Wizard World Chicago -- August 24-27, 2017 2 2

[Transplant]

1 hour ago, MCMiles said:

I call BS. Tranny gets a free exhibitor wristband, you can't like him enough to miss him. Plus, he's just kind of boring.

He's just glad I didn't come to London. 

[Mickey7]

For me,  I think the show has been excellent for finding comics.  I am a little disappointed though that the OA dealers haven't come here recently.  I think 5 or 6 years ago WW Chicago had Albert Moy, Burkey, Coollines, Anthonys, Bechara, and maybe a few others.  Wish they would come back.

 

 

 

 

[Ze-man]

16 hours ago, G.A.tor said:

I'm always a bad judge of Chicago shows because I only can fit about 4 boxes of books that I Fedex here from Florida and I get a corner of graham crackers booth so I'm not in directory. 

If I send the "wrong " books that's unfortunate. I bet I had 100 books in inventory in Florida that folks asked for that didn't make the trip. But that's my model for the show, and not sure it will logistically change for me  

i did hear from many folks they had a good to great show. For me, Chicago is more about the people, so I will continue to come back 

I heard you tell customers more then once when they asked about a particular book not on the wall... "I actually have several copies, but they are in Fl.."  

I also saw a lot of people taking your business cards.

[Ze-man]

14 hours ago, joeypost said:

You were at the show?

I didn't see any of that crew until Sunday afternoon.. I unfortunately saw Greggy like 35 times, and Chromium only once.

 

 

 

Edited August 29, 2017 by Ze-man

[greggy]

7 minutes ago, Ze-man said:

I didn't see any of that crew until Sunday afternoon.. I unfortunately saw Greggy like 35 times, and Chromium only once.

 

 

 

[Ze-man]

23 hours ago, Red84 said:

The highlight of the show for me:

I was at @G.A.tor's booth talking with Danielle (@Filter81) about how I had my Superman 14 restored by this restoration wizard named Kenny, and then the person manning Gator's booth while he stepped away said, "that's me, I'm @Ze-man"

As always, great talking with everyone.

That was a highlight for me as well.  It was a pretty funny double take moment on your part!   But I think we actually introduced ourselves earlier in that conversation..it just didn't register w you until Danielle, said.."This IS Kenny... Ze-man "   Your face...priceless.    

Was great talking with you, and trying to make sure that issue came out after the Pearl harbor attack.

[mysterio]

It is interesting that this thread got more looks and significantly more posts than the 2017 SDCC thread did. That alone speaks to how much love there is for this show among the CGC boards.

[G.A.tor]

1 hour ago, Ze-man said:

I heard you tell customers more then once when they asked about a particular book not on the wall... "I actually have several copies, but they are in Fl.."  

I also saw a lot of people taking your business cards.

That's always good. Post show sales do happen. But it would be better if I find a way to do a full set up. Again, I'm just inconveniencing the customer.  

[G.A.tor]

And I would be remiss if I didn't thank all the folks that helped me this con. Danielle, Kenny, Angelo especially but everyone else a heart felt thanks as well (steve, Andy, cat/rox,etc ). It was truly appreciated !

[Guardian Comics]

26 minutes ago, mysterio said:

It is interesting that this thread got more looks and significantly more posts than the 2017 SDCC thread did. That alone speaks to how much love there is for this show among the CGC boards.

I was thinking the same thing.  It's been a couple of days since the show ended and it's still an active and viable thread.  Like Bob said what makes this show so special is it so centralized, not only the middle of your country with the airport hub of all airport hubs but the Hyatt, Embassy Suites, Doubletree, everybody is within a five minute walk of each other.  

Jim

[JiveTurkeyMoFo]

18 hours ago, blazingbob said:

Unfortunately a lot of these negative posts are what eventually does cause a show to fail.  Does the fact the onsite grading impact Wizard Chicago,  yes it does.  Do local dealers get priced out of major shows.  Yes,  I've seen this happen with a lot of shows that are acquired by Informa. 

Wizard Chicago did lose a lot of local dealers years ago.   The same can be said of some of the other major shows I've done not owned by Wizard. 

When I get reports that there were fewer people in the room I would ask if Wizard had Artists alley in the other part of the convention center like they did last year?  From speaking to some artist alley guys this setup has not exactly been warmly welcomed.  And since I believe Wizard kept the same floor plan as last year I'm sure there were the same issues. 

Sometimes I feel that even if the Wizard admission price was low,  dealers were there in droves and had everything you ever wanted somebody would be complaining about it just because they hate Wizard.  

I'm also wondering if there are those out there that forget the for a long time the Best shows were San Diego/Chicago.  Whichever show came first was the one that dealers did the best at.  You sold a lot of books at the first one and restocked your inventory at the second.  Now we are spoiled because for me they are both very good shows.   Guardian comics shows a post of a nice batch of keys.  Frankly as a dealer I would be pretty satisfied with buying books like that.  Dale says his show was very good.  October posts a very strong case for need to work hard,  work fast or you lose it.  Pretty much what every show is when I go.  The harder you work the better you do.  

If Wizard does fail I'm sure there will be promoter willing to step up and buy it.  We know what we have right now,  we don't know what we could get. 

From doing the UK/London show and the grumblings about the date change/different venue I see a lot of inflexibility of people.  I've experienced this when doing shows on the West coast.  When I was a collector I traveled for hours to go to shows.  I was excited to go.  Today if the show location,  show date,  who is there, red carpet awaits my entrance and if they can get in for free needs aren't met they stay home. 

When you see posts that there aren't a lot of dealers setup ask or look around at the show and see how many guys are fighting to buy books yet don't have booths.  I can name a lot of weekend warriors/eBay dealers/board dealers that never buy a booth.  All those empty booths could be filled by those guys if they "paid their way" into getting into the show in the first place.  There is a difference in giving a badge to a good customer versus giving a exhibitor badge to a guy who if he had a booth was operating on the same cost basis as you (Me).   And if those weekend warriors feel that there is no need to buy a booth maybe they should be supporting the show by buying a badge from the dealer instead of getting one for free.     

I see a lot of "why do I have to pay for this" in order to do business.  Listing fees,  cc fees,  PayPal fees,  internet hosting fees.  The boards provide a ZERO cost selling platform yet a lot of sellers can't even knock 10% off the price.  Sellers want personal payments instead of regular PayPal because it costs them money yet PayPal is a business that has a cost of doing business and is entitled to make money.   

Promoters are entitled to make money doing a show.  Unfortunately everybody just assumes that the convention centers and unions play fair with the promoters.  From speaking with the UK promoters this weekend I was very surprised how the Excel center treated them.  Competitors also use every tactic imaginable to put you out of business.  This all costs money and frankly I can see why a lot of promoters fail. 

Weekend Warriors need love 2.  

[mysterio]

I know I'm already looking forward to next year. Even though our sales weren't what we had hoped, it is always a good time and I always manage to find great books to buy here. And Chicago rules.

[Red84]

1 hour ago, Ze-man said:

On 8/28/2017 at 10:03 AM, Red84 said:

The highlight of the show for me:

I was at @G.A.tor's booth talking with Danielle (@Filter81) about how I had my Superman 14 restored by this restoration wizard named Kenny, and then the person manning Gator's booth while he stepped away said, "that's me, I'm @Ze-man"

As always, great talking with everyone.

That was a highlight for me as well.  It was a pretty funny double take moment on your part!   But I think we actually introduced ourselves earlier in that conversation..it just didn't register w you until Danielle, said.."This IS Kenny... Ze-man "   Your face...priceless.    

Was great talking with you, and trying to make sure that issue came out after the Pearl harbor attack.

I'm sure my expression was hilarious.  And I'm going to continue saying Superman 14 was the first issue out after Pearl Harbor.  The label says 1-2/1942 and we didn't find any definitive information to say otherwise. 

[manetteska]

12 hours ago, jsilverjanet said:

I hope my post wasn't taken as a negative, I was just making an observation that I saw less dealers at the show vs the year before. I still spent about the same amount of money as other years and probably could have spent more if i had not been offered some other books locally the day before the show started.

 

 

This show -- as any -- depends on what a buyer is hoping to find. There were definitely big time books and every bronze/copper/modern key in nearly any grade, many times over.

If you were looking for books to fill runs, or diving in $1 boxes for $20 books, it was possible, just not as many opportunities as years past.

My opinion is also skewed by attempting to buy comics from an era I know the least about. I saw good comics on Thursday with what appeared to be high prices (to me, again, not knowing very much), but after thinking about it, and going back for them another day, they were already gone. I snoozed and lost, but overall had a good time running around the conventional hall and chatting with many familiar faces.

[TheWatcher]

44 minutes ago, G.A.tor said:

And I would be remiss if I didn't thank all the folks that helped me this con. Danielle, Kenny, Angelo especially but everyone else a heart felt thanks as well (steve, Andy, cat/rox,etc ). It was truly appreciated !

My pleasure. I had a fantastic time. Now, we just have to figure out what soda I'm going to provide you with next year

[G.A.tor]

27 minutes ago, TheWatcher said:

My pleasure. I had a fantastic time. Now, we just have to figure out what soda I'm going to provide you with next year

[Ze-man]

1 hour ago, Guardian Comics said:

I was thinking the same thing.  It's been a couple of days since the show ended and it's still an active and viable thread.  Like Bob said what makes this show so special is it so centralized, not only the middle of your country with the airport hub of all airport hubs but the Hyatt, Embassy Suites, Doubletree, everybody is within a five minute walk of each other.  

Jim

I think it has a lot to do with Chicago being centrally located as well.  Besides Oregon(?), is there any other Con that attracts so many of you.... umm... "up north" folk?

 

[Ze-man]

And one of the great stories that I took away from this weekend besides the usual(friends, dinners, stories, comics, and drinks)

Saturday at the Gibsons Dinner,  Danielle brought  several portfolios of OA.  As people started making their way to assorted tables, I noticed a few people still at the bar.  Danielle among them.  She was sitting with a guy who(I found out later) was trying to see if he could guess the artist behind each piece of OA,   I met this guy after dinner was over while talking with Win, and Joey....it was the Artist Stuart Sayger.  

We talked for a good long while about numerous subjects, we looked at the commissions Joey had Stuart previously do for him(amazing stuff) but, Stuart had to leave early because he still had some 4 commissions to work on before Sunday AM. I told Stuart I would look him up on Sunday as I always buy a few prints for my studio wall each year and I liked his take on Batman.

So Sunday comes around(after a late night at some urban bump and grind dance bar?) I am walking the floor and found Stuarts table, he was of course busy w clients, wanting sketches etc.  People finally cleared out and he looked up and said  "hey!" , I said  "hey!"    He then started showing me stuff, a GREAT commission on his take of Jack the Ripper somebody asked him to do. As well as several other, we started talking in earnest about his art, my resto and a few similarities between the two mediums.  He then asks me..(and follow me here)  

He says, "where you from?"

I say, "Zionsville In."

He says, "no sh@t, I'm from Indy"

I'm like, "no way"

He says "I went to Broad Ripple High School"

I say, "I worked for a stained glass studio in Broad Ripple back in the early 90's"

He says  " I worked for a comic shop in Broad Ripple around then"

I say, "Comic Carnival?"

He says, "YES!!..the owner was... "

And we both say "Mike!" at the same time.

We talk for awhile about how funny it was after all these years to meet here. How he went from scruffy kid to changing how they listed their big books.

Then he says, "I swear I remember you"

I then proceed to tell him  the story of how Mike, the owner, after asking me if I collected back issues.. handed me a long box of ratty SA comics because he noticed my age, and I was buying all the Image variant junk each week.  

Mike said  "take these home, read them, smell them, see if you remember anything from your youth"

Well I did, and that was it.  I was of course hooked on Back issues.  All thanks to Mike, who knew enough to push me in the right direction.

And Stuart stood there grinning, looking at me and said

"I was there that day, I remember him saying that"

So there it is , my  "it's a small world story" of the day. And the funny part is, that's only half the story of my meeting Stuart that day.   The other half was equally amazing, and completely unexpected by Stuart. But even longer to type out!

 

Edited August 29, 2017 by Ze-man
typos!!

[seanfingh]

Stuart is such a great guy. He and I had our Comic Carnival nostalgia party several years ago.  I had tried to apply for a job at CC, and they said they weren't hiring. Then about 3 weeks later, this little kid (Stuart) starts working there.  I secretly despised him for years.  Many years later, we bonded over his amazing art and the John R. Dykes "pedigree." 

Sorry I didn't see you (again)

 

[Ze-man]

6 minutes ago, seanfingh said:

Stuart is such a great guy. He and I had our Comic Carnival nostalgia party several years ago.  I had tried to apply for a job at CC, and they said they weren't hiring. Then about 3 weeks later, this little kid (Stuart) starts working there.  I secretly despised him for years.  Many years later, we bonded over his amazing art and the John R. Dykes "pedigree." 

Sorry I didn't see you (again)

 

That was around 86-87?  When  you applied, he started?