Cons of a new Con posted by bagofleas

[CSJournals-migration]

And a few pros too!

 

I found out by sheer chance last Monday about a Con in Pensacola this weekend. It's called Pensacon and this is the first year of the show.

 

Which of course means that they don't exactly have their act together on organization. Most shows can be frustrating to one degree or another with their coordination, but a first time con can be a big headache.

 

CGC was not there but they did send one employee for witnessing for just me and a couple of others. It was like getting the royal treatment! He walked around and hung out with us during the entire day on Saturday. Very cool!

 

His name is Darrell and I want to give a shout out to him right here for his helping us to get our sigs done at a show that we normally would not have been able to.

 

You rock, Darrell!!

 

Now to the details...

 

The pros of the Con -

 

1. A very interesting list of guests.

Mike Grell

Neal Adams

Mark Texiera

Peter Mayhew

Dirk Benedict

Ann Lockhart

Richard Hatch

Herbert Jefferson Jr

Billy Dee Williams

Ernie Hudson

Walter Koenig

And best of all.... David Michelinie!!

 

There were many others, but none that I was really interested in. Others could

have been though.

 

2. Having the CGC guy right there with us the whole time made it easy to get the

sigs at our leisure without feeling pressed for time.

 

3. Location. For me anyway. I'm in Tallahassee, so Pensacola is not that far away.

 

Now the cons of the Con -

 

Very unorganized.

Very little signage to direct you in what to do.

Different info depending on who you ask.

Badges acquired across the street from center.

Kept you outside in cold until letting in.

Nothing to indicate where lines for each thing was.

Vendor area, celeb area, and food area all in different places on different floors.

Narrow stairwells, one elevator, etc. etc.

Almost no top notch back issue dealers.

Very few cosplayers. At least any worth noting anyway.

Very cramped vendor area, which was actually on top of ice, due to hockey season being played there right now. Sheesh!

 

You would go to a celeb or creator, just to find out that there was a line for the table around the corner and against the wall with nothing to indicate that was the case. It was haphazard and cramped and very confusing most of the time.

 

The vendor area was down at the bottom of a hockey rink with plates set on top of the ice to create the floor for the vendors. Very strange.

 

Then to get from there to certain creators, you had to go back UP the aisle stairs, take the ONE elevator (or very narrow stairway) DOWN to the 2nd floor, then all the way around to the other side of the center to reach where a bunch of the creators were!

 

The spread apart randomness of locations where each stage of attending and enjoying the Con were set, just made for a very confusing experience.

 

But.... with that said, once you finally figured out where and what you were supposed to do, it was great to get done what you wanted.

 

Just being able to get Michelinie made the trip worth it. He only does small cons and LCS shows, most of which CGC does not attend, so he can be tough to get. He told us this is his last show of the year already!

 

I had him sign four raw Indiana Jones issues for me as well as my ASM 300. Now I have him, McLeod and DeFalco on it! Just need Stan Lee and McFarlane now.

 

I had a probable 9.8 Starlog signed by Walter Koenig!

 

And I also had my 9.8 SS copy of Star Wars #56 signed by Michelinie and Billy Dee Williams (Lando) since they were both there! Their sigs now sit right alongside Walt Simonson. I may get Tom Palmer added to it at Supercon.

 

I also couldn't pass up the chance for a photo op with Billy Dee! So I did that, had him sign the photo and even turned it over to Darrell for CGC to certify.

 

Because of the cramped and unorganized nature of the Con, it took pretty much the whole day to get those few things done. But ultimately I'm happy with what I got done.

 

The one plus side to the vendor area was one dealer with a nice, large high grade back issue selection at reasonable prices. We spent the whole time searching for gems in that one spot. I did find what I and all of the others believe is a 9.8 copy of Spectacular Spiderman #64 for $17! I was astonished at the quality of it for the price. I will have DeFalco sign it at Supercon.

 

Anyway, just wanted to throw out a con story for everyone to read. Below is a pic of the vendor area from above. Remember, this whole area is literally on ice!

 

See more journals by bagofleas

[BlowUpTheMoon]

I found out by sheer chance last Monday about a Con in Pensacola this weekend

 

Kept you outside in cold until letting in.

 

[Brandon Shepherd]

I can't wait to see those Michelinie Indy books!

[SW3D]

"And I also had my 9.8 SS copy of Star Wars #56 signed by Michelinie and Billy Dee Williams (Lando) since they were both there! Their sigs now sit right alongside Walt Simonson. I may get Tom Palmer added to it at Supercon."

 

Very, very cool! Can't wait to see a pic when you get it back graded.

 

Even though you listed all those frustrating cons, that pic you provided of the hockey arena as the location of the con makes me think how fun it looks... small and intimate and to the point... and that can be a huge benefit.

 

I hope your comics get high grades!

 

SW3D

[MinCollector86]

To me it looks liked a rush job at the last minute. It is in a very cramped space and not much room to move around, only positive I can see is that there is plenty of seats to sit down if you get tired but it looks like they did have good turn out for celebs and artists.

 

The picture says it all...

[n2wdw]

Great report thanks

 

Been to a lot of venues for cons but never a hockey rink. You'll definitely remember this one!

[Theagenes]

I was a guest there this weekend and it was a lot of fun, though the layout was problematic. I'm not sure what else they could have done though. There really are any other larger venues in Pensacola to hold something of this size.

 

I drove over from Tallahassee as well, and I'm really happy to have a decent medium-sized con in the area.

 

I wish I had know CGC had a SS witness there as I had Neal Adams sign my SSOC 2 for fun.

[bagofleas]

Well, I wasn't aware anyone else on the boards was from my neck of the woods!

 

If I had known you would be there, I would have let you know about the lone personal CGC witness we had there. This was a first for me. Having a witness be there with you whatever and whenever you needed for a show is quite the experience.

 

You didn't have to wait for a witness to become available to go get whatever sig you wanted. He was right there with you the whole time and could witness anything you wanted at any given moment, on the fly, even if you found something to get signed while at the show.

 

It was really neat!!

 

I DO understand that they had to work with what was available for the Con, but it was still quite unorganized and uncoordinated.

 

I look forward to the much better run, if much larger and busier, Megacon next month!! Even the Tampa Bay Comic Con is a much better run show, and it's about the same distance as Pensacon was.

[surfer99]

Great picture...total pandamonium. Had to be cold too cause of the ice under there. Thanks for the sharing your experience!

 

 

[Theagenes]

Well, I wasn't aware anyone else on the boards was from my neck of the woods!

 

If I had known you would be there, I would have let you know about the lone personal CGC witness we had there. This was a first for me. Having a witness be there with you whatever and whenever you needed for a show is quite the experience.

 

You didn't have to wait for a witness to become available to go get whatever sig you wanted. He was right there with you the whole time and could witness anything you wanted at any given moment, on the fly, even if you found something to get signed while at the show.

 

It was really neat!!

 

I DO understand that they had to work with what was available for the Con, but it was still quite unorganized and uncoordinated.

 

I look forward to the much better run, if much larger and busier, Megacon next month!! Even the Tampa Bay Comic Con is a much better run show, and it's about the same distance as Pensacon was.

 

Yeah they definitely suffered from "First Con" coordination problems. Hopefully they'll get it together next time.

 

If you're in Tallahassee, do you know about ALT*con in April? It will be smaller, but it's local.