Mega-Con Day 1 report

[joeypost]

Hello everyone, thought I would give everyone a quick report on the first day of Mega-Con.

 

Kingofrulers and mcmiles had a small booth and I crashed there for most of the day. I did get a chance to visit every, and I mean every comic dealer since there were so few who had anything of note or value. For a high grade silver/bronze collector like me there were very few dealers who had anything that was NM either raw or slabbed that was 1) affordable 2) available. I did find some books and I will post about them later tonight.

 

If you are into modern books, statues and animae there was considerably more to keep you occupied.

 

I will post pictures and more details tonight from the convention and the small forum dinner we had afterwards.

[G.A.tor]

thanks joeypost...I was going to drive down there , but got sidetracked...was looking forward to meeting Brent from QualityComix and seeing Ricky Evans of Bedrock (he has some Killer books!, I am sure)...if you are at the show, make sure to check those 2 out!

rick

[joeypost]

Brent was at the forum dinner and I tried to go through his books but there was a buyer there looking through ever box...I decided to come back later in the day but never made it.

 

I find each year this show becomes more of a showcase for bad costumes and stuffed toys, statues and Barbarian Wars. It was so bad for some of the guests I felt sorry for them. Loue Ferrigno sat there for the first few hours before anyone went up to him. Here was a childhood idol both from bodybuilding and the Hulk TV show and I could not bring myself to bail him out.

 

I cannot make it the rest of the show but Mike and Steven are there and hopefully will report back. I have pictures to download but will be very busy tonight and won't be able to do it until much later...if not tomorrow.

 

I did pick up a few nice books and they are in the hands of CGC already so I will post the results when they come back.

[joeypost]

Here is a photo of Kingofrulers (Steven), mcmiles (Mike) and me (Joeypost) at Mike and Stevens booth. They were gracious enough to let me crash there during the day.

 

 

Below are photos of what most of the attendee's looked like...

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry for the poor photo quality. My camera is on its way out. If you look down some of the rows you can see how sparse the comic dealers were at this show. The middle isle where the girls are standing had a few dealers bunched together.

 

One of my impulse buys was this great King King statue. Thing must be over 2 feet high.

 

 

And finally the small group who met for dinner...I'll let you match the faces and names (forum handles).

 

[KingOfRulers]

Awesome report and pictures Joe! And that picture of thw King Kong statue doesn't do it justice. There is so much detail in that gigantic statue which took 5 minutes to load in your car I actually thought the selection of books at the convention was great. I guess I'm not looking for the same type of books as you, which could be why the selection for you was a bit limited. There was is a large anime presence which I've come to expect. But this show is definitely getting better in my opinion. The attendance was fantastic. I, as well as many otherd I talked to say that this was the biggest attendance Megacon has ever seen. I heard on Friday there was 2000-2500+ people, and on Saturday they estimate around 6000. It was packed today. The aisles would build up so much that they were at a complete standstill for a while.

 

The forum dinner was fun like usual. I can't wait to do it again next year! I'll post my report tomorrow.

 

Oh, and thanks for driving me back to my car.

[Flee-Marquette]

I agree with Stephen, I thought the selection was pretty good. The place was a total madhouse. I will post some pictures tomorrow after I recuperate.

[joeypost]

Awesome report and pictures Joe! And that picture of thw King Kong statue doesn't do it justice. There is so much detail in that gigantic statue which took 5 minutes to load in your car I actually thought the selection of books at the convention was great. I guess I'm not looking for the same type of books as you, which could be why the selection for you was a bit limited. There was is a large anime presence which I've come to expect. But this show is definitely getting better in my opinion. The attendance was fantastic. I, as well as many otherd I talked to say that this was the biggest attendance Megacon has ever seen. I heard on Friday there was 2000-2500+ people, and on Saturday they estimate around 6000. It was packed today. The aisles would build up so much that they were at a complete standstill for a while.

 

The forum dinner was fun like usual. I can't wait to do it again next year! I'll post my report tomorrow.

 

Oh, and thanks for driving me back to my car.

 

on the car scene. I drive a Volvo C70 and the box for that statue was at least 3 X 4. I had to put the top down to get it in the back seat. All of this in what would be freezing weather in Florida.

 

The more I thought about it the selection was not as bad as i make it out. The books I went looking for did not exist so I was a bit biased in my view.

[JiveTurkeyMoFo]

It was great to finally meet you Joe; imagine a comic-loving New Yorker with a sense of humor, and you got Joeypost.

 

BTW, that King Kong statue rocked. The booth were they were selling it was a zoo all weekend. Lots of great deals there. Luckily, I got one of the few remaining Ultimate Spider-Man # 1-10 hardcovers for $7 before they sold out.

 

This was a fantastic buying weekend for me. Lots of great high grade material was at Mega-Con this weekend if you had the patience to search for it. I spent $2k+ on both slabbed and raw books and knocked off about a dozen more Pictureframes from the ole wantlist. I also got to pick up some recent CGC subs while there, so I'm hauling several shorboxes back with me.

 

Brent from Qualitycomix had a person_without_enough_empathyin' show, especially because so much of his sales came from $5-$20 bin stuff. He must have sold several long boxes worth of mid to high grade books in that price range, particularly to other dealers. I really don't know how he does it and am quite envious of his ability to turn water into wine, despite a pretty poor floor location. His Friday and Saturday went so well, he broke down his table and is going back on Sunday only to buy.

 

In terms of quality of books, this is indeed the best Mega-Con has ever offered. Steve Borock mentioned at the dinner that he thought this convention would be an "A" convention in another five years, on par with a Chicago or San Diego. Perhaps its too much to hope for, but the convention is certainly making huge leaps and strides forward every year in terms of quality. Its great to see dealers like Motor City and Bedrock make the long trip several years running and have the sales to justify a return next year. When I went to my first Mega-Con in 2002, the only "name" dealer was Graham Crackers, and thankfully, the selection has gotten a LOT better for high grade collectors like myself.

 

And regarding the vary mixed nature of the crowd (animae geeks, comic geeks, star wars geeks, etc), I think its a great thing. That kind of mix of entertainment, multimedia, collectables, artists, culture, etc is very healthy. It helps expose people to things they normally wouldn't seek out on their own which they might find very cool.

 

It was great to meet some new faces and do a few deals. Looking very forward to next year!

[joeypost]

I guess I am to much of a comic purist. When I was a kid a comic convention was just that, rows and rows of comics dealers. In fact Steve and I attended the same shows as teenagers and there were dealers fighting for your business. I guess I have to keep up with the changng times.

 

On a seperate note I cannot stress how enjoyable and instructional it was to spend the day with King, mcmiles, jiveturkey, qualitycomics, Steve B. and Wes (think he sells under the ebay name dodofive). If you have never attended a forum dinner you really appreciate the love these people have for the hobby. I have been collecting and trading books since I was 11 (32 years and counting) and I learned more in one night than I have in the last 10 years. It was a priveledge to be a part of the group and look forward to many more conventions and dinners in the future.

[batman_fan]

And finally the small group who met for dinner...I'll let you match the faces and names (forum handles).

 

 

Oh my god, did Steve B eat his plate?

[joeypost]

Here are a few books I picked up on Friday.

 

 

 

 

[joeypost]

A few more I forgot about.

 

 

 

The Thor looks like it has a shot at NM.

[JiveTurkeyMoFo]

That WBN # 2 looks super sweet...how did I miss that one?

 

Where did you buy it from?

[joeypost]

Wes.

[JiveTurkeyMoFo]

Wes.

 

Damn, I knew I should've gotten over to his booth earlier.

[joeypost]

I pulled a Hulk #114 and another Werewolf By Night #4 that I handed right over to CGC they were that nice.