My weekend in chicago

[underthebigw]

Yep, you're about to be bored by more funny books.

 

Let me preface this by saying thanks to everyone that helped me hawk my 'Toon Tumblers. One of the highlights of the show was finally meeting bobpfef, after knowing of each other as cartoon glass collectors for years. I couldn't have done it without Bob and Roger Price ( promoter of the great Mid-OhioCon, who covered my butt on Fri. a.m., and helped the rest of the weekend. Also, Ze-man and others occasionally enabled me to wander to the floor and pick up a few gems, and also provided leads on some books I've been looking for.

 

Now, for general impressions: Despite everything going wrong prior to my arrival in Chicago (including a bogus weather-related cancelled flight which United notified me of at 1:30 in the morning ), and my being completely wiped out, I thought this con was a blast. I've rarely seen some of the books people were stopping by and showing me (bobpfef, flink, 143ksk, ze-man and others), and many of these, mostly off-beat non-superhero fare, were extremely reasonably priced. I had a blast seeing books I haven't seen in years and, in some cases had never seen before.

 

Now for the blow-by-blow:

 

Thurs --sold lots of glasses and met bobpfef and 143ksk, both of whom immediately began taunting me with finds from the floor. Hopefully they'll both share these with everyone. Some great books. Of course, also ran into Donut and met Rob_React (kind of absurd--we live less than an hr apart and had to meet in Chicago). This eventually led to dinner.

 

Here's the crowd at Ram's, taken by our "perky" (I'm quoting donut here) waitress. At one point, Donut had to tell me to chill-out cuz the obnoxious New Yorker in me was showing through. If there's one thing I'm sick of hearing in this life-time is that a place has great burgers. Inevitably, that's a crock, especially in MA, where you have to bribe a cook to get a burger cooked less than medium-well thanks to a state legislature that is so concerned with our safety that they tell us what to eat. However, this was one fine, fine burger. And great beer. Good call guys

 

 

As the festivities wore on, the beer flowed, and Donut jr. passed out at the table(from exhaustion, not the beer), tempers briefly flared over Donut's pillaging collections of early SA DC war books out from under the noses of the locals.

 

 

That night ended at a reasonable hour, since we were all wiped out by our trip.

 

Fri. Thanks to bobpfef, I finally go to hit the floor. I made it all of 3 booths away, when I started going through 4 longboxes of mid-grade Archies. Finally, the dealer shows me some high grade stuff, and I pull out this gem. It was in both a mylite and mylar, which usually concerns me because the mylite makes the books look so glossy. Not so, this time. I pulled the book out, and it had a retina-burning gloss. Nice and fresh, white-off white pages and white covers. An tremendous looking VF for sure. (Sorry for the crappy pic). The starting price was already a bit below guide, he immediately knocked off 25%, and I got him down another 20 bucks. I honestly never expected to own, never mind find, a 1950's Archie Giant Series book in this shape, especially a X-mas Stocking issue. I was pretty much beside myself most of the rest of the day, and finished off by visiting relatives that night.

 

 

Sat. - Sold more glasses. Again, everyone was kind enough to give me a few breathers. And, after vowing to not buy anything else, Ze-man tipped me off to the fact that Steve Ritter had some high grade Harveys. Found these in his long boxes and was thrilled. Both were covers I coveted, and the Richie Rich in any higher condition is just too pricey for me. The Casper 89 is a killer and for some reason is one I've really never found in high grade.

 

 

 

 

Dinner All I can say is, WOW. A great night from start to finish. The Ze's were there with Ze-man carefully nurturing his daughter's interest in comics.

I enjoyed meeting both moondog and Joe Sarno, both of whom were exceptionally friendly and readily shared as much info as you could ask for, as did Michelle Nolan. I had never met moondog, and was standing next to him as pulled something out of a bag and hands me a stack of ashcan covers before we even spoke.

 

 

CentaurMan was gracious enough to bring in these gems, and let everyone peruse the interiors. I couldn't bring myself to touch any of them at a table with water glasses and food. The All-American is unreal. Congrats.

 

 

Oh yeah, within the span of a month, I've now seen thecollector complain to the waitstaff about his non-Texan steaks in two different cities

 

 

After talking about books until about midnight, the few hold-outs went to the bar for two more hours. There was much drunken bickering about books, sports, and October humored me as I gave him a tutorial on character glass collecting. A great time.

 

Sun. --the aftermath of too many gin and tonics and too little sleep. Sold glasses, more drolling over books scrooge and others showed me, and finally one last purchase from Andy Krappela (sp?), who also was kind enough to bring my stock back to MA. This Lulu book is just so sharp--one of those you can't believe ever made it onto a spinner rack or the hands of a kid--yet there's the arrival stamp right on it. Super-saturated colors (the polar opposite of my crappy washed out photo) and great gloss, with a near-perfect spine.

 

 

 

I'm sure I left some names out, but I'm still wiped from the trip. Had a great time seeing everyone.

[Ze-man]

 

.

 

I will take a stab at who is who.

 

Left to right.

 

Up front Left

Paul (Sliverbronze)

On his left I know by face but not by name.

To his left In the round glasses is Pedigreman himself, (Alan)

Guy in the hat I cannot make out, sorry

At the head of this Stone Cutter Round table in the White long sleeve is Ted V. L From Superworld

To his left is October( Andy)

His partner in Crime Klodz is next to him. ( How is that NEW logo coming bro?)

Guy in the Blue shirt is some guy named Rob React. An artist or something.

And lastly is Dan (Flying Donut) and his son I assume?

 

I agree with Paul, I saw plenty of books that had me wowed. But I am easy.. I like everything. Including those Richie Rich Books Paul had. The Archie was nice, very nice. But that R.R. #32 is sublime. The logo with the $$$ icicles is too much.

 

Ze-

[FFB]

The guy whose face you know but not his name is Steve Welch, also known by everyone here as Rhino (formerly "Rhino_Comics").

[FFB]

Whose Action Comics #1 is that on the mantle?????

[SharpComics.com]

 

.

 

I will take a stab at who is who.

 

Left to right.

 

Up front Left

Paul (Sliverbronze)

On his left I know by face but not by name.

To his left In the round glasses is Pedigreman himself, (Alan)

Guy in the hat I cannot make out, sorry

At the head of this Stone Cutter Round table in the White long sleeve is Ted V. L From Superworld

To his left is October( Andy)

His partner in Crime Klodz is next to him. ( How is that NEW logo coming bro?)

Guy in the Blue shirt is some guy named Rob React. An arstist or something.

And lastly is Dan (Flying Donut) and his son I assume?

 

I agree with Paul, I saw plenty of books that had me wowed. But I am easy.. I like everything. Including those Richie Rich Books Paul had. The Archie was nice, very nice. But that R.R. #32 is sublime. The logo with the $$$ icicles is too much.

 

Ze-

 

I'll help ya out a little Ze-. From bottom left, up and around:

 

Paul (SilverandBronze)

Steve (Rhino)

Alan (Pedigreeman)

Kyle, my younger brother

Ted from SuperWorld

Andy (October)

Me(duh), Brad (Klozd24seven)

Rob (Rob React)

Thomas C., Dans son

Dan (Flying Donut)

 

There ya have it folks . And may I also add what a GREAT time we had all weekend, even though Andy, Alan and I were literally dragging our asses for most of the day, it was well worth it for the opportunity to meet and mingle with all of ya

 

By the by, the logo is coming around VERY WELL. My thanks go out to all of those at the bar for the input . And as of this afternoon, Sharpcomics.com and Sharpcomics.net are now official domains thanks inpart to Dans incitefull "thinking whilst drinking"

 

K

[SharpComics.com]

Whose Action Comics #1 is that on the mantle?????

 

That would be Win's copy, Scott. . It is SWEEEEEEEET We all missed you and Elizabeth this year man You GOTTA try and make it next year!!!!

[FFB]

Whose Action Comics #1 is that on the mantle?????

 

That would be Win's copy, Scott. . It is SWEEEEEEEET We all missed you and Elizabeth this year man You GOTTA try and make it next year!!!!

 

We'll be there next year.

 

When did Win get an Action 1???? Man, if I had been there I would have taken it to the toilet to read it during dinner.

[october]

Man, if I had been there I would have taken it to the toilet to read it during dinner.

 

He probably would have let you. Win isn't exactly anal when it comes to letting people read or handle his rare comics.

[Ze-man]

And as of this afternoon, Sharpcomics.com and Sharpcomics.net are now official domains thanks inpart to Dans incitefull "thinking whilst drinking"

 

K

 

Klodz, It goes without saying that it was great conversing with you at the bar about your logo. You were VERY civil too I might add. But I want it known,I am petty enough to say it... I was the one who first asked you if you had the domain rights to Sharp Comics

 

It was Rob And Dan that had the actual "REAL" advice about how to actually get it. Screw them... I want all the credit.

 

How much does that pay?

 

 

Ze-

[SharpComics.com]

And as of this afternoon, Sharpcomics.com and Sharpcomics.net are now official domains thanks inpart to Dans incitefull "thinking whilst drinking"

 

K

 

Klodz, It goes without saying that it was great conversing with you at the bar about your logo. You were VERY civil too I might add. But I want it known,I am petty enough to say it... I was the one who first asked you if you had the domain rights to Sharp Comics

 

It was Rob And Dan that had the actual "REAL" advice about how to actually get it. Screw them... I want all the credit.

 

How much does that pay?

 

 

Ze-

 

1MIIIIIIIIIIILLION DOLLARS Will a company check suffice

[rob_react]

[thedude]

great report Paul, it was very cool to see (and flip thru) Win's books, I can't believe how casual he was about the whole thing, a very nice guy.

 

it was my first forum dinner, and I kinda felt like a little fish in a big pond, but everyone made me feel welcome even if they didn't know me.

 

Steve Borock was especially nice to me, he talked to me quite a bit, I was kinda surprised, we talked about the "Big Lebowski" movie, which he is a fan of, I told him I felt a little out of place since I was just a little fish, Steve then said " hey, we all start out as little fish", words of wisdom my friends.

 

also got to meet and talk with Ze-man, Paul, Ted (Superworld), Blazing Bob, Moondog, Rob React, Klozd24seven, Pedigreeman, October, Win, who was very excited about his All-American #61 pickup, GAcollectibles, Dan (FlyingDounut), and a few others, it was a great experience being at the dinner, and I want to thank everyone for treating me so well.

 

Alton (thedude)

 

I, like ze-man left my camera back at my hotel and didn't get any pictures of the dinner , geez

[Ze-man]

Alton, was great to get the chance to speak with you early on at the dinner. Once the place filled up it was kinda hard to "make the rounds". It was a shame you didnt find the books you wanted at the Con, but it sounded like you got some pretty solid advice at the Bar after dinner was over.

 

Like you, I could not bring myself to flip through Wins books even though he urged me to several times. (I kept picturing myself tripping and falling into the huge tubs of butter on each table). He was very nice about it all. He really just wanted to share what he had, not in an "in your face way" but more just one fan sharing what he had with other fans. He was as excited about other peoples books, as we were over what he brought.

 

I still want to know where Win's Insurance Secret Agent was at the Dinner.. was he hiding in the shrubbery outside in the smoking area taking photos of anyone who came within 5 feet of the books?

 

I look foward to reading Rob's, Dan's, and others Dinner reports.

 

 

Ze-

 

And I just noticed this, the guy in the painting above the mantle was frowning before Dan put up Win's Books.. now look at him.

 

 

 

[Anfield Fox]

 

What grade was it, RR? I hope your hands were clean!

[langur88]

but it sounded like you got some pretty solid advice at the Bar

 

as long as it wasn't from Mel Gibson.

[GACollectibles]

Sun. --the aftermath of too many gin and tonics and too little sleep. Sold glasses, more drolling over books scrooge and others showed me, and finally one last purchase from Andy Krappela (sp?), who also was kind enough to bring my stock back to MA. This Lulu book is just so sharp--one of those you can't believe ever made it onto a spinner rack or the hands of a kid--yet there's the arrival stamp right on it. Super-saturated colors (the polar opposite of my crappy washed out photo) and great gloss, with a near-perfect spine.

 

Krappela?

 

That's good, it makes the top 3 along with other names I've been called such as Patella (I'm no kneecap!) & Feetsmella...

 

Sorry about the half dozen cases of glasses that "mysteriously" fell out of the back of the van on the way back!

[arexcrooke]

but it sounded like you got some pretty solid advice at the Bar

 

as long as it wasn't from Mel Gibson.

[langur88]

Krappela?

 

That's good, it makes the top 3 along with other names I've been called such as Patella (I'm no kneecap!) & Feetsmella...

 

Sorry about the half dozen cases of glasses that "mysteriously" fell out of the back of the van on the way back!

 

[buttock]

Oh yeah, within the span of a month, I've now seen thecollector complain to the waitstaff about his non-Texan steaks in two different cities

 

Memories

[Norrin_Radd]

Win, who was very excited about his All-American #61 pickup

 

Yargh, another one! He got one last year in Chicago. Is he cornering the market?!

 

BTW - nice report.