Lee K's Journal

A journal by Lee K

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Entries in this journal

Scheduled for grading

times There once was a time that modern books moved from 'Scheduled for Grading' to 'Graded' in a day or so, but now it seems to take several days. I don't mind, nor am I complaining, but has anyone had a modern invoice change to 'Graded' today, and if so, what was your 'Received' date? Thanks Lee K
Lee K

Lee K

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The saga of my PLOD

or how good is that guarantee? So, for those of you that have not been following my journals I had Strange Adventures #130 come back to me from CGC with the dreaded purple label of doom (echoes: doom, doom, doom)... I love Strange Adventures as a book - it just 'clicks' for me and as such I collect issues of that book outside of my normal go-go check collection. This time I had selected to send in three raw books that I had added over the past year (using my coupon - I love my coupon), SA #
Lee K

Lee K

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Shipping & Customer Service

yeah... So it turns out that if you leave a message for Customer Service at CGC, no-one listens to it - because all the overnight messages go to a phone that sits on a vacant desk. So now - my package has been shipped safe to my billing address. No-one is at my billing address, that's why I have a shipping address. And no-one did anything all day to correct this, because no-one sits at that desk in customer service. I'm completely perplexed by this. Well - what do you know - I called
Lee K

Lee K

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Grade

What? So I wonder sometimes, when you use the phrase "My book went up/down a grade" - what do you mean? I tend to be a little old fashioned I suppose - I consider 'a grade' to be a change from one 'word' grade to another. In my world the grades are: Poor, Fair, Good, Very Good, Fine, Very Fine, Near Mint, Mint, and Gem Mint - nine grades in all, and Iim still not 100% sure about Gem Mint. But as we all know those nine grades don't represent the numbers 1 through 9 inclusive. In fact, we
Lee K

Lee K

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Veterans' Day

you, me... It has little to do with comic books - but thank you to all my fellow vets out there, for it is through your willingness to serve and my willingness to serve that all of us can enjoy our silly little hobby. Plus, without you and me - we wouldn't have such classics as Daredevil vs. Hitler; Superman 14; and oh so many covers from Action, Batman, Captain America, Young Allies, Marvel Mystery, Exciting Comics, The Nam, Weird War Tales, Our Army at War, Star Spangled War Stories, GI Co
Lee K

Lee K

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Storage Options

For all my damn slabs... I have storage issues - but let's be honest with ourselves, unless you collect something really small, say - stamps...hold on, hold on - my friend's dad passed away year before last and there were stamps everywhere in his 3-bedroom ranch house...boxes, books, sheets, letters from overseas friends formed during WWII, African stamps, Nazi Germany stamps - there were stamps EVERYWHERE...and then we found more; oh and he had a ting for maps (me too) so then there were thre
Lee K

Lee K

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One week off

and what do I find? Everyone wants to know about turn-around times. Hell, I'm as impatient as anyone, but I'm more interested in what you collect or what interests you, than in how long your books have been at CGC. My main collection focus is well known, but - well, what about what you like to read? I know that many of you (not all, obviously) still look forward to Wednesday and the opportunity to purchase your weekly reading material. What do you look forward to? I'm enjoying a number
Lee K

Lee K

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Bummer deal

tease - tease - tease Got my grades in on 3 issues of Strange Adventures... #110 - 7.5 OW/W - which is better than I expected (7.0) and I am happy with, because although I know there are better copies out there, I'm sure they're all hoarded in the collections of those grey-tone fiends. #185 - 9.2 C/OW - Big Apple - which is what I expected, although I thought the page quality was one step better. But I'm happy I got my pedigree status without any questions. #130 - appearant 6.5 C/OW, SA
Lee K

Lee K

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I got bit again...

damn. That makes two now...restored SA DC books. The first one was purchased at auction and had some minor color touch to the cover - not a lot, just one little line; but enough to make the book a lot less sellable. This one - my second restored book, I purchased from a reputable dealer, one who regularly discloses restoration when selling, so although CGC hasn't disclosed the exact restoration as of this morning, I am going to assume that it is very minor and easily overlooked - hell, I di
Lee K

Lee K

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It's the Surfer's fault!

He wrote a journal...now I have to write one too........ OK, so really I have been wanting to write a journal for days but have been at a loss for a subject till now. Lately, I have been surfing (not a pun) the internet and reminding myself both of the books I am looking to add to my collection now, and of the books that I highly desired in years past - and I was struck by the cover to Batman the Long Halloween (#1 maybe - I didn't look that closely), and I said to myself, "Self, is that not
Lee K

Lee K

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Fire! Fire!

Ahhhhhh! There's a fire this morning in the same building that my LCS is located in and I haven't seen today's comics yet. I have no idea if there is smoke damage, fire damage, or water damage yet...at least I don't have much in my box. I hope this doesn't impare my LCS' ability to stay in business - it is awful tight right now for everyone. Good thoughts for my LCS and its really cool owners and employee... Lee K To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments ca
Lee K

Lee K

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a question of pedigree

American Kennel Club (AKC) or United Kennel Club (UKC) So I am preparing to throw myself into uncharted waters once again...I have purchased some pedigreed books from a reputable dealer and I was provided with certificates for the appropriate pedigrees. But, I haven't ever submitted a pedigreed book before. The process seems straightforward, but I am loathe to relenquish my original pedigree certificate when there is no guarantee that I will receive pedigree status on my label. I'm going t
Lee K

Lee K

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Not a DC reader?

Courious about the new 52, but don't know where to start? Stay away from Batman/Superman/Wonder Woman - you already know those characters, because everyone does...Do yourself a favor and try: Frankenstein, agent of S.H.A.D.E. or Demon Knights (if you like things medieval) or Suicide Squad. If you enjoyed reading The Killing Joke - try the new Barbara Gordon Batgirl and see how they incorporated that into her new backstory. There's a lot of good reading in the books that have been released
Lee K

Lee K

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Good Bye Sabretooth

Iron Fist 14, CGC 8.5 OW... Now it belongs to my buddy. Sometimes it's just the right fit. I picked the book up raw at ECCC maybe 6 years ago, undergraded and 1/2 price - slabbed it - to see how the process worked, and had it in my collection for that time. Now it needs to move on to someone else who will love it - so a 40th birthday present is what it became. Lee
Lee K

Lee K

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Faces in comics...

Or why portraiture fascinates me I don't think I have actually journaled about my fascination with portraiture - my love of the human face (and some animal faces - many have character in them as well). While I work at a regular job, processing paperwork and pushing a pencil, in my off time I paint. I have had some success with local shows and interact with local artists, but, like most artists that is the extent of my success. When I buy comics - when I scan the sea of books available from
Lee K

Lee K

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More Grades

just like school - mostly B's... So I sent in some raw go-go checks & a Strange Adventures to use up this year's certificate with the expectation of a 7.0, an 8.0, and a 9.2...and off-white to white pages. I have to say that I'm pleased (mostly) with my returns: Swing w/ Scooter 4 - expected 7.0 off-white - received 8.0 White Strange Adv. 125 - ex: 8.0 off-white/white - received 8.5 OW/W Inferior Five 2 - ex: 9.2 OW/W - received 9.0 OW/W I may have to send in more Swing w/ Scoot
Lee K

Lee K

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What a great day!

yesterday & today combined to make a great week My books shipped confirming my grades. I finished paying for the Mike Grell splash page for DC Retroactive Green Lantern (with Denny O'Neil) My package showed up from Worldwide Comics (Tarzan 243 NM+, Strange Adventures 185 NM-, and Strange Adventures 192 NM-) showed up... AND my LCS got a 1/200 sketch copy of Justice League #1 which I picked up at a very reasonable price. Now I just have to by a 1/25 cover at a decent price on-line.
Lee K

Lee K

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Grades are in.

Modern grades anyway... and they're not shipped yet, so the bet is still on whether the moderns (from 7/5/2011) will ship before my SA coupon books (from 8/15/2011). All the books came back 9.8/White - so that's nice (expected, but nice nonetheless) since I selected a mixed bag of JLAs JSAs Justice League of Americas (new #1 at my LCS today!) and a Brian Bolland Batman:Gotham for my brand new Brian Bolland collection (hey - either you dig his art or you detest it - I dig it for its different
Lee K

Lee K

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Flaming Scimitars and

OK - I don't really do flaming swords - swords are for girls - I prefer a big ol' axe... Last night I had the time to sit down quietly with the last issues of the current runs of Justice League of America, Secret Six, Will Eisner's The Spirit, and Zatanna - all DC books that are wrapping up in order to make way for the NEW 52! As I have blogged previously, I don't have any issue with the DC re-boot - in and of itself - companies reinvent themselves all the time and the little baby-step reset
Lee K

Lee K

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Verified

So... So I now have two separate invoiced marked as 'verified'...one a small group of moderns that were checked in on 7/5/2011 and the other 3 books on my member coupon that were checked in today... Which group will be graded first? Which group will be shipped first? This is almost as exciting as anticipating my grades... Lee K
Lee K

Lee K

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1 in 200

How am I supposed to get this? So I just got the info from my LCS and the breakdown for the new Justice League title is: regular cover, variant cover that comes with the digital download, 1 in 25 cover, and 1 in 200 sketch cover... I live in a town of 100,000 people with an aircraft carrier stationed at it, and my LCS is ordering an entire 75 copies of Justice League #1. So how exactly, without ruining my budget, am I supposed to get a copy of the 1 in 200 sketch cover? What a pain in my
Lee K

Lee K

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Birthday Surprise

So I was kinda hoping I would have grades... But, I don't. On the other hand I went to my LCS and my buddy there had purchased for me a raw copy of Strange Adventures #99 - maybe VG+/F-. A complete and readable copy for my collection. I am a happy man. Lee
Lee K

Lee K

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Twin Cities

Just generally overgraded? So I got my second book from the Twin Cities pedigree in the mail yesterday - Flash 162 - I already have a Metamorpho 9. When I bid on this book I could see that there was a strong stress line and color break at the upper staple - but further review of the scan indicated that this was the only substantial flaw with the front cover of the book, so I figured 9.2 was an ok grade. Once I had the book in hand, or rather the slab in hand, I was really disappointed with
Lee K

Lee K

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For the best in Adventure...

Go! - Go! - Go! The Go-go check period, representing a slice in time from early 1966 through the middle of 1967 is more than a ploy to make DC's books stand out on the spinner rack from all the competition. On the surface, it isn't much different than the Marvel picture frame period or even the 1976 Bicentennial issues; it does cover a specific period of time, and it created a cover design format that was used across multiple books in every genre by the publisher and it did make those books
Lee K

Lee K

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Today is brought to you by the letter Z

a look at the registry... OK - so not the journal I promised to write about the go-go check collection, but that journal is turning out to be more work than I anticipated. It's coming, it's coming. Instead I thought I might write a bit about the registry - I am fascinated by the registry. And today, because of my love of Matt Baker, Jack Kamen, Rulah, Zago, & Zegra - I thought I would start with the letter Z. In the letter Z there are 11 competitive titles, sort of; three of them hav
Lee K

Lee K

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