Foolkiller

Good luck with that hunt Nik. I'll be nipping at those heels if one pops up.

Usually delinquent in the Kudos but... Kudos to: October and Frederic for first class service from a guy who can be demanding in his shipping requests. Also -- not on the boards, but big Kudos to A-1 comics (Brian Peets) awesome customer service and sweet books. There have been some tremendous deals lately on ebay.

kudos to svndst1030, ronm3, nikos and every single person who's bidding in my auctions... and who already bid on them.... I hope you all enjoy the books and be sure to look at the ones coming -- each round I hope to have nice ones and bargains... KUDOS to you all!

As I told jimjum, I almost made the switch and bought the ASM 7 because I thought it was just an amazing book... so awesome... but those two were so nice... I didn't want to make a switch, but Harry's books, in person, are truly some of the best you will see...

No, I wouldn't meet with the defendant, but rather the defense attorney. If it was a defense attorney I knew and trusted, and the defendant's record and crime were not egregious, I would make the appropriate recommendation. I would not take one from the defendant directly. This, of course, is not a criminal situation. And really all it did was say to me that this situation needs to come to an end... and Doug deserves a second chance to prove that he would not do something like this again, or hang himself by his own actions. Either way, I'm willing to move forward. But -- I will note that should an unethical action ever be discovered and proven, I will not be recommending a third chance.

I am starting another thread on Schmell not to rip or rehash a lot of the issues yet again, but really to hopefully offer some sort of closure to the situation. My concern is that there's been a lot of talk (from myself included -- see the later portion of this post) and I think some damage that my very myopic view of the situation has caused. A few days ago I decided to email Doug because I had heard that he was upset that some of his friends in the hobby had taken the time to simply email him and hear what he had to say. Although I would not say Doug and I knew each other super well, we had eaten dinner and lunch together a few times, I have bought a few books off of him, and generally always enjoyed his company. Everyone reading this post is well familiar what has happened in recent days, so there's no need for me to recap. After speaking to Doug I found the following: 1) I found Doug to be very contrite for what happened in the past with regard to the disbarment. These events took place in 1999. Doug by his own admission states he did a poor job managing the client's money, and that there is no excuse for his actions. He says he is a different person now. It was in fact, about 6 1/2 years ago. 2) Doug emphatically restated that he has never, nor would he ever, intentionally manipulate a book on his site in the line of trimming or color touch. Does he press? Yes, from time to time. I believe this is the case, and I believe that the grounds for that is that Doug, no matter how badly you believe the disbarment situation was, has always been passionate about comic books and loves them. For him to damage some priceless treasure like a Pacific Coast book to make a sale seems unfathomable when you factor it in with his personality overall. 3) I asked him about the counseling to avoid child payments and his explanation did make sense to me in that he was asked to cash checks for his clients who did not have bank accounts. Those clients were seeking to avoid child support payments. He did not ask (perhaps imho he should have) what the rationale was behind the cashing, and made a remark during his deposition on what the situation was regarding the cashed checks. This was his explanation, and I suppose I'd say that I feel it is plausible. 4) There is no doubt to me that Doug was careless as a lawyer, but because of his passion for comics and his past mistakes, has been much better at accounting for funds in his PedigreeComics business. Some of the conduct was intentional and willful. I have no doubt Doug did know what he was doing in the manipulation of the money -- but I do not believe that it is going on right now, and frankly, JIM 92 notwithstanding, I don't see evidence or a story where someone did have a problem with Doug since the inception of PedigreeComics. Let me be clear: I maintain this is a black and white issue. There is no grey when it comes to the actual disbarment proceedings. However, I offer the following analogy. A defendant committs a theft in 1999, goes to trial and is convicted. Before his sentencing, he bench warrants (flees). In 2006, the defendant is picked on the bench warrant, comes before the court, and is ready now to be sentenced. In the last 6 1/2 years, he hasn't gotten arrested, cited, not so much as a traffic ticket. He gets married, has a family, maintains a job, is a model worker. What should be done? This scenario presented itself at least once a month while I was a DA. And in most instances, I asked that the defendant be judged on the totality of his behavior but with a recognition and restitution for the crime he committed because he cannot evade responsibilities. Second chances are necessary and given out. Those chances are not immediate or given without some thought. Doug has been a good dealer, honest in the ways in which I can see since being a dealer, so while this was a severe question of character, punishing him over and over again in the court of public opinion likewise seems unfair. While I won't withdraw what I said, I will admit that I was probably too quick to judge what should happen with Doug going forward. And I believe that my language was overly strong. Each of us must decide whether or not this will still affect our perception of Doug. And I guess what I'd say is that Doug deserves a genuine second chance to show that what happened in 1999 was an abberation and that he has changed. And by genuine I mean, not throwing it back in his face every time we have the chance. By not constantly bringing it up, by trusting him the same way we would have anyway. If Doug proves me wrong, and I am made to look foolish by posting this, then I will be rather upset. But I will choose to believe him, to trust him again, even in light of everything that has happened. I know I may not have a lot of influence here, and that what I say may not matter here to any of you, but I am hopeful that we (the boards) can all put this behind us, treat Doug and deal with Doug as we always would, and if there is a question about his business dealings, then we will all remember what happened. We shouldn't entirely forget. But in order to get past this, I think we genuinely have to say, Doug, what you did was wrong, but I'm not going to keep saying it over and over again. My conversation with Doug was productive, I believe the conduct to be an egregious, but isolated (during part of the time he was a lawyer), incident, and that he was contrite. I believe Doug himself will appear here to offer more information. I have encouraged him to do so. I'm hopeful that after reading what I've said and what Doug has said, we will all be able to move on. And not to be a DQ, I will just add that a lot of older board members and others outside have mentioned the overwhelmingly negative tones the boards have taken on recently. I agree. But that's from all sides -- when people that I like and am friends with like Brad (Redhook) feel like they are attacked, but then in kind attack with strong language against people like Mark (esquire) who I'm also friends with, I wonder if we're on a comics chatboard or debating world peace. I'd be the first to admit, since Ewert, my increasingly vocal voice has been a shining example of chatter without substance. Although I believe my positions on both Ewert and Doug are morally correct, I have certainly contributed to the "beat the dead horse" negativity that has now become full of scandal and conspiracy. I believe there are deep and severe problems in our hobby as well as significant corruption. But there are positive ways to address these concerns and move the hobby forward. I haven't been part of that solution. I've been talking a great deal and not being part of finding out what kind of action can be taken to formulate a solution. What am I trying to achieve? Where is this going? What improvements in comics can and should be enacted? What can I do to help? The comics hobby is unregulated and unsupervised and dealers have enjoyed the luxury of those business practices. But it is then incumbent upon the consumer to self regulate by exposing those dealers who are dishonest. They may not like it, and it is tricky to figure it out. But it has to be a collective public effort. I'm not going anywhere. Not going to make some dramatic exit. But -- I do feel like I've been talking the talk without walking the walk. I like to judge others by their actions and what they do. In the future, of course we should speak out when there is fraudulent activity, but for me, I want to be contributing positively to the hobby, to make things better, safer for the consumer, and that is where my energy should go. Hopefully, we will all as a community be able to move in that direction.

Hey -- I didn't want to let the Rosa go... I thought there was no way you were going to buy it at that price! But you did -- so I had to let it go then.... Glad they were good books...

btw: Anyone here have any idea what a Warrior #1 mag would go for in VF? Or in NM- or whatever? I found a copy -- but I couldn't get an idea on price...

Chris, you know Gary Platt has a Miracleman 15 CGC 9.6... are you interested?

I saw this book today in person when Bob picked it up... what a beauty.

Unbelievable pics. Wow. Impressive.

Ian: do you know anything else about the story of the other person who completed a full set of DCs? Is there going to be any photos or news articles about your collection? I'm just curious cause I think you'd have something in common with the other person who accomplished the same and would at least have something in common to discuss.

Interesting... anyone have more info on this topic? She's one of the heirs to Pepsi. She may have had a little more access to money to complete her collection than I did.

well, I'm happy for Ian as well. It is an amazing accomplishment.

I think it has been intimated that the Living Tribunal (representative of an even higher power that governs the multi-verses) is the most powerful being. Although the weilder of the Infinity Gauntlet supposedly had essentially the same power, it is not exactly clear. However, since the tribunal shut off the access and the ability for the gems to work together any longer, it's probably the Living Tribunal. The Beyonder was later shown to be a manifestation in physical form of a cosmic cube, and cosmic cube, though having vast reality altering powers was not nearly as strong as the Infinity Gauntlet which controlled all aspects relating to this universe (and presumably, the same types of powers the Living Tribunal could wield).

Whoever is selling those books though, does get back to you quickly when you bid. We'll see how Josh handles my transaction this go around.

ohhhh..... damn man! you should have jumped on that! 110 is without a doubt the most valued of the Steranko Cap issues. At worst a 9.4 and sellable for $350, at best a 9.6 and sellable for $550. good pickup regardless though. did you think Metro's was a true 9.4?

yeah... Metro wanted $290 for their raw Boston 9.4 -- now isn't a slabbed Boston 9.4 White pager up on Comiclink? I passed on the Metro one because some of the Bostons are 9.2s not 9.4s but the page quality on all of them is beautiful, so I'm sure you got a sweet book.

nikos: did you buy Metro's raw Boston copy of Cap 110, or did you buy one of the slabbed Boston copies off of Comiclink?

I just bought a CGC 9.0 with off white to white pages for $52 off Ebay. I love this book. Great looking copy, greggy. I saw 2 or 3 nice copies of this book in Dallas, but they all had ridiculous prices on them. I think this issue will be filed in the "Books I should have bought a year ago" section.

sterling: did you get those charlton books in philly? if so, I'm happy for you... never looked for charlton's myself, so those might have been sitting over at some store and I'm sure they were thrilled to have you buy them.

I think if we all started getting custom titles, it'd just be a pain for the mods... unless they started letting us fill it in on registration or editing our profiles. I'd like to reserve the title "Soup Nazi" if I ever get a custom one.

the book graded as a CGC 3.0 G/VG

darth, just to be clear, I don't think Ian's offer was a "lowball" offer, but I also didn't think it hurt to shop the book around a little to see what kind of market there was, rather than jumping on the first offer thrown out there.

Redhook, I appreciate your opinion... in fact, in retrospect, perhaps I should have only let Ian in on the deal once he was the first contacted. But, Joe was trying to get opinions on the book before I contacted Metro, and additionally, was trying to get a feel from other dealers just to know what the book was worth. I had nothing to do with that. Additionally, I thought of Metro based primarily on rep alone. Joe would have moved the book to Ted at Superworld or other dealers, but there wasn't necessarily the client base there to move the book. It was then that Metro was brought in... basically because I felt the book was being shopped already... For all the headaches and accusations this has sent flying, for no money, I wish I just stayed out of it. I only wanted Joe's interests protected, and now I've just got a messy headache.