HEROES 2016!!!!! JUNE 17-19

[G.A.tor]

I must say, sales have been strong at this show...but it hasn't felt over crowded or over bearing

 

Been fun seeing and talking to all the folks on both sides of the table

[PKJ]

Had a great time and enjoyed catching back up with new and old friends. Agree with Gator it was pretty crowded before the doors opened but it spread out well on the floor. Was my first time at this con and brought the wife and son, all had fun. I almost walked out of there with more money than I arrived with then a trip to Gator's booth fixed that. Look forward to next year.

[longshot975]

Anyone looking to buy cgc books? Just curious have a lower grade batman adventures 12 6.5 and spawn 222.(1:400) 9.4 variant i brought with me

[aggr1103]

Had a blast this year! I think this year Heroes went by faster than any year I can remember.

 

Bought some keys this year:

 

NM 98 and IF 14 from Comic Kings

Hawkman 1 and Swamp Thing 1 from Tomorrow's Treasures

 

Picked up lots of filler books for my copper age ASM, Batman, and Spawn runs. Deals were everywhere! Picked up a nice run of Weird Westerns from a dealer for $1 a piece.

 

Hitting the floor one last time this morning. Wife wants to watch the cosplay contest at 1.

[The Professor]

Great show again!

 

I picked up Strange Adventures 205 from G.A.tor, thank you again!

 

Found about 15 issues of Jonah Hex volume 1 for a buck a piece. Most were in VF. Could not ask for a better deal.

 

Was able to add to my Spiderman and JLA runs for well below overstreet guide. Lots of great books for 3 and 5 dollars a piece.

 

Really love this show.

[inapicklecomics]

Sitting at the booth now. The deals have been good, and the show has comics everywhere. Feel free to stop by booth 311, we still have some great finds here.

[greggy]

Home

[OrangeNemesis]

Well I'm exhausted

[G.A.tor]

We got past Atlanta and into a hotel about 1am. Up and headed home

 

Was a great show. Fun to talk with everyone

 

Let's do it again next year!

[Sqeggs]

So, where's the con report (with pics)?

[PsylockeSmythe]

I had a good time. Did all my shopping on Friday and was able to take the Grandson on Saturday.

 

I filled more holes in my X-Men run and also picked up a graded Flash 139 from Dale.

 

Psy

[cmixer]

Good times.

Probably my 7th trip.

 

Outcast Artist:

 

 

Gator's big-dogs for sale:

 

 

 

On Friday night, they do a charity auction.

Here's a few pieces:

 

 

Cosplay of Black Manta:

 

 

Steranko behind me:

 

 

DMC (from RUN DMC, he wanted $20 for an auto on your own item):

 

 

Almost bought the HIP HOP Family Tree back cover for $100:

 

 

The hot variant for 'raffle':

 

 

The original cover:

 

 

... More soon (including pickups)

[Hey Kids, Comics!]

Had a blast this year! I think this year Heroes went by faster than any year I can remember.

 

Bought some keys this year:

 

NM 98 and IF 14 from Comic Kings

Hawkman 1 and Swamp Thing 1 from Tomorrow's Treasures

 

Picked up lots of filler books for my copper age ASM, Batman, and Spawn runs. Deals were everywhere! Picked up a nice run of Weird Westerns from a dealer for $1 a piece.

 

Hitting the floor one last time this morning. Wife wants to watch the cosplay contest at 1.

 

I know one book you didn't pick up!

[JiveTurkeyMoFo]

Quick Con Report:

 

- Not as much buying for me as in year's past, and I had to work a lot harder then normal with a ton of box diving. In part, dealers that I had purchased material from in the past had priced their material a lot higher. Also, there was a lot of buying competition in the room, plus there was just a general lack of "new" material (i.e, new collections) relative to Heroes Con's past. All of that combined for a below average buying show for me, which for Heroes, is very unusual.

 

- One guy even told me he was pricing all of his raw stuff at certified prices, you know, without the assurance of a resto check or guarantee of the grade. He had some nice stuff, but I wasn't bothering with any of it.

 

- I was witness to a couple of dealer "buy-outs", but judging by the prices paid, I knew I wouldn't have been a player for any of it. I just felt both prices were pretty strong, with not enough margin to justify it from my perspective.

 

- Still felt I did "okay" with what I bought, but nothing major. Most of the dealers I spoke with echoed my thoughts...many of us also spoke about a clear saturation of buyers (and by buyers, I mean resellers, not collectors), not only in the show, but also in the market in general. Everyone and their mother wants to, or already has, opened a comic shop. Clearly, there are echoes of 1994 in many of those observations, and for those of us who lived through it before, we know the story takes a decidedly nasty turn at some point.

 

At this point, I have 300 books to submit from the last two shows. Most will not be going to CGC because of the new case (of which I saw a few at Heroes, and yes, the problems continue). TBCC is the only other big show on my schedule before Chicago, but that's a month and a half away, and it's rarely a strong buying show in any event. Time to refill the war-chest and consolidate the purchases before a Chicago show that will hopefully yield some better results.

 

 

[Rekani]

I got home somewhat late last night and haven't taken any photos of the purchases yet but I will say that this is now my favorite con to attend.

 

everyone in Charlotte is so friendly and genuinely nice.

 

The highlight for me was the art auction on Saturday night, walked away with two pieces I wanted and picked up two more yesterday at the con auction as well. Amazing art for unbelievable prices (in a good way!)

 

I got one commission from Aaron Conley, next year I'll

Be a bit more prepared for that aspect of the con.

 

Bought a bunch of afterlife with Archie books and some underground comix, picked up a few Moebius books from a new favorite dealer, made sure to make a nice donation to Matthew Rosenberg and his charity raffle. I have a few extra copies of the show exclusive that will go on eBay with 100% going to equality North Carolina, will post a link when I list them.

 

City of Charlotte and the con were really amazing. We will be back next year!

 

I'll try to get some photos posted tonight!

[JiveTurkeyMoFo]

And yes, Charlotte is an absolutely fantastic place for a convention. Downtown is lots of fun, with great eats everywhere, and the city as a whole is as nice as any in the south, or dare I say it, the entire country. Charlotte reminds me a lot of my time in Seattle, in that the planners and developers didn't clear cut everything during the city's expansion...there are lots of trees and greenery all around the suburbs and outskirts of the city. It really is a beautiful place to visit and I envy those who get to live there.

[aggr1103]

Had a blast this year! I think this year Heroes went by faster than any year I can remember.

 

Bought some keys this year:

 

NM 98 and IF 14 from Comic Kings

Hawkman 1 and Swamp Thing 1 from Tomorrow's Treasures

 

Picked up lots of filler books for my copper age ASM, Batman, and Spawn runs. Deals were everywhere! Picked up a nice run of Weird Westerns from a dealer for $1 a piece.

 

Hitting the floor one last time this morning. Wife wants to watch the cosplay contest at 1.

 

I know one book you didn't pick up!

 

 

You setting up in Fayetteville in October?

[Comic Closet]

Good show. Went on Friday. Long but productive day (left at 7:30 am, got home at 11:15pm)

[comicparadox]

Home

[loadstone]

This is becoming my favorite con. I like Baltimore more only because it's closer but this one keeps getting better and better.

 

This year they opened up the rest of the convention floor to it so there was more space between the booths but it also felt like there were more dealers than last year.

 

The floor plan was also better organized and divided. They put all the comic dealers on the first 2 rows so as soon as you entered the hall you could go left or right and get right into the comics. You didn't have to compete against the fans getting art or signings done nor did you have to deal with the shwag vendors peddling their trinkets to the browsers and looky-loos. And though there was plenty of cosplay it was almost never an issue crowding around a booth.

 

And oh they had soooo many comics! It was amazing. My eye's were watering and sore by the end of the day scanning the endless displays of wallbooks and rifling through long box after long box. To get an idea of the sheer quantity, I got there at 11:30am on Friday, entered the convention by 12pm and only stopping once for a 10 minute chicken sandwich and restroom break, I managed to just make it through the entire first row by the time they closed at 7pm. They literally turned the lights out on me. I was finishing up a transaction with the last dealer all the way at the left end on the first row when they began shutting down the lights. I still had the whole 2nd row to go and wasn't sure I'd have enough time tomorrow before I left to hit everyone. I had already blown through 1/3 of my bankroll by the end of Day 1

 

Day 2 (saturday) I had to change my strategy to focus only on quickly scanning the wall books and asking the dealer if they had anything on my list which I hate doing because 7 of 10 times when the dealer says probably not, if I go digging I usually find something in there on my list. I still dug in but only if the stack looked promising but gave my self a time limit of 10 min per dealer. I managed to make it through the entire 2nd row in half the time as the first day and still found a bunch on my want list but it was exhausting. I capped off the day with a sizable purchase from Greg Reece's booth who had some really nice HG slabs and props to him for working out a deal.

 

Lesson's learned and observations:

1. Prices for books (at least the ones I was after ASM volume 1-4 variants) were priced at or above ebay "Asking" prices (not sold/completed prices).

 

2. Negotiations and haggling on Day 1 was tough and many dealers weren't willing to deal. I realize late Saturday and Sunday are the best days to deal but I wasn't going to be there Sunday. I had to walk away from many purchases. Even offering cash only netted a 5% discount which was still 15% higher than ebay sold listings.

Negotiations on day 2 were easier but also could be I was dealing with the 2nd row which saw almost no traffic on day 1 as many comic hunters may have only made it to row 1 or row 1 and 2 of one half of the hall.

 

3. There's either a growing number of spidey fans/collectors/speculators or this show attracted them more than others. I was directly competing with other spidey hunters at the same booth to browse the boxes and viewing the wall books. Many dealers commented on this.

 

4. Stay at the Westin. It is a very nice hotel, cheaper prices than what you'd expect to pay in Baltimore or New York and it is right there next to the convention center and city. Hotels.com sometimes has a free parking/free internet deal so try to get that if they aren't offering that directly at the hotel site.

 

5. Hang out at the Westin hotel bar after the convention. You'll meet a lot of fans but also some of the artists and dealers will be there chatting it up. Strike up a side deal or work in more conversation than you can have at a busy booth.

 

6. Why is NM 98 so pricey? Everyone and I mean EVERYDEALER had a copy. Most had at least 2 copies, many had 4-5 copies. It was on the bottom row of some walls and in other cases there were 3-4 copies in VF-NM condition in shortboxes out in front. People were still asking about them but I saw plenty towards the end of Day 2. Could these have reached their saturation and market clearing price? Same deal with ASM 361.

 

7. The word on campbell covers is completely out there. Not a single dealer had a NM campbell cover priced under $15. I used to pick these up a year ago in $1-2 bins. Now the cheapest I could find them in was $5 for VF-.

 

Haul for the weekend:

4 ASM 9.8's Whites at or below GPA

30+ raw ASM NM+ or better variants

3 ASM price variants in FN/VF or better

handful of NM raw filler issues.

 

Looking forward to next year.