The spring Toronto Comic Con went this weekend, I saw some pictures posted and the show looked busy. I’ll have to talk to a few of the guys I know that set up and see how it was, how they did. I remember back in the 2019 edition of this show, we had rented an apartment a five-minute walk to the con, it was St. Patrick’s Day weekend and a bunch of us went drinking at an Irish pub. All I remember was getting up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, I left the lights off because I saw a body lying in the bathtub but I couldn’t make out who it was, when I woke up a few hours later and went to the bathroom to get ready for the day, the bathtub was empty, and I was short a guy! How can I not be able to find one of our guys in the apartment? We were 20 stories up so the first thing I did was look over the balcony! Where the hell was he? It made no sense; how can someone just disappear from a bathtub? Anyway, a couple of hours later he staggers into the show, I asked him where he was and he said he couldn’t sleep because one of our other guys snored too loud so he took the elevator down and slept on a bench in the subway, good times.
I tell you what else makes no sense, how does Amazing Spider-Man Annual #6 not bring more money that it currently does? I mean come on, look at the cover, villains everywhere! The great John Romita giving us what we want in late 1969. The book easily wins our cover of the week, it was in our “going to eBay auction” pile.
This ad makes absolutely no sense! I remember actually getting mad at a few ads I’ve heard on the radio and seen on TV, after seeing the ad I’d be sitting there trying to figure out what they were trying to say, what were they selling? Sometimes these hipster ad guys are too smart for their own good, my guy in the bathtub could write better ads. Case in point this ad from House of Secrets #82, November 1969, what are they selling? Tootsie Rolls? What’s a whistle? Is this a toy from Mattel? I may not be the brightest bulb in the drawer but I’m not sure this ad generated much business.
Now this splash makes sense! This is the last page of art from Marvel’s 1978 Silver Surfer graphic novel, after this page there are pictures of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. This is so minimalist, so white on white, so Moebius, I love it.
Last night another of our icecollectibles weekly eBay auctions ended with some good sniping going on. I was watching the ROM #1 sale with interest, here’s a late Bronze Age book that has been on people’s radar for the last decade and our copy fetched $214.50 USD matching the 90-day average but coming in a bit below the previous sale. ROM #1 really shot up in those pandemic years, in 2021 it ranged from $285 to $695. I looked back and found that back in 2014 its sales range was $143 to $300, this year in 2024 its sales range is $185 to $285, we’re right back where we started.
I agree on the Romita cover on the Spidey Annual! Sometimes groups of villains ( Rogues Gallery ) covers are boring ie Flash covers from the 60’s, but Romita really puts some excitement into it! Had to look up the Tootsie Whistle thing and darned if there isn’t a YouTube video demonstrating the machine with all its molds ( way too long but maybe I am guilty of a short attention span)! I wish they had used that image of the Silver Surfer in the cover because I thought the real cover was dull and dark.
I agree Gerald, the cover was too much as was most of the book really, this last page was like a pleasant sigh after being over stimulated for the last 100 pages.