Northwest Indiana Comic Con Schererville, Indiana February 21, 2015

[RCheli]

I did very, very well.

[Bomber-Bob]

I did very, very well.

 

(thumbs u Honestly though, if it wasn't for you, the show would have totally sucked.

[Red84]

Was there any golden age for sale? I decided against the 70 minute drive.

[RCheli]

No golden at all (other than a few random books here and there).

 

It's a JV show with a pretty good attendance. A lot of dollar books and low grade broze/silver.

[RCheli]

To expand a bit...

 

There were many problems with the show (which I will list). That being said I did extremely well and was happy. The show grew a lot from the previous year. 2014's show (which I didn't attend) was absurd in its overcrowded logistical nightmare, so they moved it to an even larger space. It wasn't enough.

 

(An aside -- I have no idea how they go this many people to go to a 1-day show in Schererville, Indiana. It's astonishing. There were probably 3,000 people that came through the door. And while a lot were cos-players and people who weren't going to buy a single comic, a lot of others actually did want to buy stuff.)

 

I understand that I am but one part of the equation, and I can completely see why others would not be happy. They have many things to fix.

 

If I were going there to buy comics, I would've been disappointed. There were probably 12 dealers there that had majority of comics. Three had anything from the last 2 or 3 years; three had decent bronze and silver. Everyone else was pretty much box after box of dollar books. No golden. No original art. Some toys.

 

The layout was awkward. I was worried at first because I was facing away from the entrance and you couldn't see my booth unless you worked your way around back into the corner. A friend had a booth that was directly across from this large bar/concession stand. It was poorly lit. They had to bring in lamps -- LAMPS -- for one guy's booth because it was so dark that nobody could see anything. Another dealer, however, had them remove some lightbulbs above their tables because it was so hot.

 

There wasn't much space behind your booth, and you were constantly bumping into the other guys.

 

But there were so many people that everyone was eventually forced to my tables, and from about 10:10 to 5:00, it was nonstop sales. There were a ton of women/girls buying books. And a lot of kids, too.

 

I heard that parking was a headache. I know people were leaving soon after they arrived because there wasn't any room.

 

I talked to a few boarders, and I saw a lot of regulars from other local Chicago shows.

[thehumantorch]

Sounds like the show is experiencing growing pains

 

Thanks for the report, could you give us an idea of what was selling for you?

[RCheli]

Harley Quinn sold extremely well, as did Spider-Man, Deadpool, Batman, Flash, and X-Men. Don't think I sold a single Walking Dead book -- not that I had a lot. I didn't sell that many Silver or Bronze, from the box, but I sold a lot of wall stuff.

 

Nothing that crazy. A lot of people asked about the new Marvel Star Wars, which I sold my only two copies within the first hour.

[thehumantorch]

thank you

[manetteska]

Anyone have pics to show the layout and/or mass of people?

 

RCheli - Were the sales you listed mostly new, modern stuff (w/in the last 5 years)?

 

Was going back and forth whether or not to go to this show; glad I decided to be lazy and hunker down to sell instead of buy. Great that at least one guy made out ok.

[RCheli]

It was everything. I sold a lot of copper Spider-Mans and X-Mens, modern stuff, too. The only thing I didn't sell was my romance comics! I have a long box of them, and didn't sell a single one.

 

It was not really a discerning crowd. An example: I picked up a collection a few years ago that had multiples of all of the various special covers that Marvel pushed out in the early 90s. Holograms, glow-in-the-dark, you name it. Overprinted stuff, stuff that you can find everywhere. Well, I price those all at around $2, and at most shows, people don't bother. Here, I sold a lot of them. If I had known, I would've just had a long box with just these "special issues".

 

Here's the other thing: I think I price things to move. If I have 5 copies of something, I'd much rather sell them at a good price then have them sit at an elevated price. I sold 3 Infinity Gauntlet #1s at $15. I saw a lot sitting on walls at $25.

[manetteska]

Interesting and thanks for the info.

 

I guess (based on the crowd size and purchases) that Northwest Indiana is starving for comic shows. Which is odd since it is relatively close to Chicago and they do have other, more local shows throughout the year.

 

Did you make any purchases yourself?

[RCheli]

I had a guy come up and trade me some early high-grade Ghost Riders (no #1, though), but I wasn't able to get out from behind my booth until around 5, and all of the deals were done, it seems. I bought about $50 worth of stuff -- nothing great.

 

I'll gladly do it again next year. I just hope they organize it a bit better.

[manetteska]

I'll gladly do it again next year. I just hope they organize it a bit better.

 

Isn't that what people said last year?

 

Wonder if/what they will change next time around as it seems people were still upset -- between no room inside the venue, no parking, not a lot of selection....

 

Good thing Saturday was a "heat wave" out here; wonder what a temperature like today (-2) would do to the crowd.

[RCheli]

I wasn't there last year, but the space was pretty big this time out. It wasn't a great layout, however. Parking issues were exacerbated, I think, by piles and piles of snow.

 

There were a ton of show staff on hand. That there were problems is mainly because they just couldn't handle that big of a crowd. It's hard to plan for something like that. Who would've expected this show to have grown even more?

 

I don't know where else they could put on the show, however. I'm not familiar with the area, so I don't know if there are convention centers close by.