The Charlotte Comicon Returns May 1st

[capt_comics]

The Charlotte Comicon returns Sunday May 1st, 2005.The largest one day comic book convention in the Carolinas returns on May 1st to the Four Points Sheraton Hotel in downtown Charlotte NC. It's at 201 South McDowell Street (I-277 at exit 2A - third and fourth street exit). The time is 10am until 4pm. Thousands of comic books(both new,vintage,CGC, and $1 or less),toys,busts,statues,non-sport and gaming cards and much much more. SPECIAL GUESTS include Noel Neill, Lois Lane from the 1950s Superman TV show, signing copies of her autobiography and 8X10 pictures($20) AND legendary Marvel editor and writer and Alter Ego editor Roy Thomas. Other guests include the Tsunami studios artists(X-men,Buffy,Tomb Raider,Witchblade,JLA/JSA,Venom, etc.) Randy Green,Kelly Yates,Rick Ketcham,John Wycough,Steve Bird, and Robert Q. Atkins PLUS Al Bigley(DC,Marvel,Image,Hamilton),Budd Root(Cavewoman),J Chris Campbell(Zig Zag),Julie and Jason Staples(Shadow Fox),Buddy Prince(Night), and Greg Robinson(Underlords). Plus the good folks from Super-Hero station will be there.

(http://www.geocities.com/superherostation).

Admission is $3 (12 and under free). We hope to see you there!

Flyer 1

Flyer 2

 

[arexcrooke]

Hey Rick, good to see you on the boards. Maybe we can see you post in some other places as well.

These are really good shows folks. Rick goes out of his way to do things right, and there are always good dealers set up and a broad range of stuff to be had. It is in a good location in Charlotte that is not hard to find and I have always been able to buy all that I wanted and always left with empty pockets because I found soo much good stuff.

[Sal]

i will hopefully be there. i say hopefully because one never knows what may happen

[sterlingcomics]

Just how old is Noel Neill now...

 

If my schedule permits, I'll check it out

[arexcrooke]

We need to try and meet up at the show, if anyone goes. Id like to meet some of you guys. I should be able to attend this one. I wasnt able to get to the last one, as I had to be away from home Friday and most of Saturday with the regional wrestling tourny. Wife put her foot down when I said I wanted to be gone Sunday as well. Finecomics said it was the best one that he had been to.

[arexcrooke]

[capt_comics]

She's 84 years young

[arexcrooke]

[Sal]

you guys going to this? anyone want to set up a meet prior, post or during? i promise not to wear my Wolfpack gear...

 

(slowly drums fingers)

[arexcrooke]

Sal, ill be there. Doesnt matter to me, i usually get there early, around 10:30 or 11:00. pm me and we can discuss.

[RickHigh]

As I mentioned in another post, I plan on being there. Usually get there around noon, but I may try to get there earlier. Any word from CurrinComics or Sterling? Anyone else planning on being there?

[arexcrooke]

Sterling told me that he would try to get there. See you guys tomorrow!

[sterlingcomics]

Sterling told me that he would try to get there. See you guys tomorrow!

 

It's confirmed for me. Never been to this one day event; I have low expectations... if nothing else it will get me out of the house for a couple of hours...

 

I'll pm some of the other people here my contact info; if you guys go give me a call and we'll meet up for a few minutes. Unfortunately I have a flight later on Sunday so I don't plan on being there more than a couple of hours...

[sterlingcomics]

Gotta get on a plane, so giving the abridged opinion of the show:

 

 

Any questions? Here's a pic of three formuites who dared to go: arexcrooke, sterlingcomics, and Sal. Nice seeing some board members at the show. The highlight of the show for me was seeing arexcrooke's awesome DareDevil and Avenger books

 

I'll get on my soapbox when I land; it was very interesting talking to the sellers there.

 

[arexcrooke]

Rahigh was also there, but Sal and I didnt run into him until later, when I was pouring over Chris from Hero's and Dragons in Columbia SC, stuff. While i dont agree that it was a desert, like Sterling, i also have a larger base and less strict guidelines for condition than he does. It was good seeing Sterling, Sal, and Rahigh, as well as Finecomics who sets up at the show.

[RickHigh]

Good seeing you and Sal at the show today. Sterling, sorry I missed you. I agree, there wasn't a lot of high grade books there, but there was some nice stuff to be had. Arexcrooke was picking up some really nice Thors' when I met him. Arex, what did you end up with? No. there was not much (actually, hardly any) horror books there. It was fun seeing Noel Neil (Lois Lane). At eighty-four years old, she was full of energy, and had lots of great stories to tell. I hope I have her energy when I reach her age. It was fun talking with some of the dealers. I bought a nice X-Men #50 from a dealer (pictured below), who surprised Sal, Arex and me by telling us that he actually owned the original artwork of that cover!!!!!!!! Said he bought it from Steranko several years age. I was blown away!!! I picked up some other nice silver-age books there. Here's the list of what I got: As mentioned before, X-Men #50, a nice Tales of Suspense #49, Weird Mystery Tales #1 (one of the few nice horror books there), and Detective #'s 296 (Cleveland copy), 301 and 302. All in all, for me, it was a pretty nice show.

 

[arexcrooke]

Rahigh, most of my stuff i got off of Chris from Hero's and Dragons. I wish the lighting would have been better as it was just a tad bit too dark.

Im pretty pleased with what I got, as I think i got fair prices on all the stuff, not great, but fair. Here is the rundown and i think almost all are .5 a grade either side of vf

Thor

150

174

186

189

197

Avengers

49

98

165

FF

94

Some odds and ends here and there as well. I was kinda dissapointed in the amount of stuff that people had. The books that i was really hankering for, the Kree-Skrull war Avengers were not to be had in even half way decent shape. All i ask for is at least a vf.

Good news is that i almost got my Thor run from 200-502 done. I just need 210 and am scouring the internet to find one.

Im also only 5 books away from having all the Thors from 180 to 502 which is the end of the run.

It was nice meeting you and Sal and Sterling, although i think Sterling was more than a little dissapointed. Glad you got some cool books, and the X 50 is really nice.

I imagine that we will meet up at Hero's and maybe you guys can come up to my neck of the woods is July for a Hickory show that my LCS is putting on.

[sterlingcomics]

I'm being somewhat melodramatic--but if you were there to pick up any high grade books, you were let down in a major way. I didn't mean to suggest the show was lame or to misrepresent the fine work required to put on that show. My major beef was that there was simply an insufficient supply of high grade books to satisfy me. I haven't done a con in a couple of years so this small con hopefully will increase my stamina for the larger ones--I simply didn't last

 

I get the sense that SouthEast dealers understand that their clientele doesn't prefer high grade...they are missing the boat if they run exclusively in that mode IMO. I did have no expectations for finding some nice books. There was no on there like Bob Storms who had limited selection but very nice books--all "flea market" material for the most part. My neck was hurting wading through the boxes so I just gave up and called it a day.

 

In terms of horror, there were quite a few sellers with various issues--just not in high grade. I think the best book I saw was around a FN/VF. A Ghosts #3 I believe. There was a HoS #92 7.0 (I thought it was more like a 6.0-6.5) for $200 (was willing to go to $160 but I passed).

 

Some good aspects of the show was that the prices reflected (for the most part) the material's condition. I did find some sellers charging more because it "was older" and totally discounting the fact that the book was in GOOD or worse condition. Some of the trends I noticed (which sounds gimicky) is to jack up the price 50% and then claim everything is "50% off". The resulting 50% price is usually at or above the value of the book in question, so there's really no "deal".

 

Sorry I missed out rahigh. I was pushing it having mrs. sterlingcomics and my son there for two hours or so. I had the entire place to myself for about an hour, and then it got nuts. Lessons learned for me includes contacting the sellers to have them bring the material you want.

 

I bought a 9.2ish ASM 252 from Chris (who, with the exception of maybe Shelton--had the best inventory there), and a couple of Phantom Stranger readers (11 and 13).

 

Oh, and Noel Neill---I hope I look that good when I get to be her age--she was busy the entire time I was there, and seemed to have boundless energy.

 

arex---we will synch up in 2 weeks and get a Heroe's aftermath dinner planned. I would definitely like to go to Hickory (very nice place) when the local con arrives.

 

Here's to hoping that the next stop yields more fruit on the high grade end.

[arexcrooke]

I agree with you Sterling that there was very little high grade stuff there. If it wouldnt have been for Chris, I would have walked away feeling very unsatisfied. Your point about books getting jacked up over guide and 50% off'd os right on target. that is exactly what happened.

 

Is it just me, or does Shelton charge guide for books that arent guide? And then reduses to move on them even though they are high? I bought a Thor 197 from him and paid a little too much for it. He had it as nm, but it was actually a vf/nm. Oh well.

 

Thanks for checking out some of my books, esp the Avengers. Ill be submitting them within the next month.

 

Yeah, get with me and lets see what we can do for the Hero's show.

Arex

[sterlingcomics]

The spot check I did at Shelton's booth indicated that they were decently graded. I did buy a NM (he said) book from him at the store but looks more like VF to me. Because of the grading and pricing, I've decided only to buy new books from them (along with my comic supplies).

 

Apparently, you have to know the secret handshake to get high grade books...