Bobpfef's Chicago Con Report

[bobpfef]

This convention report is bound to be filled with lots of boring personal details and will deal with some third-rate comics. You have been warned

 

Anyway, this year the wife and family were staying back home because of a wedding. I somehow got to get out of the wedding and was allowed to go to the con by myself. Steve (143ksk) offered to share a room and I decided to splurge a bit and do the extra day and go to the preview night. I had saved up about $500 cash and with orders from the wife to "not go crazy" with the credit card I was off early on Thursday morning for the 8 + hour drive. I had been ill the previous two days and had barely ate anything. In fact I was looking so bad Wednesday night my wife suggested that I cancel. HAH! Not a chance! Luckily I was feeling better and the drive was pleasent.

 

I made good time, and only stopped once at an antique mall in Wisconson Dells. I picked up a Richie (from Happy Days) and Rocky (for Rocky and Bullwinkle) glass, a light purchase for me there.

 

When I went to the counter to pay the lady remembered me from all the previous trips I had made there, "You are that glass guy from Minnesota right? Where is your wife?" I was amazed they remembered me because I usually only get there once or twice a year. And I don't buy THAT many glasses

 

I got to area of the hotel near 3:30 P.M. Steve said he planned on being there around 3, and the doors for the convention opened at 5 so things were looking good, until I looked at the directions on how to get from the highway to the hotel. I couldn't figure anything out, went driving down some streets that were obviously wrong and ended up doing two or three wrong turns. I finally ended up near the Ramada where the Chicago Con used to be held (easy to find, you can see it from the highway and it looks like the Titan Tower). From there I could get to the convention center and the hotel, but now it was more like 4:30. I decided to bring my bags in and pick up my room key before going over to the convention. When I got to the front desk they said no one had checked in yet. Hum, Steve running late I asked if I could check in and they let me, even though the room wasn't in my name Went to the elevator and got in and the elevator went up. The elevator then opened up on 2 and Steve was standing there. I showed him where his room was, we dropped off the our stuff and then he checked in.

 

I had Steve look at the three copies of Sandman #50 Platinum I had. They looked virtually flawless to me, and I was going to submit the best one in hopes of a 9.6. Steve picked same one I had picked as best of the bunch and said I should get a 9.6 easily on it.

 

Steve also handed me some Walt Kelly Pogo comics I had been making payments on and had finally paid off. Man, I love these comics.

 

We chatted about Walt Kelly a bit on the way over to the show. Basically, the first appearance of Pogo should be worth a LOT more IMO. Walt Kelly is a huge pop cultural figure, and I can't understand why there isn't more demand for his work. Not that I am TOO upset about it, because it means the prices are low enough that I can actually afford something like Animal Comics #1. But Kelly has been out of the public eye for about 30 years now and interest has faded. At one point in the mid-70s Animal Comics #1 was a top 100 book, now I don't think it is in the top 2,000 value wise. Makes me wonder what will happen to Peanuts and Charles Shultz stuff in 30 + years. Steve argued that there is a lot more Peanuts merchandise, but there was also a lot of Pogo stuff too

 

Steve had a dealers pass so I left him to go wait in the cattle line. I wasn't too crowded and things went quickly. I found a few Our Gangs I needed, but I was mainly looking for "big" books that first night. I ALMOST bought a Superman #6 CGC 6.0 with moderate professional resoration for $400 from a new dealer (he said it was his first show). It would have taken up most of my money though and I said I would think about it. Then looking around his booth and saw an early Robin and Tomahawk (I LOVE Fred Ray's Tomahawk) Star Spangled. I asked him what he wanted for that. He looked it up in guide and said it booked at $210, "Make me an offer". I said $150 and he took it. I was happy to get the book, but it took me out of the running for the Superman.

 

 

I wandered around a bit more and found booth of Joe Sarno and Gary Colobuono. Gary was busy so I just looked briefly through his stuff (which was a BIG mistake) and went to talk with Joe. I talked to Joe about Forum dinner and the early Chicago cons. He was wonderful to chat with. Joe had an Walt Kelly Our Gang I needed and had a really nice Detective on his wall. I asked about the Detective and he had a very resonable price on it, so I took it.

 

 

 

I then found Krypton Comics where I had bought a bunch of early Lulu stuff last year. He didn't have anything on the Lulu front but I did find a copy of Animal Comics #3 and a Four Color #154 Andy Panda that was written by John Stanley. The early Andy Panda FC's are kinda tough so I was glad to get one.

 

 

By then I was really wore down. The long drive had caught up with me and I think I was still feeling the ill effects of being sick the previous two nights. I did happen to walk by Steve when he was at the Harley Yee booth just finishing up his deal for Pep #23. I was really shocked he found something from Harley, and I have never had any luck with him. Harley is a great guy and has a lot of nice books, but his prices are pretty aggresive and I am too cheap to buy from him. I know Steve is even cheaper than I am so I figure he must have found a low grade copy. He showed me the comic and there is a bit of damage right but the #23 on the cover, but it looked pretty nice to me.

 

Walked around with Steve for a bit and he told me Gary had some nice Lulu books for decent prices. I was so out of it by then I didn't know which Gary he was talking about. I asked him were the booth saw and he pointed the way, but I just didn't feel like moving. Steve was looking through some MLJ stuff so I started looking through a short box of Golden Age at, I think, All-American that was full of early Detectives, Action, Timely's etc. Almost nothing under $1000. Simply amazing stuff. I said "wow" outloud about 2 dozen times just going through that box.

 

Preview night was winding down. I had planned on going to get pizza, but was really too tired and Steve and I ate at the hotel restaurant. Then went upstairs and I looked at some of the comics he had. He had some really nice Lulu and Tubby stuff that he had bought from Gary. He said he left a bunch of it there for me to pick through, but I never did end up going through Gary's stuff. I worked out some deals for a few of the Lulu and Tubby's I needed, but I made a note to get back to Gary's booth asap.

 

I started to read a few of my purchases and I found out the Animal Comics #3 didn't have an Animal Comics #3 inside cover but an issue of Our Gang. So I read the Walt Kelly and Carl Barks stories in the Our Gang and made a note to return it to the dealer the next morning

 

The next day I got to the con early and was one of the first in. I RAN to Gary's booth but when I was there I saw Al Stoltz (Basement Comics) there going through the boxes and my heart sank. He had a HUGE pile of Lulu (and other stuff) pulled and I asked it that was his stuff even though I knew it was. He said yes and I think I said a bad word I was so mad I had been too lazy to go through the boxes the night before, when I had JUST been next door at Joe's. Grrrrr. Al picked up his grand worth of books and left. I started talking to Gary about the recent Comic Zone he had been on and ashcan comics, old Chicago convention, etc. He was great to talk to, a truly nice man. He also had some kick-[embarrasing lack of self control] deals on some books. I picked up a ton of Gleason books for $5 and $10 --I spent almost $200 at his booth and if the Lulu stuff was still there I am sure I would have easily spent ALL my money there. Here are some of the highlights, but this is only a small fraction of what I got from Gary. The FC #51 Bugs Bunny is a really early John Stanley book, and the WDCS are Walt Kelly covers.

 

 

I then made it over to Don Rosa collection. I picked out a decent cover late run Lulu and a Marvel Dennis the Menace #1 for my son. When I brought it home my boy was really excited, but he told to get the "real" #1 the next convention

 

 

 

I then hit Metro. They had a FC #74 Lulu on the wall, and I took a look at it. A bit over-priced but still a nice VG book. I had about 5 books pulled for me there as well. Last year I wanted to get a war cover book but didn't have any luck finding anything that wasn't really overpriced, imo. So I went through the Metro web site and picked out some stuff I thought was decently priced to take a look at. I ended up with this book, which I am happy with. I thought it was the most fairly graded out of all the ones I looked at and priced reasonably. While I was waiting for the credit card to be process (ssssshhh, don't tell the wife ) I chatted with Vincent about his radio show and tried to get him to release some of the shows on CDs so I don't have to be tied to a computer to listen to them. I also asked him about when Ian was going to be on his show and that lead to some interesting discussions

 

 

Then I went to Basement comics to see where my Lulu comics had gone . I taked to Al for awhile, he was a nice guy and has good tastes in comics. I didn't pick up much from him, but did get one of the few Lulu Giants I still needed.

 

 

I decided to check out and see if my Sandman #50 was graded yet at CGC. It turned out it was and I was really disappointed then they pulled it out of the box. Has to be one of the nicest 9.4's but not much I can about it. I guess I will stick with my lower grade older stuff I guess there is some law that says you have to be disappointed the first time you get something graded.

 

 

I was pretty much done for the night. I looked at some of the publisher booths and played a few video games. I picked up some stuff I knew my kids would like, like Madagascar posters and Pokemon stuff. I picked up Alex Robinson's new book and chatted with him a bit about Box Office Poison. He drew me two really cool sketches which I forgot to scan

 

Steve was going out to eat with a friend and I was so whipped that I decided just to take it easy and get a pizza delivered and read comics. It was a great night just relaxing and enjoying comic books.

 

Going into Saturday I only had $20 left. I visited some of the $1 book places and picked up some Batman Gotham Adventures I needed and got a good run of Gotham Central based on Scrooge's recommendation. A few small purchases here and there and I was down to $1 after about 30 minutes. I needed to save that to pay Rob React for a recent ebay win. I decided to see if they still had tickets for the panels, and after standing in the wrong line for 30 minutes I got tickets for the Star Wars and Miller and Lee panels. I sat through them and they were entertaining to nothing too earth-stattering. I crashed the Kevin Smith Q & A. He was very vulgar but very funny.

 

I went back to the room and got ready for the Forum dinner. I am going to cut and paste the next bit from my livejournal because I am too lazy to redo it.

 

My dinner with Maggie

I just recently got back from the Chicago comic convention, now called Wizard World (though *I* never call it that). I'll have a longer con report up pretty soon with lots of scans of comics and plenty of boring details, but I just wanted to post now about my dinner with Maggie Thompson!

 

Well, it wasn't just me, it was part of the CGC Forum dinner. I wanted to go last year but decided it wasn't worth the hassle (or the cost, $60 a plate) but everyone just kept raving about how cool it was on the CGC boards and this year Tina and the kids didn't come. There was a wedding that they were going to go to. I somehow got out of going to the wedding and got permission to go to Chicago by myself, though Desmond really wanted to come as well. It would have been fun to have him, and I thought about it, but I think he would have just gotten too bored with me digging through comics for hours and hours. I did promise him he can go next year though.

 

So, anyway, I was alone. I shared a room with a comic pal from MLPS, Steve, who is a big Archie collector. I decided this would be the perfect to go to the Forum dinner so I paid the $60 and Steve and I went down to the steak house around 7 P.M. Saturday. The person who was on the guest list that I most wanted to chat up was Maggie Thompson. I am a big fan of John Stanley and Walt Kelly and she has done some very good scholarship on the comic work of both men. Plus I knew her brother Paul from my small press days and so I thought I might be able to strike up a conversation with her. When I got there there were plenty of people mingling around, but I didn't know many of them and I just tend to sort of melt into the corners in crowded events anyway. But near the corner I was in Gary Colobuono (Moondog from those old Overstreet ads) and he had a bunch of his ashcan comics and showing them around. They were such cool historical documents, I was honored to get to look through them. Gary was great to chat with and is a really nice guy as well. Then I went to look at a Detective #1, #11 and More Fun #54 that were on the mantel place (yes, I was a little over my head comic wise).

 

When I was done with that I notice Maggie Thompson had come in so I stood around a little to wait for her to have a free moment so I could tell her how much I enjoyed her articles and research on Stanley and Kelly. It took awhile because everyone wanted to chat with her, but when my turn came I started talking to her about Lulu. I also mentioned that I was first turned on to John Stanley by her brother Paul. She wanted to know all the details about that and I went into the whole story about how Randy and I visited Paul one summer for a week or so and he had just gotten the newly released Another Rainbow Lulu set. I sort of made fun of Paul for have it, and he recommended I read it. I did, and was hooked. Anyway, we just started talking about all things John Stanley. It seems as if Maggie hadn't been keeping up on the current Stanley scholarship (which is basically trying to figure out with 50 year old comic he did or did not write) so I gave her the latest scoop on these "new" Stanley discoveries. I told her about FC #169, the first Woody Woodpecker solo comic, and how I have been looking for it for a few years, finally found one at that con but it was too much because it was in too nice of shape. That lead to discussions about how we both preferred lower grade comics because they were cheaper and we just wanted to read them anyway.

 

I gave her some gossip on Walt Kelly's Our Gang that she didn't know. We ended up talking about many obscure Kelly comics, of which she has a much better collection then I do. From there the conversion ranged to Old Time Radio, the Lulu art in the upcoming Heritage auctions and various other things. I was amazed that we chatted so much, and it was soon time to sit down for the meal. She and Brent Frankenhoff from CGC sat down at a table. Thinking she was probably bored of me now I was looking around for a place to sit, but she motioned for me to sit next to her so I did. For the next hour or so we talked about more Stanley and Kelly, Paul Curtis, small press, her Mom's house in Sagertown, her place in Wisconson, Harlin Ellison, cartoon glasses, early comic fandom, Minute Movies and just tons of other stuff.

 

The thing was so neat was it felt just like talking to Paul when I used to call him on the phone long distance when I was 15 and 16. He also had many cool stories and was great at keeping a conversion going. And Maggie name-dropped just like Paul. . One thing I thought was funny when we would be discussion some really obscure comic detail if I tried to correct some of her facts that she was sure were correct she would not back down. I would just give up after a few attempts at arguing my side. Funny thing, I looked up a few of the things I was SURE I was right about and it turns out she actually was correct. Let that be a lesson!

 

After dinner I fanned out and started talking with more of the other people, but always ended up back talking to Maggie. Around 1 A.M. she was asking me what were the 7 glasses in the Sunday Funnies series and was giving me a hard time when I could only come up with 6. Finally I was too tired to keep up with her and went to bed. However I made a point of stopping by the CBG booth the next day to let her know last glass I had forgot was Gasoline Alley. . I also showed her the FC #169 I had found. When the dealer saw Maggie looking at it he took $30 off. Sheesh. I need that kind of pull.

 

Anyway, that was my cool dinner with Maggie Thompson. Easily the highlight of the convention for me.

 

I also had a nice chat with Michael (Scrooge). I LOVE his taste in comics, even if he still likes Barks over John Stanley Those atom age books are so diverse and interesting. You just don't see many comics like that. He started showing off some of his recent purchases and I was amazed how cool some of those covers were. I love the one with the Octopus cover. I had to go upstairs and get some of my books to show off as well, and pretty soon or table was full of old comics.

 

Also chatted with Rob React a bit about early comic fandom, and with Dan (Flying Donut) a bit about Walt Kelly. I did some show and tell with a few other people who's names are slipping from my memory now. I wish I would have gotten around the chatted more, as there was so much going on. I think next year I'll take Steve up on his offer of a drink as it might make it easier for me to keep up with some of you guys. And seriously, we need name tags!

 

Sunday I got together some of the recent John Stanley checklists I had promise for Maggie Thompson and was planning on making a quick trip to the con as I was wanted to leave early plus I wanted to hunt down some of the hot dogs I missed on Saturday because my cell phone sucked and I missed the call. When I got to the CBG booth it turned out Maggie wasn't scheduled until noon so I just wandered around a bit. Talked with Rob a bit more, but he looked REALLY tired so I excused myself. I found a really nice FC 115 at Harley's booth and I broke down and got the credit card out. Harley really came through this year. I guess I am going to have to spend some more time looking through his stuff in the future.

 

Finally ran into Maggie and gave her the information and didn't get out until 1PM. The traffic was awful and I never did get my hot dogs so I have to make sure I get some next year.

 

Okay. That is enough. This post is long enough

[Larryw7]

Great report, and great books! Love that Detective!

[143ksk]

Great report Bob--even if you do think John Stanley is better than Carl Barks

[Sharkey]

Awesome report, Bob. You showed a few of these books at the dinner, but I see you were holding out on us!

 

The best thing about that dinner is hearing people like you discussing genres that I know very little about!

[Jeffreykli]

Fantastic Report! Bummer about the Sandman #50, though. Looks like another harshly graded modern.

[That Ron Dude]

Fascinating story Bob. The books that you show us are very exciting. It sounds as though you got some at good prices too. Congratulations.

[Fan4Fan]

Great report, Bob!

 

But, ya know, if you hadn't bought so many of those darned superhero books...

 

Thanks,

Fan4Fan

[tth2]

Nice report, Bob. I think you posted some Dell Bugs Bunny's before, and based on some of the covers and pages you showed, someone asked whether they were stories modeled on the Barks Duck travelogue/adventure stories, which I don't think you ever answered.

 

So I'll ask the question again, since the cover to the Bugs that you posted in this thread certainly looks like a Barks adventure story, and I'm intrigued. Are these stories that would appeal to Barks fans, and are they of equal quality?

[Scrooge]

Nice report, Bob. I think you posted some Dell Bugs Bunny's before, and based on some of the covers and pages you showed, someone asked whether they were stories modeled on the Barks Duck travelogue/adventure stories, which I don't think you ever answered.

 

So I'll ask the question again, since the cover to the Bugs that you posted in this thread certainly looks like a Barks adventure story, and I'm intrigued. Are these stories that would appeal to Barks fans, and are they of equal quality?

 

Hey don't abuse poor Bob for not answering your questions as it must have been I who posted those Bugs covers and IIRC, no they are certainly not as fun as the Barks travelogues, far less plot twists is my recollection and not the same chemistry between characters.

 

Now we should check out Our Gang as both Bob and Maggie were raving about those at the dinner.

 

Oh and ... Bob ... Barks rules.

 

Let me know if you don't like Gotham Central, I'd buy back the issues from you.

[HouseofComics.Com]

Great report! Loved hearing about your conversations with Maggie.

 

Marc

 

P.S.--Barks rules!

[bobpfef]

Nice report, Bob. I think you posted some Dell Bugs Bunny's before, and based on some of the covers and pages you showed, someone asked whether they were stories modeled on the Barks Duck travelogue/adventure stories, which I don't think you ever answered.

 

So I'll ask the question again, since the cover to the Bugs that you posted in this thread certainly looks like a Barks adventure story, and I'm intrigued. Are these stories that would appeal to Barks fans, and are they of equal quality?

 

Yes, I would say they would appeal to a Barks fan. Now understand I personally think John Stanley's best stuff were the shorter 8 - 12 page stories he did in the early Lulus and Four Colors, but the longer pieces are still quite good. I also like Barks short pieces more then his longer stuff, so take that for what it is worth. I don't think they are quite as wild as a good Barks adventure, but they are still fun and have some nice funny bits.

 

Stanley wrote many of the early Four Colors that featured characters from New Funnies like Andy Panda, Woody Woodpecker and Oswald Rabbit, because he did many many many of those stories in the New Funnies run. Pretty much every issue of New Funnies from around 80 to about 125 has at least one Stanley story in them, most have more. He also wrote a fair share of the early Bugs Bunny stuff in Looney Tunes. Anyway, when these characters were given there shot at a Four Color he wrote at least the first few of them. The art can be hit or miss, based on who was assigned to draw them, but the stories are solid. The Oswald FC #102 is written, many believe, by Walt Kelly, and is quite good too. I like the early Porky Pig FCs as well, they really do hold up as Barks type adventures, though I haven't been able to track down who wrote them.

[bobpfef]

Yes, I have to agree with Scrooge that the longer Stanley FC stuff doesn't have as many wild plot twists as Barks would put in. I always felt Stanley stuff is more character driven while Barks was more plot driven. Not that Barks doesn't have tons of great character interaction moments, but that to me is where Stanley shines.

 

Hey, I am not saying Barks isn't any good here people, just that I really like John Stanley's stuff. They are doing two different types of comics IMO.

[Sal]

Awesome report, Bob. You showed a few of these books at the dinner, but I see you were holding out on us!

 

The best thing about (this forum) is hearing people like you discussing genres that I know very little about!

 

i concur, with only slight modifications, having not been at the dinner.

 

these boards are a priceless resource for the knowledge-thirsty

[tth2]

Thanks Bob. I think I'll try to hunt down a few reader copies to see if I want to try to collect them.

 

Any particular Bark-esque Bugs issues you would recommend as a starter?

[comicguy96]

good report hopefully you had as much fun as i did at the show and at the dinner, hopefully see you in texas here soon or back at Chicago.

[bobpfef]

Fantastic Report! Bummer about the Sandman #50, though. Looks like another harshly graded modern.

 

No kidding. I mean, sure solid black cover is tough, but I've been some many 9.6 worse than that comic. Oh well. Back to low grade for me

[Bonds25]

Great report - felt like I was at the con with you!

[bobpfef]

Now we should check out Our Gang as both Bob and Maggie were raving about those at the dinner.

NOOOO! Wait until I have all the issues before I have more people start buying them up

 

Seriously, they are fun kid adventure stories that still hold up today, IMO. The art isn't as lush as Kelly's Pogo stuff but it is still quite good. I like how the kids grow up and evolve over the course of the series. If you want to read some to see if you like them I recommend The Comics Journal #296 (the one with a Craig Thompson Blankets cover) that just came out. It reprints three Kelly Our Gang stories in color, directly from the comics, not recolored like the DC Archives.

 

Any particular Bark-esque Bugs issues you would recommend as a starter?

I would recommend the one I posted, the FC #51. Bugs and Porky win an old chest in an auction, and when they open it up it is full of sailor stuff and diary. The diary talks about some hidden treasure that is guarded by a tribe of long lost ancient indians. The story goes on from there with a few twists and turns. The art is only decent, but the story is fun.

[thedude]

that was a really good report, LOVE that Action #66, that's also on my want list..that looks like a really nice copy too.. great report

[chrisco37]

Great report, Bob. Forum Dinners are great and everyone should attend if they can. Nice that you got to have such an extended conversation with Maggie. Such a nice lady.

 

No Alan Moore books?