Pittsburgh Comic Con - Pictures and Impressions

[1Cool]

I ended up having a Sunday with nothing to do so I ended up going to the Pittsburgh Comic Con at the last second. Definetely no issue getting a ticket Sunday since the place was pretty much dead when I got there. The hall itself was fairly well laid out with the comic dealers in the first couple rows and the artist taking up the rest of the place. There was some big names in attendance but I was sad to see Perez was not at his booth when I walked by at 11:30 - must have gotten tired of sitting around the rest of the weekend. Mike Grell was fun to say hi to and his stuff is always amazing. Herb Trippe was there but did not look very busy the few times I made it over to the artist area.

 

In terms of the artist - it looked like a lot of people were walking around with prints and it seemed like more people were hanging out in the artist area than the comic area. Some very cool stuff in terms of art but I did not spend much time there since I was there for the books.

 

We had a huge thread about Cos-Play ruining Cons and I through out a estimate of 5 - 10% of people actually dressing up at the cons. I'd say nearly 30 - 40% of people were dressed up in Pittsburgh. I looked and none of them were caring comic book purchase bags. Lots of kids in attendance with most of them wanting pictures with Elsa and none were in the comic booths when I was there. Overall the con was so poorly attended that there was plenty of room to walk around so the costumes were not a hindrance.

 

Comics . . comics . . comics

 

This is my first mid-size con so I was surprised by the lack of larger dealers. Greg Reese was by far the biggest name at the event and it was great to say hi to him and talk comics for a bit (his wife was also extra nice). I asked most of the sellers how their con was and all of them said it was the worse one yet in terms of sales. It sounds like it was so bad that Greg will probably not be back. I'd say at least 5 sellers said the same thing that their sales were not sufficient to justify coming back next year. One guy showed me his sold list for the day it was maybe 5 or 6 items. He did say his $1 booth was doing a lot better.

 

I was shocked to see so many booths without any signage at all. All the sellers had name tags but the booths themselves were bare. Tons of $1 boxes and some really nice $3 boxes made for a long day of box diving. The wall books were mostly Modern to Silver-Age hot books with only a few having Golden-Age books. The book I saw on every booth was X-Factor 6 and the book I did not see was Werewolf By Night 32. I don't think I even saw a graded copy. New Mutants 98s were going for crazy prices and I saw one 9.8 being offered up for $1,300 but most were in the $1,000 range.

 

My last observation was the dealers were all willing to come down on their prices even on the hotter books which I assumed would not be the case. The amount of nice books at great prices really surprised me. I kind of thought all the "deals" would have been picked clean by Sunday but there was plenty available.

[october]

the book I did not see was Werewolf By Night 32. I don't think I even saw a graded copy.

 

Heard a couple of guys ask for this at the Nashville show. Dale may have had one, but other than that I don't think there was one in the room. Definitely an in-demand book.

[1Cool]

Hall and Booth Pictures:

 

[1Cool]

I took a couple cos-play pictures but I may not be the best person to ask girls to take a picture. I got some weird stares when I asked the Alice In Wonderland group for a picture that I didn't ask again. But here are a few I took on my cell-phone:

 

[Amadeus Arkham]

I was there on Sunday, too. Wonder if I'm floating around in the background of any of the pictures.

[1Cool]

Here is the books I was able to snag at the con. Sorry for the terrible cell-phone pics but I was in a rush this morning and was beat when I got home last night.

 

 

Greg was nice enough to work with me on the Fantastic Four 45. First copy I've ever owned - it will be great to read it this week. I got the New Mutants 98 for $150 which is crazy since its a 9.4 copy. Its mis-wrapped with some of the back coming around to the front. The seller had it graded as a 9.0 since it was mis-wrapped - love that kind of seller! I got a 30% deal on most the other "key" books so I'm happy with what I paid.

 

 

NM+ early Preachers for $20 apiece had me hooked. I ended up getting the Punisher Limited series to re-read since they are VF copies.

 

 

$18 for a high grade Shazam! 1 - yes please. I think I actually paid the full $20 for the Ms. Marvel 1 since I didn't want him taking it back. Its a nice VF copy.

 

 

Loved picking up the Journey Into Mystery 114 - upper grade copies only seem to be getting hotter. And I finally got my second Secret Wars 8 I needed for $25.

 

 

Here are the $3 and a couple $5 books I grabbed from the boxes.

 

 

 

And last but not least I couldn't say no to these upper grade Marvel Tales for a $1 -

 

[1Cool]

And a thread is not complete without 1Cool's cool cat relaxing in style.

 

[Amadeus Arkham]

I managed to get away with only buying one book (Wolverine Vol. 1, No. 1) and got it signed by Joe Rubeinstein. Also got my Death of Wolverine Herb Trimpe Desert Wind Comics variant signed by Herb Trimpe and my Amazing Spider-Man #252 signed by Ron Frenz. Also commissioned this cool sketch from Ron that's going to go up next to it on the wall:

 

 

I like smaller cons like this because it gives you a chance to actually talk to the artists and ask them some questions about the industry. Herb Trimpe was nice enough, and Ron Frenz was a real ball-buster. I made the window on my Spidey #252 on the bottom, below Spidey's legs and he said, "Who's the insufficiently_thoughtful_person who cut this window? I usually sign up here, near the price box!" Good guy and didn't even charge for a Signature Series autograph.

 

CGC people were really nice. My witness was named Bob Caffrey and he was more than happy to chat about things like the industry and even the logjam of books that CGC has right now. Apparently they're starting to really get things cleared out in shipping and things should be moving quickly soon. He was even cool enough to sign my Death of Wolverine COA for me.

 

 

Desert Wind comics were really nice. I ordered one of their Herb Trimpe variants a month or so ago and when it came in, it was a 9.4/9.6 tops. They let me trade it in at their booth for a strong 9.8 candidate, even going so far as to pick through their books themselves and sort out a couple nice ones. No charge.

 

I'm interested to see if the convention grows any with them moving from Monroeville to Downtown Pittsburgh next year. I'll definitely be back.

[RCheli]

I went to the first Pittsburgh show in... '95, I think? I was still living in Pittsburgh at the time, but moved shortly after.

 

I've heard good things about it, though.

 

The Steelers playing on Sunday didn't help, probably. That area shuts down with the Black and Gold take the field.

[chrisco37]

Great Frenz sketch!

[Amadeus Arkham]

Great Frenz sketch!

 

Thanks. I'm going to pick out a frame for it today. Also picked up a map of Gotham City from a smaller independent artist, but it'll be a bear to photograph until I get it in a frame.

[Chip Cataldo]

Awesome report, cool books, great stories...sounds like a wonderful show.

 

Peace,

 

Chip

[1Cool]

I also liked the quick thrill buys at the Con. You usually have completed E-Bay results, past sales spreadsheets, GPA and any number of venues to help make a good purchase. At the con you really have to use your memory of the market prices and things move a lot quicker (unless you compare it to a Foolkiller sales thread). I had a Shazam! 28 in FN that the guy wanted $60 for. I know the book is red hot but it not in my usual books I look for. The books had some front cover foxing or I would have grabbed it but I ended up going back twice and looking at it. Just a thrilling kind of day.

 

I also thought it was cool to see the sellers having fun at the event. One seller ended up sticking a drek book up on the wall of a friend's booth and a couple of the guys were betting on how long it would take for him to notice. Kind of like a nerdy sports team.

[Chip Cataldo]

Greg was nice enough to work with me on the Fantastic Four 45. First copy I've ever owned - it will be great to read it this week.

This is the best comment in your report, though.

 

Peace,

 

Chip

[Wilson3d]

Good stuff, thanks for sharing!

[jsilverjanet]

I went to the first Pittsburgh show in... '95, I think? I was still living in Pittsburgh at the time, but moved shortly after.

 

I've heard good things about it, though.

 

The Steelers playing on Sunday didn't help, probably. That area shuts down with the Black and Gold take the field.

 

best time to do sight seeing, though hotels sell out

[telerites]

It doesn't look any bigger inside that TARDIS

 

[1Cool]

It doesn't look any bigger inside that TARDIS

 

 

The 8th Doctor Who was sitting beside it and he looked completely bored. He is the Doctor Who that no one has seen but I still thought he would have someone asking for autographs.

[kpaqu1]

I was sad to see Perez was not at his booth when I walked by at 11:30 - must have gotten tired of sitting around the rest of the weekend.

 

On his Facebook he posted that his father was in the hospital and he was sorry he had to leave early.

[jsilverjanet]

I took a couple cos-play pictures but I may not be the best person to ask girls to take a picture. I got some weird stares when I asked the Alice In Wonderland group for a picture that I didn't ask again. But here are a few I took on my cell-phone:

 

 

take off the wolverine mask next time