Monday, June 25, 2012

Heroes Convention: Post Mortem


Yeah! I've been out of touch for a few days. Yep! I missed posting last weeks "Gal" Friday (sorry about that). My excuse is that I spent a three day weekend in sunny Charlotte, North Carolina attending this years annual Heroes Convention. It was the shows 30th anniversary after all, and it was a good one for me. Stan Lee can be credited for queuing up willing hordes of gullible fans who ponied up quite a bit of cash (and most of their time standing in ridiculous lines) to secure a photo op with "The Man" and a handy-dandy signature; but there were some other cool first time (or returning guests) that I had not previously seen that appealed to me personally, including longtime Legion of Super-Heroes scribe (and former DC Comics executive) Paul Levitz, classic New Teen Titans inker Romeo Tanghal, Master of Kung Fu/Captain America/Punisher/Secret Wars artist Mike Zeck, and topnotch cover artists Jim Silke and Earl Norem. I didn't take the time beforehand to dig through too many of my own back issue boxes for stuff to get signed, lest I tote too much weight around, so I bought a handful of back issues at the show (see above; top) to bolster what I actually did take with me to Charlotte.

Alas, I pretty much blew through my entire flexible budget money on the show floor before the crowd was even allowed to enter on Friday morning (it pays to have friends), when a dealer pal finally presented me with a collectible grade copy of The Incredible Hulk #181. I never bought that book when it was first published in the 1970s, and with its rising value, it has sat perched atop my personal "Want List" for several years now. I'm glad to finally scratch that one off the list, plus the issues artist Herb Trimpe was in attendance at the convention - so naturally I got my copy signed. Not gonna slab it either; that one will be read a few more times in the coming years. I will post a few more thoughts on this years convention in the next couple of days, and get back to posting some golden age jungle stories.

3 comments:

Mike D. said...

if you don't mind sharin'...how much did you pay for the HULK 181?

Chuck Wells said...

I picked it up from a longtime dealer friend who cuts me alot of slack. He had it priced $750, but let me have it for $650.00. The pages are very slightly tanned, but the cover is extremely nice, with brilliant colors and no visible damage.

Mike D. said...

sweet