Wizard World Chicago Report

[FlyingDonut]

For what its worth, I think Wizard World Chicago is the best pure COMICS show in the country. Lots of comics. Lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of comics.

 

I arrived yesterday at about 11, after missing the exit coming from the western suburbs and going to Cumberland Avenue. Here's a hint when you come to Rosemont: don't park in the Stephens Center parking lot (for $11). Park in the CTA lot for $1. That $10 will come in handy later!

 

I got in for free - don't ask, but I did. Started to walk the floor, looking for Rip_Van_Sleep, Greggy and my want lists. Saw lots of cool stuff - eyeballed the Lost Valley books (a 9.6!!!! Marvel Mystery 84) among other books.

 

General observations of the floor - there were many buyers, as opposed to Philadelphia, where it appeared there were more browsers. My overall impression was that prices are too high across the board, as I don't think mainstream dealers understand the downward pressure that eBay is pushing on the market. I'm not going to pay $50 for something that I know I can buy on eBay for $35. But that's just me.

 

The crazy factor was MUCH less than usual. Maybe it was the weather (stunning outside, just stunning), but there were much fewer costumed weirdos than in conventions past. The floor was packed with people though, mostly the typical show audience.

 

Saw much more plastic books this year than last. There was a dealer who had four long boxes of slabbed 9.8 early 80s books for $20 each. No FFs, of course, but Avengers, Spideys, that kind of stuff. Didn't buy any. Bob Storms got totally shafted on his placement -he can probably tell you all better than I can, but he and the old ladies selling pizza probably are friendly by now. Had pleasant conversations with Jamie Graham of Graham Crackers and several other dealers.

 

My purchases: a double cover FF 164 for $5(!), a stunning Craig Russell Sandman 50 page, a Perez FF page from issue 165, a Buckler FF page from FF 168, a bunch of 100 pagers for Greggy, a Challengers of the Unknown 72 in VF/NM for Rip-Van-Sleep (I know it wasn't mint Scott, but $5) and some new stuff.

 

Noticeable buys that I saw: One of the dealers set up with my "table" people bought Amazing 1-50, average grade G/VG from Dolgoff for $3500. Dolgoff also had Daredevil 1-100 for $1400, Journey into mystery 83-125 for $2500, things like that. Motor City Comics verified that my Cerebus 1 is an original. Its for sale now.

 

Finally, the dinner last night was OUTSTANDING. High props to PedigreeMan for setting it up, and thanks to Steve and the CGC boys for picking up the tab. I believe the bar has been raised, boys, and Mortons is the place to go.

 

I hope to see everybody in Baltimore September 20-21. CGC dinner???

[Kevin76]

I'm not going to pay $50 for something that I know I can buy on eBay for $35. But that's just me.

 

Don't forget to factor in shipping costs,and wait time,i wouldn't mind spending the extra 10 bucks to get it now,but that's just me. Kevin

[Rip]

5 bucks??? That's amazing!

This man goes above and beyond the call of duty to find my books.

[500Club]

Thanks for the report, Donut.

 

Was the 'Mile High 3' collection there? How were the books?

 

Any quality raw books, or are they all vanishing into slabs? And for the ones left, were they priced with a presumptive CGC grade in mind?

[nochips]

Thanks again to pedigreeman(organization) and CGC for a great dinner. It was fun to meet some forum members and talk about the books we have and wish we still had.

 

I saw a lot of slabbed books, Terry oNeil had some super high grade Marvels from the 1960s.I sat next to Steve Lautherbach at dinner, he was very polite and had some great stories to tell.

 

The White Mountain Tales to Astonish books were floating around, I bought a few of them unslabbed. There are still quite a few slabbed 9.4 and 9.6 copies to be had from that run. White pages on many of them.

 

I was looking for pedigrees, and saw quite a few. Metroplis had the best books by far. Mile High More Fun 52, MH WW 4 unslabbed and looking 9.6 for sure, Showcase 4 in 9.4, Mile High Master 21-23. He had 51 boxes of books. I was like a kid, looking at one gem after another. I saw Mike Burkey, as usual he ahd some great 60s art, lots of Kirby and Ditko. I onlt went for one day and it was not enough. I might go back on Sunday to look some more.

[localshop]

Motor City Comics verified that my Cerebus 1 is an original. Its for sale now.

 

Have you consigned it with Motor City Comics, or are you going to sell it yourself?

[underthebigw]

Hey FD, where the heck's my Rawhide Kid 134 variant? I just now you found one for me.

[read_em-migration]

So, were there any reported cases of someone buying a raw book as a NM, getting it slabbed as a VF, and then going back and ripping the dealer a new a-hole?

[HooDeeDoo]

The White Mountain Tales to Astonish books were floating around, I bought a few of them unslabbed. There are still quite a few slabbed 9.4 and 9.6 copies to be had from that run. White pages on many of them.

 

And who, pray tell, has THOSE for sale?

[Drummy]

I went to the Con on Friday looking for SA Marvels, so this post will reflect that point of view. Because I check out the major dealers' websites regularly, I wasn't surprised, for the most part, at what I saw. Lots of nice (8.0 - 9.0) raw material (Harley Yee, Bob Storms, Dave from North Shore Comics, who had a big chunk of the "Cleveland Collection" - nice books, including two ASM #67's in 9.6; Ted from Superworld, etc.). I was hoping Harley still had some HG early Avengers (#12 in 9.4, #7 in 9.2) from the Cleveland run, but they had sold before the con began. Sigh....

 

I also saw lots of great comic art even though I don't collect it. Plenty of clean action pages and even some bronze Marvel covers I had as a kid. I was tempted to ask how much the cover to Iron Man #88 was but didn't; I couldn't allow myself to be swayed from finding a nice high-grade SA key.

 

(On a side note, being at the Con made me want to know more about all comics of all ages, which reminded me why I love reading these forums, especially the Gold-Bronze-Modern threads. One can never learn too much, in my opinion.)

 

After walking the Con for about five hours, I had some decisions to make. I decided I couldn't afford Metropolis's FF #6 in CGC 9.2 (the price was high and the grade maybe a bit soft IMO). I looked at their ASM #24 (9.4) as well, but it was a Winnipeg and Dennis's name was all over the top of the book. Metro also had a very pretty White Mountain JIM #88 that they had graded NM (not slabbed), but it had a printing crease on the front cover and the spine wasn't ideal, so again I refrained. I also passed on Bob's ASM #39 in 9.6, a utterly gorgeous book, because of funding issues (even though he was willing to work something out.)

 

So what did I get? Surprisingly, Ted from Superworld had a beautiful Avengers #1 (graded!) in 8.5 - perfect centering, vibrant colors, especially the reds and blues - it looked 9.0 or 9.2. I bought it along with an Avengers #49 (9.4) that looked NM+. Ted made the transaction easy and fun. Then I dropped a down payment on Bob's X-Men #12 (9.4) that also had great color and eye appeal. Thanks, Ted and Bob, for making my con a big success.

 

The dinner that evening was terrific. Thanks again to Alan (pedigreeman) for all his work organizing the event, and to Steve and Mark and all the CGC'ers who bought the dinner. Morton's was a nice place to eat (my first time there), and having our own room off the main floor made the evening all the more enjoyable. I hope I can join you all again next year!

 

Dan

[Kevin76]

So what did I get? Surprisingly, Ted from Superworld had a beautiful Avengers #1 (graded!) in 8.5

 

So you bought that huh?..I remember seeing that book raw...I told Ted it looked like a 9.0,possible 9.2 even, was a bit surprised it came back an 8.5,I thought it was an easy 9.0. Kevin

[Drummy]

Hey Kev -

 

That sounds like the one; it has a tiny (neat) date stamp above the title near the logo box. I was certainly buying the book and not the grade on this one. From the front cover alone, which I examined in detail (twice) before buying, I would have said VF/NM with top-notch eye appeal. The back cover had a little impact wear near the top, which probably reduced the CGC grade... but not my adoration for such a gorgeous copy.

 

Dan

 

 

[supapimp]

I was certainly buying the book and not the grade on this one.

 

 

 

good job dan!

[ninanina]

Lots of nice (8.0 - 9.0) raw material

 

 

Dan

 

NIce of you to mention Silver Age 8.0's as being "nice".

 

Seems to be a genuine biased by many forumites with VF's.

 

 

[sfilosa]

Avengers #1 (graded!) in 8.5 - perfect centering, vibrant colors, especially the reds and blues - it looked 9.0 or 9.2.

 

Got a scan of the book? I also have an Avengers #1 CGC VF+ and I would like to compare (sounds like yours is a little nicer). Did you get a good price?

 

And don't take this the wrong way Dan, but stop buying all the good books and save up for that beautiful little girl you are going to get in September.

 

And lastly, depending on how a book looks, Very Fine's can be great books to own in a collection. I would much rather have a VF that's clean and glossly than a VF/NM that's yellowed and dull.

 

 

[Drummy]

Steve -

 

The beautiful girl is all taken care of - two years of saving and a couple recent sales have put the family in good shape. Plus I'll be putting a few other books up for sale to help take care of the X-Men #12...check the marketplace soon.

 

I don't have a way to post scans on the forum (I'm too stupid and my OS not advanced enough), but if you PM me with your email address I'll put it on the scanner and send one your way. It's quite nice, although someone who hates date stamps wouldn't like it. I don't mind them if they're small, not handwritten, and unobtrusive.

 

And I agree with everyone on this thread about VF books. Admittedly a HG freak with many 9.4's and 9.2's, I will easily go 8.5 if the book has excellent eye appeal, especially for HTF keys which go for many thousands of dollars. I am definitely on a budget, so I have to make good choices.

 

Finally, Ted's sticker price on the Avengers #1 was $3200. I didn't pay that much, but that gives you the figure we started at. Fair, I thought, given a Guide 9.0 price of $3122 and a reputation as a tough book.

 

Dan

 

 

[Kevin76]

Hey Kev -

 

That sounds like the one; it has a tiny (neat) date stamp above the title near the logo box. I was certainly buying the book and not the grade on this one. From the front cover alone, which I examined in detail (twice) before buying, I would have said VF/NM with top-notch eye appeal. The back cover had a little impact wear near the top, which probably reduced the CGC grade... but not my adoration for such a gorgeous copy.

 

Dan

 

 

Yup...that's it..and a small tiny corner crease in the upper right hand corner...the colors on the book looked fresh...the red just "popped" out at you everything "pops" when red is added 8.5 is certainly a very decieving grade though,I was a bit surpised that it did get only an 8.5. Ted said if the book came back a 9.4 he was going to throw a party. Kevin

[g-man]

nice pick up Dan...if u got that for under $3K, you did well (great looking book). Hey it was $20K less than the 9.4 on pgcmint.

[Architecht]

I stopped by the show from about 5pm to 6pm on Friday. Gemma looked a little busy as she was the only one at the booth when I stopped by. Later on, Harshen was sharing the load at the end of the day. All the graders were carefully sequestered in the back rooms.

 

I didn't see any of the board members though.

 

Arch

[Fan4Fan]

My purchases: a double cover FF 164 for $5(!), a stunning Craig Russell Sandman 50 page, a Perez FF page from issue 165, a Buckler FF page from FF 168, a bunch of 100 pagers for Greggy, a Challengers of the Unknown 72 in VF/NM for Rip-Van-Sleep (I know it wasn't mint Scott, but $5) and some new stuff.

 

Not to be (too) crass, but what were the FF pages running (ballpark) and which pages were they?

 

I knew I should have gone instead of trim the hedges, weed the garden, and mow the lawn.

 

Thanks,

Fan4Fan