Underground Comics - Random Thoughts...

Just wrote a little missive on Underground Comics (or Comix as a lot of them were called) over at Walkin' Willie's Comix Discount Books and you can read it here. Basically, I found a box of Underground Comix, have got them all up on eBay right now and this little piece is about some of what I found there as well as my first experiences with this forbidden slice of 1970's Americana. So please take a look if you are so inclined.....

So Long and Good Luck to Dragon*Con!

Well, for anybody that has cruised by here over the last year knows that Walkin' Willie's Comix is pretty much getting out of trades and hardcovers (unless they are in a collection) so it is with mixed feelings that I say so long and the best of luck to the venerable Dragon*Con going on this weekend. Anyone that has ever attended Dragon*Con knows how special the show is - your truly has been to at least 16 or 17 of them.

The deal is that you really can't sell single issue comics very well at Dragon*Con anymore like you could in the early '90s when all the big dealers like Showcase New England, Motor City Comics, etc. would show up with all their shiny stuff. The show has morphed into a multi-media pop culture event in which comics is only one of something like 34 programming tracks. Dragon*Con gets pretty darn good comic book guests every year but very, few comic book dealers. I think I counted seven comic book dealers in the room last counting myself. But I digress....

I learned about five years ago that the only thing you can really count on selling at Dragon*Con is trades/graphic novels/hardcovers - well, comic-wise that is... And we did a boffo business doing just that the past few years. Thing is, Dragon*Con is only once a year and it is nearly impossible to sell trades online unless you find them in collections or Marvel Comics does one of their WAY too regular blowouts (after dealers have already paid full wholesale three months before..). Go to Amazon and check out the lists of trade paperbacks and graphic novels at HALF of wholesale price or LOWER. That's just not a place in which I chose to compete.. um, because I just can't and there are too many other more lucrative areas of comics to sell online anyway (CGC books, out of print hardcovers, discount books from collections, etc.).

Still, I miss the show - there is SO much going on and the attendees are so creative in their costumes. But I sure don't miss the setup or the tear down or closing at 7:00 p.m. each day. Heck, by the time you got back to the hotel after securing your booth, counted your money and took a shower, it was nearly 9:00.

So as far as dealin' at Dragon*Con, I can't see that happening ever again unless I run into the trade paperback collection of all time. One of these days I'm gonna go down there as just a fan.... yeah, I'll show 'em.

Finally, thanks to all the wonderful folks that stopped by the booth over the years - you are what makes Dragon*Con so special.

Anyway, got a nice little batch of comics going on eBay next Sunday (9/11/2011) and some more of the CGC stuff, Marvel Premiere Classic Variants and Marvel Masterwork Trade Paperback Variants going up tomorrow night (9/4/2011). Will talk about next Sunday's eBay stuff at the beginning of the week - it's worth a blog article for sure.