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By Julian H. Betancourt |
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BALTIMORE COMIC CON: GETTING TO KNOW THE EVENT
The
first and second Baltimore Comic-Con were one day shows at the Sheraton
hotel in Towson, Maryland. The show outgrew the Sheraton and on its
third year was moved to the Baltimore Convention Center. On its fifth
year, the show was scheduled for September 11 and 12, the fourth
anniversary of the attacks on the U.S. The "Bring it on!" attitude by
the promoters helped fuel popular interest and each year since, it has
taken off at the downtown location continuing to grow. Its steady, solid
increase is based on the show's well-deserved reputation for being a
comic book convention that is actually about comic books.
2007 marked
Baltimore Comic Con's 8th successful year and it was considered by
many the best rendition the show had yet. As usual, the event was held
inside the modernly attractive and spacious Baltimore Convention Center
on 1 Pratt St. in beautiful Downtown Baltimore during the weekend of
September 8 through 9 seeing a 50% increase in attendance compared to
the previous year.
The guest list was huge and it was a dream come true for many comic fans, spotlighting some of the best Comic talent from across the country. Shown on the official souvenir program cover was a drawing of Hellboy done by the Industry's Harvey Award winner Mike Mignola, writer-artist and creator of Hellboy, Disney's Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Abe Sapiens and others. Mike was a most fan-requested guest of honor at the show. Among the other artists attending were Al Feldstein EC artist and former MAD editor in chief, Jim Lee (Batman, Wildcats), Dick Ayers (Fantastic Four, Ghost Rider), John Romita Sr. (Amazing Spider-man) and Superman/Batman inker Dexter Vines who was there for the first time.
BALTIMORE COMIC CON: DAY #1
Getting
to the Convention was no easy task. Since our trip was a last minute
decision, my wife and I were forced to stay at the Days Inn in Timonium,
about 20 minutes drive from the Convention Center (an hour or more
in heavy traffic) because everything else was booked due to the Orioles
and Red Sox game. For out of towners, it was a definite plus having a
GPS navigational receiver in our car, otherwise the trip from the hotel
to the Con and back would had been a true headache due to the
complicated expressway system.
Once
we drove past the Convention Center looking for a spot to park, we
noticed the large line waiting to enter the building's main floor but by
the time we were able to park ($20.00 for just 4 hours) the doors had
opened, the line was gone and access into the Center was easy. Inside it
was crowded as fans of new and older comics had swarmed the halls and
two lines had been formed, snaking around the lobby, one for those with
pre-ordered tickets and one for those waiting to purchase them at the
ticket booth.
Within
the walls of the 300,000 sq ft exhibit hall below street level, a wide
variety of dealers and comic book artists were featured for the show.
The event offered a large range of items ranging from
comics, original comic art, action figures, character premiums, and much
more for comic fans. One could find the latest comics or much older
Golden Age Whiz Comics selling way into the hundred$$ or enjoy checking
out the artists works and sketches being done and having a print signed
by the original artist. There was also a booth with a flat screen
showing movie trailers as well as an area for Donkey Kong video playing
and free Shoot Em Up, Resident Evil, and Mr, Woodcack t-shirts and
posters. Later in the day we spent a good two hours just picking
up freebies and watching all the movie trailers.
Of
course, our main objective was to get a hold of the last of the Clone
Commanders in Gentle Giant's World Rock Tour, Commander Bacara.
He was being offered for pre-order pick up at the GG booth and sold to
the general public through the BCC booth. Although the Commander was to
be sold at pre determined amounts of 150 pieces on Saturday and 100 on
Sunday by the staff of BCC, we later on found out that was not the case.
Since
our pre-orders for this exclusive were a sure bet, we decided not to
worry about them on our first day and rather spend the time walking
throughout the Convention floor. It didn't take too long to realize
there weren't many other collectibles around to put a hole in my wallet.
Except for two or three dealers carrying some Master Replicas and Gentle
Giant items, one of them being an Asajj Ventress maquette I was able to
snag for way under its ongoing secondary market value, it became clear
the convention was purely about comics.
While
venturing through the isles, we came upon BCC's Exclusives
booth. The line for the bust was very long but we got in it and hoped to
get an extra or two of Commander Bacara to try help or return a favor to
those that had helped us before. Unfortunately within 20 minutes of
waiting, sometime around 11:00 o'clock in the morning, a BCC
member yelled to the crowd, the stipulated amount for the day had been
sold out. Bummer! Still they had plenty of the Yoda/Artoo maquette as
well as the Luke/Han Stormtroopers bust ups.
BALTIMORE COMIC CON: DAY #2
Finding
a place to park the second day was a lot easier and we were able to get
into the Convention Center earlier. After talking to Spice on the phone
the day before and having in mind to get extra Bacaras, we headed
straight for the BCC booth first thing. We were very excited not to find
a line but lots of Bacara cases instead. I asked the man behind the
table if I could purchase one of the busts and sure enough he was more
than willing to sell it to me. That was until he asked for my ticket ...
"Ticket?"- I said. So he explained tickets had been handed out to the
first 100 people to make the line and that those cases were meant for
them. At eight Commanders per case, there were way too many cases, far
more than 100 tickets. Since I didn't feel like arguing I walked away
and we headed to pick up our two pre-ordered busts at the Gentle Giant
booth...
The
GG booth although small was a focal point in the Convention. Housed
within the glass walls of two display cases, were all five of the much
talked about and criticized Clone Commanders busts along with other
busts such as Star Wars Classics, Harry Potter an other lines. Many
people surrounded the cases taking pictures of the Commanders, a
symbolic way of bringing home the Fabulous Five.
Getting
the pre-orders was an easy task. We stood in line for merely 25 minutes
and were able to pick them up without any issues. Gus, the Gentle Giant
Ltd representative behind the booth (no Amanda or Jewell present) was a
very down to earth guy, one willing to listen to my rant about the bad
handling of exclusives. While checking and crossing out our names on the
pre order list he struck up a short conversation, letting us know that
much to our dislike the raffles will continue for next year being
seen by the company as the only fair way to give a chance to a
majority of collectors. On a better note, according to what he later on
told my wife when she went back for extra bags, there will be an Obi-Wan
Clone Commander bust soon to be announced.
Around
12:30 P.M once again we headed over to the BCC booth and asked about
purchasing a bust. Once again we were told they were being held back for
people with early morning tickets. Since we had already accomplished
what we wanted, we exited the building and gave a farewell to the
convention.
BALTIMORE COMIC CON: WRAPPING IT UP
Overall
Gentle Giant did a good job handling the exclusives at this Con. Both
days they had 2 representatives working the booth while Gus sat, checked
for ID's/ pre-orders and interacted with the fans. Items were fast and
efficiently bagged so you could go about your day in a zilch. They had
enough on Saturday and Sunday to take care of all 500 pre-orders, even
if they were all filled within the day.
As
far as the BCC booth is concerned, that is a different and disappointing
story. The booth was not run by GG as some might think but rather by the
BCC staff. Tagged as "Show Exclusives" all exclusives for the show (
this year's show offered the convention's largest line-up of show
exclusives to date) were sold there. That included:
Issues
with the BCC staff deal directly with the way the Bacara bust was
handled. Sunday, after exiting the building and getting rid of our Con
bracelets (disabling our chances to get back inside), we wondered
outside the building taking some pictures. That's when we noticed three
guys carrying one case of Bacara each. My wife stopped them and asked
them how they had gotten the cases. Long story short, they told us the
BCC booth was letting people buy the bust by the case and by doing so
the Con had covered their trip back to Mexico, planning to sell them
online. Between laughs and giggles they walked away, leaving me pretty
ticked off as there was nothing we could do to get back inside. A half
hour earlier we had been told by the BCC staff they couldn't sell us any
busts?! To make sure they weren't bluffing, we waited. Sure enough, not
too long after this incident another guy walked out with four busts. He
confirmed with us the promoters had held back over 60 cases they were
desperately trying to unload and were being sold without any
restrictions for $60.00 each, cash only, and he had picked up extras to
help out his buddies. This person also told us that some of the BCC guys
at the booth, in an attempt to get rid of the remaining cases, had been
pointing out to people the $200.00 mark up on Ebay. How's that for
handling exclusive sales and promoting scalping?
There
was also the fact of those working the Convention repeating over and
over before they let everyone in, that the mini bust was very limited
and such limitation was set by Gentle Giant and not by BCC. This alerted
scalper$$ and dealers not knowing about the exclusive to go after it
heading straight for the booth.
In
all we had a kick out of our trip and seeing so many comic books,
getting lots of them for my kid and admiring the talent of so many
artists, their drawings and sketches, including those by former
Sandtroopers owner Pat Carlucci and his voluptuous women. Downtown
Baltimore was filled with friendly people and we loved going up the
World Trade Center Tower, Maritime Museum and having dinner at the Hard
Rock Cafe. Unfortunately, the disorganized handling of Bacara surely
made some heads fume in frustration. Hopefully the bad wrap they've
gotten as far as exclusives, will serve as a lesson to be
learned, improving their distribution methods for the near future.
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