Dan Gallo and Joe Veteri’s latest Comic Art Con returned on Sunday, September 25, 2016 at the Empire Meadowlands Hotel in Secaucus, NJ. With an admission price of only $10 and children free, attendees were treated to an astonishing variety of both comic and comic book art both vintage and modern. As usual the show hours ran from 10 AM to 4 PM. Now that the multilevel parking lot has been deemed safe and reopened after suffering damage to one level, parking was both free and exceptionally convenient.
Now in its eighth year, the Comic Art Con was again held in the hotel's large 5,000 square-foot main ballroom. It provided wide aisles and plenty of room for collectors to move around while checking out the 46 tables full of original comic book art. You will never find comic books at this show as they are not allowed. The beauty of this show is that it’s not just about selling or buying art. Attendees and dealers are encouraged to bring art from their collections to show off their most prized possessions.
This con’s dealer line up included the show's regulars: Anthony Snyder, Bechara Maalouf, Will Gabri-EL, Frank Giella, Hans Kosenkranius, Jim Warden, Rich Donnelly, Albert Moy, Brad the Savage, Scott Eder, Dan Jerome, Zaddick Longenbach, ComicLink, ComicConnect, Gene Park, Hake's Americana & Collectibles, Ben Bressel, Ankur Jetley, Rich Cirillo, Pedigree Comics, and Terry Holtz.
Robert Wayne Dennis of Comic Art Restoration Services was once again set up at the show. Dennis is an expert in the area of comic art restoration, and text and logo stat reproduction and has years of experience in stat reproduction, cleaning, tape removal, tear seals, glue residue removal, and image reconstruction. Potential customers were quoted a price on the spot and he accepted comic art at the show for those who wanted his services.
The guest artist was Keith Giffen, the co-creator of Rocket Raccoon and his writing of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Giffen was also the breakdown artist on DC’s 52 and Countdown to Final Crisis. He talked to fans and signed autographs but he did not do any drawing or sketches.
Walking around the room and talking to people, I was struck by some of the amazing pieces I saw there. Hands down the most spectacular one, for me, was the original art for the cover to Motion Picture Funnies Weekly #1. Motion Picture #1 was published by First Funnies Inc. which was located in NYC on 45 West 45th Street. It was designed to be a weekly 36-page promotional book that was supposed to be given out to children at movie theaters in April 1939. Those plans never came about supposedly because the series was deemed unsuccessful. This comic featured the first appearance of Bill Everett's Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner in an eight-page black and white story.
This was six months before Marvel Comics #1 was published which was long believed to include Namor's first appearance. The comic is extremely rare, with only six to nine known copies existing. The comic was found in the office of the departed publisher of the comic. Three more comic covers were found for the series designed to be issues 2-4, but they never were made into finished comics as far as anyone knows. Making issue 1 the only “real” whole comic in the series and one of the rarest comics in history.
With pencils and inks by Fred Schwab the cover's owner, Brad Savage, estimates the value of the cover to be $900,000 or more if it went to auction. I was most impressed by Joe Mooney a young and aspiring portrait artist who set up an amazing exhibit of original paintings he did of various TV and movie superhero stars such as Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman and Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman from Batman Returns. Both Allie and I think he has a great future ahead of him.
It was great running into old friends among the many attendees at the show such as Dave O'Hare and Sal Zurzolo the co-owners and promoters of The Garden State Comic Fest and Zurzolo’s brother Vincent of Metropolis Comics and ComicConnect fame. Rob Pistella, the gallery manager of Metropolis Galleries, is always willing to talk collecting and this time was no exception with the topic being, of course, art.
Nadia Mannarino of Heritage Auctions and All Star auctions also attended. Both Allie and I really enjoyed catching up with her. Comic art people tend to be quieter in their conversations and that contributes to a huge part of the charm of the show. Comic Art Con offers the chance to catch up with old friends, talk about art, and have the room and relative quiet of the show to have a great conversation.
With this edition of the show now history Gallo and Veteri are looking forward to the next edition of the Comic Art Con. For more information, go to comicartshowcase.com or email Gallo or Veteri at dgallo1291@aol.com and be sure to like them on Facebook.
Contributed by Collector and Overstreet Advisor Art Cloos
Photographs by Alice Cloos