Small Comic Show Finds

We have finds for LCS, online finds and big conventions. But a lot of us go to small shows too and find cool stuff.

This is a thread for cool stuff you find at these types of shows.

3 Likes

I went to a local comic show near me…literally like 5 minutes away. It was fun; I’ll have to do a quick write up later. But here was probably my best find of the day for $5. Not a NM copy, but it is in pretty decent shape.

8 Likes

I don’t know if this means anything but would love to hear about trends everyone here are seeing at their shows in their area.

So I go this small local con regularly and I notice there’s been a seismic shift with what vendors are bringing to the show within the last several months to a year. I’m seeing a lot more new vendors and they’re bringing in dollar boxes. Lots and lots of them, $1, $2 even 50 cent boxes. Prior to this within the last few years, I’ve always thought vendors were price gouging pricing books 2x, 3x of fmv on ebay. It got to a point that i thought it got out of hand and i stopped going regularly.

I now don’t see the vendors with their entire booth of cgc slabs anymore. At the big shows like Fanexpo i still see them, but they’re catering to a different crowd and their booth costs more. At these smaller shows I’m seeing lots of vendors with dollar boxes now. Great for me because i love to dig and find gems at great prices. I’m also seeing attendance at these shows go way up. At the last show i went to the place was packed. I remember going to this same show years ago and I’ll see like 15 or so people there.

1 Like

The smaller shows here in the Minneapolis area are always well attended. We have really active groups that put them on. The big one is moving back to a large fairground space this fall. Will be busy.

1 Like

Small Shows, $1 boxes, Raw - Is definitely the rage now.
Large Shows, Slabs, Expensive - Is a “challenge” currently

Yup, people still scaling back on purchases… the issue with a lot of retailers is they wanna score the big wins but what really works better to keep the money and revenue flowing more consistent is the bargain bins. Moving inventory is the key to success in the retail business. If you just sit and wait for someone to buy your “big” book sitting on the shelf behind you, you’re missing out on keeping the cash flowing in…

1 Like

I’m seeing the same thing in my area, we have a company that roves around the area putting on "comic con"s, hitting different small towns all over. I have attended 4 or 5 in the past year. Its the same company putting it on, so a good deal of the vendors are the same. There is one vendor in particular that is at each of them, giant back board of key comics. Early in the year it was 3 to 4 times FMV for anything on the back boards, I’m talking prices of $160 for X-Factor #6, and you try and work it down and won’t budge off of $130. This last one I went to, couple weeks back, Ultimate Spiderman #1 first printing I got for $75 from the same guy. Very interested in negotiating on his 25 or so long boxes of other books. The less than $3 boxes are full of people going through them, every one is ignoring slabs. The first couple had a company that was only selling very expensive slabs, I don’t think there was anything under a $1000 on their display. Haven’t seen them since the 1st two events.

Also, from the last event, at least two vendors were getting out of Funko Pops entirely, as in wholesale unloading large amounts for cheap.

3 Likes

Yeah this year at SDCC, Funko had their booth but nothing to crazy like years before where people would put the Funkos inside suitcases. This year people got what they wanted and moved on. They even had an area where people where able to check the condition of the Funko Boxes and exchange them if they where damaged.

1 Like

I set up at a small show last Sunday. Had only dollar books except for one half-full box of priced stuff. The dollar stuff moved and I just sold a handful of priced stuff.

3 Likes

ditto here for small show i did 2 weeks ago

2 Likes

Nobody wants to pay more than $5 for a book at a show lately unless it is something they:

A. Collect religiously
B. They plan to flip it for more online (which is fine, obviously, no judgment here)

Otherwise, everybody wants a deal on cheap reads, stuff to fill in holes in their collection where they already have the pricey books, and so forth.

3 Likes

Well… I’ll give an official report out, but I’ll call this my good karma find of the year. I spent a good portion of Friday helping people load in at a con simply because I was there, had already agreed to help an older gentleman I know, and I had nothing better to do. I’m pretty good at picking stuff up & putting it down lol. It was very hot and I know people appreciated the assistance and my dolly.
Although I was going to costume anyway, the fellow let me have his spare vendor badge for helping him so that was nice of him. Saturday morning I arrived early and by some stroke of luck happened to walk by a couple who were putting out some stacks of books ( just stacked on a table). I asked to look and they let me buy what I wanted at $2 apiece. This is what I got. :blush:
Clearly the Giant sized is rough but it presents nicely & heck, I don’t have one. For $2…you betcha. Everything else is just sauce for the goose.
Again, I’ll give a report on trends and such but had to share. I know that even a minute variation with the way dealers were scouting tables and buying stuff up before open would have have resulted in me not getting these.



11 Likes

If you give the GSX 1 a good clean and press you might get a cgc 9.9 :joy:

3 Likes

Holy crap. That has to be one of the best scores ever reported here. Congrats.

3 Likes

You win.

2 Likes

Best $2 ever spent.

5 Likes

Love that Cap 115. Great score.

1 Like

Went to New Haven Comic & Collectible Spectacular today.

First a quick panoramic of the show floor. This was taken at then end when most vendors were packing up. It a decent size room/hall. Not too many Great Wall books, but a decent amount of silver and bronze “minor” keys.

A lot of discount boxes. $1, $2 and $3. Since it was a small show and I had several hours, I took my time to go through just about all of them.

For individually priced books in binds, I did notice that many seem to be keeping the sticker prices on them from the past few years, but have opted to apply an overall discount like 40% off. With that most prices seemed fair if you were looking for the book for the PC.

Anyway, here are my noteworthy finda for the day:


First some $1 book finds. I’ve been putting together (slowly) a run of DC’s Star Trek from the 80s. I could not recall what books I already had…so I grabbed about 29 or so whose covers I didn’t recognize, plus issue #1. I got a deal which amounted to 75 cents per book. When I got home I checked my inventory and now I’m only missing 4 books.


Another Star Trek run I’m nonchalantly putting together. If I find these gold key (or Whitman) in fine or better shape for under $5 I’ll pick them up. Especially the painted covers. These were $2.


Nothing special here. Just couldn’t pass up an older Detective and silver age Avengers for $1.


Picked up these two for $1 ea. Limited is probably VF condition (create along the back cover). X-men is a newsstand.


I always keep a lookout for this sneaky Animal
man #5. It’s regarded as one of the better stories in this run by Grant Morrison, stars a character clearly meant to imitate Wyle-e coyote, and breaks the 4th wall to some extent. It’s a weird story, and I think it also sets the stage for the rest of the run.

I sold a copy for $40 a ways back. It’s come down in price but still need to grab it at $1.


Shadowman #13 is Punk Mambo’s first appearance. And I just like the Batgirl cover. $2 each.


And now my biggest pickups of the day.

Deadpool was $2, while the Gieger special (Redcoat cover variant) was $5…which is below cover price!

I’m thinking these two books will cover my costs for the day. All together I paid $45 in the day for 36 books total.

7 Likes

That Morrison run on, “Animal Man,” truly is fantastic.

1 Like