Fan Expo Vancouver, November 10-12, 2017 1 1

[Robot Man]

On 11/10/2017 at 10:09 PM, aardvark88 said:

Harley's at a comicon in the USA so his staff had his B-list back issues in Vancouver. His regular back issues in long boxes were 25% off sticker price. I think all his wall comics and any vintage back issue in a magazine box u add 30% exchange rate. I think his oversize mags and treasury editions were as priced.

I noticed half of last year's Fan Expo vendors did not renew like the retailers and vendors from Montreal, Toronto, Abbotsford and Hope, BC. Don't think I saw the tower of t-shirts either.

Wow, nice "B" stock! Too bad there were very few comic dealers. At least the promoter call it a "Fan Expo" instead of a "Comic Con".  Not a show I would want to attend.

[Kevin Boyd]

On 11/13/2017 at 4:17 PM, malvin said:

I forgot to ask Kevin, but does anyone know when the con is next year? I assume it's remembrance day weekend again? 

Malvin 

It's on my schedule for November 9-11, 2018. 

[aardvark88]

8 hours ago, Robot Man said:

Wow, nice "B" stock! Too bad there were very few comic dealers. At least the promoter call it a "Fan Expo" instead of a "Comic Con". 

Think this is Harley's inventory from his Canadian warehouse which means Yankees have not cherry-picked it yet. He had 2 scarce Amazing-Man's on his wall rack in US funds of course.

My concern is that attendance and vendors instead of increasing 10%/year for FEV, is actually decreasing 10%/year. Means Informa may wish to either move the FEV to another month in 2018 (already moved once before from Easter in April) or pull the  plug on Vancouver, BC.

[Squeezy McSphincter]

I was considering going--primarily to get comics submitted for grading--but decided not to.  I'm sure my kids would have loved it.  Maybe next year.

One of the kids' daycare teachers told me that she went for the first time and enjoyed herself.  Her friend wanted to go meet the Flash, and that was a big success.  I can't imagine paying $90 for a photo and a chance to say "big fan", but if people buy that I can't blame someone for selling it.

[Flatliner1313]

You know a show is hurting when I can leave without buying anything

[Kevin Boyd]

Attendance was up, there were lots of people there, vendors selling other things had good things to say... So I don't think that equates as hurting. 

 

 

 

[aardvark88]

2 hours ago, Flatliner1313 said:

You know a show is hurting when I can leave without buying anything

Surprised Flatliner was not able to at least get a nice sketch from the improved Artist Alley. Guess you did not wish to donate $125 to the artist Moore to get 1 (one) Walking Dead comic signed from btwn issue #1-6. 

Glad the toy, swords, Pop figure, caricature artists, and vendor selling $2 blow out comics  did well in Vancouver.

[Kevin Boyd]

I had time to look around and some money in my pocket to spend, so I looked around a little every day in the dealer area.

I looked at the one dealer’s stock who had trade paperbacks and midway through realized I was experiencing déjà vu — it was the same stock I thumbed through last year.

I didn’t find anyone with art books, strip reprints, et al. Since I stopped collecting back issues years ago, bin diving isn’t my thing personally. I did appreciate that there were more dealers with Hot Toys than I usually find at a show (3 or 4). I picked up a K-2SO from Toy Traders who had a great display and knowledgeable staff. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lou_fine]

On 11/10/2017 at 9:54 PM, aardvark88 said:

Not sure if Cgc still charges $5 for having comics of different value tiers go on separate invoices.

No, don't believe they charge the $5 anymore for books going on the different value tiers. 

That's only because I believe they are charging you $8 now for books going on different value tiers. 

[lou_fine]

On 11/11/2017 at 12:54 AM, DarkKnightReturns said:

Seeing Mr Magik Woo argue with a few CGC employees about whom their parent company is.   That was funny. He says the same company that owns Heritage owns CGC and they're like nope, not true, he says no thats true, they say nope and so on than something about a comic that came back graded less than it should have been with an defect etc  I think I tuned out at that point.

I would have love to see Magik give it to the guys at CGC since he has such a low opinion of their grading skills.  I wondered if he went on about how they always fail to factor in the strength of cover colors when it comes to grading and will seemingly give high grades to books even with faded cover colors.  Always a pet peeve with Magik and he probably does has a valid point here. 

 

On 11/11/2017 at 12:54 AM, DarkKnightReturns said:

Dropped off a few things at the CGC booth. Very friendly and polite. Called me sir more than once  They said they were flying back on red eye to Florida right after the fan expo. Poor guys and gal. C'MON CGC ! Give your guys and gal a lil more time to enjoy Vancouver! 

Was away in the Caribbean for the week and by the time I got to the con around 2:00 on Sunday, CGC already had their booth down to the bare wooden tables and everything packed away in their suitcases and boxes.  Somehow, I get the feeling the number of submissions were nowhere near what they were expecting and we probably won't be seeing them back here next year. 

[aardvark88]

11 hours ago, lou_fine said:

 

 by the time I got to the con around 2:00 on Sunday, CGC already had their booth down to the bare wooden tables and everything packed away in their suitcases and boxes.  Somehow, I get the feeling the number of submissions were nowhere near what they were expecting and we probably won't be seeing them back here next year. 

Most Expo and comicon contracts will say that vendors are not to pack up early so that collector/fans who show up in the late afternoon or final day still have a full variety of vendors to shop from. But if attendance on Sunday flatlined like Flatliner1313, one would expect vendors to start taking down their wall displays (slowly), etc. At least the Cgc staff had time for sushi, udon or exotic Tim Horton's  downtown before heading off to the airport.  

[aardvark88]

11 hours ago, lou_fine said:

That's only because I believe (CGC) are charging you $8 now for books going on different value tiers. 

I guess minimum wage went up in Florida by $3/hour like Seattle, WA where minimum wage is $15 US/hour.

Harley's staff befuddled  comparing FEV to San Francisco (ex-Wondercons) where collector/fans also suffer very high rental or mortgage costs yet buzz, excitement, attendance is strong and consumer $$ are there.

[Fan Boy1]

Glad to know that vendors had something good to say about FEV. At least,  we can expect see again next November 2018.

For me, this show is going be a low prority on my go-to Comic Con list. I hate to say but CCEE in April will excite me more than FEV. 

[Kevin Boyd]

3 hours ago, aardvark88 said:

Most Expo and comicon contracts will say that vendors are not to pack up early so that collector/fans who show up in the late afternoon or final day still have a full variety of vendors to shop from. But if attendance on Sunday flatlined like Flatliner1313, one would expect vendors to start taking down their wall displays (slowly), etc. At least the Cgc staff had time for sushi, udon or exotic Tim Horton's  downtown before heading off to the airport.  

CGC always starts packing up their booth early at every show I've ever been at. Most submissions come in on Friday and Saturday with the Signature Series facilitators finishing up on Sunday.   

[Kevin Boyd]

1 hour ago, Fan Boy1 said:

Glad to know that vendors had something good to say about FEV. At least,  we can expect see again next November 2018.

For me, this show is going be a low prority on my go-to Comic Con list. I hate to say but CCEE in April will excite me more than FEV. 

Perhaps the addition of the Calgary team to our own will help punch up things for 2018. 

Calgary is a great show. 

Edited November 16, 2017 by Kevin Boyd

[aardvark88]

1 hour ago, Kevin Boyd said:

Perhaps the addition of the Calgary team to our own will help punch up things for 2018. 

Calgary is a great show. 

+1. Sounds promising for FEV.

The only warning I will give is that last time an Edmonton or Calgary, Alberta promotion team tried to enter the Vancouver downtown Comic Expo market on a well placed summer weekend, the show refunded  all vendors their 10' x 10' booth rentals but I was still out of pocket $50 in misc. fees.

[kimik]

2 hours ago, Kevin Boyd said:

Perhaps the addition of the Calgary team to our own will help punch up things for 2018. 

Calgary is a great show. 

I have not been to a show in Vancouver, but based on the lack of stores with good back issue selections that I see when I travel there for work, it does not surprise me that there are not a lot of comic vendors at the bigger shows.

I am glad that you guys are working with the Calgary team now on both the Calgary and Edmonton expos in 2018 and onwards. You do a great job with bringing in creators/artists to the Fan Expo shows on a consistent basis. If you can land Adam Hughes for either Calgary in April or Edmonton in September it would be greatly appreciated!

[kimik]

On 11/11/2017 at 2:27 PM, joeypost said:

Is that Greggy speak for not enough comic vendors?

Or, Greggy speak for not being able to buy keys at 50% off like he does at the Calgary Expo.  

[lou_fine]

2 hours ago, kimik said:

You do a great job with bringing in creators/artists to the Fan Expo shows on a consistent basis.

Based upon my experience, I don't see a problem with bringing in creators/artists and celebrities to this show.

The major problem and a key one at that, is for the show promoters to being in half decent comic book dealers with vintage comic books for collectors to buy.  After all, this is supposedly a comic book convention, and I doubt the comic book collectors will continue to pay top dollar to go to a show that has virtually no comic books dealers present. 

[aardvark88]

2 hours ago, lou_fine said:

The major problem and a key one at that, is for the show promoters to being in half decent comic book dealers with vintage comic books for collectors to buy.  After all, this is supposedly a comic book convention, and I doubt the comic book collectors will continue to pay top dollar to go to a show that has virtually no comic books dealers present. 

In short, you wish Metropolis Comics from NYC would vend at FEV rather than from Metrotown.

Big Pete's Comics and Toys got smart by selling only NON-comic stuff  at FEV like caps, Pop toys, ties, anime prints, pins, non-lethal swords.

kimik: The vintage back issue vendors and $1 blow out dealers will be at the sold out 3 hall Van Comic Show end of Feb, 2018. Please visit if you are in Vancouver that weekend.