Final 2010 SDCC Report! Howdy! Chuck and Ashley (click on image for larger view) Today's newsletter is being written at 70 mph, as we are bombing up I-15 in Southern Utah, heading home for Boulder. Ashley is driving our jam-packed cargo van with professional skill, which leaves me free to write to you on my iPad. My WiFi card seems to be holding connection, so I should be able to relate to you some of my stories from the end of this year's San Diego Comic-Con International. I'll begin by letting you know that we ended up having a very successful show. I was more than a little worried going into Sunday, as we were only at about $53,000 in gross sales for the convention as of that morning, which was still a bit under our estimated $60,000 break-even point. Sunday is always our busiest day at the convention, however, as we drop all of our books to 50% off. The good news is that we were absolutely buried with customers on Sunday morning. The bad news is that we were so busy that our two cash registers couldn't keep up. We would normally have unpacked our 3rd register that we brought from Colorado to help with the crush of fans seeking to pay us for their purchases, but I was informed that morning that it was unusable as someone had left the register keys for that machine in Colorado. Grrrrrrrrrrr! It was at this moment that my new assistant, Ashley, definitively proved her worth to everyone else on our convention team. She became quite upset and frustrated after she overheard several fans say that they were going to put their books back on our shelves because the lines at our two registers were too long. I explained to Ashley that we were going to just have to accept those lost sales, as there was simply no way to replace our useless third register at noon, on a Sunday. To quote her, Ashley responded by saying "to Hell with that, I'm going to find someplace that has a cheap register for us right now on my Blackberry." Five minutes later, she had found exactly the $99 register that we prefer to use, located a mere six blocks from the convention center. She then arranged for a ride to the office supply store through the kindness of the film crew that was recording us for Morgan Spurlock's new documentary "Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope." in just thirty minutes, Ashley was helping relieve the pressure on our other two registers on her new machine, and easing a great deal of frustration for many fans at the same time. Incredibly, Ashley ended up ringing up over $6,000 in sales on her new register during just the last five hours of the show! As a result, we ended up grossing nearly $80,000 in total, which means that we definitely made a profit at the convention. Suffice it to say, Ashley's stubbornness, and unwillingness to take "no" for an answer, contributed greatly to our final success at the convention. Speaking of the documentary, Ashley and I found out on Sunday that we are probably going to have significant screen time in the final cut. We went to a party at 1 AM on Sunday evening, attended by quite a few of the members of the ten camera crews who had been filming various fans and creators for inclusion in the movie. Several of the executive producers were also at the party, as were director/producer Morgan Spurlock. Ashley and I attended this party with some trepidation, as we had no idea what the reactions would be to our genuinely "out there" relationship. It is not all that common, after all, that a happily married middle-aged comic book dealer forms a strong personal bond, and a very dynamic working relationship, with a red-hot 22 year old boy-girl lesbian. I am clearly not your typical person, however, and neither is Ashley, so we have managed to find ways to make our differences in perspective and worldviews work out for us. Even with that being the case, however, we were quite concerned at what reactions we would get from the filmmakers, especially when we engaged in some of our more outrageous behavior, such as going out drinking and dancing all night in gay/lesbian nightclubs. Making things slightly more uncomfortable for us was the fact that we were wearing microphones darn near 24/7 during the convention, so we were being overheard and filmed (via digital streaming...) by an unknown number of people in distant locations during some exceptionally private moments. Suffice it to say, depending on what the editors decide to include in the final cut of the movie, you are going to see aspects of my personality (as well as Ashley's) that you had no idea existed. All of the above having been said, Ashley and I were stunned when we were greeted with such obvious affection by those who had already been privy to raw footage of our interactions. We thought that we had given the filmmakers a very honest and candid portrayal of our sometimes whacky, but completely platonic relationship, but we really had no idea of what reactions to expect. In a nutshell, they loved us! I heard not one negative comment over the next three hours of the party, and I heard a great deal that was positive. I expressed on several occasions to various assistant producers and editors my genuine concern and fear that our footage would somehow be edited to show us in a negative light. I received universal assurances that that would not be the case, so my mind is presently quite a bit more at ease. I do have to say, however, that participating in this filming was very akin to dancing naked on a public stage. While that meant taking some enormous risks of looking the fool, I did take great comfort after having spoken directly with Morgan Spurlock, and having him assure me that Ashley and I would come off looking very cool. He also completely agreed when I made the statement that "love us, or loathe us, the real bottom line is that anyone who sees Ashley and I on screen together will never forget us..." Please remember those words when you see the final cut of the movie, hopefully up on the big screen in your local multiplex. Moving on to news from Mile High Comics, Pam has been busy of late, adding tens of thousands of great back issue comics into our New-In-Stock and Premium New-In-Stock listings. This is particularly important for all of you right now, as I am going to end our annual 40% off SANDIEGO codeword sale next Tuesday, at noon, Colorado Time (please keep in mind the codeword does not apply to new comics, Dallas Stephens comics, trade paperbacks, hard covers, graphic novels, statues, or supplies). Aside from our typical Silver Age and Bronze Age additions, Pam is also going to be adding parts of a 10,000 book collection of comics that are all ten cent and twelve cent cover priced issues, with many from the late 1940's and early 1950's. That having been said, I want you to know that am intentionally leaving the 40% codeword savings in effect for you through early next week, as I want to be sure that we pass along to all of you a part of the benefit of our having had such great success at this year's San Diego convention. It is only through your year round support of our efforts that we are able to mount such a great convention display, so I figure that we absolutely owe it to you to show a tangible manifestation of our gratitude to you. Please enjoy these last couple of days of the SANDIEGO codeword sale with my heartfelt personal thanks for your support. Happy Collecting! Chuck Rozanski, President - Mile High Comics, Inc. Advance Previews of next weeks comics from Archie Comics P.S. Aside from all of the older comics that Pam's inventory has been adding to our website, they have also added a huge number of hard-to-find recent issues from all of our popular genres. I am having Lynne include those popular genre links at the end of this newsletter to make browsing our website even easier for you. Have fun! Quick Links to Popular Marvel Titles Alias (2001) Alpha Flight (1983) Amazing Adventures (1970) Amazing Spider-man (1999) Astonishing X-Men (2004) Avengers (1963) Avengers (1997) Avengers/Invaders (2008) Black Panther (2005) Captain America (1968) Captain America (2004) Captain Britain and MI 13 (2008) Champions (1975) Civil War Classic X-Men (1986) Conan (1970) Daredevil (1964) Daredevil (1998) Deadpool (1997) Deadpool (2008) Defenders (1972) Doctor Strange (1966) Doctor Strange (1974) Elektra (2001) Exiles (2001) Fantastic Four (1961) Ghost Rider (1973) GI Joe Hulk (1962) Hulk (2008) Invaders (1975) Iron Fist (1975) Iron Man (1968) Iron Man (2004) Journey Into Mystery (1972) Marvel Team-Up (1972) Marvel Two-In-One (1974) Master of Kung Fu (1974) Mighty Avengers (2007) Ms. Marvel (2006) New Avengers (2004) New Mutants NYX (2003) Peter Parker (1976) Powerman/Iron Fist (1972) Punisher (1987) Punisher Max (2004) Runaways (2005) Secret Invasion (2008) Sgt Fury She-Hulk 2 (2005) Silver Surfer (1968) Silver Surfer (1987) Spider-Man (1963) Spider-Woman (1978) Strange Tales (1951) Sub-Mariner (1968) Tales of Suspense (1959) Tales to Astonish (1959) Thor (1962) Thor (1962) Thunderbolts (1997) Tomb of Dracula (1972) Ultimate Fantastic Four (2003) Ultimate Spider-Man (2000) Ultimate X-Men (2000) Ultimates (2002) Ultimates 2 (2004) Ultimates 3 (2007) Ultimatum (2008) Web of Spider-Man (1985) Werewolf By Night (1972) What If... (1977) Wolverine (1988) Wolverine (2003) Wolverine: Origins (2006) X-Factor (1988) X-Force (2008) X-Men (1963) X-Men (1991) X-Treme X-Men (2001) Young Avengers (2005) Quick Links to Popular DC Titles Action Comics Adventure Comics Adventures of Superman All Star (1976) Authority Batgirl (2000) Batgirl (2008) Batman (1940) Batman & Robin Adventures Batman Family Birds of Prey (1998) Brave and the Bold (1955) Catwoman-The Series Catwoman (2001) Challengers of the Unknown (1958) Dark Knight (1986) Detective Comics Fables (2002) Firestorm (2004) Flash (1959) Flash (1987) Green Lantern (1960) Green Lantern (1990) Green Lantern (2005) Green Lantern: Rebirth Jack of Fables (2006) Jimmy Olsen (1954) Justice League of America (1960) Legion Of Super-Heroes (1980) Lois Lane (1958) Mad Magazine Our Fighting Forces (1954) Phantom Stranger (1969) Plop (1973) Secret Society Of Super-Villains Sgt. Rock Showcase (1956) Super-Team Family Superboy (1949) Superman (1939) Superman Family (1974) Tarzan (1972) Teen Titans (1966) Warlord (1976) Watchmen (1986) Weird War Tales (1971) Witching Hour (1969) Wonder Woman (1942) World's Finest (1941) Click here to view all the Free Bonus Book Giveaways Current Newsletter