which comic con?

[idle-migration]

I don't know if this is out of the scope of what is normally talked about here, but I will relate my dilemma.

 

I live all the way in New Zealand. Access to comics here is complete [!@#%^&^]. The two comic shops in my city don't handle the comics well at all.

 

And we have no conventions to speak of. We have a pop-culture expo twice yearly in 2 different cities, but again, complete rubbish in the comics arena.

 

So I'm going to start saving my pennies to make a trip to the States for a few weeks. Primary objective - go to a real comic con.

 

Secondary objective - buy up large in back issues.

 

 

So what I'd like to know is:

 

- which con is best to go to for a con n00b like me?

- which con is nearest to other attractions that could make my visit to the states more than just a comic hunt?

- which con is closer to one or more large comic stores?

 

I'd like to get feedback from people that go to more than one con every year. If you only go to one con a year because it's local, then your opinion of which is best may not be the most helpful. of course, I will still value your feedback on the last 2 questions

 

 

I have come up with the following in my search:

 

San Diego comic con seems to be very big and popular

 

MegaCon is near lots of theme parks

 

Kansas City con has a really [!@#%^&^] website with spelling and grammatical errors throughout. It just looks amateurish.

 

But I'd like to go visit a store like Mile High or something that size while I'm there...

 

I appreciate any help.

 

[comicmankev]

Just letting you know that there are also regular marts with over 100 tables monthly in LONDON! These are very central and close to anthing you would ever want to see in London.

 

Just letting you know, I would personally choose the America trip, but the option is there!

[LordRahl]

Your best bet is San Diego comic-con. It's the largest convention of the year in one of the best cities in the U.S. Plenty of theme park attractions in L.A. 2-3 hour drive from downtown San Diego. I don't know much about the comic book stores in San Diego but you'll blow so much money at the con that you won't need stores. And San Diego really is a great town to visit, it's much more laid back than most of the other large cities we have. Kind of a beach town that got big but kept it's attitude. If you go to L.A. you'll see the difference. Wonder-con in San Fransisco and the Chicago con are also good bets and both cities have a lot to offer in terms of tourism.

[doyle033]

I go to a few of the "more" local ones to my area.. detroit(motor city), some tiny stuff in cleveland, once in a while something in NY... but this is the best one I have found

Pittsburgh comic convention

 

the two downsides for you are

1)the date being so close it would be tough to get it all together had you not planned. and since this year should be singularly cool with the dawn of the dead stuff going on, it may not be this neat again for a few years. Always a great show but this year extra great.

2)the date for other stuff to do. only a few minutes from local theme parks, and a few hours from lake erie and a world reknowned theme park (cedar point) but in April none of this stuff is an option.

still it is pretty central to alot of stuff and Atlantic City is only about a 5 hour drive. if you were into that it may be worth your while

good luck

 

[chromium]

Just letting you know that there are also regular marts with over 100 tables monthly in LONDON! These are very central and close to anthing you would ever want to see in London.

 

This has always been on my to-do list, a live about 4 hours from London, and have heard good things about Comicbook Marketplace at the Camden Centre...

 

The problem is that I don't really know how good the selection is, I'm mainly after low and midgrade raw Marvel Silver and Bronze and some cheap modern fillers.

 

How is the selection on those ? And what about the prices ? I don't want to end up paying $100 to travel to London and then find out that most of the stuff is overpriced or that there are no bargain bins to speak of.

 

Ideal situation would be to find about 100 bargain bin books and about 20 nice Silver/Bronze age ones...

 

I also noticed that Comicbook Marketplace fair is held 7 times a year, any dates better than others ?

 

Any other UK fairs/markets/cons that are worthwhile travelling to in the London/South East area. Bristol is just to far to visit in one day....

[Moriarty]

Harley Yee will be over from the US for the Camden event on Sunday, May 4th this year. Materials you're looking for are in plentiful supply, so don't hesitate.

[comicmankev]

The london fairs are great. If your going to make a special trip to do it then definately make it the Comic Book marketplace at the Royal National Hotel (Tottenham Court Road Station), The next one is on the 6th April, and then not til June/July time. Its run by the same people as the Camden centre one, just on a slightly larger scale.

 

As for your point on bagains, plenty of them! Especially if your not after high grade stuff. If you go to any of these pay particular interest to the Incognito comics stall, he usually has a half price sale on all back issues and can always drive a good bargain, as do most of them.

 

Lots of bargain bins for modern stuff and plenty of back issues. Theres always the odd dodgy stall dedicated to trading cards and Dynamic forces edition too, and for some reason they stick them right by the front door, but theres plenty more inside.

 

Any more info on this one, PM me as we are straying a bit from the original NZ thread!

[comicmankev]

I think it was Harley Yees stall at the last event that quite amused me. Whilst looking through the 'wall' items, Hulk 181, AS129 etc I came across an Action comics number #1 for £18,000. Now you don't see that much in London (or anywhere I don't imagine!)

[Moriarty]

You'll be surprised at how many copies of Action # 1 are available at the major US shows like SD & Chicago. £18k??? Isn't that a steal?? Harley does have a VG/F App 5.0 ® Trimmed priced at US$48k. Not that I can afford it. Ever!!!

[comicmankev]

Its probably the same on. £18k translates into about $30k and it was a low grade. I didnt even ask about resto, anyway, who carries that sort of money to a con

[delekkerste]

San Diego comic con seems to be very big and popular

 

I'm from San Diego and can vouch for the city's loveliness as a travel destination (however, don't count on a rocking nightlife...most of the city shuts down at 9pm). The Con itself is a huge spectacle - it's great if you want to meet creators from the big publishers, meet indie publishers, check out the latest toys & videogames, buy original artwork...as for finding back issues, there's a lot to choose from, but the number of dealers relative to the number of total exhibitors seems to be declining over the years. I don't think there's all that much more selection than you can find at the local New York shows.

 

As for comic stores, there's not all that much around...most of the stores still in business are in Clairemont (there's NOTHING anymore in North County), so when I'm in town, I now visit Comickaze for new issues and Southern California Comics for back issues - the latter is a comic book shop in what looks like a big storage unit. If you're looking for very high grade Moderns or mid-grade Silver, there's a pretty good selection.

 

Gene

[chromium]

The london fairs are great. If your going to make a special trip to do it then definately make it the Comic Book marketplace at the Royal National Hotel (Tottenham Court Road Station.

Any more info on this one, PM me as we are straying a bit from the original NZ thread!

 

Thanks for the info,looks like a great fair to visit, the May one is too early but maybe I'll take a hop skip and a jump across the channel in July.

 

I'll see if I can get some other European collectors to come along and make this an outing...

 

Oh, and don't worry about straying off topic, this is not straying , you should see the highjacking that goes on in other threads, I won't tell who the masters of the game are, but their names rhyme with Koochiekoo,Keggy and kickdog, and then there's that guy with the phoney military rank as well

[clarkkentdds]

I agree...It seems the San Diego show is now predominantly a multi media promotional extravaganza instead of a COMIC convention! The comic dealers are dwindling; probably due to the increasing fee for tables. I've talked to some regular dealers that already told me they won't be attending this year's show. Basically the internet allows better and cheaper exposure! A few years ago (before Ebay etc.) the show had way more dealers, and it was awesome to walk about the tables. I only slighty care about the other promotional stuff going on around the room. (Lots of eye candy!)

[idle-migration]

I did look at the pittsburgh con site and Dawn of the Dead was the very first horror movie I ever saw. it looks like it's going to be a great con this year, but I can't save up money for plane tickets that fast.

 

soonest I'll be looking at is 2004. I'm just "window shopping" now because they're all scattered over the year

 

but it has made my top 3 list.

[idle-migration]

thanks for all the replies so far... I'm still looking for more info

 

by the sounds of the SD con, it's a lot like our "pop culture" expos in NZ. I guess that's the way they have to go to pull in the punters which is not entirely surprising, but because this country is so small, the comics presence is a small corridor about 20 feet long. it's a waste of effort, especially with the door price of NZ$12 per day if that's all you are after.

 

also thanks for the info on the london events. I never even knew this existed and certainly having something like that monthly shows there's a big market there. but I'm afraid that london will suffer the same problems as NZ comics..

 

all the prices on the comics are in USD and all shops here before comic specialty stores existed would write the NZ prices in pen, grease pencil, marker, or stickers.

 

I want to come back with loads of comics that don't suffer these flaws

 

[FlComicFan]

San Diego is a very large show the biggest but like some others have posted its becoming more of a mutli media event than a comic con. Mega Con has the plus of being in orlando which is tourist heaven but the show itself is a San Diego on a smaller scale with comic dealers actually declining each year. Wizard World Chicago is quite good and most of the better comic dealers set up there it might be worth considering though I'm not sure how much there is for you to see in Chicago. The other very large comic shows would Wizard World Philadelphia and the Pittsburgh Comic Con

[FlyingDonut]

If you're just going to go to one, I'd recommend Wizard World Chicago - probably more comic book dealers than San Diego by now, and there are probably 100 comic shops in the Chicago area. I would bet that Chicago has the most number of comic stores in any metro area. Wizard World Chicago is at the Rosemont Convention Center which is about 10 minutes from O'Hare International Airport.

[Illiterati-migration]

and then there's that guy with the phoney military rank as well

 

You must be speaking of that fellow... what was his name.... "General Mayhem?"

[chromium]

I was thinking of General Failure, the guy always seems to read my disk ...

[idle-migration]

100 comic shops??!?!?!!!! wow.. there aren't that many in my entire country. in fact, I think that it's safe to say that number is 10 times the amount of comic shops in NZ.

 

sod tourist traps

 

now when wizardworld.com starts working again, I might be able to get some info from there.