WW Chicago Con Report, Now with MORE flavor.. And a Dinner Report too.

[Ze-man]

Before I start this I must say, my power went out due to a bad thunderstorm. I lost my ENTIRE Con report that was almost completed.

If this version aint as funny, or as in depth.. tuff beans!

 

I was soo pissed. Anyone who thinks posting a report like this is easy. It aint.

 

 

I will try again.

 

 

 

 

 

I imagine full Con reports are on their way from those that were there the full 3-4 Days of the Chicago Con. And also those who actually had cameras at the CGC Dinner.( Greta left ours at the hotel...oops )

 

I will relate my limited weekend experience for those who were not able to attend.

 

First off I wanted to say what a great time I had. From the convention , the people, the food, family time..and of course the comics. I ,and my family needed a break.

 

We got one, we had a blast.

 

 

My only day at the convention was Saturday. Was lucky enough to get a Dealers pass so I bought a book with the money I saved on buying my pass.(thnx)

 

My very limited Convention experience has taught me the NY Cons are not the freakshows that Chicago is, and Chicago is a mini me con compared to San Diego. But it was still a loud booming entrance, chock full of all kinds on NON comic related genres. And enough freaks for Triumph to poop on.

 

Here is the entrance. (This was actually taken on Sunday because we went back for a few hours since it was raining outside.

 

 

 

Step inside that gate and you see the floor.. the following pix only let you see less then 1/3 of what was actually there.

 

The Floor was actually laid out prettty well. Plenty of room to get around.

 

My plan on Saturday was to buy what I could, meet who I could, and see what I could see. I did all that and more.

 

 

 

Met up with Flink (Anne) at Moondogs, a nicer guy I have not met. Here he is holding some work by some guy named Marty Nodell.

 

 

And here I am with a Mr. Sarno, who is also a swell guy.

 

 

 

 

 

The rest of the day was spent buying all the books posted below. I was there all day longbox digging, sadly I still did not make the rounds to see those who had booths( sorry Andy and Brent, others )

 

We of course went to the usual suspects, but not before we went by to see Paul hawking his Toon Tumblers.( Mind you this photo was taken Sunday afternoon, third day into the Con, the day AFTER the CGC Dinner, where he also happened to sit betweeen Alan and Steve in the Piano Bar at 2 am.. now THAT is a weekend. Paul is an iron man.)

 

Anne and I both promptly bought Tumblers, I got Underdog, Hot Stuff, Casper, and coff coff.. a Richie Rich that never made it to the convention(or was lost and hopefully not stolen)

 

So we tailored our comic buying to finding books that matched the titles to the Tumblers we bought. I did not own any of these books so it was a new way to browse for me. And wow, did it open my eyes to a whole new area of books to collect. Darn those cute little Casper and Hot Stuff Covers..

 

 

So off we went to Ted V. L's (Superworld).. He tried to run away, but not before we found several books we found to our liking, we haggled, he laughed, we haggled more, he laughed.. we handed him our money..he laughed.

 

Anne got some nice finds. I found these at Teds

 

 

 

 

 

Went around to a dealer called Catpain Jacks( Kevin)

Had a really nice OO collection, got these from him..but wanted alot more. Had alot of really nice books. And was nice to dela with and talk to. At least to me he was.

 

 

 

 

 

As I mentioned ,already in Comics General, I got a nice Casper #9, and DC Special #10 from 40% off Bruno

 

 

 

 

 

 

Went to a dealer called North coast and talked with him quite awhile about the dichotomy of dealers selling to dealers at Conventions on Thursday, only to see those books for sale for more money on Saturday.

 

I tried to lowball him on a AAF book and we went about dissecting the books flaws, how that relates to price. In the end we worked out a deal that was well below what 2 dealers offered him.. and he told me this AFTER I paid him.

It is probably my favorite book from the show.

 

 

 

 

 

Crazy Ed.. anyone know him?.. he was a hoot. Anne and I stood there whilst he spoke with to guys about the art of grading, and how it was subjective, and how he went from being a corperate type to now trading books. He was a very interesting fellow, and I waited and waited to offer him half price for this book. I was going to come back becasue he was busy, I stuck it back in the longbox and started to walk away, he shouted at me

"What did you just put back?.. get it out please .."

I said I would come back , no worries.. he said

"No you had a book in your hand for 10 minutes, you waited too long, I am sorry, dig out the book and you can have it"

I dug it out and handed him a 5 spot..he said "sold!"

It was a neat moment..everyone around us was looking on, and I said.. " What do you expcet...his name is CRAZY ED!"

 

From there it was more walking around, talking to fellow forumites, getting Sodas for those stuck at their booth.

 

 

 

A few other small buys .. mostly horror.. and one dealer.. a fairly older gentleman, VERY nice ( but he overgraded). He also had special stickers printed up with the grade in RED ink.. NEARMINT, VERYFINE. etc.. anyone know him? Located about dead center in the con?

I did find this and offered him $15 for it.

 

More small Horror buys..

 

 

 

 

A nice MCIC for my collection , this Issue I have never owned.Bought from Jov V.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I will report back with part 2 of my report, DINNER at a later time. This will have to suffice till then.

 

I will say this, Dinner was great.I had planned on having my camera but it didn't happen. Thanks to everyone for putting up with my little one, I did not want my wife to sit at the hotel and babysit while I ate at Gibsons. I realize it was quite an imposition. But seeing Joe Sarno wear a sticker my daughter put on his cheek for the entire dinner was a hoot.

 

 

 

 

 

Ze-

[Mephisto]

That Weird Mystery Tales is probably my favorite Wrightson cover.

[Darrell F]

Very cool Z

[tth2]

Cool report, Kenny! Looking forward to reading about the Forum Dinner.

[adamstrange]

Nice report & pics!

 

 

Sounds like Nelson Dodds but I wasn't at the show.

[HouseofComics.Com]

Nice, nice report!

[underthebigw]

.( Mind you this photo was taken Sunday afternoon, third day into the Con, the day AFTER the CGC Dinner,

 

What are you saying???

[That Ron Dude]

Nice report and great comics.

[Norrin_Radd]

Nice con report.

 

 

Before I start this I must say, my power went out due to a bad thunderstorm. I lost my ENTIRE Con report that was almost completed.

If this version aint as funny, or as in depth.. tuff beans!

 

Now you know the lesson so many of us learned the hard way.

 

Long post = hard work = type it out in Word first so you have it saved somewhere.

[Ze-man]

Nice con report.

 

 

Before I start this I must say, my power went out due to a bad thunderstorm. I lost my ENTIRE Con report that was almost completed.

If this version aint as funny, or as in depth.. tuff beans!

 

Now you know the lesson so many of us learned the hard way.

 

Long post = hard work = type it out in Word first so you have it saved somewhere.

 

Thnx for the comments everyone. You would think I would know by now craft a long post offline. But I never do.

 

And I am thinking I should make a dinner report, I thought there would be several other dinner reports already.

 

Strike while the iron is hot gents. Stories deserve to be told.

 

Ze-

[Foolkiller]

nice report Ze.

[Ze-man]

nice report Ze.

 

Thnx Brian, sorry you could not be there, I missed ya by a year.

 

I will post a really goofy picture of me swimming with my daughter at the Hotel, if you post your "secret" leapord photo.

 

What ya say?

 

 

 

Ze-

[Foolkiller]

nice report Ze.

 

Thnx Brian, sorry you could not be there, I missed ya by a year.

 

I will post a really goofy picture of me swimming with my daughter at the Hotel, if you post your "secret" leapord photo.

 

What ya say?

 

 

Ze-

 

here you go...

 

[arexcrooke]

nice report Ze.

 

Thnx Brian, sorry you could not be there, I missed ya by a year.

 

I will post a really goofy picture of me swimming with my daughter at the Hotel, if you post your "secret" leapord photo.

 

What ya say?

 

 

Ze-

 

here you go...

 

Have you no pride about yourself man?

[Foolkiller]

nah. this photo is fun. or at least I was having fun...

[Ze-man]

nice report Ze.

 

Thnx Brian, sorry you could not be there, I missed ya by a year.

 

I will post a really goofy picture of me swimming with my daughter at the Hotel, if you post your "secret" leapord photo.

 

What ya say?

 

 

Ze-

 

here you go...

 

 

And here you go..

 

As you said, it is all about having fun. And laughing at yourself having fun is all part of the fun.

 

Ze-

[arexcrooke]

nah. this photo is fun. or at least I was having fun...

[chrisco37]

 

 

Oh s#it! Straight P-I-M-P

[Ze-man]

I wanted to at least make a brief Dinner report for those that were not able to attend, or have never been to one. This is what a CGC Dinner is like

 

After a 9 hour day on the Convention Floor, 3 Mountain Dews, 1 piece of Pizza, and 1 Hot Dog and all my money spent I was ready to head over to Gibsons.

 

Walked over with Paul, who along the way stopped and chatted with several dealers about how biz was going for them... and after hearing about how much a few of them took in so far , I heard Paul mutter..

" Juststopit.DoyouWANTastrike? Toon Tumblers, I gotta start selling Comics" We had a laugh , and headed over to Gibsons.

 

Steve and M. Nelson were at the Bar, so I sat down with Paul, and Alton(The_Dude) had a beer, and talked about our day, Alton had a bummer of a story about his 3 Action books he had hoped to buy but it didnt work out. All 3 books were not what he was expecting. Better luck next time Dude.

 

By then the Private Room at the Back of Gibsons was filling up with our CGC clan. So we headed back. I found a spot to put my stuff, bought a new drink, and had some appetizers. My Cap N Mandi shirt made it easy for people to know who I was.. so quite a few folks introduced themselves to me. And as is normally the case everyone who did not know everyone had to decipher who was who, and why they were there. ( I know name tags are tacky, but I think some pre printed up name tags, or even a Sharpie would help alot, and perhaps make it easier to remember who it is you are speaking to, after a long day,and many drinks, and dozens, uopn dozens of people it is easy to forget their names)

 

Alan sees me and I of course remind him right away about a drink he owed me.. He knew I would not let it go so we all had drinks. Met his wife and talked awhile. She was very nice, smart , and funny. WTFAlan.. how that happen to you?

 

By then I see my Wife and little Ellen show up. Greta had been to a NY CGC Dinner 2 years ago so she knew what to expect. And actually knew quite a few people( btw Ted, I saw you talking to my wife..what are you two up to this time?) I went outside to play a bit with Ellen, then inside for more introductions, and more eating. Steve B. was VERY nice and played waiter for Ellen, he helped her pick out a nice little assortment of goodies which she promptly went back and ate..then said... "Mooorre"

I went to my comic satchel that had all my books and got the 3 comics I and Anne had bought for Ellen. It was pretty funny when Ton G. And Brandon(why do I want to call him Bernie?) walked past me they stopped and said.. "Lets watch and see how she handles them" And to their surprise Ellen was gentle enough to pass their scutiny.

 

The place was full by now, very loud. I look over and See Dan grinning like an insufficiently_thoughtful_person placing all of Win's books on the mantle, I see Alan and his wife talking with M. Nolan, I see Gary ( Moondog) talking with EVERYONE. But after awhile it was time to take a seat and place our dinner order.

 

My table had myself, Paul, The _Collector, a guy and his daughter, and one guy who came late that is somebody I should know.. (paul help me out?)

 

Once orders were placed Steve Stands up and clinks his glass and does the Welcome to the Dinner speach. He says he was sorry CGC did not pick up part of the tab, but everyone attending got a free submission, and made sure to say it was " NON transferable" everyone laughed. Then each person at the dinner stood up, said who they were, what they collected and anything else they felt needed to be said. It took awhile and our salads arrived not even 1/3 of the way through intros.

Gary(Moondog) had a terrific story about Marty Nodell, but I will let him, or others tell that. It involved a piece of lost Art and a reclaming or creator rights to GL. Arch and his wife to be got a round of applause. Arch introduced himself and said" I am Arch.. I collect Shills"

 

Lots of table talk, steaks arrived and Greta and I had to juggle Ellen. She was not hungry, wanted to play.. so I walked around and table hopped. with her. Ellen had a sticker book with her and she handed out a few, among them was Sarno. Either he forgot Ellen put a sticker on his cheek, or he wanbted it there. He left it on for the entire dinner.. I was touched.

 

To my right was a guy and his daughter.. She was young, and nice. I admited to them after the introductions I was guilty of not giving her credit. She is actually in the biz, and very well versed in comics. I told them I will never undererestimate anyone again. I thought she just came with Daddy to a dinner. We spoke for quite awhile and I am chagrined I forget their names( Dan..help?)

 

The food was cleared and everyone got up I spoke with Brandon from Gemstone for quite awhile.. about his career path , his writing and his new project and how that evolved,what it was like working with an artist to develop his vision. I really enjoyed talking with him.. Best of luck on the Neverland project Bernie

 

Talked with Gary And Mark about Marty Nodell, it was really great to hear alot of the back story about how all if it unfolded. Thanks for sharing Gary.

 

Spoke with Klodz about his new logo, and it was actually a semi serious conversation about the Sharp Comics logo, how it evolved, and what needed tweaking, Rob offerd his advice for the price of free drinks!

 

The night flew by, people looked at the wall of books, some stayed, some left. I ended up outside where Andy, Alan, klodz, Rod etc were talking serious comic talk. Actually they were all just shooting the chit.

 

Steve was inside talking with a few buds at the bar,so I closed my night with a last drink at the bar. and everyone filed out of the room to head home(or so I thought) They ended up going to the Piano Bar. I didnt know that, (they ditched me) So I talked with Furow for awhile in the Dinner Room, and more outside in the parking lot, all the while Alan and Steve were discussing the price of gasoline ,or something inside at the bar..

 

I then hit the Shuttle Bus to the Hotel.

 

I look foward to Robs, or Dans report..And hopefully alot of great photos were taken.Plenty more went down, plenty of other things discussed, alot of laughs had by all. I even made an effort to try and meet as many people as I could. But it is impossible.

 

Always next year

 

Ze-

[chrisco37]

Great reports Kenny! I love the detailed reports that make you feel as if you were there.

 

I too am awaiting Donut and Rob's reports.