My Heroes Con report...first con report in a while...

[G.A.tor]

hello all...

first time in a few years I have done a con report....weather is yucky here and I am alone in the house, so why not!

 

We left Florida last Wednesday morning and made the entire 10 hour trip in one day... checked into the Westin, went to the brazilian steak house and ate, and retired to the room...

 

I rarely sleep well away from home, so I decided to get in line about 730 am Thursday morning to load in....surprisingly, there were 2 others already there before me, but #3 ain't bad....

 

we all chatted on the side of the road for few hours, and about 930 Jiveturkey George joined me, and at 10 am, we entered the loading docks....

 

my wife and son came over, and we unloaded and set up our 20 x 10 ft booth

 

[G.A.tor]

After we set up Thursday, we rested in the room a little bit, went down to the epicenter for dinner and a movie in a pretty cool little set up....it was a dinner and movie theatre set up (forgot the name) but you get comfy seats and can order dinner, drinks, snacks etc, while you watch the movie....pretty cool....

 

we walked back in the crisp weathered evening to the hotel, ran up 19 flights of stairs (yes, the exercise and diet has begun) and wrestled a bit (I knocked out my sons loose tooth )

 

got up early Friday morning to set the 20 ft of wire racks with books...

[G.A.tor]

We started at mega con this year, adding some wall inventory to our normal set up...traditionally, I have been an 8 foot silver age keys and 8 foot golden age wall set up kind of guy, but in the past few months, we have added bronze to modern to our set up....

 

so, the first 8 feet was just that...

 

[Mmanick]

Very nice report and love the pics. Great looking setup to. Thanks

[G.A.tor]

I've stopped "loading" the Silver set up with quantity of keys (there was a day I would put out 17 af 15's, nine asm 1s, etc, to fill an 8 foot section)....

 

I decided to condense a bit, and just put out 2-4 copies (on average) of any one major silver age key, and sprinkle in some other silver age goodies, and get it to fit in a 4 foot section...

 

[G.A.tor]

the last 8 feet goto golden age books....there is a natural corner break, so I basically had 2 sections of Gold...

 

 

[G.A.tor]

[G.A.tor]

the modern to silver shot

 

[Mmanick]

I've stopped "loading" the Silver set up with quantity of keys (there was a day I would put out 17 af 15's, nine asm 1s, etc, to fill an 8 foot section)....

 

I decided to condense a bit, and just put out 2-4 copies (on average) of any one major silver age key, and sprinkle in some other silver age goodies, and get it to fit in a 4 foot section...

 

 

Love those af 15s and st 110s and hulk 1s

[Buzzetta]

The setup really is a big difference from what I am used to seeing when I pass by. How did that fare with the larger representation of bronze, copper and modern? I also see a large representation of Hulk 181 and GS X-Men 1.

 

Hope you did well.

[G.A.tor]

so, I'm not going to break down what sold what day, etc, but I will list many of the great books we sold....

one reason I like to do these regional shows I that I can load the van up with 4000 pounds of 4/$1 and $1 comics etc, from the store, and have a new market to sell them too...we sold about 15% of the "box" stock I brought

 

I will also clarify that 95% of the sales were to collectors...didn't really do any dealer sales at all, outside of selling a box of misc gold to david b....

 

so, it was a very consumer driven show for me!...

 

I think we have done heroes since 2007? and I believe this was our 3rd best sales show there...last year was my worst (new layout and room flow, so we moved to the other side of the room and kicked arse!)....

 

 

[Junkdrawer]

That's a nice wall.

[G.A.tor]

The setup really is a big difference from what I am used to seeing when I pass by. How did that fare with the larger representation of bronze, copper and modern? I also see a large representation of Hulk 181 and GS X-Men 1.

 

Hope you did well.

we have actually done extremely well with the expanded offerings...I had pretty much always catered to the gold and silver slab crowd....but, this year, we are adapting to what more con goers want and broadening our offerings...

 

we still sold a ton of silver and gold slabs, but since mega con, Atlanta and this show, have sold hundreds of raw and current slabs too...

 

my real problem is that I don't have any of this type of inventory...been fortunate to have some good folks sell me some great "new" inventory to offer...margins are thin, but when priced right, folks are buying!

[comicjack]

the last 8 feet goto golden age books....there is a natural corner break, so I basically had 2 sections of Gold...

 

 

5 Sups 14,Punch 12, CS22 Holy Sheets Gator

[G.A.tor]

So, what were my sales highlights?

in no particular order (if I don't list a grade, it was raw)

 

Hulk 180 cgc 8.5

Batman 357

New Teen Titans #2

Sensation 6, cgc 2.5

TOS 57

Shadowman Valiant black

Brave and the bold 28 cgc 4.0

Showcase 4, cgc 4.0

ASM 2, cgc 6.0 (white pages)

batman 9, cgc 6.0

xmen 266

asm 121

asm 238 (one with tats, one without)

Batman 361

ASM 3, cgc 4.5

Strange tales 110, cgc 4.0

New mutants 87

USA 17 cgc 5.0

Hulk 181

Hulk 181 cgc 7.0

xmen 94

Giant size xmen 1

werewolf by night 32

Captain America comics 35 cgc 6.5

Marvel Mystery comics 31 cgc 6.0

Captain America comics 26 cgc 3.0

New mutants 98 cgc 9.8

new mutants 98

Amazing fantasy 15 cgc3.0

Amazing fantasy 15 cgc 4.0

Walking dead 1 cgc 9.6

Walking dead 2 cgc 9.6

Brave and the Bold 28, cgc 5.0

Showcase 4, cgc 5.0 (pre sold, but picked up a show)

Batman Adventures 12, cgc 9.8

 

bunches of bronze, copper wall books ...

 

these were the highlights

[Aasparky1000]

That wall is pretty insane

[G.A.tor]

the last 8 feet goto golden age books....there is a natural corner break, so I basically had 2 sections of Gold...

 

 

5 Sups 14,Punch 12, CS22 Holy Sheets Gator

I only put out 5 each of the supes 14, 17 and 76, all in different grades...have "many" more copies

[G.A.tor]

My buddy Jeff from Topic comic fame hung out with us a bunch this weekend...

 

Got to buy some Rachel Rising art with Branget (who kept me supplied with coke zero with caffeine all weekend....I brought caffeine free with me )

 

 

Saturday night had dinner with Roy and Lou....great couple of hours of conversation and stories!

 

Load out was our worst in recent memory....I bent the wheel on our platform hand truck and it made a normal 45 minute load out take almost 2 hours....

 

we got a late start out of charlotte, didn't arrive to Columbus GA till 2 am, checked into hotel, slept and got up this morning and finished trip home...

[dupont2005]

Sounds like you did pretty well (thumbs u

[zosocane]

Hey G.A.tor, thanks for posting the pix and a sampling of your sales. Awesome stuff!