Want to see a few more pics of the Windy City Con 09? Well Windy City 09 is over, and I'm now a very tired girl. It was a great success! Our thanks to Chris Neseman from the podcast Around Comics for making this such a great little event. He is the perfect person to run a show: he's efficient, thoughtful, accessible, tireless, and genuinely excited about the medium. Check out his podcasts here: http://www.aroundcomics.com/
I don't know what the final tally was, but last year attendance was around 1500, my guess is maybe 2000-2200 this year? Anyway, the Windy City show is the only con that Amazing Fantasy attends as an exhibitor, and we really enjoy it. The focus on WCC is the creators which is what comics are all about, if it wasn't for the talented writers and artists out there we wouldn't be able to enjoy this medium that we all love so much. The Windy Show attracted quite the roster of top notch talent, check out the full list here: http://www.windycitycomicon.com/ It was great to say hello to such icons of the industry such as the almost impossible to reach Tony Moore. At the big shows his booth is always overwhelmed, but here he had a steady stream of fans, but nothing out of hand. The charming Geof Darrow was also on hand at the show with his lovely daughter, they even shopped at the A/F booth! And many of the local comic creator types were on hand: Doug Klauba, Mike Norton, Tim Seeley, Don Kramer, Mike Babinski, Gene Ha, Tony Akins, Bill Reinhold, Chris Mitten, Skottie Young, Rafael Nieves, and many many more. Since the main focus of the show is creators, there are only a small number of dealers and publishers on hand. So if your main goal of attending a comic show is for stellar silver and golden age comics, you will walk away disappointed, but if you want bargains on recent comics/trades than this is a great show for you! Many of the dealers brought 25 comics, dollar books, 5 dollar trades, 40-50% off various gn's and more! A/F had a great selection of DC Archives at 40% off, what a deal! We also had other great bargains, like our trademark storypacks and more. As you can tell from the pictures, the A/F booth had a wonderful display with all the various Lantern symbol shirts available for sale. The ones that didn't sell will be available at the Frankfort A/F. We have many of the designs pictured from sizes M-XXXL. The XXXL are hard to come by, so get those babies before they are gone, normally the manufacturer, Graphitti Designs does not offer the XXXL through Diamond, so A/F has not been able to carry them before we decided to go direct with Graphitti. A/F also had a wonderful assortment of cuddly Ugly Dolls available for purchase which always goes over well with the little tykes at the show. I've been called a savior repeatedly for carrying these cuddly critters at the show. A new feature at the show this year was the food available on the patio of The Center, on the floor with the con, a great little added bonus! Chris Neseman brought in a wonderful caterer who made food fresh to order, like grilled burgers and dogs. Windy City even provided FREE lunch for the creators on hand, always a nice perk for the hardworking artists and writers at a con. I personally did not try the much discussed burgers and dogs (everyone was raving!) but I did partake in the yummy baked goods! They baked cookies, brownies, and muffins fresh that morning and brought them in for sale, amazing stuff. Quality chocolate treats is always a surefire way to put a smile on my face! Mmmmm... Ok, typing about these yummy snacks makes me want something chocolate!
Back to the comic book talk!
My opinion on the show: TOP RATE! Amazing Fantasy will definitely be back next year with all kinds of fun merchandise for the fans to peruse and perhaps purchase. I'm thinking we might expand to two booths next year, so we can make room for even more GREAT comics and comic-book related goods! And our thanks to many of regular customers that came out to the show, not only did they have a great time getting cool sketches and chatting with the creators, they were sure to stop by the A/F booth to show their support! And they all were nice enough to purchase quite a few things from us at the show, how cool is that! Amazing Fantasy has the best customers in the whole of the comic book buying world! Really, we just love you guys and girls. Thanks to everyone who made this show so much fun!
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