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Last Saturday (11-25), I made it to the 2006 Mid-Ohio Con at the Convention Center in downtown Columbus. I haven't been to many comic book conventions and this one was the biggest I have ever attended. I was accompanied by "The Notorious HDG" who graciously gave up his Saturday as a swinging bachelor to experience the heights of comic book geekdom firsthand. I brought my "wants list" with me again, but once I hit the door and saw booth after booth of Golden Age comics, original comic artwork and all kinds of rare issues, I became hopelessly over stimulated. I was pretty overwhelmed by the number of booths and the types of material they were selling and for a while I was pretty sure that I would never be able to find anything I was looking for in such a vast sea of comics and memorabilia.
Captain Marvel Adventures #139 December, 1952
I eventually got my bearings and I quickly made note of a handful of Airboy issues at a California dealer's booth. After a while, I made my way to the Fearless Readers booth and found a really fantastic copy of Captain Marvel Adventures #139 that was straight from the days of the Korean War. The cover featured Captain Marvel going head-to-head with a villain called "The Red Crusher." (Gotta love that cheesy Cold War-era "commie smasher" stuff. – in small doses, anyway...) The proprietor generously cut me a deal on the sticker price and then agreed to hold it for me while I did some more shopping.
It was pretty cool to just wander around and see so much comic history in one place. I have seen some noteworthy books at shops and shows in the past, but I have never seen so many amazing things at one event. One dealer from Detroit had a copy of Bat Man #1 on display along with copies of Air Fighters #1 and Whiz #5 (I actually had those two comics in my hands for a second or two until I found their respective price tags...I can't recall what the Whiz issue was going for, but the Air Fighters book was $850!) At another booth, a guy had three genuine copies of Amazing Fantasy #15 (the first appearance of Spider-Man) and I also spotted some original Bat Man cover art from the 1970's. And there were tons and tons of Golden Age books, including low number issues of All-Star Comics, Star-Spangled Comics and many others.
After browsing for quite a while, I had all but given up on finding any of the specific issues from my "wants list," so I decided to try and fill some gaps in my Airboy and Real Clue collections. I went back to the place where I had found those issues earlier in the day and worked out a deal to land a few issues from those titles. I had also located a copy of one of my "all-time wants" for my collection, Captain Marvel Adventures #100 ("The Plot Against the Universe"). Unfortunately, the price was a little too high for my liking and the guy wasn't too willing to deal. It looked as if the book would slip through my fingers this time around.
Captain Marvel Adventures #100 September, 1949
I stopped at a booth that I had missed earlier and I decided to take another shot at some of the books on my wants list. Right away, I found a copy of Charlton's Special War, volume 4, number 4 (the first appearance of Judo Master). It was kind of a pleasant surprise, even though it was a little more that what I wanted to pay. I told the seller that I was hoping to pay a little less and he pointed to a sign that indicated that all items above $25 were discounted – plus, the more money I spent, the better the discount. So I had a look around for New Gods #1 and sure enough, the guy had a copy of that as well. Interestingly enough, the price was just a fraction of a rather hefty tag that I had seen for the same issue a couple of booths over and I got a great discount to boot! So I made out rather well at that particular stop. I ended up passing on some original Firestorm artwork and a pretty rare copy of an issue of Liberty Comics from the 1940's.
On the way out, I decided to bite the bullet and buy the copy of Captain Marvel Adventures #100, even though the price was a little steep. The dealer turned out to be a pretty decent fellow, as he knocked a couple of bucks off after all. He also chatted with me a bit about the fact that he had just acquired the book a couple of days beforehand and he talked about the exceptional condition of the book and the relatively rare use of silver ink on its cover. Incidentally, this completes my list of my three most sought-after comics, so I guess I'd better start on another list!)
All in all, it was a great show even though I went a little over budget this time around. Just a couple more months until the Gem City Comic Con in Dayton. I'm really looking forward to April 2007!
Extra special thanks to the good folks at Fearless Readers!
