• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

The BassGMan Chicago Report

Started by BassGMan,

26 posts in this topic

BassGMan

BassGMan

Posted
Posted

After being somewhat influenced by other reports I've seen in the past. Here is my full report of my Chicago Comic con experience.

 

MY MISSION

 

I wanted to give you my perspective to begin with. A Golden Age collector and a Modern Age collector would have seen things differently than I. I have no idea about the availablity of rare GA books, if there were any high grade FF, or if the newest hot comic was available and selling for big bucks. My main focus was on Bronze horror along with some bronze romance and just cool bronze stuff in general. I did look at some silver as well, but nothing key. I brought a budget of $1,800 to last me the three days. My idea was not to spend any more than $100 on a single comic and to focus on the $10 - $50 books. I was also not looking to buy books at FMV. Unless it is something that I really really want, I am only willing to purchase books that I think are underpriced, or that can generate several multiples with a high CGC grade, or that I know are simply in demand on Ebay. If I don't think I can sell it for at least 50% more than what I paid for it (including the potential slab cost) then I won't buy it. It is very easy to find deals like this in my chosen genre of choice. I only buy the books that I like, but also knowing that within two months to two years, they'll go on the auction block.

 

THE LOCATION

 

I really cannot say that I went to Chicago. I was never in Chicago. I went to Rosemont, a suburb of Chicago. From what I heard, this was about a 25 minute drive from downtown Chicago. Anyway, Rosemont was nice and the place I stayed, The Radisson was a nice and affordable hotel providing free shuttle to/from the airport and convention center all day long. I'd highly recommend the Radisson for anyone next year that does not want to spend the money on the fancier hotels next door to the convention center.

 

I went to this con with the idea that this was the second largest show in the country. Perhaps so. But let me tell you, it is waaaaay behind #1 San Diego. I also attended Wondercon earlier this year, and Chicago, from my perspective, only seemed a bit larger. In terms of size and attractions (at the show itself) I'd rate San Diego a 10, Chicago a 5 and Wondercon a 4. In fact, San Diego is in another league. I'd just start with Chicago at 10, and then put in Wondercon at 8 or 9 and go from there. I was a bit diappointed in this con as I did expect more. There was nothing for me in terms of programming and I found nothing interesting at all going on in the publisher's area. I took a walking tour through the area twice and saw just about everything each time in ten minutes. This is perhaps 10-20% of San Diego in this area. Artist Alley was decent and well organized. the typical "con babes" were more or less all in the same area, so it was easy to take them all in at once. A serious dose of eye-candy cleavage there. Same girls as I see at the other shows including fan favorite (big butt) Aria G.

 

There was a nice selection of comic dealers and a ton of toy sellers. Again, the number of comic dealers was no more than half of what San Diego has to offer. Maybe even less. But enough to make it a good show for sure. Fairly similar to Wondercon in this area. I was not too trilled with the convention center itself. It had that large wharehouse feel. Some cheap carpeting was laid all around but there was still plenty of cement exposed. Had a fairly "cold" atmosphere and the lighting was poor in some areas. I much prefer Moscone in SF and of course the SD Convention Center for venue. However, Wizard did have this thing fairly well organized and the con opened exactly on-time each day. I had no problem with the operation and organization of the con, at least from my own experiences. Sometimes San Diego opens doors a little late, which I find very irritating.

 

THE CON

 

I was so eager Friday morning as I was waiting to get in. I hate lines, but I did show up 15 minutes before the doors were opened. Once in I made a quick scan of all the dealers and started buying soon after. Right away I ran into Scott (FFB) who was debating a dealer about grading, a dealer who apprently does not grade up to CGC standards. He was looking for scuba covers and showed me a very nice photo of some books he had already purchased for his fiance Liz.

 

Throughout the con I noticed a severe lack of very high grade books (in my genre). It really does appear that nearly every lot of books has already been cherrypicked for high grades. With that said, I did find plenty of what I would consider 9.0 to 9.4s, which are plenty good enough for me, for a 70s book. I did not discriminate. Every DC bronze horror book that I could find, with a cool cover, at least a semi-bargain price, I bought, multiples OK. It appeared as if early 70s were much more abundant than late 70s books. Take House Of Mystery for example. Plenty of books up to and including the 100 pagers ending in #229. After #229, around 1975, things are getting scarce. I do not know if these books were already purchased long ago as they are generally cheaper, or if they are more rare, all I know, is that I do not see many of them. Same with other DC bronze horror before and after 1975. My other interest, Young Love and Young Romance, forget it. Except for some overpriced, or low grade 100 pagers, there were none. Sure, Harley had some other issues in nice condition, but as usual, they were way overpriced. I bought maybe one 100-page romance book. These things are just plain rare. And 9.2 and above, no way. Horror is much easier. I did get lucky and found a NM Werewolf By Night #32 for $25. After snatching that one up quick on Sunday, the dealer mentioned something like that he had experimented to see how long it would take for that book to be bought as it was in a poorly marked bargain box. Hot book + bargain price + poor visibility = the occasional super deal (doesn't happen often though).

 

Another thing that I noticed in walking around and looking at books, there were alot of CGC related discussions going on. Nothing earth shattering, but at least 4 or 5 times I heard a particular dealer talking about "CGCing" with one of his potential customers. It was mostly talk concerning what these guys considered a lack of ethics and/or integrity. Or I should say a FALSE assumption of lack of ethics. For example, giving out better grades to BSD/volume submitters than to "little guys" and so on. Also, some disagreeing with how CGC grades books and what they consider a flaw or not. I actually felt a little offended by some of this as I feel that in being a board member here, I am part of the "CGC Family" and those that question the ethics behind their impartial and fair grading, are simply misinformed. Not to say one cannot diagree with a grade, but the ethics questioning is what bothered me a bit. After knowing Steve, Paul and Mark I do not question their ethics at all. But... with that said, many still do. And when I hear the "talk", I edge right on over as I'm scanning the boxes and do a little sneaky evesdropping. Always very entertaining.

 

THE FORUM DINNER

 

Just like in SF and even more recently in SD, the CGC Forum dinner was the highlight of my trip. Being a fairly large crowd, I unfortunately did not get to meet or talk to some board members that I had wanted to meet (namely F. Donut and Rob_React). However, I did get to spend some time with Beyonder, FantasyFootballBono and PedigreeMan and had great talks with them, along with another guy (non-board member) who was really cool, looked like Furio from the Sopranos, I think last name was Edelson? Regarding The Beyonder, this guy is SO against pressing that I believe if he ever unintentionally bought a pressed book, then found out it was pressed, I think he would wrinkle and crease it up just to "unpress" it. PedigreeMan, great guy (great job with the dinner BTW - I don't think I had mentioned that yet). He explained to me what the appeal was with pedigrees, something which I never cared about, or understood before. Now I get it, thanks Alan. And ol' FFB, I had met him before, another cool guy, and very talkative once that he has had a few. I loved hearing his history of Valiant Comics lesson, and enjoyed hearing about his passions for certain books. I think he mentioned he had 25 comic statues in his office. I wonder what his clients think of that. Hmmm, is this guy a kid or an adult? Can we trust him? I get the same thing all the time with my action figures, believe me. I talked to his fiance "Scuba Cover" Liz for a bit. Make that "scuba covers with no yellow in the cover". She hates yellow. Yellow food is OK, yellow on a comic book cover or art, forget it. Too complicated to relay. Good thing most underwater scuba covers are in green and blue. Green and blue is good, just yellow is bad. Yeah, I bought another copy of ASM #248 to read at the airport. Nice little story. FFB had mentioned that was a favorite. I had to at least read that half a comic. I do read SOMETIMES ya' know. I also met J.C. Vaughn, Executive Editor at Gemstone Publishing. I relayed my interest in Bronze horror and the fabulous DC covers and he agreed that these books do not get the attention they deserve. He asked me to follow up with him and he'll talk to Russ Cochran about getting some upcoming coverage on this topic for features in Gemstone publications including Overstreet. I also passed along the www.shiverbones.com website to help spawn further ideas on this topic. And I certainly cannot forget, it was a pleasure to briefly meet Joseph (comicwiz) who could not stay for dinner. Certainly a class act all the way.

 

THE DINNER

 

Great food, great salmon and veggies. We all received potatoes that were half as big as our heads. I think we squeezed an extra seat into my table for a late arrival. It was still comfortable but we were pretty close in proximity, at least where I was sitting. In between Beyonder and PedigreeMan I had to be careful with my knife, several times in reaching for butter I could have shaved off a little skin from these guys. No reason for blood seasoning on my fish, please. Steve B. sat on the other side of Beyonder but since he is so much of a social butterfly, I don't think he was in his chair for more than five minutes. Actually, I think he just picked up his piece of beef and just carried it around biting off a piece from time to time.

 

I stayed until about Midnight. There were about a dozen people left, I think all mostly drunk, except for me as I don't frink at all (just don't like the taste). By this time I think they wanted to get us all out of our private room as two waiters were just standing there holding the doors open for us, as if to say "get out". I left at this time whereas the rest went into the bar. But as I was just about to depart, Steve B. said goodbye to PedigreeMan and myself with a joke that was so dirty, and crude, and repugnent, but also so damn funny, that I think it almost knocked Alan to the floor, and certainly woke me up. With that joke, let's just say that for some things, what happens at the Forum dinner stays at the Forum dinner. -------Sid

Link to comment
Share on other sites
FFB

FFB

Posted
Posted

Great report, Sid.

 

For the record, clients don't meet with me in my office where I keep the Bowen statues. We have a separate floor with a couple of dozen conference rooms for client meetings. In fact, in the last year, I can probably count the number of times that anyone's client has been on my floor on the fingers of one hand. My superhero statues are my dirty little secret. grin.gifthumbsup2.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites
shiverbones

shiverbones

Posted
Posted

Hey Sid, nice report & it backs up what i have been saying for awhile about 1975-1979 bronze horror! Thanks for the site drop as well. 893applaud-thumb.gif I'd love to hear about what else you picked up! Were there any HOM236s in the room? Thanks again for the report, it was a fun read!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
3000psi-migration

3000psi-migration

Posted
Posted

Great report, and it was much fun chatting with you Saturday ... including about colors, particularly yellow (which you obviously noticed I'm not keen on) and your favorites, orange and purple. Anyway, looking forward to seeing you in San Fran in February. thumbsup2.gif

 

--Elizabeth

Link to comment
Share on other sites
tth2

tth2

Posted
Posted
For the record, clients don't meet with me in my office where I keep the Bowen statues. We have a separate floor with a couple of dozen conference rooms for client meetings. In fact, in the last year, I can probably count the number of times that anyone's client has been on my floor on the fingers of one hand. My superhero statues are my dirty little secret. grin.gifthumbsup2.gif

 

Yeah, just your colleagues think you're weird! crazy.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites
THE_BEYONDER

THE_BEYONDER

Posted
Posted
Great report, and it was much fun chatting with you Saturday ... including about colors, particularly yellow (which you obviously noticed I'm not keen on) and your favorites, orange and purple. Anyway, looking forward to seeing you in San Fran in February. thumbsup2.gif

 

--Elizabeth

 

YELLOW RULES!!!

sumo.gif
Link to comment
Share on other sites
FFB

FFB

Posted
Posted
For the record, clients don't meet with me in my office where I keep the Bowen statues. We have a separate floor with a couple of dozen conference rooms for client meetings. In fact, in the last year, I can probably count the number of times that anyone's client has been on my floor on the fingers of one hand. My superhero statues are my dirty little secret. grin.gifthumbsup2.gif

 

Yeah, just your colleagues think you're weird! crazy.gif

 

Sure, but not because of the statues. They think I'm weird because I run around the halls shouting at the demons who hide in the air ducts and whisper bad things to my secretary.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
FFB

FFB

Posted
Posted
...And ol' FFB, I had met him before, another cool guy, and very talkative once that he has had a few. I loved hearing his history of Valiant Comics lesson...

I can't believe I missed THAT! 893whatthe.gifgrin.gif

 

Yes, I'm sure you'd have enjoyed it in the same way that my college physics instructor liked listening to his four-year-old try to explain quantum mechanics to his kindergarten classmates.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
BassGMan

BassGMan

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Great Report Sid.

 

What was your take on the forum dinner in SD and the one in Chicago? How were they different?

 

Shiver, I had to refresh my memory on HOM #236. I saw none. And most of the '75 and after books that I did see were cheapo' books in mid-grade. Not much care was put into these books after the 100 pagers. They must have spent their lifetimes floating around in 25 cent boxes whereas early 70s books appear to have been taken better care of. I imagine these '75 and after books are scarce as the majority were sold as cheap 25 cent readers long ago.

 

Deathlok, there were big differences between the three Forum dinners I have attended so far.

 

#1 Wondercon - We sat at one long table. Almost everyone, except maybe 1 or 2 people were Forum members and there was alot of heated debate going on. Steve was being drilled and put on the "hotseat" for much of the evening. Great fun, maybe a little controversial that night. Party lasted way into the evening as remaining members eventually ended up in the bar.

 

#2. San Diego - An early evening for most. Except for a few that went elsewhere after TGIF (from what I have heard) the party disippaited fairly early and there was not much mingling. Many people were there that I did not even know were there. A fun party, but not that great for socializing.

 

#3. Chicago - Similar to Wondercon in that we had a private room, there was plenty of mingling and socializing and the "diehards" wound up in the bar. Different than Wondercon as there were no heated debates and we were split into four or five small tables. Many non-Forum members in Chicago, maybe half the crowd.

 

------Sid

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Go to topic listing