New Orleans Comic Con is an important event not only for the guests of “the con,” but also for the many vendors who come to the con to sell their wares. Over the course of the weekend, a great deal of money changes hands with customers spending vast sums of cash on various comics, action figures, and collectables. The con has a wide variety of things for sale, including some that would be difficult to be found anywhere else.
Of course, there were many comic shops at the con that had thousands of comics for sale. While most of the comics were in the $3-$5 range, some were a great deal more than that. One of the most rare comics at the show was a copy of “Detective Comics”#27 which contained the first appearance of Batman and was valued at $250,000.  
Aside from comics, one of the most common goods sold at the show was the action figure. The collectable figures covered almost the entire gambit of pop culture, from “Barbie” to “Transformers” and everything in between. Many of the figurines for sale at the show played into customers’ nostalgia, giving buyers an opportunity to relive their childhoods.
“The older stuff has more character. There’s some good new stuff, but the older toys are made with die-cast metal and they last much longer and they have this quirky character that you just cannot get today,” said an employee of Dial Up Games, a company that sells retro toys.
The unique nature of the show and the show’s attendees gave businesses an opportunity to sell items that there normally is not a large market for.
One of the more peculiar vendors at the con was Fez-O-Rama, who sell handmade velvet fezzes.
“One year I made fezzes as Christmas presents for my friends, and when we wore them out, people would stop us and ask if they were for sale,” said Jason Rogers, the founder of Fez-O-Rama.
Rogers said that they went to many conventions because it gave them an opportunity to show their fezzes to people who would be interested in them but who probably would not have heard of them otherwise.
“We do not have a physical location, so going to cons like this is an important part of our business,” Rogers said.

Gallery • 11 Photos

Charles Champagne

The Wizard World New Orleans Comic Convention offers many options in comic books Saturday, Feb. 8, 2014.