From: ejs16@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Eric Jaron Stieglitz)
Subject: Convention in New York City
Reply-To: ejs16@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Eric Jaron Stieglitz)
Organization: Me, Myself, and I
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 02:48:37 GMT

I just came back from the huge convention in New York City today, so I thought
that I'd post some observations.
While most back issue material was available for 25-60% off guide, most of the
current hot issues were going for a rather large range of high prices, 
especially early Valiants.

Bloodshot #1: $5.00-$10.00
Rai #4: $22.00-$65.00 (The guy with the $65 price tag claimed that he'd
                       actually sold some!)
Rai #0: $8.00-$15.00
Eternal Warrior #5: $5.00-$12.00
Shadowhawk #1: $20.00 (price from one dealer)
Alpha Flight #106: $10.00-$20.00
Harbinger #0: $95.00 (price from one dealer)
Archer and Armstrong #4: $2.50-$5.00
Archer and Armstrong #5: $2.50-$5.00
Next Men #1: $9.00 (a rather steady price for the whole show)
X-Factor #74: $0.50-$4.00
Uncanny X-Men #295: $0.75-$2.50
Rai #1: $36 (from one dealer)
X-O Manowar #1: $25.00
Pitt #1: $10.00 (hahahahahahaha)
Magnus #3: $16.00
Issues of Uncanny X-Men from the 1960s in F-NM condition: $10.00-$20.00
                  (mainly issues 40-65)

For some reason, I didn't see many "collector's" edition Supe #75s at the
show.

Among the creators at the show:
Peter David
Scott Lobdell
Barry Windsor-Smith
Denys Cowan
Dwayne McDuffie
Mike Manley
Richard Pini
Lee Weeks
Tom Morgan
Rick Parker
Mark Gruenwald
Howard Simpson
and many others

For the most part, I found the accesability of the creators to be inverse
to their popularity. For example, Tom Morgan was polite enough to answer
a number of questions I had about how comics are drawn. On the other hand,
people who had vast popularity were harder to talk to. In particular, Barry
Windsor-Smith would only sign one book, and said very little (probably because
the line to see him was ten minutes long). Two notable exceptions to this 
rule were Mark Gruenwald and Peter David. Despite a rather long line, PAD was
polite enough to chat briefly with those who approached his table. Also, Mark
Gruenwald spent a couple minutes speaking with my group about various projects.

Some rumors heard from the creators:

Dwayne McDuffie will be leaving Deathlok after issue #25. Both he and Denys
Cowan pushed their new Milestone line. The art from a preview of Hardware 
(sp?) that I saw looked quite good.

One of the marketting people at Valiant hinted at the possiblility that BWS
might be leaving Archer & Armstrong soon. 

For those who had been following the Mark's Remarks column in Marvel Age: 
I asked Mark Gruenwald why he had never concluded his series of columns about
how comics were produced (he did this through the critique of some amuteur's
work). He stated that he could not complete the series because the creators
had never turned in the completed story. 

Mike Manley will be working on a mini-series for Marvel in the upcoming 
months (I believe that it had something to do with Deathlok and Spider-Man).

Fire Marshall's award for the day: 

   Image creator Rob Liefeld decided to offer free copies of a particular
comic. Result: An instant mob scene resulting in a large group of people 
creating a fire hazard in the convention center. The commotion that this
caused made hordes of people rush at the Image Comics table. 

---
Eric Jaron Stieglitz   ejs16@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu
School: (212) 853-6883 
Home:   (401) 421-7479