In the Dark

A journal by Tnerb

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About this journal

Oblivious to anything new

Entries in this journal

PB&J

Or you got your chocolate in my peanut butter. No, you got your peanut butter innate chocolate. Was Matt Nelson destined to be at CGC? His knowledge of the condition of comics is extraordinary and he brought something to CGC previously unattained by the grading industry giant, knowledge. Although pressing is majorly undetectable, if done right, it could also go wrong. CGC is making sure collectors know what those mistakes are over on http://www.cgccomics.com/news/viewarticle.aspx?IDArticle=3
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Gopher for a Day

Or This is why I don't gamble. The game occurred and my team lost. I know have to be a place holder for a day, but let's face it, it's not that bad. I'm not much of a gambling man, nor do I talk Sugar Honey Ice Tea, but once in a while I like to have fun and do it anyway. Screenwriter3D and I were texting when the mention of a bet arose. I thought it, he said it. I wasn't going to bet a priced possession, or money I don't have. Of course I know the value of having to wait in a line to get si
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Only Two Away

Or I have how many already? Only two away There are 109 books in the New Mutants 1983 set. Marvel ended the series in 1991, a little before my son was born. The transition of pre-teen to young adult occurred during this sensational copper set. First appearances occurred thorough out the series beginning with the team itself out of the pages of a certain Marvel Graphic Novel #4. There were also deaths and heartbreaks. The Black Queen rose from a faux Rome. Illyana came to roost, at first as
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What are my Comics Worth?

Or Shall we Delve into FMV? On every invoice there's a spot you have to add what you think your comics are worth. This would add up,on the USPS return fees but I always placed in the area the maximum amount I thought they were worth, maybe even more than they were worth. I have seen invoices where people thought five dollars was the fair market value. On a book like that I wrote down at least a hundred. My reasoning was I notated the FMV of what I thought the book was worth after it was enc
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Sunday Sunday Sunday

or Cowboys Vs. Eagles As much as I loathe Bagofleas for sending out his critters of destruction to destroy my chances of winning the coveted top spot for the New Mutants two years in a row. I now have to hear Screenwriter3D talk up his vaunted Dallas Cowboys. I mean seriously how does this man call himself a New Yorker and cheer for such a vile despicable excuse of a football team. At least I love my home town team no matter how bad they suck, but the gauntlet has been thrown. Our two teams
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Throwing Away Slabs

Or Recycling Plastic All those cracked cases were piling up in a corner. I can't fully understand why I was keeping them other than maybe to see how many I would crack. The first one I did had my nerves shaking like a student surgeon. After time I got comfortable and looked forward to the next one and the one after that. I even became crazed forcing myself to stop when I was finished. My collection is growing a bit quicker than I can accommodate. I now have books to sell and my room is clos
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NYCC: A Baltimore Break

Or But Wait, There's More My largest invoice before my most recent submissions at the NYCC was turned in at Baltimore. I cracked ten slabs from my New Mutants collection and added four raw books. These were mostly books I had signed by Sal Buscema, the others by David Finch. A few others were signed, but on a separate invoice designated to CCS. My 14 books just changed from received to verifued. The other single invoice I have marked verified went through the fast track at CCS, after a little
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NYCC: CGC and Me

31 books; 66 Signatures 10 books; 19 Signatures ___________________ 41 books; 85 SignaturesThe attempt for the convention was to get a few books signed. Bagofleas handed me some books in Baltimore and sent a few others a couple weeks later. All in all I had ten books from him for CGC to witness. These were his treasures, especially the first annual for our beloved New Mutants.For this convention I opted to pick the comics I own that I thought would get a 9.8. I carefully picked and chose book
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NYCC: Capullo and Snyder

Or, I'm almost done? My limit of three comic books were chosen. I stood patiently waiting, inching closer to payday when the facilitator announced the bad news. The new limit was two. I already had a signed copy of Superman Unchained by Neal Adams of which I wanted Scott Snyder to add his "S". The four batman books I brought were three different covers to the beginning of "Zero Year" and the beginning issue of the new 52. Of the the three, two are variants, one being the Black & White wi
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NYCC: Day Three

Or, is a four day con too long? Or not long enough? What is a CGC enthusiast to do? My last two signatures were to be from the dynamic duo Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. The day before Greg was to arrive, Scott was already in attendance, I checked to see if wrist bands were needed to get their signatures. I was told no, but the limit was five. I could live with that. I had four for Greg and five for Scott. As I arrived there the next day I got in early enough and did my best to get into a li
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Meeting up after NYCC

Or, having dinner with friends I am sitting here eating in a Mexican restaurant with someone that I can never repay for accompanying me here at the NYCC. I am also here with Dboy and Screenwriter3D finishing a meal before going back to the hotel room and sleep before the next day so I can finish my signature quest. This day was a good day and eating with friends even better. These are the reasons why I love this hobby. Even staying at the hotel I ran into Rod Reis who was staying in the sam
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Not Ready for the NYCC...

Or, That's no moon, that's a Battle Station Wow. I bit off more than I can chew. I brought thirty books with me and the only one I can say that I finished is the lone signature on New Mutants #74 by Bob Wiacek for Bagofleas. I did get a few including Ivan Reis, Ben Templesmith, and Nick Dragotta, but that was only one of a few. I want David Finch to accompany Ivan's, J. Michael Strazynski to be added with Ben's and Jonathan Hickman right with Nick's. The whole point of this was for multiple si
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My Forth Con

or the Title Sound Illegal Since 2007 I have been going to Wizard World in Philadelphia. Since then they went from an amazing Comic Con to and amazing Pop Culture event. I have become disappointed. The only reason for me to go is for the same weekend grading, which used to be for the same day. Eventually I was able to go to the New York Comic Con and my whole world changed. I knew there was no con that could be better than this. Of course I was proven wrong because the first year after my firs
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Two Mistakes, Two Books; One Invoice

Or Two mistakes from CGC I finally have my New Mutants #15 back with me. It's signed by five but only recorded with four. They also took away what Stan Lee wrote which I decided to have him personalize it when I had the book turned over in Philadelphia. I called CGC to notify them of their mistakes and thought it was pretty cool I got to talk to Molly who has helped me at the past two shows I went too. My sixteen I wrote about already in a previous journal. http://comics.www.collectors-soc
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I'm all ready for the NYCC?

Or, Wow, this really adds up I have thirty comic books all bagged and boarded. Three invoices worth of books for CGC and CCS. Twenty eight of the books are raw and I feel that I have the best chance of attaining the grade I want with a press. Without I feel that the books will range between a 9.4 and a 9.6. The funny thing is the last time I felt this way; the books were graded between a 9.6 and a 9.8. I want closer to a guarantee of getting those grades again. There is one book however that
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More to Read, Please

Or I'm Loving the Journals Every morning when I wake up I check the registry, sometimes even before I go to the bathroom, but after I feed my cat. Recently I have been checking my status of my invoices, but the reason I use most to turn on my computer...or use my iPhone, is to read the journals on the registry. At times a journal could sit in the top spot for days. I am happy to say that I love seeing enough new journals I have to hit the "view more journals" link to...well, view more journals
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A Priceless Artifact... to me

or the 501st + one My favorite CGC graded comic book is on its way back home. This book has been graded so far a total of four times. The first time receiving a Universal Blue 4.5, each time after a horrendous yellow. I decided to get this book signed by anyone who was mentioned in the credits on the very first page which includes not only Stan Lee, but also the creators. Five signatures now appear on the cover. I even had Stan Lee add a little more than his scrawl. Jim Shooter is the next
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The Mistakes CGC Makes again and again and again...

The following is long. I am not anti CGC. I still enjoy what this company does, but I had to write the following based off my own experiences. This makes me question if a simple mistake can't be caught then how can they be trusted to grade my most cherished objects. Mind you the following is not a sought after comic, it's a book I purchased a long time ago. Any and all comments are welcomed by members and CGC employees. Thank you. Part I: The mistakes CGC makes What is quality control? It se
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My 500th Journal

Or Thank You CGC The journal after this one will be long. It will also be a bit negative AGAINST CGC. This will have to wait until my next journal. This journal however being a milestone should be to thank the people at CGC themselves. The first person that I really dealt with at CGC was Gemma. This person helped me so much in the beginning by making sure I had a voice on the chat boards. I can't thank her enough for that. Mike is another one that has always been around the CGC both coordin
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Better Books or Better Graded

Or Comic Books for a Hundred, Alex Getting my first 9.9 was a pretty cool feeling even if it wasn't one of my coveted New Mutants. The 3D covers however are made of thicker card stock so getting a higher grade seemed statistically in my favor. The question is can I pull it off again with books I want to bring to the NYCC. I have some Batman comics I want to have signed along with East of West, Lazarus, Ten Grand, and multiple random books here and there other than what I am bringing for Bago
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Waiting for Delivery

Or Is November to difficult to do 30 in 30? I love those little tiny emails from Kim. You know the ones that have a tracking number attached to them. Ever since I've had multiple packages stolen from me courtesy of the USPS I started to have the packages sent to my fathers, but now with UPS as an option I don't have to wait any additional time before going to visit. The delivery date is today, Oct. 2nd, 2013. The delivery time states by end of day, not even end of business day. Of course bei
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Even the UPS Driver

Or it wasn't even the books I was looking for. I just recently signed for a package that was delivered through UPS. It first arrived Friday, time stamped at about two thirty. This was only a few minutes before I left for work. I knew it wasn't from CGC since that is due to arrive on October second. It is promised to be delivered by the end of the day. This means I might get another little yellow and brown UPS InfoNotice. I don't mind these. It just gives me a little notice that I should pay at
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Attaining A First

Or Surfe99 has more control than me I sent two books to CGC via the Baltimore comic con. In total I used six different invoices. The majority of these were for the signature series, or maybe 91.3% would be better. Two of the books happened to be the Joker 3D variant of Batman 23.1. I am using these in the hopes I can train myself to flip comic books. I looked these over as best I could and being as hard on these books as I am on the books I previously purchased as a 9.8,I graded them for wha
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Collecting and Crossroads

The darkness beckons and I sleep. The music plays and I dream. And in between I silently curse not knowing which is which. The night is getting chilly. I sit awake much later than I should. A stack of comic books make its way from one pile to another. Another stack, this particular pile graded by CGC, awaits my decision to either sell, get signed, or keep. The NYCC is coming closer like a thunderstorm rushing on the wind. I have a small stack of books from my younger brother for signatures at
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In Baltimore with Fleas

Or do I need to worry? What can I add that Bagofleas did not? The tenacity we used in getting our books signed and turned over to CGC only worked because of our patience and the staff of CGC themselves helping us get it done. I fear what the NYCC has in store for me. I went last year and only had three items signed and it was hectic. The two days of lines cut into anytime to look for those missing issues I was hoping to add. Of course the money I saved there only went to CCS and CGC themselv
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