Little Giant Comics Old School Comic Show - April 15, 2023 - Concord, NH 3 3

[bentbryan]

I’m helping Jim and Al today so say hi!

[g-man]

Any reports? Pics? 

[Dick Pontoon]

I think many of the dealers present didn't get the memo that post-pandemic prices have been dropping.

Edited April 16, 2023 by Dick Pontoon

[Ryan.]

On 4/16/2023 at 8:06 AM, MR. Pontoon said:

I think many of the dealers present didn't get the memo that post-pandemic prices have dropping.

Speaking of, there was one dealer discussing with another how he couldn't sell an ASM 129 because the current fair market value is lower than what he paid for the book. He, therefore, has no choice but to hold out to get his price. I guess that's the balance dealers will need to decide for themselves: profitability versus inventory turn.

[Kevin76]

A lot of dealers wanted slabbed prices for raw books, there's no guarantee that if slabbed, the customer is getting the assigned grade the seller sells it to you as. I've seen sellers who want double GPA for raw books and don't even put grades on them, That's ok though, they can take it back home with them  If sellers want graded prices for stuff, then they should get it graded.  

Edited April 16, 2023 by Kevin76

[g-man]

Glad I skipped it and enjoyed a round of golf instead. 

[KCOComics]

This is one of my favorite shows.  Aside from the show,  it's a great town that my kids and I have explored when we've made the trip.   

I missed it this year, but hope to be back next year. 

[universal soldier]

On 4/16/2023 at 6:54 PM, g-man said:

Glad I skipped it and enjoyed a round of golf instead. 

I did exactly the same. Seeing the pricing comments, I guess I chose wisely. 

I will have to get out to this show next year for sure though.

[Ryan.]

I enjoyed it. It's still a comics focused show. I only saw one cosplayer. 

[PeterPark]

I went to a few of these during the pandemic and they were great. Hearing the pricing issues makes me feel better about not making this one. Someone beat me to a four color 178 double cover at the last one I went to by seconds...what a find that book was...

[badback83]

I must’ve been looking at buying other stuff.  I was thrilled with the GA.  To be fair, I was not looking for silver or bronze keys, so maybe that’s where the “high” prices were for the most part.  I had a blast and will be making the show my yearly out of town trip.  
 

I bought the best Timely I’ve ever owned. 

[Dick Pontoon]

Welp, I'm a run collector buying '50s-'70s books and the majority of what I saw was on the high side and beyond of FMV, in some cases WAY beyond, as noted by Kevin76.

[alexgreece]

Just wanted to say thanks to Jason for putting on another great event. The room was completely filled with comic dealers/artists and it was a blast seeing our dealer friends and customers. While I can't speak for other dealers, I can say that we had an incredibly busy day of buying/selling/trading with the people who stopped in at our booth, and I bought books from 5-6 different dealers. There was one dealer in particular with tons of low grade Timely/Golden Age DCs that he had out for very reasonable prices, we only stopped by his booth late in the day on Saturday and he still had tons of great material. We will definitely be back and I highly recommend putting it on your list if you are a comic book fan! Thanks to everyone who stopped by to buy books or say hi, see you all at the next one!

 

Alex

Reece's Rare Comics

[alexgross.com]

On 4/16/2023 at 5:06 AM, MR. Pontoon said:

I think many of the dealers present didn't get the memo that post-pandemic prices have been dropping.

maybe 8-9 months ago there was a book i wanted on a dealers website. it was overpriced and i offered an over-market price but lower than ask. dealer politely told me he was into it for more than that and so passed. fast forward to 2 months ago, i check the site, and the book is now 32% cheaper than before. so i bought it. 

it must be very tough to be a dealer in times like these. when markets are up, (2021) if you price right, you can make a killing. but most folks need cash flow too, so unless they can live now on what they made a year and a half ago, they must lower prices sometimes past what they paid for books. i'm not a dealer but i have had to do that too this year on several books to raise cash to fund a purchase. some dealers slowly come down to reality, some faster than others. with all of the online selling competition these days, that process seems like it ought to be quicker. but re-pricing hundreds or thousands of books is a time consuming process. it's understandable if the sticker price is out of date. hopefully the good guys are open to market realities and willing to talk pricing at shows. 

[AustinReece_GRRC]

Obviously things are always a little different on our side of the table, but I thought the show was great and the value presented for $15 was unreal. You had wall to wall comic art and vintage comics from dealers such as Superworld,  Terry O’Neill, Al Stoltz, Harley Yee, Shelton Drum, Us, and many others. 
 

I think any show you go to you can find overpriced books, but we did almost as well as we did at C2E2 the weekend before. 
 

And I’ll echo my kudos to Jason for having a vision and making it a reality. He goes above and beyond to make the process easy for dealers and customers alike and it’s a big reason we want to support his show and others like it. 
 

Here are a few pictures of our booth from the show! And as an aside, if you see a book that you believe to be overpriced on our site or at a show, feel free to reach out to us and make an offer! It is incredibly tough to reprice hundreds or thousands of books and while we try our best, there are only three of us sailing this ship. I can’t promise we can accept every time, but we will always take a listen. 
 

-Austin

 

[ThothAmon]

On 4/17/2023 at 4:04 PM, alexgross.com said:

it must be very tough to be a dealer in times like these.

Businesses are like furnaces, always consuming, so cash flow is important. From what Reece’s comics said and confirmed by this photo surely they can make up for any individual comic losses with volume, n’est pas?  

 

Looked like a great event. Next year I’m definitely going to make it. 

[comicjack]

Thanks for the pics of lovely looking books 

[HouseofComics.Com]

Super cool show!

[G.A.tor]

On 4/16/2023 at 8:12 AM, Ryan. said:

Speaking of, there was one dealer discussing with another how he couldn't sell an ASM 129 because the current fair market value is lower than what he paid for the book. He, therefore, has no choice but to hold out to get his price. I guess that's the balance dealers will need to decide for themselves: profitability versus inventory turn.

I did the SC con this weekend and honestly I’m in the same boat. I repriced all my inventory to around current fmv. Many books I put out were upto 20% or more below my cost. Any that I was 25% or more upside down I left at home and will have to ride out. So I’m trying to balance turn versus hold. This was my first con since June 2022, so totally my fault for not keeping up with market. 

[manetteska]

On 4/17/2023 at 6:57 AM, DocHoppus182 said:

I must’ve been looking at buying other stuff.  I was thrilled with the GA.  To be fair, I was not looking for silver or bronze keys, so maybe that’s where the “high” prices were for the most part.  I had a blast and will be making the show my yearly out of town trip.  
 

I bought the best Timely I’ve ever owned.