Pete at the All New Comics table at the Toronto ComiCON
It’s been a week and a half since I returned from the Toronto ComiCon, but I just haven’t had a chance to write about it so far.
It was a fun show, not quite as busy as last year, but we still ended up doing alright due to a very different product mix that Peter brought this year. We had a spectacular spot, right inside the doors on the left hand side, which really helped folks find us. We had six of our customers pick their stuff up at the show, and ran into a couple others who decided last minute to drop by. Plus I got to see my old college buddy Don, who came by.
First off, Trade Paperbacks are pretty much dead. Folks like hardcovers, especially cheap hardcovers, but the competition on TPB’s is out of control with dealers selling for 50% off US Cover (also known as “less than cost” to me…or put another way “dumb”, and a game I’m not interested in playing).
Pete mainly focused on Dollar comics, which comprised a little over 50% of our booth space. He brought a bunch of hardcovers, and some sundry comics (current and recent stuff mainly stuff that creators were at the show to sign).
The big surprise was STATUES! Now notwithstanding the fact that we possessed FOUR Aquaman statues (Aquaman…SERIOUSLY), I was shocked by how quickly this stuff sold. We burned through 2 Aquaman statues, a bunch of Women of the DC Universe statues (including 2 of Mera…Aquaman’s Wife), Batman Black and White statues, and a load of other great stuff. Statues literally flew off the shelves.
Also really hot was Scott Pilgrim, we blew through a half dozen #1’s and 2’s, and a few 3, 4, and 5’s as well.
Saturday was pretty quiet. By 4pm we could have shut the place down, but we went to six. Afterwards the gang all went out to Canyon Creek for our usual dinner out, which is a lot of fun (and then I went and caught a late night movie).
Sunday was MUCH busier, which is to be expected as admission on the Sunday was free with a coupon, and if you paid to get in, you got a $10.00 voucher.
I didn’t get to see many of the artists, although I did check out Philip Tan’s work…and got to see some SPECTACULAR Green Lantern pages, which unfortunately were WAAAAAY out of my price range.
It got me really stoked for the August show, which will be bigger and better than ever. It’s back in the North building this year, so I’d wager that walk up traffic will be bigger, even though the venue is a little bit smaller.