My First Comics Convention (Sort of)

Our family was privileged to attend our first comiccon one day this past weekend. Well, at least the kids and I felt privileged. My wife came along to watch the kids since she knew my head would be in boxes the whole time. Having been raised by a red neck who would drag his whole family to gun and knife shows, I can imagine how boring this must have been to the love of my life.  

And they did call it a comiccon. But I'm sure it was small potatoes compared to the cons at San Diego, New York, or Chicago. There were no celebrity guests, although some local artists came demonstrating their talents and hawking their wares. Not only were there no celebrity guests, but no fans showed up in costume, and there were no panels with comics creators or movie stars. I would say this was more of a comic "show." 

I hope to make it to a big convention some day, but that doesn't mean I was disappointed with this event. It was awesome for what it was. My schedule would not allow me to stay beyond two and half hours (A very long time for my wife and a very short time for me). There were dealers from at least as far away as a two-hour radius all in a giant room with tables upon tables of boxes upon boxes of comics, old and new. There were trades and graphic novels, toys, t-shirts, all kinds of stuff.

I had a great time finding great deals to fill in some gaps in some very long runs of my collection. I bought Legends of the Dark Knight 100, which completes my first 100 issue run of that series. I love the Alex Ross painted cover. Batman 407 completed Frank Miller's Batman Year One story arc in my collection. I picked up Justice Society Secret Files and Origins #1, which I somehow missed back when they revived the JSA. And Legends# 6 completes my collection of that 80s mini-series. 

My most significant purchase was of a 1960s TV western comic with photo cover. I'll be sharing the cover image in a near-future post. 

But one of the most exciting things that happened to us is that we were door prize winners. My eight-year-old daughter actually had the winning ticket. The door prize included three comics signed by artists or creative teams with certificates of authenticity. Two Batman titles and Supergirl #1 from 1994. My daughter called dibs on Supergirl, which is who she was for Halloween. 

The door prize also included several first issues of recent series. Included were Bat Lash, Batman and the Outsiders, Green Arrow and Black Canary, Ultimate Iron Man II, X-Men: Kitty Pryde: Shadow and Flame, Death of the New Gods, and Salvation Run. This gives me a chance to sample some of what's been going on in comics lately since my pull list only consists of one ongoing title and five limited series. I read Green Arrow and Black Canary and Bat Lash last night. I really liked Bat Lash. I think I'll eventually get the rest of the series or the trade. 

Other winnings included X-Men:198 5, World War Hulk 3, Teen Titans 50, and some freebie sketch books. We also got a collected addition of Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four, which my eleven year old son is enjoying. Oh, and a Venom paperweight (just what everyone needs). 

So needless to say, I left feeling pretty good with all that free stuff. It was one of those weeks when I really needed something good to happen. 

My son bought a die cast Wolverine figure he had searched for quite a while and also picked up some cheap classic Star Wars back issues. My daughter got a Disney comic for 50 cents and both my kids impressed the vendors and artists with their vast knowledge of comic book super heroes. That's what happens when your dad is a pop culture geek.      

Comments

[stephen]

salvation run is really anti climactic. it isn't worth your time

[Dr. Retro]

Thanks Stephen,

I haven't read that one yet, but it didn't look too interesting. A whole book about super villains.