Comic Reviews by Walt

This past Saturday, I attended the first-ever Akron Comicon with a good friend.

When we first walked in, my initial impression was that this was even better than the Wizard World: Columbus con we went to last year. The space seemed similar, but admission was less than 1/3 the cost, this was local, and the lines were smaller.

Another thing we noticed pretty quickly were all the young kids around–parents were bringing their kids to this! Which is fantastic…cliches aside, the kids are the future, and if parents don’t introduce their kids to comics, then comics really will be on their way out. Plus, it was refreshing simply that this was a family-friendly show, not something parents would be afraid to take their kids to.

I knew going in I wanted to get some very specific comics signed. While others know him for his Detective Comics/Batman stuff…I’m most familiar with Mike W. Barr from his run on Mantra. And since I’m not gonna try to get a huge stack of stuff signed (if I get a comic signed, it’s for me or for a friend–not to sell!).

So I chose Mantra #1:

Also got my TPB of Batman: Year Two signed, but that’s on the inside cover, so would make for a crummy photo.

Went on to Norm Breyfogle, getting my first-ever issue of Detective Comics–#604–signed. I wish I’d had my original copy, but perhaps some other time at some other convention.

Also got some Prime signed. A copy of #1, as well as #11–two key issues for me. And for the heckuvit/uniqueness, got my Prime Time tpb signed. I come across Prime in bargain bins fairly regularly, but I don’t think I’ve ever come across the TPB, period, except whenever it was I got this copy back in the 1990s.

I felt kinda bad taking in 4 things to be signed. Didn’t feel nearly so bad when several people ahead of me in line had huge stacks of stuff.

After getting comics signed and looking around a bit, my friend and I went to the panel room for a presentation by the Siegel & Shuster Society including Mike Sangiacomo.

I stuck around after for the Meet Mike Barr/Norm Breyfogle/Joe Staton panel, but was treated to a bit of serendipity–the Creating Comics panel by Marc Sumerak was flipped, so that came first.

Sumerak had a really interesting (to me) presentation on creating comics from a writer’s point of view–I feel like most other similar presentations I’ve been to have been from the art side, so this was a real treat.

After his panel, had the Barr/Breyfogle/Staton panel:

Three panels and about 3 hours in, I decided to stick around for the final panel–a Q&A with Gerry Conway:

This was probably the most interesting of the panels–with some interesting questions asked, and Conway‘s account of his experience with stuff like the creation of the Punisher (he was supposed to be a one-shot character) and Firestorm, even (I hadn’t realized) Jason Todd–the second Robin.

After the panels, I wandered back into the main area again. I’d paid $10 to get in, and while getting those comics signed and attending the panels certainly made the admission well worthwhile (these days you’ll pay about $10 for a 2-hour movie), I had originally been hoping to get some Valiant comics from the 1990s.

Unfortunately, it seemed all anyone brought to the con were DC and Marvel stuff. But that saved me money, and forced me to appreciate other stuff–especially the art–though I didn’t feel comfortable buying any art at this show due to personal budget.

One dealer (Carol & John’s Comic Shop) had their TPBs marked down to 75% off, so I picked up the Superman/Batman Greatest Stories volume (I blame Michael Bailey for rekindling my interest in these after listening to Bailey’s Batman Podcast episode 14 on the 1980s Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told).

The $1 X-Men bins were marked down to $.50 by then, so I snagged these Pizza Hut issues for a friend. These were originally available for purchase through Pizza Hut in 1992 or early 1993 with special “Creator’s Choice” VHS tapes of the first couple episodes of the cartoon series.

While I was looking through these X-Men bins, the booth attendant started handing out some free comics. I will almost never object to free comics; that I immediately recognized these as issues I do not already have, this was all the more welcome!

I refused to purchase the 7.x issues of Fear Itself (though less than a year later I bought into AVX Consequences, which is basically the same thing, different event). So now I’m actually interested in the other two issues (I believe there were 4) and will be watching for those in bargain bins.

Overall, definitely enjoyed the con itself, and look forward to it hopefully happening again next year.

Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: akron, akron comicon, Comic Con, comic conventions, comicon, mike w. barr, Norm Breyfogle | 2 Comments »