Baltimore Comic-Con - October 28-30, 2022 - Baltimore Convention Center - Baltimore, Maryland. 4 4

[Terry JSA]

On 10/29/2022 at 9:21 PM, alexgross.com said:

where are all the pics of the booths and the books!?

I’ll take pictures of all the comic vendors and books tomorrow. 

[alexgross.com]

On 10/29/2022 at 6:41 PM, Terry JSA said:

I’ll take pictures of all the comic vendors and books tomorrow. 

glad you are having a nice time, very envious. make sure to include a selfie-- it's a rare boardie that is under 40 and not fat, bald, ugly, or all three! 

[Terry JSA]

On 10/29/2022 at 9:43 PM, alexgross.com said:

glad you are having a nice time, very envious. make sure to include a selfie-- it's a rare boardie that is under 40 and not fat, bald, ugly, or all three! 

I got you covered!

[aardvark88]

On 10/29/2022 at 6:43 PM, alexgross.com said:

glad you are having a nice time, very envious.

Baltimore Con day 1 with Jim Lee signing, artist alley, vintage comic books:

 

[djpinkpanther67]

On 10/29/2022 at 7:28 PM, Terry JSA said:

I didn’t get around to taking convention pictures, but I did a few take pictures of some very cool books. And before anyone asks, no, I did not buy any of these.

Buzzard Brothers

[djpinkpanther67]

Finally got to have a great chat with my favorite artist/writer of all time. 

Another scratch off the bucket list.

He probably thinks I’m a Stan though  
 

[Otter1775]

My picture of Rick Leonardi from Friday. The gentleman in the red polo was Steve, CGC volunteer witness. Awesome guy!!!!!

Edited October 30, 2022 by Otter1775

[lordbyroncomics]

If you can tolerate some antics now and then, including mocking a guy who watched my youthful cousin as he took a p*ss, I did make an effort to capture some "fly on the wall" glimpses of the show and did talk to a few sellers about how the show was going, etc. and essentially wanted to make it feel as if any chums who couldn't make it were sort of hanging out at the con with me.

 

[lordbyroncomics]

One of the people in my usual con-attending gang also posted this montage with some shots of the show floor and booths (and also, her Archie socks). I was making a concentrated effort to find some videos which showed clear and generous views of how the convention looks that weren't filmed by me or the friends I went with, but I think we'll see more of them after today:
 

 

Edited October 30, 2022 by lordbyroncomics

[Terry JSA]

I didn’t get to spend a bunch of time at the convention today, but I did take some pictures. Unfortunately I couldn’t get around to all of the comic vendors.

Shortboxed

 

Superworld Comics

 

Moving Pictures

 

High Grade Comics

 

Reece’s Rare Comics

 

Buzzard Brothers Comics

 

Graham Crackers Comics

 

Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find

 

Steve

 

Mike Carbo

 

Collector Supreme

 

Dave & Adam’s 

 

J & S Collectibles 

 

Basement Comics

 

Toy and Comic Heaven

 

Absolute Comics & Statues

 

Silver Age Comics

 

SSalefish Comics

 

ComicConnect / Metropolis Comics

 

Victory Comics

 

Big Lick Comics

 

SELFIE! Until next time Baltimore!

[alexgross.com]

@Terry JSA thanks for the great pictures! man there are a ton of legit dealers at this show. looks like a phenomenal con, a la terry's california show, and bigger. and thanks for the selfie, it's nice to occasionally see a young face at one of these shows and on the boards especially. 

[g-man]

How was business? People spending $ or lookie lou’s? Any big deals in books or art? 

[aardvark88]

On 10/30/2022 at 5:34 PM, g-man said:

 People spending $ or lookie lou’s?

 

[lordbyroncomics]

On 10/30/2022 at 8:34 PM, g-man said:

How was business? People spending $ or lookie lou’s? Any big deals in books or art? 

Speaking for myself, I spent nearly a couple g, the dealers I talked to all told me it was brisk and healthy (with one exception), I did chat with a guy in Saturday's queue who told me he'd specifically taken out enough money so that he could spend $50 at each booth! I guess we'll hear more info about how well it went trickle in now that the show has concluded. 

[FlyingDonut]

On 10/30/2022 at 8:34 PM, g-man said:

How was business? People spending $ or lookie lou’s? Any big deals in books or art? 

Insane. Over the top sales all weekend long.

[djpinkpanther67]

On 10/29/2022 at 5:56 PM, joeypost said:

Another BCC comes and goes. 
on the plane heading home.

The drive home yesterday was nearly two hours quicker than it was going up there. I was done when I got home…

 

[Foolkiller]

On 10/30/2022 at 8:34 PM, g-man said:

How was business? People spending $ or lookie lou’s? Any big deals in books or art? 

Really depends on who you asked.  I would say some dealers were down from 2021 pretty significantly, some reported being down from even 2019's show.  I know Donut said he did very well, and I think there were some dealers who did great.  Most of the folks reported having good shows, but nothing insane with the folks that I spoke with, but all were very happy with the general results.  

As I noted with New York and some of the other shows, I did not think the early pre show dealing was quite as electric.  Earl Shaw did well, but as a couple of the early folks noted who went through his stuff, you had to go through it carefully, so even if you pulled a big stack, you needed to review it.  But Earl had great stuff that was fresh and did well.  David Burns also had great stuff and a lot of pre-show action.  Al Stoltz had a terrific new consignment full of top census oddities and Jim Halperin and Doug Schmell amongst others made some nice piles.  Al was busy the whole weekend.  Most dealers reported the show did decent with the public if you priced well, but people were focused more on lower end material.  Comiclink got a fair number of consignments.  

There's no doubt people are still spending money.  I think it's shifted to the slightly lower end of the market and there's less of the frenzy.  Several of the flippers have disappeared, or at least have disappeared from spending large chunks.  

If you asked some of the older collectors and higher end guys with deeper pockets, most were being fairly conservative.  I know I was in terms of what I would spend on the floor.  I bought very few slabs, as most I thought were priced at the top of the market, with a few exceptions.  For the most part, you aren't going to get 'deals' on a show floor.  That's the reality of today's market.  There are several, of course, if you look, and upgrades chances as well and I know several of those in early seemed happy and found plenty to buy.  But I find you do far better in a less competitive and enjoyable environment at small regional shows.  

I know some folks have said either privately or where ever that many dealers have not adjusted to current pricing and I think that's really only slightly true.  Most dealers were very realistic, but on some stuff they're simply willing to ride things out.  Copper/80s stuff, most everyone has seemed to have gotten the memo that prices are dropping fast.  Depends on where you want to bail out now as I think there's little long term confidence in that market.  

[alexgross.com]

On 10/31/2022 at 8:46 AM, Foolkiller said:

Really depends on who you asked.  I would say some dealers were down from 2021 pretty significantly, some reported being down from even 2019's show.  I know Donut said he did very well, and I think there were some dealers who did great.  Most of the folks reported having good shows, but nothing insane with the folks that I spoke with, but all were very happy with the general results.  

As I noted with New York and some of the other shows, I did not think the early pre show dealing was quite as electric.  Earl Shaw did well, but as a couple of the early folks noted who went through his stuff, you had to go through it carefully, so even if you pulled a big stack, you needed to review it.  But Earl had great stuff that was fresh and did well.  David Burns also had great stuff and a lot of pre-show action.  Al Stoltz had a terrific new consignment full of top census oddities and Jim Halperin and Doug Schmell amongst others made some nice piles.  Al was busy the whole weekend.  Most dealers reported the show did decent with the public if you priced well, but people were focused more on lower end material.  Comiclink got a fair number of consignments.  

There's no doubt people are still spending money.  I think it's shifted to the slightly lower end of the market and there's less of the frenzy.  Several of the flippers have disappeared, or at least have disappeared from spending large chunks.  

If you asked some of the older collectors and higher end guys with deeper pockets, most were being fairly conservative.  I know I was in terms of what I would spend on the floor.  I bought very few slabs, as most I thought were priced at the top of the market, with a few exceptions.  For the most part, you aren't going to get 'deals' on a show floor.  That's the reality of today's market.  There are several, of course, if you look, and upgrades chances as well and I know several of those in early seemed happy and found plenty to buy.  But I find you do far better in a less competitive and enjoyable environment at small regional shows.  

I know some folks have said either privately or where ever that many dealers have not adjusted to current pricing and I think that's really only slightly true.  Most dealers were very realistic, but on some stuff they're simply willing to ride things out.  Copper/80s stuff, most everyone has seemed to have gotten the memo that prices are dropping fast.  Depends on where you want to bail out now as I think there's little long term confidence in that market.  

such a great, insightful and unbiased assessment of the show and the market right now.

in my short time here on the boards, i've learned that dealers here will either say any given show was insane, over the top sales, or they will say it was pretty good, or they will have nothing to say.

naturally it is against their interests to say publicly that a show was dead or the market is slowing down since that would result in more of us annoyingly lowballing them on our offers. and dealers who specialize in different stuff will have different results. 

 

[ttfitz]

On 10/29/2022 at 8:11 PM, Ron C. said:

The Miller "Gold" signing was supposed to start at 10:30 and this is where we were at 11:30. It took almost 2 hours of standing just to get into the room where Frank was signing. By then, he was so far behind for his panel that everyone was instructed "no chatting or photos".

 

Ah, that explains it - I went to the 1pm Miller panel, at 1:30 with nobody there and nobody bothering to tell us anything, I left to wash my hands before the George Pérez appreciation panel.

[ttfitz]

On 10/30/2022 at 2:08 PM, Terry JSA said:

Superworld Comics

I was sorry to find that Ted didn't make it with his crew this year. Always enjoy talking to him about all the books we wish we had bought back in the day before they all got so expensive. 

You know, old guy talk.