Mood:
caffeinatedTopic: Comic Cons
 The above is a picture of Michael at the 1973 San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) that was held at the Sheraton Hotel on Harbor Island in San Diego. For all of our comic book, magazines, and other pop culture listings, just click on the photo above!
 We will definitely be there for the 2008 Comic Con! However, going to our eBay Featured Store aisles is similar to going to the Con's Dealer Floor Area... Check it out today! For all of our comic book, magazines, and other pop culture listings, just click on the photo above!
For just a few of the many blog posts on previous Comic Con programs we saw last Comic Con just click on the thumbnails below:
 We were there for 2007 Comic Con, and will be there for Opening Day 2008 which is on Michael's Birthday!
 
Note From Make It So Marketing: Each comic / comics book or magazine in our eBay Featured Store is individually graded, inventoried, priced, bagged and boarded, before being listed for sale! We attend several pop culture and comic books conventions during the year to replenish our inventory for resale!  Thank YOU for being one of our NOTE: This Blog Post May Not Be Viewed Properly On YOUR Screen Due To the Changes eBay is Making on the Blog Format At this time OR In The Future! Additionally, this blog post is written for IE Browsers. Netscape, Firefox and the others serve the page up differently. | SDCC - 35 Years Later I recently posted about the upcoming 2008 SDCC - San Diego Comic Con International projected to be a 'SELL-OUT' even before the doors open next July 24th 2008! Here were my thoughts about the early beginnings of the SDCC from a feature I wrote a few years back:
"Yesterday my youngest son and I stopped at a LCBS, (Local Comic Book Store), in San Diego to check out back issues of Spider-Man comics for him to read, (his favorite super-hero), and whatever I could find for me . The retailer had put several comics and comic book related items up for sale as he was doing his New Year clearance of items that hadn't sold the year before. I was pleased to find several of the SDCC (San Diego Comic Con International) Program Books from previous years up for sale, as I had missed a few years of the Con while working in the Los Angeles area and out of active comic books collecting. The 1984 Program Book had an article titled: It brought back to me several very good memories, of which I am sharing a few in this blog post. The initial mini-con was a one day affair held March 1970 to raise funds for the upcoming 3-day con. The first true SDCC, then called the Golden State Comic-Con was held August 1st-3rd 1970 at the U.S. Grant Hotel in downtown San Diego. I had just graduated from High School a few months earlier, was still living at home, and was working full time at the San Diego Zoo for college money, as I was going to be attending college after the summer. The second SDCC, still called the Golden state Comic-Con, was held in 1971 at Muir College, UCSD Campus in San Diego. I was still working at the Zoo, had completed my first year at college, and either did not hear about the Con, or was too busy working. Additionally 'North' San Diego area where UCSD was not in my normal area of traveling to. I had a more 'provincial' attitude in those days. Heck, North San Diego was considered a long way off from the South Bay where I lived, even though gas was like 25 cents a gallon??? Attendance at the 2nd Con was approximately 800 persons.
The 3rd San Diego's West Coast Comic-Con, (renamed), was held August 18-20th, 1972 at the El Cortez Hotel, (it was a Hotel in those days, not the Condos it is today). I came there the last day of the Con, bought out a dealer's complete stock as he wanted to leave early and sold comics from the table he had been selling from! It was a little impromptu, but I had the cash, and was a business major student in college, so somehow I entered into my first commercial enterprise! And I made a lot of money that day, plus had plenty of comics left over!! Well I wasn't going to let the 1973 SDCC, now named the San Diego Comic-Con, come and go without me! This time I had the days off of work, yes still at the San Diego Zoo, and I was set up as a dealer for all three days at the Sheraton Hotel, Harbor Island, in San Diego. I ran across the original check for the dealer table not too long ago, it is amazing what I paid then for 3 days versus what dealers paid for a booth last year at the San Diego Comic-Con International! Of course its' been 33 years since the photo above! I set up alone at the SDCC that year in 1973, see picture above, and had the foresight to have my picture taken. Yes, that's me, 33 years ago, a young kid at having turned just 2l years of age the month before. I was wearing a short-hair wig at the SD Zoo, because the big boss kept coming around us guys to get our haircut all the time, so we opted to wear short haired wigs and really let our hair grow..... and I had moved out of my parents' house, so I could have the length of hair I wanted to have. I have a lot less hair nowadays, and my mustache is a lot lighter in color, as well as my beard! Plus I have never been that skinny since my first marriage in 1975.... too much pasta since then!! The guy to my left is another dealer, one of a couple of brothers who set up by me, and the comics on the table in front of me were just part of my stock, mostly Marvel comic books, with Captain Marvel, Amazing Spider-Man, Incredible Hulk, Tales of Suspense, and Daredevil pictured. I had almost complete collections of all the Marvel Comics printed by 1973, and these were my duplicates for sale. I don't believe short boxes for comics had been invented by then...I do remember buying comic bags from Robert Bell to insert the comics into for protection. (I still buy collections that have these old Robert Bell bags from the 1970's!!) I remember doing well selling at this con, even though only approximately 1100 were in attendance! Since I was alone in this commerical venture, I was not able to break away from the table to see the comics pros that came that year. It was the first SDCC to attract real professional interest from the New York Pros. Guests that year were Neal Adams, Carmine Infantino, Sol Harrison, June foray, Ray Bradbury, A. E. Van Vogt, Jack Kirby and others. Looking back now at this photo from 1973, and at the 1984 SDCC Program Book that tells about the first 15 years of the SDCC, I am pleased that I did jump into selling at the earliest Comic Cons held out here on the West Coast! It was a much simpler time, and so much fun! Today, the SDCC International is up to 100,000 attendees and takes up both wings of the SD Convention Center.... and it is a Real Zoo to attend! (Pun intended!) So to end this, I sign off with phrases from the 1970's.... Make Mine Marvel! ..... Excelsior !" Michael ------- Thanks for reading this popular culture - comics - comic books blog post and feel free to comment below ! Michael |
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