Enter the Mirror Universe

The Midwest Comic Book Association has just announced its convention schedule for 2010!

A Rainy Sunday at Microcon

Microcon was held a few Sundays ago at its now-usual venue at the State Fair's Progress Center. I'm not sure if the steady rain kept people in or kept them away, but it was a mad house inside, at least for the two hours or so I was there. If the show keeps growing at this rate, it'll soon outgrow the Progress Center. As it was, I have nothing but sympathy for the creators, dealers and volunteers that had to manage the throng of people all day.

In my zeal to get out the door early and pick up my brother, I managed to forget my camera and my want list (which made shopping a little trickier and more memory-based) so no fun pictures. Needless to say, the costumed folk were out in force once again, from MCBA's regular Superman to a full compliment of Star Wars characters, including a neat looking Clone Trooper in and amongst all the Stormtroopers, and an impressive Jango Fett.

Arriving shortly after the doors opened my brother and I, slightly soggy, made a beeline for the Half Price Books table. My brother was looking to pillage their discounted Manga inventory as he had done at Fallcon last year. In moments, he had dropped fifty bucks on $300 worth of Manga. While he ravished the Manga, I picked up this little gem for $3.00:

I have no idea what this comic is about, but the cover features Lex Luthor sucker punching a pre-teen Superman in the back, and that, my friends, is worth three dollars.

While my brother lugged his sack of books to the car, I made a lap of the floor. I wasn't planning on buying any graphic novels, since my local comic shop was having a big sale the following weekend, in which all books would be 50% off, which is about as good a deal as I can find anywhere. However, I caved for one 1/2 off Showcase that I knew my LCS didn't have in stock: Batman and the Outsiders.

This early 80s book featured Batman quitting the Justice League (because they wouldn't help out a colleague of Bruce Wayne, who was being held captive by an enemy country) and reluctantly forming his own team of "outsiders" to help him. I was introduced to the humorous crappiness of the stories and the gorgeous Jim Aparo art by Siskoid's hilarious page-by-page analyses a while back, and have wanted to continue reading the series since.

With my recently-updated want list sitting uselessly on my desk at home I had to rely on my memory to make any comic book purchases, which meant, for the most part, hitting the broad strokes of my collection, things like X-Men and Avengers, for which I know by heart the issues I still need, and avoiding diving into bargain boxes for quarter comics.

I did manage to find a copy of Flash #54 for fifty cents, an issue Dave Campbell raved about way back when that I've kept my eye out for ever since, so I could experience the fun myself.

Then I picked up two issues of Iron Man, #98 and #99, that were old enough that I knew I didn't have them yet.

Usually, I like to methodically work my way backwards through my acquisition of X-Men and Avengers comics, purchasing, for example, issue #95 before #94, and so on. But this time I found plenty of good deals for issues all over the range of my want list that I threw that notion out the window.

To wit, I scored three issues of Avengers in good shape, all for under $5 a piece: #62, #104, #114

Apparently, I've exhausted the stock of my usual dealer for late 70s X-Men comics, as he didn't have any issues I don't already have this year. But I still managed to add two more issues of X-Men to my collection, #74 and #84:

These are all from the "reprint" period of X-Men's publishing history, in which low sales had led the book to being canceled for a time before it was brought back simply as a place to reprint older stories. Despite the lack of original content, at $8 an issue, these were a steal.

And that was the end of a soggy, quick-and-dirty Microcon for me. As usual, more than anything it simply whetted my appetite for Fallcon in October.

A Weekend At Fallcon Part 2

Fallcon wasn't all volunteerism and costumes: I also picked up some swag!

The 1/2 Price Books table was particularly motivated this year to move product. Accordingly, within the first few minutes of the show opening my brother came staggering back to the check-in table with a box full of manga he had purchased (100 books for $30). Later in the day, he also picked up all the Harry Potter books except the first, in hardcover, for a buck apiece. Me, I nabbed a package of Detective Comics issues 501 through 525 for seven bucks, a run which predates any other issues of Detective Comics I own.

Aside from some nifty Batgirl backup stories, these aren't a part of any critically-acclaimed run (that I'm aware of) so I'm excited to dig in and see what I find.

After going a bit crazy on Showcase and Essential volumes last spring at Microcon and my local comic shop's moving sale, I told myself I wasn't going to buy any at Fallcon this year, no matter how good the deal. It's a good thing I made this vow, too, since I could have easily blown all my money at a dealer that was selling an extensive collection of both for 50% off. In the end, I did cave a bit and picked up one volume, the first Aquaman Showcase, mainly for its humor potential.


On day two, I started off the morning by straying too close to some quarter boxes. I was specifically trying to avoid going crazy on $.25 comics but the well-organized boxes of one dealer (usually, the cheap books are haphazardly thrown in boxes, rather than in any semblance of order) caught my eye and before I knew it, I was walking away with 130 comics that I bought for $30: 23 cents a book! Within that pile I managed to plug a few holes in my Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and Fantastic Four runs and I also got a damn-near complete run of internet darling (and difficult to reprint) Rom.

Mrs. Teebore and I had decided we should get something to commemorate our first Fallcon together, aside from a stack of comics (something she'd enjoy too), and we settled on a print of the much loved pantsless wonder, Donald Duck, that we could frame and hang up in the house somewhere. So after I was done binging on twenty-three cent comics we headed over to say hello to Don Rosa and pick something out.

We settled on a print showcasing the various moods of the irascible duck and had Mr. Rosa sign it for us.


Our timing was just right, too, as we got the last copy of that particular print.

I also decided to pickup a print for $10 from the collection that Rich Koslowski was showcasing this year, featuring Family Guy and super hero amalgamations that were pretty hilarious. Mrs. Teebore helped me settle on this one:


After that, with time before the charity art auction and my money dwindling, I figured it was time to seriously work on fulfilling the goal I have at every con of picking up at least one needed issue of Avengers and X-Men.

I spent an hour or so methodically walking the floor, stopping at each of the dealers with comics from the era for which I was looking (late seventies) and comparing prices on the issues I needed. Moving backwards from what I have, I didn't find any of Avengers issues for which I was specifically looking, but did find #109, a Hawkeye-centric story in which he quits the team for the umpteenth time, in decent shape for the tidy sum of $5.


Sadly, only one dealer had any issues of X-Men that I need at anywhere close to what I wanted to pay for them, but fortunately, the issue in question was #112, the next one I needed going backwards. It's also the first part of a phenomenal Magneto story during the classic Claremont/Byrne run (it's the rematch between Magneto and the then All New, All Different X-Men in which he brings them to his volcanic Antarctic air, whups the team, then traps them in equipment that reduces their motor functions to that of infants but leaves their minds intact).


The dealer had it in good shape for $13 which is a little bit more than the ten dollar limit I've been placing on single back issues, but #112 is hard to find in good shape at any price and I'm slowly accepting that as I plunge further and further into X-Men back issues, I'm going to have to increase that limit in order to end up with even reading copies of the issues. Plus, I've bought a lot of stuff from this particular dealer through the years so I know his prices are fair.

After that, it was time for auction. The climax of Fallcon every year is a charity auction, with 100% of the proceeds split between the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and the Lupus Foundation. The auction items consist of art donated by creators and dealers alike, as well as some miscellaneous merchandise and other odds and ends.

Due to this generosity, every year the auction is huge, but this year we faced an embarrassment of riches. I still don't know how we got through all the items in time. In the end, though, many pieces sold for prices way under value, due to the speed with which we moved through items and the sheer number involved: after all, there were only so many attendees with so much money to spend, and that money had to get spread out to all the various pieces.

Every year there is invariably a centerpiece item, something that generates buzz as the auction items are assembled over the course of the weekend, something that outsells all other items by a wide margin. This year it was, without a doubt, the complete collection of the Fallcon Sketch Cards.

A newly-born innovation of Fallcon, throughout the year artists from all over the industry were commissioned to do a sketch of their choice to be featured on a trading card. At the con, random grab bags were stuffed with a certificate to be redeemed for a random trading card. Every creator made two copies of their sketch card, one for the grab bag giveaway and another to go into a collection of all the cards that would be sold at the auction.

The only way to get a complete set of the 500 original sketch cards (a much desired commodity judging from the reception the cards received overall) was to buy it at the charity art auction. In the end, it came down to a bidding battle between the the Dread Overlord and Master of Fallcon and the guy that owns Cedar Cliff Collectibles, with the Fallcon impresario taking away the collection for the tidy sum of $5,000.

While the collection set a record (I believe) for the auction, there was plenty of other stuff to be sold as well. Amongst the other high bid items was a splash page from Booster Gold drawn and donated by Dan Jurgens featuring Booster and the Blue Beetle, an original piece by Tony DeZugina (I forget of whom) and Gene Ha's original cover art for the recently released Top 10 (vol. 2) #1, each of which sold for a few hundred dollars.

I myself bid on and won a Hellboy/Abe Sapien sketch from a local artist and first time attendee who was so curious and excited about the auction that I was compelled to bid on his submission. Plus, it's a nifty piece that my wife liked as well.


I also won a full color print of Cyclops's first wife, Madelyne Pryor, in her Goblin Queen persona, by Mark Sparacio:


And that was Fallcon 2008.

A Weekend At Fallcon

The first weekend of October each year is host to Fallcon, the largest convention in the area and the premiere event of the local comic book community, hosted by the Midwest Comic Book Association.

This year was the 20th Anniversary of Fallcon. Every year, the show gets bigger and bigger, in terms of dealers, creators, and attendees. Thus every few years the show gets moved up into a bigger venue. After spending several years in the State Fair's Education Building, this year we moved on up to the big time, State Fair-wise: the Grandstand.

Needless to say, during setup for the con it was odd to walk a deserted Grandstand void of hubcap clocks, Minnesota Moccasins and throngs upon throngs of people.

The empty floor before the doors opened

The larger venue definitely paid off. Several big name creators, including Howard Chaykin (more on him later) and Don Rosa (the modern master of Disney's Scrooge McDuck comics ) attended. There were more people in costume than ever before. The line before the doors opened Saturday stretched from the main entrance of the Grandstand back and around the WCCO booth and stayed that long for the first hour of the show.

The biggest addition to this year's con, for me at least, was Mrs. Teebore.


That's right, my blushing bride decided to brave the Geek Horde and don the proud t-shirt of a Fallcon volunteer this year alongside me and my brother. She quickly took charge of the creator check-in table and was the de facto information desk, becoming the go-to gal for creators and attendees alike with all manner of questions, including where Herb Trimpe was (sadly, the big name Marvel Silver Age artist and this year's marquee guest got sick and couldn't make it), if Frank Miller was at the show ("the Frank Miller," she asked? "Hardly."), and whether 21 was too old to still be living with your parents (Seriously-she was asked that question). She even managed to get hit on by Brainiac.

Brainiac was actually very nice for a super villain

The costumed folk were out in larger numbers than ever. The Bat Family was well represented


including several different incarnations of Batman, Joker, and Harley Quinn.


That group is standing in front of one of a fan favorite at the con, a custom-made, street legal Batmobile.

The owner and creator is, of course, the Batman seen in the pictures. He has three different Batman costumes (Adam West, Christian Bale, and a current comic book look) and to accompany his Batmobile, the Batcycle, complete with Robin's sidecar featuring the detachable go-cart.


Other DC heroes were in attendance

What's Thor doing in the DC Universe?

as was Spider-Man, doing whatever a spider can.


The Ghostbusters made an appearance, but I missed getting their picture, though I did snap a pic of their car when I ran out to get coffee for Howard Chaykin.


The Minnesota Force was out in full force (pun intended)


including this sharp looking Imperial Officer, Gentlemen of Leisure reader Opalnan,


and, of course, Darth Vader.

The Minnesota Force booth also had a nifty collection of custom Star Wars figures


Unfortunately, I once again failed to snap a pic of the Gonk droid.

Amongst the usual comic book writers/pencillers/inkers/illustrators, there was a guy who made his prop replicas

including some neat-o lightsabers.


There was also a table of custom supehero Legos.


Check out the angry hook-handed Aquaman in the Hall of Justice fountain:


One of the perks of volunteering (aside from free admission and awesome wardrobe additions) is the steak fry held after the doors close on Saturday night, in which volunteers and creators mingle over surprisingly good food. This year's evening soiree was host to a Fallcon first: a wedding. Longtime MCBA volunteers Mike and Lisa were married in a ceremony presided over by Len "I created Prime" Strazewski in front of a gathering of their family and friends, attired in either formal finery or an assortment of costumes (my personal favorites: the parents dressed as Joker goons with their son decked out as the Clown Prince himself and the Homer, Marge and Maggie triumvirate), as well as the MCBA volunteers and creators.

The highlight of the evening for me was either discussing baseball with Phil Hester (who's drawn a ton of stuff, including Kevin Smith's run on Green Arrow years ago) while in the chow line (we chuckled at the Brewers lack of offense against the Phillies and discussed Prince Fielder's vegetarianism) or sitting down to dinner with three of the biggest names at the con this year: Nom Breyfolge (Batman artist extraordinaire), Howard Chaykin (profane and opininated creator of American Flagg, who also illustrated the first Star Wars comics back in '77) and John Ostrander (a stalwart of Dark Horse's Star Wars comics and the author of one of the internet's favorite books, the 1980s incarnation of the Suicide Squad).

Chaykin dominated the politically-loaded conversation, goaded in large part by Norm Breyfogle. Near as I could tell, Chaykin and I share similar political views, only his are expressed in a more profane and acerbic manner. I also learned that the holdup on collections of Ostrander's Suicide Squad is due to a dispute between he and DC they are trying to work out regarding the best format in which to reprint the issues: either in cheaper black-and-white (ala the cancelled Showcase Presents volume) or slightly more expensive color volumes. All in all, it was certainly a distincitive and fun end to the first day of Fallcon.

Next: A Weekend At Fallcon: The Swag

A Sunday at Microcon

A few Sundays back I hit up Microcon, the smaller of two annual comic book conventions put on by the Midwest Comic Book Association. It’s nothing compared to the annual east and west coast affairs like Comic-Con International in San Diego (a geek Mecca for which one of my life’s goals is to make a pilgrimage to it), lacking the big name creators, panels packed with huge announcements and the multimedia draw of Hollywood studios and video game developers. Hell, Fallcon (the larger of the two local cons) lacks those things, and it’s still bigger than Microcon.

Really, Microcon isn’t much more than a big sales floor with a smattering of local and independent creators in attendance. But it’s growing. For the hour or so I was there it seemed more crowded than usual, and there were far more costumed attendees (a hallmark of the larger cons) than ever before.

There were four Ghostbusters, complete with Proton Packs and a decked out Ecto-1 car. There was a Darth Vader, an Imperial officer, a handful of Stormtroopers, a couple Jedi. I caught quartet of "Ladies of DC" decked out as Wonder Woman, Batgirl, Zatanna and Black Canary. And one kid in a Spider-Man costume that was way too form fitting.

Hands down though, the most dedicated costumer I saw was someone dressed like one of the “gonk” droids from Star Wars:

When I first saw it in the crowd, I assumed there were arm holes of some kind, or at least an opening for the person inside to look out. No so; whoever was inside that thing was committed; it looked exactly like that picture, and moved just like in the movie (with a slow, bobbing gait).

Let’s take a look at some of the swag I scored. After wandering the floor for a bit and seeing which dealers were offering what, the first thing I nabbed was a copy of Avengers 130.

Every con I go to I try to pick up at least one or two issues of the Avengers or X-Men that I’m missing. The trick (especially since I’m at the point where I have all but the increasingly older ones) is to get them at the right price. I’m not looking for Mint/Near Mint copies; just a readable copy that will hold together, something Very Good or Fine. Usually, I try not to drop more than ten bucks for one of these issues. But I’m going to have to adjust that limit soon, as I’ve reached point where it’s getting much harder to find even a readable copy of these older books for that price-for example, this is the only purchase towards my Avengers/X-Men hunt I made at this con, because I didn’t find anything else that met my criteria.

After that I went back to a guy that had graphic novels for 75% off. Most of it was stuff I already had or had no interest in, but I did nab a copy of Champions Classic vol. 2 for five bucks.

The Champions were a team cobbled together in the seventies, apparently because Marvel decided they wanted another team book. So they randomly threw together five characters to that end: Hercules, Black Widow, Angel and Iceman (this was during a period in which, believe it or not, the X-Men only had one book and it was just running reprints at the time) and Ghost Rider (the only character with his own book at the time, added to the roster, if I recall correctly, in an effort to bring readers of the Ghost Rider book to the Champions). The book only lasted seventeen issues, the latter half of which this volume collects. It also features some nifty early John Byrne art.

I also picked up a hardcover collection of the first six issues of the new Lone Ranger series from Dynamite.

I’d heard good things about it, and combined with my love of Westerns, made a note to check it out at some point. What better way to do so than a collection that, at $6.25, is cheaper than buying the single issues and is a hardcover to boot? That math is a good example of why cons rock.

Next I went to a dealer that’s always at the MCBA shows from which I often buy stuff. He always has his books marked down (today they were 70% off) but what separates him from a lot of the deep-discount dealers is that he keeps his marked down stuff in some semblance of order. I enjoy the thrill of the hunt, flipping through quarter bins and bargain boxes as much as the next guy, but when I have limited time, it’s nice to be able to shop with more precision.

In honor of Iron Man’s then-upcoming movie, I decided to see if I could fill any holes in my Iron Man collection. For nine bucks I nabbed issues 138 through 140 and 145 through 147 and Annual 6, giving me a continuous run of issues from 137 through 298.

These issues are towards the end of the David Micheline/Bob Layton run, one of the most acclaimed Iron Man runs. Good stuff.

With my time running out, I swung back around to a dealer selling trades at 30% off, or 40% off if purchasing three or more. In addition to other books, he had a healthy selection Marvel “Essentials” and DC “Showcase Presents” volumes, which I’m always on the lookout for at a good price.

I debated picking any of these up, since I can get always get them at that price through work, but, well, I don’t always have the extra money to get them any old time at work, and I wasn’t finding anything else at the con that was leaping out at me, so I picked up three at 40% off (the dealer nicely rounded it down to an even $30, something else that makes con rock): Showcase Presents Superman Family (vol. 2), Showcase Presents Robin the Boy Wonder and the Essential Dazzler.

Superman Family is the second volume collecting the wacky hijinks of Superman’s pal Jimmy Olsen, as well as a dozen or so issues of Lois Lane’s title, including the issue in which she gets blasted by a “growth beam” and becomes “fat,” all the while worrying that Superman won’t love her anymore (let’s just say she’s right to be worried). Robin the Boy Wonder collects some of his earlier Silver Age appearances as well as the backup features in which he starred from Batman and Detective Comics. And the Dazzler (nee the Disco Dazzler) book collects her first appearances as well as the first twenty-one issues of her solo series (of which the first few, I was surprised to find, contained some art by my personal favorite, John Romita Jr.) including the memorable issues in which she had to put superheroing before her music career (oh, wait, that was most issues…), as well as the times she faced off against Dr. Doom and, of all people, Galactus.

Finally, on the way out the door I dropped my last three bucks (retained thanks to the aforementioned rounding down of the graphic novels) to pick up Captain America 33 from a dealer selling recent books at cover price. I missed the issue when it came out a few months ago, vainly waiting for its arrival at Barnes at Noble until by the time I gave up (when the next issue appeared instead) my local comic shop was sold out.

And that was my hour or so at Microcon 2008. All in all, I found some great deals and was pretty pleased with my purchases (even if I didn’t manage to find another missing X-Men issue for the right price) and it was nice to see the con busy and growing. Now the wait sets in for Fallcon...