Super-con report

[betterthanezra]

Super-con in San Jose here is the Valiant convention report for this show.

I arrived about 20 minutes before the show opened and waited in a line with about 45-50 people in front of me.

They charged $20 to get into this local show. It's called Super-con....that was a a joke. They should have charged $5 dollars for entry tops. This show was Lame.

What was there? NOT much. If you get excited about dollar books then you would have liked some stuff. I gander there to have been at least 100K comics in Dollar boxes at this show from all the dealers.

Zeph said it better than I could. "I'm to old to spend time going through dollar boxes" what time I did spend was dissapointing.

I'll start off and say what wasn't there.

No VH-3 books NOT ONE. While that's not a tremendous suprise it's a growing trend.

NONE of these were there

Valiant Gold issues
VVSS books
Unity Red
CEAR
Retailer reviews
Key Pre-Unity copies of Magnus #12, Rai #3-4

Very few (trust me thats not saying much) dealers had ANY Valiant issues on there display racks. There's a simple reason for this...THEY DON'T HAVE ANY. If they did they would have been.

I got myself into the door just after 10am. I wondered looking and I noticed it. Harbinger #1 on the top rack of a dealer I'm familier with. Price tag on it is $25 dollars. I talked him down to $20

That was the ONLY Harbinger #1 at the show. I know because I asked. He did have issues #2-7 next to them and I'll say everyone of them found a home yesterday. The only other way to find any Valiants here was to search through dollar bins.

I found 2 copies of Rai #0, A&A #0, Q&W #7 & 19, Magnus #5 & 14, Harbinger #41, X-O (vh-2) #1 regular & painted, Rai Companion (2 copies), X-O Database (3 copies), Secrets of the Valiant Universe #1, A&A #26, Rai #8. These were all hidden in Dollar boxes I pulled out.

I did find a really nice Solar #10 (9.6 quality) for $7.00, that was the only copy of that book at the show also.

The only person I brought some stuff to sign was a NO SHOW... Thanks Darick Robertson I brought some MOTA Retailer reviews and they came back un-signed...many of the artists didn't show up. Lots of empty tables.

The real fun was hanging out with Zeph & Dr. Solar. That was worth the 95 mile trip to San Jose. Meeting kikwitme and his better half

After dinner and some Great conversation the show was over and while it continues today I feel sorry for those people heading there looking for Valiant books are are NONE left Unless you want some Rai #9's and Magnus #25's.

Going to this small NON Super-con makes me miss SDCC even more.

Got home right about 10:30pm last night. If it ment hanging out with Zeph and Dr. Solar again I would do it in a heartbeat


-Brian

[Unblessed]

Thanks for the report from the Bi-Mon-Sci-Fi-Con.

If I'd been in Reno, I could have met you all there. Oh well. So much for planning vacations.

Now, back to eBay.

[Dr. Solar]

Nice report.

There certainly was a preponderance of dollar bins, most full of dreck, but ALL missing Detective 699 (DAMMIT).

I pulled about 20 Valiant books out of a dollar bin, and then realized that I didn't even want to spend $20 on what I was getting. They should have been 50 cent books at the most.

One thing Zeph mentioned is that dealers were not pricing stuff to sell. I was hunting for silver Green Lantern, and a lot of it was pretty pricey. I found the half dozen issues that I thought were deals, and snagged those up, but most others were above my price:grade ratio buy point. I found a couple gems that had structural damage that brought down the price, but cosmetically look great. That was nice.


The highlight for me certainly was hanging with Zeph and BTE, and meeting kikitwitme and hanging with him for a bit. They are all solid, cool guys.

[betterthanezra]

For those interested I did find one Nintendo book at the con.

Super Mario #1 he wanted $20.00 for it.

I let someone else deside if they want it...I have a few that I got much cheaper back in the day.

-Brian

[Dr. Solar]

I saw that book, and quickly passed it up at that price.

[1st Among Equals]

I'll give you $25 for the Harby #1.

[magnusr]

Super Mario #1 he wanted $20.00 for it.

Thanks for the report.

/Magnus

[Chuck]

Nice report.

There certainly was a preponderance of dollar bins, most full of dreck, but ALL missing Detective 699 (DAMMIT).

I pulled about 20 Valiant books out of a dollar bin, and then realized that I didn't even want to spend $20 on what I was getting. They should have been 50 cent books at the most.

One thing Zeph mentioned is that dealers were not pricing stuff to sell. I was hunting for silver Green Lantern, and a lot of it was pretty pricey. I found the half dozen issues that I thought were deals, and snagged those up, but most others were above my price:grade ratio buy point. I found a couple gems that had structural damage that brought down the price, but cosmetically look great. That was nice.


The highlight for me certainly was hanging with Zeph and BTE, and meeting kikitwitme and hanging with him for a bit. They are all solid, cool guys.

Wished I could have met up with you guys, but I was pretty gassed out from the Tae Kwon Do (TKD) Tournament my son and I attended. My son got pretty banged up in his division; those TKD kids kept throwing round house kicks all day long (still he tied for 2nd, got 1st in forms , and this old geezer didn't do too shabby either )

Anyways, thanks to BTE and Zeph for keeping me in the loop.

[betterthanezra]

Nice report.

There certainly was a preponderance of dollar bins, most full of dreck, but ALL missing Detective 699 (DAMMIT).

I pulled about 20 Valiant books out of a dollar bin, and then realized that I didn't even want to spend $20 on what I was getting. They should have been 50 cent books at the most.

One thing Zeph mentioned is that dealers were not pricing stuff to sell. I was hunting for silver Green Lantern, and a lot of it was pretty pricey. I found the half dozen issues that I thought were deals, and snagged those up, but most others were above my price:grade ratio buy point. I found a couple gems that had structural damage that brought down the price, but cosmetically look great. That was nice.


The highlight for me certainly was hanging with Zeph and BTE, and meeting kikitwitme and hanging with him for a bit. They are all solid, cool guys.

Anyways, thanks to BTE and Zeph for keeping me in the loop.

Well have more chances Chuck thats for sure..

-Brian

[kikitwitme]

It was a pleasure meeting betterthanezra, Dr. Solar and Zeph. I wasn't really looking for any books at the con, maybe some odds and ends. The main reason I did attend; however, was for a chance to meet some fellow board members. I was not disappointed, these guys were great.

I was a little nervous at first because I didn't know any of them on a first name basis. When the time came to call them, I wasn't too sure what to say when they picked up the phone: "Hello is this Dr. Solar?!?! This is Kikitwitme from the forums...what are you wearing so I can find you?" Other than that everything was cool, except the temperature inside the place! (It's a big tent and we had a heatwave this particular week.)

My only regret, due to time constrains, was that I only had time to chat for a few minutes and didn't attend the dinner...(sorry guys, next time!)

[Dr. Solar]

It was a pleasure meeting betterthanezra, Dr. Solar and Zeph. I wasn't really looking for any books at the con, maybe some odds and ends. The main reason I did attend; however, was for a chance to meet some fellow board members. I was not disappointed, these guys were great.

I was a little nervous at first because I didn't know any of them on a first name basis. When the time came to call them, I wasn't too sure what to say when they picked up the phone: "Hello is this Dr. Solar?!?! This is Kikitwitme from the forums...what are you wearing so I can find you?" Other than that everything was cool, except the temperature inside the place! (It's a big tent and we had a heatwave this particular week.)

My only regret, due to time constrains, was that I only had time to chat for a few minutes and didn't attend the dinner...(sorry guys, next time!)

I'm glad you called, it was great to meet you!

There will always be another chance to do a Valiant dinner. We'll see you next time

[kikitwitme]

I'm glad you called, it was great to meet you!

There will always be another chance to do a Valiant dinner. We'll see you next time

I'll be there! So where did you guys end up eating?

[ZephyrWasHOT!!]

I'm glad you called, it was great to meet you!

There will always be another chance to do a Valiant dinner. We'll see you next time

I'll be there! So where did you guys end up eating?

Slackers who won't answer!

We ended up eating at some place called...I forget....the Loft or something. Downtown San Jose, by the convention center.

It was a great place, the food was fantastic, even if there was a rowdy drunk chick banging her chair on the floor and screaming at the top of her lungs.

Dr. Solar even paid.

[ZephyrWasHOT!!]

Nice report.

There certainly was a preponderance of dollar bins, most full of dreck, but ALL missing Detective 699 (DAMMIT).

I pulled about 20 Valiant books out of a dollar bin, and then realized that I didn't even want to spend $20 on what I was getting. They should have been 50 cent books at the most.

One thing Zeph mentioned is that dealers were not pricing stuff to sell. I was hunting for silver Green Lantern, and a lot of it was pretty pricey. I found the half dozen issues that I thought were deals, and snagged those up, but most others were above my price:grade ratio buy point. I found a couple gems that had structural damage that brought down the price, but cosmetically look great. That was nice.

Here's my take: if you can buy a Fine random Silver Age Green Lantern for, let's say Guide is $75, and you can buy it for $20 plus $5 S&H on eBay...why would you pay $75 for it at a con? Granted, the one on eBay is probably going to be overgraded 1/2 to 1 full grade, but if the pics are accurate, so what? If it's in the same NET grade as the one at the con, and the one at the con costs you $75...or, maybe "$65".....and the one off eBay costs you $25.....same book, same grade.....

It's a no brainer.

There are very, very few comic books from 1962-up that are rare. Very few. "Whitman 3-Packs", for example. And those are the exceptions....

So, I just don't understand why these sellers are so deathly married to the guide....especially after a decade+ of eBay goodness.

Well, of course, I do know why: they paid too much for them.

Me? I came with money to spend. I spent maybe $70 total, and most of that was on dollar books that I "needed" (not books that I could flip.) I would have loved to spend money with anyone who had comics to sell, but no one had comics to sell...only comics to show. If anybody had books for a small premium over what typical eBay was, I would have bought tons. Not keys. Not the "uberhot". Just regular books.

Guy had a 9.2 Universal Batman #5. Just stunning. Wanted double guide for it ($18,000; Guide is $9100.) Two GPA sales, one at $14,950 (12/02) and one at $10,000 (03/07.)

Ok, so yes, it's a single digit Batman in stunning condition. It's not the highest, though. There are 3 above it, and one more in that grade.

But let's ignore uber books...even the midgrade, non-key books were radically overpriced.

So....like I said, no one was there to SELL books....they were there to squeeze pennies.

The highlight for me certainly was hanging with Zeph....

Dude, that guy's a jackass. And he drones on and on and on and on about himself....

[chainnball]

The highlight for me certainly was hanging with Zeph....

Dude, that guy's a jackass. And he drones on and on and on and on about himself....

Ya, I got the phone bill to prove that...

[chainnball]

The highlight for me certainly was hanging with Zeph....

Dude, that guy's a jackass. And he drones on and on and on and on about himself....

Ya, I got the phone bill to prove that...

[Chuck]