Wizard World Philly 2015 (my first major con - review):

[goldust40]

 

No, seriously how much?

 

 

Bob is always lurking, waiting to pounce.

[goldust40]

The internet did exist in the 90's.

 

 

Not in the UK

 

A minute for an ebay page to load with some crappy 28.8 sportster? The internet may rule our lives now but it took a while to get there.

[1Cool]

The internet did exist in the 90's.

 

 

I started college in 1992 and I remember those stupid AOL dial-up disks in the mail. I'd say E-Bay went crazy in the mid 90s so I guess my statement was more about the early 90s when pretty much no one bought anything online. "Imagine putting your credit card number on the computer" I still remember my Dad saying that in the early 90s.

[Sqeggs]

The internet did exist in the 90's.

 

 

Not in the UK

 

A minute for an ebay page to load with some crappy 28.8 sportster? The internet may rule our lives now but it took a while to get there.

 

I can remember the days when people would get yelled at for posting scans to the eBay chat board because they would cause the pages to load sooo slowly. And, of course, there were the "Text only" buttons on Web pages.

[stroszek]

They would perhaps save some ill will by renaming it the "Pop Culture Con."

 

I skipped this year, but went the previous four years and noticed a steep decline in comic content even during that brief period. 2010-11 still felt like a convention for me. 2013-14 did not.

 

 

[blazingbob]

I think if most people at the show gave an "opinion" the atmoshere this year would have been described as "weird".

 

I personally feel that the Wizard Philly show has pissed off a lot of artists and dealers with the conflict of show dates with Heroes, intentional or not.

 

Regardless of who the promoter is lets not pine for the old days because frankly conventions have become more than just comic books. Original Art, Signature Series books, show exclusives, Movie posters, Toys, Cosplay, costumes, artists, actors who play comic characters, weapons, etc are all part of the Comic culture. Of course it would be nice if the promoters gave the dealers a pavilion of their own so the comic guys wouldn't have to be bothered by all the other distractions.

 

Anybody do the comic only Philly shows? Sorry but the sad truth is that the comic base in Philly just isn't that great for a 3-4 day comic convention. Would you rather there be no comic convention? Then I can go back to reading about how sad the local one day shows are.

 

I've read in multiple convention threads about "customer expectations" and them not being met. Besides writing in the thread are the promoters being told? Voting with your feet doesn't exactly communicate to the promoter when they do very little profiling of their customer base. That feedback comes from the dealers complaining that sales were soft. They again vote with their feet and don't show up the next year. A lot of people expect things to change using the Vulcan mind meld into the promoters head.

 

Websites do put a lot of pressure on convention inventory. I sell a LOT of books off my website. I do not bring 30K books to every convention to satisfy the guy looking for MTU #107 in NM. I communicate clearly on my website that if you want to see something then email and I will try and bring it. There are a lot of shows I don't have to do but I like to do them anyway. I do not rate a convention on just my sales. I've discussed them before.

 

I do not fault the Wizard promoters from accepting product placement booths. Why not? The attendance must support the companies being there. Nobody posts about product placement booths at Reed shows because there are plenty of dealers there. Food concession stands throughout the show, liquor sales. I get the business aspect and frankly where the profit comes from. I also get the VIP packages, the hourly marketing messages which I think is "found money". Granted most of this isn't putting money into my pocket but the bottom line you do want a promoter to be successful.

 

And frankly not all of the success relies on the promoter bringing collectors to the show. That responsibility also falls on the dealers and his ability to get his customers to come to the show in that area or out of state if the convention is worth traveling to.

 

Collectors are not without blame. Those who badmouth the show out of their own personal gripe post will discourage a lot of collectors who otherwise may have had a good experience at the show. Not everyone has the "same agenda" when it comes to what they are looking for, spending limits etc. Sometimes I read some of the convention posts I was at and wonder what show they were at.

 

I stated to another dealer at the show that I think ALL of the promoters do not understand the trickle down financial impact National dealers bring to the show when we are spending money. We are there to BUY a lot of books. It would make a lot of sense to bring in as many local dealers/collectors with discounted booths. In addition I have spoken to Wizard more than once about giving dealers who sell tickets to the show credits toward their booth costs. The more win win relationships you create with your dealer base the better the show will be. Every promoter is guilty of ignoring the guys who pay for the celebrities who pay for nothing.

 

That being said I had a decent Philly show.

[comeaux]

[Robot Man]

I find that I can get through most shows easily in a day. And, I am a box diver. I mostly look for odd ball GA books and have been doing it a while but I usually find something to go home with. It's getting slimmer and slimmer though.

 

I was in Philly for a weekend for the first one. I didn't know it was going on and it was in the hotel I was staying at. Dead giveaway was all the costumes. It seemed pretty thin even then but I did buy some stuff I wasn't expecting. I was just pleasently surprised when my wife told me.

 

Now, I have never been to WW Chicago, Baltimore or Heroes. I hear they are all good. But, good enough for me to fly across country and get a room for 3 days?

[thecopperagekids]

Anyone else think the $100 bills in the display case is tacky/baseballcarddealer-ish?

 

Mike Carbo...

 

Mike Carbo is the man, he can do whatever he wants.I don't think his approaches to buying comics are the least bit "tacky".

 

He is fair and direct.

 

The dude was dressed up as the Doc from Back to the Future at his Big Apple Comic Con a couple months back, how can anyone talk smack on a guy who goes all out like Mike?

 

His Big Apple Comic Con and his WinterCon shows (along with Frank of EternalCon/WinterCon) are also the effing BEST shows, on the east coast that I have been to or set up at, by far.

 

....but I will say that I did not go to or set up at the Garden State Comic fest last year (which apparently was a mistake on my part, according to those I have spoken) so I can't compare it to Carbo's shows but I'll be setting up at GSCF this July.

 

Back to the point, Carbo's shows are very well promoted,well organized and they are *****located in PRIME LOCATIONS IN/AROUND NYC******

 

**unlike Wizard Philly**

 

As BlazingBob posted earlier in this thread, the bulk of the people who live in the Philly are are NOT the sort of collectors who shell out serious coin for books.

 

Anyone who has ever set up at a smaller Philly show can tell you that.

 

I will emphatically state that as far as selling funnybooks is concerned, the Philly area is BALLS.Nothing against Philly, I love the city and lived in the Fishtown/Northern Liberties area for a year and change.I love Philly. That said, Wizard Philly seemed to be as good as one could expect, given the fact that the base for collectors who buy books isn't ideal.

 

On the other hand, the dealers I spoke to on Sunday, for the most part seemed like they did fairly well.I was there on Wednasday during dealer set up for a few HOURS, and only spent around $200 or so,altogether....but there were only a few dealers to buy from.....and I was very selective with what I was buying.

 

Went back on Thursday to meet up with a boardie who I pressed a book for...and went back on Sunday, very briefly to pick up said book, and hand delivered it to said boardie a couple hours later........yeah, that's right....The CopperAgeKids are better than Domino's, baby

 

I spent 15 minutes looking thru boxes and a few tables/wall displays.....there was still some good deals to be had.I held back because I had a collection to look at in the Phillipsburg area later that day....that was one of the best buys I have ever made and I'm going to sub a lot of those books this weekend at the AC Con.

 

As an aside, thanks to Jason (youmechooz) for hooking me up with a weekend pass.I stopped by his booth and met him briefly...........Hell of a nice guy and he had a very good selection of on display, all priced fairly.

 

That said, I'd encourage all boardies to add Jason (Youmechoozcomics) to their list of preferred dealers (thumbs u

 

Overall, I'll give Wizard Philly two thumbs up.I'll be back there again next year, as a buyer.

 

 

[makeminemego]

I don't even know if I'm going to the one here in STL. They haven't posted a list of dealers setting up, which I'm assuming is a somewhat ominous sign.

[JesterSB]

Philly suburb tip...NEVER drive into the city. Septa regional rail runs on time and costs $12 round trip. There is a stop right outside the convention center.

[1Cool]

Philly suburb tip...NEVER drive into the city. Septa regional rail runs on time and costs $12 round trip. There is a stop right outside the convention center.

 

I worked in Philly for 4 months and there is no truer words spoken. Traffic is so bad in Philly people go in to work 2 hours early to avoid getting stuck in all the chaos.

[namisgr]

Philly suburb tip...NEVER drive into the city. Septa regional rail runs on time and costs $12 round trip. There is a stop right outside the convention center.

 

I worked in Philly for 4 months and there is no truer words spoken. Traffic is so bad in Philly people go in to work 2 hours early to avoid getting stuck in all the chaos.

 

Been driving from suburban Wilmington to work in Philly for the past 17 years. From my experience, driving in Philly isn't anywhere near as bad as in New York, LA, Boston, or DC.

 

Drove from West Philly where I work to the convention in 15 minutes and parked for free on Vine Street on Friday. As easy as it was to get to, it didn't make the Wizard craptacular any better.

[1Cool]

Philly suburb tip...NEVER drive into the city. Septa regional rail runs on time and costs $12 round trip. There is a stop right outside the convention center.

 

I worked in Philly for 4 months and there is no truer words spoken. Traffic is so bad in Philly people go in to work 2 hours early to avoid getting stuck in all the chaos.

 

Been driving from suburban Wilmington to work in Philly for the past 17 years. From my experience, driving in Philly isn't anywhere near as bad as in New York, LA, Boston, or DC.

 

Drove from West Philly where I work to the convention in 15 minutes and parked for free on Vine Street on Friday. As easy as it was to get to, it didn't make the Wizard craptacular any better.

 

I was working out at the Kings of Prussia area and dreaded driving downtown. Only city I know of that has a major corridor into the city that's a windy four lane corridor. Biggest city I've driven in was Chicago and I liked their rush hour way more then Philly's.

[wombat]

I had no issues driving in on Friday morning or leaving at about 3:30. And there was a lot right outside the convention center that had $10 parking all day. It would have kind of sucked to haul everything I purchased on a train as I had a few large tubes with art prints.

[Murphman13]

I stated to another dealer at the show that I think ALL of the promoters do not understand the trickle down financial impact National dealers bring to the show when we are spending money. We are there to BUY a lot of books. It would make a lot of sense to bring in as many local dealers/collectors with discounted booths. In addition I have spoken to Wizard more than once about giving dealers who sell tickets to the show credits toward their booth costs. The more win win relationships you create with your dealer base the better the show will be. Every promoter is guilty of ignoring the guys who pay for the celebrities who pay for nothing.

 

Excellent idea.

[youmechooz]

Ill add a few things.

I set ip for philly. Got in around 10am wednesday morning. Sciatica was killing me all 6 days in philly. Was taking massive amounts of hydrocodone, ibuprophin, gabapentin. This trip was an eye opener. Im going to start a work out program and get into shape. My wife gave birth to our wonderful son bruce the 16th of april and i want to be able to play with him but being fat and having all these medical problems at an early age, cant have that. So even in pain now, ill start working out, eating healthy, and taking better care of myself.

Now onto the show.

Wednesday setup went really fast. Had help from bronzejbone during setup. Thanks again jason, that help was really appreciated. Got back to the hotel at around 3 or something, got to sleep at around 4pm and didnt wake up until the following morning at 4am. Having a baby takes away all that sleep. My wife is a gladiator.

Thursday, friday and saturday were excellent for sales. Sunday was slower but tats to be expected. All in all, great sales at this show.

Met up with some board members, jsilverjanet was a really cool cat. Want to hang out with you hector, you are good people. Also met up with bronzebruce, bird, wombat, copperagekids. I also met roy for the first time, very nice meeting you roy. Met up with dre(beachbum) again. We are in the same boat, sort of, congrats on the birth dre and congrats on everything else, house and all that. Take a break every now and then .

All in all, first philly show was a success and got to finally meet great people.

Was a nice show and good town. Ill be doing philly again next year. Stl in a few weeks. Sure ill see some of you there.

[BeachBum]

Met up with dre(beachbum) again. We are in the same boat, sort of, congrats on the birth dre and congrats on everything else, house and all that. Take a break every now and then .

 

Good seeing you again - Congrats on your baby as well - get some sleep man.

[revat]

Ill add a few things.

I set ip for philly. Got in around 10am wednesday morning. Sciatica was killing me all 6 days in philly. Was taking massive amounts of hydrocodone, ibuprophin, gabapentin. This trip was an eye opener. Im going to start a work out program and get into shape. My wife gave birth to our wonderful son bruce the 16th of april and i want to be able to play with him but being fat and having all these medical problems at an early age, cant have that. So even in pain now, ill start working out, eating healthy, and taking better care of myself.

Now onto the show.

Wednesday setup went really fast. Had help from bronzejbone during setup. Thanks again jason, that help was really appreciated. Got back to the hotel at around 3 or something, got to sleep at around 4pm and didnt wake up until the following morning at 4am. Having a baby takes away all that sleep. My wife is a gladiator.

Thursday, friday and saturday were excellent for sales. Sunday was slower but tats to be expected. All in all, great sales at this show.

Met up with some board members, jsilverjanet was a really cool cat. Want to hang out with you hector, you are good people. Also met up with bronzebruce, bird, wombat, copperagekids. I also met roy for the first time, very nice meeting you roy. Met up with dre(beachbum) again. We are in the same boat, sort of, congrats on the birth dre and congrats on everything else, house and all that. Take a break every now and then .

All in all, first philly show was a success and got to finally meet great people.

Was a nice show and good town. Ill be doing philly again next year. Stl in a few weeks. Sure ill see some of you there.

 

What types of things were 'better' sellers?

 

thanks for posting.

[youmechooz]

Ill add a few things.

I set ip for philly. Got in around 10am wednesday morning. Sciatica was killing me all 6 days in philly. Was taking massive amounts of hydrocodone, ibuprophin, gabapentin. This trip was an eye opener. Im going to start a work out program and get into shape. My wife gave birth to our wonderful son bruce the 16th of april and i want to be able to play with him but being fat and having all these medical problems at an early age, cant have that. So even in pain now, ill start working out, eating healthy, and taking better care of myself.

Now onto the show.

Wednesday setup went really fast. Had help from bronzejbone during setup. Thanks again jason, that help was really appreciated. Got back to the hotel at around 3 or something, got to sleep at around 4pm and didnt wake up until the following morning at 4am. Having a baby takes away all that sleep. My wife is a gladiator.

Thursday, friday and saturday were excellent for sales. Sunday was slower but tats to be expected. All in all, great sales at this show.

Met up with some board members, jsilverjanet was a really cool cat. Want to hang out with you hector, you are good people. Also met up with bronzebruce, bird, wombat, copperagekids. I also met roy for the first time, very nice meeting you roy. Met up with dre(beachbum) again. We are in the same boat, sort of, congrats on the birth dre and congrats on everything else, house and all that. Take a break every now and then .

All in all, first philly show was a success and got to finally meet great people.

Was a nice show and good town. Ill be doing philly again next year. Stl in a few weeks. Sure ill see some of you there.

 

What types of things were 'better' sellers?

 

thanks for posting.

I had 2 nm 98's for this show and they both went. 3 hulk 377 3rd prints and 2 went before i overpriced the 3rd. Modern "keys" were flying for me. There was some theft i will say. Had someone almost walk away with an x-men 94 and someone did take a adventure time sketch, only $10 i believe. Other books from dealers left as well. Lots of people asking about civil war. But none would probably pay market.