Unbridled Capitalism: Not Present Edition (Atlanta Comic Con)

This past weekend, my good pal Adama of Dispatches From The Arrowcave went to the local (for him) Atlanta Comic Convention, a smallish show held in a ballroom at the Atlanta Marriott.  We've all been to shows like this before; I used to go to one every 4 months or so at the good ole Ethan Allan Inn in Danbury, CT back when I was in junior high.  Anyway, the upside of these shows is that there's usually a good amount of dealers, and where there's dealers, there's deals to be found!  And so, without even leaving the comfort of my own home, Adama hooked me up with some sweet finds, all from discount bins!

Iron Man: Adam found an issue which has eluded me for years -- #278.  Why is the first issue of the Len Kaminski era so hard to find?  I don't know!  Adama also picked up What If? Special #1 (What If Iron Man Had Been A Traitor?) and Darkhawk Annual #1, featuring Shellhead as a guest star (and also increasing the number of Dawkhawk Annuals I own to two!).

Power Man and Iron Fist: Two issues for the pile, # 72 and #111.  This series is relatively easy to find, so I really need to be more attentive to it the next show I go to.

Black Lightning: I'm mostly done with the first volume, but I have only ever seen two issues of Jeff's second series, so Adama was nice enough to help out, adding #2, 5, 7, 9-10 from the second volume.

Outsiders: Between all the different finds at HeroesCon, my Outsiders collection has grown and grown, but Adama picked up v.3:no.27, meaning that I am one final trade away from having all of the third series.

Magnus, Robot Fighter: Everyone's favorite robot fighting, senator's daughter marrying, skirt wearing 40th century badass was very well stocked at this show, with Adama pulling out some really amazing finds.  Issues #1, 4, 13, 16, 17, and 36 were available, leading me to stare incredulously at the fact that he found so many "early" issues in discount bins.  Yikes!  

Furry Underpants Crowd:  Adama helped me feed my newest barbarian obsession, Arak, Son of Thunder, picking up #1-3, 10, 15, 17-18, 20, 23-25, 31, 33, 36-37, 40, 42-43, and 45, giving me about the half the series in about a month of collecting.  Not bad!  My favorite Marvel S&S series, Kull The Conqueror/Destroyer, snuck in there with #25.

Adama is an Enabler: A running joke between Adama and I is that I do not collect Hawkman.  I like Hawkman, but I have resisted collecting his comics since I don't need another second tier obsession like Iron Man or Flash.  All that has started to collapse now, though, since Adama called me and asked "Hey, do you have the Showcase: Hawkman?"  And so, finally, I caved.  Expect to hear more about this chain of events as it develops.

In summary, damn, what a great little show!  All this stuff cost less than $30, which is really amazing when you sit down and take a look at some of it.  I am very grateful that Adama was willing to dig through and find this stuff for me, and now I am hopeful that the Greenville Comic Con will be presented this fall, so that I can return the favor.