Robot Man Posted March 30 Author Share Posted March 30 Bumped into my buddy Brad Sloan from F-VF comics. Brad was having a real good day. littledoom and Gotham Kid 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted March 30 Author Share Posted March 30 Metro’s usual wall of drool. Actually, nothing I haven’t seen a million times before. I was there to hunt for unicorns. And no, I didn’t ask prices on the “big boy” books… littledoom, jimjum12 and Ltpink2002 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted March 30 Author Share Posted March 30 Barbie was there as was my friend The Creature! ThothAmon and jimjum12 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted March 30 Author Share Posted March 30 I was hunting pulps. Not many there and the ones that were there were priced at to the moon prices. Just not even somewhat realistic. No one knows how to price them right now. But just to be safe, just display them seemed to be what was happening. goldust40 and Darwination 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Robot Man Posted March 30 Author Popular Post Share Posted March 30 Ran into my pal, boardie Hap Hazard. He is holding a cool, fat Xmas comic I bought from his brother in law who had a booth. Had a nice conversation and geeked about books. littledoom, comicjack, ThothAmon and 5 others 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted March 30 Author Share Posted March 30 There were only a couple folks with original art. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Robot Man Posted March 30 Author Popular Post Share Posted March 30 And here are some usual wall shots of the kind of stuff that interests me. Darwination, goldust40, Yorick and 2 others 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Robot Man Posted March 30 Author Popular Post Share Posted March 30 (edited) My observations… First off, BAD weekend for the show. Easter is a day spent with families. Dealers don’t want to travel. Only a couple of out of state dealers. Mostly the local crowd I usually see at shows. Not to mention we got another big storm blowing through here. Will really impact all the cosplay folks and the fun out door activities today. Was weird that unlike its big sister SDCC, you could just walk right up, buy a ticket and walk in. Lots of folks just gazing at the big high priced wall books. Seems like every booth had numerous high priced ASM 300’s. Why people pay or ask those prices for a book that is common as dirt is beyond me. I seemed to have all the GA boxes to myself. I fished out a few nice very obscure gems at great prices. Just not a lot of WWII, obscure publishers and scarcer GA. I brought a ton of cash and came home with most of it. Most dealers seemed happy with sales though. But what dealer would admit they didn’t do well? Hard to find many Pulps, my current interest. And what was there was priced insane. It was pretty pathetic how small the “GA/SA Pavilion was. 5 or 6 small isles with a slight spillover. Looks like a small postage stamp on the floor map. A pretty large Artist’s Alley but I didn’t go because I really don’t know many modern artists and everybody I used to go see had basically passed away by now. I had no desire to shuffle the rest of the show of new toy dealers, T-Shirts, gamers and the great un-washed… I actually waited in line at the CGC booth to get some pulps graded. There seemed to be a lot of confusion as what to do with them. I figured now is the time to do some. Not many on the census and a lot of them have very few sales. Many real good ones still fit into the lowest tier. For now… I also got this cool pin for my submission. One of the best parts of the show is bumping into old friends and making new ones. I had a few conversations with my older buddies. We all agreed as to how many of us are dropping lately. Now is the time to keep in touch more often. Another thing that was a little disturbing was how many former old time board members have given up posting here. Most cited hostile interactions here as the reason. Real sad, as I have always enjoyed their posts. I urged them to return. Hopefully, they will. Was very easily a one day or less show for me. Still what a great way to spend a day and will go back as long as it’s here. Edited March 30 by Robot Man KirbyJack, manetteska, Snowdon and 9 others 11 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted March 30 Author Share Posted March 30 Will post what I picked up when I get the chance to check them out. jimjum12 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HouseofComics.Com Posted March 30 Share Posted March 30 It's been an odd winter when storms that hit here and peter out before hitting LA seem to be the reverse this season. Our predicted thunderstorm today didn't even happen. I'm going to go watch the Cal women's tennis match (against UCLA, ironically). jimjum12 and littledoom 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexgross.com Posted March 30 Share Posted March 30 On 3/30/2024 at 9:36 AM, Robot Man said: My observations… First off, BAD weekend for the show. Easter is a day spent with families. Dealers don’t want to travel. Only a couple of out of state dealers. Mostly the local crowd I usually see at shows. Not to mention we got another big storm blowing through here. Will really impact all the cosplay folks and the fun out door activities today. Was weird that unlike its big sister SDCC, you could just walk right up, buy a ticket and walk in. Lots of folks just gazing at the big high priced wall books. Seems like every booth had numerous high priced ASM 300’s. Why people pay or ask those prices for a book that is common as dirt is beyond me. I seemed to have all the GA boxes to myself. I fished out a few nice very obscure gems at great prices. Just not a lot of WWII, obscure publishers and scarcer GA. I brought a ton of cash and came home with most of it. Most dealers seemed happy with sales though. But what dealer would admit they didn’t do well? Hard to find many Pulps, my current interest. And what was there was priced insane. It was pretty pathetic how small the “GA/SA Pavilion was. 5 or 6 small isles with a slight spillover. Looks like a small postage stamp on the floor map. A pretty large Artist’s Alley but I didn’t go because I really don’t know many modern artists and everybody I used to go see had basically passed away by now. I had no desire to shuffle the rest of the show of new toy dealers, T-Shirts, gamers and the great un-washed… I actually waited in line at the CGC booth to get some pulps graded. There seemed to be a lot of confusion as what to do with them. I figured now is the time to do some. Not many on the census and a lot of them have very few sales. Many real good ones still fit into the lowest tier. For now… I also got this cool pin for my submission. One of the best parts of the show is bumping into old friends and making new ones. I had a few conversations with my older buddies. We all agreed as to how many of us are dropping lately. Now is the time to keep in touch more often. Another thing that was a little disturbing was how many former old time board members have given up posting here. Most cited hostile interactions here as the reason. Real sad, as I have always enjoyed their posts. I urged them to return. Hopefully, they will. Was very easily a one day or less show for me. Still what a great way to spend a day and will go back as long as it’s here. thanks for the posts and the info! wish i could have gone to the show. its nice to know that there are still a few lesser shows where some good dealers set up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
50YrsCollctngCmcs Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 On 3/27/2024 at 12:26 AM, Robot Man said: Is that all that surprising? They were cheap items for kids. We used to roll them up or stuff them in our backpacks after hitting the drug store on our way home from school on our Sting Ray bikes. No one was concerned about condition or future value then. Sting Ray bikes!! I still remember mine so well! It had purple seats and a real gear shifter on the top bar like a car! What a ride!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
50YrsCollctngCmcs Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 On 3/31/2024 at 1:36 AM, Robot Man said: My observations… First off, BAD weekend for the show. Easter is a day spent with families. Dealers don’t want to travel. Only a couple of out of state dealers. Mostly the local crowd I usually see at shows. Not to mention we got another big storm blowing through here. Will really impact all the cosplay folks and the fun out door activities today. Was weird that unlike its big sister SDCC, you could just walk right up, buy a ticket and walk in. Lots of folks just gazing at the big high priced wall books. Seems like every booth had numerous high priced ASM 300’s. Why people pay or ask those prices for a book that is common as dirt is beyond me. I seemed to have all the GA boxes to myself. I fished out a few nice very obscure gems at great prices. Just not a lot of WWII, obscure publishers and scarcer GA. I brought a ton of cash and came home with most of it. Most dealers seemed happy with sales though. But what dealer would admit they didn’t do well? Hard to find many Pulps, my current interest. And what was there was priced insane. It was pretty pathetic how small the “GA/SA Pavilion was. 5 or 6 small isles with a slight spillover. Looks like a small postage stamp on the floor map. A pretty large Artist’s Alley but I didn’t go because I really don’t know many modern artists and everybody I used to go see had basically passed away by now. I had no desire to shuffle the rest of the show of new toy dealers, T-Shirts, gamers and the great un-washed… I actually waited in line at the CGC booth to get some pulps graded. There seemed to be a lot of confusion as what to do with them. I figured now is the time to do some. Not many on the census and a lot of them have very few sales. Many real good ones still fit into the lowest tier. For now… I also got this cool pin for my submission. One of the best parts of the show is bumping into old friends and making new ones. I had a few conversations with my older buddies. We all agreed as to how many of us are dropping lately. Now is the time to keep in touch more often. Another thing that was a little disturbing was how many former old time board members have given up posting here. Most cited hostile interactions here as the reason. Real sad, as I have always enjoyed their posts. I urged them to return. Hopefully, they will. Was very easily a one day or less show for me. Still what a great way to spend a day and will go back as long as it’s here. When Wonder Con moved from the Bay Area to Anaheim it lost a lot of the fun local vibe. But I thought hey it is close and I can get there easily and it will be bigger and more interesting. Well it was bigger and other than cosplay the comic book aspect was much diminished. Still I try to keep an open mind at shows and purposefully go explore areas not comic related to see what else I might enjoy and try to understand the broader collecting world. That approach makes the shows more interesting and has led to some fun discoveries. Thanks for the report Bob. jimjum12 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 Thanks for the report and pics. I haven't been to a show since covid. I find I can find anything I want on the internet and I don't have to deal with the crowds, travel, hotels. It might be different if I was still trying to complete runs and wanted the 50 cent and dollar boxes at shows, but nowadays I'm only looking for higher priced items and I can shop better on the internet. jimjum12 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samoyed Sabaka Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 (edited) On 3/30/2024 at 8:45 AM, Robot Man said: Ran into my pal, boardie Hap Hazard. He is holding a cool, fat Xmas comic I bought from his brother in law who had a booth. Had a nice conversation and geeked about books. We were both digging the boxes at the same time. Was great to see you again. Nice score on this book. They even gave you $50 off! I also brought a lot of money to spend, but left with nothing. Couldn't find too many deals. Are the dealers here mostly just showing off their collections at their booths and not really interested in actually moving product at ebay prices? I can understand holding out for top dollar on super key cgc graded books - they will probably sell eventually, but 90% of their stock seems common enough to get if you are patient, at much cheaper prices online. Edited March 31 by Samoyed Sabaka tth2 and jimjum12 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CCEC Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 On 3/30/2024 at 8:46 PM, Samoyed Sabaka said: I also brought a lot of money to spend, but left with nothing. Couldn't find too many deals. Are the dealers here mostly just showing off their collections at their booths and not really interested in actually moving product at ebay prices? I can understand holding out for top dollar on super key cgc graded books - they will probably sell eventually, but 90% of their stock seems common enough to get if you are patient, at much cheaper prices online. I was there Saturday. I agree about the scarcity of deals. When I was at MegaCon last month in Orlando, dealers were asking close to GPA values. From what I saw at WonderCon this year, the ask was generally higher. Maybe it's a West Coast thing. As you eluded to, I guess the major difference is that WonderCon had many more super keys on display. The traffic was fair, not empty, but not packed out. It was nice and easy enough to get around. You could talk to the dealers without feeling rushed. Ideal from an attendee point of view. Talking to the dealers, the impression was there were more serious buyers on Friday compared to Saturday. The dealers were the usual mix from super arrogant to super nice. jimjum12 and Samoyed Sabaka 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted April 1 Author Share Posted April 1 On 3/30/2024 at 5:24 PM, 50YrsCollctngCmcs said: When Wonder Con moved from the Bay Area to Anaheim it lost a lot of the fun local vibe. But I thought hey it is close and I can get there easily and it will be bigger and more interesting. Well it was bigger and other than cosplay the comic book aspect was much diminished. Still I try to keep an open mind at shows and purposefully go explore areas not comic related to see what else I might enjoy and try to understand the broader collecting world. That approach makes the shows more interesting and has led to some fun discoveries. Thanks for the report Bob. Yeah, I used to love making the trip to WonderCon in SF. It usually happened the first weekend of the month so I could also hit the massive monthly Alameda antique flea market before I made my trip home. I too welcomed the move to SO CA. A lot closer to home and more convenient. Yeah, lost a little of the NO CA vibe but took on a different SO CA vibe. The show, like all comic cons has diminished a bit. Tough for a lot of out of state dealers to make it worth while. Still, more than enough reasons to attend. We need more Cons here. I sure hope it ain’t going anywhere. I do wish it wern’t Easter weekend though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted April 1 Author Share Posted April 1 (edited) There have been several comments about lack of books and high prices at this and other shows. All true to a degree. I, too, went looking for specific stuff and hoping to find some at a decent price. Not much luck for me either. I am maybe a little more open minded or more likely a little “less discplinded” than many of you. But maybe I work a little harder. Yes, I check out the walls. Where the pretty, key and more expensive books are. But I then ask if they have what I want (GA mostly). I look for those boxes and start flipping. Yeah. I end up impulse buying a little usually finding dealer mistakes and books that folks who can’t be bothered or have the patience to look for. Often, dealers have a box or two behind the table. I never come home empty handed. Yes, conventions and other forms of buying in person have changed. But, at a show, you get the “thrill of the hunt” and the discovery. You also get to converse with like minded folks. Catching up with friends and meeting new ones. Yes, a lot of great books turn up online. But a quiet, solitary, quick experience. I do that as well. But, like a slabbed 2 sided book, not much fun for your money. I much prefer examining books in person and taking them home that day. Edited April 1 by Robot Man adamstrange and jimjum12 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CCEC Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 I went back again on Sunday afternoon. Both parking garages were closed and I was directed to park across the street in the Disney overflow parking lot outside in the rain. The convention did not seem as crowded as Saturday, but yet the parking garages were closed. Go Figure. Dealers I talked to said the traffic on Sunday was lighter, but the purchases were larger. In some cases, total take for Sunday outpaced Saturday. I guess the explanation was the 3 day passes show up in the last couple of hours to pull the trigger. The Gold Silver area seemed like it had the most traffic in the final hours compared with the rest of the emptying exhibit hall. jimjum12 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hepcat Posted April 3 Share Posted April 3 On 3/30/2024 at 12:36 PM, Robot Man said: My observations… First off, BAD weekend for the show. Easter is a day spent with families. Dealers don’t want to travel. What on earth were they thinking? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
