I was supposed to go with a friend, but when his house received some flood damage during the storms last week, he had to cancel. At that point, I was unsure I was going to go. But, how often do you get to see Sergio? Normally, I would park out side of Boston and take the T in. (The T is Boston’s subway system.) On the way up, I changed my mind. The web site said there were lots in area for $10, so I figured, ‘What the HE double hockey sticks.’ Turns out, the Westin Hotel was right next to Boston Convention Center. Their lot was only $10 & there was a shuttle from the lot to front of the Convention Center.
I got there about 9am, an hour before the show. As I said the hotel and convention center are right next to each other. This creates a wind tunnel between the two, and as I was crossing over, a gust came up. It caught the bill of my 25th anniversary hat and blew it off my head. Lucky, there was group of 20 somethings behind me and the hat hit a girl in the face. The Savior of the Hat was unharmed and returned to the hat me.
As I had said before, I had met the promoter of the show before. He had talked about how the Westin was a new venue for him. He had said that he was worried about the lines to get in, and he recommended that I show early. I was among first 100 or so, but is still took about 15 minutes to get in. The line was set up where you waited in the lobby and had to go down escalator to get to the entrance. They where letting people down in groups of 10-15 at a time.
I will admit that room was much smaller than I expected. It was divided ½ dealers and ½ artists. I took advantage that most of the people went directly towards to artist to browse the dealer tables. (I bought a set 1980 Creature Feature Stickers, some 1975 Marvel Stickers & a couple of 1960 Topps Outer Limit cards.) I was looking for non-sports cards and picking were slim.
I, also, talked to Paul from Popfun Merchandising (
http://www.popfunmerchandising.com/). He markets Toon Tumblers. They are pint glasses with cartoon characters on them. He has licenses from both Marvel & DC. He also has done small licenses such as Casper, Little Dot, Richie Rich and Bullwinkle & Rocky. As a glass collector, these are top quality items. You know where I going with this. Paul said he has talked with Sergio & Mark about doing a glass (or set?) but the haven’t been able together to get it done. I, personally, would love to see this item. I know Sergio & Mark worry about quality items, but the Toon Tumblers are a quality item. I know there are other obstacles. Here’s to hoping!
After the dealer’s section, I headed into Artist’s Row. Some very good artists. Not being a current collector, many of theses I never heard of. I did purchase a small canvas painting & 4X6 art card of Wonder Woman from Brian Kong. Mr. Kong does a lot sketch card insert work. He also has done the artwork for several sports card series for Topps. I got a Dan DeCarlo (Archie & Josie & Pussy Cats fame) Trade. In the mid-50’s, he did book called Jetta, before he worked for Archie. Jetta was set in 22nd Century at Neutron High, with jet cars and anti-gravity packs. You can really see the style he brought to Archie.
Sergio was set up out of the way. (He was a last minute addition to show, which may have explained the out of the way set up). George was there with family and friends (Sorry George, I don’t remember who they all were.)
Of course, Sergio was great. I had brought all my ACEO’s that I gotten from him. Sergio added Minstrel to my collection.
While, I didn’t buy any of the prints (no where to put them), I highly recommend them. I did buy the last box of the trading cards. I have the complete set, but not all the chase cards. I’m not sure what I am going to do with it. At $100, it was a great buy. Unlike the Art Cards, I purchased this for possible investment reasons. The question is do I open the box. While you’re not likely to get a full set. A couple of chase cards & possible sketch card offer some incentive.
While there was never a line of people at Sergio’s table, it seemed to me pretty steady. Overall, it never seemed that crowed in the room. I did talk to Jim as I was leaving and they were number of people. To make it worse, one dealer opened a side door and let in 30 or so people. I also talked to some dealers at smaller show on Sunday. They said the fire marshal was having them shut down admissions to let the crowd thin out. When I left around 1:00pm, I would estimate the line at 300 people.
All in all, I’m happy I went.
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