In the Dark

A journal by Tnerb

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About this journal

Oblivious to anything new

Entries in this journal

Cold Turkey

Or these aren't the Thanksgiving Day leftovers you've been looking for. Two books alone catapulted me up another thirty spots on the rankings. I didn't think I would be closer to 400 than 500 until way into next year. Most people in the beginning of a new year will set up a new year's resolution. Being a smart when I was asked by someone I was in high school with what my New Year's resolution was I answered to never make another New Year's resolution. All these years later, I have never broke
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A Reversal of Fortune

Or buying by the nix load I'm taking a chance. I just purchased at least 4500 raw comic books. At least that is the number I think it is. They are anywhere between mid seventies and early nineties. I didn't get to really look through them as deeply as I would have wanted too. I still had to get to work. One of the first boxes I looked at had The Thing and Spider-Woman, two series I've been wanting to read. There also looked to be some nice Amazing-spider Man issues, including 194,238, and 252.
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What Can I Afford?

Or Slipping outside my means I have done it, others have done it, and maybe you have done it. I'm talking about placing a bid on books with the thought 'there is no way I am going to win'. The final seconds tick down and a message appears in my inbox congratulating me on my good fortune. I have also placed bids so low I was shocked with the same congratulations. I have been fortunate by only bidding what I can afford, even going so far as bidding to the final dollar in my account, after all
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Placing a Bid...Again

Or OK I know I said I wasn't going to bid on a book but... I couldn't resist. I saw a book that I liked. The page distinction wasn't that great but it was a copy of Daredevil #16. The book was graded by CGC at an 8.5. I decided to see what I could afford and tapped out at $135. The book was won at only a few dollars more. Could I have bid higher, sure, but then I'd be scrambling more than I am. With work slow and a vigorous plan to pay off what I owe a bit sooner than later winning that book
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Marvel Comics The Untold Story

Or Reading a Novel I didn't realize how important Stan Lee was to creating the Marvel Universe. I originally thought he started in the sixties, when the Marvel Universe I knew was created. I had this romantic version of two snot nosed teens starting in the industry recreating everything in their wake, but it was nothing like that. Stanley Martin Lieberman and Jacob Kurtzman came to be known as the legends Stan "The Man" Lee and Jack "The King" Kirby. They met just as Joe Simon and Jack Kirb
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My Amazing Spider-Man #129

Or ASM #129 9.4 Off-White to White Pages Signature Series vs. ASM #129 9.6 Off-White to White Pages Double Signature Signature Series.I was sixteen, maybe seventeen when I asked my father for $300.00 to purchase a Near Mint copy of Daredevil #1. There was some profanity before the final word of "NO". The book was one of two that I was truly interested in. I was a more consciousness collector and started to purchase the back issues, the Frank Miller Daredevil issues helped bring upon this renasc
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Part 1 of 2

or Part 2 of 2??? Sometimes suspense is good. The kind a comic book gives you when you have no idea what is going to happen next. Sometimes it is at the end of an auction that you really want to win. And sometimes it is when you go to sleep and you have no idea what the morning is going to bring. Today was a lazy day, although I did accomplish a few items around the home I did so with the new Batman Trilogy I picked up on Blue Ray. I tend to pick up books from sets I want to complete. I have t
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Auction Ending

or It's only One More Anytime I tell myself I am not going to buy something, I do. It's those times that I don't say anything that I have a dry spell. Today there are a few books in an auction I want. There's nothing major about them. They won't complete a set. They won't satisfy my need to buy an iPad Mini. They won't even be here the second after I win...if I win. I placed this bid in November, knowing full well that the time the bidding closes would be well into a month that I vowed I would
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Am I a Sellout?

Or Selling Bronze at Silver Prices Is selling a comic book selling out? Is there anything wrong with purchasing a comic book just to flip it? Is buying multiple copies wrong on the speculation that what they own will become a commodity? Did this mentality destroy the market place in the nineties? Am I guilty of buying on the hopes of making money? Yes I am. What I bought though was under poor research and hoping rather than understanding. Yes I bought lots of X-Force, X-Men, and Image #1's.
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TRAIN!!!!!!!!!!>>>>>

or There goes that News Van again As everyone who is reading the Journals can see there is a repetitive journal being posted over and over again. The truth is he is doing nothing wrong. I have inquired to CGC and I have sent a message through the boards to HarveyFanatic himself. I figured I would go through standard protocol at least hoping that if he is going to post these journals at least let them be informative, I for one love hearing about other people's collections. Neither has shown t
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Warriors, Come Out and Play...

Or Something New to Collect? Sometimes I hope that when I talk about the New Mutants another collector suddenly has the urge to acquire the title. When a collector collects one thing it is much easier to start collecting other items too, in my case shot glasses and Star Wars items, the latter has been placed on hold due to space. I also like statues and recently ordered two more, but what is this Warrior magazine. When I first read the title, what immediately came to mind was a three issue m
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The Three Conventions

Or next year I plan on four I was lucky enough to go to not only Wizard World which is in my backyard of Philadelphia but I went to neighboring conventions in Baltimore and New York. This was the first time I went to three major conventions in one year. Each convention had something to add. Wizard world in Philadelphia had on site grading for CGC, Baltimore had some amazing deals on books, and New York had the artists for those books to be signed. Not to mention at each one I met Stan Lee.
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The Morning After

or Does it count? I mentioned I wouldn't buy anything in December to add to my CGC collection. I need the month to catch up on my bills and pay off what I owe to my parents and what I purchased at the NYCC so I can start saving for the ECCC even though it is still three months away. There has been a book that I have been looking at and the owner of the book and I agreed upon a price, the only situation is although we agreed upon the price in November, I won't be paying for it till December, so
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Another CGC Mistake

Or Maybe that is why it was so cheap. More times than not if I win an auction it is either way too much, or something on eBay. I have been trying to get a signature series together for my New Mutants collection. I believe I have about 34 out of the 107 I have signed by an artist or write. With the exception of issue #54 I make sure that I have a second copy of the book I want to have signed or that there is a second copy available. Issue #17 was one of the hardest books to get. In fact the cop
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Multiple Signatures

Or Why isn't one enough? Two of my first signature series editions were New Mutants #18 and #19. Although both were off-white to white pages (and stolen by the USPS) they had the signatures of Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz. My other signature series books only had one. I started to change that this year. I don't know with what book but my ASM #129 is signed by Stan Lee and John Romita. This book is not in my possession but at CGC after being with Classics Incorporated to hopefully impro
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Getting ready for the ECCC

Or plane tickets, check; press pass, check; comics for CGC signature series, check; money for CGC to pay for Signature Series... I want to get one of my Amazing Spider-Man issues signed. My primary choice is my already twice over signed copy of the first appearance of the Punisher and the Jackal. I would love to add Gerry Conway's signature to this book. I think I might also make it my second signature on my issue #127 and get my raw #128 signed. The latter issue will be lucky to get a 9.2.
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Taking a Stand

Or Hate Me if You Like At the NYCC I first found out about CVA. I don't follow the boards as some people think I should and yes I like to stay safely tucked inside the journals area, mainly because it is what I know. I also couldn't get to the chat boards when I originally joined so I never gained a love for that part of the site. When I first learned about CVA I wanted to know more, I contacted them directly and had two lengthy conversations with Joe Veteri, the first one was after I alre
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What is CVA Pt. II

Or these aren't the Droids you're looking for CGC has been around for over a decade, but not everyone knew who they were in the beginning. It took a couple of years for the collecting community at large to accept them as the standard. Joe Veteri hopes the same people will use CVA as an impartial, unbiased third party service. He doesn't expect an overnight success, but Joe knows this labor of love "will take however long it takes". The main idea behind CVA is a book with solid structure and ex
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30 in 25

Or .833333333 I was worried I wouldn't be able to get thirty journals done in thirty days. It looks like I have time to spare. I haven't written anything for anyone else since I feel obligated to complete what I started. Once done I will get back to my regularly scheduled program. One thing I should do Is read what I wrote last year and see if I accomplished what I wanted to do. Then I should write what I want to accomplish for next year. I am happy with what I did accomplish and look forwar
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Getting Ahead of Schedule

or What can I get now? This month has been better to me than others. Although last night was utterly horrendous, I expected it. Black Friday is notoriously slow for us, hence tips are down. Of course after working my two days off I am ahead of schedule. I still have tonight to add to my net wages and one more check to deposit then it's onto the difficulties of December. I have about ten more books out there that will make its way back to me. So what will I do if I don't allow myself to buy a
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My Black Friday

or What the Hell? I live in a relativity secure building. In other words you have you have to know people to get in here. The fact that I heard a knock on my door made me think that I had Tom Petty playing just a little too loud. I opened to the door to see a Fed-Ex man with a package which befuddled me. I have all my packaged sent to my father's, but here he was asking me if I was who I was. The package was indeed for me. I opted to bid in one of Pedigree Auctions "auctions". I placed a bid
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Let's Go Shopping

or Does Thanksgiving even exist anymore? I am a waiter. I have only done this for a short time in my life and when I switched no one would hire someone who decided to start over. I decided to try at the diner I ate at over the years (decades) and was able to finagle my way in with the help of a waitress who served me for those same amount of years. The one thing I loved about the place is it was always open. I knew if I wanted a quick or good meal I could go there whenever I wanted. Unfortunat
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OK! It's Thanksgiving

or no thank you, I don't like turkey. For the past few years I have opted to go into work. It's not that I need the money although it does help. It's not even that I don't have family, because I have a great family albeit they can't cook. I am serious when I say they can't cook too. I go into work because I always liked the days where everything is closed but that one store. When I was younger that one day was always the day I felt the strongest urge to get comic books. I've been reading on
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When is the Copper Age?

Or the newest set I want to complete. Every comic age seems to have a transitional period between the new and the old. Without argument, it is safe to say the Golden Age of comics began with Action Comics #1 which introduces Jerry Siegal and Joe Shuster's Superman. The Silver Age also unarguably begins with Showcase Comics #4 in 1956 with a reinvigorated Flash, but the definitive end of the Golden Age was never mentioned. Did it fizzle out, maybe linger on beyond its time, or did the last pa
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Watching the Bids Climb

Or I still don't think it will sell and I'm not concerned. I listed my X-Men #109 only a day ago. There is some interest, but nowhere close to my reserve. Of course many people, myself included, bid in the final moments. Most of the books I have placed on eBay I listed at the starting price of what it cost me, whether it was something I sent in myself or I originally purchased it to collect. At one point of time in my life I thought I would never sell a comic book. I was wrong. What's differ
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