Pittsburgh Comicon Review

I knew something was up when there was no line to get in when I arrived 5 minutes before they opened. Because I got in free, I had to walk across a hallway over the convention floor to the other side. Looking down I could see that most of the dealers weren't set up yet. Again not good. After getting in, I immediately noticed that there were less than half of the dealers from last year. And after walking the floor multiple times, I knew it was time to go. Normally I could stay all day, but there was nothing to see. Same local dealers, same local talent and special guests. And many guests apparently decided not to show up Sunday. Not good.

Now, I remember last year, there was some question of the viability for the show because the New York Comicon was moving back from February. And the fact that it actually ended up being the week before. I am sure that was the main cause for a lot of dealers not being there. Most could not do both and NYCC is mare more prestigious and probably better attended. The same problem with the guests I am sure.

Now there certainly were a lot of big names, but it is always the same big names. now while it is nice saying hi to many, including those that have been to my store, I think a variety would be better to draw in more people. Now I talked to the people I needed to and made a contact that will make both of us some money, but that was about it. A couple of notable absences were Diamond Comics and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. A big deal, no. But odd that 2 national organizations didn't show.

And I am not even going to delve into the fact that the organizer was just convicted of murder. Probably did not help, but I don't know how much.

I looked at doing the show before I got in with New Dimension Comics, but the price was too much. $500 for a 10 x 10 square with one 6 ft table. That's a whole lot of comics just to cover that.

As for the selection of stuff.... I came ready to spend $400 on customer requests, maybe some stuff for me, maybe some stuff for the store. I spent $10. Hopefully next year will be better.

eBay Store is a Success

I had some reservations about opening an eBay store. namely the high fees eBay charges. Well, I bit the bullet last Tuesday and opened one here (well don't go there now, but that's actually good news). So, I put up 2 statues that have been sitting in my store for well over a year now. 2 really cool Bowen statues, Full Size Scorpion and Rhino. I copies the pictures from Bowen and wrote a little blurb. Let's see what happens.

The Scorpion sold the night I put it up and the Rhino sold today. Both in one week. And at the same price I had them in the store, so it wasn't like I wholesaled them out. I am thrilled.

Time to make the internet work for me instead of cjuct consuming massive amounts of my time.

Pricing, Pricing, Pricing

I realize that this is not particularly blog-worthy, but it is how my whole day is going to go, so I figure I should mention it. Last Thursday, I bought a 12 long box DC collection. Mostly the good stuff, Action, Superman, Batman, Detective, Flash, Superboy, Legion of Super-Heroes, Justice League, Jimmy Olson, Lois Lane. 12 centers up through late 80s, as I recall. Running through 12 boxes becomes kind of a blur, so I don't remember everything exactly.

Today, being a presumably slow Tuesday, is the day to get them priced. It is such a nice batch that I am forgoing my usual "Stick the boxes somewhere out of the way until I get around to them." I have 20 boxes in storage in the basement at the store that I literally have no idea what is in them. It'll be a little bit like Christmas when I pull them out.

Since I have no where to put them other than basement storage or bring them home (like the 20 long boxes currently in my basement at home - kind of hard to sell them this way), I figure this is the best thing to do. Timing couldn't be worse with Free Comic Book Day coming up and needing the table for that. Ah, well. I am becoming a master of having a store full of stuff without it looking like a jumbled mess. Or so I hope.

My father-in-law is going to build me 2 special long box racks, so I will have room for another 60 boxes soon, well as soon as all of his other projects are done. I don't have the tools, namely a table saw to do it and I would likely lose a thumb trying to do it myself. Plus he lives for doing these kind of things.

So, if you are in the area, stop by and see my great new collection. In all honesty, I'd love to bring this home and read them all, but, well, that ain't gonna happen. I'm lucky enough to read the books I am really enjoyed, let alone all of the new stuff that comes in every week. But that is a post for another day.

New York Comicon

Well, today is my day at home, so I am going to use it to peruse all of the info from the New York Comicon. I know, sounds like fun huh.

Saw this video. I'm not sure what to make of it.

Buying stuff

I knew when I opened the store that I would have people bringing me in books to buy. And I always thought for the worst. All I would see were early 90s stuff. And I certainly have seen a lot of that. But the amount of good stuff that has come in the door has really surprised me. I just took in a 12 long box collection of Batman, Detective, Brave & Bold, Action, Superman, Worlds Finest, Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane and a bunch of other stuff. All DC. Then another guy brings me in Early runs of Power, Authority, and Planetary. That is the fun part.

The bad part is finding a place for all of this. I don’t have a back room, so the boxes tend to sit out, which drives me crazy. I don’t want to be the store with crap everywhere.

I need a bigger store.

A Happy, Friendly Store

I feel really good that customers mothers and wives are comfortable enough to come and get their loved one's books for them and actually hang around and talk to me.

Today was one of my biggest orders yet. 30 boxes. It is usually 8-10. An unhappy confluence of lots of regular weekly stuff, half of the free comic book day order and a ton of stuff I bought from a special Diamond Comics Distributor sale. I am wiped out and the store is in disarray. I was lucky to get everything checked in before the customers started coming. Tomorrow is going to be pricing and organizing day.

Didn't read a single book all day. Definitely not a normal Wednesday.

Diamond Woes

Well, today Diamond finally pulled the "We're Diamond Comics, where else are you going to get your stuff", in response to a product I received that was not how it described in the Previews catalog. I asked to be able to ship it back and they said, sorry, it was close enough. I ordered a $675 stretched canvas print and received a paper poster.

Well, I may be just one little comic book store, but I am going to see what I can do to get my stuff from some other sources. And as to that $2000 POS system Diamond wanted me to buy from them, um, I don't think so.

Name Change

In an effort to jump start my blogging, I decided to come up with a witty name. I figured what would be a good place that people would like to come to every day. I was watching Happy Gilmore (actually my wife was, she loves that movie) and Happy found his "Happy Place". So I was thinking, "Where's my happy place?" Well, to be completely honest, my happy place is at the store, but at home it is in my chair surfing the interwebz or reading comics. Throw in a reference to a Monty Python sketch and we have a winner. I had to drop the "THE" because there is another blog named that and I don't know the rules of duplicate blog names.

In case you don't know the sketch to which I refer:



In the spirit of honesty, I do not actually read comics in the Comfy Chair, but the Comfy Couch is not a Python sketch.

Here We Go Again

Yes, I suck at this. But I am about to get a whole lot better. I finally feel that I have a grasp of what I am doing in the store and now is the time to become "Master of the Internet" (dun dun duuuunnnnnn).

Well, not really. I am trying to make something useful and productive of the website. I will finally be opening my eBay store and doing regular auctions. And I decided to start doing a daily blog. Is anybody reading? Maybe not now, but hopefully I can turn this whole thing into something cool.

I am going to try to update it daily. I may change the name to something a little less specific. I don't know right now.

Stop by every once in a while. I will tr to make it fun or informative. Or both. Who knows.