Capital City Comic Con July 11-13 2014 Austin, Tx

[thatdudebooks]

Looked around for some artists I had seen on Friday but could not find them. Seemed like fewer artists than Friday. One 7 year old had hijacked an empty table and was doing sketch cards for sale.

 

Wow...

 

Pretty much the story of the Con, there was plenty of available space with many open booths. Still curious why they extended the show by an extra hour Friday night "due to all the foot traffic" :shrug:

 

This was a VERY good show for connecting with artists, chatting with boardies, getting sketches, digging through bins, etc. Not so much from the dealer perspective.

[Gsims718]

I was really considering going today, but decided not to make the drive up from San Antonio. Would like to hear some other boardies weigh in on the show.

[reptilekingdie]

Picks?

[inapicklecomics]

The wife and I had a table set up at the show. I can understand how many people viewed the show at different perspectives. Larger dealers seemed to not do very well, as people didn't go to spend a lot on high grade key books. We are smaller scale, and deal mainly in low to mid grade, and we did well and had fun. Many people were confused on what was happening at what time. There were no programs available, even though many of us heard they were supposed to have some to pass out. The announcements over the intercom system were happening way too often, and the voice was usually muffled. Friday was our best sales day. The more serious collectors were there Friday, and were ready to buy from us. We had a good crowd at our booth at some points, with multiple people interested in the same book. I sold about 10 wall books on Friday, along with a lot of priced books, and many bought from our $1 boxes. Many other dealers said Friday went bad for them, but luckily it went great for us. Saturday got a later start, with it being pretty busy at some points. We still did well, and got to meet many other people. Sunday was pretty dead. We did OK, but not near as well as Saturday. Many artists and dealers started packing way early on Sunday. My wife's handmade aprons did well all 3 days. She almost completely sold out! She makes them herself. I did get some good books that got marked down to 50 cents on Sunday afternoon, like some Marvel bronze age horrors, and 2 copies of Watchmen 1. We will be back next year, if they decide to do another. Overall, we had a great time! We do have a few pics from our booth if anyone wants to check them out. Our facebook page is "In A Pickle Comics and Crafts".

[DigsUT]

The show definitely had its challenges. I am sure that every first time show is going to have them. Some may have been preventable and others not. That being said, I felt it was a decent show. The foot traffic could have been better, but it was competing with an established show south of Austin and possibly even a gaming convention that was happening in Dallas, all that same weekend.

 

I talked to some of the dealers that attend quite a few of the local shows and the consensus was that the expectation was a little higher then what happened. The success of some of the artists that I spoke with was very hit or miss. Some had a good show, others, not so much. With so many artist to choose from and not that heavy of foot traffic, the competition for dollars was tight. Had the show been on a different date, where it was not competing with other local shows and not so close to SDCC, I feel that the attendance could have been stronger.

 

Pros:

 

- Venue was spacious

- Lineup of artists was plentiful and very good quality

- Quiet a few vendors to chose from

 

Challenges:

 

- Seemed a tad disorganized in regards to show events

- A bit overzealous on the announcements over the PA

- Consider choosing a hotel for the guests in a closer proximity to the venue

 

I will leave it as a 3 and 3. All in all, I feel that this show has great potential and hope that it will have a 2nd year.

[DvilleBookstore]

Now that we are back from Austin and everything is caught up, I can give my con report. Overall, I think the show was fine. There was a nice selection of comics in the room but there could always have been more. Bedrock was there with his typical fantastic set-up. What I always find myself asking is not if Richard has the book I am looking for, it's whether I can afford it. Boyd from Black Cat Comics was there with multiple copies of all the desired key issues as well has a nice selection of pre-code books. Rick from Rick's Comic Crypt was there with his growing inventory of late silver and bronze age keys as well as some of the newest, hottest book. If you haven't stopped and looked at his inventory lately, do yourself a favor and check him out. ComicsArchaeology was there with a nice selection of nice mid to low grade copies of some truly hard to find comics. It was great to see him start to venture out of the Dallas area and I hope to see him at more shows across the state. Sales for us were sluggish but it added up by the end of the weekend. We carry such a wide range of items at different price points that we can normally make money when the crowds are light. Most dealers that I talked to made a little money but everyone was hoping for more.

 

I thought going into it the guest list was excellent because it had so many artists that we don't get to see, especially in Texas, and I was hoping that would get a bigger crowd there. For whatever reason, the crowd just didn't show up. I am not sure if it was because the UT students were gone for the summer or if the fact that Wizard World has a show in San Antonio a few weeks later and people were saving their money. Probably a little of both. There are a lot of shows in that area in a short amount of time so some show has to suffer. It's a shame because this show has potential. Aaron, the promoter, will get some of the blame because there were some bugs to be worked out but what show doesn't have some problem from time to time. It looked to me like Aaron tried his best and things should improve if he decides to do another one. I hope he consults the dealers and asks their opinion.

 

I think the Austin area is a great city to have a show like this in. I hope this show gets a chance to grow because I think it could be really good in time. We had a great time and met some great new customers. We picked up some nice comics and toys to add to the mix and we were able to get a few leads on some collections so, for us, the trip was worth it.

[inapicklecomics]

Thanks Andy! We are hoping to venture out into new markets in the future. It was great seeing familiar faces, and meeting new people. You are right about Bedrock City's selection, pretty amazing.

[bug33fouf]

Anyone take pictures?

[Trev]

Anyone take pictures?

 

I didn't take any pics. It was pretty quiet.