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

21 hours ago, Larryw7 said:

The first one I went to was the Creation Convention on Kennedy Blvd in Philly in 1978. I was 12, and I took the El into the city. It was Labor Day Weekend, and smoldering hot. When I went to the hotel and found the con room, it wasn't air conditioned and half of the dealers had taken their shirts off because of the heat.

Sparkle City dominated the room. I think they were the biggest dealers at the time. I snagged low grade copies of Batman 29 and Star Spangled 91. Total cost 35 bucks which seemed like a lot. Jay Maybruck was there and seemed friendly. Sparkle had lots of the hot books of the time, like Reform School Girl, loads of GGA books, Blood is the Harvest and The Devil Would Talk, all at prices WAY over the OSPG. I think they created the market for those books. I went to every Creation con until they stopped having them.

I think Creation Con 1984 was my second or third convention. I still have the Brochure because Archie Goodwin was there and I didn't have a comic for him to sign at the time so he signed one of those for me. 

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23 minutes ago, N e r V said:

As a fan the 1974 San Diego Comic Con  at the El Cortez Hotel.

As a dealer the 1989 San Diego Comic Con at the performing arts center. The Batman craze was in full swing and I bought I believe my second copy of Detective Comics #27 that year...

I bought my Flash #1 at that 1974 show. El Cortez...:x

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On 9/1/2020 at 6:01 PM, Robot Man said:

Wow, quite the ride. Not many people can say that. I know a few dealers set up at every one just up until a few years ago but you got them beat. My first was the 3rd one and I only missed one due to a motorcycle accident when I was hospitalized and one when I had to go to my father in law's funeral. I quit about 5 years ago. I really missed it at first but realized that it just wasn't the same show for me. I hope you hit everyone until you are dead or un-able!

I hope to keep going even if I'm wheeled in on a gurney with an IV in my arm :bigsmile:.  I really like it, even with the huge crowds and the dwindling old comic book presence. Every couple of years a long-time dealer will drop out because of the hassle and expense but there are still a lot of comics to be found and I enjoy the panels too. My wife says it's like going to Disneyland four days in a row and she runs out of steam but I don't. It's energizing for me.

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My first convention was the 1996 San Diego Comic-Con (see program attached). The Con was wonderful in those days, big enough to have everything, but not unmanageable and still relatively affordable. I got Stan Lee to sign a few Marvel comics, Dave Gibbons drew a Rorschach caricature in my graphic novel of The Watchmen, and science fiction author David Brin signed one of his books for me. Saw a copy of Action #1 for the first time at the Metropolis booth. Really a great time!

 

San Diego Comic-Con 1996 Prigram.jpg

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3 minutes ago, Turtle said:

I'm a newbie by all accounts it seems. 

My first comic con was Wizard World Texas in 2008.  I was living in Texas at the time and it was about 30 minutes from my house.  The highlight of the show for me was John Cassaday.  I was reading his run on Astonishing X-Men at the time (which I don't think had quite finished by that point).

He had such a long line that they positioned him out in the hallway outside of the show floor in order to control the crowd of people.  We were waiting in line for an hour or so and they capped the line a little bit behind us.  The guy in front of us had a VERY large stack of books to be signed and he was very chatty.  When that guy was done, some handlers pulled John away for a scheduled panel that he was already running a few minutes late for.  There were only a few of us left in line.  As he's getting pulled away, John looks at the few of us still in line and shouts "I'll be back in an hour.  If you're still here, I'll do sketches!".  

When he returned, he seemed genuinely flattered that we'd wait for him and happily did a few quick sketches for us.  Here's one that I consider a memento of not only my first con, but also my first time interacting with CGC Signature Series stuff in person (shout out to Frank who still helps CGC out at shows from time to time).  The book evokes a lot of positive memories.  :cloud9:

1159591880_AstonishingX-Men_01SS.thumb.JPG.cf8a73aefe41f9702e014fb8cc09a356.JPG

Wow, that's a awesome story and lesson in patience, kindness and cheerful generosity! Thanks for Sharing :)  

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3 hours ago, Turtle said:

I'm a newbie by all accounts it seems. 

My first comic con was Wizard World Texas in 2008.  I was living in Texas at the time and it was about 30 minutes from my house.  The highlight of the show for me was John Cassaday.  I was reading his run on Astonishing X-Men at the time (which I don't think had quite finished by that point).

He had such a long line that they positioned him out in the hallway outside of the show floor in order to control the crowd of people.  We were waiting in line for an hour or so and they capped the line a little bit behind us.  The guy in front of us had a VERY large stack of books to be signed and he was very chatty.  When that guy was done, some handlers pulled John away for a scheduled panel that he was already running a few minutes late for.  There were only a few of us left in line.  As he's getting pulled away, John looks at the few of us still in line and shouts "I'll be back in an hour.  If you're still here, I'll do sketches!".  

When he returned, he seemed genuinely flattered that we'd wait for him and happily did a few quick sketches for us.  Here's one that I consider a memento of not only my first con, but also my first time interacting with CGC Signature Series stuff in person (shout out to Frank who still helps CGC out at shows from time to time).  The book evokes a lot of positive memories.  :cloud9:

1159591880_AstonishingX-Men_01SS.thumb.JPG.cf8a73aefe41f9702e014fb8cc09a356.JPG

Awesome story.  I'm actually reading this run right now and am thoroughly enjoying it.  I think John Cassaday (Star Wars, Planetary) doesn't get enough love.

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Was just getting back into the hobby I hadn’t touched for 20 years since I was a kid. Went to a small NovaCon or something in a firehouse in Northern VA at the beginning of 2015.  Bunch of dealers and 1 artist named Herb Trimpe. Didn’t know who he was and was too nervous talking to artists and sounding stupid so walked by his table twice but didn’t stop. Was real nice though and seemed happy to meet with people. Tried learning from that missed opportunity and actually making myself be more outgoing to talk to artists but usually still get pretty nervous. 

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33 minutes ago, jayhawker said:

The first one I ever went to was around 75 or 76 in Wichita Kansas. I was 11 or 12 at the time. My mom dropped me and my brother off and said she would be back in a couple hours to pick us up. I am not sure the name of it but I know it was at a Holiday Inn on highway 54.        
I was really into the Fantastic Four and would buy any book with the FF in it. I remember looking thru some boxes when I come across a Strange Tales 114 , Captain America vs the Human Torch. It was so cool I had never seen this book before. I bought it for the outrageous price of $3.00. I few minutes later a man came up to me and ask if I had just bought a Strange Tales 114 . I said yes and he ask if he could see it.  He had gone to that show to look for that specific book. He had a brief case with him and opens it up to pull out his copy. Which wasn’t as nice as the copy I bought. He then pulled out a copy of Strange Tales 118 and said I will trade you these 2 books plus a $1.50 for yours. I ended up doing the deal but never really felt good about it. He was a guy about 10 years older than me and felt intimidated. The guy was Roger Hill. I ran into him about 20 years ago and reminded him about our trade. He then looks at me and says that’s the nicest copy he had ever seen and still had it. Anyway sorry about the long post. Here are the 2 books from the trade and a third I picked up while I was there.imageproxy.php?img=&key=c846ed7a40be7761

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Holy smokes.. what a world it was back then to casually  purchase silver age gems 

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