San Diego Comic Con 1 1

[fsumavila]

On 7/22/2024 at 4:43 PM, AndyFish said:

I agree with the sentiments that everyone who goes to a comic con should check this out for themselves at least once.  The location is fantastic, the entire city devotes itself to comic books, the views are spectacular and the show is extremely well run.   In 2018 Veronica and I were guests of honor and they brought us out and covered everything-- we had an amazing suite on the harbor with 360 views that was incredible, and getting through the show with handlers who know all of the secret entrances and off limits exits certainly makes a big difference.  We would have never made an interview with the SyFy Channel if our handlers weren't top notch.

I've been as an attendee many times and I love preview night because it's not insane.   I'm an art and golden age collector, so my goal at SDCC is always to find some great piece of art and a rare book-- seldom does the book thing work out-- I find FanExpo Chicago better for buying-- but its a great art resource.  It's insanely crowded, but far FAAAR and away better handled than NYCC which I can't stand, plus you're in one of the most beautiful locations in the world.  Make a vacation out of it and let your wife and kids run around Old Town or head to the beach.  Well worth it.

I remember that year we had you join us at Comic Con for that interview -- that was back during the days when our SYFY team would be a barrage of interviews each day of the show. You're right about the show being a well-oiled machine. I know stuff happens with Hall H occasionally, but for the most part, SDCC is well organized and the volunteers are top notch.

[batman_fan]

On 7/25/2024 at 10:17 AM, delekkerste said:

SDCC is definitely a fun time so far! Had dinner with two close hobby friends on Tuesday night at Greystone Prime steakhouse. Bigger group dinner last night at Fleming's steakhouse. Both really fun dinners but one HUGE gripe - doesn't any restaurant in San Diego know how to cook a proper medium rare steak? Both steaks were dry and overcooked. I'm ordering rare steaks from here on out whenever I'm in town. But, I digress...

Had a look through most of the OA inventory on the floor yesterday so I could take it easy the rest of the show. Bought a couple of small things - a nice, early-ish Walking Dead page (Adlard) and a super cool Marvel Transformers splash (Delbo). There were a number of smaller pieces that caught my eye - Thibodeaux is selling a couple of Starlin Dreadstar pages for a friend, ComicConnect has a nice Bloom County strip, Scott Eder has some hilarious Simon Hanselmann stuff, but, I found myself asking if I "needed" those examples on top of what I have, and the answer was no. The Transformers page I felt added something to the others I have and, even though I have quite a large WD art collection, the page I got yesterday I felt added some quality to the mix and will make the whole better, so I was happy to buy.

The really annoying thing was that an older gent bought a really nice 1966 Peanuts daily w/Charlie Brown and Snoopy in all 4 panels just before I got to the ComicConnect table. While I haven't been actively looking for P-Nutz, this one was really nice and priced acceptably ($25K) that I would have jumped all over this one as a one-and-done had I seen it first.  

One bit of good news, though, is that I've been working on getting a super memorable piece for me for the past 4 years and I struck a tentative deal yesterday via e-mail with the owner (not at SDCC) to get the page. Hope to have it either this weekend or in the next 10 days (working out the logistics of payment and delivery still); if all goes well, it will get posted to CAF at some point before year-end.  

SDCC is great for just walking the floor and having random, in-depth conversations with collectors that I don't normally see regularly. Was great to talk to so many people yesterday, especially the SoCal locals who don't normally make it back east for NYCC. 

Let me know if you need any emotional support for missing out on a Peanuts strip.  I'm here for you.

[trimpehulk]

On 7/22/2024 at 1:40 PM, Bronty said:

another boardie mentioned these are your first posts in seventeen years!    Took a little break I see!

My first and only SDCC was 15 years ago. Had a special time for certain attended all days tried a little of everything that the con had to offer. I went with my neighbor Bill he passed away last year. My favorite memories certainly are preview night I picked up the sweet Rom 19 splash page 2 since traded. The unbelievable Deathlok Schematic from Foom 5 and Tales to Astonish 25 page 26, since sold. Lastly a nice Nova Ron Lim pencil commission still own.I truly enjoyed the show well worth taking it off the Bucket list. True story we were waiting in line for coffee and Stan Lee comes walking by I jumped at him to shake his hand the man stumbled and almost face planted he recovered like an Olympic athlete got my handshake and jumped back into the coffee line

[delekkerste]

On 7/26/2024 at 11:06 AM, cstojano said:

No food can out-bad the food court food I have had at SDCC over the years. This includes easily the driest and worst hamburger I ever had. I don't have deep history stories of SDCC but I went for a stretch around the 2007-2012 horizon. Legendary lines and chaos. It seemed they changed the check-in protocol every year back then, maybe it is better now. I remember being in a line so long to get in we actually wrapped the building and were standing on docks near the water.

Back to food. My first SDCC I was totally feeling the buzz and excitement. I bought an awful, extremely overpriced pizza at the food court and it was SRO, of course. So I scarfed down half this pizza, made eyes within another guy standing around and we somehow knew what we were both thinking. I eyed the trash cash and looked at this guy and just said "do you want this?" He was like "uh, sure" and we both admitted it was a first for both of us, chuckled and then I walked off into the crowds a hero for a day. 

edit: I should add I was shocked with Sideshow Collectibles pulled out. Their booth was massive and super popular. I can see niche comic OA dealers not finding it worth the money but a major company like that was shocking. I was glad I went to see the glory days of entry level collector enthusiasm, Weta still attending, Sideshow, heck even Ralph Bakshi and CS Moore had booths my first year. 

I remember those lines and the chaos before they expanded the Con into the Gaslamp District. 2008 was such a cluster that I ended up taking the next 3-4 years off from SDCC. No more Twilight movies (and the hordes of fans going to SDCC for them) after 2012 and expanding the show into nearby areas really helped to ease the congestion!

[AndyFish]

I can honestly say it's been thirty five years since I've gotten more than a bottle of water from the convention floor.   I don't eat Fast food-- and I certainly don't eat Old Fast Food. ;)

[batman_fan]

Anyone know if there was any art at the convention?  Given not a SINGLE picture posted of the walls of art, I assume there was none at the show.  People do know us members of the unwashed masses have to live through those that actually attended the show don't they? 

[gumbydarnit]

Batman Fan, I hope it’s not out of line to post a link to Marcus Wai CAF gallery with some SDCC dealer wall photos, they are fun to zoom in on and browse the selections. Thanks for the great photos Marcus!

https://www.comicartfans.com/galleryroom.asp?gsub=78294

[KirbyCollector]

On 7/29/2024 at 11:04 PM, gumbydarnit said:

Batman Fan, I hope it’s not out of line to post a link to Marcus Wai CAF gallery with some SDCC dealer wall photos, they are fun to zoom in on and browse the selections. Thanks for the great photos Marcus!

https://www.comicartfans.com/galleryroom.asp?gsub=78294

Odd to see some of the same pieces, year after year after year, on a dealer's wall at a show --  yet despite the fact no one is buying them, the prices always creep higher.

[Kevn]

On 7/30/2024 at 1:50 PM, KirbyCollector said:

Odd to see some of the same pieces, year after year after year, on a dealer's wall at a show --  yet despite the fact no one is buying them, the prices always creep higher.

I can see why dealers might do that. One, those pieces on the wall are often really amazing, and lend a cachet to the dealer's entire stock, and further signal that the dealer is a major player. Two, at those price points, you only need to sell a small percentage of the 'wall art' at a show to do well. And three, there's the fear of leaving money on the table. Those are often the kinds of pieces that in an auction might go for double the reasonable estimates, and what dealer wants to potentially let a buyer get a great bargain? 

I think this phenomenon is why in all my years of going to SDCC and other conventions I rarely even asked about any of the wall art, much less tried to buy a piece. The prices usually seemed so high that even if I could negotiate a discount it would still be more than I was willing to pay. As a lone buyer, you never know if you're the one-in-a-thousand sucker. In an auction, you know there's at least one other person as crazy or clueless as you are, and that urges you to go higher. At a con, when you keep passing the dealer's booth and you see customers coming and going, and those pieces aren't moving, you assume those pieces must indeed be overpriced.

[batman_fan]

On 7/29/2024 at 9:04 PM, gumbydarnit said:

Batman Fan, I hope it’s not out of line to post a link to Marcus Wai CAF gallery with some SDCC dealer wall photos, they are fun to zoom in on and browse the selections. Thanks for the great photos Marcus!

https://www.comicartfans.com/galleryroom.asp?gsub=78294

Thank you, thank you, thank you 

[Shemp]

Another San Diego in the books. There was a lot of nice art and I had my eye on a couple of things but I didn't buy anything. Like most I did most of my browsing Wed & Thurs I didn't even make it to the art dealers part of the room Fri, Sat & Sun. I took a couple of pictures of pieces I was interested in in case I wanted to revisit them later. 

Talked to Albert for a bit and went through his portfolios since he has a lot not on his site. He had some really nice pieces he pulled from his personal collection. I talked to Kwan for a bit too.

Art wise that was pretty much it. A lot of artists in attendance. Not all in the artist alley area, which was weird and unfortunate for the artist as it limited their potential business. I was able to have a nice conversation with John Beatty and Geof Isherwood. I have commissioned both artists in the past but have never had the pleasure to meet them. That was pretty cool! Beatty remembered my pieces from almost 10 years ago and gave me a bit of info on a Batman piece I have. 

The rest of the show was spent catching up with old friends, at the booth, walking around inside and outside the convention.

 

Here are the pictures I took of the various art dealers. Sorry if I missed any.

https://www.comicartfans.com/galleryroom.asp?gsub=246648

 

 

Edited July 30 by Shemp

[gumbydarnit]

Hey just wanted to thank all of you who helped make this thread and the CGC boards interesting. I know chat boards may not be everyone’s cup of tea but I do enjoy em although sometimes it can be work to keep the dialogue going I think it’s worth the effort. There are more voices to be heard than just the handful of usual suspects (not a diss) I just like hearing from all of our tribe in addition to those with larger platforms.
 

Thanks guys, keep on posting!

Edited July 30 by gumbydarnit

[grapeape]

On 7/27/2024 at 10:06 AM, AndyFish said:

I can honestly say it's been thirty five years since I've gotten more than a bottle of water from the convention floor.   I don't eat Fast food-- and I certainly don't eat Old Fast Food. ;)

Bought a warm bottle of Pepsi for $5.67. I dropped it 3 times because I was tired. I went back and traded my 🥤 💣 for a 'cold' Pepsi. Laughable as she took one from the fridge and it was still warm as cat pizz. I knew better but still made a bad purchase chasing a quick energy burst so I could track down Yo GABA GABA for my granddaughter.

 

 

 

Edited July 30 by grapeape

[grapeape]

Went to say hi to Felix Lu first thing. All I can say is Felix showed up and showed out!! What a line up he had. DWJ, Tradd Moore, Nick Dragotta and more.

This was Tradd's first trip to SDCC, and I was first in line to see him. Incredibly humble, kind man. Signed a copy of Dr. Strange for me.

*left to right Ron Sonenthal, Tradd Moore and grapeape.
** Tradd Moore

*** DWJ and grapeape

**** DWJ GN signed and sketched

***** Nick Dragotta HC signed, sketched

 

Edited July 30 by grapeape

[grapeape]

Simon Bisley and Rick Parker!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 30 by grapeape

[grapeape]

[grapeape]

Looks good to me.

[grapeape]

The beautiful, talented Sara Frazetta. Also Sara and the great Liam Sharp.

[grapeape]

Me and my neighbor-daughter hold the Steve Ditko 6f tall poster OA. 

[alexgross.com]

@grapeape thanks for posting these awesome pics! looks like you had a great time at sdcc. fascinating to me how artists often look like their work. tradd moore is long, thin, and sort of psychedelic, just as his work is, and bisley, well, lets just say he looks like some of his characters too.