I did as well, but kept one for the PC (collected GPK before I got into comics). Find them every so often and flip for $15. Was thinking the same with this one then noticed the crease when I got home.
Just an update. Sold all the Charlton horror covers except the Haunted 23 (didn’t list - holding for now). Sold the Quintana heavy metal and Mr. terrific #3, but nothing else so far . But broke even with those sales.
I’m setting up at the Altered State Convention tomorrow here in Saint Louis County. I will have a table that features 10 of my dollar bin diaper/wipe boxes (they make perfect shortboxes) and about 5 boxes of priced books from $2-$20 for the most part. I’ll have a handful of $30-$50 things, but my focus is moving cheaper stuff. I have a handful of knick-knacks. I plan to browse my fellow vendors as well and see what I might be able to get!
The Altered State Comic Convention was fun yesterday! It took place in a decent-sized event center by the Ballwin Golf Course (maybe 10-15 minutes from the shop’s location). I arrived a bit before 11 and finished setting up everything after 30 or so minutes. Some fellow vendors I knew from other shows where I usually attend as press were intrigued to see I had an actual table. They shopped my stuff and chatted with me. There was a mix of comic vendors, some original art creators (drawing, 3D printing, and so forth), folks with toys/Funko, and a couple of tables featuring Pokémon cards. Here is my table I snapped a picture of it before the show began:
Once it was noon, some folks trickled in. Then, the clock struck 12:15 PM, and a wave of people started flooding in. The owners of Altered State Comics had been doing some promotion, the show was free to attend, and it was a gorgeous day to go out for a drive or walk, so I think these factors combined helped the show start with a big ol’ explosion of attendees. It got quiet for a minute around 1:00 PM, picked back up by 1:30 PM, and then by 2PM it was more of a trickle of folks coming and going. Most vendors started packing up at 4:30 PM even though the event officially went until 5:00 PM.
As for sales and what was popular? Well, half my table contained dollar books and those were a hit. When it came to my priced stuff, the things $10 or under appealed to the crowd a lot, and I sold barely anything $20 or up. Now, I didn’t bring a ton of pricey stuff, to be fair. I imagined the crowd would be looking for fun deals, but one vendor I spoke with who did bring some cheaper and expensive items discussed with me how they struggled to move the, “Big,” books/toys/whatever but everybody was after the inexpensive goodies. A guy with some comics and a lot of Pokemon cards was ecstatic at how well he did, remarking the fact everyone brought their kids and teens resulted in him getting cleaned out of his singles, packs, and so forth.
When someone would ask about a particular comic or series at my table, it was often to express interest in any cheaper printings of Absolute books. I got some random requests, such as a teenager who wanted anything relating to any iteration of Ant-Man and a fellow Moon Knight lover around my age who was after various issues of the, “Marc Spector: Moon Knight,” series from the 1990s. One younger teen was after any Archie or IDW Sonic comics. I liked seeing kids and teens into comics; if we don’t have a younger generation fond of this hobby, it could die out, after all! Everyone was really nice and friendly, with a mix of guys, gals, families, and so forth. I had fun, unloaded some various stuff I wanted to make space for, and when I had a chance to browse for stuff, I found a handful of items! I acquired the first issue of Zdarsky’s Captain America run for a solid price. Plus, I got some older war comics for cheap that were fun-looking, and a friend of mine might want them. Assuming another show happens (which looks likely as this was a smashing success) I’d definitely be interested in having another table! My only suggestion to the showrunners/owners of the shop was to maybe do it 10AM-2PM next time!
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