In the Dark

A journal by Tnerb

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About this journal

Oblivious to anything new

Entries in this journal

The Countdown Continues

Or Number six with a bullet Next on the list is a book I never picked up when it came out. I would have, if it ever made it to the racks, but Amazing Spider-Man #252 was an instant sell out at the local 7-11. I was twelve and the closest comic book store was too far to make it there secretly. Of course the other side of the coin was I didn't know anything about release dates. After picking up New Mutants #15 I went back the next day and picked up as many comic books as I could. I don't reme
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The Original X-Babies

or Licky Slumber Sleven Bagofleas has a beautiful copy of the New Mutants in a Gem Mint Ten, the closest I could come to that is a 9.9, a copy I never would have known about because I was unfamiliar with Comic Connect at that time. It was an auction that ended on a Monday a half an hour before work. I brought in my net book which had wireless service at the time and in the last few seconds placed my bid only to see another three minutes be added to the ending time. This was new to me. I knew o
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The Top Two Spots

Or No, you didn't miss the Other Five Ok, let's face it, if I'm counting down my top ten and you already know the top two spots, wouldn't it be more exciting if slots three through seven went in a random order. I have written so many times about my New Mutants issue fifteen and my Amazing Spider-Man #129 it's hard to imagine anything else to write about it. The ASM #129 became bigger than it ever was from a back issue on the wall at ComiCards, to a single issue in an ever growing collection
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Eight of Ten

Or Does it get any Better than This? Number eight on my list was the book that brought Magik back to the Marvel universe...again. This four issue limited series brought about the short return of the New Mutants. My first graded copy was signed three times in a 9.8, but his could I pass up a Gem Mint Ten. Sure, it's not as good as having a Gem Mint New Mutants #1, but this cover and the alternate cover brought about two great statues matching the covers. I bought both. This small limited seri
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10-1= Daredevil

Ground Control to Major Tom This next one was originally purchased through an online auction. I placed ten bids on ten different comic books and on each of them I maxed out from the beginning. My theory was that if I was meant to win, I would. One of those bids were placed on a universal copy of Daredevil #1. I feared this would be the first book I would lose. By the next day I lost three and the Daredevil #1 was already at my maximum amount. By day six I lost all, but the first appearance of
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Creating a Top Ten

Or Finally Answering Surfer 99's question. Longer ago than I can remember, Surfer 99 asked what ten CGC graded comic books would survive a purge. At the time I answered with five. I felt I didn't have enough to warrant a proper answer. Now that I am closing in on four hundred slabs I feel that I can. Over the next ten journals provided I don't sidetrack and talk about the upcoming Wizard World convention I will list my top ten books that will survive a mass exodus of four color books from my h
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ECCC to Graded

Or Quicker then I Expected I have had already three invoices returned to me from ECCC, of course these were sent in on a higher tear. Out of the three invoices that remained at CGC two were submitted under the modern designation. Today they were changed to graded. That's forty business days since they were accepted at Sarasota, FL. With all the major cons CGC has been attending, especially with on-site grading at Mega-Con, I am shocked at how quickly this made it to being graded. So I wonde
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Stan Lee Lives

Ideas can never be treated to any one source. They are tossed back and forth between people until the decision makers step in and choose what they think is a success formula...   ...Jack KirbyMy day begins and ends with comics. I know, that's a weird thing to say. I'm single, live alone, and find comfort in the fabricated fiction I collect. This story telling medium could be argued that it would never have existed without Stanley Lieber. It is more true to say that comic books of today would n
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The eBay Protocols

Or Buy! Buy! Buy! This past Sunday the registry was down for three hours, at least it was slated to be down for three hours. Normally it's at night when they update the site for maintenance, this time it was slated for the afternoon. And asynchronous as I check the site out it wasn't until Surfer99 pointed out the change that I took notice. There is now a search eBay button for this initial update. I tested it out with New Mutants 58 of course, there were nine. Then Annual #4 fir the same se
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Trying New Things

Or I Really Am A Fussy Eater I try things once in a while, new things in the time the proverbial blue moon arrives. In fact there have probably been many blue moons that passed between the things I have tried as new and finally accepted as old. Many meals would pass untried, this was probably due to my parents not being able to cook. This inconsiderate habit of denying myself things transcended into the comic world. Of course in simpler terms everything is new at one point. It has to be trie
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In the Que

or Don't know what to expect For a few weeks I had an invoice with three books marked received, once I saw them change to verified I checked what books they had. Two on that invoice were Marvel Team Up #100 and Sandman #14. These are two I took to the ECCC to get signatures on. The Marvel Team Up was an acquisition and the Sandman was a book I was doing my best to get caught up on since I started late in the series with #32. The third book however was a copy of Daredevil #9. I wanted this bo
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Getting a 9.5

Or My First Red Label My father had my package ready on the dining room table. A knife sat to the right of it, the tip broken off. I should ask about that, but I was happy that the book I made a trade with was there. eBay is easy, as well as any if the comic auction sites. You pay, they send. But what happens when you're trusting someone to send you something using the honor system, if course to be fair, they were trusting me too. I met this person through Instagram. I have almost as many pi
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Selling After Upgrading???

Or Weeding Out the Old... I'll write more about the book I received in a trade as soon as I get it. This is more about the books about to go. My raw Daredevil eight is gone. I always considered it to be mid-grade. By CGC's standards I would give it a 5.5 or a 6.0 and after purchasing a 9.2 SS copy I traded it away. The question is should I do this with my other books? I have a 9.6 copy of Amazing Spider-Man #300. Do I dare get rid of my raw copy. Do I try to sell it in the hopes to make a fe
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We All Complain but...

Or for a moment lets forget about turn around times. When the greats did the whole community mourns. Most recently Carmine Infantino died. Any comic book news site that is worth anything reported on it. This happened about the same time that Margaret Thatcher and Phil Kaltenbach died. I'm sure you know two out of the three, the third might be less known but no less important especially among the grading community. Phil was a grader with CGC until passing away in late March, and out of the al
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If I Buy it???

Or Can I sell it? I just purchased a CGC copy of Daredevil #8. This book is also signed by Stan Lee, graded a 9.2 and falls into the goals of my collection. The thing is, am I If I Buy It??? I just purchased a CGC copy of Daredevil #8. This book is also signed by Stan Lee, graded a 9.2 and falls into the goals of my collection. The thing is, am I allowed to sell the other one. Is there any formula? Will I regret owning both if them or selling one. I bought a collection and in this collect
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I Will Kill You All

or My Top 5 Comic Book Villains The first comic book villain I remember from any comic book was Darth Vader. This was the oversized treasury edition. Since this comic book was based off the movie I don't think I can count Palapatine's disciple. Another villain I remember was Two-Face, an arch nemesis of Batman, but I never followed what happened after the only issue I had, #313. I was also introduced to the White Queen in my infamous New Mutants #15 along with her students the Hellions. New
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Today is the Day

Or I better get more shifts I have my coupon books coming back to me. I have a copy of Daredevil #8 also on its way, more on that later. No today is the day I finally spread myself to thin. I am working on press credentials for Wizard World. I was thinking if anyone and everyone could sign off if you like when I write about these events than that would definitely help. I stopped writing for Comicbooked and would much rather continue here and in my blogs. I am going to risk a few books for si
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A New Set of Goals

Or one for me and one for me I am starting to sell any and all CGC books that I either collected by mistake or decided to no longer contribute with. This money is what will continue to allow me to collect CGC graded comic books. I mentioned that by the end of this year I wanted to have four hundred registered slabs, but how. I am going to continue upgrading my 9.8 New Mutants collection. Only two ate needed to finish this run, issues 58 and Annual 4. Do I dare attempt what Bagofleas did with
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Let's Be Crazy

Or These are the books I used my coupon for. For my coupon I sent in the worse possible comic books I had. I didn't look them over. I didn't try to grade them, but assumed that three of the four would get a .5 while the best of the four should have been no greater than a 1.8. In fact I felt that anything above what I thought the books would be would have me seriously question CGC's ability to grade and right now I am seriously questioning CGC? The first book, Crazy #3 has my nam filled out o
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The Coupon Cometh

Or Standing at 15 days I have a premium membership. This is basically because I won a best copper set for my New Mutants set. This currently resides at number one in the rankings and if you only check out number one sets I beseech you to check out the number two of this set. It's worth it. Of course though winning the best copper set gave me a free coupon for four free grading's. The thing is what do I grade? Do I send in the very best that I have? And this is arguable; trust me when I say arg
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Does Pressing even Work?

Or Hoping for a 9.6, expecting a 9.4, and getting a     Warning Profanity AheadMy ASM #129 is Amazing, my #127 is no less so. Both of them gave me a stabilized corner to try to get a run of issues starting at #119 and ending at #129, the catch was they all had to be under CGC's signature banner and a 9.6. I saw a 9.6 ASM #128 on eBay before I left for ECCC but figured there was no way I could get it delivered before I left. I decided it would be one of the books I would diligently search fo
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Eleven days Later

or My Amazing Spider-Man #128 While I was in Seattle and worrying about my Amazing Spider-Man #129 I also wanted a copy of Amazing Spider-Man #128. This way I would have three books in a row that were signature series. I am hoping for all three to also be a 9.6. I chose the best looking book, which was surprisingly a great low price compared to some of the other dealers i looked at. I found this book ranged between 460 and $100, and every single one of them looked in worse condition then the o
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The Story Ends Here

or a Bit Personal The Story Ends Here Or a Bit personal It's been a long trek for my ASM #129. It had been graded a total of five times, has three signatures, and has changed grades twice, both for the better. I have written so much about this book and have it next to me while I write this. I'm gazing at it and as I have no proper display for it I am going to have to put it away with my other Amazing Spider-Man's. It's funny the signature I am most unhappy with is Stan Lee's. When the book
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My Experiment with Pressing

Or Am I Happy? Last year I went to the Baltimore Comic Con. I brought a few comic books with me for Matt Nelson formerly of Classics Incorporated and currently with Classics collectible services (CCS), a subdivision of Certified Guaranty Company (CGC). Was the talks if a transition even in place now. Was this a way for CGC to now add a purple restored label to pressed comic books or a way to start a new color label on this currently considered non-restorative technique. I met Matt Nelson
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Jealous, Envious, or Proud

Or Thank You Bagofleas Bagofleas and I met because of New Mutants #47. I purchased the book through WorldWide Comics. He missed buying it by one day, if I'm not mistaken he said by twenty minutes. I admired his collection then, I admire his collection now. I'm not envious or jealous because that seems to have a negative tone to it, no I think proud is the word. I met a few people on here a little before him but he was the first person I mentioned as friend to my father. To have a copy if Ne
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