Lost in collecting- Om's Journal by oldmilwaukee6er 1 1

[oldmilwaukee6er]

The zombie apocalypse tin

 

 

 

So recently, I posted about the concept of the zombie apocalypse tin. Apparently, the TV show Revolution had a profound effect on me, even seven years after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

I posted images of Charlie, the main female lead, looking through Return of the Jedi lunchbox of keepsakes / photos in a moment of peace. This is before her life is tossed upside down and she goes on the lam.

 

 

Well anyways, I keep thinking about the concept of the zombie apocalypse tin.

What would my comic apocalypse tin look like?

What would it have in it?

 

I started to do a little research. The first problem with the concept is the SIZE of the tin.

A modern comic book is approximately 10.25 x 6.7 inches or approximately 257 x 168mm.

The average old school lunchboxes measures 7.7 x 6.7 x 3.5 inches (~195 x 170mm; as cheap as $5)

The average large tin tote measures 9 x 7.5 x 3.5 inches (~228 x 190mm; $13+; I saw some cool Transformers ones)

 

So unless you want to shell out $45+ for the special Batman comic book tin , your average lunchbox tin is too small for comic books. And even the larger ones mean mini comics, but not modern comics without trimming. It is also worth noting that plain metal tins likely exist that hold comics ( e.g. here ), however I view a good bit of the of the apocalypse tin to be about general utility in a 72-hour disaster scenario and sentimentality should the disaster extend beyond 72 hours.

 

 

"So, you're going to build a apocalypse box for comics, and it doesn't even hold comics?" (after The Lady)

 

 

So, what items should be in the tin? What would be in yours?

 

1-2 personal photos

 

Select mini comics or trimmed down comics (or small bound volume)

 

One ‘supersweet’ comic book knife (Spiderman shown). There are some sweet Batman ones too.

 

 

One dice game. Zombie dice or equivalent. Small pouch for dice. Or case for dice. As the chef noted "if it is the real zombie apocalypse, you do not want those dice clunking around"

 

 

Deck of cards or card game (or both), e.g. Stoner Fluxx or Boss Monster w/ expansion

 

 

One multi tool (Leatherman and possibly this Batman keychain for the win)

 

 

Passport cover and extra cash, including smalls

 

 

Patch of sentimental value (small sewing kit)

 

Comic themed Band aids. Small first aid kit.

 

2 Bic lighters

 

 

Up next- The comic collector’s bug out bag (not)

 

PS >> If you go zombie apocalypse- always be Batman!

PPS >> I may try and build my own by the end of 2016 as a reward for successfully downsizing my belongings.

 

[oldmilwaukee6er]

The Lady Speaks. . . iZombie

 

 

 

I happened upon iZombie through Netflix as one does in this digital television binging era. Of course I’d read about the program on io9, one of my favorite science fiction websites (part of the Gawker network so when they did their revamping last month it was folded into Gizmodo). The buzz was good but I resisted watching it because I am utterly completely tired of zombies. Of all the supernatural beasties out there, I find zombies to be the most boring and the most disgusting. The Walking Dead did nothing to improve my zombie outlook, either.

 

However, the show iZombie is fun. It’s quirky, bright, and for the most part the zombies aren’t the usual type of zombies. The show follows the exploits of Liv Moore, a medical student who was unfortunately infected with the zombie virus at a party on a boat (all of this is in the first episode so I’m not spoiling anything). After waking up in a body bag Liv decides to make some changes to protect her new zombie identity and her family and friends. She breaks up with her fiancé, she drops out of school and takes a job in the morgue, and generally begins to isolate herself. The morgue job serves a second purpose as it allows her access to brains. By eating brains, she is able to stave off full-on zombie mode (although if angry she can go “full-zombie” and have the supernatural strength of a zombie). One side effect of eating brains is that she can access the memories of the deceased. This inconvenient tendency produces some of the show’s funniest moments (such as when she eats the brain of a murder victim who also happened to be a kleptomaniac or when she ate the brain of a horny artist). It also lends a structure to the show with each episode falling into procedural crime drama territory. There is a larger over-arching story as well, but to get into that would be producing spoilers.

 

The supporting cast of characters are really likeable (although the winner is easily her boss, Ravi). It’s alternating creepy and funny with really good acting. Rose McIver (Liv) is particularly fun to watch. There are rumors that the CW is going to cancel iZombie despite it being one of their most popular shows and having received critical accolades. The cancellation has more to do with CW’s tenuous relationship with CBS and less to do with the show itself.

 

Having watched some iZombie I was thrilled to learn it was based on a Vertigo comic. On a whim, Om bought me the four volumes I had been eyeing at the LCS.

 

 

Our LCS guy pooh-poohed the show as veering too far from the source material. He’s not wrong in that assessment. Had I read the comic before seeing the show, I probably would be greatly disappointed, too. The comic and the show have very little in common outside of a pretty young woman living as a high functioning zombie who absorbs the memories of the brains she eats. Both are set in the Pacific Northwest. The show is in Seattle, WA and the comic is in Eugene, OR. That’s where the similarities really end, even the main character’s name is changed (nae Liv, now Gwen).

 

Gwen’s best friend is a ghost who died in the 1960’s and her other dear friend is a wereterrier.

 

 

She works as a grave digger and lives in a mausoleum. There are vampires, were-beings, ghosts, and zombies. There is an ancient Egyptian person named Amon trying to prevent the end of the world. There is an equally ancient woman scientist hoping to facilitate the end of the world. There are two ghost vigilantes known as Strider and The Spectre. There are corporate monster hunters unofficially called “Gravediggers” formally known as “Fossers.” And there are government monster hunters who are called The Dead Presidents because. . . well, you can probably figure it out.

 

Gwen soon finds herself embroiled in an end-of-the-world scenario involving a soul-sucking space monster and all of these groups are brought together to either fight each other during Armageddon or band together and try and fight the monster.

 

The story is fantastic but Mike Allred’s art is what really makes this glorious pop culture eye candy pop. If you’re looking for good characters, a supernatural plot, and aren’t totally sick of zombies then I strongly recommend iZombie. However, if you are like our LCS and waiting for the television show to add in elements of the comic all I can say is that is not likely to happen- the plots are just too different.

 

[oldmilwaukee6er]

The Edge New Year Sale 2016

http://www.collectorsedgecomics.com/NewYearSale2016/millions.asp

 

Finally, access to the flagship LCS basement. This past SUN was the big chain’s sale- 25% off everything* including supplies and ‘basement stock shopping’, which for me meant FINALLY access to the ‘mythical cache’ of underground comix in the basement. I first thought I would gain access c. 2008 just before moving to Milwaukee when corresponding with the owner I arrived for a scheduled shopping trip. However, he would not, instead running downstairs as I asked after individual titles (and pricing them at full Fogel’s price guide, which I helped write). I became bored quickly after two attempts and we settled on 3-4 books. When they opened the little east side satellite store, I recall one still had to drive to the south store to sign up for a pull service and so for about 2 years (until late 2013), I did not really shop there. I just wasn’t buying many comix, having been priced out of undergrounds beyond WW Chicago. So, love – hate relationship (and now I subscribe). Love my lil location and the LCS manager is great- knowledgeable, friendly, plays good music, sometimes holds something extra back for you.

 

ANYways, the sale- 25% off everything on the rack and back issues. $2 admission. Basement access. Grab bag as you leave (and possible $1000 shopping spree drawing). I had a flyer that allowed access at noon, general word of mouth was 2-6pm; I arrived just before 1pm. The lady tagged along on the promise she could wait it out and write in the Arsenal bar just a few doors down from the flagship LCS. No line outside (15 degrees F), a line of 8 at the register and 20+ general lookie loos. And a $2 admission that I paid. Slipped to the back and down to the basement and got to work. At first I was overwhelmed. Perhaps 30 people milling about and it took me time to get my bearings. Steel shelves floor to ceiling, a few hundred square feet of pretty clean basement concrete- shelves full of long boxes. From L to R- Independents, DC, Marvel & few (few) miscellaneous. My LCS guy was working ‘register’ totaling the sale using Comic Book Realm online prices (rounded down and somewhat accounting for condition) and he would brown paper bag the books, staple the bag and put a price on them. Online pricing, mess. But people had stacks o books! There was also the ‘vault’ a smaller room behind a heavy steel door where the boss man was selling away- Silver Age, heavy Marvel, some Gold, and more Charltons & all manner of titles. Probably 6-deep waiting to check out.

 

View of the vault – ‘Abandon all hope all ye who enter here’ reads the sign.

 

 

I picked and then checked out, I saw people had a lot of variant books, run books, heavy Marvel and DC. One young local wheeler-dealer was picking indy books too, at one point I saw him pull all the Madeira Battlechasers and he had a whole short box going in the vault. I saw two local dealers there, one may have been shopping for himself I did not really ask. I picked the modern stacks for Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children (no luck). The aisles where wide enough to pull a long box out, set it on the floor parallel to the shelves and get to digging. A good workout too (I deliberately did not wear a coat in the cold cold weather). In the end, my best pick was a cache of Usagi Yojimbos, about 1.25 long boxes’ worth- 4 from Volume 1 Fantagraphics (19, 27, 29, & 34), and 17 of the Vol3 Dark Horse issues. Plus the Summer Special #1 and the Color Special #4 Green Persimmon. I set the stack of 23 books aside, as I figured they were going to price them at $3/ea, I wanted a little left over for the vault.

 

So I put my books down with a clerk and waited in line at the vault. About 5 deep at this point… and plenty of people milling about (too many to really go busting back there). I waited in line to speak with the owner and listened to several deals go down. I would say the median sack of comics was $105 with an additional 25% off at the register. The guy in front of me bought $800 more worth of books (he had brown sacks already) and owner said “you’re my biggest sale of the day” and it was about 130pm or so. I waited about 15 minutes and asked after ‘underground comix from the 60s and 70s- Zap Comix or Freak Brothers?’ And the owner said that stuff was in ‘another room’ that was off limits. Ugh. I said thanks quietly, and turned away gutted. The boss gave a parting shot of something like ‘come back any FRI or SAT and I will give you the same deal.’ I almost have half a mind just to try it, though after 8 years!?

 

So, I grabbed my stack and waited in line another 30 minutes to check out on the modern side. AGONIZING. I made small talk with an acquaintance from my LCS, who I had helped find some Batman DKR. He bailed after waiting about half the time. ‘I do not have the patience for this,’ he said and left. I watched others shopping / picking; oblivious to the cramp and lines. The holdup was pricing the books on a laptop via Comic Book Realm, going through the stacks and working up a price. I listened to about five transactions on each side and the better deals versus guide were definitely in the vault, where the owner would happily discount another 10-15% more. Basically the sale is a great way for the chain to move overhead at cover price or better, minus another 25% at the register. My stack of 23 books was priced $70 (-25% $52.50 plus tax or ~$2.30/ea). After that, I went upstairs and hunted for X-Men Essentials for the lady (found #7) and The Massive TBPs (found #3) and then checked out. About $84 all told. In retrospect, there were more Usagis that I could have picked, but I let them lie. And going back through the pricing process would be another 30min (6 deep when I left).

 

I bailed to the Arsenal pub, pocket full o coin, and had a pint with the lady to recap the shopping and watch some NFL football. The whole thing took about 1.5+ hrs. My GRAB BAG on the way out had a few comics (2 Marvels c. 2014, Simpson’s, Lady Mechanika 5, and a Fables spinoff) and a 1st printing of Marvel’s Infinity TPB (2014; Hickman, Cheung, Opena, Weaver), which based on the reactions of two other collectors at the bar was quite the GOOD SCORE and has a whopping $49 price tag.

 

 

All told, the sale was bittersweet. I got shut out of underground comix. Again. I left another $40 of good Usagi Yojimbos lying and probably left other good books too (Spawn, Mahfoods). But that just makes me want to try again. It was a great spectacle to move a lot of backstock at near-retail prices, a smart bookkeeper's sale. The fans really ate it up. And I suppose if ALL I ever pick out that basement is 23 Usagis, well then I should just call myself lucky and walk away.

[Brother J]

 

 

Good recap, pretty much how I remember this sale, except I don't remember it taking so long to get pricing. I think when I went they were using Overstreet. I absolutely robbed them on Valiant stuff, as they were pricing at Overstreet while Valiant was going for a LOT more on eBay. Between myself and another collector from Valiantfans.com, we really cleaned them out of all the good Valiant books.

 

Wish I had known you thought the undergrounds were in the vault, as I could have told you otherwise. They were stacked in some cramped back room the time I was able to go through them, but I did pick up a few nice items. My favorite was probably a first printing of Teenage Horizons of Shangrila with the local Milwaukee ads.

Edited January 14, 2016 by Brother J

[oldmilwaukee6er]

They were stacked in some cramped back room the time I was able to go through them, but I did pick up a few nice items. My favorite was probably a first printing of Teenage Horizons of Shangrila with the local Milwaukee ads.

 

Yep. Parts of the basement off limits.

 

Great response. I know I saw guys pulling run books but also variant books too. I love the idea of gaming the system. I was thinking 'ok, what is on my want list that would pay cover or more?' Online pricing is basically cover price for lots of moderns & so my mind went to work and I tried after want list items.

 

Tough pick the first time. If I go back, I'll be ready with an extensive want list (not just my wallet sized one), I'll come later in the day after the crowd thins out (I don't have as much competition) & put together a larger stack before pricing.

[oldmilwaukee6er]

The Lady Speaks. . . Her Office

 

I’m a popular culture junkie. My office is a testimony to this. What makes it even more fun is that my office is located in a museum, the Grohmann Museum. It’s an art museum dedicated to works of art that demonstrate “Man at Work.” In other words, it’s a ton of realism and industrial paintings and sculptures. Pretty cool, but not exactly in step with my collection of comic book action figures, video game art works, bobble heads, and other miscellany. Therefore, I’ve decided to take you on a pictorial journey through my office (skipping my actual desk because it’s a hot mess).

 

First up, my cork board. Highlights here include my Dazzler #2 in the upper left corner, a Sebadoh vinyl “Gimme Indie Rock!”, my Mars Attack ½ on the right edge, and X-Men #137 “Phoenix Must Die!” I also have my picture of assassin Aveline de Grandpre below my X-Men and next to one of many LSU-related decorations.

 

Next up: my filing cabinet. Really the only thing to point out here is that OM picked me up a signed Terry Moore print at SDCC 2005 and that I love it.

 

Some more comic books. Here we have Uncanny X-Men #158, Avengers Annual #10, and a variant Rogue action figure from X-Men: The Movie (2000). And no, none of my stuff is centered or lined up. I don’t roll that way.

 

What I like to call “The Gallery.” Here is where my eclectic nature starts to come into play. I like voodoo dolls (clearly). I have two Batman Beyond action figures, a Blue Meanie, an assortment of World’s Fairs tchotchkes (due to a course I teach), a couple of Milwaukee Brewers sausage bobble heads (along with Atom Ant and Secret Squirrel), and on the far right you can see a signed Angus Oblong print.

 

The Gallery continues. I have the Dreaming and the Endless PVC sets, a couple of random broken robots, Sharknado, some classic science fiction movie cards (Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Invisible Boy), and two Brem Stickmen figures (series 1).

 

The Gallery part three. There’s the second Angus Oblong signed print, my Return of the Jedi poster, a Calvin and Hobbes version of Han and Chewie, and the requisite Harley Quinn print.

 

I call this next wall The Special Exhibit (it’s also the part that creeps my students out the most). The prints are by a Chicago artist named Nigel Sade. I pick up a few of his newer prints each year at Wizard World Chicago. The two Wonder Woman comics are #166 and #158—the Egg Fu issues.

 

Some of my desk adornments (doesn’t need much explication):

 

My American McGee Alice figures (I couldn’t get a very good picture, sorry) and a shameless self-promotion because my most recent article on Alice Madness Returns was published in that issue of Foundation (Terry Pratchett’s on the cover):

 

And lastly, the work of literature that started it all (yes, I realize that’s a poster for the movie). Alice in Wonderland has had a profound effect on my life and has become, in many ways, the focus of my scholarly goals. Next to the Alice poster is a poster for The Good, The Bad, and The Queen a supergroup of sorts (comprised of members of The Verve, The Clash, and Blur) who only played two shows in the United States in 2007.

 

 

As with most things, my office is in flux. Things move out and things move in. The one constant is that I hate blank walls and I love oddities. Hope you enjoyed the tour!

 

 

[oldmilwaukee6er]

Speculation 101

 

I embarked on a little speculation 101-style research and synthesized a few websites information. Speculation in defined as engaging in risky financial transactions in attempt to profit from fluctuations in the market value of a tradable good. As a concept, speculation has been around as long as established markets, but certainly played a role in the Great Depression. Speculation is considered opposite, though not mutually exclusive of, the more traditional profiting from underlying financial attributes ‘embodied in the investment’, such as capital gains, interest, or dividends. The speculator may pay little attention to the fundamental value, rather speculators focus on price movements. The conventional wisdom suggests that speculation in comic books is increasing because of access to comic markets via expanded con schedules, eBay, Clink, CGC, etc. The internet media also encourages speculation.

 

Speculation is common in markets for collectibles, indeed it is one of the four primary roles that consumers can play in the market- speculators, hedgers, arbitrageurs, and investors. Speculators provide a service to markets by risking capital in the hopes of a profit (and thus liquidity), and in doing so they assume financial risk. Hedgers conduct transactions to offset risk, while arbitrageurs make profits off margins or different prices in different market segments (e.g. LCS role or local / national markets). Finally, investors profit through long-term ownership. It should be noted that speculators may also make it easier for hedgers and arbitrageurs to offset risk. (Note: this is all basic Wikipedia type mess, but new to me ).

 

So speculators attempt to profit from the fluctuations in prices of a comic book. They (we) hope for a gain but also risk loss. Speculators act opposite to the ‘efficiency in markets’ hypothesis. The efficient market hypothesis states that the market is always fairly priced, making speculation unwise and unreliable. I like to think of the example of antique beer bottles. For the most part, antique bottles are a regional market and thus are fairly priced. I like to say that “a bottle is worth about what it is priced.” It truly strikes me as an efficient market. Most antique bottles are sourced locally from the ground, and thus do not have a “bring the item back to its source” premium. Most are scooped up by a handful of collectors in local clubs, the same guys who dig privies or scour construction piles. According to this hypothesis, it is not really possible for a speculator to outperform the market because all the available information is already built into the pricing. Basically, beating the market is a zero sum game (after Parker, 2012).

 

However, speculators believe that the market overreacts to a host of variables or statistically significant indicators, and provides opportunities for significant movements and capital growth. The key to speculation is finding an environmental or social risk (or confounding variable) that is present in the market but not accounted for in the price. What stock people may call ‘off balance sheet exposure.’ According to the economist Keynes (as paraphrased in Parker, 2012), ‘speculation is knowing the future of the market better than the market itself.’

 

Opponents may argue that speculation based on an event that may happen in the future is akin to gambling. Even though there are more data sources to evaluate the market than ever before, one must accept that beating the market is difficult. One can increase success by taking the time to research the market, follow breaking news events, short term movements in investment markets, and learning and understanding complicated hobby strategies (e.g. slabbing, CPR, Clink, Heritage, eBay, etc.).

 

Additional considerations:

**Adapting trading tactics to comic books, e.g. pairs trading, swing trading, hedging strategies, and chart pattern recognition

**Speculators must be adept at ‘fundamental analyses’ of comic book values, including analysis of earnings, identifying undervalued and overvalued books and the amount of short interest in a comic.

 

 

References

Parker, T. (2012). The art of speculation. Investopedia. Retrieved from http://www.investopedia.com/articles/basics/12/art-of-speculation.asp

 

[oldmilwaukee6er]

Well, I have not been writing as much this past two weeks, instead opting to spend time with friends (and do a little gaming). One friend broke his leg in early 2016 and so I have visited with him a few times the past three weeks. My class is going well (now done), all new preparations each week, but otherwise manageable for a small class size. I am back to applying for jobs, averaging about one good application each week and a few weaksauce ones. The lady is teaching and humming along in about week 7 of winter quarter. We are spending quarter break and spring break at home this year, savings for home improvements.

 

As a result, I picked up my comics late the last 2 weeks and I am late again this week as well!

I will sneak down there after work and pick up my haul. The last two weeks my pulls have been the usual:

Usagi Yojimbo 151

Batman 48

Assassin’s Creed 4

Star Wars 15

Tokyo Ghost 5

Art Ops 4

Jem & the Holograms 11

Extraordinary X-Men 6

Twilight Children 4

And maybe one more that I am forgetting.

 

 

I have been playing a new phone game (free) that I have been enjoying quite a bit- Crazy Taxi- City Rush. My friend with the broken leg plays it sometimes and shared it with me. I enjoy it!

 

 

Crazy Taxi is an attack racing game published by Sega. According to the wiki, the first City Taxi game was in arcades in 1999 and was very successful, prompting Sega to port the arcade version to their Dreamcast console in 2000. City Rush, for iOS/Android, is a ‘running game’ similar in concept to Temple Run, where the player does not have direct control of the speed of the taxi but can use touch motions to swerve in traffic and make turns.

 

FINALLY, my batch of modern CGC books arrived yesterday morning! I will be posting on the shipment soon, but first I want to scan the books this evening. Counting the day I submitted (which really is not fair considering the books would not have hit CGC for several days following WW Chicago), TAT through CCS / CGC has been approximately 167 days or just under 6 months.

 

 

 

Here is a preview of the books:

 

[oldmilwaukee6er]

Quick summary: 8 of 13 in NM+ 9.6 or better; 6 are single highest example or tied for highest grade; Additional 6 are 2nd highest example or tied for 2nd highest grade.

 

 

 

 

 

[oldmilwaukee6er]

 

 

 

 

 

Issue >> My Grade >> CGC Grade

Zap Comix 8 >> raw 9.2+ Donahue copy >> CGC 9.8 (tied 2nd highest)

Zap Comix 9 >> raw 9.2+ Donahue copy >> CGC 9.4 (tied for highest)

Zap Comix 10 >> raw 9.2+ >> CGC 9.6 (HIGHEST)

Zap Comix 10 >> raw 9.2+ >> CGC 9.4 (2nd highest)

Zap Comix 11 >> PGX 9.6 >> CGC 9.4 (HIGHEST)

Zap Comix 12 >> raw NM >> CGC 9.6 (tied for highest)

Zap Comix 12 >> raw NM- >> CGC 9.4 (tied for 2nd highest)

Zap Comix 13 >> PGX 9.8 >> CGC 9.8 (HIGHEST)

Zap Comix 13 >> raw NM >> CGC 9.4 (tied 2nd highest)

Zap Comix 14 >> raw NM >> CGC 9.6 (tied 2nd highest)

Zap Comix 14 >> raw NM >> CGC 9.2

Zap Comix 15 >> raw NM >> CGC 9.8 (tied for highest)

Zap Comix 15 >> raw NM >> CGC 9.6 (2nd highest)

 

 

Breakdown of the 13 books. . .

8 came back NM+ 9.6 or better

6 are single highest or tied for the highest grade

6 are 2nd highest example or tied for 2nd highest

The two Don Donahue books came back NM or better, which is consistent with both my experience and that of other collectors.

Two PGX books were cracked during submission- the #13 9.8 stayed 9.8, and the #11 9.6 went down one grade to 9.4.

 

All of this bodes well for my next shipment of Economy slabs!

[oldmilwaukee6er]

Ye Ole Burnham Bowl (Milwaukee’s hoary comic show)

 

OK. I have to break my habit of not writing by writing something (ANYthing), and so I thought I would share a little more about the ole Burnham Bowl comic & toy show. The show runs the first Sunday of even numbered months and always at the same location- Burnham Bowl, roundabout 60th and Burnham west of Milwaukee proper (West Allis aka ‘Stallis). ‘Stallis is somewhat of a running joke itself, namely for ‘cougars’ (mature women on the prowl), but Burnham Bowl has been hosting the show as long as I have lived here (and I was told it was about 30 years old when I first started attending). And so I describe it as:

A 35+ year comic show.

In a bowling alley.

With a bar.

 

 

There is a longstanding tradition in the Milwaukee music scene that ‘shows start on time.’ This is far different from my experience in Louisiana where if a band’s show starts at 9pm, they take the stage around 1030pm. Not Milwaukee, no sir. Show starts at 8pm? You best get there by 8pm. Shows. Start. On. Time. I bring this up because Burnham is no different. People queue up to either gain access early or be in line when the doors open. Therefore, I usually arrive about an hour into the show and slide right on in. Typically, the lady and the chef accompany me.

 

View from the door ($2 admittance). Note the dim lighting and deteriorating ceiling.

 

I wrote before that Burnham is largely a dollar box show, or books for a fraction of a dollar (2 for 1 up to 5 for 1). Burnham is a GRIND- cheek to cheek with some of the MKE’s finest fan boys, aisles narrow enough to fit just 2-3 people (max) side-by-side. The people usually crowd along row one and pick the few local dealers that always represent for this show. Therefore, I go straight to the back and work backwards, my normal rhythm of asking after “adult or underground comics from the 60s-70s.” Lately, I have also taken to grinding the dollar boxes for Moderns. I usually spend $12-40 and have been known to strike out completely. The lady is known to pick the occasional Dazzler book, or a used video game, or (her fave) a $5 trade paperback. She typically spends the least. The chef usually picks X-Men (he has put together a nice run of #100-200), anime, indy comics, or the odd girlie book. He usually spends the most.

 

We split up immediately, do our thing, and rally at the bar for a PBR can and a bowling alley cheeseburger. Typically, I am the most methodical and am the last one to ‘belly up’ to the bar (as we say). Our conversations are always fun- what was the coolest thing you saw? Hey, did you see X or Y? Did you hear what so-and-so said? Do eBay research, etc. And rarely, a beer or two can be just enough time to spur the odd impulse purchase or mull over ‘that book I passed on.’

 

This trip was no different, except we were all operating on a slim budget- About $20 each for picking. ALSO, I took crappy cell phone pictures!

 

View from the back of the room. If I set up ($20 dealer table), I usually get the little table on the end of the aisle.

 

 

Wall books! Sorry, I really do not pay attention much to these, so I am no help about ‘how much X costs’ or ‘who is that dealer?’

 

 

A typical Milwaukee toy dealer.

 

 

The spoils! Some 50c readers, the best $5 alley burger-basket on the planet, and “the most expensive can of PBR in Milwaukee” (after the chef; $3.50)

 

[manetteska]

Some of those faces and displays look awfully familiar. Figure I'll see them on Sunday.

 

Never been to the Burnham show, though have thought about it many times. Thanks for the pics and write-up.

 

Have never seen the dealer with the wooden "wall" display before.

[oldmilwaukee6er]

Random thoughts

 

SUN enjoyed a lovely Valentine’s Day with the lady. We had dinner at a BBQ restaurant and saw Deadpool together at the fancy movie theater. The lady used her movie points and bought drinks and we had a blast. Afterwards, we scooted downtown to her favorite ‘geek bar’ 42 Lounge for a nightcap and a mini flight of truffles from Godiva I stashed in the car for just the occasion.

 

A bouquet of plushie droids courtesy of ThinkGeek. The perfect gift for my ‘lil R2 unit.

 

 

I did miss the big bottle club show on Valentine’s, however. I forgot the show was coming up, but honestly, I doubt I would have attended even if I remembered (having already committed to the lady). This week has been usual work-wise, filled with meetings but otherwise just normal preparation and struggling with my scholarship. TUES the chef and I played pub trivia with two other friends. We took 5th but won best team name again for another $10 gift card. We also usually play a little Stoner Fluxx or Boss Monster before and after.

 

Skipped the LCS last night to take the lady out for $8 ramen; she had a rough day dealing with her parents and needed it. Therefore, today I am heading down to the LCS to pick up my pulls… I know this week is Usagi Yojimbo, Star Wars, and Extraordinary X-Men, so I can use my debit card ($10 minimum).

 

I also know that my ZAP COMIX #16 books arrive today via Amazon. I ordered 4 copies and even though the cover price was $15, they cost about $10.51 each or so with free Prime shipping. I cannot wait to receive that package and inspect it for 9.8 candidates! Additionally, I am curious if my wee LCS ordered a copy for me or if they will have it on the racks. I suspect not, as the high cover price and adult nature strike me as reasons why the chain LCS will pass. My satellite manager insists “no,” since (tongue-in-cheek) I heard 7+ years’ worth of rumors that they have underground comix socked away in the basement.

 

 

That is about the latest… every day I anticipate my next batch of CGC books to arrive. Opening that last batch was one of the best feelings of anticipation I have had in a long time. It made me giddy and manic with energy. So far with my WWChicago submission I have experienced gutting disappointment in myself (JLA #1), slight ‘’ apathy (FF #48), and the thrill of 40-year old 9.6+ books.

 

What emotions will the next package bring!?

[oldmilwaukee6er]

Om- The lady emailed this in early FEB and it was lost in a folder. Sorry for the late posting.

 

Deadpool vs Suicide Squad

I’m not a Deadpool fan. Sure, I think he’s funny in small doses even though if I ever actually played the Deadpool game I’d probably get annoyed and never finish it. I thought what they did to him in the X-Men Origins: Wolverine was a travesty. Then again, that’s just not a very good movie. Anyway, I’ve never sought him out in comic book form although I’ve known he’s been popular for a long time.

 

So when Ryan Reynolds started his campaign to bring an R-rated version of the movie to fruition, I was a bit surprised. It seems contrary to Marvel and the Mouse’s game plan to make space for an R-rated superhero movie. Deadpool is a Hollywood fairy tale. One actor who loves the character starts generating teaser trailers and fan interest, lands the deal, and makes the movie (without a Kickstarter or GoFundMe or Indieagogo campaign). That’s a fairly impressive feat. And there’s no doubt that this movie will be a success.

 

Om and I view Deadpool as the LCD (lowest common denominator) superhero amongst fans. He’s a bro superhero, a sewer-mouthed chimichanga loving (I agree with him on that) anti-hero. In many ways, I think Deadpool signals the crest of the superhero wave and what will follow might very well be a long slow slide back to the periphery of movies as opposed to the center stage. The success of Star Wars: A Force Awakens will also contribute to superheroes being squeezed out.

 

Additional factors that may negatively affect superhero movies include huge salaries (look at Robert Downey, Jr.) and a reticence to be attached to franchises (look at the entire cast of the current X-Men or even Chris Evans’ original unease at being locked in to one character for so many movies). While long-term franchise contracts equal money in the bank, they also make it difficult for actors to do other projects (unless you’re already a huge star) both in terms of contract and filming schedules.

 

Having seen the trailers (red and green band) several times I’m still fairly “” about Deadpool. Yes, I will go see it but my expectations are fairly low. I’m fairly certain that all the best parts of the movie have already been leaked through the trailers. Sorry, Deadpool fans.

 

However, I have been very anti-Suicide Squad. I hate stripper clown Harley (I know that’s what she is in the comics and I’m disappointed in Amanda Conner/Palmiotti for that), I hate her new back story (way to make her lame New 52), and I hate Margot Robbie’s attempt at the Harley voice. I just despise this Harley.

 

All that being said, the

made me want to see the damn movie. It has to do with the balance of dark and humor, but I think it mostly has to do with the use of Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. I’m predicting that Suicide Squad over performs and Deadpool under performs with critics but that Deadpool rules the box office.

 

 

Assassin’s Creed Comic Book Decision

I recently read the 4th issue of Assassin’s Creed and have come to the decision to follow the series a bit longer. There was a neat plot twist in the 4th issue that nicely merged the real world story with the Helix story. Still no mention of the wild west assassin.

 

 

Video Game Update

I suck at Fallout 4. Like seriously suck at it. I keep dying so I can’t really advance my exploration of the map and I’m avoiding the Minutemen settlement quests because settlements suck up so much of my time. I figure I’m struggling because I don’t have a lot of time to devote to leveling up and doing all the things one needs to do. I’ve probably played less than 12 hours so far and I’m just frustrated. My other experience with Fallout was New Vegas and while it was difficult, it seemed to build toward that difficulty. Fallout 4 is kicking my butt. So I’ve put it down for the time being. Maybe during my next quarter break at the beginning of March I can put some time into it.

 

Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate, on the other hand, is my happy place when it comes to gaming. I prefer playing as Evie. Even though many gamer sites warned that she was less effective in battle, I’ve found her just as bloodthirsty, and even more lethal than her brother. I get far more kills and assassinations with Evie. Jacob, unfortunately, moves a lot like Connor from Assassin’s Creed III. He’s clunky and slower than Evie. Luckily the game lets me switch between the two except on predetermined quests. Like with all games, I’m a terrible driver and this extends to driving horse and buggies. Just terrible.

 

Assassin’s Creed is great because I’m a completionist and it allows me to go back over areas and gather all the goodies at my own pace. Syndicate doesn’t allow you to replay memories like previous versions of AC have and that’s a bit of a bummer because I enjoyed redoing some missions to earn more points and money.

 

The biggest thrill of the game so far has been climbing Big Ben and Buckingham Palace. The game is gorgeous and I have to mention the incredible soundtrack once again. As with all AC games, historical figures are worked in. So far I’ve been Alexander Bell, Inspector Abberline, Charles Darwin, and Charles Dickens.

 

The upgrades to gear and clothing are fun. Now you can add skills to your assassin so you can customize each one in new areas (although ultimately they’ll end up the same). Right now Evie is slightly higher in stealth and Jacob in fighting, even though Evie is far more lethal. The game is lousy with money and crafting supplies. Crafting supplies are needed for higher level weapons, clothing, and gear as well as for upgrading your gang. That’s right! You get to control a gang called the Rooks. As soon as you clear a Templar region of the map, your green dressed Rooks appear. Even if you don’t recruit them they often help you in battle. It’s incredibly useful. You even get to have Little Rooks, children waifs, who will pickpocket for you (this is the first AC game I’ve played where you can’t pickpocket random people).

 

Finally, hiding in crowds isn’t as easy as it was in previous AC games. It’s Victorian England so a woman wearing slacks draws a lot of ire from the crowd. When you try to hide in a group of people, if you bump them they react very strongly. Also, the crowd can’t help but comment on the fact that you’re sneaking around. As a matter of fact, the crowd comments on everything you do. It seems more extreme that previous AC games. I mean, you can still use a crowd to hide it’s just that the crowd isn’t as docile as it was in other AC games.

 

 

MARVEL: Infinity

As Om posted previously, he scored a free copy of MARVEL: Infinity at the LCS sale. Being a fast reader he gave me first show and I’m about halfway through it. It’s enjoyable so far. My problem is that are about a billion characters in the story and at least a third of them look exactly the same except for tiny details. I haven’t taken the time to check out where this one falls in the Marvel continuity but it seems like it might be in the run-up to the Infinity Gauntlet? Infinity is a bit of a jarring change from the Essential X-Men that I’ve been reading. The X-Men are really my superhero jam. I just don’t get into much outside of that.

 

[Brother J]

Man, that ceiling sagging down is scary! I remember a lot of the ceiling tiles were water stained when I used to go to the Burnham show, so I guess it got worse after I moved away.

[oldmilwaukee6er]

Low and behold- Zap #16 hit the racks!

Soundtrack:

 

I received Zap Comix #16 yesterday from Amazon- four copies for about $10.51 each (now they are 13.49 or 10% off). I choose pre-ordering with Amazon over Fantagraphics because the lady has a strong relationship with the company, having been a Prime member since the beginning. I also knew that I would be buying multiple copies so as to cherry-pick the best copy for my collection. It was obviously cheaper via Amazon as well. Zap Comix #16 was solicited in the September 2015 Previews, which precedes me joining the package service at the LCS. I repeatedly told my LCS manager that I wanted a copy, so I thought the east side location would have at least one copy on the shelf (and perhaps one reserved for me).

 

I was excited when the Amazon package arrived THURS. My excitement gave way to disappointment when I opened the package to find that the fulfillment team had simply slapped the four square-bounds in a larger box and off they went- no doubt banging and bumping every edge and corner (and scratching all but one cover) from Kenosha to the MKE. FUUUUuuuuuudge.

 

My reader copy. Note the dinged corner and edge wear consistent across 3 of 4 copies. Not visible is the lower left back cover / 5 pages which were dog-eared due to sliding in the box.

 

 

The best copy looks NM- with a shot at 9.4, but the rest I would be hard-pressed to call VFNM (and one arrived VF). Needless to say, I was pretty bummed. HOWEVER, my saving grace was that I should have a copy waiting for me at the LCS, right? So I slipped on down to my shop and grabbed my pulls.

 

Not surprisingly my LCS did not have a copy. I laughed it off and reminded him gently that ‘I told you so,’ when I stressed to him how important this book was to me in NOV and how I thought that Zap 16 was precisely the type of book that the parsimonious owner would not stock. My manager disagreed at the time and even THURS insisted that the flagship store would have copies. Therefore, I let it slide. HOWEVER, I did not believe him then (or now). And man was I right!

 

After the LCS, I cruised to downtown proper to pick up the lady and together we went to the flagship and asked after Zap 16. Not a single copy. Not one. So I began calling the other comic book stores in the Milwaukee metro area:

• Turning Page = nada

• Nostalgia World = zilch

• Vortex = zero

 

And so it was down to Lost World of Wonders- the single best comic store in all Milwaukee metro- but even they did not order a single copy!? WOW… zippo… crestfallen. The lady softly, “On the positive side, you now own the only four copies in Milwaukee,” which of course had me laughing.

 

After showing the lady the books and talking through it a little more, I decided not to return the most damaged copies. This is partly because I have not seen other copies I cannot effectively judge what may be manufacturing defects versus shipping damage (e.g. the edge wear may appear on lots of books depending upon the initial trimming; though there definitely was shipping damage). Moreover, one copy was destined to be a beat-reader & one copy for my binding project, so that leaves two copies to potentially return.

 

While talking with fellow boardie BrotherJ (I had unrelated questions about pricing some slabbed books), I mentioned the Zap 16 situation and received some solid advice about solutions. He suggested a comic shop or website on the West Coast used to dealing in undergrounds, ala Last Gasp or even Midtown Comics. What a great idea! Of course! In my frustration at not finding a single copy in Milwaukee, I overlooked some smart solutions.

 

And low and behold (!), Midtown has Zap 16 for 15% off cover. So today I placed my first order with them ($30 shipped) and I look forward to receiving it.

 

[oldmilwaukee6er]

The Lady Speaks. . . Deadpool: The Movie

 

 

After writing a few weeks ago about Deadpool the character and my thoughts on the movie, I’ve actually gone to see the movie. Clearly, I was wrong about it underperforming with critics. Currently it has an 84% rating on Rotten Tomatoes with an audience rating of 95%. For comparison, the critic scores of other recent (i.e. 2015) Marvel movies is as follows: Age of Ultron has a 74% rating, Ant Man is at 80%, and the new Fantastic Four has a 9% rating (yes, FF is actually Fox). Only Star Wars: The Force Awakens has a higher critical score, coming in at 92%. All of this is to say, I was wrong that critics wouldn’t like Deadpool.

 

I also said that Deadpool would over perform at the box office and it has. Deadpool’s budget was $58 million and as everyone now knows, they had to cut an additional $7 million right before release, which made for some very creative adjustments in some of the very best scenes. In its first three days Deadpool earned $132.4 million, shattering the previous non-summer three day record (set by Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland) by over $20 million. Deadpool is the earliest release to cross the $100 million mark (Alice in Wonderland was released in March). It is also the first R-rated movie to gross $100 million in its first three days (The Matrix Reloaded was the previous high mark at $91.7 million). In other words, it’s a juggernaut at the theater right now. Box Office Mojo says it fully expects Deadpool to easily win this weekend.

 

There are some reasons to be concerned about this, which I will lay out before I give my overall opinion of the movie. First, already Marvel has announced that the final Wolverine installment will be R-rated. There are talks of an R-rated X-Factor movie. And a sequel to Deadpool was announced only days after its premier. Studios rushing to make their super hero properties R-rated is exactly the move I don’t want to see. Deadpool was a tapestry of profanity, juvenile humor, and violence that was handled exquisitely. I don’t necessarily want to see Wolverine making jokes (unless at Cyclops’ expense ) while wearing the entrails of one of his victims (again, unless it’s Cyclops). It just seems that Hollywood sees Deadpool + R-rating = box office gold without really understanding exactly why it worked so well in this one case.

 

I’m not saying super hero movies are solely for kids and families, but there has already been a great deal of confusion on the parts of parents whose kids have seen and loved Deadpool in Ultimate Spiderman only to be turned away by the R-rating. I also very aware that Deadpool is an “adult” super hero. It just seems that if Marvel is dead set on controlling its entire cinematic universe (and bringing all media in line with it), it might want to think carefully before turning its most popular characters with kids (you know, who buy the toys and stuff) into R-rated properties. Part of me, of course, laughs at someone who takes a child to an R-rated movie and then is outraged at it being R-rated (I guess the strap on scene was particularly horrific to some). But part of me also understands that Marvel’s characters are often aimed at kids, not teens, but kids and that there is a legitimate disconnect between daytime cartoons and the PG-13/R movies.

 

Additionally the fact that Deadpool happened on a small budget isn’t going to go unnoticed. Will we see a bunch of low-budget super heroes flooding the market? It’s hard to do Inhumans or X-Men without good special effects. It’s hard to do ensemble pieces on a shoestring budget. Imagine Iron Man wearing a painted garbage can because that’s what I’m seeing. I envision a bunch of super hero movies that look like they’re documentaries of real people who think they’re super heroes (such as 2011’s Superheroes) or more movies like Kick and Super (for the record, I didn’t like Kick and I don’t think I’ve ever seen Super). A few weeks ago I argued that swelling budgets would hurt super heroes but that was before I considered that studios might go bare bones. Not for the Avengers, of course, but some of the other movies coming down the pike such as Black Panther, Captain Marvel, the Inhumans, even Ant-Man and the Wasp might all find themselves working with less than expected because the philosophy is “Hey! It worked for Deadpool, it’ll work for you.”

 

Okay, now that I’ve gotten that all out I’ll give my review of Deadpool. First off, I really enjoyed it. It’s not a movie that I would necessarily see a second time, but I had a lot of fun watching it. The in-jokes for fans as well as the jokes made at the expense of fans were all very funny. I loved the opening credits. The fact that it’s an action super hero movie making fun of itself at every turn made for an energetic, almost frenetic, film. I liked its run-time, too. It had a tight, simple plot for an origin story. And being an X-Men fan, I enjoyed seeing Colossus. I honestly had never heard of Negasonic Teenage Warhead until this movie. Imagine my surprise to learn that she’s been around since 2001. Who knew? She’s even racked up two deaths already, which for a mutant is a good start. No one will beat Jean Grey for deaths, I imagine. Also, I’m glad they didn’t use Cannonball as they originally wanted. Even in the comics he’s written like he talks like Forest Gump and that would have been irritating to listen to.

 

My quibbles are few. The biggest is that the film will be dated in a few years. Using so many 80’s references, including the sound track, isn’t going to hold up well. Even the jokes will not age well as so many of them were very much already dated jokes aimed at us old folks. Compare that to Tony Stark’s general snarkiness or even Guardians of the Galaxy’s humor and you can see the expiration date on references like Ryan Reynold’s being People’s Sexiest Man Alive (in 2010), Mario Lopez, Mama June, Jared Fogel, Are You There God It’s Me Margaret, the Heaven’s Gate cult, and even Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (I teach college kids. Most have never seen Ferris Bueller. Or the Goonies. It’s quite depressing). Those are just a few of the popular culture references. When we get to the industry inside jokes and references, those aren’t going to last at all. No one who isn’t a comic fan cares about Rob Liefeld for instance. It’s possible that these jokes will create a cult following (although cult movies usually don’t have box office record setting weekends). Therefore, I think the durability of the jokes is a legitimate concern. This is especially true as they go for a sequel. I’m not sure they can keep up this kind of humor in a way that will seem fresh. I’d rather see Deadpool move to an ensemble movie where his humor can be tempered and bounced off others (like with Colossus and Negasonic). But I’m not sure I want to watch another movie of Deadpool just being Deadpool.

 

Other quibbles. Colossus would not be eating cereal in his metal form. That’s just silly. The love story/background was WAY too long. I’d rather they’d spliced more of it throughout the movie. Ajax’s motivation was weak, kind of like Yellowjacket in Ant-Man.

 

Don’t get me wrong, I belly laughed through Deadpool.

I really enjoyed it. I just think it’s lightening in a bottle and should be left as such.

 

[oldmilwaukee6er]

The Mighty *Snafu* Con (FEB 2016)… an Om & the Lady joint

Event page (w/ photos): https://www.facebook.com/events/928175097265932/

 

We had high hopes for this Mighty Con Milwaukee. After all, it happened a week before the lady’s birthday and we was able to secure some splurge money ($70 for me & $100 for the lady) for the show. As the lady wrote, “I had hoped this would be a spending romp through popular culture.” In many ways, Mighty Con delivered on that hope… but as this show grows, it is quickly becoming fraught with problems. As part of an expanded effort, the promoters / venue were to reconfigure the set up and move the entrance. The last time they expanded the show they also increased the entrance fee from $3 to $5, so I was glad to see that was not happening again. As the Fb event page noted:

”The Milwaukee Comic Con is back, and this time it's DOUBLE the size! That's right, we're adding a second full size vendor room, this time with a huge video game tournament, cosplay contest with cash prizes, and of course hundreds of tables of comics, toys, games, original art and creations, and everything else your inner geek desires!”

 

The promoters claimed this was going to be the biggest yet and it ABSOLUTELY was. When I clicked on the Facebook event to join, I noted a whopping 1.2k people had already clicked that they were going! WOW! Upon arrival, I asked the door attendant how many people had arrived; he stated ‘well over 500.’ I mean, people were actually bowling in the bowling alley! In addition to the ‘normal’ main room, a small attached ‘bar room’, and the larger hallway toward the bar- the con had expanded into another ‘cluttered backroom.’ The lady was under the impression they would be taking over the auction area, the area where Betthauser’s runs Milwaukee’s only weekly consignment auction. However, instead they took the open space in front of the auction area and opened up a before unknown, smaller ‘cluttered backroom.’ We (incl. the chef) arrived later than usual, around 2:30pm, as my folks were in town and I was spending time with family. While the con started at 10:30, the place was still very crowded. As the lady wrote “the main room and the hallway just to the right of the main room were positively claustrophobic.”

 

The word on the street, so to speak, was that the venue, Serb Hall, had double booked the supposed second full-sized room and did not notify the promoters until 6AM on the day of the show! Therefore many vendors, after numerous delays, were forced into the hallways or into the second bar-like ‘cluttered backroom’ (with big circular booths). In some cases, individual vendors were left on their own to find a table in the venue and I spoke to a few that had to drag tables through Serb Hall’s kitchen just to set up.

 

The double booking was with an anime event of some sort. Unfortunately with vendors on both sides with their tables and people strolling and gawking, there was only one narrow lane of traffic. As a result, there were many tables we did not get to peruse, simply blocked out. As the lady added, “this was immensely disappointing for me as the only dedicated video game seller was in what I now call “Hellway” (the small hallway to the right of the entrance and main room). In reality I don’t need any more video games but I still wanted to look. At the end of the Hellway was a Smash Bros. contest.”

 

In addition to the gaming tourney, Mighty Con also added a costume contest. While we are fans of cosplay (and the lady a not-infrequent participant) this exacerbated the crowding. There were easily triple the number of cosplayers as compared to previous Mighty Cons. Many people had very elaborate costumes with accessories and these costumes also took up a bunch of space in the aisle. Additionally, the costume contest caused an uptick in Steampunkers (we are sporadic, active participants of this subculture) and the Steampunkers tended to move in groups of four or five with no interest in actually shopping. Sorry friends, but it is true. They strolled about as though it was a walk in the park completely oblivious to the fact they were gumming up traffic. WHERE the actual contest was taking place was a bit of a nightmare. The vendors went right up to the open area where the cosplayers were gathering and there was actually one author at a small end table sort of in the middle of it all. For some reason there was a magician also stationed at this point which added to the congestion as people stopped to watch him perform. They had a camera and light set up to one side for people to get their pictures taken. It was not clear to The Lady who was running the contest nor how it was set up (and honestly, I ignored that area completely until after 4PM). However, it was clear to all that the set up did not allow for easy movement.

 

The very small room off to the left of the costume contest, what I termed the ‘cluttered backroom,’ had maybe 6 merchants set up. It also had a couple of large circular booths where people were just hanging out. However, because they were setting their purchases on the tables some people thought they were also vendors! The lady adds, “it was in this area that I saw a merchant with Assassin’s Creed shirts. By the time I made it back to that location, the vendor was already closing up shop. It was about 3:15pm.”

 

As to the crowd and her scores, the lady writes the following “While there were still many families with small children, this time the crowd definitely skewed toward college age. I really don’t think strollers should be allowed at this particular comic con anymore. There is barely enough room for movement as it is and strollers make it almost impossible to make any progress. The younger age of attendees is starting to affect the type of merchandise that is offered (just typing this makes me feel like I’m yelling “Get off my lawn!”). Artwork, comics on display, and miscellaneous objects tend to be very “what’s hot now.” What is hot now is Star Wars and Deadpool. What is not hot right now is Doctor Who and the X-Men. There were only two jewelry merchants, both of whom I’ve bought from in the past. One woman I purchased a Death necklace from in August so this time I bought her Despair necklace. My go-to trade paperback guy hasn’t re-upped his wares in over a year so there was nothing for me to score there. I counted four tables of authors selling their books and another three that were selling their own comics. I didn’t count the number of artists, but that number seemed to hold steady. It appeared to me there were far more bargain comic book merchants. There were hardly any t-shirts for sale. Oddly enough there were not one, but two paranormal investigators? Societies? Set up. I’m not sure what they were selling because those booths were hopping. In the end, I spent about $59 (plus $5 entry fee and $3 on sodas). My budget was $100. I purchased a Mad Hatter masquerade mask, the Despair necklace, and yet another Pop! Funko figure- this time it was Jack Skelington as The Pumpkin King. While it wasn’t the reckless abandon spending spree I hoped for I left the con satisfied with my purchases.”

 

On the flipside, I spent less. Even at 2:30PM the show was far too crowded to grind dollar boxes, with lookie loos gumming up the works and parking their asses in front of every dealer’s booth. Or THAT GUY (and man does Milwaukee have plenty) that has to take up four longboxes- one to pick, one to set his stack on, one to set his want list on, & one to set his bag in front of. UGggHhh. So I worked wall books and asked after underground comix. And I did find a few! One dealer had a couple of Omaha the Cat Dancers, one dealer had half a short box full of FN to VFNM (nice books, but the majority were reprints), and one dealer from Madison (A New Hope) brought 3 high grade undergrounds- two Zap Comix (#1 3rd and #3 2nd), as well as a VF+ El Perfecto. I spoke with that dealer for a while and I think I made a good connection there. It will be fun to run over to Madtown and check out his wares someday. In the end, I only bought one comic- an upgrade of Usagi Yojimbo Vol. 1 #2 for $8 from First Aid. I also had fun watching the chef (who accompanied us) pick those bins of Heroclix for his Black All-Stars team. Around 4PM, I made one last pass through and having spent $10 counting my soda, I popped on a schweet, leather Spawn bracer / gauntlet ($40). It was a splurge, but I can wear it at Steampunk, or a comic con, or just because it’s a freakin’ Friday!

 

The spoils

 

 

We agreed that the true highlight of Mighty Con was a little girl (maybe 5-6 years old) dressed as BB-8. She had leotard, a tutu, and a bicycle helmet all tricked out like the little droid. And she was wearing roller skates! Plus she was carrying a R2-D2 toy. Seriously the coolest thing ever.

 

It is CLEAR to both of us that Mighty Con has outgrown the venue. Not the floor plan, but the venue itself. I’m pretty sure the lady said as much back in NOV. Because I was unable to shop in the manner I prefer, I talked to most of the dealers about their experiences. The double-booking was NOT the fault of the con and all shame goes to Serb Hall for taking two people’s money for the same space and only notifying the promoters at 6AM the morning of the show. However, the Mighty Con promoters also set up as dealers for the show and I do not think they did enough to tend to their vendors (versus setting up their own booths; recalling also my own experience at the NOV show). And many were put out because of it, whether you were one of the estimated 2-4 paid vendors turned away from the door (this happened to an author friend of ours and we asked her to write up her experience), or you were one of the vendors having to scramble to drag a table through the venue to some ‘cluttered backroom’ only to have your space -blocked by cosplayers for an hour, or you were just a normal comic dealer that could not leave your booth to use the bathroom until after 2pm (heard this twice). And even if you could leave, getting back to your booth was a 5-minute process of ‘excuse me, pardon me’ to move a few hundred feet. As one trusted dealer told me- “you were smart to come at 2:30, it has been Wizard World on a Saturday busy.” And while free parking abounds, the lot is also overflowing onto the streets.

 

ALL THAT SAID and based on my queries, the dealers appear to be doing well. The success of Mighty Con Milwaukee demonstrates how starved Milwaukee is for this type of ‘Wizard Light’ show. I will paraphrase two- ‘I made more in my first three transactions than all of Mighty Con Dupage combined’ or ‘my best customer only spent $10 and I am still up $1700.’ Universally, I did not hear one vendor that I asked say anything less than ‘it’s ok’ and the vast majority were having a good show. However, the lady captures it perfectly “I understand that the sellers are making money and the promoters are making money but the reality is that this con is bursting at the seams.” The problem is that we worry nothing will change.

 

Edited February 23, 2016 by oldmilwaukee6er

[oldmilwaukee6er]

Anna's Story (Mighty Con)

 

Ah ok. I purchased a vendor space about three weeks before the con. When I arrived that morning, only an hour before the doors opened, the organizers told a small group of us that one of their expected banquet halls had been doubled booked by the American Serb Hall. The organizers of Mighty Con were extremely apologetic, especially since one of the vendors had traveled from Chicago. This was my first attempt at selling my self-published novel at a convention, so I was very disappointed but not upset with the organizers. They offered to give me my vendor fee back and also give me a vendor space in their next con for free.

 

I also got to see that my novel would not be out of place at a comic convention, since there were a few others selling self-published fantasy novels as well. With this experience, I'll be better prepared for the next con.

 

 

[oldmilwaukee6er]

The Lady Speaks. . .Batman Beyond

 

 

Imagine my surprise the other morning when Om informed me that the next potential hot comic property might be my beloved Terry McGinnis, a.k.a. Batman Beyond. This is my favorite version of ol’ Bats. I love everything from the angular art style to the techno music to the futuristic nonsense. The dark dystopic aspect really appealed to me (the television show ran from January 1999 to November 2001 which was about the same time I was earning my Master’s degree). It was a cartoon that perfectly straddled the late 90’s and the early 00’s. Somewhere I still have the entire show on DVD’s that I bought off eBay from a less-than-reputable seller (as in the discs are copied and probably violate 10 different DRM laws).

 

 

As a side note, how weird is it that we’re just three years away from the date of the pilot where Wayne hangs up the Batsuit? (And then waits 20 years to give it to a new Batman because apparently Gotham was good for two decades without a caped crusader?)

 

 

While Batman Beyond was just as dark as Batman: The Animated Series it felt lighter. Actually, it might have been darker. I mean, Wayne is all alone with everyone he knew and loved dead or moved on from the super hero gig. But it still felt lighter in some way. That could have been due to the fact that it happened in a high school and some plots, such as jocks using PEDs, weren’t truly life or death; or, it could have been due to late the carnivalesque late 90’s mentality. McGinnis was angrier than Wayne, having had less time to absorb the death of his father. Wayne had decades of time to plan his retribution, Terry pretty much reacts right away. I did like how both end up united against the evil doers of Wayne Enterprises. Makes me wonder why Wayne didn’t/couldn’t hire better people but I guess interpersonal relations was never his strong suit.

 

I loved the new rogue’s gallery that nodded to the past: the Jokerz, Ten (McGinnis’ version of Catwoman), and even Ra’s al Ghul. Plus the usual array of one-off villains and evil businessmen trying to take over Gotham. Even keeping around a curmudgeony Bruce Wayne wasn’t too terrible (another favorite episode is “Shriek” where Wayne’s business enemy tries to convince Bruce he’s insane.

The episode contains this fantastic exchange:

Terry McGinnis: Tell me something - why were you so sure those voices weren't coming from you?

Bruce Wayne: Well, first, I know I'm not psychotic.

Terry McGinnis: I hope your other reason is more convincing.

Bruce Wayne: The voice kept calling me "Bruce." In my mind, that's not what I call myself.

Terry McGinnis: What do you call yourself? [bruce just looks at him for a moment] Oh, yeah. I suppose you would. [batman voice] But that's my name now.

Bruce Wayne: Tell that to my subconscious.

 

What made the show truly great was Terry’s best friend, Max. A smart, tech savvy, devoted friend she gets Terry out of trouble with everyone from his parents, his girlfriend (who was far less interesting), and even the mighty Mr. Wayne. Terry affectionately refers to Max as Alfred to which she responds “Who’s Alfred?”

 

The comics were less successful which is not surprising. It’s hard to capture that 90’s techno hallucinogenic energy in a two-dimensional format. I own the original 6 issue run and a chunk of the second 24 issue run, including an uncut cover of issue #9 or #10 bought in my heady days of reckless eBay spending. I’m too lazy to rummage through my boxes to confirm the number. To be honest, I don’t even know if I actually read the issues or just squirreled them away because I was a fan of the show.

 

As I’ve written about before, I own two Batman Beyond action figures. One is the 100th Batman figure overall. Something about the sleekness of the suit is visually appealing. I always liked that McGinnis wasn’t as bulky as Wayne (who reads a bit like a giant rectangle with a block head).

 

The one thing that Batman Beyond gave us was The Return of the Joker, the animated movie. That remains one of the most spooned up things I’ve seen. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone, but if you haven’t seen it or read about it or heard about I have to ask. . .where have you been hiding for so long and why? Seriously, though, The Return of the Joker left me gobsmacked because it was just that incredibly messed up. I remembered thinking “This is not a kids’ movie, no matter how they try to market the show.” And the show was marketed to kids (which is why it didn’t last long, if you ask me) because it was on during the week in the after school time block.

 

 

I don’t say this lightly because I ‘m not a huge fan of movies in general, but I would love to see Batman Beyond on the big screen someday. Of course who they cast to play McGinnis would be vital to whether I’d actually go see it or not, but still, I’d like to see it. Or maybe I’d like an adultified animated version of Batman Beyond. Then it wouldn’t matter who was voicing who.