It's hard to have all new rotating stock in that short of a time frame. You get to know the guys and who's stuff to even bother digging through. When I go to a show like Atlanta, I can usually skip 1/3 of the dealers because they either have the same stuff, they know all the hot books thus no gems to be found, or they're just so overpriced it's not worth the time. The first thing I look for is a guy that I've never seen before or a man who only does a few shows a year. Unfortunately it's getting to the point that if you're not a dealer, thus in the room hours before the general public, that super gem is going to elude you. At Heroes MiniCon I found a Vengeance of Bane in a first time dealer's 50 cent box well before the show opened. You think that would have been there at 11am when the show opened to the general public?!?

 

I agree with this 100 percent, I got to the show early to get a shirt and when i saw people going into and leaving the showroom all i see is other dealers going through other dealers boxes.

 

I would agree with that, but that's the game everywhere I've been to from Chicago to Mega Con. I think the only thing that has changed is that many more people are becoming aware of these opportunities.

[finecomics]

Seeing how "discovering new collections and characters" is the foundation of comic collecting (for me at least) it would be great if there were:

 

- More than one room to the layout

- structured cosplay

- better networking among crowd

- education

- bigger artists/industry names

- a variety of dealers and collections (think Costco "surprise" factor)

- higher grade books (and a better-promoted way to sell them)

- original art (goes as much with education as dealers)

- support services (supplies, grading, etc.)

 

This of course suggests a higher burden on the organizers. Yet how can we have the biggest airport in the world (close enough) and have this 450-600 person event be the biggest comics show in Atlanta (DragonCon is no comic show)?

 

There have been three attempts at this in the last 10 years. The most successful was a series of two day shows run at the Gwinnett Convention Center for about 2 or 3 years. The guys that ran it supposedly lost money and never even came close to breaking even on the shows and it died. Lots of bigger guests and 75-100 booths and attendance (if I remember correctly) of about 3000+ people for a two day event. This was the first time I remember Chuck R. coming to the east coast and buying books and the news was big as he was paying extremely high prices for bulk comics ($75-$125 a box).

The next attempt was by Pat Henry (the promoter of Dragon-Con) and even though it was fairly successful, he ran it in downtown Atlanta and I remember attendance not being all that great. It was one show and out.

The third attempt was by Wizard a few years ago...........I didn't go......I'll let you guys describe what was wrong with that one.............

 

For a myriad of reasons it just hasn't worked.............

 

 

It's the Atlanta curse. I constantly run into people who have no idea the show even exists. We have shops in metro area that refuse to promote. There are no decent shops up in northern suburbs (a lot of $$$ up there) It is a marketing issue in my opinion. How do you pass the word among almost 5 million people? Changing the website was a huge win, that old one looked like my 5 year old put it together. But its only the 1st step

 

Every multi-day comic con (that I remember) has failed in ATL. I think the one up 85 (that Rick is talking about) was best try by far. But the promoters bit off a little too much and it stopped after only 3 years.

 

 

[finecomics]

I was looking for new FH and pre-code books to look at. I just feel like a majority of the books I've already flipped through over the past few shows that I've been in attendance for. Still had a good time. Did everyone get their free t-shirt?

 

I have that feeling too but it's because I see these guys at least twice a month during con season. It's hard to have all new rotating stock in that short of a time frame. You get to know the guys and who's stuff to even bother digging through. When I go to a show like Atlanta, I can usually skip 1/3 of the dealers because they either have the same stuff, they know all the hot books thus no gems to be found, or they're just so overpriced it's not worth the time. The first thing I look for is a guy that I've never seen before or a man who only does a few shows a year. Unfortunately it's getting to the point that if you're not a dealer, thus in the room hours before the general public, that super gem is going to elude you. At Heroes MiniCon I found a Vengeance of Bane in a first time dealer's 50 cent box well before the show opened. You think that would have been there at 11am when the show opened to the general public?!?

 

Anyone who wants to pay 1/2 my tables, set up boxes, and pack them back up in the car and I can get you in at 6am. I probably bought 50-75 books and the "best" deal I found was a toss up between the Iron Man 100 variant or Morning Glories 1-4 in the cheap boxes. Does that sound worth it?

[Mayor006]

I wish there was a decent showing of dealers at Dragon Con. I have not bought an actual comic at that show in over 5 years.

 

+1 (unless I bought it in artist alley from the artist)