Long Island Comic Book Expo back for first time since pandemic
The Long Island Comic Book Expo in Melville on Saturday had something for every collector or fan, from rows of boxes packed with $1 comics to plastic-encased books that sold for thousands.
Some collectors focus on the plastic-sealed books, which typically are never opened and often are viewed as investments, said Allen Goldstein, who was helping staff a booth for Kyle’s Comics, which has a store in Smithtown.
But, he said, “A lot of people like to hold the book. They like the smell. There’s a tactile and olfactory component to comic-book collecting. Everything about the comic book reminds them of when they were a kid.”
Saturday was the first expo since the pandemic began, said Greg Aiossa, who founded the event in 2017. The expo, at the Hilton Long Island/Huntington, continues from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $10, and free for children 12 and under.
Aiossa is hoping for 5,000 people over the weekend, up from about 3,000 in 2019, when it was only one day.
One of the most valuable pieces at the expo was a plastic-encased “Batman Adventures #12,” which Dave Glick of Manorville was selling for $3,500. It is so pricey because the 1993 comic features the first appearance of the popular Harley Quinn character, and because it is in mint condition, said Glick, owner of the online Tyger Comics.
Like other collectors, Glick gets many of his most valuable comics “cleaned up,” pressed and encased in plastic by a third-party company, which inspects the comic and gives it a number to designate how free it is of imperfections such as tears and marks. The Batman comic has a nearly perfect 9.8 grade.
Glick said fans can read that comic in a digital download for a few dollars or in a reprint for perhaps $15. But he likened comic-book collecting to art collecting.
“To the true collectors it’s like, do you want the real Picasso or a print?” he said.
Glick bought another comic, the first Spider-Man Noir, from 2009, for $2, not as an investment but “because it looked interesting to me.” But it soared in value after the character appeared in movies, television and video games. Glick was selling a plastic-encased copy for $450.
Paul Bierce, 58, of Commack, doesn’t like the encased comics because “I like to read them.”
“It’s turned them into commodities like stocks and bonds,” said Bierce, who was carrying a notebook with page after page of the comics he was seeking to add to his collection of about 1,300.
In addition to the tables filled with comic books were discussion panels, video game areas, costume contests and face-painting, as well as booths selling figurines, drawings and posters.
“I’m here for everything Spider-Man,” said Natalie Voltz, 23, of Commack, after she excitedly picked up a recently released “Beyond Amazing” series Spider-Man figurine that she didn’t own.
Voltz estimates she has 2,000 Spider-Man “figurines, toys, trinkets” and other objects — in addition to the Volkswagen Beetle she drove to the expo, which is painted in a red Spider-Man web design.
Her room is so packed with Spider-Man objects that she will need time to find a place for the newest one.
“Right now it’s going to go under the bed until I have room to put it somewhere,” she said.
David Olson covers health care. He has worked at Newsday since 2015 and previously covered immigration, multicultural issues and religion at The Press-Enterprise in Southern California.
