2024 New Orleans Fan Expo -- A Report And Review 2 2

[ChiSoxFan]

Hello, everyone!    I've never done one of these, but I used to remember seeing other boardies doing show reviews that they attended, so -- for whatever it's worth -- I thought I'd post a report of my experience this weekend at the New Orleans Fan Expo, formerly known as the Wizard World New Orleans show back in the day.  Due to a number of factors, I hadn't been able to attend a show locally since it had been associated with Wizard World until this year -- and man, is it a lot different than what I remember it being like back then.

A note that the word "comic" isn't in the name of the show, and it didn't take long to guess why once my wife and I entered the show yesterday.  We got to the Convention Center right after the doors had opened, and there was already a good crowd amassing.  The first thing I noticed was the way we entered was far different than what I remembered.  We'd bought tickets in advance, and once our printed receipt was scanned, we then had to use our phones to scan a VR code to "register" (which was just a way, I'm sure, of the show's organizers to get personal info for future marketing -- the only thing relevant otherwise was a question as to what genre brought one to the show).  After filling this out on the phone, we then had to move along to another area to receive our badge (which did not come with a lanyard -- there were different types available for $5 each, which I thought was audacious considering the price of admission to the show).  After getting those, we were funneled tp yet another checkpoint where the badges were scanned, and we were granted entry to the hall.  Overall, I felt like part of a herd of cattle -- we were moving though waiting areas crowded with people typing furiously on their phones, bumping into one another, with show workers shouting out instructions as to what to do to move on to the next point to get in.  I guess I'm old-fashioned, but I felt like I was doing all of the work to get into the show.  I don't mind self-checkouts at the grocery store, but for a convention experience where the ticket prices (if you didn't pay in advance) were $60 for Adults, $50 for children over 13, and $12 for children under that (Friday and Sunday prices were lower, but not by a lot -- Friday was $38, but the show was only open from 3-8 PM).  There were VIP packages and a three-day pass and family packages available as well -- none of which were cheap.

Once we got into the hall, there were a LOT of exhibitors -- 106 if the count on the map was accurate, and the floor was crowded.  By the time mid-day rolled around, it was getting to be legitimately difficult to move through the walkways, which were pretty well-spaced out.  As many people that were there, though, it didn't look as if there were that many people walking around with things they had purchased, which made me wonder how the vendors were doing at this show (something I got a little more insight on today).

What I immediately noticed was that there's a good reason why you don't see the word "Comic" in the show name -- and that's because it really isn't a comic book show, or at least not one in the way I like them to be, or in the way I remember them to be (including this one, when it was under the Wizard banner).  There were precious few comic book dealers -- less than 10 by my count, most of them in what was the same general area of the hall (though at least one good-sized dealer was located across the hall and away from them).  It took us a good 20 minutes or so of walking and searching before we found the first dealer, though many of the other ones were withing their area and easier to locate atterwards.  What I noticed immediately (and knew already after looking at the vendor list briefly leading up to the show) was the lack of dealers I'd seen in previous years in New Orleans.  In the past, I'd seen (and purchased) from a number of major dealers whose names are very familiar to posters here:  Bob Storms (High Grade Comics), Greg Reece (who is retired, I believe, but whose business is now being run by his sons), and Dale Roberts.  I've dealt with all of them at one time or another recently and in the past (and I have nothing but good to say about them), and not seeing them was a disappointment.  The only "large" comic dealer who I recognized who was there was Harley Yee (who everyone here knows, I imagine), who was set up and, as it turns out, held a unique position (positive) of all the dealers I visited.

All of those empty hands we'd seen walking around in the huge crowd may be the reason why those dealers from years past weren't at New Orleans this year (and may not have been for a while -- as I said, it's been a number of years since I'd attended the show).  Talking with vendors on Sunday, a number of them -- both the comic dealers and the non-comic dealers -- indicated that the show had not been necessarily good for them (when I would set up at a show, I was always coy about how well I did, but I never said I was having a rough show even if I was -- the fact that some vendors were admitting that rang true, and it didn't seem like a sales tactic to elicit some type of sympathy purchase).  For the record, there were vendors selling just about everything under the sun.  There were plenty of Funko dealers, a number of dealers selling collectible toys, plenty of art dealers (not talking about the actual artists at the show -- these were people doing other art, like the vendow with sketches of horror icons and other celebrities).  A dealer was selling vinyl, wearable masks that were incredibly lifelike, and someone else had metallic plates of pop culture icons that looked fantastic in the light that reflected off of them (I almost bought an Animaniacs one from them).  There were dealers with weapons (swords, kitanas, and the like), and you could even get your own "One Ring" from LOTR made at one booth.  Lots of neat stuff, but very few actual books, which is what someone like myself would be looking for.

There were a handful of comic creators there I recognized (Brian Azzarello, Jae Lee, Michael Golden, Stephen Platt, Tony Harris, and Terry Kavanaugh were some of those I knew), and I bunch who I had no clue who they were (which is more of a reflection of me, I suppose, as I know very few modern creators).  There were a ton of celebrity guests there, but as seems to be the case at shows now (from what I've read from other reports in the past), a lof of these guests have very tenous connections to comics, if at all.  All of the Hobbits from LOTR were there for this show (Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan, and Billy Boyd), the awesome Bruce Campbell, and a bunch of Terminator actors/actresses (Linda Hamilton, Lance Henriksen, Michael Biehn, Robert Patrick, and Edward Furlong), but none of those are really "comic book" people, are they?  Only a couple fit that bill (Charlie Cox from Daredevil might have been the most fitting of being there), while some were just ... strange to see (why is Randy Quaid at a comic show -- I thought he was still hiding out in Canada, lol).  Fiitingly, it seemed like a fit for a show that doesn't have "comic" in its title -- a lot of people and things at this show that made an old-timer (and I guess that's what I am at this point, lol) like me want to ask, "Why are you here?".

As far as the actual comic dealers went -- Harley had a nice selection of books, was friendly (though there were times he seemed preoccupied with his phone, which worried me with some of the books that he had out in plain sight and in boxes).  He gets immediate points as the ONLY dealer who had both prices AND grades on his books.  You would think -- or at least I would --  that having your books graded would be a no-brainer (unless you have discount $1 or $2 boxes, which I did see at a couple of dealer tables) -- but Harley was the only one who had grades on his books.  I didn't grab anything from him, but I was looking for certain raw books and slabs, and despite his nice selection, he didn't have what I was looking for this weekend -- but points to him for being professional.

One other dealer had prices and a grade "range" on their books.  For example, a book might have been priced $30 with another sticker that said "5.0-6.0" on it.  All of their books were marked with a grade range, and all of the ranges were a full point, no more, no less.  I imagine the rationale behind it was "grading can be subjective, and a point either way should cover the difference between two people's grading standards", but it threw me off.  I'm by no means perfect when I grade, but if I'm buying, I'd rather see someone's opinion on the grade and judge for myself if the book is accurately graded in my eyes, overgraded, or undergraded and go from there, rather than deal with a range.  When I sell here, I don't expect everyone to agree 100% with every book I've ever graded, but since I'm sticking to a constant, it's easier for everyone that I did, so I can be told what someone believes (especially if they think I'm wrong in some way).  The range threw me off, and I didn't really spend a lot of time checking out what they had.

There were other dealers with prices on books, but no grades whatsoever -- including one dealer with what I thought might have been one of the nicer set-ups of books there.  I looked through their boxes, and they had a nice selection of raw Silver and Bronze.  But I'm not going to grade through a bag and without looking through the book more closely and/or at the back.  If it were just a single expensive book I wanted to buy, asking them to remove it (all the bags were taped shut and not the bags with the resealable flaps), then that would be one thing, but having to do that for 20, 30, or 50 books possibly?  Too much trouble, and while I probably could have put a stack together if things wer different, I ended up getting nothing from them.  For what it's worth, a grade on each book would have allowed me to check the condition of a couple of books and, if those books were graded what I thought was accurately, I could have skipped doing so on a larger stack, since I would presumably trust that they would be accurate.  Again, this isn't talking about books that are $1-5 -- we're talking books marked anywhere from $20-$25 upwards over $100, so they're definitely books that you wouldn't want a surprise later on with.  Maybe I'm expecting too much?  Possibly, though when I did my last show a number of years ago, everything I had that was in a $1 box was individually graded and prices -- and that entailed at least 20-25 long boxes of books.  Effort spent = rewards, I would think.

This one dealer was also an interesting case of the downturn in prices in the last couple of years following the COVID spike in prices and how it affected their pricing.  Other than Harley (whose prices seemed justifiable in the books I did look at, and who admitted to another customer at the table that he would be willing to work with them on what they were looking at, since he said there were books he hadn't gotten to repricing down after those price drops), almost EVERY dealer I saw had inflated prices on what they had for sale.  The few slabs I looked at were almost always WAY over GPA and in the range of the COVID peak numbers.  The dealer I referenced in the paragraph above had a FF #5 in 4.0 that I was interested in.  His price was slightly inflated (even for as major a key as FF #5 is), but he wasn't willing to budge a penny on the book.  After talking with him for a bit, he said he had bought the book for pretty much what he had it marked at during the price spike, hence the no wiggle room).

In the end, I DID pick up two nice beauties at the end of the show from a dealer I'd seen on Saturday, but who didn't have these slabs (and a number of other higher-end books) out anywhere (they said they didn't think anyone was looking for high-end books).  I'm glad they offered what they had hidden away up, and I got two really nice pickups at what I thought was a really good price for the pair, a Sub-Mariner #1 CGC 9.2 and a Journey Into Mystery #83 GRR CGC 8.5. 

I have a lot of pictures to post, but the computer is acting wonky, so I'll try to add those in afterwards.  My verdict on the show?  It had a happy ending for me, obviously.  Did we have fun?  Sure -- it was fun talking comics with some of the dealers, and there was a lot to digest over the show.  Will I go next year?  Eh .... maybe not.  I'm not sure the comic showing is strong enough to warrant it.  We're hoping to go to Heroes-Con in Charlotte in June instead.

If you read all of this, then congrats! 

 

[ChiSoxFan]

[ChiSoxFan]

[ChiSoxFan]

[ChiSoxFan]

[ChiSoxFan]

[ChiSoxFan]

[Shadow]

Looks like what Motor City Con has become. Fewer comic dealers since COVID and that was actually declining for a few years before. I traveled to Baltimore this past year and it was far better in regards to Comic Dealers. Plus I usually go to C2E2 to catch Bob Storms and Dale Roberts. (I guess I could just order online but not as fun as in person) 

Thanks for the report on New Orleans! I went to a couple Wizards (in Chicago) back in the day but didn't like the cost and path they were on. 

[ADAMANTIUM]

That's been the same entry process for me, for several years. Getting there early to do the rigamarole does help you be ready for when doors open. Usually the amount of dealers is offset by the sheer number of books those few dealers have, in some cases. I've always only taken pics of the comic dealers first, which only fills up two boards pages worth of posts, then it's everyone else, so results may vary.

Yes in person is the best, I feel you on wiggle room. There just doesn't ever seem to be a lot imo.

Idk if it is what I'm looking for or if it is hard for dealers to find? But even bronze and copper books are hard to pony up. I usually can get a little less than 10% off on a $150 comic. Maybe $10 off, which I DO pony up for, but when I'm settling for what's available in grade of specifics I'm looking for?

I figured that is more my problem than the dealers. Lol

Of what I can afford to begin with haha it is a struggle to find a "deal" at a con, and especially on those steady sellers. If I don't pony up, someone else will. That kind of thing.

Cons seem to be more about the experience and it's new every time you go, so don't feel outdated.

"About the experience" also means it takes experience to not just be over zealous. 

There @ChiSoxFan is a wall of text in response, I'm glad you made out, but yay for effort at the least and maybe there'll be more up your alley in the future. Yes in person and attending with others is fun, and celebrities make for fun too, as long as there is comics, comics, comics. The dealers you show, show common sellers, which you may be in the boat I am and already own it

Edited January 8 by ADAMANTIUM

[JTD]

Great report!…

 

Kind of off topic, does anyone know if Harley has a personal collection or does every comic that comes through his hands have a price?

[BuscemasAvengers]

Thanks for the report, Randall.  It's a wonder they didn't also charge you for WIFI and oxygen use. Geesh! Would you say the vendor who had 1 point grade ranges for his raw books listed prices that were more at the higher end of that range?

[lizards2]

Great report. For what it is worth, I'm getting tired of the people around here not grading their books either. 

I've got a new policy - if you don't have a grade on your books, I'm not looking any further in your thread. 

[blazingbob]

Sorry for my short reply.  I loved doing New Orleans but it was always to travel,  enjoy the local cuisine and hopefully make some money.   

Unfortunately,  I don't make money at the show,  therefore I don't do it.  

If I want to give away $3500 for free I can do that behind my computer and not drive to Louisiana which is what I'm in the hole at minimum to do a show.  
It is nice to see that Fan expo finally is asking their attendees why they are there.  

I would love to see a breakdown of responses to see what percentage of the show is there to buy comics.  

[ChiSoxFan]

On 1/8/2024 at 8:17 AM, BuscemasAvengers said:

Thanks for the report, Randall.  It's a wonder they didn't also charge you for WIFI and oxygen use. Geesh! Would you say the vendor who had 1 point grade ranges for his raw books listed prices that were more at the higher end of that range?

I didn't look through a lot of what they had, but the handful of things I was looking closer at, the prices seemed to be higher than what I would have thought was around "market value" for the high end of what they graded it at.  As an example, if they had an issue listed as a "6.5-7.5", the price on the book more reflected what an 8.0 or and 8.5 might have been listed for.  So to me, that was a double-whammy -- potentially overgraded and likely over-priced to me didn't give a lot of room for negotiation, even if I'd wanted said book (or books).

The inexpensive boxes I saw -- everything $1, $2, or $5, for example -- likely did have a lot of decent deals mixed in with the not-so-exciting stuff, but I wasn't looking for those types of books at the show.  Higher end books I was looking for were much higher.  I was looking to possibly snag an ASM Annual #1, for example, but no one had one in a grade I would have wanted (6.0 or higher).  Out of curiousity, a dealer had a 3.5, and I asked what the price was -- I want to say that they had it marked somewhere around $1200, which would have been way too high, if I'd been interested, to even start a conversation about a price for negotiation.  Another dealer I had asked about concerning some McFarlane ASM's in the 300's (not the #301) had quoted me various prices on Saturday that were in the ballpark of what I thought was FMV, but when my wife went back on Sunday without me to check them out again, he quoted prices that were MUCH higher than he'd told me the day before.   I don't know if that was because he didn't know she was with me (she hadn't been at the booth when I'd asked the day before), and he was quoting different prices because she was a female (and maybe there was a stereotype that she didn't know any better), or if he'd actually raised his prices on the last day of a three-day show, but in any case, that was a potential sale lost, so that was a funny bit of pricing going on that meant I wasn't picking up something I'd considered the day before. 

All in all, other than the last dealer -- who was not only reasonable in their pricing, but also willing to deal -- I found almost everything to be higher-priced than what I would have been comfortable paying.  Granted, that might be me looking to be cheap -- I certainly don't begrudge a dealer asking what they feel they need to -- but a lot of stuff that might have been of interest were non-starters for me due to the lack of grades/high prices. That last dealer I got the Subby and the JIM GRR from had a few other books that I would have happily added if I had been more willing to open up the wallet more (my wife gave me the final approval on getting those two, and I didn't want to push the envelope with the real boss of the household! ).

[ChiSoxFan]

On 1/8/2024 at 9:30 AM, lizards2 said:

Great report. For what it is worth, I'm getting tired of the people around here not grading their books either. 

I've got a new policy - if you don't have a grade on your books, I'm not looking any further in your thread. 

Thanks.  I tend to ignore threads that don't have books graded as well, so I hear you on that.  I might not agree with someone's grade (and I'm sure I've listed things over all of my time here that someone looked at my thread and disagreed with my grade on it as well), but putting the grade on a book for sale at least gives you something to start with as a reference, whether that's on price or on a discussion as to whether that grade might be accurate.  

[Get Marwood & I]

On 1/8/2024 at 12:41 AM, ChiSoxFan said:

What I immediately noticed was that there's a good reason why you don't see the word "Comic" in the show name -- and that's because it really isn't a comic book show, or at least not one in the way I like them to be, or in the way I remember them to be (including this one, when it was under the Wizard banner). 

Nice report 

I've done a few myself for the big conventions in the UK and it's surprising to see how similar they are to those in the US which I would have expected to have more comics. I can see how certain people would find them fun, but as an actual comic collector, I long since gave up on them. 

[ChiSoxFan]

On 1/8/2024 at 9:47 AM, blazingbob said:

Sorry for my short reply.  I loved doing New Orleans but it was always to travel,  enjoy the local cuisine and hopefully make some money.   

Unfortunately,  I don't make money at the show,  therefore I don't do it.  

If I want to give away $3500 for free I can do that behind my computer and not drive to Louisiana which is what I'm in the hole at minimum to do a show.  
It is nice to see that Fan expo finally is asking their attendees why they are there.  

I would love to see a breakdown of responses to see what percentage of the show is there to buy comics.  

I completely understand.  New Orleans has a lot to offer outside of the show, but if you're looking to make money and you're selling higher-end books, it's likely going to be a loss for someone doing so.  I remember you had an amazing selection of books when I saw you at the last show I was at that you were, and I just didn't see buyers like that while I was at the show that would have appreciated what you would have had to offer.  As you pointed out, you can sell off of your website easily and not leave your home and make more money that doing all of the work and putting in the expense that setting up at a show requires.  If you're setting up at Charlotte, and I end up making that trip, maybe I'll see you there. 

I don't know what good the survey they gave is going to do, but I'm guessing based on who I saw wandering the hall this weekend that the vast majority of people who answered put down something other than "comics",  It's a vicious cycle, unfortunately -- dealers don't do the show because they're not making money due to a lack of actual buyers, and the potential buyers in the area (like myself) don't go to the show because we know there won't be dealers with actual comics worth buying.  I don't know how that changes, unless the show organizers think it's an issue and offer an incentive for more comic dealers to do the show -- which I'm guessing is something that won't happen.

 

[ChiSoxFan]

On 1/8/2024 at 10:29 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

Nice report 

I've done a few myself for the big conventions in the UK and it's surprising to see how similar they are to those in the US which I would have expected to have more comics. I can see how certain people would find them fun, but as an actual comic collector, I long since gave up on them. 

Thanks, and that makes sense.  We had fun at the show, and it was neat to see all of the other different things that were available for sale, even if it wasn't anything I would have been interested in buying.  If there had been, let's say, double the number of dealers I saw (which would have been another 8-10, let's say), and they had been well-set up dealers (like the major ones I mentioned, or other dealers similar to them), then I would have said the show was a hit.  But as I said in my write-up, there's a reason why "Comic" isn't in the show's title -- it simply isn't a comic show.  The comics almost seem to be like an afterthought, and that's unfortunate. 

[blazingbob]

On 1/8/2024 at 12:07 PM, ChiSoxFan said:

I completely understand.  New Orleans has a lot to offer outside of the show, but if you're looking to make money and you're selling higher-end books, it's likely going to be a loss for someone doing so.  I remember you had an amazing selection of books when I saw you at the last show I was at that you were, and I just didn't see buyers like that while I was at the show that would have appreciated what you would have had to offer.  As you pointed out, you can sell off of your website easily and not leave your home and make more money that doing all of the work and putting in the expense that setting up at a show requires.  If you're setting up at Charlotte, and I end up making that trip, maybe I'll see you there. 

I don't know what good the survey they gave is going to do, but I'm guessing based on who I saw wandering the hall this weekend that the vast majority of people who answered put down something other than "comics",  It's a vicious cycle, unfortunately -- dealers don't do the show because they're not making money due to a lack of actual buyers, and the potential buyers in the area (like myself) don't go to the show because we know there won't be dealers with actual comics worth buying.  I don't know how that changes, unless the show organizers think it's an issue and offer an incentive for more comic dealers to do the show -- which I'm guessing is something that won't happen.

 

You are absolutely correct.  Your post and possibly mine will unfortunately "influence" collectors into not going to a show.  I am not badmouthing the show by the way.  I like New Orleans but the economic reality is that it is not profitable.  There is NOTHING emotional about the numbers.  I can't do shows based on HOPE someone shows up to buy what I'm selling.  Multi day events don't treat dealers like celebrities,  they treat dealers as a economic revenue stream to bring in the celebrities.   

[Get Marwood & I]

On 1/8/2024 at 5:12 PM, ChiSoxFan said:

Thanks, and that makes sense.  We had fun at the show, and it was neat to see all of the other different things that were available for sale, even if it wasn't anything I would have been interested in buying.  If there had been, let's say, double the number of dealers I saw (which would have been another 8-10, let's say), and they had been well-set up dealers (like the major ones I mentioned, or other dealers similar to them), then I would have said the show was a hit.  But as I said in my write-up, there's a reason why "Comic" isn't in the show's title -- it simply isn't a comic show.  The comics almost seem to be like an afterthought, and that's unfortunate. 

That's spot on. Over here though, they still sneak the word comic in, but it's all really just an excuse for the youngsters to dress up, eat, and not buy things with loosest connection to the things that started it all for the likes of us!