Apparently, going to the London mart back in August wasn’t enough for me—so off I went again last Sunday (Oct 11th).
An earlier start this time, so Steve dropped me off at Solihull station around 8.45am. While there I took a selfie on the platform, and in nice, gentle daylight it turned out OK—apart from the horribly greying hair. I really need to put some dye onto this, stat!!
The train to Marylebone was only ten minutes late and I got in just after 11am. Paul was already waiting for me there. I had a quick coffee from Greggs and we had a quick chat, before getting on the tube heading for Euston Square.
Arriving at the Royal National Hotel, we went into the mart and looked around for five minutes, then decided to sit outside the pub for a while to unwind. Richard, already in the mart, came out to chat for a while. As part of my relaxation therapy I did a ten-minute Demon sketch while talking to Richard. He liked it, so I gave it to him. Suddenly, he took out a £20 note and handed it to me! Quite unexpected, but gratefully received—this should happen more often! 🙂
Back into the mart, we browsed around for a while. I didn’t buy much. After getting the facsimile of Superman vs. Muhammad Ali back in August, I semi-hoped I might find the recent facsimile of the 1976 Superman vs the Amazing Spider-Man—an old fave, of which I used to own a couple of copies, long ago. Sadly, no luck. There were copies of the original printing going—for £125 and £60 respectively. Bit too much for me, I’m afraid!
At around 2.30pm, Paul, Richard and I went to get some lunch. After the mediocre pub fish & chips last time, Paul took us to the Valencia Cafe, a couple of blocks from the hotel. The prices were much more reasonable, especially for central London—£12.50 for a lunch of grilled chicken, chips and salad, plus a very nice coffee—a mocha, of course. (The soso fish & chips were £19.50.) The food was very good, so thumbs-up.
More mart-browsing followed, then we sat outside the pub again for the rest of the time there. Location initially not ideal, sitting by one of the big TVs showing a footie match—yawn. But it went quieter later on and that was a very good thing……
A couple more pics—firstly, Richard and Paul with Hass Yusuf (on the right) (yes, the UKCAC co-organiser), outside the mart venue; and a selfie of me & Paul outside the pub later on… a horribly unflattering pic of me—poor lighting conditions, but my constipated expression doesn’t help… what the hey.
I had a better time overall than in August—so I’ll be going along to the next one on November 29th!
Ta for posting Chrissie and the day was a fun get-together and IRL Mart meet-up, plus I found a couple of Kirby-related items with a few nuggets of info and images inside. See you for the next one!
Chrissie: stop running yourself down all the time: your brain will believe whatever you tell it. So…stop it and tell yourself you’re brilliant and gorgeous. Because – you ARE!!!
Chrissie, I’d love to see and hear more about what these marts are actually like! I’m afraid I’ve got a bit of starstruck, Gravett-fueled (heh) nostalgia for the very idea, and yet, as a Yank with only a bit of UK experience, I’ve only ever heard or read about them, and not in very specific terms. Is this mart like a “flea market”? Do exhibitors come and go at random, or remain pretty reliably there? I haven’t seen photos of contemporary comic marts, so I’m curious.
Q: Aside from the Superman reprints mentioned above, what sort of things do you tend to “shop” for at the mart? What sorts of stuff are abundantly available?
The first-ever comics “convention” I ever attended, as a maybe 11 or 12-year-old back in the mid-1970s, was not much more than a flea market. I don’t remember any “program” or programming. It was just a mart where fans could browse for comics.
I bought my copy of New Gods #1 there for three dollars and fifty cents, and my copy of Mister Miracle #1 there for three dollars even. Those prices were about TEN times the cost of new comic books, and I had to think hard about buying them! Glad I did. 🙂
PS. I didn’t get any more “back issues” of Kirby’s Fourth World until the mid-1980s, when I finally learned how to shop in a comic book store. Then I binged.
A comics mart is just like the comics dealer section of a convention. So you don’t get the guests or the panels, just the dealers!
I took a photo inside the mart on my previous posting here. Maybe I’ll take some better pics in November.
Myself, I just look for any cheap stuff and bargains, mostly. But it’s also about seeing people you know in the scene. I used to go semi-regularly from the late ’90s onwards, but for some reason hadn’t been to one since 2008, until last August.
I’d have described your expression more as ‘concentrated’ than ‘constipated’; not quite ready for the picture to be taken. Anyway, I’m glad you’re enjoying the marts enough to keep going. You said that you hadn’t bought much, but what was it that you did buy?
I bought Gary Leach’s copy of Captain Victory #3 and a couple of bargain-bin items. Less than previous time, but it’s not really about that, is it?
Speaking of Kirby’s ‘Fourth World’. I have the lot, with some signed by Jack from when I went to his house. I have tons of stuff. I’m thinking it’s time someone else enjoyed them. Where’s the best place to sell? No cherry picking, though!
I have an account over at eBay, but it can be very much a ‘peak and trough’ platform (right now, it’s a little quiet, other than the russle of passing umbleweed, but may pick up as we approach Xmas). Listing is still free, but eBay now applies a levy on all purchases from private sellers (it’s allegedly a fee to fund refunds if there’s a problem with the item, but that’s already covered by the PayPal guarantee).