Andy, our driver, raced us over to our hotel got us checked in and gave us our badges. He also promised to help take care of the luggage mishap. The hotel provided us with a full compliment of toiletries to get us through the day.
Saturday morning we were up early in the same clothes as the night before— I had a quick breakfast in the hotel restaurant and we were driven over to the show— sons #2 and #3 were down for the show as buyers so they had dropped off our banner and some comics for us— we got the tables set up and got a notification that our bag had arrived at the airport— our show driver raced over and got it and all was right in the world.
Saturday was the busiest day— we saw quite a few old friends and made some new ones.
Daniel showing off an extremely rare MORTAR MAN #1- my first published work!
One of the highlights for me was Daniel coming by with a copy of MORTAR MAN #1— my first published work. His collection focuses on finding the first things pro’s ever worked on and then geting them signed— I LOVE this idea! He was a great guy to boot with some terrific stories.
Commission for Jon— one of our regulars
I was happy to see Jon back at the show— I meant to get a pic with him again this year— we took one last year— he’s a great guy who is very supportive of our work and he’s super nice— even above and beyond the South Carolina norm— which is saying something!
Us with Jon from last year!
South Carolina Comic Con is also a great BUYING show— and I picked up a few great books including one I had my eye on the second I walked in the door…
One of my favorite dealers is Ritchie at Bedrock City Comics— he always brings the goods. Now I’m what’s known as a wall shopper— that means I basically scan the wall you’ve set up rather than flip through the boxes— because most of the books I’d ever be interested in would not go into the boxes. Lucky for me son’s #2 and #3 were there and were not afraid to go through those boxes and they found me some real gems (more in a minute), but when I first walked in there was a book I’d been looking for all year— it’s in the upper left of his wall—can you see it?
Actually TWO books— a BATMAN #2 and a BATMAN #3 - from Summer and Fall of 1940— I poured over both— I love both covers very much. Ritchie had a #2 last year in lesser condition— this time around this new copy, which had just walked into his shop, was looking very pretty. The #3 I have a soft spot for but I got one years ago as an extreme bargain and sold it— so it’s hard to consider paying the going rate this time around. Which one, which one? I would think it over. I’ll show you the decision after I go through a couple of other books I found.
NYOKA THE JUNGLE GIRL was another Bedrock City Comic find— this one WAS in the boxes— and it’s important because its a photo gorilla cover and the gorilla in question is my all time favorite Hollywood Gorilla suit— the Ray Corrigan/Steve Calvert suit. I know, it’s the dopiest thing about me that I can recognize this suit— but it’s the one that was in such great B-Classics as THE GORILLA (1939), STRANGE CASE OF DR RX (1942), the wild serial THE MONSTER AND THE APE (1945) and in countless THREE STOOGES shorts. I’ve never seen him on the cover of a comic book but if I’d known this existed it would have been on my grail list— and it’s in nice condition too!
CAPTAIN MARVEL ADVENTURES #110— by this time Captain Marvel was crushing all others in the sales department— because his comics focused on FUN AND ADVENTURE (hey! That’s the slogan we’re using for ME-GRAPHICNOVELS.COM— go check it out).
Covers like this one are why I love the Golden Age— they weren’t afraid to have some fun— here we have Dick Grayson, Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent going for a walk and discovering a costume shop renting their costumes! I guarantee you nothing inside this issue had anything to do with the cover— and Bruce Wayne likely sent his attorneys after the shop for copyright infringement as soon as they were done suing the tailor that sold him a plaid green suit!
So what about the BATMAN #2 or #3?
It’s a restored copy but I don’t mind, because it’s gorgeous, and Ritchie gave me a good deal. We worked the show and then headed out to dinner at a rooftop restaurant with good friends and sons #2 and #3.
Sunday was here before you knew it and while the show was much slower we still did some good business— they invited us back for next year and we couldn’t say YES fast enough— my favorite show of the year and one of the many reasons is because its when we can meetup with our very good friend Devin Smith and his wonderful family (you can see a link to Devin’s business over there on the right).
Not only are they great peeps, Devin is also the model for our big hero KRATOS over at me-graphicnovels.com — here he is as an upcoming action figure….
Next year we vowed to come in a day earlier so we can all have dinner and catch up— but I’m planning a trip to the Atlanta area so we can spend some time together, and his daughter is becoming quite an artist on her own!
We had an early morning flight out on Monday— at 415am we stepped into the lobby and sure enough, there was our driver ready to get us over there.
The flights back were very easy— and let me tell you folks I can’t sleep on a plane but I can sleep on a plane in First Class because you have a lot more room and PEACE and QUIET! First class is completely worth it fellas and gals, completely worth it.
That was SCCC— can’t wait until next year!