tth2's VERY Belated San Diego Report

[tth2]

Sorry about getting this out 2 weeks after the event, but I'm finally back in Hong Kong (more on the journey back at the end) with a little time to knock this puppy out. Since this was my first trip to SD, and only the second big Con I've ever been to, I felt compelled to write something up. For reasons that will be explained below, this was really more of a social trip than a buying trip.

 

Tuesday, July 18

Got out of work Tuesday evening and boarded my flight to the US, HK-San Francisco-San Diego. One of the good things about flying to the US is you arrive on the same day you left. So an uneventful 12 hours later, arrived in SF Tuesday evening and went to catch my SD connection.

 

Unfortunately, due to a power outage at LAX, connecting flights in this region had been thrown into chaos, and the SD flight was delayed because the pilots hadn't arrived from another incoming flight yet. The pilots finally got in and the flight took off a couple of hours late, around 11:30 pm. Unfortunately, that meant the flight got in around 12:30 am in SD, and by the time I got my luggage it was well past 12:30 am. Bad news, because the el cheapo car rental company I had booked with closed at 12:30, and I couldn't raise anyone there! So, the only way to get to my bud's place in La Jolla was a very expensive cab ride. Not an auspicious start to the trip, but I told myself it could only go uphill from there!

 

The good news is I got to sleep at night time US time, so I felt like I was in synch with the time zone shift and was hopeful that maybe I wouldn't have jet lag problems. As it turned out, my body had its revenge later.

 

Wednesday, July 19

My friend drove me to the airport in the morning and I finally picked up my car. I then ran around on a few errands, including shipping out some comics purchased by a few forumites, and most importantly, fulfilling my second top priority for this trip: loading up on maximum fast food (hit an In-n-Out Burger for lunch)!

 

6 pm rolled around and I headed towards the Convention Center to hit Preview Night (no one clued me in that with an exhibitor's badge, I could go in earlier ). I badly underestimated traffic to the Con and didn't get in until 7:30 pm or so, although miraculously I was able to park in the garage directly beneath the Convention Center.

 

I called up Steve Lauterbach and he came out to meet me with my exhibitor's pass as promised. Apparently I would be "Tom Gentner, Basement Comics" for the duration. I was stunned by the enormity of the place, and the number of people there just for Preview Night. If it was like this already, what was it going to be like on the "official" days?

 

It was nice to finally meet Steve in person, and he immediately swung me by Quality Comix's booth where I exchanged rushed greetings with Brent Moeshlin/QualityComix and Mark Zaid/EsquireComics. Unfortunately, I couldn't stop and chat because I'd pre-arranged with Adamstrange to meet him in front of Joe Verenault's booth at 7 pm, and I was already late. So I found Verenault's booth and instead of Adamstrange, I found none other than the infamous Greggy (I recognized him from his pictures). I introduced myself and we chatted briefly, but then I saw Adam and went to introduce myself.

 

Adam immediately started taking me around, introducing me to various dealers (some of whom I'd dealt with over the years but never met in person, and others whom I'd never dealt with before). First stop was Brian Peets and A-1 Comics to see the just-announced Central Valley books. He had quite a few copies there, with several slabbed and unslabbed copies up on the wall and a bunch of slabbed copies still sitting in boxes. My eye was caught by some of the 9.4 and 9.6 Detectives on the wall, until Adam showed me the Fantastic Comics #3 (CGC 5.5). We marveled at the freshness of the CV books and the whiteness of the pages. In that respect, the collection was everything it's cracked up to be. Whether it deserves to be a pedigree or not is something that's already been discussed elsewhere on these boards. Unfortunately, Brian couldn't shed any more light on the original owner (particularly as to why there were no Duck books among the Four Colors ).

 

We then went over to Southern California Comics and met up with Bob/Fuelman, so I could drop off some Turoks that he had purchased from me. Bob is a super nice guy, and we chatted for a while. Then we spied Peter/RareHighGrade, who stood out because he was the only guy at the Con in a suit , and chatted for a while. It was a pleasure to finally meet the owner of so many incredible books, who was a great guy to boot. When he mentioned that Adam and Zaid were coming out to his place that evening to see some of his books and would I like to come too, I couldn't say yes fast enough. So we agreed to meet up at the end of Preview Night to go grab some dinner and then head out to his place.

 

After that, it was a bit of a blur of finally meeting a bunch of folks that I've dealt with over the years but never met in person. First, I finally met Ron Murray. We joked that so many of his amazing high grade SA DCs ended up with me, in all cases indirectly as I was never able to purchase them directly from Ron himself. Unfortunately, he had no additional gems for me to acquire, although a guy selling at his booth (Ken) had some very nice raw early SA Flashes, including a very nice Flash 112, which I spent a bit of time examining but ultimately passed on. Exceptional gloss and freshness, but the spine was just a bit too weak for my taste. It turned out someone else had already agreed to purchase some of Ken's other Flashes (maybe there was a GL in the lot too?), and that someone turned out to be Frederic/Paris_Fred, who I very briefly met. It was a real pleasure meeting Ron. I know you're lurking out there and reading this, Ron!

 

I then introduced myself to Bob Storms and his lovely wife. I was a bit disappointed in Bob, because I expected him to be more of a curmudgeon , but he was super nice (as was his wife) and we chatted for a while. I seem to recall Greggy lurking nearby when I was talking to Bob or Ron (or maybe both).

 

Went over to Heritage's booth and met Ed Jaster and Lon Allen, and confirmed details of the impending consignment of my Flash collection for Heritage's November Signature Auction (more on that later). Said hello briefly to Vincent Zurzolo at Metropolis, who said he remembered me (he and Steve Fischler being the only major dealers I'd ever met in person before) but I think he was just being polite. And met Matt Nelson/Restoman, who I jokingly reassured that I didn't really hate him.

 

So that was it for Preview Night, Con-wise. I met up with Adamstrange and RHG to head out for dinner and then see RHG's books. Logistical issues prevented Zaid from joining us as originally planned. By the time we finished dinner and driving out to RHG's place, it was already pretty late and I was flagging a bit. But I got a burst of adrenaline as Peter brought out some of his books, namely the New Fun with Siegel & Schuster's first work (which we got to take out of the mylar and open up), his unbelievable Mile High run of Jumbo Comics (the oversize issues) (the term "just came off the newsstand" is really overused, but in this case it really was an accurate description), some of the pre-superhero Detectives that many have drooled over in the GA forum, and then not one but TWO sets of the Blue Beetle GGA run (the MH copies and also-very-HG doubles). Unfortunately, the infamous MH New Adventure #26 wasn't at his place, nor was the Double Action #2. It was really fantastic listening to two collectors as knowledgeable as Adamstrange and RHG talking about the books and the Church collection. Just 3 geeks geeking out. I think it was well past 1 am when we finally left, and it was probably past 2 am when I finally got back to where I was staying.

 

Wow, hadn't realized I was going to write so much just up through Preview Night! Will continue with more later, I promise I'll try to be less verbose.

[esquirecomics]

So that was it for Preview Night, Con-wise. I met up with Adamstrange and RHG to head out for dinner and then see RHG's books. Logistical issues prevented Zaid from joining us as originally planned. By the time we finished dinner and driving out to RHG's place, it was already pretty late and I was flagging a bit. But I got a burst of adrenaline as Peter brought out some of his books, namely the New Fun with Siegel & Schuster's first work (which we got to take out of the mylar and open up), his unbelievable Mile High run of Jumbo Comics (the term "just came off the newsstand" is really overused, but in this case it really was an accurate description), some of the pre-superhero Detectives that many have drooled over in the GA forum, and then not one but TWO sets of the Blue Beetle GGA run (the MH copies and also-very-HG doubles). Unfortunately, the infamous MH New Adventure #26 wasn't at his place. It was really fantastic listening to two collectors as knowledgeable as Adamstrange and RHG talk about the books and the Church collection. Just 3 geeks geeking out. I think it was well past 1 am when we finally left, and it was probably past 2 am when I finally got back to where I was staying.

 

I wanted to go. I didn't have a ride. I am totally bummed to have missed out.

 

 

Glad we were finally able to meet Tim!!! :

 

Hope we can spend more time chatting next time.

[Scrooge]

Just 3 geeks geeking out.

 

that must have been quite the geek out. Glad to hear about you guys enjoying yourselves out there.

 

Waiting to hear more about the rest of your trip and the jet lag's revenge

[tth2]

Continuing with my very belated report...

 

Thursday, July 20 (or, the jet lag`s revenge)

Thursday, the 1st official day of the biggest comic convention in the world, unfortunately only gets a small mention in my report...

 

So, after getting back from RHG`s place after Preview Night, I quickly fell asleep at 2:30 am or so. Unfortunately, I found myself waking up at 5:30 am and couldn`t go back to sleep, so I watched TV until I finally got sleepy again around 8 am (which is 11 pm HK time) and figured I`d grab a few hours of sleep and get over to the Con around noon. Next thing I knew, my friend`s cleaning lady was knocking on the door asking whether she could come in and straighten up. At first I was indignant that she would want to clean so early, figuring it must be 10 am or so, and then I looked at the clock and saw it said 3 pm! Jet lag had exacted its revenge by causing me to lapse into sleeping during HK`s night time hours!

 

So I rushed to go take a shower figuring I could still get a few hours in. However, I stupidly first fired up the computer to check my emails quickly, and found out that one of my deals at work had gone to hell in a handbasket and people at work were pulling an all-nighter. So I got tied up on email and the phone for the next few hours helping to put fires out, and by the time that was all done there was no point in going to the Con anymore.

 

The only good thing is I was able to able to hit a Taco Bell for dinner (thus fulfilling Priority #2). I know those of you living in the States are going , but you end up craving the weirdest things when you live overseas.

 

Friday, July 21

I DID make the Con on Friday. Once again, I was impressed by the enormity of the Con. The floor must have covered at least 2 football fields, and it was wall to wall people and booths. However, in walking around, it became painfully apparent that the comics section was miniscule and was dwarfed by all the movie, TV, video game and toy displays. And it was also painfully apparent that most of the people were there for those things, and to see celebs, rather than comics. Given that the cost per booth was apparently $1200, it`s not surprising that most of the dealers present were big names only. You`ve got to sell a lot of small-ticket books just to cover $1200 in rent, and obviously for the vast majority of dealers it`s just not worth it.

 

Met up with Greggy again, who was organizing a small dinner for that evening, and he even offered to pay for me, so how could I say no?

 

Made the rounds of the dealers again, mostly just saying hello, and then went over to Metropolis` booth to check out their wares in greater detail. As others have mentioned, their wall display had some amazing number of AF 15s, and one guy was going bananas and asking Vincent if he could be photographed holding an 8.5 copy (which Vincent allowed him to do). I was amused by the guy`s enthusiasm and joked under my breath "What`s the big deal, it`s just an 8.5", which I was sure I had said too quietly for Vincent to hear, but I seem to recall him shooting one of those "if looks could kill" stares at me. In any event, I made the mistake of continuing to look at the books on display and my eye was caught by some very high grade early SA Adventures that they had out.

 

Now, it`s important to understand that I had decided before this trip that for various reasons, I was going to dispose of the major parts of my collection over the next 6-9 months, starting with my Flash collection which I had already agreed to consign with Heritage in their November Signature Auction. So my SA DCs and Duck books will all be going, with the exception of my B&B 28 and FC 178, which I will probably continue to hold onto.

 

So I came to the Con with no intention of buying, and up to now had mostly just socialized and hardly spent any time really looking at books. But before I knew it, I had gone through their books and pulled out Adventure 306, 309 and 314, all CGC 9.6, and found myself asking Vincent how much. After he quoted me a very stiff price, I came to my senses and asked for a discount, figuring that after he said "NO" (like Metro always does), I could walk away. But he shocked me by agreeing to enough of a discount that I had to do the deal. Others have mentioned my getting the discount, but I should defend Metropolis` honor by saying the price was still damn high. But Adventures below 320 in 9.6 are not something you see everyday. As the saying goes, "The madness begins at 9.6." The only catch was that they wanted to be paid in cash, and I didn`t have that much on me nor could I get that much out of an ATM. So I had to trek a few blocks up to a Bank of America where I could cash a check. As you all know from the reports of the heatwave that has been hitting the US, it was bloody hot, particularly walking in the sun. The only good part of this was I was able to stop for lunch at a Wendy`s (further fulfilling Priority #2).

 

More socializing after that. I recognized Sid/BassGMan from the boards at Ron Murray`s booth and introduced myself. I also introduced myself to Jim/Jimm94, who was helping to man Shin/sckao`s booth (I don`t know how this happened, but I somehow ended up not meeting Shin the whole time, including at the forum dinner ). Jim was pretty stoked because he had just gotten Jim Steranko`s signature. And then met Jeff/Jeffreykli and his lovely wife Melissa, who herself was stoked because of all the toys she had acquired at the Con. We all agreed to meet up for dinner, and Greggy, Jeff, Melissa and myself went out for drinks first. We then met up with Jim, ParisFred and Dan/Drummy for an excellent dinner. I believe I indulged in some oysters for an appetizer because Greggy was paying. A really good time with some really nice folks. After dinner, I gave Greggy a lift back to his hotel and apparently turned the wrong way down a one-way street and got pulled over by a bicycle cop. I have to say it`s hard to take a cop wearing bicycle shorts seriously, but I put on my serious face and tap danced like Fred Astaire and managed to get off with just a warning.

 

Saturday, July 22

Made it to the Con successfully again. I think for most people that wouldn`t be an accomplishment worth noting, but after my Thursday experience, I`m going to go ahead and pat myself on the back.

 

Made the rounds again, met up with Greggy, and then met more folks, including Mark Haspel and West Stephan of CGC, Brian/Foolkiller and Rocketeer (whose name I didn`t catch). Jeffreykli joined us too. Caught up with Adamstrange again, who had brought some really cool books for me to take a look at. Then it was off to the NOD Panel, which has been discussed elsewhere. I introduced myself to Steve Borock, and recognized Jeff/Nearmint there, but unfortunately wasn`t able to talk to him before the panel began and I had to leave before the panel finished.

 

Went back home and got cleaned up for the Forum Dinner. Thing were already in full swing when I got there. I had thought there was going to be a cocktail period before dinner was served, but the dinner was buffet style and being served already, so people were able to eat and drink, which was great.

 

Before I say anything else about the dinner, let me first say that having it in a private room was absolutely critical because it made it so easy to go around and chat with folks. Let me also give my thanks (again) to Bob/Bullet123 for setting it up (and subsidizing the cost of the drinks). He did a great job and it was a well organized affair. I also enjoyed meeting Bob and talking with him for a while, to finally understand his collecting focus since I had been completely baffled by his bidding patterns since first going up against him in some auctions.

 

Upon entering the room, I immediately met Rob/Robbyx, a Duck collector from Norway, and his friend Sven, whom I had convinced over the course of several PMs to attend the dinner. Very nice guys, and very enthusiastsic about comics! During the course of the evening, I also met Harry/Burntboy and his lovely wife Ellen and chatted with them. I wish I had been able to talk more with Harry, as he was one of the board members that I`d been looking forward to meeting. Also talked with Peter/RHG, who was as disappointed as I was that tb (formerly hkp) didn`t show up, even though he had apparently paid up. I spent quite a bit of time talking to Mark Wilson, who was yet another dealer I`d been dealing with for years but was meeting in person for the first time. Mark is yet another super nice person in the comic biz. During the course of the evening, also talked with Zaid about the NOD Panel and other sundry matters.

 

Met up with Gene/Delekkerste, who I had already met when he came to HK, and lamented the recent irrational twists and turns of the stock market. At one point we inadvertently convened the Asian Chapter of the CGC Forum when Jeff, Greggy, Gene and myself found ourselves at the same table (we gave Jimm94 honorary status ). Through Greggy, I met 2 other forumites of Chinese descent, Alan/Aardvark88 and Alan/Borg.

 

Upon detecting a familiar accent when I heard Borg speak, I asked him if he was from Liverpool, which he confirmed with some surprise that it had been recognized. I then asked him the all-important question whether he was red or blue, and he gave the right answer "red", which we explained to a perplexed Sid/BassGMan meant Alan supported Liverpool Football Club and not their cross-town rivals Everton. Alan showed me some of his purchases from the Con, a bunch of kick- 9.4 and higher early FFs and ASMs, and we talked right to the end of the dinner. The dude has a serious collection. Rob and Sven joined us, and I learned that Rob has been very active in SA Marvel recently, along with the Ducks. I don`t know if I`m at liberty to reveal what he has, but suffice to say that he is becoming a really major player. These dinners are a great source of intel!

 

As has been mentioned in some other threads, our 2 guests of honor were Neal Adams and Don Rosa. Unfortunately, I didn`t get to meet Neal, but I caught Don during a lull at his table and introduced myself, at which point I basically prattled on like an excited schoolgirl about how much I loved his work for Gladstone. Really nice gentleman--his departure from the Boards after a major bout of immaturity by several forumites was one of the biggest losses for the Boards since I`ve been here.

 

If there were others I talked with at the dinner and haven`t mentioned here, my sincere apologies. There were a lot of people and not nearly enough time to spend with everyone I wanted to talk with. My only real disappointment from the dinner was that more people didn`t bring their books to pass around. In fact, Borg and I seemed to be the only attendees who brought comics with them.

 

Post--script

Headed out early Sunday morning to meet up with my family in Hawaii, where we had a great week and a half of sun and sand. All in all, a great vacation and trip back to the US until my return flight to HK, when about 2 hours away from HK we got diverted to Japan because of a typhoon in HK. We were then told we`d have to stay overnight in Nagoya and fly into HK the next afternoon, which the next day got further delayed to the evening. The flight finally left at 9:00 pm, more than 28 hours after our originally scheduled arrival time in HK. United put us into hotels, but we couldn`t get our checked-in luggage, so we were all a bit funky from wearing the same clothes for 40+ hours by the time we got to HK. Finally arrived in HK shortly after midnight, where the normally well-run airport looked like a war zone with all the stranded passengers and backlogs of flights arising from the typhoon. At 2 am, I finally arrived at home sweet home.

[delekkerste]

The only good thing is I was able to able to hit a Taco Bell for dinner (thus fulfilling Priority #2). I know those of you living in the States are going , but you end up craving the weirdest things when you live overseas.

 

I hope you stocked up on plenty of fruit Tums while you were here. Sounds like you needed it!

 

 

Now, it`s important to understand that I had decided before this trip that for various reasons, I was going to dispose of the major parts of my collection over the next 6-9 months, starting with my Flash collection which I had already agreed to consign with Heritage in their November Signature Auction. So my SA DCs and Duck books will all be going, with the exception of my B&B 28 and FC 178, which I will probably continue to hold onto.

 

Getting out before TGC?

 

 

Met up with Gene/Delekkerste, who I had already met when he came to HK, and lamented the recent irrational twists and turns of the stock market. At one point we inadvertently convened the Asian Chapter of the CGC Forum when Jeff, Greggy, Gene and myself found ourselves at the same table (we gave Jimm94 honorary status ). Through Greggy, I met 2 other forumites of Chinese descent, Alan/Aardvark88 and Alan/Borg.

 

Good seeing you again too; hopefully we'll see you out on the East Coast one of these days!

 

 

Upon detecting a familiar accent when I heard Borg speak, I asked him if he was from Liverpool, which he confirmed with some surprise that it had been recognized. I then asked him the all-important question whether he was red or blue, and he gave the right answer "red", which we explained to a perplexed Sid/BassGMan meant Alan supported Liverpool Football Club and not their cross-town rivals Everton.

 

[tth2]

The only good thing is I was able to able to hit a Taco Bell for dinner (thus fulfilling Priority #2). I know those of you living in the States are going , but you end up craving the weirdest things when you live overseas.

 

I hope you stocked up on plenty of fruit Tums while you were here. Sounds like you needed it!

As a matter of fact, 5 bottles of the maximum strength variety!

 

Now, it`s important to understand that I had decided before this trip that for various reasons, I was going to dispose of the major parts of my collection over the next 6-9 months, starting with my Flash collection which I had already agreed to consign with Heritage in their November Signature Auction. So my SA DCs and Duck books will all be going, with the exception of my B&B 28 and FC 178, which I will probably continue to hold onto.

 

Getting out before TGC?

Busted!

 

Met up with Gene/Delekkerste, who I had already met when he came to HK, and lamented the recent irrational twists and turns of the stock market. At one point we inadvertently convened the Asian Chapter of the CGC Forum when Jeff, Greggy, Gene and myself found ourselves at the same table (we gave Jimm94 honorary status ). Through Greggy, I met 2 other forumites of Chinese descent, Alan/Aardvark88 and Alan/Borg.

 

Good seeing you again too; hopefully we'll see you out on the East Coast one of these days!

Very possible. The Morristown area of NJ is always an automatic stop for us when we do make it out to the east coast.

[Foolkiller]

Morristown, NJ? that's 15 minutes from where I grew up -- we hung in Morristown all the time...

[october]

As has been mentioned in some other threads, our 2 guests of honor were Neal Adams and Don Rosa. Unfortunately, I didn`t get to meet Neal, but I caught Don during a lull at his table and introduced myself, at which point I basically prattled on like an excited schoolgirl about how much I loved his work for Gladstone. Really nice gentleman--his departure from the Boards after a major bout of immaturity by several forumites was one of the biggest losses for the Boards since I`ve been here.

 

I don't remember anyone treating Neal with disrespect while he was on here. I just went back and checked the thread and I couldn't find anything. Maybe I missed it, I just looked at the last couple of pages. Too bad you couldn't get to meet him, Tim. Nice con report!

[Pirate]

As has been mentioned in some other threads, our 2 guests of honor were Neal Adams and Don Rosa. Unfortunately, I didn`t get to meet Neal, but I caught Don during a lull at his table and introduced myself, at which point I basically prattled on like an excited schoolgirl about how much I loved his work for Gladstone. Really nice gentleman--his departure from the Boards after a major bout of immaturity by several forumites was one of the biggest losses for the Boards since I`ve been here.

 

I don't remember anyone treating Neal with disrespect while he was on here. I just went back and checked the thread and I couldn't find anything. Maybe I missed it, I just looked at the last couple of pages. Too bad you couldn't get to meet him, Tim. Nice con report!

 

think he's talking about don rosa

[tth2]

Morristown, NJ? that's 15 minutes from where I grew up -- we hung in Morristown all the time...

Yeah, my sister and mother live in Whippany.

[tth2]

As has been mentioned in some other threads, our 2 guests of honor were Neal Adams and Don Rosa. Unfortunately, I didn`t get to meet Neal, but I caught Don during a lull at his table and introduced myself, at which point I basically prattled on like an excited schoolgirl about how much I loved his work for Gladstone. Really nice gentleman--his departure from the Boards after a major bout of immaturity by several forumites was one of the biggest losses for the Boards since I`ve been here.

 

I don't remember anyone treating Neal with disrespect while he was on here. I just went back and checked the thread and I couldn't find anything. Maybe I missed it, I just looked at the last couple of pages. Too bad you couldn't get to meet him, Tim. Nice con report!

 

think he's talking about don rosa

Correct.

 

In any event, Don Rosa`s departure wasn`t because anyone was disrespectful to him, but I think he got fed up with some of the silliness that took place in his thread.

[Carnage]

enjoyed the report...thanks

[HouseofComics.Com]

What was his username?

[langur88]

Just 3 geeks geeking out.

 

Thats what it's all about. I still remember vividly seeing a display of Jon Berk's Key collection at a con in East Hartford CT. about 15 years ago. To see nice copies of every single major key of the Golden age in one little room was amazing. The real keys. Bat 1 and Tec 27, Supes 1 and Action 1. Marvel Mystery 1 and maybe 50 or so more. You get the idea.

[HouseofComics.Com]

What was his username?

 

Never mind. It was easy.

 

Cool report and thanks for posting.

[adamstrange]

Great report! Glad you had a good time at the show.

 

his unbelievable Mile High run of Jumbo Comics (the oversize issues) (the term "just came off the newsstand" is really overused, but in this case it really was an accurate description), some of the pre-superhero Detectives that many have drooled over in the GA forum, and then not one but TWO sets of the Blue Beetle GGA run (the MH copies and also-very-HG doubles).

 

The Jumbos were

 

But before I knew it, I had gone through their books and pulled out Adventure 306, 309 and 314, all CGC 9.6, and found myself asking Vincent how much.

 

Keep repeating: "I can stop any time I want to."

[lou_fine]

Tim;

 

Just an excellent detailed report! Almost felt like I was right there with you guys.

 

 

Now, it`s important to understand that I had decided before this trip that for various reasons, I was going to dispose of the major parts of my collection over the next 6-9 months, starting with my Flash collection which I had already agreed to consign with Heritage in their November Signature Auction. So my SA DCs and Duck books will all be going, with the exception of my B&B 28 and FC 178, which I will probably continue to hold onto.

 

Getting out before TGC?

Busted!

 

What happened......did you just get kipnapped by JC?

[tb]

Thanks for the great reports, tth2! I was planning to go but wasn't able to find a flight back to San Francisco Saturday evening. I would have loved to have seen RHG's DCs.

 

Formerly hkp

[tth2]

But before I knew it, I had gone through their books and pulled out Adventure 306, 309 and 314, all CGC 9.6, and found myself asking Vincent how much.

 

Keep repeating: "I can stop any time I want to."

I blame it on muscle memory. As soon as I saw pre-1964 SA DCs in 9.6 grade, my conscious mind turned off and my body went into auto-pilot by replicating the actions that it has taken so many times before.

[tth2]

Tim;

 

Just an excellent detailed report! Almost felt like I was right there with you guys.

 

 

Now, it`s important to understand that I had decided before this trip that for various reasons, I was going to dispose of the major parts of my collection over the next 6-9 months, starting with my Flash collection which I had already agreed to consign with Heritage in their November Signature Auction. So my SA DCs and Duck books will all be going, with the exception of my B&B 28 and FC 178, which I will probably continue to hold onto.

 

Getting out before TGC?

Busted!

 

What happened......did you just get kipnapped by JC?

Yes, I`ve been worn down by JC, Delekkerste and KK!