Same. SDCC 16 and 17. Were good. Then 18 and 19 got so crowded. This year was not so bad. First time in a long time that I was actually able to move around and breath.
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I love how many vendors have boxes of comics on their tables labeled “wall books”…”why are they in the box??”
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I spent the whole time today digging through short and long boxes. From 10-5…I think I hit every vendor with comics, though. I would have to say there may have been more than there are at NYCC. It was busy, but didn’t feel anywhere near as crowded as NYCC.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t hear a lot of people asking about slabs or taking them down while I was digging (o had my head down most of the time). I will say 90% of the vendors still have $1 and $2 books in the $5 and $10 bins…and 90% of the books individually priced are just ridiculous. Even with the “50% off keys” it’s not even close. Some modern books I felt were worth considering, but then I would look closer and see they were riddled with spine ticks or discolored….slapping NM+ price and it’s VF/NM at best. I got some good photos that should give some here a laugh.
Yeah, they’ll “give you a deal” if you bundle a bunch…and maybe that price may be fair market value….but that’s not my game. But I didn’t come home empty handed, which I felt was possible. Got a couple books I’m pretty happy about. I’ll share those a little later.
I did not stop by any artists. I did go back to look at the Megos at the end but they had already cleared out. 
Will post a few the few pics so took today a little later.
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Most of these dealers that go from one Con to another, and to another, and to another … think it’s year 2019/2020.
They’re off their rockers; particularly the big cons
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I had my eye on a “9.8” comic of Harley Quinn by AH the one where she is tied up in the straight jacket…
Lets just say that it was priced waaaaaay more than eBay and when I made an eBay offer, they wouldn’t budge. I was very close on buying a Hulk 181 7.0 ( with an old CGC label) for $3K. Guy wanted 3700 and said if I took it today, he would drop it to 3K. Man if I only had that extra kind of cash…
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The days of finding low print IDW GI Joes at cons are pretty much over. Everyone has caught on…I saw a lot of Joes and they were all priced $10 and up. Most were $20/$25.
First appearance of Jon Kent for $80 anyone?
A few moments later and it would have been a first cover appear too…
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So, here’s a really annoying one. This vendor had all these boxes with this 50% off or cover. But then many of the labels had some special notation, like “max 20% discount” as if to contradict was on the front of the long box.
Many had “no discount.”
I didn’t look closely at the FF to see if it was really a 9.0. Highly doubt it…would be a steal if it was.
I was just put off by a complex system, and walked away.
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$40 for a maybe VF/NM direct copy.
There was a copy for $15 someone else for about $15 which I still thought was too high.
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And now for my pickups today’s
I think these were $1. Nightwing cover ati sells for decent money.
$2 each.
These wee $5. The Geiger is a 1:25 ratio.
The transformers book I think sells for $15 or more. The GI Joe looks to be a high grade newsstand. I’ve been looking for one for years (first xamot and tomax). And in newsstand is a bonus.
Simpsons has the card insert. And looks to be in great shape ($8). The Iron Fist is a second print del Otto cover. It used to command a premium during the COVID boom and reprint phase…finally has come down in price (&10).
Lastly my exciting find. Been in the hunt for high grade Thundercats books for a few years now, especially newsstands. Yet to find one until today. And it was issue 24, the last in the run.
I think a 9.8 newsstand some for well over $300.
This one needs a press, but looks to be a 9.8 candidate. It’s probably a 9.6, But even that is a victory.
Was $50, but 20% off. I wasn’t willing to go as big as $40, suffered $35 cash, and they took it. There was left than an hour in the show and everyone was picking up.
Before I committed I asked to see it out of the bag. The wife took the comic and pinned it down while pulling it out, completely man handling it…thank goodness it didn’t add any ticks that I could see. But I did not let her put it back in the bag, or touch the book again.
So $70 total for everything today.
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Creeper Batman in background too… Bruce Wayne needs to get a girlfriend!
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I dunno…maybe he can’t keep a GF because voyeurism is his thing.
Now that I’ve typed those words, can’t wait to see what adds I get on this and other sites…
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According to what you’ve already shared in the past, I can’t imagine it gets any worse… there’s likely a reason you go by Dirty-D in your picks each week… 
I also attended Terrificon this year. I had to bribe my wife with Luke Bryan tickets who happened to be at the Xfinity Amphitheatre in Hartford to get the trip to Connecticut approved, so I managed to get there for Friday opening.
Friday at 1pm walked right into the venue, it wasn’t busy at all. In fact, it didn’t feel particularly busy or packed at any point in the day, it is genuinely massive site. I can safely say, this being the biggest con that I have been to, this was the most comic books that I have seen at one location, but I have never been in Anthony’s basement.
My plan was to work my way through every dollar/$2 bin and then start trying to find some of the books that I have been looking for. Well the plan was flawed from the beginning, starting at 1pm by about 5pm I wasn’t even through half the vendors. There was plenty I put back that I should have grabbed (ones that give you pause but put back and then curse when you look up back at the hotel).
Here is what I did manage to pull, all were around $1 or 7 or $10, etc
Couple of DC logo variants and a Turner I didn’t have, picked up a bunch of Turners I don’t have for $1
A nice Hildebrandt cover for MTG that I’m low key collecting in the hopes that maybe someone gives the MTG collectors what they want, a proper TV show/movie.
Also found a couple of Marvel Comics Presents that were in shockingly good shape, both have very tough black covers. Maybe 9.8?
Couldn’t believe found these in a $1 box…
Yes, nostalgia does bite hard sometimes.
Working towards my 2025 goals!
The next ones are the only ones I paid actual money for:
The Tiger book was $3 but I can’t resist Sam Keith doing Wolverine. The Hobbit book finally finishes this series of 3 books for me, now own all 3 issues. Next to find is the Lord of the Rings from Warren.
The next day went to a small comic shop near enough to our hotel - 2 Alarm Comics in North Branford, everything you want in a comic store, lots of back issues, middle of nowhere, chatty comic guys.
Never seen this Wizard version so picked it up, COA was included.
Nice GI Joe IDW RI for cover is always nice.
And finally had to grab a nice copy of the late Hulk Hogan losing to his only fight to the Incredible Hulk.
As you can see I was trying to keep in my lanes for what I am collecting currently when I was there. Could easily have pulled several hundred books out of those dollar bins but was trying to not weigh myself down with flipping spec. As much as I was impressed with the dollar bins, on Friday at least, the vendors did not want to deal, some prices were absolutely ridiculous and they would not budge. Walked away from 3 books I would have bought if they had come down 20% from their inflated prices. I chalk it up to it was Friday and first day of the con, I’m assuming Sunday is better for the negotiating.
Definitely would go back and highly recommend it to anyone looking for a very comic book heavy convention.
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That explains all the traffic when I had to bring my wife and kids to Bradley airport that evening.