In the Dark

A journal by Tnerb

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About this journal

Oblivious to anything new

Entries in this journal

Wizard World 2010 Part 3

The second day of spending continues Here it is Day Two of Wizard World 2010. I received my books back from CGC and did the unthinkable and gave them four more. I am also starting to rethink giving them a fifty lot for a pre-screen. I am going to have to rethink my expenses (I did spend a lot). If I do the math correctly if all would return with a grade of 9.8 then my final ticket would be $850 pre shipping costs?not to mention insurance. I could give the attitude that it is only money. Toda
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Wizard World 2010 Part 2

Here I am at the convention I am sitting here at Wizard World 2010. I am taking a break from my wanderings even though I already had lunch with my Parents. They live in the area so it is also a good drop off point for some of the books I bought. I don?t know how much I plan on still buying because I feel somewhat let down. It might be because they do not have as many panels as they did last year. Marvel and DC seem to have decided it isn?t even worth being here. I would have hoped that would h
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Wizard World 2010

After another year it's finally here It is the currently the night before the convention. Wizard World Philadelphia 2010 is finally here. I sit typing away with the eleven books from ?My ten to get graded? both parts 1 and 2 on the table. The one book I am having trouble grading is my copy of New Mutants #15. This book has followed me through the years. Even when I had to place the majority of my collection in storage I still had this book with me. The grade will be low and I don?t mind tha
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A Bunch of Questions

With eight days left the ? is how much will I spend? I have a little more than one week left. My books are already to be brought to Wizard World Philadelphia. I have eleven books that will be graded before the end of the weekend. I have another fifty books that I want to drop off for them to take to pre-screen for 9.8?s. I hope they are all graded as such but dread the financial repercussions. The fifty ?lot? is listed as well as the eleven I will be getting graded in previous journals. The
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Ironing out the Details

I don't iron shirts so why should I iron my comics? I began originally in ?Pressing the Issue?. Pressing was a term I heard before and disregarded it. I heard it from time to time when I was younger and would hang out longer at a comic book shop allowing me to overhear such conversations. Bottom line was I didn?t care. These days I just enter, buy, and leave however, when I go to a comic book convention I like to look and gawk before I purchase. About once a month, and I say once a month becau
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Pressing the issue

What is pressing? Dictionary.com has seven definitions and not one of them has anything to do with our hobby. I scanned through the internet with Google and Bing searching for information. The site I like most with any answers is Classics Incorporated. I am only going to touch a little on what they said but recommend if you are interested in the topic to check them out. They mention ?the purpose of pressing is to raise a high grade comic to an even higher grade by removing small defects using
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Same day grading

My first three graded comic books I missed the 2006 Wizard World. It wasn?t till 2007 that I was able to make it. I purchased my first encapsulated book as well as my second and third but then I also decided to get a few of my own books from my collection graded. The books I chose were Amazing Spider-Man #129 and Daredevil #158 and #168. At this time I of course knew about a 9.8 grade but I would have been happy with a 9.4 with the books I brought. I went for the full three day event. The f
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Six Months Ago

As time flies or Am I writing too much? Six months ago I started to write my journals (16-Nov-2009) with my aptly title ?My first journal?. It kind of has the ring of My Little Pony. Since then I have tried to increase my encapsulated collection and continue to write my journals on a regular basis, writing the journals just happen to be cheaper. They?re both equally as fun. I previously have 35 journals written, this one being #36. Some of the journals bring up great memories (Direct vs. New
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One month to go

Wizard World Philadelphia 2010 is almost here One Month to go Here it is only a month away till Wizard World Philadelphia 2010. Back in January when I started to save for this event I felt like it was closer and would be here before I knew it. Now I only have one month to go and I feel like I still have another year. I am almost up to the amount I want to save to bring with me. Let?s face it, this hobby could be expensive. Now of course I mentioned I almost up to the amount I want to bring w
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My 50 lot pre-screen

The List, the Whole List, and Nothing but the List Ok, the following is a list of fifty books I plan on bringing to Wizard World 2010. I am planning on a pre-screen of 9.8 (or better). There were a few I thought would NOT get the coveted 9.8 I already disregarded from the pile. The first group of 13 is all Robin II from the collector?s box set. There are 4 #1?s, 4 #2?s, 3 #3?s, and 2 #4?s. All are either direct or newsstand versions (although the newsstand versions do not have the bar-code)
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10 to get graded (Part 2)

The second five If you read part one you already know my fist five, this is my second five to bring to Wizard World 2010 since CGC will be doing on-site grading there. If there is anyone in Philadelphia reading this and never went to get their books graded, i recommend it, quick, easy and reasonably priced.   With the convention slowly creeping in and the decision to bring 10 books for encapsulation solidified in my mind I wondered what kind of books I should bring. I decided on the ones I
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CGC vs. PGX

Beta vs. VHS; Blue Ray vs. HD; Star Wars Vs. Star Trek; and the list goes on. Both CGC and PGX use the same basic principles to encapsulate their books. The following was taken from their own sites. The first is from CGC: The newly-printed labels are stacked in the same sequence as the comics to be encapsulated with them, ensuring that each book and its label match one another. The comic is now ready to be fitted inside an archival-quality interior well, which is then sealed within a tran
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10 to get graded (Part 1)

The First Five June is coming fast and that means I have to make the final decision on what to get graded. I have decided to bring ten comic books with me. The difficulty was getting ten books together. With a bit over a month to go I think I have what I want to bring, I could bring books that I think will get a 9.8. I could bring books that I think will grade high that I could sell, or I could bring something just for the hell of it. Here is the list of 10 (in no particular order not includin
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Collecting CGC's (Part 2)

How do I stop the addiction? I first talked about collecting encapsulated books in part 1 on 20/Nov/2009. Since then it has been tough to budget. I now have one complete box of CGC graded books. I have more on a shelf to fill another box and by the time I finish Wizard World 2010 in June I will probably have a third box filled (if not four). The current problem is I only have one box. I need to purchase more at the show since none of the comic book shops I can get to have them. I found many CG
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The Golden State Collection

A modern age pedigree or just overstock? I have been collecting outside my means. I set a goal for myself to collect the following titles in a 9.8 grade or better, pretty much I wanted the best condition possible. They are ?The New Mutants?, ?Longshot?, and ?Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars?. Since making that decision I have purchased the ?Uncanny X-men?, Marvel Graphic Novel #4, a couple Spider-Man?s (the Amazing variety), and many other Miscellaneous comic books. My main priority was (and s
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Buying to Slab

...because I want the best condition possible. I want a Daredevil #1. You know the one with the cover where it looks like a blind man designed the outfit. By one price guide, not encapsulated, and in Near Mint condition fetches $3000.00. Other guides have other prices; then of course it also depends on what the seller wants to sell it for. I am going to have to budget better than I have ever done before to get it. This price is also before CGC gets their hands on it. My goal condition would be
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Doubles all Over

Is two better than one? I could never imagine someone picking up a comic book for the cover alone and never being tempted to open it. I started to collect because the cover was so outrageously eye catching I needed to acquire it and read what it was about. The reason why I started to collect CGC graded comic books is because I want to get the best copy financially possible. In essence I am buying a double (not something I?d do with a car). I was never a Rom fan. I did pick up a few when they
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Action #1 Vs Detective #27

And the winner is.... Detecting your actions OK! Records were broken. Action Comics #1 fetched an Amazing one million dollars. It almost has the ring of Michael Myers playing Dr. Evil as he wants to hold the world hostage for One Million Dollars?(fold and rub hands together here). I can also hear the henchman say that?s not that much. Then in less than a week Detective Comics #27 sells for a little over one million dollars. That little bit was Seventy Five thousand and five hundred dollars.
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My 25th Journal

Just another number or a milestone I am having fun with my hobby again. I know the registry is mainly for people who wish to talk about the comic medium but primarily about graded books. I can?t help myself to journal my experience both with CGC books and the ones I read. Since writing my first journal entry I have read every journal since. Some I have commented on to the author. Others I just read and forget. Each one I realize is written by someone who cares about what they collect. I ment
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3 Vs. 4

When should I post? or Am I writing too much? I have fun writing my ?journals?. This is for a few reasons. As I write, my memories get rekindled. As I wrote about New Mutants #8 I was even able to remember the salt air (I lived over the bay at the time). It helped me remember the curiosity I get every time I walk into a new comic book shop (something I have not done in a really long time) and head over to the back issues bins. The other reason is to allow someone else to remember some of their
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At A Premium Part Deux

Does anyone remember Hot Shots? I ordered eight more graded books to my collection. Seven out of those eight are copies of the New Mutants. The eight one is X-men 160. All of them are a 9.8 and as of this writing one of the seven is the only one in that grade. When I first began collecting these issues I started with number one. The seller was willing to give me a 45 dollar price. He originally asked for 60. He dropped the price as part of a lot deal. All the other comics were readable copies
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Variants Vs. Second printings

...and in this corner. The comic shop I have frequented for the past five some years has decided to close up at their current location and open up at a new location. Until that happens they have decided to forgo getting any new releases. This puts me at a dilemma. Where do I go to get my books and do I continue to go there after they move. On the 17-Feb-2010 five books from Marvel were released. I went to the comic book shop only minutes away (and that is by walking). I was not able to make i
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Playing the Odds

.01 will get you 7 I recently won seven copies of New Mutants Vol. 1 #1. They were described as near mint. I opened the picture hoping I could see every minute detail. I couldn?t. The bidding was to start at one penny and to ship the items themselves would be five dollars. I placed a bid of one dollar with the thoughts of ?why not?? I figured if I could win this then maybe one of them would be worthy to send in to get graded (or as in my case wait till the next convention that CGC will be at.)
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Buy to Sell? Pt 2

In part one I digressed There are many comic collectors out there that have no problem getting rid of a prized item to get another prized item. I don?t know if I could do that. There are books I got graded just for the purpose of selling them, I still have them. I purchased a boxed collector?s set of Robin II. It contains 14 issues(the 4 newsstand and all 10 direct editions). I bought it for thirty dollars for the express service of selling it and making a little money. I still have it. My
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Buy to Sell?

You mean I can't keep them? I brought some comic books some years back to the Wizard World convention for the sole reason of grading them and then sell them. I didn?t want to do this to make a profit; I wanted to do this to get extra money to spend on other comic books. After all I am trying to get the whole series of New Mutants volume 1 in a graded 9.8. (I am going to be coming for you BagoFleas, of course I am sure it will be after your victory lap) I still haven?t sold them. My Incredibl
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