What You Got For Your $50 At Image Expo – And Can You Flip It?

Adam S. Messinger writes,

I have fought giant, living trees, an evil counterpart, the concept of technology, and nearly 5 hours of Bay Area traffic to get to one place… The 2015 Image Comics Expo.

While I arrived late and missed the keynote speech, it has given me the chance to calm myself. It also gave me the chance to rifle through the premium ticket goodies. I have been to every Image Expo in San Francisco thus far, and I've always wanted the glorious prestige that comes with being a premium ticket holder. This year it was in the ballpark of $50.

As you can see, it comes with an assortment of convention exclusives. Among them are Wytches #3 by Scott Snyder and Jock, Rumble #1 by John Arcudi, James Harren, and Dave Stewart, East of West #16 by Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta, last but not least is Bitch Planet #1 by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Valentine DeLandro. Image was also nice to include a t-shirt and handy, dandy tote bag.

Were one to add these up in value (and I'm pulling these ballpark numbers straight from my rumpus except for the comics) each comic is $5. Which amounts to $20. The shirt would probably be $20, and the tote would be probably $10. That in and of itself is $50 worth of material (at least in this individual's point of view) not to mention the fee to get in. When you add it all together, that's $50 in stuff plus, approximately, $22 for entry. This comes out to roughly a $72 value for the price of around $54.

Personally, I find it worth it. I am a fan of most of the books I got variants for, and that makes it just an extra cherry to the sundae. If one were to get them signed at a signing session offered throughout the day, and then flip them on eBay, the monetary value could even increase. After just looking at what I received, the anger from the long commute washed away. Instead I am now thankful for cool stuff, and don't see myself settling for anything less than a premium ticket in the future.

Adam S. Messinger is a flaky freelance writer who has contributed to this great site, and Comicbuzz.com. He has also made mediocre lo-fi pop music, written the comics The Amazing Fist, Frank and Elenore in.., and other various short stories. You can find his thoughts and shenanigans at adamsmessinger.tumblr.com, twitter.com/AdamSMessinger, or facebook.com/AdamSMessinger