I first heard about the STL Comics Summer 1 Day show when I saw a flyer at Villainous Grounds, a while back. It sounded awesome – a con focused on comics, with loads of vendors, and only $5 admission for adults. THIS was something I severely needed in my life, since our area feels like it’s lacking this sort of event. That was one of my huge complaints about Wizard World St Louis this year – where the hell were the comics?

Anyway,

I’d debated going, only because of my trip to Toronto for Fan Expo the end of this month. But I decided to go, because it was too tempting, and just limit my spending and what I was after. So, I took my mom and nieces – all of us wearing our Bat Force shirts – and a limited amount of cash, and left for the hour drive to the Holiday Inn where it was being held.

Immediately, I was overwhelmed with excitement. The first place I saw was a hallway lined with comic boxes, and walls holding shiny expensive books. I was in love.

My personal list I was allowing myself to look for, was the same list I’ve had for years, and been unsuccessful at finding – the rest of the issues of Gotham City Sirens that I’d missed during the actual run. Luckily, I have the first several issues, because I was reading them as they came out. But life happens, and I missed the last half-ish of the series. I’ve been hunting for them all over Missouri, on the internet (well, avoiding eBay for as long as possible), at cons, on trips out of town, etc. NO ONE HAD THESE FREAKING BOOKS.

But, imagine how dumbfounded I was, when the VERY FIRST vendor I looked at had several of the issues I needed. He cut me a deal, and I marked four off my list right off the bat. SCORE!

We kept looking, also hunting for things for my mom and nieces, and before long – BOOM! – more issues of GCS I needed! This process kept repeating as we went from the hallway into the main room, filled with tables and boxes and goodies. Look, find, scurry away happily with my purchase.

I ended up picking up two other books – third printing of Batman #24 (Rebirth) – where Bruce proposes to Selina, mostly because I love the black and white of the third printing. And also a Catwoman issue with an early Harley appearance.

I also met some really cool people, talked about The Bat Force/The Cat Force, nerdy things, etc. All of the vendors I interacted with seemed pretty nice. Some were exceptionally kind to my nieces, which is always appreciated.

Overall, this was an AWESOME show for me, and I will definitely be attending the next show like this that STL Comics hosts. I could tell a lot of preparation and love for the comic book community was put into organizing this event. I wish I would have prepared better and been able to spend more money at each vendor. Next time, I’ll be better prepared!

If you’re in the area, I believe the next event is set for March 4th, 2018. I’ll be sure to post some update for sure, though, closer to time. I’d love to get more people coming to this awesome show!

~Angel