The Thread Formerly Known As Pontoon's Boston Comic Con Report 2018 2 2

[Dick Pontoon]

Because it's FanExpo now and not the BCC.

I think I've been writing a detailed con report since the first one 10-11 years ago but I'm not in as good a position to do that this year. Since there is no Golden Age Collectibles table this year, it looks like Friday will be the only day I'll be attending. While this gave me the luxury to dig through longboxes at my leisure, I don't have a sense of what's up with the comic buying public, cool cosplay photos or even wall shots.

 

 

Edited August 11, 2018 by Dick Pontoon

[Dick Pontoon]

I know many Forumites look forward to my annual flower and vegetable garden report tha's done in conjunction, but I am behind on my yard work so I'll need to keep it short.

Started the day off with a hardy mowing of the lawn.

 

 

 

[BlowUpTheMoon]

[Dick Pontoon]

Here's some tomatoes picked the night before last:

[Dick Pontoon]

Here's a tomato from a few years back:

[Dick Pontoon]

And on that note, I have to go out for a bit.

More to follow!

[Dick Pontoon]

Here we are, heading in to the show.

[BlowUpTheMoon]

[Dick Pontoon]

10 minutes ago, BlowUpTheMoon said:

The thrill of aging, balding heads?

[Dick Pontoon]

As Fan Expo moves away from the Boston Comic Con it once was, I felt funnybook dealer turnout was limited but this was pretty much what I expected. In spite of this I managed to collect a nice, small stack of books. Here's a few:

[Dick Pontoon]

Although this year we've seen a number of smaller, one-day comic-centric shows pop up in the area, metro Boston could really use a regular bi-monthly or even quarterly comic show. Hopefully one day some intrepid dealer/promoter will pick up that ball. It's a tall order given the limited return for the amount of work it takes, but I can dream.

While I didn't exactly agree with a lot of the sentiments expressed in the recent thread about comic pricing at cons, it did seem that maybe 1/3 of the dealers i saw had their books priced not just at the top of FMV but often well over it. Again, I didn't come home empty handed. I upgraded my JIM #82 for example. The reds might be a bit blown out, tough to see with the scanner/computer combo I used.

[Dick Pontoon]

As is the norm now, the bulk of tables were occupied by folks selling impulse-buy tchotkes, bad art prints, unlicensed character merch, bootleg DVDs, sell phone service, car insuarnce and even tattoos. Who the hell goes to a comic con to get a tattoo?

Since I'm short on photos, how about a few from the show's humble beginnings?

 

Edited August 12, 2018 by Dick Pontoon

[Dick Pontoon]

[oakman29]

Nice! I'm liking these 1 day shows over the big Cons more and more as I age.

[Dick Pontoon]

I know plenty of folks are thrilled with the guest list (John Byrne! Jim Lee!) but where are all the older second generation creators for us old farts? Neal Adams doesn't count; he's there every year as well as at other regional shows. How about Roy Thomas? Tom Palmer? Those guys have never been to the Boston show. There's another show next weekend with a guest list chock full of those guys, both artists and writers. How about flying in someone rarely seen on the East Coast, like Mike Ploog?

[Dick Pontoon]

How about some cosplay classics from days gone by since i haven' taken any this year yet? Here's a few memorable ones:

Super-Mom

 

 

[Robot Man]

Man, this “fan fest” sure seems dim for comic collectors as do most of the big shows these days. This hobbly needs to go back to it’s roots. I am real lucky. Out here on the west coast we have the Torpedo show, Terry’s con and the quarterly Berkeley show. All one day events full of vintage comics. Hopefully folks in the rest of the country take note. These shows are so good, we have collectors and dealers flying in from all over the country.

Hopefully, you got more to post D_ick. I always enjoy this post!

[Dick Pontoon]

I don’t want to sound like Mr. Sour Grapes; maybe someone else who went to the show can chime in with a more favorable view?

Getting back to guests, for my money the Terrificon in CT next weekend has a killer lineup. Boston is a bit too heavily focused on the more modern guys.

On the plus side, I got to see a few Boardies such as GACollectibles, Ryan and Junkdrawer. I’m terrible with names, especially board names, but Dmac wasn’t; he spotted me with my nose in a box and said hello. I was able to meet Rob React for the first time. I also saw Foolkiller, but chose not to address him as he appeared to be in deep negotiations.  

[Dick Pontoon]

Here’s some bargain bin run-filler pickups:

[Dick Pontoon]

Went on a bit of a war kick and got some nice Heath covers.