SDCC: After 48 years, the shocking downfall. 2 2

[Mmehdy]

    I have probably attended at least 43 of the 48 years of this convention. I can tell you, our community spirit of fellow "geek" collectors was never as strong as it was in the first ten years or so, especially the first 5. If you have  not been reading the mile high comic book newsletter, you might want to read the explanation of why MH has after 38 years or so, called it quits.

 For me, this is the first year I can look you in the face and say...WONDER CON BLOWS AWAY SDCC in terms of comic book collecting. Milehigh's  comic book absence was an anchor for comic book collectors....it is gone. Bud Plant has been coming the same amount of time, he is a excellent comic book/ pulp new book seller with some collectors older books available .

 He was another anchor...you could rely on Bud to show you stuff you were unaware of and his booths were large and staff friendly. He is down to one small booth, at the back of the convention as a result of high table prices, replacing  a small and loyal movie poster dealers who was priced out .Unless you ask where is he, you are never gonna find him. 

  SDCC has no reward system for the people who helped shape and create this convention making it the biggest and no longer the best comic book convention, it should be called San Diego Motion Picture/TV/Game/Toy/ Pop Culture and believe me if they could they would drop comic in New York minute .

 SDCC HAS NO RESPECT FOR THE TRUE COMIC BOOK COLLECTOR...Rows 1-5 now Gaming and the true SA/GA  Rows  is getting less an less each year...we are the Minority...we have been overrun by greedy toy collectors who want special editions, Media companies etc...NO RESPECT...no loyalty discount...for the foundation builders.

 This is first year in at least 43 where I came home with NOTHING and that is where  this convention is heading, we fellow SA/GA collectors are window dressing of this convention, as excuse, a "Beard" for the real purpose.

 SDCC: you Ain't what you used to be, and never will be again, I understand that, but you have made a terrible mistake and left behind, the real heroes who help create this convention world when it was unpopular and had no respect. Now you have grown so greedy and big....you give the big $ spending your attention and disrespect US and say a table is gonna be $1800 plus set fees and we don't care what you sell and what you can afford...leave if you cannot pay what we demand. They don't care if you have been there for 30 years or 5 minutes.

 SDCC has only one thing left...kick asss panels...forget the dealers room, I attended last night on of the greatest panels ever in my 43 years..."The EC Fan Addict Club Panel" of course it set at 8pm one hour after the main floor closes. I can tell you I learned more from that panel, which was one hour, than I had reading a number of history books, especially on Ingles, and Craig. Roger Hill kicked it out of the park. He however, rudely interrupted by SDCC staff in the middle of sentence saying that the panel was closed and they need to put a movie on. We then were kicked and spend another hour in the hallway, talking and finishing an amazing panel. I will come back  FOR the panels...but that is what is has come down too...a shocking downfall of disrespect and shell of what it was meant to be.

 

Edited July 24, 2017 by Mmehdy

[woowoo]

22 minutes ago, Mmehdy said:

    I have probably attended at least 43 of the 48 years of this convention. I can tell you, our community spirit of fellow "geek" collectors was never as strong as it was in the first ten years or so, especially the first 5. If you have  not been reading the mile high comic book newsletter, you might want to read the explanation of why MH has after 38 years or so, called it quits.

 For me, this is the first year I can look you in the face and say...WONDER CON BLOWS AWAY SDCC in terms of comic book collecting. Milehigh's  comic book absence was an anchor for comic book collectors....it is gone. Bud Plant has been coming the same amount of time, he is a excellent comic book/ pulp new book seller with some collectors older books available .

 He was another anchor...you could rely on Bud to show you stuff you were unaware of and his booths were large and staff friendly. He is down to one small booth, at the back of the convention as a result of high table prices, replacing  a small and loyal movie poster dealers who was priced out .Unless you ask where is he, you are never gonna find him. 

  SDCC has no reward system for the people who helped shape and create this convention making it the biggest and no longer the best comic book convention, it should be called San Diego Motion Picture/TV/Game/Toy/ Pop Culture and believe me if they could they would drop comic in New York minute .

 SDCC HAS NO RESPECT FOR THE TRUE COMIC BOOK COLLECTOR...Rows 1-5 now Gaming and the true SA/GA  Rows  is getting less an less each year...we are the Minority...we have been overrun by greedy toy collectors who want special editions, Media companies etc...NO RESPECT...no loyalty discount...for the foundation builders.

 This is first year in at least 43 where I came home with NOTHING and that is where  this convention is heading, we fellow SA/GA collectors are window dressing of this convention, as excuse, a "Beard" for the real purpose.

 SDCC: you Ain't what you used to be, and never will be again, I understand that, but you have made a terrible mistake and left behind, the real heroes who help create this convention world when it was unpopular and had no respect. Now you have grown so greedy and big....you give the big $ spending your attention and disrespect US and say a table is gonna be $1800 plus set fees and we don't care what you sell and what you can afford...leave if you cannot pay what we demand. They don't care if you have been there for 30 years or 5 minutes.

 SDCC has only one thing left...kick asss panels...forget the dealers room, I attended last night on of the greatest panels ever in my 43 years..."The EC Fan Addict Club Panel" of course it set at 8pm one hour after the main floor closes. I can tell you I learned more from that panel, which was one hour, than I had reading a number of history books, especially on Ingles, and Craig. John Benson kicked it out of the park. He however, rudely interrupted by SDCC staff in the middle of sentence saying that the panel was closed and they need to put a movie on. We then were kicked and spend another hour in the hallway, talking and finishing an amazing panel. I will come back  FOR the panels...but that is what is has come down too...a shocking downfall of disrespect and shell of what it was meant to be.

 

[Robot Man]

I'm with you Mitch. I went to the third one and attended every one except maybe two or three. I haven't been in about 3 years and I doubt I will ever go back. At least you live local and don't have to pay the outrageous hotel, food and parking fees. Yes, it is nothing like what it stated out to be and that is very sad. Times are different and things change. Hey EC's are no longer $3.00 each either. It sucks but that is change.

What I miss most is all the people and dealers I never get to see since I rarely travel out of state to cons any more. It just ain't worth the hassle or money it takes for me. There is still NOTHING like SDCC for the experience though. Everyone should go at least once. We are lucky we have gone over 40 times. I'm OK not going but I do really miss what it used to be.  But, people don't really care about anything us "oldsters" have to say. But we know how cool it was don't we Mitch?

Mitch in happier care free days...

[lou_fine]

1 hour ago, Mmehdy said:

 For me, this is the first year I can look you in the face and say...WONDER CON BLOWS AWAY SDCC in terms of comic book collecting.

And yet from what I've been hearing, this is probably the best SDCC in years for the true collectors in terms of both buying and selling GA comic books and a definite must see. 

From the dealers that did attend, there are apparently a ton of GA books out there, with virtually all dealers reporting very strong sales.  So, maybe it's just a matter of sifting out all of the riff-raff products and just focusing on the vintage quality collectible comic books because they are apparently out there in spades this year. 

Edited July 23, 2017 by lou_fine

[AllStar-Comics]

I dont know why the bigger dealers didnt just rent a space close by same weekend and have their own space to sell comics  $1800 for a table?  You could rent a hall for $4000-5000 and pack it with vintage comics and get the same sales

[Gotham Kid]

21 minutes ago, lou_fine said:

And yet from what I've been hearing, this is probably the best SDCC in years in terms of both buying and selling GA comic books and a definite must see. 

+1

[G.A.tor]

There's really no better selection this year than recent years. Addition of Reece comics was cool, but bunky bro didn't bring their normal set up of vintage , so that kind of offsets imo

rest is pretty much the same

that said, I'm not hearing "great" sales from anyone. In fact yesterday, Saturday , might have been the worst sat of sales since I can remember. Multiple dealers left and closed their booths early

[Sqeggs]

4 minutes ago, G.A.tor said:

There's really no better selection this year than recent years. Addition of Reece comics was cool, but bunky bro didn't bring their normal set up of vintage , so that kind of offsets imo

rest is pretty much the same

that said, I'm not hearing "great" sales from anyone. In fact yesterday, Saturday , might have been the worst sat of sales since I can remember. Multiple dealers left and closed their booths early

On a Saturday?? Whoa! 

[lou_fine]

15 minutes ago, G.A.tor said:

rest is pretty much the same

I thought there were much more early HTF Centaurs, especially with respect to the early AMF's and early KDF's in grade at the con, as compared to previous years?  Apparently, even though they are raw and with the very aggressive prices being asked for them, they are still moving. 

Since you already have all of your Centaur runs completed, I guess these wouldn't be of any interest to you.   

Edited July 23, 2017 by lou_fine

[G.A.tor]

22 minutes ago, lou_fine said:

I thought there were much more early HTF Centaurs, especially with respect to the early AMF's and early KDF's in grade at the con, as compared to previous years?  Apparently, even though they are raw and with the very aggressive prices being asked for them, they are still moving. 

Since you already have all of your Centaur runs completed, I guess these wouldn't be of any interest to you.   

I bought one of the centaurs (this collection debuted last year at motor city con) I know another that bought 7 or so. Not sure any others have moved. It is cool to see them, but there's always interesting books at sdcc. 

 

[circumstances]

I'm confident anything I was really interested in would be priced "aggressively" as they say. Can't do it!

[lou_fine]

5 minutes ago, G.A.tor said:

I bought one of the centaurs (this collection debuted last year at motor city con) I know another that bought 7 or so. Not sure any others have moved. It is cool to see them, but there's always interesting books at sdcc. 

 

Were they priced about the same as last year or higher as a result of the Berk Auction and the current high bids on some of the ones at Heritage right now?

What type of condition range are they generally in since I am surprised they would not even bother to slab them after all this time?  Any reason why you brought one this year and not last year, or is it that demand has picked up on these Centaurs with the recent auction activity?

[G.A.tor]

11 minutes ago, lou_fine said:

Were they priced about the same as last year or higher as a result of the Berk Auction and the current high bids on some of the ones at Heritage right now?

What type of condition range are they generally in since I am surprised they would not even bother to slab them after all this time?  Any reason why you brought one this year and not last year, or is it that demand has picked up on these Centaurs with the recent auction activity?

They were brought back out due to the Berk results and priced relative to those results , Michael told me. He only offered last year at motor city then had intended to cgc them but hadn't gotten to it

most were within a half grade of what I already owned so wasn't justified in picking any others up 

Edited July 23, 2017 by G.A.tor

[Gatsby77]

I'm sure it doesn't make sense for _Mile High_ to exhibit at SDCC anymore, but my understanding is he doesn't have the type of vintage Golden Age or good decent Silver Age stock that would justify the table expenses.

And didn't he just primarily stock trade paperbacks the last few years anyway? 

Just saying ... the loss of Chuck to me isn't dispositive.

[N e r V]

1 minute ago, Gatsby77 said:

I'm sure it doesn't make sense for _Mile High_ to exhibit at SDCC anymore, but my understanding is he doesn't have the type of vintage Golden Age or good decent Silver Age stock that would justify the table expenses.

And didn't he just primarily stock trade paperbacks the last few years anyway? 

Just saying ... the loss of Chuck to me isn't dispositive.

I posted this more or less elsewhere but Mile High Comics sucks these days on pricing, grading and selection.

I would say Mile High Comics ain't what they used to be....

[N e r V]

I also enjoyed the con. I'm not a dealer anymore and can relate to their issues but they label it a pop culture event these days. If I want a retro smaller con in San Diego Comic Fest earlier in the year covers that need.

[pmpknface]

I went to SDCC 10 years ago, and I'm not saying I wouldn't go back but I wouldn't expect to come home with a treasure trove of GA books.  I'd go for the experience of what it is - an entertainment con, not a comic con anymore.  It was ok that then, I'm not shocked it's worse now.  

In an effort to make this positive, what are the best cons to go to for GA or SA books?  I've always been interested (being in the northeast) in Baltimore, Pittsburgh, or Heroes Con in Charlotte.  Thoughts???

[aardvark88]

3 hours ago, Sqeggs said:

On a Saturday?? Whoa! 

the hardcore vintage comic collector would have already spent their load on the Wed, Thurs and Fri of SDCC. Sat. has always been known as too crowded with the sweaty hordes inside, so the collector/fans may have spent a day along the pier, lunch in Little Italy, or at Balboa Park with it's 18 museums. Also the masses would have been lining up outside for 3 to 4 hrs to attempt to access the media star  interviews in monstrous Hall H, thus less consumer $$ on the floor except for those flippers lining up for Toy exclusives or creator signatures.

[lou_fine]

2 hours ago, G.A.tor said:

most were within a half grade of what I already owned so wasn't justified in picking any others up 

 

I take it from your comment here that most of these raw early AMF Centaurs at SDCC are not as nice as the ones in the current Heritage Auction then? 

[1koko]

1 hour ago, pmpknface said:

I went to SDCC 10 years ago, and I'm not saying I wouldn't go back but I wouldn't expect to come home with a treasure trove of GA books.  I'd go for the experience of what it is - an entertainment con, not a comic con anymore.  It was ok that then, I'm not shocked it's worse now.  

In an effort to make this positive, what are the best cons to go to for GA or SA books?  I've always been interested (being in the northeast) in Baltimore, Pittsburgh, or Heroes Con in Charlotte.  Thoughts???

Wizard Chicago is a great place for GA and SA comics.  Location and transport accessibility make it easy for most dealers to go to (though West Coast dealers don't seem to go).  

Great show due to the legacy of the show (tipping my hat to Gary) rather than anything Wizard has done.