Who here be man enough to attend Super-Con, Oakland?

[Neurosis138]

How was the first day. I'll be there tommorrow, so hopefully there's some good stuff left.

 

-Chris

[Neurosis138]

Well, I just got back from the con, and it was pretty good. It would have been a lot less fruitful purchase-wise if not for houseofcomics. HOC gave me some great deals on a few nice bronze books, and they are incredibly nice people to top it all off. The problem I always seem to run into at shows is finding the right comics in high grade. There just wasn't a whole lot in HG that wasn't already slabbed. Most dealers high grade boxes consisted of 7.0-8.0 stuff.

I may be totally out of line here, but I think certain dealers could use a crash course in merchandising. It's not that they don't have some decent material, it's just that sometimes it's so unorganized, and a lot of times, in bags and boards that look to be 10-20 years old, it just hurts the overall appearance. I think semi-fresh bags and boards go along way. From a buyers perspective, presentation is key. If your booth looks well maintained and inviting, it's going to make me want to dig through your boxes, but if everything looks scatterred, I may dig a few minutes and give up. I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in this respect, but who knows...

I guess I missed Art Adams, as he was not at his booth both times I checked. From what I could tell, Vess and Sienkiewicz didn't show on Sunday. Overall, pretty low key, but it wasn't a bad thing at all, at least not from a buyers perspective. One of the most impressive booth's was run by Amazing Fantasy Comics(i think that was the name). Talk about nice books. They had singles and multiples of what seemed like every super-key silver age marvel. I also couldn't believe they had a CGC 9.0® Marvel Comics #1. I didn't look at the price but I'm sure it was a lot. Sorry if my con report is a little erratic, I'm kinds tired. Just thought I would give a quick run down of what I saw. Anyone else have anything to add?

 

-Chris

[jbud73]

Ok, I'll be brief as I did not actually spend very much time at the show.

 

The booth Neurosis138 is talking about is Vortex Comics, which is owned by John Dolmayan who is a member of the band System of a Down. As at WonderCon his was the most impressive booth at the show. Action Comics #2 in CGC 6.0 anyone? He's got a low grade Batman #2 in his Bins Basically John was the only large national dealer with a significant set up in Oakland.

 

I spent all my money with Vortex, Marc at House of Comics and Phil at Comic Collector shop. Seeing as House of Comics and Comic Collector Shop are both within driving distance, the dealer turnout was a bit dissapointing, with all the dealers probably at Motor City. Board member CW (Fantastic Comics) was also there with a nice setup of CGC material.

 

I'd be interested to see what the dealers thought, IMO they probably had better shows than last year (it would have been hard not to) but I didn't sense a comic buying frenzy going on - Vinny from Metro was there to buy though so maybe he can shed some light on his take.

 

Though not true with all dealers, there is a base level trend appearing at shows IMO. High Grade CGC material priced at or over what would be a new GPA record for the book in question in the grade in question. With the other mid-grade material being overgraded and priced at guide or slightly above - with a 25% sale listed on the box / bin. Of course this means that the average bin stock is therefore priced slightly under guide WITH the % off, but still overgraded so the collector is still at a net disadvantage.

 

The three dealers I mentioned did have higher grade raw material (NM- range stuff) accurately graded, priced at, or slightly below guide. They were also willing to move if you purchased more books. That's why they got my money and why a lot of books I saw at Oakland are the same books I saw at the 2 previous Wonder Cons - they will continue to sit IMO unless a buyer comes along who is willing to overpay, or buy overgraded material at full guide prices.

 

Jeffreykli - Jimm94 - FFB and myself were so bored Saturday late afternoon we decided to see who could get the best deal based on guide value for $20. Oh and then Scott bought a 'Tec 10 (not for $20) off John Dolmayan I think it was in his Bin stock

[Neurosis138]

I'd be interested to hear who got the best deal for $20(which books, and how much). Does Vortex Comics have a website? They had a lot of great books, but I came unprepared to buy most stuff of this caliber. I really like some of their raw HG pre-hero marvel stuff, but a lot of the slabs were out of my price range.

 

-Chris

[jimm94]

It appears that Scott won by a hair, with an upper mid-grade silver age ASM that guides for $40. I came in second with a Star Wars # 7 in raw 9.6 - I slightly underestimated GPA value on it, although I only spent $15 out of my $20 budget. I should have gone for the Omac # 1 in raw 9.2 I found for $20. It turns out that guides for $60 in grade. I ended up buying it on Sunday.

 

Scott and Jason now have a side bet going regarding what CGC would grade his ASM. I think Scott subbed it yesterday, so we'll see in a month or so.

 

-Jim

[jimm94]

BTW, it was nice to meet you!

[HouseofComics.Com]

BTW, it was nice to meet you!

 

It was definitely gratifying to make some forum member introductions at the show!

 

Really great for me to meet Neurosis (Chris), Paperheart (Mike) and Nexus (Felix).

 

More later--right now it's time to attack the orders that have come in.

 

Marc

[batman_fan]

For me, the con was great and dissappointing. I got a chance to talk to Marc which is always fun and I also met Jeffreykli and Jimm94 and was fortunite enough to have lunch with them. I bought NOTHING (not a single book). No one had anything I wanted so I walked away empty handed. I had hoped to pick up some OA, but that was pretty scarse as well.

[HouseofComics.Com]

Really happy I got to introduce you guys. It was definitely a meeting of the minds.

 

Glad we got to have a conversation with no weirdness. At Wondercon my conversation with Greg was interrupted by two strange individuals. The first guy wanted to see my Sub-Mariner 1 off the board and after handing him the book I couldn't understand a word he was saying. I kept looking at Greg hoping he could interpret but he was baffled too.

 

All I could really get out of the guy was that Timely Sub-Mariner comics were a lot of money, weren't they and too bad I didn't have any. I finally got my comic back from him and was able to continue talking to Greg.

 

Then a bit later a dignified man wanted to talk about comics. Think: James Earl Jones has just come to your booth. He is exclaiming about how wonderful Wondercon is, how amazing the creativity is, that the art is just spectacular. And he wanted to buy a Spider-Man comic to commemorate the fact that he was actually at a comic book show. So he's looking through the Amazing Spider-Mans and it's like he's never seen a comic book before. He can't "read" what's happening. Looking at a cover might be as easy as breathing for Greg or I but this guy was reacting with the vocabulary of a four-year-old. Oh, I don't want that one, Spider-Man looks sad. Or Spider-Man is being attacked. And Greg and I realize that that's the motif of just about every Romita ASM--Spider-Man is sad or attacked or otherwise in trouble!

 

We finally find a suitable comic for him for about $9. And he then proceeds to peel off five $2 bills, incredibly fresh ones. Then he gives me his card and he's on some sort of art commission board for the city of Oakland. And he starts telling me as Greg looks on that Oakland should do something like Wondercon, that this is amazing and he would publicize it in his role on the art board. I'm just thinking my God, this same convention started in Oakland and ran there for about 16 years! At one time it was the fourth biggest show in the country. And then I just handed him a flier for Super-Con and tried to gracefully get back to talking to Greg.

 

So yeah, glad to have a nice talk with Greg at Super-Con so he doesn't think it's all weirdness all the time at the HOC booth!

 

Marc

[CW]

Wow!

[HouseofComics.Com]

Wow!

 

What, you don't get people like this?

 

My first customer of the weekend grabbed a real beater B&B 62 and told me not once but twice that this comic had a real influence on his sexual development. Not in a "I thought she was sexy as a young kid way" but in a more disturbing way. Then he actually shorted me ten cents on the comic by handing me $7 and nine dimes, and I'm pretty sure it was on purpose! I decided not to ask him for the extra dime. What a start to the day--3 hours of sleep and then this guy!

 

Oh, in-between the no-sleep and Mr. Creepy, Jim and Jeff were invaluable in helping me set up. They gave me good advice, completely set up two wombats, plus Jim mega-taped my boxes together into a brick so they could hang off the very thin convention-supplied table without any chance of falling. Thanks guys!

 

Marc

[sckao]

Wow!

 

What, you don't get people like this?

 

My first customer of the weekend grabbed a real beater B&B 62 and told me not once but twice that this comic had a real influence on his sexual development. Not in a "I thought she was sexy as a young kid way" but in a more disturbing way. Then he actually shorted me ten cents on the comic by handing me $7 and nine dimes, and I'm pretty sure it was on purpose! I decided not to ask him for the extra dime. What a start to the day--3 hours of sleep and then this guy!

 

 

Maybe it was THAT highly charged Wildcat Kangaroo scene.... and I quote, " Great Muscles flex and bulge! A body that is like a steel spring ERUPTS in FURIOUS action as..."

 

Brave and the Bold #62: (halfway down)

 

http://www.comictreadmill.com/CTMBlogarchives/2004/2004_Daily/2004_12/daily_2004_12_29.php

[Red Hook]

Hmmmm. Comic Treadmill. Looks real interesting. Thanks for the link.

[HouseofComics.Com]

Yeah, that site is great.

 

What I remember from B&B 62 is the Sportsmaster laying waste to a golf course by spraying people with golf balls, knocking them out. So he and the Huntress can lift their wallets.

[Jeffreykli]

For me, the con was great and dissappointing. I got a chance to talk to Marc which is always fun and I also met Jeffreykli and Jimm94 and was fortunite enough to have lunch with them. I bought NOTHING (not a single book). No one had anything I wanted so I walked away empty handed. I had hoped to pick up some OA, but that was pretty scarse as well.

 

I'm swamped with work, but wanted to contribute my two cents...

 

I only went to the Con on Saturday, and thought it was just okay. Not that much selection, although right now, I'm not very focused in what I'm looking for. Lunch with Jim and Greg was a lot of fun, wandering around Oakland's Chinatown looking for a place to eat.

 

I'm extremely happy with my purchases, though. I spoke with Ron Lim for a while, and finally convinced him into selling a splash page from a FF book that he did. I saw it at WonderCon, but it wasn't for sale then. It wasn't marked for sale this time around either, but he came up with a number and I paid it immediately. He said it's also his favorite page from the book.

 

Over at Torpedo Comics, I bought a nice Conan #24 and the Don Rosa CGC 9.6 copy of Adventure #462. As Foolkiller can tell you, this is a really hard book to find in nice shape, and is definitely the nicest one I've seen.

 

As for the $20 challenge with Jbud, FFB, and Jimm94 -- to recap, we each had about an hour left at the show on Saturday, and had to find the best bargain for $20. I go hosed on an overgraded POS because I didn't take the comic out of the bag to look at it. I bought a Witching Hour #2 that was marked at $40 for $20, but because of the back cover, it's a Fine at best, and guides for $18.

[CW]

Mark and eveybody else I saw,

You have some of the greatest Con stories I have ever heard. My short tenure is limited to a homeless man named Luigi(I don't know how he got into the con) reading people his poetry at WonderCon 2003. Imagine Popeye with a horrible smell yelling "Don't bother me I'm pooping".

I hope your sales were better than mine but I had fun seeing everyone. Felix, Jeff, Jim, Scott, Jason, Mark and anyone else I forgot. I didn't sell much but I got a couple of pieces of art. As John at Torpedo Comics told me "Slabs either sell or they don't (in regards to specific shows)" my stock is sort of specialized in that aspect. Here is the only picture I got at the con- I'm the one with no Talent

[HouseofComics.Com]

With the other mid-grade material being overgraded and priced at guide or slightly above - with a 25% sale listed on the box / bin. Of course this means that the average bin stock is therefore priced slightly under guide WITH the % off, but still overgraded so the collector is still at a net disadvantage.

 

I am just going through small stacks from I purchased from a few of these dealers and I completely agree with you. I'll post better details a bit later.

[HouseofComics.Com]

Okay, so I've gone through a stack of books from two dealers plus another book from another. Not very impressive. It's exactly what JBud is saying. They can't or won't grade accurately.

 

The first guy had all his boxes 50% off but considering he had some nice golden age, a slab or two, etc., I figured he knew what he was doing. I bought all his low-priced Our Army at Wars and G.I. Combats for a slight extra discount. The books were all over the place. One or two seemed to be priced at guide but you'd get books that should be the same price (ie OAAW 261 and 262, same grade) and one is priced 50% more than the other. To top it off, two of the eight OAAWs had loose centerfolds (no disclosure) and one of two GICs was water damaged without adjustment made to price.

 

Second guy was also all over the place. He wanted a cash trade for my Superman 31 and when I got to his booth I was worried that I wouldn't find a thing I wanted to trade for. He had some 50s books on his little rack but they were clearly overpriced. His bin books (again, 50% off) were a real grab-bag. He actually did write his grade on the book but really doesn't know how to grade. He had one GIC at VG (it's going up on HOC as VG-) and another at VF with such a bad back cover that it too is going up on HOC as VG. His Gold Key Star Treks were half a grade high, but priced about double guide. And they weren't for sale at 50% off! Basically, if you were real careful buying from him you can do okay but you'd get some real stinkers. I did make the deal with him since it was 60% cash and I made enough adjustments in my mental price for things like the Star Trek that it was okay.

 

Finally, I needed an X-Men 136 in FN+ because I got a nice order for some books and was sold out of that issue. I hate to ship someone an incomplete order so I decided to try to pick the book up at the show. Two forum members were nice enough to go looking for me and one found one at $15, discounted to $10. But when it came out of the bag it had a big crease! Unsendable as a substitute FN+. It's going on HOC as VG/FN. I don't know whose booth it was from (not one of the first two as the sticker is different) but there you've got a dealer who is pricing at nearly double guide and then discounting 1/3. Yeah, nice work if you can get it. I'll put the book up and it will sell sooner or later but I'll take a slight loss.

 

Who did impress me? It's a small sample but Brian Peets of A-1 impressed me because I bought an X-Men 136 off him labeled VF and by god, it actually was a VF. A very nice VF.

 

Marc

[HouseofComics.Com]

As John at Torpedo Comics told me "Slabs either sell or they don't (in regards to specific shows)" my stock is sort of specialized in that aspect.

 

Yeah, like for instance you did great at Wondercon 2005 and Super-Con (Golden State) last year. I'd make the observation that maybe there wasn't a lot of money in the room this time. Now that I've analyzed sales, our A-Z stuff ($5 to $50 books) actually did as well as at Wondercon. What was missing was the big books. I had Jeff and Shin's ASM 2-13 and 15-20 plus early FFs etc. up all day Saturday without one sale. Plus no sale of any books over $100 all weekend. So attendance was okay at this show but it's not like anyone saved up their money for it like they did for Wondercon. I mean, there were high schoolers at Wondercon who can't even drive yet who had saved up a few hundred bucks. There were couples who flew in so the husbands can finish their Marvel runs (the wife generally handles the list), etc. Not many flew in for this show.

 

Don't know if this is news to anyone but they have picked the weekend of June 2nd for the show next year. They are going to be working out details on a few things before sending out a dealer letter. One downside--they hit some sort of attendance level this time that means they must go union next year. That sounds like more expensive booths to me--hopefully not worse load-in too.

 

Marc

[CW]

That means teamsters! I don't know if I will set up if they keep raising the booth prices but the sales keep getting lower and lower. I was a little upset with the turn out. People came out because Adam Hughes and some other great artists were there but they sure as hell weren't buying anything very big.