Downstate to the Springfield ComicCon

 

Yesterday, Sunday, I decided to spend the day driving to Springfield, Illinois and back, so that I could attend the Springfield ComicCon. This entailed a 400-mile round-trip in the MINI Roadster with the top down in glorious weather. I followed the old Route 66 down to Bloomington, before peeling off onto the back roads of 51 and 54. It took me just under four and a half hours to get there (inclusive of a couple of breakast and coffee stops), arriving at 11:30am.

Exterior of Route 66 Hotel & Conference Center

Part of the hotel lobby display about historical Route 66

The Springfield ComicCon was held at the Route 66 Hotel & Conference Center located at 625 E. Saint Joseph St. (I-55 exit 92- Business 55 / 6th St) This is near the intersection of 6th St and Stevenson.

The Springfield ComicCon is just one of a number of cons which run throughout the year in the American Mid-West, usually on one or two Sundays per month.  Details of upcoming cons can be found here =>> https://epguides.com/comics/

So was it worth it? I’d say yes. The actual con was smaller than I expected - more a mart than a con - certainly a single room with perhaps no more than 15 dealers present. But the content was solid - Bronze, Silver and Golden Age books, mostly very sensibly priced with many dealers willing to give 20% discount or more. I believe there is a trend for the price of decent quality Bronze Age comic books to reduce in recent years when bought at marts. 

I ended up picking up some 70s DCs to fill random gaps in my collection from a dealer who turned out to live ten minutes from me west of Chicago, and had made the drive downstate himself that morning.

My haul from the day

Similarities with a British mart?  Well, the age of the clientele was similar - long-time collectors mostly with a smattering of younger fans. But the content went beyond what would normally be found in the UK ; solid runs of Romance, War, Western, Humour books that were sparsely or not at all imported into the UK by Thorpe & Porter in the sixties. Also a lot of dealers with old pop-culture paperbacks and non-sports trading card collections for sale.

I left the con around 1:30pm and was home before 6pm, suitably knackered.