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2007 Paradise Comic Con...Full report !!! Super Pic Heavy

Started by Guardian Comics,

65 posts in this topic

Guardian Comics

Guardian Comics

Posted
Posted

Not only that but my 500th post to boot. Im pretty sure it is going to take me an hour or more to write this thread ..so yes I am starting a new topic smile.gif

 

On Thursday one day before the show this arrived from our own Korvac Saga, this is important to my report because the minute I opened the box I had an epiphany and realized what long term goals I wanted to get out of this hobby and this book help narrowed my definition.

 

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I realized that I wanted to define my collection in pedigrees, with an emphasis on White Mountain pre 1966 Marvels. (We'll get back to that later, if you have the time to read my ramblings)

 

FRIDAY: I arrive around noon to help Chris (The Beyonder) set up his booth and to help him out the entire weekend. Although the walls of Chris' booth may have been a little sparse, I think his display was first class and unlike anything any other dealer had available.

 

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After getting Chris set up, I left for awhile to peruse all the dealers booth for what Chris later described as an "eternity" to see what else was going on before Paradise opened the doors to the general public at 3:00. I had an idea in my head of what books I already had my eye on as I was in Detroit a few weeks earlier and knew what Superworld, Highgrade, Harley and others were going to have available. My first stop was Becharas table as I knew there was at least 1 piece of O/A that he had, that I had been dreaming of since I left Detroit.

 

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(Becharas Wall of Fame and $$$)

 

So I snagged that piece right away. When he saw the price that he put on it, he wondered aloud what he was thinking when he priced it and wasn't in the mood to knock off more than $15 but I bought it anyway. It is a Sal Buscema end page to Super Villian Team Up #11

 

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I also perused Steven Ritters booth very closely on Friday and made a mental note of a dozen or so books that caught my attention.

 

I got a chance to meet Yoram and really talk to him for the first time later that evening and browse through his original art. He had some great pieces but nothing that fit my focus. I asked him if he had anything featuring the Green Goblin, Silver Surfer, Galactus or Dr. Doom. He said he had some stuff at home and that he would bring it tomorrow. I couldn't wait.

 

I personally thought the traffic in the convention was the most people in the 5 years this show has been around, especially considering the absolute downpour that occured in the late afternoon. Sales on Friday at Chris' booth were definitely promising, for the weekend to come.

 

SATURDAY: I arrive about a half hour before the show opens and to my surprise Chris already had the table up and running. So my first instinct is to visit Yoram and see what he has brought for me. He shows me around 7 or 8 Marshall Rogers Silver Surfer pieces, but none of them really struck a chord with me. Than he pulls these out.

 

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I was floored. The pages just screamed Bronze Age art. They are from a What If inventory story that was never published. I asked Yoram how much he wanted per page, he then gave me a dollar amount for the entire lot that I felt was so good I didn't even try and dicker. Hell I'd dicker at Wal Mart for a CD if they wouldn't laugh at me smile.gif

 

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(Stephen hard at work)

 

Later on in the day, I did some more browsing and went back to Steven Ritters booth to chat about his upcoming book and pedigrees in general. He offered up so much knowledge and time, I just had to buy something from him. Although I sure didn't make him rich, I just knew I could let this badboy make the journey back to Steves home in Ohio. It's Cap #107 from the Diamond Run pedigree. I have never in my life seen a book, where the colours and inks are still dripping like they are, the book is ridiculous. Again it was priced so cheap (way under guide), I didn't have the heart to dicker with Stephen and gave him his asking price.

 

I then stopped by the blazing ones booth, and started negotiating some prices on a couple of books that caught my eye.

 

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(The Blazing One)

 

I offered some prices and he asked me to give him the night and see him in the morning to see what he could do.

 

I proceeded to go around to the other dealers table and get more of a feel how the show was going for them. One of my first stops was John (CycloneComics) here on the boards.

 

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This is John, and your eyes are not deceiving you. That is indeed 7 copies of the same book on his wall and NONE of them are for sale. After he tried to explain to me on two different occasions what exactly they were, all the information that I have been able to retain is that they are some kind of Kirby Golden Age Book that he did for one of the smaller publishers. Hell I'm probably even wrong on that but what I am correct in is that fact that there are 10 copies on the Census and Johns goal is to own them all. He even submitted another one for grading at the show as CGC was on site to take the books back to Florida.

 

John asked me to take a pic of the "Eye Candy" that was directly across from his booth.

 

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Rumour has it that John had a small crush on the Redhead, and that both were seen leaving together. John returned about 7 minutes later with his hair tussled, shirt wrinkled and untucked and she was never seen or heard from again, although noone checked Johns trunk smile.gif

 

One small dealer expressed to me that the show was a "disaster" for him late Saturday, so much so that when I looked for him on Sunday to see if things had picked up for him I was told that he didn't even bother to show up for the Sunday. I headed back to Chris' booth just before closing and a dealer was looking at a $10.00 toy that he needed for his collection. I asked him how things were going and he told me that for the entire day he did $60 in sales. Now I don't know what either dealers prices were like or how in tune with the marketplace but not being able to cover the cost of your is not good for anybody.

 

Drew (Wasonff) here on the boards showed us some high ticket books that he had purchased from the Blazing One and the show then closed for the evening. Drew, Chris, Alex and I then headed to Hooters for a mini forum dinner. Alex begrudgingly showed off his $175 sketch that to his dismay he probably overpaid $170 on but we all had a good laugh at his expense and the night was ended.

 

SUNDAY

 

I didn't even try to make it to the show before it opened as I knew Chris could manage himself. The way he set it up on Sunday was amazing.

 

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I also got word from Mr. Storms that we had a done deal, so I was able to add these pieces of White Mountain history to my collection.

 

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The founder/s of the Cleveland collection was subject of debate here on the forums awhile ago, so I proceeded to ask Harley if he was the original buyer of the collection? Precise and to the point he said NO! Doing a quick check of his booth I found this little hidden gem.

 

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The Ohio copy of FF #23. Man, those books are super fresh inside!

 

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Where is Harley?

 

Oh there he is, talking to Jamie at GrahamCrackers!

 

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Although a couple of my favourite dealers on the planet, I didn't get to talk to Jamie or James until the near end of Sunday. With no fault to Paradise this will be their last trip to Canada. Their last 3 trips across the border have been nothing but a headache for them with brokerage and customs issue, that they have made a decision not to come as a dealer to Canada again. Jamie also reiterated that T.O. was one of the most beautiful cities he'd ever been too and loved all the collectors he had met.

 

As I packed up ready to leave the Direct Energy Centre for the last time, I realized I hadn't bought anything from Ted at Superworld.

 

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(I promised him that what he was doing with the banana wouldn't be misconstrued as sexual)

 

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I did a 5 minute skim through of his high grade box and found this 9.4-9.6 copy of FF #60 for significant under 9.2 guide book. I haggled a tad, picked it up for $100 even and told him I was looking forward to seeing him in Chicago.

 

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WHAT THINGS DID I LEARN THIS WEEKEND?

 

-Silver Age Big Apple books may disintigrate in your hands as you remove them from their bags to look at them. Is there brittle to off tan grade?

-if your brother is over 40 and never been married, he might not play for the same "team" that most guys do

-as Bob can attest to, us Canucks just aren't buying high grade, high end books. I asked Bob flat out, if Drew and I didn't buy the few books we did buy from him, would the show have been worth his time? UH Noooo was his firm response

-Canadians buy oddball books, Ted was so excited to tell me how much stuff he sold here that he could never sell back in the U.S.

-the money here is in the $3.00 books. Wes Hagen brings about 60 long boxes of "U-Fish" books. Nothing is alphabetized and it would take you an entire day to go through them all. There are gems in there. Wes whose an extremely bright character said that he beat his entire expecptation for the show in sales by closing time Friday at close

-Peter and his crew put on a helluva show, with the best selection of dealers North of the Border. Support the show, spend some $$$ at all the American booths or else before you know it we won't have any options and we'll find ourselves searching through long boxes knee deep in Trekkies and Anime Bunny rabbits

-if you read through this entire post, your nuts smile.gifsmile.gifsmile.gif

 

BTW it took me 2 hours and 16 minutes to write this...I'm a loser.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Jim

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brasseye

brasseye

Posted
Posted
On Thursday one day before the show this arrived from our own Korvac Saga, this is important to my report because the minute I opened the box I had an epiphany and realized what long term goals I wanted to get out of this hobby and this book help narrowed my definition.

 

FamilyPics020.jpg

 

I realized that I wanted to define my collection in pedigrees, with an emphasis on White Mountain pre 1966 Marvels. (We'll get back to that later, if you have the time to read my ramblings)

 

Terrific report thumbsup2.gif

And a sweet book to kick off a pedigree collection, I've only got a few White

mountains, and the ones I've passed on, I've regretted.

All power to you for your new collecting goal! 893applaud-thumb.gifflowerred.gifthumbsup2.gif

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Sal

Sal

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Posted

great report, and well worth the time it took to write and read.

 

i really should try and make it up to TO some day. 893scratchchin-thumb.gif

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Ze-man

Ze-man

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Posted

Great report and great books.

 

You did great on both accounts. thumbsup2.gif

 

Thanks for taking the time to write this up. It does take time, but once done allows others to be in your shoes for awhile.

 

See you in Chicago.

 

Kenny

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