What Was Your First Comic Book Convention? 6 6

[Tony S]

Chicago Comiccon 1978. Got signatures by artists on my books inside the book because no one got signatures on the cover front cover!!

 

[OtherEric]

My first con would have been a small show at the Seattle Center, I think late 80's but possibly very early 90's.  I know Roy Thomas was one of the guests, as he was the first creator I ever met, and at that point I had no idea how to talk coherently to somebody I admired.  It was the show where I got my first EC comic; not positive if it was Weird Science #18 or Mad #20.  I may have gotten both of them at that show, but I don't think so; I still have them both.  Although I did wind up selling the WS 18 when I sold most of my EC's in the early 00's to pay rent, I later ran across it from another dealer at a later show and bought it back... it was beat up enough that I recognized it as my old copy.

[djpinkpanther67]

1977 was my first con

Edited September 1, 2020 by djpinkpanther67

[cgcsketcherz]

First convention was a small one, Scranton Comic Con I want to say in 2011. Small, one ballroom but I met Darren Auck and picked up some original Rocko's Modern Life art and got a Rocko with Spunky sketch since I was reliving my childhood.

Also picked up Amazing Spiderman #8 and slabbed it years later to see that it was missing a add page, but still a respectable grade/price at the time.

First "real" convention was Baltimore Comic Con 2015 what a show! 

[dupont2005]

Can’t remember the exact year but it was right before Ultraverse was launched and they were giving away some Ultraverse swag at the door. Can’t remember the location either but it was relatively small, maybe Long Beach. I met Jae Lee there, he had the longest line so he must have been the main event. It was before he went to Image or right around that time. I had him sign a Namor comic 

[bpc3qh]

2003 Baltimore. Baltimore is still my favorite show to go to.

[sassemble]

Probaby went to a mall show (antiques or collectibles) in the late 1980s in Roanoke, Virginia. First small con was at Robbinsville, N.J. Only a few comic dealers, and mostly sports cards. Made a really good dealer friend there. I think my first big con was Comicfest in 1993 in Philadelphia.

[SSuperman]

Baycon 1977 / 78  SF Bay Area Kirby illustrated cover!  I met Mr. Frank Brunner , Days of Howard : - )

[goldust40]

First U.K. show I went to was at a place called Westminster Central Hall in London, in 1979 or 1980 - I was still at school at the time. As it happens the show was across the street from where my school was.

I went to a fair amount of London marts in the early 80s, picking up BA Marvels for the most part. These were the days of comics, even valuable ones, not having backer boards and often no bags either. I doubt there was anything in the way of Golden, or even Atom Age at the show. Probably zero. From what I can remember most of the Silver Age books would've been pence copies or had pence stamps. These were still the early days of British fandom, when even books like Hulk 181 or X-Men 94 were scarce, due to not being distributed in the U.K.

No recollection who any of the dealers were at that first show, apart from the one and only Paul Hudson (who used to dress like a punk for the occasion), who went on to run Comic Showcase, a West End comic shop that ran for many years and was one of the key hubs of the hobby. He's still around, posting on various FB comic-related groups.

First U.S. show was San Diego in 1995. Cost me a fair amount to get there, but at least the hotels at the time weren't extortionate. It was a revelation - vast, professional, corporate, easy to navigate, etc. I'd been away from the hobby for the better part of a decade but came back and started dealing full time the year before. Looking back I wish I'd known more about GA and Atom Age, but I got to meet all the regular circuit dealers, and bought a fair amount. Who knows what deals were there that I had no idea about.

I remember getting stuff signed by Neal Adams (remember, this was before CGC), and going to a Stan Lee panel in one of the smaller upstairs rooms. Great memory. I also attended the Eisner awards, where the man himself was the host. The awards went on for a wee bit too long, though.

SDCC was much more manageable then (only 40-50,000 attendees). My feeling at the time was that I'd missed out on the golden years of that Con, but I was still very glad I went.

 

[theCapraAegagrus]

My mom, and dad, took me to separate 'conventions' when I was 12.

[Jeffro.]

Late 70s. My dad took me to a show at the YMCA in (Hard Hittin') New Britain, CT. This was not a huge show by any stretch but as a 10 or 11 eleven year old, it might as well have been San Diego Comic Con  Walked out of there with a small pile of DC war comics. All of which I still have. 

My dad was pretty cool about that stuff. A few years later in a used bookstore he bought me a big pile of Richie Rich comics that were priced at a quarter a piece.

[piper]

Motor City Con probably around 1991/92.  I was in University and didn't have a lot of money, so I purchased quantity over quality.  I didn't bother even looking at the wall books.  I don't recall going to any panels or seeing any celebrities.

[badback83]

Buckeye Comic Con in 2007.  I was 24, fresh back into collecting after about a 10 year hiatus.  Bought a X-Men 1.  Had it graded within a year, came back a 3.0.

[Flee-Marquette]

Around 1989/1990 I went to a show in a hotel in Dallas. Not sure what the name of it was. Dallas Fantasy Fair or D-Con or something like that. I was in town hitting pawn shops for guitars and saw an advertisement for the event.  I swung by the show and wound up buying a couple of nicer copies of IH 102. That kinda renewed my interest in comics and I started stopping by  the Lone Star comics stores whenever I was in town and picking up the Silver Age comics that I remembered.

. 

[F For Fake]

My first comic "shows" were held at the local shopping malls. They'd happen a couple of times a year, and I loved them. I remember shelling out $4 for a really nice copy of UXM 137 (Death of Phoenix) and thinking that was a LOT to spend on a comic. At another show I traded my Alf #1 to a dealer for a bunch of X-Men comics, I felt like a wheeler dealer!

Our first real convention was DragonCon 1997. My friends and I had all turned 20, or thereabouts, and it had never occurred to us to drive to a big show. Atlanta is about 6-7 hours away, so we made the trip. Comics were just a small part of the show, but I'll still count it. This was back when D-Con was much smaller. I remember when we got there, we just walked right up and got our badges, there may have been 3 or 4 people ahead of us. I think attendance was around 15,000? Nowadays I think they pull over 50,000. We went back to DragonCon every year for several years after that, and the wait to get badges became an hours-long affair. Three or four hours of standing in line in a ballroom. I haven't been in about 10 years, hopefully they've figured that out by now. Everyone got old and got married, and taking the wife to that show is just not as much fun as it was hanging with the guys, so I haven't been for a while. Maybe we'll get the crew back together when we turn 50 and do a victory lap.

We fell in love with DragonCon because it was such a great freak show. It was a 24 sexy nerd party. So many hazy, altered state memories. So many bad decisions that made for good stories that I can't tell here. What a blast.

So, having conquered Atlanta, we decided that we'd up our game and go to SDCC in 1998. We were amazed by how tame it was, having enjoyed the excesses of DragonCon. It was practically a sleepy family show. Yawn. However, there was no question that it was a terrific comic book show. I met pretty much everyone in comics I'd ever wanted to meet, all in one place. Los Bros, Chris Ware, Seth, Archer Prewitt, Joe Matt, and yeah superhero people too. What a great time. It wasn't a drink and drug fueled freakshow, so it was a bit dull in that regard, but as far as meeting comic pros and buying stuff, it was terrific. I paid about $100 to ship back a giant box of all of the stuff I bought. Statues, Japanese toys, etc. We went to the Eisner Awards, which was neat. I met Bob Odenkirk in an elevator. It was a good time. 

That was the only time we did SDCC, and I'm satisfied with the experience. I don't think I'd have much use for what SDCC is these days.

Nowadays I only go to local-ish shows. I really enjoyed Lexington Toy & Comic Con until the last couple of years, as it too got too big to be fun. I'm happy they've had such success, but I don't want to wade through 25,000 people waiting to get Chuck Norris' autograph. 

My favorite nearby show (about 3 hours away) is Gem City Comic Con in Dayton. Just comics. No washed up child actors, no wrestlers, no power rangers, just people buying and selling comics. I usually get some great deals there. I used to really enjoy the Cincinnati Comic Con, which was created as an alternative to Cinci Comic Expo, but it only lasted a few years. The Cinci Comic Expo is itself a fun show but once again, it's just too many people. You may notice a theme here.

[Marty Mann]

[Mike Bray]

Would have been about fall of 1982 at the old mall in Bowling Green Ky. , it was a combo comic and card show put on by James Miles who had a shop in the mall - called "Books and Buttons" , he also made custom buttons too . The next November I decided to get a table and started the crazy life of a part time dealer at 15 , and still going after 37 years and hundreds of conventions …. the good life ...

[Robot Man]

57 minutes ago, Flee-Marquette said:

Around 1989/1990 I went to a show in a hotel in Dallas. Not sure what the name of it was. Dallas Fantasy Fair or D-Con or something like that. I was in town hitting pawn shops for guitars and saw an advertisement for the event.  I swung by the show and wound up buying a couple of nicer copies of IH 102. That kinda renewed my interest in comics and I started stopping by  the Lone Star comics stores whenever I was in town and picking up the Silver Age comics that I remembered.

. 

If you are looking for pawn shops with guitars in TX. Hit Austin. Big music scene and lots of down on their luck musicians. Scored a nice Telecaster there about 8 years ago. 

[Robot Man]

3 hours ago, goldust40 said:

First U.K. show I went to was at a place called Westminster Central Hall in London, in 1979 or 1980 - I was still at school at the time. As it happens the show was across the street from where my school was.

I went to a fair amount of London marts in the early 80s, picking up BA Marvels for the most part. These were the days of comics, even valuable ones, not having backer boards and often no bags either. I doubt there was anything in the way of Golden, or even Atom Age at the show. Probably zero. From what I can remember most of the Silver Age books would've been pence copies or had pence stamps. These were still the early days of British fandom, when even books like Hulk 181 or X-Men 94 were scarce, due to not being distributed in the U.K.

No recollection who any of the dealers were at that first show, apart from the one and only Paul Hudson (who used to dress like a punk for the occasion), who went on to run Comic Showcase, a West End comic shop that ran for many years and was one of the key hubs of the hobby. He's still around, posting on various FB comic-related groups.

First U.S. show was San Diego in 1995. Cost me a fair amount to get there, but at least the hotels at the time weren't extortionate. It was a revelation - vast, professional, corporate, easy to navigate, etc. I'd been away from the hobby for the better part of a decade but came back and started dealing full time the year before. Looking back I wish I'd known more about GA and Atom Age, but I got to meet all the regular circuit dealers, and bought a fair amount. Who knows what deals were there that I had no idea about.

I remember getting stuff signed by Neal Adams (remember, this was before CGC), and going to a Stan Lee panel in one of the smaller upstairs rooms. Great memory. I also attended the Eisner awards, where the man himself was the host. The awards went on for a wee bit too long, though.

SDCC was much more manageable then (only 40-50,000 attendees). My feeling at the time was that I'd missed out on the golden years of that Con, but I was still very glad I went.

 

SDCC was my “local” show. I attended from the third show up until 5 years ago when I gave it up. Just about every major dealer set up there. Used to be so laid back and such a blast. Has totally lost it’s “vibe” now. 

I also used to travel up to the Bay Area for shows like the Berkeley Con and later WonderCon. Also great shows. 

[comicjack]

3 hours ago, theCapraAegagrus said:

My mom, and dad, took me to separate 'conventions' when I was 12.

You had great parents