This week on Bronze and Modern Gods, we’re looking back at San Diego Comic-Con and asking a very uncomfortable question:

Is Comic-Con becoming Las Vegas with longboxes?

Between expensive hotels, $65-a-night parking, $15 chicken sandwiches, rideshare costs, food prices, exclusive lines, and every little thing being treated like an upsell, the show is starting to feel less like a fan event and more like a full-scale extraction machine.

And the people who may suffer most are the retailers. If fans are financially exhausted before they even reach the show floor, how much money is really left to spend on comics?

But it wasn’t all bad. Dealers seemed more flexible, prices have come down in a lot of areas, and there were still deals to be found if you were actually hunting.

Our Hot Book of the Week is the LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES SDCC Preview from DC Comics, which saw a major jump after being distributed at San Diego Comic-Con to promote the upcoming series.

For the Old Fart Rule, we go back to 1986 with DYNAMO JOE #1 from First Comics, a cheap and overlooked indie mecha book with John Ostrander, Doug Rice, giant robots, alien war, and serious “American Gundam before American comics knew what to do with Gundam” energy.

Our Underrated Books of the Week include:MYTH ADVENTURES #4 from WaRP Graphics, a quirky 1984 fantasy comedy adapting Robert Asprin’s work, with Phil Foglio art and very early Tim Sale inks and lettering.

THE QUESTION #1 from DC Comics, the start of the Denny O’Neil and Denys Cowan run that turned Vic Sage into one of the smartest, grittiest, most philosophical street-level characters DC ever published.

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