Auction Watch: Comic Connect Event Auction

The latest Comic Connect Event Auction is drawing attention from the national press thanks to the unrestored CGC 6.0 copy of Action Comics #1 featured in the sale, which is the highest-graded pristine copy of Action Comics #1 ever sold at auction. Comic Connect’s Stephen Fishler was interviewed by CNN and shared the story of this copy. The owner purchased the comic as a young boy on the West Coast nearly 12 years after Action Comics #1 debuted in June 1938. He reportedly found himself in a secondhand book store, where he persuaded his dad to give him 35 cents to buy the comic book. Until 1966, the owner forgot about the book, which had been stored in his mother's basement. Since then, he's been holding onto it, hoping to see it increase in value, Fishler said. Needless to say, he has not been disappointed. "There has been a lot of interest shown on the book in the collectibles market," said Fishler, who predicted the comic book will sell for about $400,000. The comic has been bid up to $230,000 after only two days, so it will be interesting to see how it ends up when bidding closes on Friday, March 13th. Check out this book and the other great lots in the Comic Connect Event auction at comicconnect.com.

The Pull List: Wednesday, February 25, 2009

This week’s haul at the comic shop was joy and pain in equal measure with lots of great new comics on the shelves and a staggering toll at the cash register. Two Marvel Masterworks volumes in one week? WTF?!? The Avengers were not just New and Mighty this week, but they also showed some Initiative as Marvel’s Dark Reign saga continued to build momentum. New Avengers #50 was fun as Brian Bendis and Billy Tan delivered an action-packed story for this milestone issue as the team deals with the shocking news of the existence of the Dark Avengers. Another great book this week was Conan The Cimmerian #8 in which our favorite barbarian leaves his trials and regrets behind in Cimmeria and heads into the next phase of his adventurous life - his mercenary career. This book continues to deliver month after month! Another honorable mention in the swords and sorcery genre was an unexpectedly great issue of The Incredible Hercules with a tale set in his youth in ancient Thebes. Greg Pak continues to impress! Among my buys this week were:

Avengers The Initiative #22
Captain America #47
Conan The Cimmerian #8
Dr. Doom and the Masters of Evil #2
Fantastic Four #564
G.I. Joe Origins #1
Hulk #10
The Incredible Hercules #126
Justice Society of America #24
The Mighty Avengers #22
Mouse Guard Winter: 1152
Ms. Marvel #36
The New Avengers #50
Sgt. Rock: The Lost Battalion #4 of 6
She-Hulk #38
Skaar Son of Hulk #8
Teen Titans #68
Thunderbolts #129
Ultimate Spider-Man #131
The Umbrella Academy #4
Wolverine: First Class #12
Wolverine: Origins #33
Young X-Men #11

Next up in my selective reviews of Pull List books – in alphabetical order, in case you were wondering whether there was any rhyme or reason to my comments – is Teen Titans #68. Candidly, I was a bit worried that this book might not make it through Infinite Crisis or be changed in some material way, but I’m pleased to see that Sean McKeever and Eddy Barrows are still cranking out great stories. Wolverine: First Class #12 was another great read this week. I was worried that it would be another over-the-top Wolverine book when First Class first came out, but the series has been great so far and filled with fun stories set in X-Men continuity during my personal Golden Age of comics in the mid-80s. In this issue, Kitty Pryde teams up with Cyclops in an interlude set on Magneto’s Bermuda Triangle base. Another cool thing to see this week from a nostalgic point of view was the Alex Ross cover to the new New Mutants #1 on Marvel Previews. Can't wait!

Check out the full list of the week's new releases at the Diamond Comics web site.

Original Art Sunday: David Mack's Daredevil

This week's feature for Original Art Sunday is David Mack’s cover to Daredevil Vol. 2 #23. I’ve been chasing the piece since I first saw it in Mack's portfolio at San Diego Comic-Con last summer, so I was really pleased to be able to buy it at New York Comic Con two weeks ago. The cover art is an incredible mixed media piece with the Daredevil figure done in pencil, ink and water colors with a cutout paper collage for the surrounding borer. As with all the other pieces I’ve seen by Mack, the detail, depth, texture of the original piece is incredible and the art is even more powerful in its original form than in the printed comic. Mack's run on Daredevil was my first exposure to his work, so I'm really pleased to have this cover to add to my collection.

The Pull List: Wednesday, February 18, 2008

Brian Bendis continues to preside over the Marvel Universe with his Dark Reign much to the joy of legions of fans – myself included. This week’s Dark Avengers #2 is a wild ride featuring the wolves in sheep’s clothing going into battle for the first time as a team to save Dr. Doom from Morgana Le Fay. Another great read this week is Spider-Man Noir #3 of 4, which sets up the gripping storyline for its ultimate climax next issue. Spider-Man Noir has has far-and-away been the best of the Marvel Noir titles and I could see it having life after this limited series as an ongoing series. I don’t mean to ignore the DC Universe this week, but I’m still trying to figure out the aftermath of Final Crisis before digging into this week’s issues. One thing I did notice was the Owlman – of Watchmen fame, no? – seems to have joined the Outsiders. Hurm.... Among my buys this week were:

Amazing Spider-Man #587
Battlestar Galactica: Cylon War #2
Birds of Prey #127
Dark Avengers #2
Death-Defying Devil #3
Jungle Girl Season 2 #3
Justice League of America #30
Moon Knight #27
New Exiles #18
NYX: No Way Home #6 of 6
Outsiders #15
Punisher #67
Red Sonja Annual #2
Robin #183
Spider-Man Noir #3 of 4
Squadron Supreme #8
Supergirl #38
Tiny Titans #13
Trinity #38
Ultimate Fantastic Four #60
Uncanny X-Men #506
Vigilante #3
X-Men: Legacy #221

Particularly interesting to note this week was the number of title cancellations, including Birds of Prey, Robin and Comic Foundry. I only read Birds of Prey every now and then, but I’ve been reading Robin since the first issue, so I’m certainly sorry to see the series limp to the finish with issue #183. Comic Foundry is also a loss since the scope and depth of its coverage was such a nice counter-balance to Wizard. The magazine had great personality and an irreverent attitude as evidenced by their parting shot on the cover: The Farewell Issue! Suck It, Wizard! Tina Fey would be proud…. It feels like a number of major titles have been coming to an end recently with more likely to come as the major publishers pull the plug on marginal titles that can’t pull their weight in the midst of a dramatic drop-off in print advertising.

Check out the full list of the week's new releases at the Diamond Comics web site.

Original Art Sunday: Mini Marvels + Tiny Titans

One of the coolest things I saw at New York Comic Con last weekend was a team-up between Chris Giarrusso and Art Baltazar on an homage to the famous cover of Marvel And DC Present: The Uncanny X-Men and The New Teen Titans. I've always thought it would be cool to see a crossover between the Mini Marvels and the Tiny Titans and this piece is absolutely amazing. Unfortunately it doesn't sound likely that the rival publishers will let the two creators do the full story for publication, but we can always dare to dream. Giarrusso and Baltazar donated the art to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund for one of the organization's forthcoming fundraiser auctions.

Medialia ... Rack and Hamper Gallery

I went to visit the Medialia ... Rack and Hamper Gallery in New York City yesterday to see their exhibit From Panel to Panel 2: Original Comic Book Illustrations, which focuses on the work of three dynamic creators: Jacob Chabot, Chris Giarrusso, and Jesse Lonergan. It's a great exhibit and I particularly enjoyed seeing Chris Giarrusso's original art for our Mini Watchmen poster on display along with many of his other pieces. In addition to the great work by the three featured artists, the gallery has art by Chris Bachalo, Gil Kane, Eric Larsen, Frank Miller, Kevin Nolan, Michael Avon Oeming and Mike Wieringo. The gallery is located at 335 West 38th Street and open Wednesday through Saturday from 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM. The From Panel to Panel exhibit runs through February 28th, so check it out!

New York Comic Con: Day 3

Kids Day was a blast for my four-year-old son and a nice change of pace for me after two days of guest and exhibitor recruiting for Mid-Ohio-Con 2009. It was definitely nice to visit New York Comic Con in “fan mode” and take in all the goodness that the show had to offer. We ended up with a good balance between Kids Day activities and roaming the floor, which suited both of us pretty well.

First up on our Kids Day agenda were the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at the Battle Zone. I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect based on the description in the program guide, but I had images of the Turtles staged in mortal combat against the Foot Clan ninjas. What it turned out to be was basically a recruiting seminar for Tiger Schulman’s karate school. Admittedly it was cool to see Michelangelo and Donatello in costume, but there wasn’t much in the way of excitement.

The next Kids Day event that we attended at the Battle Zone was Youngling Training by the New York Jedi. My son received Light Saber combat training from a Jedi master and then he got to fight with him in a mock battle. It was definitely the highlight of the show for him and he’s been talking about it ever since. We also picked up one of the child-sized Light Sabers that were for sale all over the show floor for a mere $4.00. Now that’s a good value for money!

After the scheduled activities, we wandered the floor. One recurring observation that I had was just how many awesome new action figures, figurines and toys were on display. Matty Collector, DC Direct, Marvel, Diamond, and Tonner – to name only a few – all had a fantastic lineup for children of all ages. It would have been better if they actually were selling everything they were displaying – especially the extending Wolverine claw – but I guess we’ll have to be patient.

We made a couple of trips to Artists Alley to visit with a few more prospective guests for Mid-Ohio-Con, including Walt and Louise Simonson, Marv Wolfman, and Cliff Chiang, and to pick up some original art. It turns out that Chris Giarrusso’s Mini Watchmen art is actually on display at the Medialia...Rack and Hamper Gallery in New York, so I’ll have to wait a bit to pick up that piece from him. I did pick up his Mini Marvels: Secret Invasion, which is a great read!

I was able to pick up David Mack’s cover to Daredevil Vol. 2 #23 (#403 in the original sequence), which I’ve been chasing since I first saw it in his portfolio at San Diego Comic-Con last summer. It’s an incredible mixed media piece with the Daredevil figure painted in water colors and a paper collage for the surrounding borer. As with all the other pieces I’ve seen by Mack, the detail, depth, texture of the original piece is incredible.

Finally, I should mention the SWAG. Although this year’s New York Comic Con was a bit light on extravagances like the Watchmen’s Owlship or a 12-foot Iron Monger statue, there was definitely hot and cold running SWAG: free posters, comic books, masks, trading cards, stickers, magnets, foam Wolverine claws, etc. As we well know from Mid-Ohio-Con, fans love the SWAG, so kudos to the NYCC exhibitors for delivering in spades!

New York Comic Con: Day 2

The fans were lined up bright and early early today at the Jacob Javits Center in anticipation of all the goodness that New York Comic Con had to offer. I arrived a bit before the 10:00 AM open and found that the place was already humming. I made my way directly to Artists Alley so that I could continue my efforts to recruit guests for Mid-Ohio-Con 2009. It turned out to be a good call to come early because I was able to spend time with lots of great artists before the crowds got too thick.

Among the creators I spoke with today were Khoi Pham, Paolo Rivera, Jay Fife, Philip Tan, Scott Williams, Rags Morales, Michael Ryan, Gary Friedrich, Bryan Glass, Amanda Conner, Gabriele Dell’Otto, Tom Mandrake, J.G. Jones, Joe Kubert, Irwin Hasen, David LaFuente, and Sean Chen. I made pretty good progress in spreading the Mid-Ohio-Con gospel and I’m increasingly optimistic that we’ll be able to sign up an incredible list of creative guests for this year’s show.

The first panel I attended was Marvel’s Cup O’ Joe. The panel led off with the announcement of a few of creators that are now exclusive with Marvel, including Dale Eaglesham, Gabriel Dell'Otto and Carlos Pacheco. Among the topics covered was the future of the Ultimate Universe, the life and death of a number of titles, and a jump into the future. The highlight for me was a Christian Bale-style “We’re done professionally!!” rant by Bendis after Quesada joked that Ultimate Spider-Man was being canceled. Read more about this great panel at Newsarama.com.

Overall, the show was great today. Although we're obviously deep into an economic recession, there wasn't any sign of it in the crowds in attendance or the presence of retailers and other high-profile exhibitors. Ok, I was a bit disappointed that the life-size Watchmen Owlship that was at San Diegeo Comic-Con wasn't there, but that's not the end of the world. I'll be back for Kids Day at New York Comic Con tomorrow, so stay tuned for more updates on the show and check out the photos in our Picasa gallery below.

New York Comic Con: Day 1

With Zen-like calm, I put aside my consternation over New York Comic Con's move to October in 2010 and embraced all that was good about show. I headed into New York first thing this morning so I could meet artists and retailers before NYCC opened to the general public. The pre-show hours turned out to be really productive since I got to speak with lots of potential guests and exhibitors for Mid-Ohio-Con 2009. Among the creators I spoke with this morning as Artists Alley filled up were Mark Brooks, Jimmy Cheung, Billy Tan, Marko Djurdjevic, Chris Giarrusso, Peter Laird, David Petersen, Art Baltazar, Dick Ayers, Len Wein, Todd Dezago, Craig Rousseau, Thom Zahler and Greg Horn. Even though I only scratched the surface of Artists Alley today, I came away confident that we’ll be able to line up a fantastic slate of creative guests for Mid-Ohio-Con 2009. I’ll be back at it tomorrow, so I'll plan on reporting back with any updates and hopefully lots more photos.

Watchmen Disassembled

A box with Wave 1 of the Watchmen action figures arrived at my house today while I was at the office, so I thought that it might be fun for my four year-old son to open up the package before I got home. The good news is that my son now loves the Watchmen thanks to our Mini Watchmen poster by Chris Giarrusso and these awesome action figures. The bad news is that Rorschach apparently wasn't mean to fly.

G.I. Joe.: The Rise of Cobra Teaser Trailer

The ads that ran during the Superbowl have generally been panned by critics and fans alike as disappointing. Unfortunately, that pretty well characterizes the first teaser trailer for the forthcoming G.I. Joe.: The Rise of Cobra. Until Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow appeared at the end, it was actually hard to identify the trailer as something other than an over-produced counter-terrorism flick that looked like it was direct-to-DVD bound. By making the characters more generic and leaving some of the great nostalgic elements out of the trailer, Paramount actually seems to be moving in the opposite direction compared to the producers of films like The 300, Watchmen, Batman, etc. that have all embraced their inner comic geek. No mask for Cobra Commander? No Yo Joe! battle cry? No wisp of the familiar cartoon theme music? For shame Paramount, for shame. On the positive side, the casting seems great and it's clearly a big budget production, so let's hope that this was just a trailer designed for a mass market audience outside the realm of comic fandom. You can check out the trailer below or visit the official movie website at gijoemovie.com to see it in larger format and learn more about the film.

The Pull List: Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Who is the new Black Panther? You won’t find the answer here, faithful reader. Not because I have an aversion to spoilers, but because that answer isn’t revealed in the new Black Panther #1. The better question is how and why Black Panther ended up back at issue #1 again. And why my local comic shop didn’t have any of the J. Scott Campbell variants. Curses! Ok, I’ve been in a snarky mood all week, so maybe it’s time to get back on track. Black Panther #1 was actually a fun ride and left me on the edge of my seat waiting to see what will happen next as Dark Reign washes across the Marvel Universe. That book was among many great new issues that hit the stands this week, including my buys:

Agents of Atlas #1
Age of Sentry #5
Amazing Spider-Man #585
Astonishing Tales #1
Black Panther #1
Cable #11
Enders’s Game #3 of 5
Franklin Richards: Its Dark Reigning
House of Mystery #5
Immortal Iron Fist #22
Invincible Iron Man #10
Kull #4
The Mighty #1
Punisher #2
Red Sonja #41
The Sandman: Dream Hunters #4 of 4
Secret Six #6
Secret Warriors #1
Terror Titans #5 of 6
Trinity #36
X-Men: First Class #1
X-Men vs. Hulk #1 (One-Shot)
X-Men: Magneto Testament #5 of 5

Another great release this week was Franklin Richards: It’s Dark Reigning Cats and Dogs by Chris Eliopoulos. The Franklin Richards books have become a favorite in my home and it’s really fun to read an all-ages book that truly appeals to all ages. X-Men vs. Hulk by Chris Claremont was also at the top of my reading stack this week. I think this is actually the first time in ages that Claremont has written the X-Men in Earth 616 continuity, so it was great to see the master back in his true element. One thing that caught my eye was how many 1st issues were out this week. I picked up six 1st issues for new regular titles, which is a lot more than I’ve seen in a long time. At least they don’t splash “Collector’s Item First Issue” on them any more. . . .

Check out the full list of the week's new releases at the Diamond Comics web site.

What the Chuck?

It had been a long dry spell since Chuck went offline before the holidays, so I was definitely looking forward to last night’s re-launch of the show. Unfortunately, nobody told me that I would need 3-D glasses to enjoy the show in its full splendor. How did I miss that!?! Being a longtime fan of comics and sci-fi, I figured that I must have a pair of 3-D glasses lying around somewhere. My first thought was to go look for one of the G.I. Joe 3-D issues that Blackthorn published way back in 1987. I have a clear memory of that as my first 3-D comic experience and thought that I must have saved the glasses. Unfortunately, I kept the comic, but not the 3-D glasses. My next thought was of a 1976-vintage Captain Britain magazine that I bought a few years back. It turns out that Captain Britain #1 had a Captain Britain mask, not 3-D glasses. Curses, foiled again! Undeterred, I went on eBay and found that people are selling them by the sheet. This may seem like a lot of effort for a TV show, but I’m confident that it’ll be worth the effort – especially for that opening sequence!

(G)reed Exhibitions. . . .

Today, Reed Exhibitions officially announced two major pieces of comic convention news that have been actively rumored in the blogosphere for a number of months.

The first piece of news is that New York Comic Con is permanently moving to October starting in 2010. It seems like a very smart business move for the multi-billion dollar media conglomerate. After all, why would Reed Exhibitions possibly want to maintain dates that are perfectly positioned at the polar opposite on the calendar from San Diego Comic-Con and completely uncontested by any other major convention? No, it makes perfect sense to completely reshuffle the calendar slot of the fastest growing comic and pop culture event in the U.S. to needlessly position the show just 2 months from San Diego and right smack in the middle of high season for fall conventions like Small Press Expo (SPX), Baltimore Comic-Con, MBCA FallCon, and (of course) Mid-Ohio-Con.

Reading what I just wrote, I guess my sarcasm wasn’t quite as thinly veiled as I intended. I guess I’m irritated because this development strikes me a predatory move by a giant corporation that can afford to outspend its competition by a wide margin. Under these circumstances, what recourse do Mid-Ohio-Con and the other fall shows really have but to move to new dates? While we really liked the first weekend of October since it worked well on the comic convention and fall football calendar, we’re certainly not wedded to it. Mid-Ohio-Con was a fixture of the Thanksgiving weekend for many years, so we always have that option. Alternatively, there are a number of other potential dates in the fall, so we just need to figure out which weekend lines up best for us in 2010 and beyond.

The second piece of news from Reed Exhibitions today was the launch of the new Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2) which will take place April 16-18, 2010. The new show will be developed in the spirit of New York Comic Con and positioned to take a leadership role as the largest comic book and pop culture convention in Chicago, drawing exhibitors and fans alike from across the Midwest. Unlike New York Comic Con’s jump to October, this announcement actually does make sense to me. Seriously. Chicago is the third largest city in the U.S. with a population of nearly 3 million and millions more in contiguous markets, so it can certainly support a major show. In addition, the April dates don’t overlap with any other comic conventions of consequence, and C2E2 will be far enough away from August to (hopefully) not inflict lethal damage to Wizard World Chicago.

In conclusion, Mid-Ohio-Con is nimble enough to roll with the punches and we’re willing and able to find dates that work well for our fans, creative guests, and exhibitors for 2010 and beyond. For 2009, we’re raring and ready to go for the weekend of October 3-4 in Exhibit Hall E at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. Our dates are actually fantastic this year, since we won’t overlap with SPX or FallCon as we did in 2008. We have a huge love of comics and pop culture and we’re confident that our passion for the medium will continue to differentiate our show as it has for the past 28 years. In fact, Mid-Ohio-Con will celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2010 and we’re confident that the show will be around for at least another 30 years.

Comic Art Sunday: Chris Giarrusso's Watchmen

Last week we showcased Chris Giarrusso's pencils for our first Mid-Ohio-Con 2009 promotional poster. This week we're happy to unveil the final product. There were certainly a lot of iterations between then and now: color schemes, logo placements, blood spatters, and skylines, but the end result is nothing short of fantastic. We'll be handing out copies of the 11" x 17" poster at New York Comic-Con next weekend, and sending it to retailers across the eastern United States, so keep an eye out for it in the coming weeks.

New York Times: Watchmen Skulk to the Screen

New York Times arts and entertainment writer Dave Itzkoff dedicates two (digital) pages to a story about the forthcoming Watchmen movie in an article that chronicles Zack Snyder's effort to make a film that strikes a balance between staying faithful to the beloved source material and accessibility to the general movie-going public. Check out the article online at the New York Times web site.