We’ll have our own Baltimore report up in a bit, but in the meantime, Mike Manley has pictures and his usual excellent reporting:

About 11:15 the fire alarm went off. Most everyone, like me, looked around, didn’t see smoke or panic and figured a kid pulled the alarm. But after a few mintues the voice came over the loud speaker telling us we did indeed have to evacuate the building…it was a leagl issue–please move out! People moved slowly toward the exits, some like myself, used the men’s roon on the way out, even stopping to wash my hands and dry them, Echo and booth mate Scott Nelly took our art and joined everyone else outside to wait and see what was what. It was funny seeing so many pros all standing outside mixing in the alley.

Maggie Thompson has a write up and photos of all the hoopla over at the Geppi Entertainment Museum. We visited yesterday and will have our impressions later.
The Baltimore Sun concentrates on other aspects of the show, including slabbing and typos:

A worn-looking Amazing Fantasies No. 15, in which Spider-Man is introduced, was on offer for $3,200. So was the 31st installment of Detective Comics, from September 1939, featuring a young Batman. The asking price: $14,500.

Both were described by the dealer as in “very good” condition, but buyers didn’t have to take the dealer’s word for it. For a price, collectors could submit books for an on-site evaluation by CGC, a company that inspects and grades vintage comic books.

“We’re like the Good Housekeeping seal of approval,” said CGC President Steven Borock, who founded the company seven years ago when Internet-based trading of comic books drove demand for independent appraisal services.

On the second floor of the convention hall, behind locked doors, a team of CGC graders inspected comic books for tears, wrinkles and evidence of restoration work. Once a grade was agreed upon by at least three graders, the book was hermetically sealed.

Borack said CGC has graded about 800,000 books, with an average value of $1,000, and hoped to handle about 1,500 more in Baltimore during the event.

By yesterday afternoon, he had already appraised two repaired copies of the inaugural issue of Action Comics, the comic book that introduced Superman.