In the Dark

A journal by Tnerb

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About this journal

Oblivious to anything new

Entries in this journal

Anyone can grade A comic book.

It's easy to have a single comic book placed in front of you, look at the front cover and then the rear, peruse the inside and grade it, but what about hundreds? My first day was somewhat easy. I won't get into that. If you read yesterday's journal you'll already know that I am attempting to land a dream job, Instead I'll talk about how great sixty eight degrees feels in Florida compared to the eighteen degrees I left in Philadelphia. Last year at ECCC I had the distinct pleasure to dine wi
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CGC or Bust

Or Flying above Cloud Nine I'm in flight going on a journey. And I'm putting my money where my mouth is to see if I have what it takes. At last I heard there were fifteen graders, the last to be trained is Gemma. The longest there is Paul, I am hoping that will change. I'm hoping to make that fifteen into sixteen. A few already knew of this endeavor and I thank you for your confidence. But now I'm ready for everyone to hear it. I am ready to be a CGC grader, I just hope they think so too. I
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It's Con Season

Or Thank you CGC This weekend is filled with conventions. I believe there are three going on. The first one I plan on attending is in March...and so is the second one. I never did back to back conventions before and I can only imagine what it takes to work for CGC and do this day after day. On the weekends they are at the various conventions throughout the nation and during the week they are at the CGC offices going about their jobs. To think, that is a seven day a week job. How many of us
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From My Blog

Or Collecting CGC Below is a sample of my latest article. It was basically written for those new to CGC or those who have no idea about this great portion of the hobby we are in.   I might have to start this article with what is CGC? For decades, collectors wanted to buy the best possible comic book. Originally comic book enthusiasts would clamor for a pedigree because they were of the highest quality. I found out about these sought after collectibles from a list published in my first Overs
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Thirty Six Years Ago

Or, I was Truly a Today all those years ago I was still a whopping five years old. I would be six soon enough. Star Wars still played heavily on my mind and at that age I was Luke Skywalker. Ever since the summer before, I couldn't stop thinking about being part of that universe a long time ago in a galaxy far far away. I can remember playing in the halls of a synagogue shooting StormTroopers as they were running after me. I made my own sound effects. One which my whole family remembers wel
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The Hot or not Clause

Or what makes you buy what you buy? There are done covers that just "pop". It doesn't matter at this point what's inside, only that the cover is so amazing it's worth picking up. If the comic book is good, the next issue is purchased. If not, it's a one and done. A book that I decided I really liked the cover was on World Wide comics. As I was piecing together my New Mutants collection I saw a 9.8 copy of The Incredible Hulk #109. At $1200, I knew it was a book I had to save up for, eventuall
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Cracking the Cold

Or the opposite of 451 It's a bit nippy out on the east coast which make me wonder how cold is too cold? At one point of time I had my books in storage. I of course had more than my comic books, but it was those Collectibles that had me pick a climate controlled storage locker. My addiction called this place home for the better part of five years. My current location houses my full collection and normally when I leave the house I lower the temperature to sixty degrees. The unfortunate probl
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Bound to Happen

Marvel and Star Wars: Two Great Things Together. When Dark Empire was released I was ecstatic. I had an additional story to add to Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire, and in comic book form no less. Two of my greatest addictions together again. Tom Veitch and Cam Kennedy weaved a tale worthy of not only the Star Wars name, but of my imagination. I purchased Dark Horse titles from time to time, but it was the licensing of George Lucas' brain child that solidified trying new titles. Hellboy, Ghos
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An improvement of Life

I am comforted by the camaraderie of the journals. I love reading about everyone's acquisitions I did better at the NYCC than I ever would have expected. One invoice with five books came back to me. I graded three of those as 9.8's, and two as 9.6's. I was happy that I was eighty percent correct. The book that I was wrong on was a free giveaway from Image. Over the years I never paid attention to the greats. They were before my time. I paid no heed to Stan Lee or Jack Kirby. I cared for nau
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30 Days Without a Journal

Or, I now know what it's like to go through withdrawal Day One: I wanted to write. I started to journal about my cats irregular bowel movements. Opted out. Started to write for my blog, tentative title "I have forgotten more than you will ever know, and have since forgotten that I've forgotten, I'm sorry what were we talking about?". Decided on "The Cost of a Grade" Day Two: I wanted to write again. Received great news on two of my books. Both retained there 9.8 status after signatures were
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What's Next?

Or None in thirty? Now that the thirty in thirty is over, what is next. At first I wasn't sure I would able to do it so I decided to start in October. After 31 days and 31 journals I felt that if I didn't complete a challenge that I initiated originally to my self, but now handed the reigns over to others that I would somehow be incomplete. A thank you to Lee K who finished by grinding his axe, literally. His journals were most intriguing with all the pictures of his Go-Go books. Brandon Sh
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Happy with a 9.6?

Or is it report card time already? I had no idea how to take care of comic books when I first started collecting. My first thought about their preservation was closer to deciding where the best hiding place was so they weren't thrown in the garbage. As I collected from the age of 12-19 I slowly adapted to protecting the things I cherished. My New Mutants series is a testament to that. I will send in ten more next year, but will I send in my books that were closer to my issue fifteen which garn
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Once in a Lifetime

Today is Thanksgiving and it is also the first day of Chanukah. This will never happen again in my life time...as well as yours. I'm sitting at home with the heat on to break the chill. I have both graded and raw comic books to put away. I finished reading most of these but I had to pause to remember and to give thanks. Especially on a day never to happen again, which is equivalent to every day we have lived. I am not a holiday person. Age and time have long distorted the days I had once lo
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Getting Closer

Or Preparing to use Flea Powder. I just received seven more of my New Mutants issues graded by CGC today. If the other three would have been the 9.8's they should have been I would have reclaimed the number one spot on the registry for the New Mutants set (by two points). I can only imagine as my books were being graded, multiple graders began to itch their legs. Or maybe fleas walked across the pages and were slapped by the graders as one would swat a fly. I can picture reading the notes now.
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Starting Raw

Or My First Birthday Book. I was walking around Wade's Comic Madness outside the Philadelphia area. For two years I frequented this place once a week for my weekly haul. This was at a time when I worked in the neighboring state over ten years ago. I shopped there because it was easier to pick up my books after work on Fridays, not to mention I worked seven days. That time has long since passed, but I still like to frequent the place from time to time. I had a few hours to kill before seeing
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So, What about next year?

Or, I still need to add up what I spent this year. There is a bit over a month to go before 2013 is little more than a memory. Although my spot on the registry is slowly dropping I am happily placed closer to four hundred than five hundred. A few well purchased books would change all that. And maybe in 2014 that will happen. My goals for 2014 will have to be listed out and I will have to limit myself to a finite amount if books and activities. However, I might try to travel to five differen
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14 Hours Later

Or, why aren't my 5AM journals rarer than they should be? 14 hours later My normal Saturday now consists of breakfast with one of my best friends, a nap, and an eight hour shift. That did not happen this Saturday. My friend was in New York, I slept late, and I left work 14 hours after I started. I know the amount I have to earn every week to pay my bills. If I take off from work for a vacation or possibly a special presentation of Dr. Who on Monday, I lose money. I guess luck would have it
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Thank you Molly

Or Going above and beyond Fixing a dreaded fear The latest invoice that changed to shipped/safe was not shipped/safe when I found out the grades. I originally called the offices because two invoices that were marked as such had no tracking numbers sent to me. This was odd because I normally have an email in my inbox from Kim. This time, it was not the case.   A friendly call had me get both tracking numbers I needed. I threw caution to the wind and asked about my 14 books from Baltimore.
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Bagofleas asked...

...and I answered. Journal 550   I was nerve wracked when I had my 9.6 ASM 129 cracked. By any collectors standards having this book attain a 9.6 with three signatures is paramount to being a holy grail. I was asked if I had the chance to add a fourth, would I? I told him originally I would, and that was after thinking about it for a few seconds. Now, four invoices later, I'm not so sure. The first two signatures on my ASM were via facilitators. The third was traveling cross country (And
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Three Invoices

Or Five more to go My first book back from Baltimore will be a signed copy of Amazing Spider-Man #181, due today. This was graded a 9.6, after pressing while retaining the previous grade. Was pressing a waste of money or did it save it from dropping to a 9? The next two invoices were both from NYCC and marked shipped/safe the next day. The first being the one I previously wrote about, my original New Mutants Annual #1 which dropped to an 8.5. The second of those two was a raw 3-D cover of Fo
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A 9.4 does not equal an 8.5

Or Something Upsetting I am fully aware a book won't necessarily be the same grade after cracking it open. I had a 9.8 drop to a 9.4 which makes me wonder, should it have even been a 9.8 to begin with? I cracked the universal label to get a signature added. I was decimated when it returned. At the time, I was still learning everything I know today. Although intellectually I knew it could happen, rationally I couldn't believe such a drop could exist. At least it came back to me during a time
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Garlanda

or We Have a Winner I was milking it. I know I was. At first I figured three clues would do it. Those three clues were going to be the full covers and it was Bagofleas who recommended smaller portions. I thought it was creative to use 29 for Copper, and maybe I shouldn't't have answered that clue myself. I thought it was cute to use the picture of Hawaii for Aloha and a few Star Wars books, one including the name Leia. I almost was going to go to South Philly to get a picture of a sign for St
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A Wonder Woman Addition

Or There's always room for one more So after perusing World Wide Comics to look at all the things I vowed not to buy...yet, I found another book I could add to my birthday month list. Wonder Woman is listed by CGC with two months on the label, and the cover itself is listed properly for addition to the comic books I can add. I did check Justice League and I still can't add that, nor can I add a Batman either. I thought about what grade to get these in. Do I start raw and get them graded? Do
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No World's Finest for Me

Or Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Justice League... Since I started collecting comics, the longest I had to wait for the next comic book to be published was a month. There were a few exceptions, but for the most part I could count on my comic shop to put aside my titles month after month. After deciding what to collect next (I really have to give another clue), Bagofleas and I discussed the possibility of purchasing all the books from Marvel and DC from our birth months. As I thought about thi
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World's Finest

or, Yes, I Bought DC Comics too. A comic I had and read over and over was none other than World's Finest #271. This comic boasts of the retelling of the Superman-Batman Team. Did you notice it wasn't a number one issue either? This issue is dated September, 1981. This is a full two years and seven months before I picked up that fateful book that had me never look back. What makes a reader of comics choose between one and the other? Why is the line drawn so distinctively between Marvel and DC?
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