In the Dark

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About this journal

Oblivious to anything new

Entries in this journal

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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A Set of New Mutants?

A costly decision or just good sense? I'm grading Them All I made a decision, an expensive one. At count there are 100 issues of The New Mutants not including alternative printings, an additional seven annuals, a summer special, and one of my favorites the special edition. A total of 109 books I plan on sending to get encapsulated. Last April I decided to collect every single New Mutants in a 9.8. After this decision I found someone who is a lot closer to that goal (I found out today he is o

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Grading My Own

Am I still impartial if they're mine? I didn?t understand grading when I was younger. I only cared what I wanted to read over and over. One of the Richie Rich comics I had I read until the cover came off. I didn?t care how I handled my comics until New Mutants #15 came out. After reading that I immediately went back to the 7-11 and bought X-men #180, Avengers #242, and Amazing Spider-Man #251. They were all the comics they had that caught my eye. At first I placed them on my book shelf, but

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Storage

Where can I put them all? Every time I drive back home from the comic book shop (which I hope will be once a week again), my comics sit in the passenger seat waiting for my attention. They receive it at the many stop lights I am forced to stop at. (I don?t need to spend my comic book allotted money on traffic violations.) I don?t read them at the stop lights (that would just be stupid?. I might drop them), but what I do is shuffle them into my reading order. I place my favorites to be read las

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For Profit or Protection

If I could only save on gas money I make my trek to my comic book shop once a week. Lately, for a reason unknown to me and even to some of the establishment's employees, the books I crave have not been there. It is a ten mile trek, which let's face it in the scheme of things is not that far. Consider this though, I have an older car so a round trip of twenty miles is worth $3 in gas. At current gas prices if I make this trip once a week for a year I spend about $156 on gas alone just to go t

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Am I collecting too much?

It's only one more When I finally decided to collect slab books I made the decision to collect all the New Mutants in 9.8 (or higher). It is a decision I have not regretted. The other two series I promised myself was Longshot and Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars. I chose the first one because it was the series that lured me into the comic world, the second two (also staples of my life) because they are limited series. It becomes easier to collect something when a finish line is in place. I h

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Finally hit a 100

Thank you for reading. I first joined the CGC website on a "Just Because" basis. That same reasoning is what got me to purchase my first few slabbed books. Since I never spent any time on the registry I never logged those books or did I ever think I would collect them. I was wrong. Every time I would visit the site I was at a friends house on my computer using his internet service (he is a good friend). Since then my computer crashed. I lost all my information (fortunately a lot of items wer

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The Price of Gas

Is it an addiction if I skip a week? Wednesday passed by and I still not go to the comic book shop. It's Thursday night and I am beginning to shake. Last year I was there religiously, once a week, every Wednesday, even on the days where the comics were shipped a day later due to holidays. Of course that is because I forgot that they ship a day later. (I really dislike remembering things.) I noticed there was only going to be two comic books I collect being released this week and it is a pretty

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Filling Holes

Darn those missing issues. Daredevil recently went back to their original numbering at issue 500. I hated the #1 craze that had major companies scampering to sell comics through this gimmick rather then sell them with story and art. Most retailer's would then resell them as "Collectible" rather then readable. I wonder what would have happened if there was not an X-Men #94 and they just started over. When New Mutants came out I didn't know about it. It wasn't until issue #15 that I became awa

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Plastic not included

Are Non slabbed books worth it? About ten times a year by the Philadelphia National Airport at a local Hotel the Philadelphia Comic-con is held. I do not consider it so much a convention as it is a bunch of stores gathering together to sell their wares....and I love it. I remember years ago there was something else like it in a different area in a different time. I was younger then and I was in awe. There was so much to look through, so much to buy. I think the same organization who ran that r

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It's here, It's here.

Yay.... the packing peanuts are here There is something about getting mail, sweet lovely mail. I'm not talking about bills or other items that are asking for money. No I'm talking about won bid slabbed comic books. I realized that if I decided to collect a series in 9.8 (New Mutants), or collected a full series (Daredevil) it would get quite expensive. So how was I going to collect? One of the ways I decided was to get all the comics in my (B)efore ©ollecting collection in a high grade. Thes

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What to Slab or Not

Should I reach for that Gem 10.0 Years ago i bought a collector's box set in the hopes of reselling it. I try not to do that anymore, especially after having to sell the majority of my collection due to space constraints. I still have that box set, furthermore I have never opened it. Inside lies 14 never before opened comics, let alone they have never been touched. Part of me is thinking this is my opportunity to have a gem 10 (maybe more than one?). Others that I have with the possibility o

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9.8 for 9.8's sake

Are they or aren't they. It felt like Christmas morning. I was at my computer entering my collection into my new database (the old database is paper). My phone rang; it was the Fed Ex Guy. I don't know why he didn't ring the bell. Actually, I didn't care, my CGC books arrived. I went to the door, signed, and wished him a good day. Mine already was. I placed the box in the living room and proceeded to shut down my computer. My comics beckoned, when I waited long enough I opened the parcel. I

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Safety in CGC???

Sorry...just ranting freely. I am sitting in my local bookstore, which is not so local since it is right outside Philadelphia and it takes me thirty minutes to drive. It is snowing outside and my windshield wipers don't work so well as my car is a little bit aged. I am remotely helping someone with their homework on litigation (something I know nothing about) and all I can think about are my books I ordered this past week. I checked their shipping progress with Fed Ex and they are here in Phi

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A Shot of Comics

Two out of Three ain't bad There are three things I collect. One of those items I won't get into because I can talk about Star Wars even longer than I can talk about comic books. The two others are comic books (which I think is apparent) and thirdly shot glasses. I have no written record logging my shot glasses, nor do I think do they have software for such a hobby. I acquire my comic books myself, as for the shots, I get them as gifts. I have over three hundred of the glass souvenirs, the m

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Direct Vs. Newstand

7-11 or bust If I'm not mistaken the first thing scanned was a pack of gum. I also think this gum is currently in the Smithsonian. The few comics I own that I cannot recall where I got them are devoid of this bar-code. Their covers are exactly that, covers. My other comics that I bought from the three for a dollar rack are also devoid of this bar-code, then again they also have no cover. For the life of me I can't understand why I still have a cover on Sub-Mariner #38 and not Richie Rich Milli

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At a premium Part 1?

I spent how much on what? I collect comics, it's what I do and chances are if you are reading this, so do you (sorry about the rhyme). I have been collecting for more years then I thought. The average comic book at time of shipment is an ungraded near mint 9.4. This is not an actual fact as much as an assumed fact. I have been through car lots and hemmed and hawed at the new cars for sale. A new car after all should have that new car smell. I take more time in the comic shop, even my son wil

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Collecting CGC's

It's the same old hobby in a whole new way. I remember beginning my collection with New Mutants #15. I was mesmerized by the cover. I picked it up from the 7-11 comic book rack and brought my purchase to the counter. I hurried home with what I bought and read it. At this time I was only twelve and I was not a fan of reading books. Lucky for me these weren't books, they were comic books. I absorbed what I read not only because I immensely enjoyed it but because I read it over and over again b

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My First Journal

Ok I'm Addicted. At first I thought "Hell, what is this new company messing around with my hobby". I might have dropped off collecting a few years here and there. Not having money makes it very difficult to buy comics. I was upset that this company was going to seal away a comic book, how the hell were you supposed to read the thing. I was at Wizard World Philadelphia 2007 walking around and they were all over the place, not alot but significant to be noticed. Every booth had a few, and

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