In the Dark

A journal by Tnerb

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About this journal

Oblivious to anything new

Entries in this journal

Losing First

Or Gaining first was worse. I didn't really didn't mind losing my first place status, that's not to say I won't be trying to attain it back. In fact I have currently pre fumigated not only my residence, but airports, train stations, and multiple delivery service hubs. The first time I wasn't ready, the second time I will be. But lets do the numbers, Bagofleas had a gem mint #1 and until I have one or something better my registry spot will always be behind him. When I gained first place I st
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Bagofleas is a underhanded backstabbing dirty filthy rotten scoundrel.

Or by the way he has Fleas The registry award(s) deadline has passed. If you wanted your set to be acclaimed and didn't make it this year, you'll have to keep perusing the auctions and conventions for your graded CGC books to add to your sets for the registry awards for 2014. If you were sniped like a last second bid on EBay, then "it is what it is", but I wonder, if this as collectors is what we strive for? Do we try to edge out our competitors for the top spot, to say we are first, or to sh
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My Last invoice from...

or That's it from ECCC Although Wizard World had on-site grading, my books, and those entrusted to me should have been back the last day of the con. They weren't. Stan Lee signed a ridiculous amount of books. I watched as someone placed a suitcase next to him and started to unload it. Whether they were all for CGC or not I don't know but I did see a few get picked up. Apparently, the batch my comics were in were the second day he was there...after the cut off. Now as I wait I have to send off
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I hate yellow

Or Why couldn't the Signature Series be a different color? Let me explain why I hate yellow. It's the bees. Yup, those little things that pollinate the flowers and if were to go extinct, theoretically, the world would no longer be able to support life. It happened in 1980, when I started to hate yellow and the comic books I owned were things to keep me occupied rather than collected. I was sent away to camp for the first time. We were given a list of things we could bring, and when I say we
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Top Tens

Or five times two I love top tens. The main reason why is after 75 plus years of comic books making its way onto newspaper stands all those years ago there are so many different titles to see. During the boardie dinner in Philadelphia I was privy to someone's pride and joys. They were AMAZING. I even decided to pick up my first golden age book even though it wasn't the book I was originally planning about. I even learned a bit more about the atomic age of comics. These journals and Instagram
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The Great Bob McLeod

Or A Few more Signatures I didn't think anyone would be there Thursday. I just assumed the opening day would be a day I would learn where everyone was. The back portion of the room was empty. Norman Reedus was to be in the back right corner while Stan Lee was to the left, but the person I was looking for was in Artist Alley. I had four books for the New Mutants co-creator to sign, three of which were cracked slabs. A few days before at three o'clock in the morning I nervously cracked issue
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Wizard World 2013: Going Green

Or what about what Lee K gave me? I did not expect Bob Mcleod to be there on Thursday. I figured this would be the day to walk around and figure out where everyone was at, but there he was, sitting at his table, drawing. I cracked a few slabs in hopes that not only his signature would be placed upon the cover, but they would retain the coveted 9.8. I also decided, courtesy of Lee K to have a nice copy of the New Mutants Annual #4 signed by the creator of my favorite title. I knew this would ha
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Getting some Books Back

Or a Slight Dissapointnent At Wizard World I was surprised that Bob McLeod was already signing on Thursday. I was hoping to get my signatures for him on Friday for fear that I wouldn't get them back in time. So after placing the books in front of Bob I thought that would be the greatest color on the black portion of the cover of New Mutants #3. I was wrong. The red apparently didn't want to show up. I opted for silver instead, a color I usually prefer. The beginning of the B was traced exact
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Will my books be Graded?

Or should I just wait until tomorrow? I'm not going to say CGC is not busy but since I started going to other cons I can at least say they are not as busy as I've seen them before. I have yet to check on my books because I'm afraid of a negative answer. I'm sure they will be graded before the end of the weekend but I can't wait until they are back in my hands. I dropped off two mistakes. One was an X-Men issue mislabeled and the other was a Marvel Team-Up issue that negated to mention the do
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Wizard World Stan Lee Q&A

Or this man can entertain I knew right after anything I do with CGC I was going to get a picture if me and Stan Lee. I was going to do it by myself but asked my best friend, who is promoting For_Zombies, and asked him if he would join me. He didn't have to wait in line nearly as long as I did. Once the picture was done I purchased a few comic books and made sure I had enough time for the Stan Lee panel. This was my third one, the second here in Philadelphia. This year Stan wasn't late. His e
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Wizard World : Working a Booth

Or...and... The one great thing about knowing people that have booths is you have a place to leave your stuff. The one bad thing about knowing people that have booths is they can ask you to watch their booth. I'm sitting here at one in particular while the two are checking out a panel. I know a small bit about their production but I'm mostly just winging it. Fortunately I was there to help film so I know the basis of the projects. I can sit and relax until someone looks interested in it.
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Wizard World: Day One

Come on in the water is fine. This year the main convention is located in the newest edition to Philadelphia's convention center of off Broad Street. I remember in years past, waiting outside, to get in thinking what if it rains? Last year they rectified that by having the line snake up and down a hallway before entering another room. This also helps in the heat. This year they rectified the line problem by the mass amount of space. The con started off slow for me, I made a promise to someon
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Is it worth it?

Yes, but only to me. This book will never be worth anything to anybody except me. I decided to get all my New Mutants graded regardless of what they would attain. So far, the lowest grade is a 4.5 SS and the best of them I pulled off the racks was a 9.8. The two most sought after issues both are graded a 9.6. After originally having my issue fifteen graded, it returned a 4.5, a grade that surprised me for no other reason then it was probably my most read book. I knew it wouldn't be above a f
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The Greatest of the Eighties

Who is the most popular character to come out of the eighties? If Wolverine is arguably the most popular character from the seventies and Deadpool is the most antagonistic character of the nineties, and the first decade in the millennia being too close to gage a lasting character, who can lay claim to being the most popular hero or villain of the eighties? Rogue appeared in Avengers Annual #10. Her humble beginnings in the Brother Hood of Evil Mutants, under the tutelage of Mystique was shor
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I made my decision

Or Either way I am nuts I cracked it open. I ripped asunder the thick plastic holding the well fast. I cut the thinner plastic holding the entombed ComicBook and slowly, gingerly, and painstakingly cut praying my steady hand would stay steady and wouldn't slip. Twice, two more times then I would car for the blade made its way towards the book. Halfway down, I stopped. Fortunately it was enough. I slid the book into the precut bag allowing for a spot for the signature. Blue painters tape outl
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...and the RonnyLama says

Or can the New Mutants wait? I already decided to get three of my New Mutants graded when RonnyLama called to answer a question I had when he blurts out why don't you get that ASM 252 signed by Stan Lee. This off course would stop me from getting the New Mutants signed. I can't do both, only one or the other. Then there's that beautiful issue three hundred of ASM. The live of my New Mutants collection is well known. So with any tough decision, more information is needed. I sent a text to B
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Do I Dare Crack?

or the Battle of the "New" Mutants I know what is going to happen. As sure as I am the sun will set and rise again. The lead I had has slowly been disappearing in the New Mutants 1983 set, the set that I feel is the only set that matters, well that and the copper age set which I can't even get close to the top three without some divinity from God stepping in. The New Mutants set was the set I wanted first and at first I knew I would be taking it away from some stranger from Florida. I did take
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The Journals Come Alive

or more good news please The journals have come alive. I hit my milestown of 450 journals two days ago and since then there have been slightly more than a dozen added, quite a few have been by Bagofleas. The one directly after mine was by Lee K, an issue I wanted to bring up as well. The quality of the quality control might be more stringent but what about the shipping. I know my last two packages have been haphazardly thrown in the box with a miniscule amount of popcorn a little bit of bubble
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My 450th Journal

Now only if I had as many graded comic books. With all kinds of lists that could be made, it's the covers list I always enjoyed. Wizard would have them in their magazines as well as CBG. So for my next list I am going to let you know what my favorite covers from the eighties are. I would also like to know if you feel that CGC is slipping. We all know grading is taking longer but I have noticed that with their new increased quality control they lost the quality over the control. This goes fro
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And the Runner up is...

This was so much fun why do I have to stop at ten? I looked over my books and wrote a list of ten. A month later I did it again. Then I looked over my original top five when Surfer 99 originally posted the question. Then I made my list again. Finally I listed the ten that you have spent the last couple of weeks reading about. Here they are listed in its entirety... 10. New Mutants #47 9.8 Universal Total Graded: 4 9.8 (NM/M) grade: 2 (50%) Signature Series: 1
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Another disgruntled USPS rant

Or This has been a public service announcement How is it the USPS is hurting for money, oh yea, they suck. Cgc has only recently started to ship through other means than USPS. Of course if you have an account with FedEx that was a choice as well. With all the changes CGC has been making, I think the best one is adding UPS has a shipping choice. I track my packages from the moment they ship to the moment they arrive. On this particular package it was stated a notice was left, twice. One ti
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And Then there was Three

or The Last To Be Named We all have that ONE book that made us pick up the next one. I can attribute that book to New Mutants #15, I think if you are reading this, then you know that already, but what made me pick up that book? Was it the Star Wars treasury edition, was it Richie Rich Millions #79, Could it have been DC Comics #502, or Batman #313, possibly Action Comics 507, which the cover was so good I read over and over again without even opening the comic books pages. There are many diffe
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Two Squared

or I couldn't choose just one My number four spot was a tie. The two books that fill this spot are my New Mutants #17 and my Daredevil #380, both are a 9.8. The New Mutants was purchased that way as a gift. It was also the first time I told my friend who purchased it for me what I wanted. She tells me I am hard to shop for but I think I am rather easy and this was a perfect choice. It was also one of the last books I needed that was available, and I might be sending it in for a signature. How
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A Broken Dream??

or How will I get to see the Wizard Now? I don't like to trash talk, I don't like to say bad things about people and it has nothing to do with karma. I just don't like when it is done about me so i won't do it to others. It is that whole golden rule thing. I used to write for Comicbooked and stopped quite a while ago. I felt that I would rather write on my own merits. I started to write more on my blog, hoping for more followers. I did my own thing so to speak. When I applied for ECCC the a
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Beginning the top Five

or Down the Home Stretch I always figured out of the top ten, any top ten it was always the last five that had to jockey for position while the top five were solidly in place. I can never see my top two spots changing. Maybe a high grade Daredevil #1 signed by Stan Lee might hit that number two spot, but not the number one. Three, Four and Five could definitely be new to the list and in that five spot is my Daredevil #3 9.0 signature series by none other than Stan Lee. This book was purchased
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