Calgary Comic Expo 2012 Stunning

[thehumantorch]

I didn't have high expectations for Sunday. I was tired and figured sales would be a bit slower and I thought it would just be more hoards of trekkies and other media fans. I was wrong. There certainly were hoards of non comic fans but Sunday was easily my best ever day at a comic show thanks to a number of memorable discussions with comic fans.

 

First was this lass looking for Red Sonja comics in her 'blue' phase. I guess Red Sonja had a short lived blue costume in the 80s and this lady was looking for them because her mother had loved them. She even dressed the part. We had a long talk and she was very nice.

 

[piper]

Great report Dave

Could we get a review of the original comic art for sale or length of the artist/inker sketch line ups?

 

I can comment.

 

In terms of artists, the biggies in attendance were Bernie Wrightson, Mark Teixeira, Tony Moore, Cary Nord and Bob Layton. I'm sure there were others that people in the know would recognize.

 

Line-ups were not horrendous for the artists with the exception of Tony Moore. OA pricing ranged from $250 for non splash/cover pages to thousands of dollars for Wrightson art.

 

I thought prices for sketches were fairly reasonable. I was able to snag a nice drawing from Bob Layton for $100. In my opinion, money well spent...

[thehumantorch]

A few minutes after opening on Sunday they were already announcing that photo ops with Stan Lee were sold out. This show certainly has growing pains, I don't think they can be avoided when a show grows from 30,000 to over 50,000 in one year. I guess they could add a Thursday preview night or entire day.

 

I feel for people who were turned away or couldn't meet their favorite actor or creator.

 

Sorry we didn't meet up this year but hope to get together next year for supper or a beer.

[podboy66]

Great report guys. Family commitments didn't allow me to stay for long, I would have liked to meet Stan the Man.

 

Dave, I hope you keep the Marvel Mystery 20 as its a really nice copy.

 

The show has some really nice golden age books which is really rare for Calgary. I picked up an Action 31 cgc 7.0, a Sub-mariner Comics 15 cgc 6.5, Marvel Mystery 73 in G/VG, All Winners 15 in VG, a Fantastic Comics 4 in VG- and a Miss America Magazine 1. Sold Marvel Mystery 20, 57, and 67, Sub-Mariner Comics 6, Marvel Tales 111, and a Heroic 1. Pretty good for walking around for a couple of hours with a back pack!

[piper]

Great report guys. Family commitments didn't allow me to stay for long, I would have liked to meet Stan the Man.

 

Dave, I hope you keep the Marvel Mystery 20 as its a really nice copy.

 

The show has some really nice golden age books which is really rare for Calgary. I picked up an Action 31 cgc 7.0, a Sub-mariner Comics 15 cgc 6.5, Marvel Mystery 73 in G/VG, All Winners 15 in VG, a Fantastic Comics 4 in VG- and a Miss America Magazine 1. Sold Marvel Mystery 20, 57, and 67, Sub-Mariner Comics 6, Marvel Tales 111, and a Heroic 1. Pretty good for walking around for a couple of hours with a back pack!

 

Sorry I didn't get a chance to meet you Podboy. Your haul might explain why there wasn't much GA remaining. Of course it might just be that I refuse to pay convention pricing with the wealth of GA right here on the boards.

 

And BTW - HBD!

[piper]

I'm not sure if Dave is done with his report, but thought now is a good time as any to provide some brief highlights from an attendees perspective...

 

I only attended the first two days of the show. This allowed me to take care of my Stan Lee Photo Op and make arrangements for my first CGC and signature series submission on Friday. This was a very smart move because the crowds and crowd management were horrendous on Saturday. That said, I still waited in line for 2+ hours on Friday for my 10 seconds with Stan the Man. Everyone in our section of the line was concerned that we might not get a photo due to a previous engagement Stan had planned that evening. While the organizers tried there best, I think there is an opportunity for them to coordinate the timing of events throughout the weekend better.

 

Stan looks very spritely for 89 years old. I'm postively thrilled about the picture and plan to get it framed shortly...

 

 

[mikephoen]

Great report Dave

Could we get a review of the original comic art for sale or length of the artist/inker sketch line ups?

 

I can comment.

 

In terms of artists, the biggies in attendance were Bernie Wrightson, Mark Teixeira, Tony Moore, Cary Nord and Bob Layton. I'm sure there were others that people in the know would recognize.

 

Line-ups were not horrendous for the artists with the exception of Tony Moore. OA pricing ranged from $250 for non splash/cover pages to thousands of dollars for Wrightson art.

 

I thought prices for sketches were fairly reasonable. I was able to snag a nice drawing from Bob Layton for $100. In my opinion, money well spent...

 

You forgot George Perez!

[piper]

I also arranged for my Bob Layton sketch Friday afternoon. I'm very happy with the results:

 

125451.pdf

[thehumantorch]

My next customer was a very shy 14 year old boy. He asked how much the

Avengers 1 was. We had my low grade copy for $400 and 500club's nice copy

for $2600. He looked at mine and then gave it back. I'm a bit of a joker and

teased him about something and he just turned and walked away. Oops, didn't

mean to scare him off but there's no way he's buying Avengers 1.

 

He came back and like a fool I teased him again and he again walked away.

 

He came back a few minutes later and handed me $400. I must say I was

surprised. I gave him the Avengers and asked him if he liked Spider-man.

He did so I gave him a decent copy of ASM 252. He was thrilled. I gave

him my card and told him to call me if there was any problem and I thanked

him for the sale. And yes, I'm sure I teased him again.

 

He walked off and then came back an hour later and purchased some

Marvel Star Wars.

 

Next time I saw him he was with his mother. She could not believe he had

bought a comic for $400. More shocked than mad but I'm sure the thought

that I had ripped her son off was in the back of her mind. She was also

concerned that he had been convinced to send the comic to CGC after

Stan had signed it.

 

Turns out they are farmers and he earned the money milking their 60 cows

every day and he spent almost all of it on one comic.

 

We had a long discussion about collecting comics and why certain comics

were worth so much. She didn't mind her son spending $5 on a Star Wars

comic; but $400 for one comic? I told her she had it backwards. The Star

Wars were relatively low demand books and the Avengers 1 was an

important old key book featuring popular characters and an easy book

to resell.

 

During this discussion I had a couple $100 type sales and then I sold

nice copies of FF 10, 14, 17, 26 and 28 to one guy. As I jammed the

pile of $100 bills into my Batman cash bucket she realized that grown

men were spending hundreds or even thousands of $$ on funny books

before her very eyes. And she could see that my cash bucket was

absolutely stuffed with big bills.

 

I also explained that it was a good idea to submit a signed book to CGC

to ensure the signature was verified.

 

And I told her she had raised a great kid and collecting comics was

a wonderful hobby and that comics were an art form.

 

I gave her my card with a link to the CGC message boards and him to

come here and read about comics and I told her if he wanted to sell the

book back to me at any time I would give him all his money back and I

told her to contact me if they ever had any questions.

 

The whole time that kid had a silly, happy, I'm in heaven look. He was

totally digging comics and the show and our discussion and he'll be a

comic collector and fan for a long, long time - unless they chain him to

a cow.

 

[piper]

Great report Dave

Could we get a review of the original comic art for sale or length of the artist/inker sketch line ups?

 

I can comment.

 

In terms of artists, the biggies in attendance were Bernie Wrightson, Mark Teixeira, Tony Moore, Cary Nord and Bob Layton. I'm sure there were others that people in the know would recognize.

 

Line-ups were not horrendous for the artists with the exception of Tony Moore. OA pricing ranged from $250 for non splash/cover pages to thousands of dollars for Wrightson art.

 

I thought prices for sketches were fairly reasonable. I was able to snag a nice drawing from Bob Layton for $100. In my opinion, money well spent...

 

You forgot George Perez!

 

[thehumantorch]

Great report guys. Family commitments didn't allow me to stay for long, I would have liked to meet Stan the Man.

 

Dave, I hope you keep the Marvel Mystery 20 as its a really nice copy.

 

The show has some really nice golden age books which is really rare for Calgary. I picked up an Action 31 cgc 7.0, a Sub-mariner Comics 15 cgc 6.5, Marvel Mystery 73 in G/VG, All Winners 15 in VG, a Fantastic Comics 4 in VG- and a Miss America Magazine 1. Sold Marvel Mystery 20, 57, and 67, Sub-Mariner Comics 6, Marvel Tales 111, and a Heroic 1. Pretty good for walking around for a couple of hours with a back pack!

 

The MM is a keeper. Who had the All Winners 15? Dang I would have picked

that up.

 

I think the selection of vintage books will only get better in the future.

[kimik]

My next customer was a very shy 14 year old boy. He asked how much the

Avengers 1 was. We had my low grade copy for $400 and 500club's nice copy

for $2600. He looked at mine and then gave it back. I'm a bit of a joker and

teased him about something and he just turned and walked away. Oops, didn't

mean to scare him off but there's no way he's buying Avengers 1.

 

He came back and like a fool I teased him again and he again walked away.

 

He came back a few minutes later and handed me $400. I must say I was

surprised. I gave him the Avengers and asked him if he liked Spider-man.

He did so I gave him a decent copy of ASM 252. He was thrilled. I gave

him my card and told him to call me if there was any problem and I thanked

him for the sale. And yes, I'm sure I teased him again.

 

He walked off and then came back an hour later and purchased some

Marvel Star Wars.

 

Next time I saw him he was with his mother. She could not believe he had

bought a comic for $400. More shocked than mad but I'm sure the thought

that I had ripped her son off was in the back of her mind. She was also

concerned that he had been convinced to send the comic to CGC after

Stan had signed it.

 

Turns out they are farmers and he earned the money milking their 60 cows

every day and he spent almost all of it on one comic.

 

We had a long discussion about collecting comics and why certain comics

were worth so much. She didn't mind her son spending $5 on a Star Wars

comic; but $400 for one comic? I told her she had it backwards. The Star

Wars were relatively low demand books and the Avengers 1 was an

important old key book featuring popular characters and an easy book

to resell.

 

During this discussion I had a couple $100 type sales and then I sold

nice copies of FF 10, 14, 17, 26 and 28 to one guy. As I jammed the

pile of $100 bills into my Batman cash bucket she realized that grown

men were spending hundreds or even thousands of $$ on funny books

before her very eyes. And she could see that my cash bucket was

absolutely stuffed with big bills.

 

I also explained that it was a good idea to submit a signed book to CGC

to ensure the signature was verified.

 

And I told her she had raised a great kid and collecting comics was

a wonderful hobby and that comics were an art form.

 

I gave her my card with a link to the CGC message boards and him to

come here and read about comics and I told her if he wanted to sell the

book back to me at any time I would give him all his money back and I

told her to contact me if they ever had any questions.

 

The whole time that kid had a silly, happy, I'm in heaven look. He was

totally digging comics and the show and our discussion and he'll be a

comic collector and fan for a long, long time - unless they chain him to

a cow.

 

I would have felt guilty gouging him that badly on that drekky copy of the book.

[piper]

[piper]

[piper]

I wouldn't say that the Comics were a side event but there were a number of people who were there strictly for the Star Trek Next Generation Cast. As evidenced by these photos in the autograph/photo op section of the convention space:

 

 

[piper]

There were several dealers selling moderns, trades, statues etc. However, there were only two booths with any real quality stuff: Harley Yee and the Edmonton band. Harley's stuff was priced aggressively but he had the goods...

 

I managed to snag these pictures while Harley was hard at work...

 

 

 

[piper]

[piper]

The next posts will be some photos I snagged on Saturday as I patiently waited for my awesome Bob Layton Iron Man commission.

 

 

[piper]

[piper]