Baltimore Comic Con Photo Report(s) - October 2019 5 5

[silverseeker]

Great report and pics...thanks for sharing!

I had a blast when I traveled east for the BCC back in 2016 (my first and only out-of-state con so far), and I thought there were tons of great dealers and books then...looks like there may be even more dealers there now! I know for a fact that Worldwide didn't set up at the BCC back in 2016...

I need to make it back out to this show, or possibly check out the Charlotte show...

[Get Marwood & I]

That was an enjoyable read. Nothing better than oceans of comics is there. Thanks for taking the time to report @1Cool 

[comicjack]

10 hours ago, entalmighty1 said:

I had never been to a big show before this weekend.  My experience was limited to small and local cons, and one horrible Wizard show.  I can't even quantify how fantastic this show was as a collector and comic fan.  I was able to snag super tough books, meet a ton of board members and IG community guys, and really get immersed in the experience.  Really had no downside to the whole event.  I will most definitely be back!

Specifically, @Zolnerowich, @comicjack, @Ricksneatstuff, and @RICK STARR were all total class!  Nice to put faces to names!

Rick Starr has some crazy nice books 

[Fan Boy]

10 hours ago, speedcake said:

Holy mother of god. Ok that's it. I'm not missing this show next year 

Good, now the ball is in your court. I said the same thing before for quite some time since. Now I did that and I had no regrets this year. 

[1Cool]

9 hours ago, lordisam said:

How does this compare to C2E2?  Looks like they both have amazing selections of books.  But maybe Baltimore possibly even better at books and less cosplay/celebrities?

Way, way more books compared to C2E2 but also way, way less cosplay and celebrities.  I'd say artist alley was pretty similar in size but Baltimore may be a bit bigger even in that category.  Even with all my pictures they do not properly show the size of this Con in terms of the number of booths there. 

Edited October 21, 2019 by 1Cool

[entalmighty1]

3 minutes ago, 1Cool said:

Way, way more books compared to C2E2 but also way, way less cosplay and celebrities.  I'd say artist alley was pretty similar in size but Baltimore may be a bit bigger even in that category.  Even with all the pictures they do not properly show the size of this Con in terms of the number of booths there. 

I was there for several hours during setup Thursday, and from about 9-6 Friday, and I still saw stuff in your pictures that I missed.  There is an unbelievable amount of books at this show.  If you can't find something you want at this show, you aren't looking very hard.

[justafan]

On 10/19/2019 at 9:12 PM, Wolverinex said:

Agreed.  I've never been to a con that has this many comics...looks amazing.  The only one I"ve heard that is a ton of comics is HEROES Con in NC...

I've been going to Baltimore Comicon since 2011.  Each year it seems to grow or get better.  There was only 1 year where I felt like they had a shortage of comics or dealers but this year...WOW!

Note: these are not facts but merely my own skewed observations:

Baltimore Comicon 2019 for volume of comics > than any year going back to 2011

Baltimore Comicon 2019 Quantity of Dealers and comics >= NYCC 2019 quantity of dealers and comics

Baltimore Comicon 2019 as a show for comics was >= Heroes Con 2018 for comics. (I didn't go to Heroes Con this year but if it was the same as last year Baltimore could have been the best show of the year for comics and that's a tough show to beat)

Other great things about this show this year: (last minute Groupon tickets ~ $10 < normal ticket prices)  This is still among the cheapest shows for your buck to attend.  For the price of 1 day at NYCC or SDCC, you can attend all 3 days and see more comics and dealers or at least the same amount.  If you want to attend all 3 days the 3 day pass is still tough to beat but if you time it right you can get the Groupon for each day cheaper than buying the 3-day pass.

This is now a mandatory 2-day show attendance.  I used to be able to hit each comic dealer's booth on the first day Friday 1pm-7pm.  Now you need at least 2 days to hit all the dealers. 

Fantastic mix of comics of all ages. Lots of comparison shopping for common keys and the occasional big ticket items.

One of the few shows that CGC does onsite grading.  If you want to get some subs in early, show up and start lining up early.  The fact that it's a Friday no longer implies low turnout.

Lot of the same dealers that attend NYCC, Heroes Con, Philly, and AwesomeCon but it tends to draw in a greater portion of the overlapp of dealers from all of those shows attending those cons so you almost always get the broadest array of dealers. 

One of the best Artist Alleys and draws for comic artists.  It may not always have all the A-list artists but it does draw a good portion of A, B, C, and upcoming talent.  Once I'm done shopping for comics I like to cruise the alley looking for an artist whose work catches my eye. 

So many great things about this show. Cant wait until next year!

 

 

[entalmighty1]

7 hours ago, FlyingDonut said:

Boy am I tired.

You were so grumpy when I saw you! 

[justafan]

On 10/20/2019 at 6:06 AM, Phantalien said:

Great pics!

 

This is a great comic show where there are tons of comics for all types of comic collectors.

The wife and I loved going to BCC but it just started to price us out.   Not because the price of comics was too high, it was when we realized that for parking and admission to the convention we would have to pay $100 before setting foot on the convention floor took away from our spending money on comics.

Just curious but what shows do you normally attend for less than that tat are not local?  I'm pretty surprised at this compared to how much so many other equally big shows cost.  For admission pricing, BCC is hard to beat.  Now I hear you about the parking and the hotels but at any other con you don't live near you're already spending over $100 on travel and lodging but that comes with every distant show.  If you're local, the public transportation options are pretty cheap and save you on parking.  However, for cheap parking there are a few lots further away that go for $8-10/day all day if you're willing to walk a little further or there's also street parking that you may have to renew every 2-4 hours which is easy with the parking mobile app.

If you book a hotel further out, you can get a great deal and not have to park but can take public transport or a cheap uber ride in.  Going all 3 days is not as worth it for me as it used to be but if the con keeps getting bigger I may have to.  Typically I go on Fridays and Sundays which are the 2 cheapest days at $15/day and see everything I want to see. Parking cost me $11/day.  I just drove in each day so no hotel cost for me but I live within 200 miles of the show.  Frankly if I'm spending less than $200 on attending a con I'm already ahead. 

Here's what I usually pay for other shows:

SDCC cost me $213/day to attend Fri-Sun (4-days) in air fare/uber rides and admission only because I have friends that let me crash at their place.  If including a hotel it comes to $325/day or more or less depending on when you book and how far out.

NYCC cost me $350 to attend in transportation/parking and admission for 1 day.  For multiple days add an additional $275/day for hotel (or Amtrak round trip tickets) and additional ticket.  Using Megabus would bring the 1 day cost or daily cost down to $175.

Heroes con costs me $155 to attend in transportation/parking and admission for 1 day.  For multiple days add an additional $110/day for hotel and admission.

Awesome con costs me $50 to attend in Metro/parking and admission for 1 day cause I'm local but I can usually hit every dealer's booth in 1 day so no need for more.  For multiple days (not necessary if just comic shopping) would cost an additional $50/day if local.  The 3-day ticket is $75 so if you were staying at a hotel, you could do it for $135/day if you stay at a hotel and take metro to the con.

VAComicCon costs me $50 to attend in gas/parking and admission for 1 day also because I'm local and the show is dirt cheap.

At $100/day, Baltimore is by far the best bang for my buck remote show followed by Heroes Con based on where I live so YMMV greatly.

 

[justafan]

22 hours ago, 1Cool said:

Today should be the day people will get their onsite books back - hope they are all a half grade better then expected!

do they give out 10.5's?

[an99]

Wow, looks like a great time!  Thanks for sharing!

[batmiesta]

On 10/20/2019 at 12:42 AM, 1Cool said:

 

Did these guys have a warehouse find or something? Thanks for the great report, I really fancy going over for this show next year, are the dates set yet?

Edited October 21, 2019 by batmiesta

[1Cool]

3 minutes ago, batmiesta said:

Did these guys have a warehouse find or something? Thanks for the great report, I really fancy going over for this show next year, are the dates set yet?

Not sure about the warehouse find but I do know all of these sold by mid-day Friday when i went back to look over the copies.  Sounds like a single buyer made them an offer they could not refuse which must have been a pretty penny since they had the Sup & Ali mags at $150 a piece Thursday when I checked.

Edited October 21, 2019 by 1Cool

[batmiesta]

What condition were they in? 

[miraclemet]

Another great year, would love to hear from the dealers if they felt sales were up or down from last year. 

Im a GA collector and all I'll say was this show was the BEST for raw GA that I've been to in years. I could have spent 3 days going through the GA dealer stock. So much great stuff in the $200-600 range, which often is not there (it's bad when it's $10k books on the wall and animal books in the boxes). Multiple dealers said they had new GA collections on the wall and in boxes.

The CGC Sunday 5pm pickup line was worse this year than last. Maybe because they weren't letting submitters know when their books were ready so EVERYONE went at 5pm. Last year my submission status got updated when the books were graded and I went and picked them up, this time it seemed like no one got notified that their books were ready so everyone was there at 5. I submitted books in the first hour on Friday and another submission at 5pm on Friday, and both are still in Grading/Quality Control status... last year they actually updated when they were graded. 

Everyone I talked to said the same thing (which was an echo from last year and the year before) BCC is a comic book show first and foremost and the dealers love it. The few "celebs" that are there are typically smaller potatoes and are relegated to the side of the show. The dealers love that there's less emphasis on cosplay and such too. 

As far as costs go, it's still an affordable con. 1 day tickets were $30, parking was $20 for the day within a block of the convention center. Saturday had the down-side of being the same time as the Baltimore Marathon, not sure how that affected people (I went Friday and Sunday). It rained cats and dogs on Sunday, which Im sure made load out lots of fun... 

Its a very kid friendly con. Artists engaged my daughter, there were multiple kid-centric activities going on each day, and I saw many dealers who were happy to chat up the kids about comics (including one fun explanation about how Mr Fantastic was a ripoff of Plastic Man, not the other way around as the kid proposed)

[1Cool]

13 minutes ago, batmiesta said:

What condition were they in? 

Looked like unread warehouse type copies to me when I picked up a copy.  $150 seemed kind of steep especially since it looks like CGC doesn't grade them.

[Wally's Comics]

Great Show Review Andrew!

I'm finally rested from a wild weekend. I think I drank my way through Baltimore...

I had a real buddy share one classic dark craft beer after another.

I bought books. A lot of books. But I didn't budget enough. I usually walk out of a show with a third of what I brung monetarily but there were just too many deals.

But as I waited for my ride (flat broke) I helped share the love and became a picker for my pals to help them spend their money. lol!

There was meat on the bone all over the place. I love it!

 

Edited October 21, 2019 by Wally's Comics

[Wally's Comics]

Somethings you see at this show you can't unsee...

Spoiler

Edited October 21, 2019 by Wally's Comics

[Wally's Comics]

 

[Wally's Comics]

To keep things cheap I got creative...

2 buck chuck tuna and free filtered water refills at the hotel spa.

I was trying to save every cent for that show... (and good beer of course)