A Convention Visit, Revisited

Redartz: Good day, all! Last week I had the opportunity to attend the Indiana Comic Con, and posted a few details during comments on my post the same day. Doug graciously asked if I'd expound a bit on the day, and so here is an accounting in greater detail.

Some of you may recall an exchange of comments about two years ago, when Doug was planning to attend the Indiana Con and so was I. As things turned out, the convention's organizers failed to anticipate the crowds (that was their first big con here), and many potential attendees were turned away (Doug and I included). Following that con, there were numerous comments in the local media and social networks of less-than-praising content. So to 'balance the scales', as it were, I gave it another chance this year. Things worked out much better.

First of all, I made certain to order a ticket online in advance. This was a simple operation, and when I arrived at the Convention Center about 8:00 ( the show opened at 9), I entered and was able to claim my badge at the counter quickly and join the line to enter. At this point there were maybe 100 persons in line ahead of me, so not bad. Over the next 45 minutes I stood in line, and chatted with the other fans waiting (they had come from all over the general area, and spirits were pretty high). The line to enter grew, but even by 9 the line was reasonable in length. Upon starting time, they formed three lines at the entrance. So now I was only about 20 people from the head of the line!

I had planned to see George Perez first, assuming he would be a big draw. This became the only downside to the day; it turned out they issued tickets to 100 attendees to start his line, a fact of which I was unaware. So I was directed to stand in the 'no ticket' line, and ended up spending nearly two hours there (again visiting with other fans, a big side benefit to attending a con) before finally abandoning the attempt. Some of this delay was due, no doubt, to some of those ticket holders bringing literally stacks of books to be signed. One fellow actually brought a full shortbox and another large bag, amounting to several hundred books to be autographed (that brings up another potential post; convention etiquette). This time spent was by no means wasted, however; it was fun to meet other attendees and hear their stories. We also took turns holding each other's place in line allowing several of us to wander around a bit.

Once abandoning that waitng line, things went much better. I started off visiting Jim Shooter, and only waited a couple of minutes. He was a pleasure to talk with, and was very kind. He answered several questions I asked about the topic of the BAB post that day, posed for a photo and signed a book for me (my copy of Avengers 161- the Ant Man issue,prompting Jim to comment on George Perez' rendered ants). Finally I thanked him for the great stories he gave us, and moved on.

I then spoke with Marv Wolfman, also very pleasant, and with June Brigman (who spoke of the pleasure she finds working with Louise Simonson).  I next went over to Mark Waid's table, and after a short two minute wait, chatted him up a bit. In all these cases, the wait was negligible, and the artists/writers all free and willing to visit a bit.

Next up: walked over to Ron Wilson's table. Watched him working on an ink drawing for another fan, and soon inquired about a sketch. Ended up ordering a pencil sketch, presented for your approval!

He was very friendly, and grateful to his fans. I asked him if he got woozy drawing all those rocks on Ben Grimm; he smiled and said it eventually led him to drawing "He Man" instead...

I have always gotten a kick out of watching costumed fans and cosplayers, so I took a tour of the convention floor and admired the array. And there were many, and some great outfits. It was pleasing to see how many actual families were represented: both parents and childen all costumed, and having fun.

That family -friendly feeling was everywhere, the convention was roomy with plenty of maneuverability.  Everyone seemed to be having a good time, and seeing so many kids made me optimistic for the future of our hobby...

Last up was a trip to the dealer's booths. After all, can't hit a con without bagging a few goodies! There were many sellers there, with everything from tattoos to comics to toys and clothing. Being Sunday afternoon, quite a few comic dealers had the discount signs up (hint to any potential convention visitors; Sunday afternoon is a good time to find some bargains as they want to pack up as little stock as possible). I selected several books, all at half price.


My haul:

And that was about it for this day's fun. Overall a very positive experience, not crowded, plenty of room to look. Fans were everywhere, and in good spirits.The organizers obviously learned from the first year's troubles, the venue was much larger. The guest list was extensive and quite attractive to a Bronze Age fan such as I.  Convention volunteers were in great supply, if you needed help. Tickets were easy to get online, and pretty affordable. All considered: a day well spent, and one I plan to repeat next year. Maybe I'll see you there...

Convention Season!

Redartz: Spring is upon us, and the weather (theoretically, anyway) is warming. This is a sure sign that comic book conventions are going to be sprouting up like crocuses! Of course in recent years, cons have spread out throughout the year, and throughout the world. Big conventions, small conventions; some like Comic Con in San Diego are pop culture phenomenons in themselves. Others are local gatherings of comic book dealers and fans; buying and selling as they have since fandom began. 

The writer and his youngest son at Motor City Con

Today let's discuss comic conventions. Do you prefer a large, multi-media show, or a smaller, more intimate gathering? Do you go to buy, meet creators, see panels? Any cosplayers among us (one of these days I'll get up the nerve to go as Dr. Strange; my wife the quilter has already agreed to help). Have you any cool convention experiences to share, or are you still looking to attend your first one? 

And speaking of attending, this brings us to another question for you all. Upcoming at the end of April (specifically, April 29 - May ) in Indianapolis, Indiana is the Indiana Comic Con. This year they are featuring a pretty stellar group of Bronze Age comics pros, including: Neal Adams, Chris Claremont, Mike Golden, George Perez, Jim Shooter, Ron Wilson, Marv Wolfman and Bernie Wrightson.  This writer is planning to attend, probably on Sunday May 1. I mentioned it to Doug and Karen, thinking perhaps there might be others among us, located within a reasonable distance, who might be interested in attending also. They agreed, and also agreed that if this is the case, it might be fun to set up a little face-to-face meeting of said BAB attendees! Thus, I toss this question to you all, is anyone open/ interested/available for this? Any suggestions, requests or advice?

The Spinner Rack - a Variation on a Theme

Doug: No month and year for you today, kids. Nope -- I have something else in mind. Today's a tell-all from you to the rest of the BAB community. Our fun this time around is going to be in telling of those books that you recall obtaining at a specific time and place. I'm sure many of us know that we used to get a stack of comics in a cardboard box shipped from a place like Westfield Comics and brought to us by the UPS man. Others among us (looking at you, HB) used to subscribe to a few titles and eagerly awaited the mailman's arrival after a certain amount of time had passed. And that's cool - we've all been there. Let me show you what I'm after --

Purchased for me by my Aunt Mary while at the Old Chicago indoor amusement park.

Purchased by my summer sitter, my mom's cousin, at Southside Drugs in Kankakee, IL

Purchased by me after my mom drove me all over town looking for it. Bought it at Mickey's Books and Novelties (yup - those kinds of "books and novelties". Hey, I was 11; I didn't see anything other than the spinner rack! I swear...)

Separating the Person from the Work...Can we?

Karen: Last Friday I went to the Phoenix Comic Con. I don't have much to report; unlike previous years, there weren't many guests there that I wanted to see (they all seemed to be at the Dallas con held the same weekend), but I did happen to stop at the table of a well-known comic book artist who made his name in the late 60s/early 70s. Even though I was not a huge fan of his, I was considering getting something signed by him, because I felt he was a significant figure and I did like his work.  He was surrounded by a group of eight or so fans who were hanging on his every word -and there were a lot of them, but most of them were "I". As in, "I was the first to do such and such in comics," "I came up with this," etc. I know people love to talk about themselves, but this guy seemed to like to talk about nothing but himself, and in some cases, he also liked to point out how he had "developed" a technique and other artists had gone on to use it poorly or stupidly. During the ten minutes I stood there listening to this, at three different points, people came by wanting to take his picture; the artist thrust out his arm, palm straight up, and barked "No!" He then would follow with, "NO pictures." No explanation, nothing, just him holding his hand up until the person left (usually shaking their heads).

After ten minutes of this, I realized I didn't really need anything signed by this man, and I walked off to look at other stuff.

The point of all this is, I know you folks have had some experiences in meeting comics personalities  (or hey, other artists/performers, let's open it up) where it may have soured you on the person. The question is, does it sour you on their work as well? I think I can still look at his art and enjoy it, but I know I will always have this memory in the back of my head, at the very least. I have friends who cannot watch certain actors because they dislike their political or religious beliefs, or behavior. Generally I can overlook that although there are certain people I just will not support (Roman Polanski comes to mind). Let's hear it -can you separate the person from the work?

A Fun and Unexpected Sunday Drive

Doug:  With great apologies to our friend David_B, I have a confession to make -- last Sunday I attended Wizard World Chicago.  Here is an email I sent to my partner upon my return, with temporal parameters updated so you know what the heck I'm talking about --

Doug:  Our oldest was able to come home yesterday (Saturday) afternoon and he'll be staying until Tuesday (now two days past) morning, so that was nice.  And, I got my expenses reimbursement from my 10-day trip to Washington, DC in July to work for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.  I guess I had miscalculated how much I'd get, because it was about $150 more than I'd expected.  So, on a whim I asked him if he wanted to take one more whirl at the Chicago Comicon.  As he was immediately up for it (I did ask him to buy his own ticket this year -- at $50 a pop, I just couldn't do it for both of us, and he has worked all summer), we hit the road around 11:00 this morning (this past Sunday).

I got the following hardcovers for $10 apiece:

DC Comics Classic Library -- Flash of Two Worlds
Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?

Half price hardcover:

Adventures of Superman: Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez

Half price trade paperback:

Daredevil Visionaries:  Frank Miller, volume 2

And the following were $5 tpbs:

Invaders Classic, volumes 2, 3, and 4
The Tomb of Dracula, volume 2
Chronicles of Conan, volume 2

But the coup of the day, which basically paid for my ticket in, was the following hardcover, MSRP of $49.99, which I bought for $3 (yep, $3!) --

The Joe Kubert Library:  Tor, volume 1

I got all of that for $80.  I also spent $20 with Neal Adams, getting the Batman print that is the cover to Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams, volume 1.  Neal autographed it to me and we chatted for a few minutes.  My son bought both the Superman vs. Muhammad Ali print and the "Athletes of the Century" print that Neal created for ESPN The Magazine -- which if you've never seen it is a recreation of the Superman/Ali cover, but with Michael Jordan standing in for Superman and the other top 98 athletes making up the audience.  Neal signed both of the prints to my son as well. 

Both of the prints (pictured below) came with papers that had a legend of all of the personalities in the two audiences -- a nice touch!  I thanked Neal for all he'd done for me.  He was typically full of himself, which my son picked up on right away.  I did not bring up plate tectonics...

Doug:  I mentioned just above that I spent $80 on the books that I purchased.  When I got home I totaled the cover prices on them.  With what I paid, I got a 75% discount off MSRP; even with factoring in my admission ticket and $13 for parking, I still got a 55% discount.  I use amazon.com's typical discount of 30-35% to gauge my success rate at a sale of this sort -- I'd say I made out pretty well.  And you know where else I made out well?  In the "father and son" department -- we just had a great time, people watching, looking at cool stuff, all the cosplay folks running around.  And the 75-minute car rides on either side of the trip were a treasure as well.  Hey, the lad's almost 22 years old and going to be a senior in college.  This may indeed have been our last safari.

Doug:  And again -- a big "sorry" to my pal David, as he'd asked me months ago about meeting up at the con, and I'd said I was not going.  Windfall, m'man -- that's the only reason I went!

Buy Yourself Some Bronze Age Love

Doug:  Here's a simple question, with all BABers living in the same fantasy land:  Let's just suppose that either Karen or I won the lottery (which we didn't), and allowed every one of our readers to go to their local comic shop or a convention nearby and pick out one item -- on us.  What would you get?  To complicate your thinking just a bit, this is your LCS; it's not a mail-order offer.  Nope -- you go to the LCS or a convention that is closest to you and pick out one item.  Again, what would you get?  Money is no object, because, hypothetically (don't anyone try to send us a bill!) we're going to reimburse you.

Doug:  So what's that one thing you'd love to have, have always stayed away from due to price, but now in this fantasyland you could finally own?  Does your LCS have a great stock of back issues?  Is there a hardcover or omnibus you've wanted?  How about statues?  What's the nearest convention to you like?  Is it a megacon like New York, Chicago, or San Diego?  Or is it a smaller, mom-and-pop show in a hotel ballroom or civic center?  The sky's the limit today, friends, based on your circumstances -- wish away!

Doug:  Below is something I wanted many years ago, when the Warner Bros. Studio Stores were still around.  It's a very large print, painted of course by Alex Ross of the Legion of Super-Heroes (I believe Karen ran this image previously in a post she penned).  Framed, matted -- wow.  I'd love to have this!  And I know that I've seen these at the Chicago Comicon in past years, so I meet my own criteria for today's post.  Pricey, this is!  And, in the event that I could not get hold of this beauty, I'd probably purchase myself the set of bootlegs of the 1966 Marvel Super-Heroes cartoons -- someone please tell me why these never received the DVD treatment?

Unabashed Retailer Recommendations/Endorsements

Doug:  About a week ago we had a request in the "So, Whatcha Buying?" post for a wide-open opportunity for our readers to recommend buying points to each other.  Today's query is pretty simple, then:  Where do you buy your "fix", whether it be comics, books, or toys?  Are there good experiences out there with eBay or other online auctions/retailers?  Are there instances when you felt like you got burned?  Overall, would you recommend the online shopping experience, or do you prefer a physical space to converse with sellers, examine your potential purchase, etc?

Doug:  In the interest of keeping this a friendly space, I think we'd rather hear more good news than complaining.  Obviously if you really, really got taken with no recovery of your loss, then share; but I'd rather spend my time reading about good places to buy/shop than bad.  And, since we are a mobile society, don't hesitate to praise that LCS in your neck of the woods -- who knows, the BAB World Tour may be coming to a town near you in the not-so-distant future!  And yeah, I made that last part up...

In Appreciation of -- Meeting Our Favorite Creators

Doug: This one's inspired by a comment frequent reader Redartz posted on our Walt Simonson Spotlight last week. He related a short anecdote about meeting and visiting with Simonson at a con when he was 16 (Redartz, not Walt). Today we'd like to hear more of that sort of thing, because let's face it -- meeting one of your idols and actually spending some time with them is way cool and never gets old.

Karen: Doug's asked me to kick this off, so I'll start with my meeting with Jack Kirby. It was at the San Diego Comic Con in 1975 -I was 10 years old, and a pretty quiet kid. I saw Kirby sitting at a table, with relatively few people around. Even though he had left Marvel before I started reading comics, I knew very well who he was from all of the reprint books Marvel put out. So I was, of course, in awe of him. Mom encouraged me to go get his autograph. He was very friendly, asked me my name and if I was having fun. I probably gave him just a word or two in response. Then he asked me who my favorite comics character was. Now I was ready to talk! I enthusiastically told him that my favorite was the Thing. He said the Thing was his favorite too! He was really wonderful and left a great impression.

Karen: In recent years I've had the opportunity to interview several comics creators that I grew up reading. I've spoken with Gerry Conway twice and he's just been a great guy both times; funny, easy to talk to, and very generous with his time.

Doug: As I posted a loooonngg time ago, I've gone to the Chicago Comicon (later Wizardworld Chicago) and various other shows and appearances meeting creators and getting some autographs. Four legends stick out in my mind: Stan Lee, John Romita, Sal Buscema, and Alex Ross. I met Stan only briefly -- if you've ever been to a con where he's been the guest-of-honor, then you know the lines that form when he is going to sign. Even though I waited for a long time, and only got to exchange a pleasantry or two (mainly I just thanked him for everything he'd done for me -- and I mean that), I was just so amazed that the guy we now see on television, that boisterous huckster, was evident even at the signing table. Stan just seemed genuinely excited to be there and to meet his fans. A great experience. At the same con I met John Romita and Sal Buscema. They were at a table at the Marvel booth, seated next to each other. What a couple of gentlemen. I can't say enough about how kind they were, like a couple of grandfathers (which they were) -- very warm. At the time, which was maybe 2-3 years before John Buscema passed away, I ribbed Sal about bringing his big brother with him next time.

Doug: I later met Romita at an art gallery in the Gold Coast neighborhood in Chicago. He was appearing in promotion of the Spidey/Green Goblin lithograph that he had drawn and Alex Ross had painted. My friend Don Kramer and I went up to meet John. Again, he was just such a warm guy. Don and I were the only fans there at the time, so we had John's full attention, and he had ours. I bet we chit-chatted with him for 15 minutes, and it was just a great, great experience. And speaking of Alex Ross, Don and I first met him at a small show near O'Hare airport right after Marvels #1 was released. That was back in Alex's longhair, long beard days! He was very humble, and who knew at the time the superstardom that was about to be his. He signed a few things and Don and I visited with him for a few minutes. Years later, Alex had a gallery show in Chicago and Don and I went. By this time I'd met Alex several times, and Don had even been to the Halloween party that Alex hosts every year. So it was a bit more personal. Maybe the coolest thing about that trip was the presence of Alex's dad, Clark -- the model for Norman McCay in Kingdom Come. I'll admit, that was a little weird, seeing a 2-D character come to life!

Doug: Share an experience you've had -- and I suppose if you had a negative one that disappointed you, add that in as well. Thanks in advance, and again thanks to Redartz for the idea.