I can start making plans on things to see and do (and caution others that they must not miss the Geppi Museum at Camden Yards)!

Will I see you there? Have you seen the museum yet? (I lost track of how many people told me they'd gone to the convention but didn't get around to seeing the museum. Let me just tell any comics fan reading this: Budget the time to go to the museum at some point during your stay in Baltimore. If you plan ahead, you won't be sorry -- and it's in easy walking distance from the convention hall.)

According to the movie theater's website, I can watch a double feature of Stardust and The Simpsons Movie tomorrow. Con-going has interfered with seeing either till now, and I've been yearning to see either.

I note on Neil Gaiman's blog (See "More Links" on the left) that Stardust hasn't yet done huge box office in the U.S. but still looks to be doing OK on an international basis. Time to add my money to the only acclaim some business folks recognize. Besides, I don't want to wait for either until the DVD comes out.

It's looking more and more likely, with me ending up at the convention on Sunday, the museum Sunday night, and the museum and retailer conference to follow. We shall see.

You know, it's a fascinating aspect of our field that, no matter how many conventions and events we go to, each is a little bit different. Each has a different "feel." Each has an event that the others don't have. And it looks as though, by December, I'll have gone to a convention per month for ... how long? It seems like forever. That's not a bad thing. Not at all. But it gets a bit tricky after a while just keeping track of the last time I paid the utility bill or sat down to read a mini-series from beginning to end.

Throughout the Chicago show, people asked if I was going to attend the Baltimore comics convention, and I really hadn't thought about it Until Then. Not that I was not planning to go, either. It was more along the lines of getting through San Diego and Chicago and then pausing to collect my thoughts before making further plans.

Now?

Now, I'm searching online for hotels and airplane possibilities.

I think September 8-11 might see me in Maryland (that's the convention followed by Diamond's Retailer Summit, not to mention visits to Geppi's Entertainment Museum). Stay tuned.

It was the sort of moment that makes conventions such a delight: Cartoonist Jim Engel and I grabbed 10 minutes to share comments on a vast variety of topics, from Old Time Radio to The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band to Muggy-Doo Boy Cat (a Stanhall comic-book series from 1953). The last-mentioned came up, because Don and I had always considered the title one of the most bizarre in comics: even stranger than Space Western.

At any rate, Jim said that Muggy-Doo had a connection with Batfink Producer Hal Seeger in Seeger's earlier days and that there was actually an appearance of Muggy-Doo Boy Fox: I believe Jim said that was in a theatrical cartoon. So what the heck was the whole "Muggy-Doo" thing? Still no idea, but Jim's keeping an eye out. (Jim also recommended a book on the rise of irreverant comedy: Great Silly Grin; must check it out.)

This was a bit strange for many visitors to the Chicago show.

The first booth along the right wall invited attendees to buy Marvel stamps at that booth. But after the Friday morning event (unveiling stamps that had already been unveiled a couple weeks earlier in San Diego) and its follow-up at that booth, it was an empty site by the time I got there. Except for the sign and a few blow-up images of stamps. Postal Service, we love you -- but you could have sold a bunch more stuff, if you'd done more.

OK, the Chicago Tribune glasses I mentioned yesterday are as follows:

The ones I have: Brenda Starr (thanks to Steve Thompson, as noted), Little Orphan Annie, Moon Mullins, Smilin' Jack, and Terry and the Pirates

The ones I still need: Broom Hilda and Gasoline Alley

I gather those two are the tough ones, of course. And it's not as if I'm a desperately searching tumbler collector; they'd just be nice to have. (I recall when we announced those doggoned glasses at their initial release; I checked countless Libbey glasses outlets without ever locating any. It's a nice aspect of the world of collecting today: the ability to search sources all over the world in a hunt for whatever it is you're looking for.)

    Following my purchases from Comic City, I stumbled across Wes Hagen's booth. We'd talked earlier in the show, he carries his comics to many conventions, and it was a treat to visit a table packed with "$3 each!" boxes. This is precisely the sort of thing I look for at shows: no checking labels and computing discounts, just a basic price and rummage through the boxes looking for weird stuff. (The price that seems to work is $3; in that range, among the Silver Age and later items, I find occasional oddball earlier items.)

Air War Stories #7 (May 66, Dell)
Black Fury #51 (Feb 65, Charlton)
Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery #26 (Gold Key, Jun 69)
Bugs Bunny #73 (Jun-Jul 60, Dell)
Combat Kelly #8 (Aug 73, Marvel)
Ensign O'Toole #1 (Aug-Oct 63, Dell)
The Fightin' 5 Vol 2 #40 (Nov 66, Charlton)
Ghost Stories #11 (Jul-Sep 65, Dell)
Grimm's Ghost Stories #11 (Aug 73, Gold Key)
The Horizontal Lieutenant 01-348-210 (1962, Dell)
Jimmy Olsen (DC) #112 (Jul 68); #143 (Nov 71)
Lassie (Dell) #4 (Jul-Sep 51); #10 (Jan-Mar 53); #13 (Oct-Dec 53); #14 (Jan-Feb 54); #15 (Mar-Apr 54); #16 (May-Jun 54); #17 (Jul-Aug 54); #20 (Jan-Feb 55); #22 (May-Jun 55); #24 (Sep-Oct 55); #27 (Mar-Apr 56); #32 (Jan-Feb 57); #39 (Mar-Apr 58); #41 (Jul-Aug 58); #44 (Jan-Mar 59); #47 (Oct-Dec 59)
Lidsville #2 (Gold Key, 1972)
Looney Tunes #193 (Dell, Nov 57)
McKeever and the Colonel #3 (Aug-Oct 63, Dell)
M.A.R.S. Patrol Total War (Gold Key) #4 (1967; #5 (May 68)
The New Krofft Supershow #3 (Jun 78, Gold Key)
Porky Pig #22 (Feb 69, Gold Key)
Ripley's Believe It or Not! (Gold Key) #8 (Feb 68); #10 (Aug 68)
Scamp #9 (Nov 72, Gold Key)
Space Adventures #13 (Mar 79, Charlton)
Space: 1999 #1 (Nov 75, Charlton)
Strange Suspense Stories #70 (May 64)
Sugar and Spike #76 (Apr-May 68)
Tomahawk #96 (Jan-Feb 65, DC)
Tom and Jerry Comics (Dell) #87 (Oct 51); #88 (Nov 51); #95 (Jun 52); #100 (Nov 52); #116 (Mar 54); #135 (Oct 55)
Total War #1 (Gold Key, 1965)
Treasure Chest Vol 20 #16 (Apr 8 65, George Pflaum)
Underdog #19 (Jun 78, Gold Key)
Unearthly Spectaculars #3 (Mar 67, Harvey)
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea #10 (Nov 67, Gold Key)
Walt Disney's Comics and Stories (Dell) #110 (Vol 10 #2, Nov 49); #112 (Vol 10 #4, Jan 50); #117 (Vol 10 #9, Jun 50); #152 (Vol 13 #8, May 53)
The World around Us #34 (Jun 61, Classics)

Just to elaborate slightly: I didn't bother to check my own list for duplicates; I think I probably have the M.A.R.S. Patrol issues, for example. But I was in a hurry and just pulled what looked interesting -- and I just handed Brent the Total War, since he didn't have a copy, I know I do, and the Wally Wood art is great. In some cases (Combat Kelly, Jimmy Olsen), I know we had the issues at one point, but I think we sold them to make room for other items. So grab it and go at $3 each.

And I bought some for other purposes. I'm mentor to a grade-schooler with Asperger's Syndrome (Get me started on the topic of Asperger's some time, but what the heck? What it means is that a bright child with a comics obsession gets support in the field.) who loves Tom and Jerry. So I grabbed the Tom and Jerry issues as gifts. And I've got three grandchildren, so why not Bugs Bunny? The Walt Disney's Comics and Stories are beat-up, but great Barks for $3 each? Hey, grandkids!

Oddball fun. What did you find at the summer's shows?