My Brief Visit to the Toronto Comicon

[Lone Ranger]

The Hobbystar run Toronto Comicon was held this past weekend. It is probably the 3rd largest Toronto convention of the year – with some decent guest and dealers, but nothing too crazy. I’ve been on a comic book buying moratorium for a while now and have been selling far more than I’ve been buying.

I wasn’t planning on attending because there’s not a ton of free time with two young ones at home. Some last minute babysitting help emerged Sunday afternoon, and the financial situation has settled down a bit – so I got a 2 hour geek break and headed down to the convention.

I had two goals in mind 1) Buy some nice, cheap books (I gave myself a $100 budget) and 2) Meet Dave Michelinie, who was a guest at the show.

Let’s start with the latter.

Dave Michelinie is responsible for a lot of great stories, and is definitely one of my all-time favourite funny book writers. The whole focus of his appearance was a connection to the upcoming Iron Man movie (Bob Layton was at the show, too – but I’d met him before). What I really wanted to do was to talk to him about his time writing Unknown Soldier.

Anyone who has been to a con knows that writers rarely have line-ups anywhere near as long as artists, and that was good as I didn’t have much time to waste. I introduced myself and the conversation followed along these lines:

“I know that everyone here probably wants to talk to you about Iron Man and Spider-Man, I just wanted to tell you that I am absolutely nuts about your run on Unknown Soldier”

“Wow! Really? That was the first series I was ever offered. Really? No one has brought that up in a long time. That really means a lot to me”

“I think it’s amazing – so many great stories, lots of moral dilemmas – some of the best stuff from the 70s”

“Really? Wow!”

“Anytime anyone asks me to recommend an book – I tell them to pick it up. I can’t believe it hasn’t been collected in a TPB. I know about the Showcase Presents – but they cut it off halfway.”

“I know, I know”

“Anyhow – I just wanted to say thanks for coming to Toronto and thanks for writing those stories. I’ve re-read them plenty of times and always enjoy them immensely”

“Wow! Hey, thanks – you really just made my weekend. Seriously - that really made my weekend”

So, I only spoke with him for a few minutes but I learned that Dave Michelinie is a super nice guy – extremely humble and apparently never gets any props for his Unknown Soldier run. I love talking to creators just to say ‘thanks’.

[Lone Ranger]

Now, on to the funnybooks.

Once upon a time, I used to buy just about anything to ‘try it’ – but lately I’ve become much more focused and won’t buy something blindly unless it’s an awesome deal.

One dealer had a lot of books marked down to $1 – a lot of it was post-1985 stuff, but there were some older goodies in there too. All books where in VG/F to FN+ range.

Ghost Manor 3, 19 and 20 – Just trying to rebuild the Charlton Empire
Many Ghost of Dr. Graves # 64 – Worst Ditko cover of all-time?
Boris Karloff #59 – I find these 70s Gold Key books tougher to find at cheap prics
Twilight Zone #42 – For when I’m in a Jack Sparling mood
Ripley’s Believe it or Not #45 – Somehow, I’ve never owned one of these.
Kona #6 - How could I pass this up for a mere buck?
Shade #7 – I lost a lot of ebay bidding wars on this series, so I am slowly compiling on the cheap.
Sorcery #7 – I’ve almost complete the run
Tarzan Family #63 – There is so much value in these DC Giants.
Ms. Tree #40 – I love Ms. Tree, but I bought it mostly for the Johnny Dynamite reprints (see my blog)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/scottandkat/CBR/1dollar-750.jpg

Another dealer had a bunch of books for $3 each. These were all originally sticker priced anywhere from $10 to $24. Some really fun stuff, and a few books that I’ve been hunting down for a long time.

All-American Sports #1 (VG-) – Bottom staple detached, but I couldn’t pass up this weird Charlton one-shot
Johnny Jason, Teen Reporter (FN+) – Always been intrigued by this one – I read it, and it’s a lot of fun.
Little Lulu #75 (FN) – this was the $24 book. I can’t pass up Lulu and Tubby for a few bucks.
Scary Tales #38 (VF) – I’ve always wanted to find out about this Jigsaw Man – never see this book.
God’s Smuggler (FN) – I’ve never owned a Spire Christian
Frogmen #10 (FN+) – are you kidding me? $3. Pure Sekowsky inside.
Secret Agent #10 (VG+) – Without really trying, I’m almost a Sarge Steel completist.
Space Adventures #1 and #3 (both FN/VF) – I’ve been looking these for ages
Space War #28 (NM) – Cheap reprints
Star Trek (Dynabrite editions) – I have a vague childhood memories of these books – on slick paper, two issues per book. Weird stuff – couldn’t pass up.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/scottandkat/CBR/3dollar-750.jpg


I bought some pricier books at a 50% off table. Nothing here is perfect, but it’s stuff that I’ve wanted for a long time.

Fight Comics #38 (G-) $15 – Detached cover, but I love the Lily Renee cover – has Matt Baker art, too!
Black Cat Mystic (G/VG) - $10 – Pretty rough shape, but solid. All Kirby, baby!
Summer Love #2 (VG+) $12.50 – Couldn’t pass this one up. Beatles!
Battlefield Action #16 (VG+) $5 – 1st issue from series – figured it was worth a look.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/scottandkat/CBR/ga-750.jpg

[Scott Shaw!]

Please let us know what you think of KONA, MONARCH OF MONSTER ISLE No. 6; I think it's one of Sam's better issues (and that's saying something.)

Aloha,

Scott!

[Red Oak Kid]

So, I only spoke with him for a few minutes but I learned that Dave Michelinie is a super nice guy – extremely humble and apparently never gets any props for his Unknown Soldier run. I love talking to creators just to say ‘thanks’.

Michelinie's Wikipedia entry does not list Unknown Soldier. Are you sure you didn't meet Barry Jameson?

[scratchie]

Michelinie's Wikipedia entry does not list Unknown Soldier. Are you sure you didn't meet Barry Jameson?No wonder it made his weekend.

[dan bailey]

Space Adventures #1 and #3 (both FN/VF) – I’ve been looking these for ages


*choke* I've been after #1 for awhile myself, given my fetish for flying-saucer-themed comics, but it continues to hover (no pun intended) above my price range.

Ripley’s Believe it or Not #45 – Somehow, I’ve never owned one of these.

"Somehow," indeed. My god, I've got probably 50 duplicates (that I've got to knuckle down & put on eBay someday soon, dammit ... thing is, I'm pretty exhaustive at describing condition, which makes for a rather tedious process), but of course that comes from stringing a complete run through multiple purchases of lots.

[Stinky Feet]

I just added Unknown Soldier to the wiki.

Proving reason #1 why wikipedia is unreliable... I can add anything I want to the information. You should see my high school wiki page...

[MichikoS]

Scott, I'm again reminded of how similar our taste in funnybooks is. Great haul, and I'm green with envy! Glad you could make it to the Toronto con. Next time, you'll have to take Logan.

Early this month we had a regional con here in KC, Planet Comicon. I was able to meet one of my favorite creators, Eric Powell (The Goon). Unlike your cogent, articulate spiel to Michelinie, I was geeky, tongue-tied and stupid when I told him "Gosh, I think you are an amazing artist and...writer..um, you know, creator-ive type person..uh..yeah" He squinted up at me, smiled, and said, "Thanks."

He was extremely gracious. He was sitting right next to Tony Moore, another artist I really like, and Tony had a bucketful of original pages from BRIT and THE EXTERMINATORS that he was selling. I wished I could have bought about 10 of them. Great stuff.

By the way, part of what made me twitchy is that EP and TM are kids. No, really. They are sooooo young. I couldn't help thinking how creepy it must be to have some old guy come up and tell you, "I'm a big fan." I was very self-conscious.

Speaking of old guys, Gary Friedrich was there, too, and he was very nice. He's still getting some mileage from the Ghost Rider thing. Good for him.

Bernie Wrightson was there on Saturday and he was quite popular with young and old fans alike though I noticed a lot of male pattern baldness, men with graying ponytails, and beer guts in the signing line.

Oh, and speaking of ponytails, Chuck Rozanski (Mile High Comics) was there buying comics like mad. I always know if a con is worth its salt if I see Chuck there going through the 50 cent boxes.

Michi

[benday-dot]

.

Oh, and speaking of ponytails, Chuck Rozanski (Mile High Comics) was there buying comics like mad. I always know if a con is worth its salt if I see Chuck there going through the 50 cent boxes.

Michi

Right on... so he can sell them for 50.00 each. Oops.

[Lone Ranger]

Please let us know what you think of KONA, MONARCH OF MONSTER ISLE No. 6; I think it's one of Sam's better issues (and that's saying something.)


I read it last night - pretty ambitious storyline, lots of fun. I particularly enjoyed the first 5 or 6 pages of battling the sea monster. That was some gorgeous stuff - very well laid out.

*choke* I've been after #1 for awhile myself, given my fetish for flying-saucer-themed comics, but it continues to hover (no pun intended) above my price range.


I was also surprised to see it - I've been on the lookout for some time as well. There just not a ton of Charlton from that period out there. I know that Michi has a bunch of UFO and Flying Saucers stuff too.

I just added Unknown Soldier to the wiki.


Cool - I added some more info (my first wiki edit), specifying the SSWS issue numbers.

Scott, I'm again reminded of how similar our taste in funnybooks is. Great haul, and I'm green with envy! Glad you could make it to the Toronto con. Next time, you'll have to take Logan.


Hah - I thought of you when I saw a few of the books I ended up picking up. You never know what might appear in your Boxing Day stocking.

I was considering taking Logan - but he's not quite ready to quietly watch his Dad plough through the bargain bins. Perhaps next time - if I can get a full weekend pass to a good show, I'll take him for a 'visit' and then return later to do some actual buying.

[Deathstroke]

That's a great story about meeing David Michelinie and to have such a great conversation with him.

I had one like that with Paul Jenkins about his "Wait Til Next Year" Spider-Man story at WWPhilly 2005.