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What Was Your First Comic Book Convention?
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131 posts in this topic

11 minutes ago, Robot Man said:

SDCC was my “local” show. I attended from the third show up until 5 years ago when I gave it up. Just about every major dealer set up there. Used to be so laid back and such a blast. Has totally lost it’s “vibe” now. 

I also used to travel up to the Bay Area for shows like the Berkeley Con and later WonderCon. Also great shows. 

I always preferred Wonder Con when it was at the Mosconi - much more chilled, and hanging out with all the West Coast boardies, (including board mascot greggy) was always a great time.

I really enjoyed going to the ten SDCCs I attended, although by the time I went to my last one (ten years ago) it had gotten prohibitively expensive to attend for this Londoner. Plus the downtown hotels were triple the price they had been, while the Gaslamp was just too rammed to be fun. And the show itself, despite the impressive Exhibition Hall H, was just too busy, with too many lines, people camping overnight for specific panels, Saturday being insane (except for the vintage dealer area) and so on. None of this would have been an issue if SDCC had been my local show...

I miss going to SD, but I make do with NYCC (and there's less jet lag).

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2 hours ago, Flee-Marquette said:

Around 1989/1990 I went to a show in a hotel in Dallas. Not sure what the name of it was. Dallas Fantasy Fair or D-Con or something like that. I was in town hitting pawn shops for guitars and saw an advertisement for the event.  I swung by the show and wound up buying a couple of nicer copies of IH 102. That kinda renewed my interest in comics and I started stopping by  the Lone Star comics stores whenever I was in town and picking up the Silver Age comics that I remembered.

:hi:

Hey Flee- hope you have been well!

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49 minutes ago, BitterOldMan said:

1974 Berkeley Comic Con at the Pauley Ballroom on the UC Berkeley Campus.  I bought Four Color 386 (First Uncle Scrooge), Weird Science 9 and 19.  I still have the comic books and upgraded copies.  Years later, I bought an original art page from Weird Science 19 drawn by the great Wally Wood. 

I was at that one too Ray. Don’t remember much about it though. I was in a bit of a “haze”...:devil:

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The first convention I attended in 2003. It was a small comic book show in Orlando, Florida near Universal Studios, operated by Tim Gordon (who also owned the Tampa Comic Book and Toy Convention). I purchased an Amazing Spider-Man #129 in 8.5 for $130. I still own the book today.

The first convention I travelled "out of town" for was Tampa Comic Book and Toy Convention which was located at the DoubleTree Hotel in Tampa, Florida. Me and my dad went. It was another great Tim Gordon show. I bought an X-Men #11 and #13 from Crazy Ed. This was also in 2003.

The first convention I travelled out of state for was Heroes Con, in Charlotte, North Carolina. This was in 2006. I got to meet one of my favorite creators, Dave Cockrum. He signed a couple of my X-Men comics as well as an X-Men #99 price variant which I got CGC graded. I'm guessing that's the only Dave Cockrum, sig series price variant. It was a great convention (and still is). I'm so thankful that I got to meet Dave (he passed away only months later). I love Heroes Con! 

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The first con I went to was a small Jubilee show in Allentown, PA probably around 1985 or 1986. They mostly did shows in Maryland and Virginia, but once in a while there'd be on in the Lehigh Valley. There was another show in Allentown near the mall that I went to once that had some sort of flooding in the ballroom so they set up the dealers in the space around the indoor pool. I remember buying a Justice League #4 there. The first big show I went to was a Great Eastern Show at the Penta/Pennsylvania Hotel in New York. Fred was an interesting guy...

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1 hour ago, musicmeta said:

First con was in Dallas in 1989.  I don't remember the actual name of the Con only I had blast and spent all my money.  The only trouble was getting a flat tire driving over on the first day.  :frown:

I remember the scene.  I think they were called Dallas Fantasy Fair(before the name got ripped off by bigger players 20 years later).  They used to be run by Larry Lankford (Moondog productions).  Larry was an ex prison guard who ran these shows for 4 or 5 years before running off with exhibitors money.  I remember @MrBedrock was one of the regulars who set up in these shows, and he might have some stories.  I set up every now and then but discovered quickly I was not cut out for the circuit and decided I was better off just being a collector.  A man's got to know his limitations.

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Just now, GreatCaesarsGhost said:

I remember the scene.  I think they were called Dallas Fantasy Fair(before the name got ripped off by bigger players 20 years later).  They used to be run by Larry Lankford (Moondog productions).  Larry was an ex prison guard who ran these shows for 4 or 5 years before running off with exhibitors money.  I remember @MrBedrock was one of the regulars who set up in these shows, and he might have some stories.  I set up every now and then but discovered quickly I was not cut out for the circuit and decided I was better off just being a collector.  A man's got to know his limitations.

Yes, that name sounds right - Dallas Fantasy Fair.  Thanks for remembering the name.  I went all three days and had so much fun.

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9 minutes ago, Robot Man said:

Remember when $35. was a lot of money? Paper route, mowing lawns (with a push mower in the summer), and scrounging soda bottles at the beach and in alleys was what I had for comic money. I remember my first big buy was $100. for all the EC annuals and the run of Piracy. Bought them from an old guy with a garage full of comics, pulps and old magazines. Had to leave a GA Submariner #1 for $30. because I ran out of money...:sorry:

Great story for another time...

$35 was a lot of money, maybe $200 in today's money for 7 comics only about a decade old. Most ECs were about $5 -$20 apiece back then IIRC, with the sc-fi issues being the most expensive. Relatively speaking, they were expensive for 1950s books, sci-fi and horror from other publishers were generally less than $5, sometimes only a buck or two (who wanted them, not me apparently)

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Some small hotel like a Ramada in Ohio back in the late 70's early 80's, wasn't big but man did I score some nice mint comics back then those were the days :whee:

a few you see in the sig line below

Edited by Azkaban
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59 minutes ago, rjpb said:

$35 was a lot of money, maybe $200 in today's money for 7 comics only about a decade old. Most ECs were about $5 -$20 apiece back then IIRC, with the sc-fi issues being the most expensive. Relatively speaking, they were expensive for 1950s books, sci-fi and horror from other publishers were generally less than $5, sometimes only a buck or two (who wanted them, not me apparently)

Yeah, I remember ECs being $4-10 each. The occasional first issue might be $20. Who wanted those “other” ones? I did. They were dollar books under the table just stacked in boxes. I had a taste of EC horror so even though they were “substandard”, I quickly figured out the real gory ones, great covers and EC artists like Williamson, Wolverton, Kamen and others. I remember getting full runs at a time for a buck each. I still have most of them other than the ones I upgraded if necessary. Good times indeed! 

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