Emerald City Comic Con, April 7-10, 2016, Seattle, WA

[Comicsam]

Sorry to hear about your experience. I was planning to bring a few down to submit to CGC but maybe I'll hold off. My friend went down today without any issues, he went through the truck crossing. Did you go through Peach Arch?

 

Sam

[aardvark88]

greggy,

Thanks for your continued support during my hour of need. <3

 

sam,

 

The truck crossing may be a bit better. If you get rejected at the USA border crossing for any reason, you can just walk back to the Canada side with your comics to fill out official Pacific Border Brokerage paper work then walk back to the USA side to declare the value of your comics entering USA for slabbing, sale/trade bait at ECCC. Better than driving and lining up back to Canada side then back to USA side.

Yes, we were rejected from the main Peach Arch crossing, and they wanted me to queue again at the Truck crossing, Border Brokerage and then to line up to cross USA side.

 

[Flatliner1313]

Fun time at the show, even though I was underwhelmed with the goods for sale.

 

Finally got to meet Joey and DScott in person, which is always nice when you've been doing business with them for a couple years.

 

And of course, Greggy too.

 

Glad border patrol kept the rest of the Vancouver Riff-Raff away from the show.

 

[Lethal_Collector]

Fun time at the show, even though I was underwhelmed with the goods for sale.

 

This. I just can't justify going to ECCC much anymore, less about books, more about merchandise, cosplay and speed dating. Maybe when I finish my HTF MA books

 

 

Jerome

[greggy]

This should be a two day show

[Hero Restoration]

Spending more time sight seeing the Pike Market and Pioneer Square. Found a great deal on a 9.0-9.4ish ASM 122, collector trying to sell to dealer, they turned him down at $200, I said

[aardvark88]

No tv Supergirl media guests, no Hauser to buy from at ECCC. Riff-raff like greggy and Vintage Roy allowed to cross the USA border but not me.

 

Reminder not to leave any valuable comics in your car. My buddy had over $3k worth of raw vintage comics in a new knapsack stolen from his hatchback while parked to watch a movie south of Seattle. The thieves were probably more interested in taking his new clothes that he just bought from Costco that were also stolen. He filed a report about the theft with the theater security staff and the hotel security next door that had security cameras.

[mschmidt]

This should be a two day show

 

+1

 

Sooooooo slow this year.

[joeypost]

This should be a two day show

 

+1

 

Sooooooo slow this year.

 

Amen to that.

[1Cool]

Wow - night and day difference compared to the Con reports from last year. I thought this was suppose to be one of the don't miss shows?

[kinzebac]

Fun time at the show, even though I was underwhelmed with the goods for sale.

 

This. I just can't justify going to ECCC much anymore, less about books, more about merchandise, cosplay and speed dating. Maybe when I finish my HTF MA books

 

 

Jerome

 

+1000. GA inventory extremely underwhelming. It would be nice to see some new venders at this show, paging Dale Roberts, G.A.tor, etc.

[Changer]

If the booths are a bit limited. Do people get together to trade ? If so Im bringing some keys. Im going to be the Asian guy with a ridiculous full blue backpack hanging atound cbcs cgc or dealer tables, feel free to say hi. Eric

[joeypost]

Wow - night and day difference compared to the Con reports from last year. I thought this was suppose to be one of the don't miss shows?

 

It is. If not for Cloud 9 comics unveiling a new collection I would have spent less than $1,000 for the whole weekend. When you do find nice books they are priced as if they are already in a holder.

[thehumantorch]

Worst experience in 35 years driving across the border to USA especially with the NAFTA free trade agreement in place btwn Canada and USA. My car with 4 single Asian folk was pulled over for a secondary inspection that took about 5 minutes.

 

Within the 4 'suspicious' knapsacks, the USA border found 3 undeclared comics. Normally this would not be a problem if I said I was bringing them down to get signed by Mr Lee (Stan Lee or Jim Lee) for my personal collection.

 

In this case, I was being overly organized and had the full market value declared on a pre-printed Cgc invoice as I was going to have the 3 comics pressed and Cgc slabbed via ECCC. The value was declared at $5,300 for insurance purposes which was a big problem, as it meant my group was DENIED entry into USA and turned around at the border after the 2 HOUR wait for them to make that decision plus they said they were going to mail me a 'fine' of $5,300 US for the undeclared goods but I had an option to appeal the fine down to perhaps $500 that I was initially quoted for the 3 undeclared comics.

 

Previously, a consumer/tourist only had to declare if they were taking over $10k cash or cash equivalent in goods across the border. I made sure I had well less than that including cash on hand. USA border deemed my 3 comics "commercial goods" as they were going to the slabbing service then to ComicLink for auction. I said these were from my PERSONAL collection and bought them 25 years ago. Does not matter if I don't have a comic store, active eBay seller account or webpage for comics, as still deemed "commercial goods."

 

Best not to argue with the Border patrol as they hold your car keys and all our Canadian passports. 1 young couple with a 3 year old child had there car seized that morning on the USA side. I saw them rolling their baby stroller back across to the Canada side of the border to fill out paperwork.

 

Bottom line, it took 25 mins to re-enter Canada border. Then USA border cop expected me to drive a mile to other truck border crossing (30 mins line up), go through Border Brokerage paperwork (minimum 30 mins) to get:

1. USA Customs invoice (by unit quanity)

2. NAFTA Certificate of Origin form for goods over $2,500 US in value filled out. Comics printed in USA and returning to USA point of origin. No duty on books or comics.

Then re-enter line up to cross over to WA state side so about another 15 mins.

 

Too much hassle, as we were already delayed a full TWO (2) hours on USA border side just to be turned around/rejected back into Canada. I will wait for the USA fine/penalty of $5,300 in the mail and appeal as the 3 comics are still in Canada.

 

Sorry for the Rant. Please don't take more than $2,500 worth of comics or comic art across the border to USA without paying for Pacific Customs Brokerage official paperwork ahead of time.

 

Sorry, what a nightmare.

[kinzebac]

Wow - night and day difference compared to the Con reports from last year. I thought this was suppose to be one of the don't miss shows?

 

It is. If not for Cloud 9 comics unveiling a new collection I would have spent less than $1,000 for the whole weekend. When you do find nice books they are priced as if they are already in a holder.

 

Jeff and Ken at Cliud 9 have really been expanding their business. It seems like they are picking up a lot of new inventory in the last year. I make it a point to always stop by their store in Portland.

[Lego]

Wow - night and day difference compared to the Con reports from last year. I thought this was suppose to be one of the don't miss shows?

 

It is. If not for Cloud 9 comics unveiling a new collection I would have spent less than $1,000 for the whole weekend. When you do find nice books they are priced as if they are already in a holder.

 

I walked the floor for about an hour and didn't feel compelled to reach for my wallet even once. Worst Con I've ever been to, by far. Disorganized, generic, difficult to navigate... .

 

I saw about 80% of the show floor and I may not go back tomorrow.

[TheLiamSturgess]

I don't know about you guys, but I'm enjoying the hell out of myself. Seeing Joey, Roy, Greggy and crew has been fantastic, and meeting Jon Bernthal and Elden Henson made the whole trip worth it for me. And, since no one else here seems to be buying early Archie or foreigns, I've been wheeling and dealing on the cheap all weekend

 

Also, Emberlin, Parent and Janson have all been so kind and are always cool to hang out.

 

It seems to me that the artists are making out largely like bandits, lots of art fans here. Just a handful of high end collectors though, which is why nothing is selling for dealers.

 

Beautiful cosplayers.

[Flatliner1313]

The reason nothing is selling for dealers is because they have $3500 books prices at $6800. Or $4500 books priced at $8000.

[TheLiamSturgess]

That's true. I wonder how dollar books are doing

[kinzebac]

Wow - night and day difference compared to the Con reports from last year. I thought this was suppose to be one of the don't miss shows?

 

It is. If not for Cloud 9 comics unveiling a new collection I would have spent less than $1,000 for the whole weekend. When you do find nice books they are priced as if they are already in a holder.

 

I walked the floor for about an hour and didn't feel compelled to reach for my wallet even once. Worst Con I've ever been to, by far. Disorganized, generic, difficult to navigate... .

 

I saw about 80% of the show floor and I may not go back tomorrow.

 

I'm glad others are having the same sentiments about this show as I do. I've been coming to this show for years and have always enjoyed it. This year something feels different, and I can't really figure out why. Hopefully this is an anomaly and not the norm going forward.