It's a small convention, but that doesn't mean I didn't find anything good! As the folks on Comic Trips would say, it was "small but mighty." Check out what I came home with.
This is the... third time, I think, that I have attended the Burg Con in Harrisburg, IL. Last year I didn't write about my visit because I was going through some bad things at the time and this site was the last thing on my mind.
Burg Con is a very low-key affair, but that does not mean that it's not a good con. On the contrary, Burg Con is wonderful in its own little way. It's filled with familiar faces I've encountered at various other conventions from over the course of the year. The event is spearheaded by Scott Reed [Facebook | Website], who if you recall, sold me the first appearance of Carol Danvers back at the Superman Celebration. Scott always has something I want. Now whether or not I can afford it is another factor, but he has been very good to me over the years. I know last year I bought the first appearance of Deathlok from him, and I think I've bought a few graded books from him over the years.
Anyway, this year from Scott I picked up Daredevil #168, which is the first appearance of Elektra. I feel like he gave me an amazing deal on it. This is one of those books that I have put off buying for a long time now because it's somewhat expensive. It's not incredibly expensive, but it's enough to give me pause. This book is not in super mint condition or anything, but it was less than $100, which I think is very good. It's also part of the Frank Miller run on Daredevil which I've been trying to put together for a year now.
I don't know if I really have much of a reason as to why I came home with these, but here they are. Pretty sure the guy I bought these books from sold me the first appearance of Gambit I got back at Cape Con in April. Force Works #1 here is in better shape than I have ever seen it before, so I decided to pick it up. Every time I find this comic, the little pop up center of the book has been moved around and the cover is, more or less, ruined. This is certainly not a key issue, but I like the Julia Carpenter Spider-Woman. Then I also bought New Mutants #1. This is not the first appearance of the New Mutants, but it's something I just kind of wanted to have. I didn't notice until I got home that the bottom right corner looks like a mouse took a bite or two out of it. It's not terribly damaged, but it is there. I'm actually kind of surprised I didn't notice it before I bought it.
I ended up back at Scott's booth and bought this. This Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends comic is the first appearance in a comic of Firestar. Her first appearance at all was in the actual cartoon, and her first appearance in continuity with the Marvel universe was in an issue of X-Men a few years later. I've always been a big Spider-Man fan, so this one was a no-brainer for me.
Also from Scott, this Spider-Gwen #1 Dynamic Forces variant signed by Greg Land. There's a lot of controversy around Greg Land's art, but I really like it a lot. I also like Spider-Gwen, but with a caveat. The book came with a certificate of authenticity and everything.
All summer I've been trying to get every Toy Biz Marvel Super Heroes action figure still in the package that I could. The only one I found at the entire con this year was the matte finish Silver Surfer figure. I now only need 10 more Toy Biz Marvel Super Heroes figures carded before I have them all. Unfortunately, five of those figures are figures I have never seen carded at any of the cons I have attended, so they might be pretty hard to get.
This is a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles print done by my friend Justin Holman. If you want to talk about incredible people, then you need to talk about this guy right here. Justin Holman is about the sweetest, most genuine person you could ever meet. He's a wonderful human being and I just... I can't even find the words to tell you how special he is.
Justin has recently released a new album which you can buy here. He was also once the lead singer of the band Revis. I actually met him way back in the day when he briefly worked at the Toys "R" Us I used to work at. He left after a bit and I lost contact with him. Years and years later, he was at my local comic shop Campus Comics doing sketches for people for Batman Day. I ran into him there and he immediately recognized me and treated me like we were best buddies and no time had passed at all. He even remembered my name, which surprised me. After that, I saw him again at Cape Con the following year and I commissioned him to do a sketch of Chun-Li for me. About three months after that meeting the aforementioned "bad things" happened to me, and not quite a month later was Burg Con. I knew Justin would be there, and I knew I had to talk to him and that he could help me. I went to his table and when he saw me his smile immediately turned to concern. He could tell something was wrong with me, so he pulled me aside and we stepped into a little alcove and talked for a while. Justin helped me so much during that time, and he didn't have to. He's a really great guy.
Now back to lighter things, I bought this Harley Quinn print by Tyrine Carver [Website | DeviantArt]. I had previously bought a print from her at Cape Con earlier in the year. The only problem with it is that I'm running out of wall space to put things.
And... why not? Here are a bunch of random issues of Spider-Woman. I decided to try to put together a complete run of the series. None of the issues are particularly expensive except the first issue, which I already have. I need 32 issues before I complete the set, which sounds like a lot, but I don't think it's too bad. An issue here, an issue there. Especially at the price point they're usually at.
Knockoff Lego minifigures are at every single convention I go to, and Burg Con was no exception. I always avoid these things because they feel so incredibly cheap to me. You can always tell (at least I can) when a Lego figure is a knockoff. The plastic is cheaper. The paint job isn't as crisp. They feel... off. After the ToyMan Show at the beginning of July I picked up a few knockoff Godzilla minifigures. I mentioned in that article how I felt about them, so I don't know why I gave them another chance. Well, I bought these figures and modified them wherever I could, swapping out knockoff parts for real ones.
I changed Black Cat's arms, hands, legs, and whip. I changed Jason's arms, hands, legs, and gave him an actual machete instead of the knockoff Lord of the Rings Sting sword they gave him. I changed Power Girl's arms, hands, head, hair, and cape. And I changed Spider-Gwen's head and hair. I made her maskless so I could display her with my other Spider-Gwen merchandise.
And that's everything I got at the con. Two cons remain for the year, and they're two cons I've never been to, so I'm not really sure what to expect. Oh, and in other news, I'm employed again, so I can start doing regular comic hauls again soon. I'd really like to do some non-comic posts, though. I haven't posted anything about games in four months.
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