In the following weeks, I was able to work on the book a little when I had some free time.  I dry cleaned the front and back, removed the tape and finally pressed it.  What I found to be most interesting was that there was no need for any of the tape, unless it was being used to strengthen weakened areas.  For instance, the original paper around the staples was missing, tape was placed over these two areas, yet the staples weren't attached.    There was a small horizontal tear near the bottom of the cover and a large piece of tape was covering that.  Finally, the top of the front cover had a long piece of tape across of it, where it was covering an area that looked like it might've had some chipping.  That area proved to be the toughest to remove the tape, as I did suffer a casualty in the form of a small piece coming detached along with the strip of tape.  It was certainly a learning experience for me but in the end, I was glad to have been able to remove 100 percent of the tape.  Like I said, the damage had already been done and I researched if there were any means or methods to remove tape stains.  I found some interesting information and may look into that some more in the future.

I pressed the book and this was how it looked after everything was done. 

Again, I was upset at the loss of a chip above the R and L in "WORLD'S", but like I said, I learned from this experience...

I informed Rob that I had cleaned up the book and then told him that we needed to schedule another meet up as there was an unsettled issue that I needed to resolve.  So if he actually gave me the book back, did he really give it back as a 're-gift' or was I misinterpreting everything here.  If he actually did give the book back, I was going to submit this to CGC and so I went ahead and put together a small replacement package for him, as I had done with my stepson for the X-Men #4.  I was careful to buy things that I could keep for myself if indeed, I had misunderstood his actions from some weeks back.

...

...

So then, as if this wasn't enough to keep me occupied, well...

Just a couple of weeks before our meeting, something unexpected kind of fell into my lap by the means of eBay.  There had been one book that I couldn't stop thinking about and felt like maybe this was the time to actively try to get a copy (again) as the peak of 2021 had subsided a bit and some prices were relaxing.  I was finding that this one book was still maintaining strong sales and I thought that maybe my best chance of getting this issue, would be to get a raw copy.  Well that opportunity presented itself during that week leading up to our meetup.  The book in question, that I now felt committed to reacquiring... House of Secrets #92.  Yes, that book!

Some posts back, I described this book as my 'signature book'. 

I'm not sure if that was cringe to describe it in such a manner but it just seemed to fit at the time when I wrote that.  What I meant is that when thinking back on all of the books that I've owned, sold, repurchased and sold again, this book tops the census at 3 copies.  If I were to get yet another copy, that will be my 4th and the most that I've ever recirculated in my collection. In the past, I've owned a CGC 6.0, I sold that and purchased a CGC 4.0.  I sold that and lastly purchased a CGC 7.5 in the middle of my transition from my Underwater themed books to the Moon themed books.

Ultimately, I sold that one too.

It's funny though... right before I bought that CGC 7.5, I remember telling Rob that this book was getting dangerously close to hitting the $100 per grade point level ($750)! 

I believe that was now 8 years ago. 

So...

What was the last sale on that CGC 7.5 according to GPA? 

July of this year (2022) for $2450!

I had a price in mind of what I wanted to spend on another copy of this book yet it was becoming obvious that I wasn't going to find anything graded that appealed to me and that's why, again, I thought to seek out a raw copy.  So it was on eBay that I found something that piqued my interest.  It was a copy that had just enough eye appeal yet had a detached centerfold.  I thought to myself that maybe the detached centerfold would keep the book right in line with what I wanted to pay for a copy and that maybe, something could be done with it.  I watched the book for the week and then finally put my bid in at the last minute and was thrilled to find that I had won the book.  I was so happy to know that I was going to own a copy yet again, where just a year ago, I thought that all grades of this book would climb well out of financial reach, such as what happened with the Incredible Hulk #181 book.

I received the book some days later and it was well packed and sandwiched tight in between two stiff pieces of cardboard. 

When I finally took the book out, I noticed something that made me think for a second.  The book was fine, it looked exactly like it did in the eBay posting.  It was in a bag, taped shut... with no backing board.  What was strange to me was that I had seen books like this before.  The poly bag was somewhat yellowed, as was the tape, which was 'gummy'.  I thought to myself... "This book was from an older collection".  I went on to eBay and contacted the seller to inform him that the book had arrived safely and everything looked good.  I simply asked the seller if there was any further information on where the book came from.  Well, it didn't take long before the seller responded and sent me this...

"I actually bought that book off the rack when it came out. (Yes, I'm a guy "of a certain age": 66, to be exact!)"

When I read that, I was thrilled.  I did the quick math and it all added up... I had just bought a key book from an original owner!  Yes, the book had been well read and yes, the centerfold had popped out, but I was now only the second owner after Robert (currently living in New Hampshire) bought the book in 1971.

Now of course I was going to send this into CGC but I was faced with a dilemma. 

Should I send it right in, as is and retain the 'integrity' of the book for nostalgic sense, or should I clean it up a bit and see if I could do anything with that centerfold.  I didn't make a decision right away as my meetup with Rob was now just days away... I would sit on those thoughts for a bit.

...

...

Rob and I met up at one of our favorite local brewers and was able to sit outside and enjoy the nice weather and scenic backdrop.  I described this meetup in an earlier post where he didn't have the best beer day as everything tasted off to him.  It was on this day that he gave me the copies of Tales of Suspense 76, Tales to Astonish 98 and Marvel Super Action 7.  It didn't take long for this very important meeting to commence as I needed to fully clarify the Fantastic Four #6 issue.  I asked him again if he actually gave me back that issue as in 'gave it back - gave it back' ... he answered yes and so I replied that I couldn't take a gift back but I could replace it. 

I had brought along a bag of items for him and he seemed genuinely pleased with the replacement gifts!

Honestly, I think he made out like a bandit with this...

A BIG box of  ASSORTED Russell Stover chocolates, a nice 6 pack of Milwaukee's Best ICE and a copy of X-Force 1, still sealed in the bag!!  (This copy didn't have the Deadpool card in it because I kept that one for myself.)

After the trade off was finalized, I told him that I was planning on sending the book in to CGC along with a super secret book that I had just picked up (House of Secrets 92).  A few days after this meetup, I decided that I would attempt a light cleanup of the HoS 92... I dry cleaned the back of the book, pressed it and examined the centerfold closely.  I saw that the bottom was actually split between the two prong holes so there was nothing I could do about that.  At the top, one prong hole was enlarged and one wasn't, so I gently tried to slip a staple prong through the bottom hole. It kind of worked but I didn't know if it would actually hold once the book was opened and flipped through.  I placed the book in a bag with a board along with the FF 6 and sealed them up to be shipped off to CGC. 

I decided to use the Express designation for both of these as I still had my membership credit to use so essentially, these would cost me $70 a book for that service with the hopes that these wouldn't take months to get back.

I was very impressed as just a day or so after CGC received the books in Sarasota, they were already in the Scheduled for Grading category!

...

...

I informed Rob that we had to have a grading contest on these two books, revealed to him the super secret acquisition and sent him the raw pictures that I had taken of both books prior to sending them in. Once I saw that the books were graded and shipped (CGC did a fantastic job of fulfilling the Express service), I thought that we could conduct this grading contest at yet another brewery and that just occurred this past weekend at the Oktoberfest meetup!

Ok. Whew... 

I'm giving the TARDIS a workout by going back to set all of this up even though I know that I had to jump ahead in continuity to tell this story. 

I guess I was too excited to hang on to it for weeks.

Time to jump back to the current timeline.

To be continued...

I left the comic convention feeling really good about how the morning went up to this point... I had found a few treasures at the local flea market, like that beat set of Mego's.  I was also able to pick up a nice copy of X-Men 109 and stumbled right into an awesome sketch of Iron Man by one of my childhood favorites! This was a good day but now I needed to head out to meet Rob for this all very important meetup that would mix a grading contest with Oktoberfest... what could be better and what could go wrong?

I stopped at a McDonald's before getting on the highway.

"Hm.  Strange... that car has been tailing me since I left the comic show."

Ok.

I thought back for a moment.  All I had was this bag that I was carrying around so I couldn't have been drawing that much attention, could I have? 

"I'm just being paranoid", I thought to myself.

So one McChicken sandwich later, it was time to put on some tunes.  I always thought the harmonica play was spot on with this one...

On that 20 minute ride I couldn't help but think of what the afternoon might hold in store for me.  This would be the first time that Rob and I were able to meet up for any type of Oktoberfest so there was that, but then there was this matter of these books that was in my bag.  Prior to heading out, I asked my wife if she could open up the CGC box and place tape over all of the parts of the book where a grade would be shown.  This was the first time ever, that I never saw the early grades from CGC... I certainly had my ideas of what the grades might be as well as what I was hoping for.

Wow.

It was time for another tune.

I pulled into the parking lot of this remote brewery and scanned the cars to see if Rob was here.  It didn't appear to be, so I went in to survey the situation.  Right before I walked into the door, I glanced over to my right... "Is that the same car that was tailing... no, stop it David, you're being paranoid again." 

I entered the brewery and was greeted by a bubbly bartender.  "Hello, what can I get you?"

I was about to answer but then I saw it.  This whole scene was something out of X-Files... you know the one where Mulder realizes that this was somehow a setup.

"Sh..t. What did I walk into?"

I looked around... this was a set up! 

No, Rob didn't have anything to do with this, as a matter of fact he was now in danger! 

They had been tracking me and saw that this was a very important date on my calendar. 

"Damn!  It all made sense now.  What the hell?!"

No, I hadn't brought The Book with me, these are really just CGC graded books!

"There was the FBI."

"And over there... looks like Moby."

"Most definitely CIA."

"Dammit.. the TVA are here too!"

"They must've got some bad Intel!"

And then if this wasn't bad enough, The Harmonica Man entered the scene with his Harpies surrounding him!

There was no way I was walking out of this alive unless I summoned the Ghosts of the Past...

But just at that moment, before bar-stools started flying out of the windows, Rob walks in from the opposite door.

"Oh, hey Rob... what's up?  I was just about to order a round for us."

To be continued...

I was surprised that I actually arrived first for once. 

The friendly bartender told me that I could purchase a beer mug and then have it filled at a discounted price throughout the afternoon.  That certainly sounded like a good deal to me so I went for it.  It was only a matter of 5 minutes before Rob showed up and yes, he did enter from the opposite entrance, probably seeing if I was seated outside first.  He had attended this brewery's Oktoberfest last year so he had his beer mug with him.  So after we had our glasses filled, we proceeded to go outside to find a table and enjoy the nice weather.  There was a food truck outside that had a small menu of German inspired items to compliment the festivities... it all smelled so good.  We found just the right table although I did have to switch out my seat as I really wasn't feeling the need to sit in a semi reclined position... after all, there was serious business to attend to here!

Now prior to this meetup, I informed Rob on how we would conduct this grading contest that we were about to have regarding these two CGC books.  I asked if he could buy a couple of travel sized bottles of any type of liquor that he thought I might like (or dislike) and I would do the same.  The idea here is that we would both come up with grades and for each half grade we were off (1.5 to1.8 would be considered half grades), we would have to drink half of a 50ml bottle.  So I brought my two bottles which consisted of an Orange flavored Jameson Irish Whiskey and some type of Rum. 

Rob went above and beyond (as he always does) and brought 5 bottles!  A very interesting assortment to say the least...

After a few sips of beer and some talk, it was time to get these books.  I wrote down all of the possible grades on a piece of paper.  Rob said that he had already formulated his grades but I took the books out of the bag for him to take a second look if he needed.  He said he was glad to actually see the House of Secrets 92 in person, because the lighting on the raw picture I sent him made the back cover appear brighter than it was.  So after another review, he told me his grades and I recorded them and then recorded mine as well.  When Rob told me what he thought the HoS 92 was, I was very surprised.  I thought to myself, "Wouldn't that be nice!".

So Rob had the House of Secrets #92 as a 3.5 (Very Good-) and I had it as 2.5 (Good +) but I was hoping for a 3.0 (Good / Very Good).

As for the Fantastic Four #6, Rob graded it as a 1.5 (Fair / Good) and I had the same grade assigned as well but was hoping for a 1.8 (Good-)

Rob would have the honors of revealing the grades and I had him do the FF 6 first.  He said he would peel the tape off starting from the far right which I thought was an excellent idea as it would add to the suspense!  So Rob slowly peels back the tape and reveals a 0.  When I saw that my heart sunk a bit because it was then that I thought to myself "Sh*t, it got a 1.0 (Fair)"

I was pleased at this point to see the pages as OFF WHITE to WHITE.  I thought that having those pages would be a nice consolation even if I was off by a half grade.  Rob then proceeded to slowly peel the rest of the tape but then something incredible began to appear... I saw a curve!  I think I said something like "Wait... what?!".  Seeing that curve could only mean one thing. 

Rob revealed the rest of the grade and I was shocked.  

I told Rob that I couldn't believe it got a 2.0 (Good) because it had a detached cover.  I always thought that a detached cover would guarantee a 1.8 (Good-) and then with the tape stains and missing paper, I thought that would knock it down to a 1.5 (Fair / Good) or even lower to a 1.0 (Fair).  This was fantastic though and I wasn't complaining one bit... I was thrilled!  Now this was where CGC's new policy of labeling came into play as nowhere on the label did it mention anything about the detached cover.  I don't think Rob was aware of this as I told him that the way they were going to note defects such as this was through the QR Code on the back of the case which would provide all of the grader notes.  He didn't know that anyone could now access this information whether they had a membership or not through this QR Code. 

He used his phone to scan the code and sure enough, it was all there.

That move I like a lot, it's pretty slick... the missing notation on the label itself of the cover being detached - not so much.

Now based on our grading rules, because we were both off by 2 half grades, that meant that we had one 50ml bottle to consume.  We didn't do that there, as that would be saved for later.

So now it was time for the book that I was most nervous about.  Would this book be a 2.5 (Good +) as I thought it would?  Did the centerfold stay connected to that one prong?  Did it matter?

Rob took the book and duplicated the process of slowing peeling the label from the right.  The first number revealed was a 0, yet again.  I said to myself, "Ok, it's a 2.0 or a 3.0", which was what I was really hoping for.  I could see that this book had been assigned with WHITE pages and was really happy with that. Rob peeled the rest of the tape off...

You know, there are times when you don't expect something to happen and you're genuinely surprised... such as what happened with the FF 6.  But then there's what happened next when Rob finished peeling the tape off and revealed the full grade on the HoS 92. 

I.

NEARLY.

FELL.

OUT.

OF.

MY.

CHAIR.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing... I think I cursed.  "Are you kidding me?!" I was so far off and Rob was actually a lot closer to the grade but he under-graded it as well! 

I was speechless... beyond happy, but speechless!

Rob took his phone once again and grabbed the notes... it did mention a detached centerfold. Again, I very much like the addition of the QR Code on the case but I do think that the notations of detached covers and detached centerfolds should be visible on the labels.

As I write this, I'm still in somewhat shock.  I wonder if the light cleaning and press I did pushed the grade up to a 4.0 (Very Good) from what Rob thought it would be at a 3.5 (Very Good-) and if the centerfold was attached,could it have received an even higher grade? Regardless, I'm so happy that I actually have a copy in this grade!  So yes, I'll call it once again, my signature book and this is now the 4th copy I've owned. As I wrote earlier, I started with a 6.0 (Fine), went to a 4.0 (Very Good), then to a 7.5 (Very Fine-) and finally back to a 4.0 (Very Good). 

And now that I have this first appearance of the Swamp Thing back in my collection, it's not going anywhere!

...

...

The rest of the afternoon was a blast!

Rob brought along his iPad and was showing me a few things on it.  I used it a little to play around with the drawing utilities he has installed and was so impressed with the functionality of it.  That's something I could easily get used to... it's very slick! After some more beers, we got some food.  The warm German Potatoes were absolutely delicious. 

The music was very good and we noticed the crowd getting into it.  I saw that the Harmonica Man (Harmonicist?) had this kind of Harmonica Man Utility Belt on... I had never seen anything like that before.  Did he carry all sorts of Harmonicas?  Like a Freeze Harmonica and a Laser Harmonica? Hm.

The afternoon ended with us meeting the Harmonica Man's groupies... that was interesting. One of them told me this dirty joke that I hadn't heard before.  It was funny, clever... involved pennies and one that I think only a woman can tell. Rob and I left and I told him that when I got home I would fulfill my obligation as I (gladly!) lost our grading contest. 

Once I was home, my wife asked me how it went and I had to laugh.  I said, "You know, if I saw those grades while you were taping them, I probably would've screamed."... well, maybe not actually screamed but you get the idea.  A short time later, I picked the Apple Pie and Cookie Dough Whiskey to complete the contest.  I didn't care for the Apple Pie but the Cookie Dough was very unique.  It's definitely a novelty whiskey, but not bad at all.

It was just the right cap to end a fantastic day!

Fantastic Four 6

House of Secrets 92

Scotch and Postscript II...

I have to leave it here but I'll add more later. 

Let's just say that the weekend I just wrote about, as amazing as that was, couldn't have started off any better and that will be detailed in my next post!

Before the comic show and before the Oktoberfest meet up, Saturday night was set aside for one special reason...

I took my wife and my stepson to the theater to see the David Bowie film, Moonage Daydream by Brett Morgen.

I suppose I should have started this post first, but I wanted to connect the Oktoberfest post to the one that I started on that Friday before going to see this amazing film. It was only shown in IMAX and I wasn't sure why that was until after the film was over.  It HAD to be shown in IMAX.  The music selection was perfect and hearing it in surround sound was incredible.  As for the footage, I found myself getting completely lost in the crystal clear (original?) imagery from the 60's and 70's... the widescreen presentation was absolutely the only was for this to be shown! There was some information in this that I had seen and heard from our visit to the David Bowie Is exhibition in Brooklyn, NY that I wrote about in starting this current journal, but there was a lot included that I didn't know about and hadn't seen before.

At the risk of sounding a bit cliché, this certainly felt like a journey you were taking in the discovery and development of the artistic process, especially the artistry of David Bowie.

This isn't a documentary as in something that you would expect to see on Discovery... this was something much, much more!  I thoroughly enjoyed it, my stepson liked it a lot as well but my wife absolutely loved it.  I felt like it was the perfect bookend (I use that phrase a lot) to the exhibit we saw 4 years ago.  I would highly recommend this film to anyone who likes Bowie or is just a fan of music and art in general.  Seeing this film left me with a few thoughts that still linger...

Does the environment in which you surround yourself with, create the artist, or do you, as the artist, influence your surroundings? 

I thought about that when thinking of Bowie's transition from Ziggy to the Thin White Duke and beyond.

That's just so fascinating to me.

Anyways, at our local IMAX, after the movie was over and we were exiting the theater, they were giving out free posters and we were allowed to take a few.  That was unexpected but such an awesome souvenir!

Like I said, that weekend couldn't have started off any better than it had and if I had to give it a review, as a whole, it couldn't be anything less than...

Obviously.

It's funny. 

Through writing these last two journal entries, I realized something that has developed in my collecting habits and I kind of hinted at it before, but now it's more obvious than ever.  I'll get back to the continuity of these thoughts that I left off with before breaking in with the House Of Secrets and Fantastic Four books.  In doing so, I think I'll be able to flesh out those ideas a bit more. 

I left off talking about how I was in a bit of a rush to obtain certain books throughout the Summer and Fall of 2021... was it a bit of insanity or was I unknowingly building something else?

I think I'm beginning to understand that much better now. 

House Cleaning

Before I get back to talking about books from last year, specifically books obtained last Fall, I just want to throw in a few random thoughts here and some other items that I meant to write about.  I'll start with going back to a couple of weeks ago and my Oktoberfest get together with Rob.  He got this awesome lighter for me and it's too cool not to share. 

I absolutely love the design on this!

I found this on Instagram and thought it was "Fantastic". 

How clever...

This is probably the most unique Whiskey glass that I own. 

It should've been designed years ago... maybe it was.

I've spent many hours tonight trying to convince myself that I don't need this and so far, I'm not doing a good job. 

I found this image this week and thought it was great! 

I'm really enjoying the She-Hulk series on Disney + (I'll get to that later) but I had no idea that they were actually using a live model. 

Obviously, Tatiana Maslany plays Jennifer Walters... but I had no idea that the She-Hulk portions was actually Malia Arrayah before CGI did the rest. 

Well done!

I really miss this guy and I would love to have been able to talk to him had he been able to see what happened in this hobby, post Blip / Snap / EndOfTheWorld ...

Last weekend was Parents Weekend at my daughter's college and so my wife and I went out there for the afternoon two weeks ago on Saturday.  The activities on campus were lame (in our opinions), so we decided to head into downtown Rochester to see what we could find there. 

Is it weird to anyone else that everything seems to shut down by 5pm now?

What happened...

Anyways, we took our daughter and her roommate out for lunch and settled for a really nice, cozy Italian place, following something that they've been wanting to do for a couple of years now.  They've been meaning to get to this Cat Cafe in downtown Rochester for some time, called Pawsitivity, but could never find the time.  Well, as luck would have it, they were still open as we were in that vicinity and so I took them there as my wife browsed through a used bookstore across the street.  You know, I was pretty impressed.  It looked like this was a former medical office that had been repurposed to house... cats. 

The $5 admission per person (for 30 minutes) seemed more than fair as those funds would be used to feed the cats here.

My daughter and her roommate thoroughly enjoyed their time there and I did as well.  I met many friendly cats but I think the one with the bow-tie was my favorite!

It felt like it was a short visit with her but it was great, nonetheless! 

As this journal advances, I'll certainly reveal more and more of how this experience is effecting me.

On the way back home, I stopped into this liquor store to get some wine but then saw this and had to get it.

A football bourbon? 

Sure, why not... I only wish it could help the offensive line woes of the Rams.

This past weekend my wife and I took to some back roads looking for some interesting places.  We made it as far as Canandaigua, NY before everything closed.  We found a great market stand just outside of Canandaigua where we bought some fresh baked goods, pumpkins and sorts.  The prices were very reasonable.  Throughout the day, we stopped at some second hand stores but it was at this "antique mall" in Geneva, NY where I found some really good treasures.  Now we had been here before but the vendors that set up there keep changing out and so it's definitely worth stopping in there from time to time to check things out. 

The place is called Penny Lane ( https://www.instagram.com/pennylaneantiquemall/?hl=en )

There was a new dealer set up that had a bunch of long boxes of comics and the prices seemed really good.  I found all of these for the total price of $19.  The two Fantastic Four Annuals look to be in high grade which was nice, as does the Captain Gallant and the Futurians #1.  The Legends #3 ( 1st new Suicide Squad) was only a dollar because there's some water rippling on the bottom but I'm pretty sure I can improve that copy.

Aside from this, I was able to find a copy of one of my favorite Big Little Books that I had as a child... finding this brought a smile to my face as I hadn't seen a copy since I last saw mine all of those years ago.

I also found two sets of collector cards from another dealer and I hadn't heard of either of these!  The first was a complete set of Captain America cards from 1990 that featured various classic covers of the character from Timely to Marvel and the second was a set of horror movie lobby cards and prints from 1991.  The Captain America cards are a little off in their reproduction (it might be the coloring) but the backs form covers of two books as a puzzle... you have to love that.  The Monster cards reeked of late 80's early 90's nostalgia as it came with a type written form that you could mail in. 

No, these aren't going to be flipped even though both sets sold recently for around $40 each on eBay and I bought them both for $18. 

As a matter of fact, I just put them all in sleeves and in a binder as I watched tonight's Sunday Night Football with the Ravens and Bengals.

And lastly, for this House Cleaning... this past week was phenomenal in terms of New Comic Book Day and the reprints that came out! 

I used to hate reprints because I always felt like it cheapened the value of the originals but now that I'm older, I think just the opposite.  The reason for the reprints only places a spotlight on the true value of the originals.  And so, with that... look at the reprints from this past week! 

Oh yes.

There was also this awesome Art Adams variant that came out too!

That reminds me... I have some awesome Art Adams prints (courtesy of Rob) to share as soon as I can find a good way to photograph or scan them. 

House Cleaning II

A few more things.

I think that I could tie this into my stories connecting back to 2021 but it kind of exemplifies 2021 at the same time and perhaps, that which is continuing.

So.

Are we at... "Where were you when..."  in terms of Deadpool III?!

I think we might be.

Where was I?

I was on my way into work and when I arrived to the parking lot, I was able to finally view this trailer in full.

After the "trailer" was over... I re-watched it. 

Why? 

Because I didn't believe that it was true.  But then, after seeing that Deadpool III logo and the release date... yeah, that did it and convinced me that we weren't being trolled.

Prior to this trailer drop, I had a certain book on my radar but figured that I had plenty of time to get a copy and so it was just tacked onto the end of my 'books to buy' list.  Well, following this trailer, I knew that my time had run out and that I needed to get a copy of this book NOW!  And so I did... In this parking lot, right before going into work.

I was scrolling through these pages of books on eBay and trying to find something outside of the 2 hour time frame that I felt that I was locked into based on the video release... meaning, I was looking for books that were listed a day or days before and not the Buy It Now listings that had popped up all over the place.

Finally, there it was... a book that just seemed to check all the boxes for me.

I was very comfortable with a CGC 8.5 (I'll have to get into that a little later in terms of books that I look for) and here was one that was also signed!

Sold.

Call it what you will, FOMO... or worse, but I truly felt like this was a win for me based on what I paid.  I'm seeing raw copies settle down a bit from what they were commanding immediately following the news, but even so, if you add the cost of a raw copy now, plus the signing fee for Adam Kubert, plus the grading and shipping costs... yes, I'll certainly call this a win.

Only time will tell for sure but you can't argue with the eye appeal of this book given the signature placement and the Sharpie color choice!

Certainly, spot on!

So now I don't have to worry about this book featuring the first meetup of Deadpool and Wolverine... I think I have that covered. Besides, Adam Kubert was one hell of a Wolverine artist!

Those marks you see around Deadpool's right arm are scuffs on the slab and not on the book itself.

Finally, I'm glad Hugh and Ryan were able to clarify things...

House Cleaning III

This past weekend was great... my wife and I enjoyed another great year together and I was able to find many new books and videos to talk about.

But I have to leave it at this before I get to my stories of 2021.

Yes, we had a Marvel / Disney + Special and I thought it was absolutely fantastic...

Werewolf By Night!

(I'll wait a little before talking more about it in specific but it's kind of obvious what I absolutely loved seeing!)

Towards the middle of the show, an old tune plays from a phonograph... Hm.

...

...

Oh, what's this?  Is it it time for an intermission?

Sure.

Actually, that's not really an intermission but I thought it was interesting that in the Werewolf By Night special, they used two songs from the 30's.

Again, what is the 30's?

"Somewhere Over The Rainbow" by Judy Garland was at the end and this was the one in the middle...

"Does anybody here remember Vera Lynn?
Remember how she said that we would meet again
Some sunny day?"

So yes, I absolutely loved that Werewolf By Night special on so many levels! From the look and feel of how it was filmed, to the characters and even to the font that they used for the title...

For me it was all perfect! 

Now will this now make me need to go out and find a copy of Marvel Spotlight #2 and the first appearance of Jack Russell?  Probably not... but there is another book that I do need to get as (I think) I'm seeing how things are being lined up.  I have to say, others (speculators and comic fans) are way ahead of the game if this ends up being correct! 

House Cleaning IV

(?)

I did not expect this but here we are...

I bought a book tonight based purely on internet news and I could've been duped. 

The silver lining is that this book was one that I had targeted over a year ago but became more serious about it around 3 months ago.  I had hoped to hold off on it a little longer but, as fate would have it, those weeks ended here.

I'll get to that later.

Here's a hint...

If the rumors are wrong, well... I own a book that has been on my list of books to get.  If the rumors are correct, maybe I have another win.

I don't think I have regret about buying this book but maybe I just got caught up in the season...

The only thing I'm thinking right now is that I probably should've purchased it 2-3 months ago when I saw the prices dip as they had.

So maybe this rumor I heard is true after all. 

I'm feeling much better with my purchase regardless if it's true or not.  Ironically, it goes back to Wandavision and a book that I wanted to get back then.  I think I'm at a point where I realize that $100 per price point on lower grade key books is acceptable and reasonable to me.  It's kind of funny but after what we all witnessed in 2021, it kind of feels like the gas prices.  Gas seemed to go up so quickly and so high, now that they're lower, it's a bit of a relief even though they're still high compared to pre 2020.  So these books that I'm looking to get are still at elevated levels, but they're not 2021 levels. 

Anyways, I'm going to transition back to talking about last year and some of the key purchases I made as I was trying to navigate through those high prices, speculation and demand.

There was a book that I had purchased early last year that was based off of speculation but a cool book to me nonetheless.  It was purchased here on the boards from @Callaway29 who had a sales thread featuring multiple copies of this one in various grades.  I picked up one of the lowest graded copies as it was at a price that I was comfortable with (interestingly enough, $100 per point) and I felt it was safe.  Meaning I just wanted a copy of this book and wasn't looking to flip the book if this speculation panned out.  Well, needless to say, nothing came of this book throughout the rest of 2021 and even today, there isn't any solid news out there on this character but it's a book I really like regardless.  Now there is this Secret Invasion series slated to come out early next year and it looks amazing! 

It's possible that this character may show up in that series but I'm not counting on it.  There's just one small little detail that needs to be ironed out... oh, like maybe the Fantastic Four. 

I did have a raw copy of this book before but that was sold long ago.  This one I plan on holding onto for a bit and if the Super Skrull actually does becomes part of the MCU, all the better.

Another purchase I made last year that was fueled by a piece of news that had come out, involved a book that I had - but sold (as usual) and now felt the pressure to reacquire given this latest bit of information.  The best part of this story is that once again, thanks to my favorite LCS... I reacquired the exact same copy that I had sold. 

What's funny is that I lost track of who or where or even when, I sold this book. 

I believe it was late Summer last year when I heard that DC was working on a Madame Xanadu project for HBO MAX.  Well, who knows what state that lies in now as DC is reviewing pretty much everything that they were planning, but when I initially heard about this, I remembered that I had a nice copy of Doorway to Nightmare 1 and I should probably get a replacement.  I still think that this cover is great... beautifully rendered by Michael Kaluta! 

As I searched the internet, I saw that prices were now spiking all over the place following this announcement and I wasn't looking at spending a lot to reacquire this one.  And so I waited and then one day, I walked into my LCS and asked the owner if he had a copy of Doorway to Nightmare 1.  He thought for a second and then told me to hang on for a moment as he went into his back room.  When he came out, he handed me this slab (I was expecting him to come out with a raw copy) and I had to laugh to myself inside. 

It was my old copy. 

I didn't say anything because again, I didn't remember who, where or when I sold it.  I just said to him something like, "Oh wow... perfect!  How much?"  He gave me a great price on it and I love that I have this old label CGC copy of this book! 

I just realized that there's a scratch on the slab across her hair or maybe it's just a hair... I'll have to take a look.

The original artwork of this cover is amazing! 

This sold on Heritage in August of 2016 for $20,315.00... I can't imagine what it would go for today!

The woman that Michael Kaluta used for the model is Cathy Ann Thiele, who he initially gave this piece to, as signed at the top of the page.

Finally, here's a portion of a great article that was featured in BACKISSUE Magazine #52 from October of 2011... it's a great issue for all of you DC Horror fans!

It was right around this time, last year that I started to get pulled into Spider-Man books and even today, I find myself continuing on that course. 

Last year, there was a lot of talk and speculation regarding Spider-Man and Venom, and I suppose I just fell right into that along with others.  Again, some of it was speculation driven but then there was also an organic interest in other related books. Spider-Man is an odd subject because of the somewhat cooperative existence of the character in the Sony Spider-Man Universe (SSU) and the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).  There's been talk of Tom Holland retaining his role as the MCU Spider-Man and Andrew Garfield reprising his role as the SSU Spider-Man but that remains to be seen.  I think there's a lot of room for multiple variants with the expansion of alternate universes including a live action Miles Morales which I think would work out very well.

It seems that there was a lot of talk and interest in the whole Venom / symbiote costume thing and I started accumulating some of those issues.  At this point I only had the ASM Annual 16 and ASM 300 books in my collection.  When I started thinking of Spider-Man (seeing most all of the early Steve Ditko issues where selling for very high prices), the book that I felt needed to get was one of my favorite covers and a book that I call my "birthday" book based on the cover date... not when it was actually on the newsstand.  I always thought that the costume of this character's first appearance perfectly complimented Spider-Man and although this book has seen some steady growth, when I bought it last year, it was still one that was reasonably affordable.  Of course the higher in grade you go, the more this book jumps in value.  Still, I was happy to get this "birthday" book, Amazing Spider-Man #78, dated November of 1969... the first appearance of Hobie Brown, the Prowler!

As I started getting more and more sucked into the symbiote costume thing and Venom, the one book that started heating up considerably last Summer into Fall was Venom's first cover appearance.  It's such an awesome cover and certainly iconic as it has had numerous homages attributed to it. What I really like about this book is that not only is it such a dramatic Todd McFarlane piece but I believe this is the first and last time you see 'Classic Venom', meaning after this book, I think you get into the Erik Larsen Venom with the crazy tongue and the drool.  I much prefer the classic look as designed by Todd McFarlane as it allows the character to show an uncertain, eerie quality to him where you're not sure what you're seeing.  As Venom has been depicted afterwards, there's no sinister quality of the character... you basically know what you're dealing with. 

Just my ...

So I bought this book on the way up, which looking back at it now, that was a loss but in the long view, I think what I paid for this book will be realized once again.  It is such a great cover, it's the first full cover appearance and it showcases a look that isn't in existence any longer.  What was interesting here though, and it's something I hinted at in previous posts... this was the first time I actively sought to 'pair' a book.  Knowing that this was going to be a keeper book for me, I wanted to pair it up with my Amazing Spider-Man 300 book which meant that I would have to find just the right copy, at a CGC 8.5, with WHITE pages and a newsstand copy.  That made this quest and acquisition fun, a little challenging, but ultimately I found just the right book on Mercari and I didn't feel like it was going to 'break the wallet', so to say.  This is pretty much why I find a lot of attraction to 8.5 (Very Fine+) books.  I think that grade perfectly marries eye appeal and value.  Perhaps it's just me, but I seem to find that once books hit north of 9.0 (Very Fine / Near Mint), outside of investment, you're not really getting much for your money in terms of eye appeal.  It was a board member here that recently stated (I'm paraphrasing) that he could show you 9.6 books that look like 9.2's and 9.2's that could be 9.6's.

So obviously, I'm talking about Amazing Spider-Man #316 - the first cover appearance of Venom and it was here where I first thought of the idea of creating subsets within my collecting habits and pairing this book with another.

Here is that pair and I think they look great together! 

The first appearance of Venom and his first (full) cover appearance...

I always thought that this video and song was very clever.

There is some harsh language in it. 

Is it weird that Eminem is 50 now?  Well, that's a clone so there's that...

Just wanted to put this out there for anyone in the Chicago, Illinois area...

Update...

The end of another long week but hopefully I can catch up a bit here regarding these Spider-Man books. 

Until I started writing this latest entry, I hadn't realized that I have more of this title than any others in this latest collection of mine.  I'm sure this journal entry is going to veer way off course at some point because as I write this, I'm wrapped up in listening / watching Depeche Mode's Live Spirits concert from Germany... if I remember, I'll post more on that later.

So, I was writing about these Spider-Man books that I wanted to pick up and some of these decisions were influenced by speculation hype.   Others were just a natural desire to get these books, that which I had liked for a long time, before prices got out of hand.  In order to compile this correctly, I'm going to have to include some books that I purchased this year to completely 'flesh out' this (semi) focus I had on this title that started last year.

My last post was about ASM 316 and how it was a book I purchased in the middle of the Venom / Symbiote costume hype.  Now this next part is kind of weird because, well... in the state of mind that I'm in right now, I have to call it the Matrix at work.  How else is it that, simultaneously, as you think of something, so does everyone else?

The only obvious answer is The Matrix, right?

So...

As speculation was driving the 'black suit Spider-Man' craze of last year, this one book kind of got caught up in that speculation web...

Could some of this be attributed to CGC? 

Possibly. 

It seems to me as if their labeling does, in fact, cause bubbles in the comic collecting hobby.

This next book that I want to talk about has a CGC label that describes this...

"Spider-Man's new costume revealed to be an alien symbiote.  Mr. Fantastic, Human Torch, Black Cat & Hobgoblin appearance."

What issue could this be?

Well, for us of a certain age, we followed this in 'real time' and now here we are having to compete with CGC sharing this valued information with Gen ... I forget where we're at right now.

So yes, this particular book spiked and I was glad that I secured a copy well before this happened in the community, even if it was a short lived hype.

I have to mention that I always liked Ron Frenz's depiction of Spider-Man as it seemed to meld a style of Steve Ditko and Todd McFarlane.  Anyways, I think this is a classic cover even if it's not mentioned as such by CGC. 

Dark vs. Light.

I'll always bite on that...

"

I absolutely love the study of typography and it was actually one of my favorite subjects in college... 71 years ago. 

That being said, I do have to say that I think that the logo for The Amazing Spider-Man is certainly one that should be in the top 5 of all time comic book logos.

Perhaps that's why I kept purchasing these books.

Someday I'd love to do an in depth review of comic logos but for now, how can anyone NOT put this one in the top five?

So, as the Spider-Man (black suit) craze advanced, I thought that the next obvious destination for my collection had to be the origin of it.

(Now I wouldn't be so shallow as to fall for that ploy, would I?)

Oh, you underestimate me... of course I did!    Despite these next two books being brought about mostly by the fear of missing out (FOMO), they are great covers and I think will always be in demand.

I purchased a copy Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #8 at a CGC 8.5, again, my favorite (semi) high grade... but I also felt the need to pair that up with the absolute first appearance of the black symbiote costume and that is certainly with the iconic Amazing Spider-Man #252.  I know that it's tied with Marvel Team-Up #141, but the fact that there's an Amazing Fantasy #15 (1962) cover swipe out there as the first 'black costume', that's everything for me.

=

Again, I found my new interest in matching books and so here is the graded match... a nice looking CGC 8.5 / Direct Edition with WHITE Pages.  I'm going to have to take a look at my scanner because I'm seeing scratch marks that I haven't noticed before. 

I do have to admit that the strong red inks are pretty vibrant on this book.  It is strange how some copies of this book appear more orange than red.

Ok... I got through the Spider-Man books and now it's time for another important topic.

Music.  

I've been watching the Depeche Mode : Live Spirits concert in Germany throughout this night and despite this being (possibly) viewed as a controversial statement... I feel that prior to this concert, their best live performance that I could think of was from the 101 tour from 1988, but this, to me, is so much better.

This video is from nearly 30 years after that 101 performance.

"Everything Counts" is at the 1:00 minute mark... I posted the wrong video before.

Also, this is the last live performance for Andrew Fletcher.

And this is from the Pasadena 101 tour in 1988...

This is kind of what got me here, I guess.

I just watched this great interview with David Gahan in which he addressed the loss of Fletch as well as that Live Spirits tour. 

I can't wait for their new release... based on this interview, it sounds like it's going to be something I'll need to hear and experience.

Here's that interview...

NYCC was a couple of weeks ago now and cast aside yet again... but, I was able to find a con exclusive for Rob and myself.

I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to attend NYCC again, based on my schedule as well as the insane process of getting tickets, so I'm forever grateful for being able to attend the ones that I did, thanks to him.

To be continued....

So it only took 3 days to clean up my last entry...

I posted the wrong DM video so I went back and posted the whole concert as that's what I was listening to.  I think it's amazing.  I know, none of this is really all that important but I just wanted to be accurate. 

Or at least try to be.

Here's a little more on that concert...

https://www.lntvglobal.com/en-pl/article/watch-the-never-before-seen-live-spirits-depeche-mode-s-full-concert-from-the-waldbuhne-berlin/

...

...

...

Anyways, I forgot to mention that last weekend I had a big win as I finally found just the right copy of a book that I've been hunting, for almost 2 years now.  I'm not sure how it was that I first caught the desire to find this book, it might've been when I was strongly thinking of getting a Giant Size X-Men #1 and ultimately watching the boat sail.  Thinking of other X-Men members, both past and present, Sunfire stood out to me and I wanted to get a copy of his first appearance but saw that even that book was spiking a bit online.  I told myself that I would wait and that I really wanted to find a copy 'in the wild'. 

Numerous comic shop visits and numerous comic conventions and small shows netted absolutely nothing.

That was until this past weekend.  I stopped in to my LCS because the owner had posted a bunch of books and slabs on Facebook showcasing some new books that had entered the store recently and so I thought to go in and take a look.  I debated heavily on a copy of Amazing Spider-Man #101 (the first appearance of Morbius)  which was CGC graded at a 3.0.  If it didn't have Cream to Off White pages, I probably would have given in and bought it but I decided to wait and was about to leave the shop a little dissapointed.  At that moment though, I saw this copy on the wall, mixed in with a bunch of other wall books, that had been there for a while and that I had seen regularly.  That's probably why I didn't notice it at first.  I asked the owner when he got this copy and he told me that it just come in.  There was a price tag on it that was a little high but he ended up giving me a cash offer that was about 35% off of what he was asking.

I gladly took the offer and I'm thrilled to finally have a copy of this. 

This will eventually be submitted to CGC.  I feel like it's a 5.0 (Very Good / Fine) but based on some opinions from the Spare a Grade section, it might be a little better.

Such a great splash page on this one...

Lastly, in addition to that X-Men #64, I decided at the last minute to get these 2 unopened packs of the 1990 Impel Marvel Universe cards.  I think these were pretty good results.

The Wolverine and Spider-Man look slightly off center... I'm not sure if I'll send any of these in yet but it might be fun. 

We'll see.