Finally, it's here. My favorite comic convention of the year. Cape Con is the biggest local con I go to, and I normally come home with some pretty good stuff. Was this year as incredible as years past? You'll have to continue reading to find out!
This year, my group of friends who attend the con with me had dwindled down to one, and he had never been to it before. When we arrived, I didn't have to fight for a parking space like normal, and there wasn't a line of people waiting to get in that ran out the door and across the front of the building like last time. I became more concerned when I finally got in and didn't see many comic vendors. Honestly, I think I only knew one of the comic vendors, and that's really bizarre.
First up, I started going through boxes from
The Comix Strip, a local comic shop in Cape Girardeau, MO that has been in business for over 30 years. I thumbed through some boxes as I was walking by and stopped when I came across these five issues of the
Jim Balent Catwoman. This is the Catwoman that was popular around the time I was originally into comics. I never owned any of them back then, but I have about 30 of them now. These were all $1 each.
The comics didn't really seem to be in any order, so there were probably more Catwoman comics that I missed. I did find two more comics that caught my eye randomly stuck in the boxes, though. This Justice League Dark issue has the Bombshell version of Zatanna on it, and I have the statue that is based on this art. Also picked up this cover version of Robin II: The Joker's Wild because of the hologram. I have a version of this book already, but this cover is different. If you've read any of these haul articles before, you already know I love holograms and gimmick covers. Both of these were $1 each.
I tried and failed to find many issues of Marvel Comics Presents at this table, but the two I did find were pretty nice ones.
My Comic Shop has these listed at $4.20 and $4.80 respectively, but I got them for $1 each. I had assumed that I would end up having to order these online at some point, so I was pleased to find them so cheap at a con. More issues of Marvel Comics Presents will pop up here in a bit.
That was it for the $1 comics at this table. He had some more expensive books separated out in boxes at the front of his table that I went through. I found these two issues of Detective Comics that
Todd McFarlane did. I love Todd McFarlane, so I'm always in the market for his work. Especially when it's something older like this. I have had these on my wishlist online for quite a while, but I have never pulled the trigger on them because they're relatively expensive. They're not super high, but high enough that I always decide against getting them. Well, here they were 50% off, and I got them for $14 each. Not bad.
Finally from The Comix Strip
(yes, this has all been from the same table) I bought this
Artgerm Symbiote Spider-Man variant. Anything Artgerm does, I want. Anything. Here he's done a really nice Gwen Stacy piece. I've always liked Gwen Stacy more than Mary Jane, so I'm definitely liking his work on this. I paid $10 for it, which in retrospect was a
bit high. I found it at another table later for $5. It's also $5 on My Comic Shop right now. Oh well.
Making my way around the room, I finally came to my friend Scott Reed [
Facebook |
Website] of Burg Comics table. He had some great looking wall books as always, and two of them caught my eye right away. One was the first appearance of Stilt-Man, which he had $36 on. It was a bit rough, but I definitely considered it. Then he also had the first appearance of Vision for $200. I didn't want to drop that kind of money on a comic right away, so I put it off and decided that I might get it later depending on how I do at the con. I did pick up this Comic Block variant Danger Girl: Renegade #1 and Uncanny X-Men issues #205 and #229. Both of these issues of X-Men were on my wishlist, but the Danger Girl comic I got just because I like Danger Girl and I had never seen it before.
Then I found a ton of Marvel Comics Presents issues for $1 each. I bought 26 of them as well as an issue of Uncanny X-Men, which was also $1. The X-Men comic was on my wishlist, so I was definitely glad to get it for $1 instead of the $7 it goes for online. There's something about this era of Uncanny X-Men that I really like a lot. I guess it's because this is around the time I got into comics originally. And the Marvel Comics Presents books, I don't really have much to say about those. The last issue there is the last issue before the Midnight Sons tie-in and the logo change, so that issue is my cutoff point for the book. I'm not interested in getting the issues after that, so I guess that means I have... 18 issues to go before I have all the ones I want. Huh. Didn't realize I was so close.
I ended up at another table looking at wall books and saw this variant cover of Spider-Gwen #1 signed by
Mark Brooks. Coincidentally, I picked up another Mark Brooks variant
(which was also signed) at the
Southern Illinois Comic Con about two weeks ago. Before I went to Cape Con that morning, I was browsing online at comics to look for while I was there. I ended up looking at Spider-Gwen comics and looked at this comic specifically. I felt like it was meant to be when I came across it there, because I have never seen one in person before. Like the signed Mark Brooks variant at the Southern Illinois Comic Con, it was a bit expensive. Not as expensive as that comic was, but still. Definitely more than the $1 I had been paying for books previously.
Realizing that I had not bought a key issue wall book yet, I went back to Scott Reed's table and took a closer look. I knew that the first appearance of Vision was out of the question at this point, so I was looking for keys that were significantly cheaper. In the bottom row of wall books I saw this, the first appearance of Mar-Vell. Last year at the
Superman Celebration in Metropolis, IL I picked up the first appearance of Carol Danvers from him
(and it's a good thing I did, too). I found it fitting that I should pick this up as a companion piece to it. It was $60, but that's because it has been re-glued. I can't even tell it has and wouldn't have known if Scott hadn't told me, but it presents well and I'm happy with it.
I was about ready to wrap things up when I was told about a game on the other side of the room that I'd more than likely be interested in. On the way to the table, the line was slowed to a crawl and we passed by a table with comics that I hadn't noticed yet. More importantly, they had long boxes that were labeled by artist, which is a good way to get me to lose my mind. The first box was marked
Adam Hughes and the box next to it was marked
J. Scott Campbell. These two artists normally command a premium on their covers, but the books here were extremely well priced. If I had seen these boxes earlier, I guarantee I would have dropped serious money buying up a ton of books. However, I only had a $20 bill left and I didn't know if they'd take cards or not, so I limited myself. Anyway, I found an issue of Barb Wire I needed and some other books I had on my wishlist.
Somewhere in the middle of all that, I met
Greg Land and had him sign one of my favorite covers he's done, Ultimate Fantastic Four #23. He was signing comics for free, so I didn't want to just have him do that and then walk away. I ended up buying a print of Domino #2, which was an incredibly difficult issue for me to get. He also signed the print for me. I need to get a frame now and hang it up on the wall. He was a really nice guy and gladly signed my comic for me.
While that's all for comics, that's not all I got. I did pick up some video games at the con. One of the first tables I got to had some Sega CD games for very low prices. I grabbed Tomcat Alley for $4, which is a game I thought I had already but didn't, and my 13th copy of Dragon Warrior for $5. Yes, I own 13 copies of Dragon Warrior. At least I did, up until I found a boxed copy of Dragon Warrior and suddenly owned 14 copies of it. I have mentioned how much I love Dragon Warrior before, and every time I see a copy in good condition I feel like I need to buy it.
Most importantly, however, was when I found a copy of Stack-Up. It was $60, but I couldn't walk away from the table without buying it. I had never seen it in person in my life until that moment. When I first started collecting NES games in the mid-90s, getting all the "black box" games was one of my original goals. I only just now accomplished that goal when I bought Stack-Up. While $60 is not the most I have paid for an NES game (that honor goes to Contra Force at $80) it is quite a bit more than I'm used to paying. The elusiveness of the game made it easier for me to pay as much as I did for it, as did the fact that it was completing something I set out to do when I was a teenager.
And that, friends, was Cape Con. Sorry this one was a bit wordy, but I got a lot of good stuff there and wanted to share it with you. Up next is free comic book day in Evansville, IN. We'll see how that haul goes.
Until next time.
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