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Calgary Comic Expo 2012 Stunning

Started by thehumantorch,

233 posts in this topic

HOTFLIPS

HOTFLIPS

Posted
Posted
Sounds like so much fun.

Chip

It is a LOT of prep work. Will take you at least 1 full month to grade and price your vintage comics plus 1 week to figure out how to build/erect a wall display, arrange for booth space, hotel, parking, food, gas bill for mini-van or big SUV, etc.

 

Dead on. Not to mention buying hundreds of $$ worth of bags and boards. I spent at least a month preparing for this show.

 

I enjoy shows but I find the mental stress to be immense, trying to control the crowed, answer questions and just keep track of inventory.

 

 

Imagine doing four shows in a row then.

 

On with the report!! Looking forward to it. :popcorn:

 

4 shows in a row is tough but fortunately bags of Mylar and backing boards don't weigh anything. :tonofbricks:

 

lol

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piper

piper

Posted
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About 10 of us went to the keg for supper. Gyro, 500club, Artboy, couple guys I play hockey with, purse and clothing seller we knew who set up across the aisle. Somehow I made a wrong turn in the dark and we drove beside a railway yard for miles. When we finally turned around we saw a welcome to Calgary sign. We were miles off course. The four passengers in my car tortured me with laughter throughout the drive. We finally arrived at the restaurant to find the other 1/2 of our group had finally found a table in the crowded restaurant.

 

We were starved and the meal was great and we had a great time. Liaton/Liam was in town but couldn't make supper Friday.

 

Hey I was there too... :baiting:

 

I would just like to chime in that we had no problem finding the Keg. (It was perhaps a 10 minute drive down Mcleod trail from the con parking lot).

 

Thanks for starting the thread. I will chime in with my thoughts and photos of the event later on tonight.

 

John

 

 

 

 

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Artboy99

Artboy99

Posted
Posted

I can chime in with my sidde of this experience.

 

Preparation for the show.

 

This does take many many hours. Grading books, bagging+boarding. Which books to bring is the biggest decision. Cost of booth? The 4 of us: 500club, Kimik, theHumantorch and myself decided on a half endcap for 775.00. This yields 2 8 foot long x 2 foot tables. Divide that space between 4 guys and basically you get 1/2 of an 8 foot table so 4 feet. That is basically 4 boxes. If you are not local you need sleeping accomodations. I bunked with TheHumantorch at a cheap place we found the year before, but it is a hundred dollars a night. As you can see the costs do add up!

 

I decided to bring what was left of my once great magic card collection, some of my comic book art and prints I had made. I spent some time doing some Walking Dead drawings that I made prints of. For comics I brought a bunch of key books for our wall display, and my bulk collection which is basically my personal collection of Gd-Vg-Fn "readers" I have always been a reader of books, and high grade books are not for reading in my opinion so I have bought low grade stuff. I believe there is a market for everything, and I have proven experience selling those type of books at all the shows I have attended. Recently though I have started to "dabble" in higher grade books, buying 6.0-9.4 type of stuff for the expressed purposes of resale.

Admittedly, I was running out of books to sell, and if I was going to continue to do this with my friends I needed to be buying. That in itself is a whole other job: it is a different thing to be buying for resale versus buying for your personal collection. I tend to be very analytical in my purchasing for resale and do a lot of research on what books sell for before buying so I know if buying a specific book gives room for profit. It also needs to allow for "give me a deal" off the price you mark it at. As Dave has said, we are very fair to deal with, and mark our books very fairly. I took great pride in hearing a customer tell another cistomer right at our booth " these guys are the best dealers here. They have the best prices, offer an excellent variety".

 

Friday

I left my place at 7:10 AM to get to Dave's(thehumantorch), we loaded up and headed out. We got to the show at 11:45 AM.

 

Dave is accurate in how it went down when we first arrived. Harley was lurking around at our empty booth when we arrived with our carts full and we didn't even have time to get the boxes off the carts and on the tables before the lids were off and books being pulled. It kind of stunned us and felt like we were bringing in the meat for the vultures IMHO. We stretched out the booth size by moving the tables out slightly so our tables would line up with the toy vendor who was beside us. This gave a large 4 foot wide space between the 2 tables which was filled with a 4 foot table that Harley Yee just dropped off at our booth.

 

I sold one GA horror to Harley for 300 before I had my boxes on the table, and 2-3 books to other dealers who didn't even introduce themselves so I have no idea who they were.

We also had some dealer who was French come and ask for stuff, mostly from Brian(500club) to start and i found him to be very pushy, aggressive and it turned me off. I didn't sell him anything, nor did I even go to his booth at any time during the show.

 

There was a great positive buzz in the air, a variety of costumes ( pics will be coming )of which my favorite was a guy dressed as Galactus, was an awesome job, perhaps a close second was the Dr. Fate there. Yes yes, of course there was a "flesh - fest" of gorgeous women dressed in scanty outfits, we got some pictures. I am hoping board member Piper will post the front and back view I requested ( or was that insisted he take? ) of the Wonder woman!

 

Met board member Liaton-9000 and Gyro, both great guys who later joined us for our dinner.

 

Friday was good, had very busy crowds, I sold nothing worth more than 80 dollars ( which was my ASM 122 ) and yet exceeded my expectations in how much I would sell so I was very happy!.

I Waited until the end of friday for Brian and the French guy to decide on the Walking Dead deal that fizzled ( French guy kept pushing for deals ), once it fizzled i bought his WD 9 eyeball cover that I wanted at the Edmonton Shaw show but forgot to buy.

The show went until 8pm, so we were all a bit tired by the end, but we wanted to go out for dinner. We agreed to meet at the Keg. Hooked up with Mike from Mars & Venus/Whyte Knight of Edmonton and a few others. Our car got lost somehow even with 2 GPS guys in the backseat, and we were even as far out of town as 100 st south by some golf course. We turned around and within 2 minutes I saw a sign that said "entering Calgary city limits, welcome to Calgary". Not meaning to harass Dave about it, it really was not his fault we got lost but I have not laughed that hard in a long time, all the guys making cracks. While we struggled to get to the Keg, we had a great time doing so.

Got Back to the motel at 12 midnight. Dave slept i struggled mostly due to strange room/ bed and not his snoring. :)

 

Saturday

 

Dave and I decided to eat at Denny's for breakfast, and we lost track of time a bit and parked in the exhibitor parking lot and ran into the show as it opened. First thing I did was rearrange how I had my stuff displayed. Friday I had my art portfolio and magic cards on the table between my comic boxes and Dave's, I was noticing some browsers would look at Brians stuff, then Dave's, then NOT turn the corner to look at mine and left our booth. I moved my comics up to be right by Dave's. This change was excellent as not only did I sell more I also sold more magic cards ( sold none Friday ).

 

Sat was busier than Friday, tons of people roaming about very crowded but at the same time it felt "dead" and we had many periods of slow where none of us made any sales and we were the information booth for people trying to find things.

 

This is a direct result of the variety of famous attendees that are booked for these shows. What happens is the big names draw crowds, people such as Stan Lee and the entire Star Trek next generation cast ( touted as their first ever entire cast reunion since the show!!! ) but the crowds can end up lined up to see those people for hours instead of buying your vg books.

 

Yet throughout it all I managed to sell even more than I did on Friday and was extremely pleased with the results. Again nothing big sold for me, I sold my Iron Man 55, but nothing else over 40 bucks. This is basically an Ideal thing for a comic seller: to sell off your lower grqade easy to find books instead of your key books. Though I bought the key books to sell specifically at the show, I am ok with having them to sell at the next show.

 

Met alot of female buyers at this show, including 2 20 somethings who were very fun to talk with, so friendly/ bubbly and always smiled.

 

Boardie Fantastic Thor showed up and we discussed my Shocksuspense 6 cgc 4.0 and arranged a Sunday trade for his Crime suspense 22 and some cash.

Went out to Chilis on Sat night, Dave was going out with some friends of his after the show, I didn't want to go so Dave dropped me at the hotel, I took a shower and watched Conan the Barb and fell asleep about 12:30 am.

 

Sunday

 

This was a repeat morning as we ate at Denny's, and drove to the show, Dave totally redeemed himself with a fast trip to the show, we were stunned by how large the lines were outside, then discovered somehow the exhibitor parking lot ( for which we had paid for a weekend parking pass ) was full and they would not let us in. Dave let me out and I took his box into the show while he went to find a stall to park. I got in at opening again, setup mine and Daves wall stuff and got the booth ready. Dave says he had to park a mile away.

 

Sunday was my busiest day I had more people looking at my stuff and did the CSS 22 deal, put that on my wall and sold it at end of day. Sold my Atomic War #1, but again the rest of my sales came from 5-40 dollar books.

 

Met yet another female buyer who was in her early 30's by my estimation, who collected Sub-mariner. I sold her several of my subby books, she took 4 of my Tales to Astonish 5.0-6.5's, my entire section of Subby's from 60-72. I started to talk to her about if she had interest in Sub-mariner's Golden age stuff of which she wasn't even aware. Showed her some Marvel Mysterys, and Daves wonderful Canadian yellow cover Golden aged book seen in his signature line up. She was a great lady, and we enjoyed "educating her" on her favorite character's history.

 

Piper spent a lot of time at our booth while waiting for his extremely well done Bob Layton Iron -Man commission. Glad he was there to talk with and to be my official photographer. I know he was uncomfortable taking some of the pics I asked for...( the perv in me HAD to have that wonder woman back view to go along with her front. She was spectacular)

 

Around noon I talked with a guy who was telling me that the show was not letting any more people in, or were restricting the number of people they were letting in. Had something to do with the fire marshall of Calgary. Lots of people were angry, and even some exhibitors were not allowed back in after they went outside for a quick smoke. ( unbelievable! )

Read more here: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/calgary/entertainment/6537825/story.html

 

 

I didn't get to look around that much, I did buy a Hulk 180 from Harley for my Hulk collecting guy, and some trades to read I spent about 100 bucks, and then at take down decided to browse Brian's Cap box and found a very nice Cap 111 that I paid 80 dollars for.

 

I did have a theft on Sunday that soured my mood a little for awhile as someone stole the highest value card I had in my Magic binder. See you pack mint Mana Drain, I will miss you! Dave was also right about the tip I learned from our Winnipeg friends who were across from us about how people will steal your comics. They move them to the front of your box but between the outer edge and the flap. Push down and they have your book. I decided to test it on Dave and easily got it while in direct conversation with him. Is kind of scary...lesson learned! Tape the insides of your boxes.

 

Highlights for me:

-talked with Tony Moore briefly when I passed his booth

-talked to Bernie Wrightson for 5 minutes, mentioned I had a Swamp Thing I wanted to have signed but I never made it back to see him. ( My feet were hurting bad all show )

-sold more books to female buyers than male.

-noted many younger buyers than older..spells a bright future for our hobby.

 

It was a fabulous show all around, yes it was 3 gruelling long days, but I enjoyed myself. The group I do these shows with are fabulous guys, and it is great to have support when you are there.

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Artboy99

Artboy99

Posted
Posted
About 10 of us went to the keg for supper. Gyro, 500club, Artboy, couple guys I play hockey with, purse and clothing seller we knew who set up across the aisle. Somehow I made a wrong turn in the dark and we drove beside a railway yard for miles. When we finally turned around we saw a welcome to Calgary sign. We were miles off course. The four passengers in my car tortured me with laughter throughout the drive. We finally arrived at the restaurant to find the other 1/2 of our group had finally found a table in the crowded restaurant.

 

We were starved and the meal was great and we had a great time. Liaton/Liam was in town but couldn't make supper Friday.

 

Hey I was there too... :baiting:

 

I would just like to chime in that we had no problem finding the Keg. (It was perhaps a 10 minute drive down Mcleod trail from the con parking lot).

 

Thanks for starting the thread. I will chime in with my thoughts and photos of the event later on tonight.

 

John

 

 

 

 

Hahah 10 minutes? We definitely had trouble getting there. That fiasco started right at the gate out of the con, where we should have turned one way but went the other when our GPS navigator in the back said "Left, right?"

Our confused driver went left and then we were stuck on some road that followed a lengthy railway track for ages.

I still have not laughed as hard in a long time.

Hey Piper....thanks for waiting in that long line at the Keg for so long while we had our joy ride!

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mikephoen

mikephoen

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Posted

No mention of that awesome mikephoen guy who hooked you guys up with a much coveted move out cart on Sunday night?

 

;)

 

In fairness, of your crew I only really know Brian at all. Maybe next year I'll get more time to chat with you guys, or go for a beer one of the nights.

 

 

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Artboy99

Artboy99

Posted
Posted
No mention of that awesome mikephoen guy who hooked you guys up with a much coveted move out cart on Sunday night?

 

;)

 

In fairness, of your crew I only really know Brian at all. Maybe next year I'll get more time to chat with you guys, or go for a beer one of the nights.

 

 

Thanks so much for that!

I have to admit I was dreading the move out after the show, imagine hundreds of vendors trying to get their stuff out of the show at the same time. I really must give kudos to the show organizers, their lot attendees outside the loading bays were superlative, and we were out on the road for food by 6:30pm. ( show closed at 5pm )

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thehumantorch

thehumantorch

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No mention of that awesome mikephoen guy who hooked you guys up with a much coveted move out cart on Sunday night?

 

;)

 

In fairness, of your crew I only really know Brian at all. Maybe next year I'll get more time to chat with you guys, or go for a beer one of the nights.

 

 

We've met in the past. I did drop by your booth on Saturday, didn't tell you who I was but said hi and grabbed 4 trades. I love picking up $25 trades for $8 each and you tossed in a freebie. A beer would be great. We are coming up for the Red and White Show, our favorite show of the year.

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gyro-1

gyro-1

Posted
Posted

:popcorn:

 

As you see in the picture above they had a LOT of cool CGC books !

Funny thing a lot of other dealers kept them hidden in boxes ? Dont know why the other dealers did that and when you asked for a spesific book they gave back a strange look ?

 

 

 

 

 

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kimik

kimik

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Posted

Next year we should arrange a board member dinner at the show. It is definitely the largest show in Western Canada, and might rival the Toronto shows as well.

 

It would be nice if they could land Stan Lee again for next year's show. Looking at the shot Mel took of his speaking session, there were hundreds/thousands packed into the venue to see him.

 

As far as crowds, if they are actually able to land the Star Wars cast members as they mention in one of the newspaper article, they will probably need an even larger venue.

 

In any case, kudos to Ken and the rest of the organizing crew for putting on such a tremendous show. I can remember setting up at the first one, and the show has grown in leaps and bounds ever since.

 

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