Bobpfef's Chicago con report

[bobpfef]

Sorry for the lateness of this report. Things have been pretty crazy at work since I've gotten back (don't you just love that) but anyway...

 

Oh, and the usual disclaimer that this report will probably contain tons of boring personal stuff and comics that most people don't care about. You've been warned.

 

Left on Wednesday with the whole family loaded up in the van along with 5 full suitcases of clothes, 2 suitcases full of dolls (my girls couldn't leave them behind) and a cooler and was ready for the drive from Minnesota to Chicago. I hoped I didn't buy too much because I can't fit anything else in the vehicle. Actually the plan is to only buy one or two "big" books, hopefully either something my John Stanley or Walt Kelly or maybe a Superman or Action war cover. I have almost $600 in cash, so I think I'll be able to get something nice.

 

Anyway, we stop a lot on the way down. The kids like to run around the rest areas and we brought balls to toss and kick around. It makes the driving easier to stop a lot as well. We stopped at this antique mall in Wisconson Dells that we've always had good luck at. My wife hits the jackpot and finds the last color LuRay picture she needed, also with a tough green LuRay chop plant, while I find a Sad Sack glass that I need (though my wife says I already have it... ) I wanted to eat at this really good noodle place we found in Madison, WI a few years back, so I had the Mapquest directions for that. We made it there for dinner, but I disappointed myself by wimping out and not getting something more exotic. I was hoping my wife would, but after we ordered she said she thought *I* was going to get the exotic stuff. Oh well, it was all really good.

 

After a night in a hotel we were off again on Thursday. My plan was to get there around 2 or 3 to help Paul set up the Toon Tumblers booth and then work there the rest of the day. The family would either go swimming or come to the show. We got to Chicago in good time, but had to wait around for our room to be ready. We splurged and stayed at the Embassy Suites this year and it was worth it. The room was HUGE and my kids loved it. They claimed different parts of the room for their own "apartments" and charged me rent if I went in them. We had a good view of the convention center.

 

I met up with Paul after some struggles getting the correct badge. We chatted as we set up and it was really cool to talk glasses and see all the Toon Tumblers set out in a group. After the show opened I left Paul and wandered around a bit. After I started going up the aisles I decided that that would take to long so I hunted down Steve Thompson to see if he had any of the bigger Walt Kelly books I need. Steve is the author of the Walt Kelly Collector's Guide and an upcoming biography on Kelly and always has tons of cool Walt Kelly comics and collectibles in his booth. Plus he is fun to talk with. Looking through his stock I picked out these.

 

Santa Claus Funnies #1. Pre Four Color Santa Claus Funnies, this is one of the earlier Walt Kelly comics. Not in the best shape, but still together and I have been outbid on lower grade ones on ebay for more then he had it stickered for ($30) so I had to have it.

 

 

Fairy Tale Parade #8. This brought my run of Fairy Tale Parades down to just a #1 and #3. This was in perfect condition for me as it only has a Walt Kelly cover and no inside work by him so I wanted a decent lower grade copy.

 

 

Pogo #1. I love the cover on this and it was one of the few Pogos I still needed. A nice shape FN with some minor damage but it looks really sharp in hand. Very glossy. Priced at $150 I thought it was a good deal.

 

 

Steve gave me a deal ($160 for the lot) and I walked away from the booth happy with my first con purchases.

 

I need went to find Gary Colobuono who always has great books at great prices and is also really fun to talk to. I am still kicking myself after last year not making it to his booth until after all the Little Lulus had been pulled out. This year I wasn't going to let that happen again, so I went over there right away. Started chatting with Gary and I found it it happened AGAIN! He had only one Lulu this year, but it was a double cover! He got an offer he couldn't refuse on it before I made it to the table so he said he'd "make it me a good deal" -- boy did he ever! Here is only about a quarter of the books I got from Gary.

 

Some late run Pogos to check off the want list.

 

 

Beautiful Walt Kelly Our Gang March of Comics #26. I got a STEAL on this one.

 

 

I finally picked up a Supersnipe. Plus a basketball cover.

 

 

A Kelly cover WDCS I needed.

 

 

A very sharp Shazam 15 to replace my beater copy. Plus, Mr. Mind

 

 

Extremely sharp Dell Giant with a great cover.

 

 

I LOVE Shmoo, and this is wonderful cover.

 

 

I spent a little over $200 at Gary's booth but full sticker price on everything was more like $350 so I was really happy. Plus I got some really sweet comics.

 

Finally I went to see Gary Dolgoff. I buy mail order from him a bit and he had a LOT of stuff on his ebay store I wanted to see in hand. Lucky for me he brought most of those comics and so I had a good time going through his boxes. He was also quite a character to talk with. A fellow Walt Kelly collector was digging through the boxes right next to me so I lost out on a few pieces, but was very happy with what I got.

 

Choo Choo Charlie #1. One of the last John Stanley comics and one that I can now cross off my list.

 

 

Gasoline Alley #2. L.B. Cole cover with Frank King strip reprints. I've been on a Gasoline Alley kick since the Drawn & Quarterly book came out.

 

 

FC #69 Fairy Tale Parade

 

 

 

I also got a Camp Comics #3 which for some reason I forgot to scan. This is a book I've been looking for for awhile. Only distributed in military bases in early 1942 and the series only lasted 3 issues. Features Kelly work, with a lot of cheesecake type of artwork. A cool book.

 

Made it back to Paul's booth after about 45 minutes and showed him my purchases. My family came by and they showed me what they had got. My daughters got some Hamtaro and Pokemon stuff and were very excited. My son wanted me to go to the Pokemon booth so I could learn to play the right way. We just make up our own rules because we never could figure out exactly how to play the game. The day is over pretty quickly and I head back to the hotel. We order a pizza and my friend Randy gets in from Kansas City, and that is the evening.

 

Friday I get up early to set up the Toon Tumber booth as Paul won't be there until later in the day. Roger from Mid-Ohio con helps me out and all goes pretty well. It is hard standing on the concrete for hour after hour but it is fun to talk glasses with people. Around 3 in the afternoon I take a break and head back to the hotel and find my family at the pool. Turns out there were there earlier but left after a guy dressed up like he had his head cut open had scared my youngest daughter. He was with a bunch of other people and when she saw him she started to cry. The guy laughed about this and started to run after her. She was screaming now and so my wife and kids left where he was and start to go to another part of the show. He followed after them, as he and his group laughed about the whole thing. Finally they left them alone, only to come back about 10 minutes later and do the whole thing again. My kids just wanted to leave by then and my wife was so angry they left.

 

I went back to the show after an hour or so. I stopped by Metro to look at a few books I had asked them to pull for me. After some back and forth I decided to pull the trigger on these.

 

FC #113. Double cover. First double cover comic I've owned. Just too cool to pass up.

 

 

Fairy Tale Parade #1. Grade VG and priced at guide. I decided to get it, leaving me with only one FTP left.

 

 

Friday night we wanted to eat at Giovannis but didn't want to wait in the line for the one near the hotel. After a bit of driving and a few false started we ended up at one with no wait. It was awesome as always. I love the shrimp pizza.

 

Saturday we took the train into Chicago. We had to wait almost an hour at the station to buy tickets as the single machine was REALLY slow. We wanted to do Shedds and Navy Pier and maybe a few other things we had planned out, but we only got to Shedds and it was a bit disappointing. It was SO crowded you could barely move, much less see any fish. The stuff we saw was pretty cool, but all the interactive stuff was broke and it was just a madhouse. The dolphin show was pretty weak, the one at the Minnesota zoo was much better. The lizard area was pretty good, but that was probably because it was the least crowded area we went to. The Spongebob 4-D movie they had was really good however, even though it was too short. Easily the best part of the day. I barely made it back in time for the dinner, and got my seat just as they were ordering. The dinner was great as always, it it was fun to chat with everyone. I wanted to stay later but I was just so tired after that crazy day I left early.

 

Sunday I just bought some half off trade and near the end of the show bought a cherry picked long box from Chris at the Comic Book College for #30. Complete of near complete runs of Warlord, John Sable, Amethyst, Ms. Tree, tons of Veritago minis, lots of Eclipse books, lots of Quality books. Mainly 80s indy stuff with a few DCs and Marvels. We had to make the kids walk as I put the long box in the stroller. My kids called it our new baby

 

Somehow we packed all the new purchases in the van, though it was very tight. We went out to eat at a nearby place with the worlds more surly waitress, and then headed back home.

 

Stayed overnight in Rockford and stopped at an antique mall there the next day and picked up these books.

 

 

[flink]

You found some nice books Bob. What I like best about them is they were well loved. Someone read them and reread them and perhaps passed them on for someone else to read. They have character.

[tth2]

The room was HUGE and my kids loved it. They claimed different parts of the room for their own "apartments" and charged me rent if I went in them.

Sounds like you've got some future comic dealers in the making!

 

Nice report, Bob, and nice pick ups! I like the personal touches in peoples' con reports!

[adamstrange]

He followed after them, as he and his group laughed about the whole thing. Finally they left them alone, only to come back about 10 minutes later and do the whole thing again. My kids just wanted to leave by then and my wife was so angry they left.

 

This is unconscionable -- they should immediately have to security to get the person taken care of.!

 

At SD, my 8 year-old nephew stopped a young man dressed as Mace (Star Wars jedi) and asked him lots of questions and the guy was totally cool about it. I'm sorry you ran into trouble.

[Darrell F]

I saw a guy at Chicago scaring kids. He was dressed up as some small creature. He walked up to me and I just pushed him backwards a little. Well it was more like I placed my hand on top of his head since he was hunched over and was only about 4 feet off the ground.

[Aman619]

 

Ill BET there will be some tenting tonight for that guyh!!

[HouseofComics.Com]

Very fun report! Those are my kinds of books.

 

Marc

[Moondog]

Thanks for the biz, Bob. Great report!

 

--Gary

[Ze-man]

Bobpef great books, especially liked the S. C Funnies. For some reason I love Holiday Books. To my surprise I found myself looking at all kinds of different books while In Chicago (thnx to those infectious Tumblers) But found it was especially fun to go from booth to booth with more then just my normal titles to browse for. Although it became clear finding early Casper, Hot Stuff, and Richie Rich in decent grade was tougher then I thought. My Casper #9 was my best effort.

 

Did I miss you on Sarturday, or meet you and forget?(probably)

 

Ze-

[bobpfef]

Saturday I wasn't at the show, we went to Shedds that day. We chatted briefly at the dinner I believe, but there was so much going on it was hard to know just exactly who was who. I do remember your little girl was just too cute!

[batman_fan]

Reading your report reminded me of what collecting comics is really all about!

[rjpb]

Great haul Bob - it's nice to know that one can go to a con with $600 and walk away with much cool GA stuff. The Gasoline

Alley book with a the Cole cover is a fascinating artifact - be sure to post it in the L.B. Cole thread - I bet many Cole fans have never seen it before ( I know I hadn't).

 

I'm looking forward to D&Q putting out their collection of Gasoline Alley Sundays.

[Timulty]

A very sharp Shazam 15 to replace my beater copy. Plus, Mr. Mind

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Nice Pickup! The Lex Luthor story in this is hilarious. It's like he was struck with attention deficit disorder or something. Nice, Wally Wood covers as well.

[trevorlsmith]

Around 3 in the afternoon I take a break and head back to the hotel and find my family at the pool. Turns out there were there earlier but left after a guy dressed up like he had his head cut open had scared my youngest daughter. He was with a bunch of other people and when she saw him she started to cry. The guy laughed about this and started to run after her. She was screaming now and so my wife and kids left where he was and start to go to another part of the show. He followed after them, as he and his group laughed about the whole thing. Finally they left them alone, only to come back about 10 minutes later and do the whole thing again. My kids just wanted to leave by then and my wife was so angry they left.

 

I went back to the show after an hour or so. I stopped by Metro to look at a few books I had asked them to pull for me. After some back and forth I decided to pull the trigger on these.

 

That's really friggin' twisted, and you seem so matter of fact about it. I applaud your level-headedness. If it were me, I would have scoured the convention floor until I found the d0uche b@g and I'm sure we both would have been kicked out of the convention.

[trevorlsmith]

Btw, nice pick-ups and con report.