Rune

14 minutes ago, the blob said:

Conan 23 or 24? 23s seem to be 15-20% more expensive in the CGC 8.0ish grade I might want, but I like the cover to 24 so much more (I have a VG+ or so copy already though) --- it isn't just great BWS v. very good BWS or Buscema at his best, it is great BWS vs. Gil Kane mailing it in. I don't have 23, is the description of 24 as "first full" accurate, or is she in like half of 23?

You might need both - Sonja starts on page 15 in #23:

- but clearly the #23 cover totally pales compared to #24. The Sonja art and story are much better in #24, but of course it's not her first appearance. 

From #24:

On 4/7/2021 at 11:25 PM, the blob said:

that miswrap is a bit jarring on such a perfect book

 

Can't have it all, I guess - I do appreciate white pages and when there's just one book, there's nothing to choose from. The miswrap is a reminder of how mags were produced back then, you won't see that among modern books, so you could consider it a feature illustrating production history ;-) Also it has taken about 22 years for CGC to grade just one mag - you risk waiting forever for another copy. Not many may have preserved SSoC #11 in 9.8 condition, this usually takes an adult buying the book in the 1970s and never reading it - kids and teenagers may be very fast getting these mags below 9.0, lol.  

Seems prices are quite strong right now - last night a CoB #1 9.8 ended close to 8k:

- and #20 ended at 4k - glad I don't have to buy them again!

Even #1 9.0 has gone beyond 1k:

https://www.comiclink.com/auctions/item.asp?back=%2FAUCTIONS%2FSEARCH.ASP%3FFocusedOnly%3D1%26where%3Dauctions%26title%3Dconan%2Bthe%2Bbarbarian%26GO%3DGO%26ItemType%3DCB%23Item_1454757&id=1454757&itemType=0

That #1 does look quite good though. 

Haven't been following much up on prices lately, maybe it's just me being behind - not going to sell anything anyway, the wife says I lack that gene  

Btw, sent in my #1 reading copy a few years ago, and got back this one - but admitted, I never let the kids read it  

Unfortunately now I no longer have a reading copy 

On 10/19/2020 at 6:37 PM, Rune said:

Just bought this book - but can't seem to add it to the Ultimate Comics Spider-man set? Help would be greatly appreciated!

Hello @Rune,

This book is eligible for the "Ultimate Spider-Man (2011)" set. I renamed the Ultimate Comics Spider-Man set to include "(2009)" as it can be confusing. ( I am actually still scratching my head on these ones). 

 

Thanks, Matt - I have found it - it was well hidden! ;-) 

Just bought this book - but can't seem to add it to the Ultimate Comics Spider-man set? Help would be greatly appreciated!

Hello @Rune,

This book is eligible for the "Ultimate Spider-Man (2011)" set. I renamed the Ultimate Comics Spider-Man set to include "(2009)" as it can be confusing. ( I am actually still scratching my head on these ones). 

On 6/28/2020 at 4:26 PM, namisgr said:

+1.  I love not only the complete front and back cover scans and gorgeous eye appeal of the entries, but the detailed stories about how you came to acquire the books.

Thanks - nice knowing that some are reading all the words I've spent time writing! :-) 

Just saw that Carlo added a signed #1 to his collection, and even if I have not added more to the collection since 2014 I'm still actively looking for the few books I miss. My dream still is to get them all with 9.8 WP and nice centering - maybe one day  

I'm still waiting for another copy of #11, sigh - got the rest: 

https://comics.www.collectors-society.com/registry/comics/PeopleSetDetail.aspx?PeopleSetID=9292

I wonder if I'll get one in this life 

Maybe I should buy some 9.6s, send them in, get them pressed and hope for the best...

On 1/11/2020 at 6:25 PM, Brian48 said:

Just came in today.  I'm astounded interest in these early SSOCs, especially the ones with Boris covers are so overlooked and cheap! 

Congrats - it's an awesome book! 

In case you have not done so, you can add your SSoC Boris collection to the Registry here:

https://comics.www.collectors-society.com/registry/comics/SetTypeDetail.aspx?SetTypeID=4381

Did get this one in 2018 for my Boris set, although it's not complete - but nice to see that CGC seems to love the great mags too!

I'm still looking for a 9.8 regarding #13 and #15, but no luck searching the first 5 (or more) years, sigh. With this speed I'll capture a unicorn or bigfoot before I get #13 and #15 in 9.8  

Some dude just took a few photos of Swampy - some of the best pics I've seen - looks awesome:

Reminds me that I should get some proper lighting done ... soon ... 

BTW, the limited edition is almost sold out according to Sideshow - so don't wait too long if you consider getting one:

https://www.sideshow.com/collectibles/dc-comics-swamp-thing-sideshow-collectibles-300654

On 1/15/2019 at 8:59 PM, Rune said:

Today 119 days have passed since my books were received, I wonder if I'll ever see land 

Sigh, I never submit raw books, I just buy slabs  In short I completely forgot to ask for Fast Track  - I just wrote to Dena and Jose asking if they could change all my submissions to Fast Track 

Today 119 days have passed since my books were received, I wonder if I'll ever see land 

14 hours ago, F For Fake said:

Awesome, thanks for the pics. I was fence-sitting this one for a long time. Huge Swampy fan, but man that is a pricey and large statue. Not sure where I'd put it even if I decided to spend the $$$. But your post has me reconsidering...

You're welcome - I've had it for more than a month, and I still can't take my eye off it ;-) It's covered by a lot of paint, and it looks muddy - but that's just how Swampy should look. Like the swamp, Swampy absorbs light, so this statue does benefint from a lot of light - also to show it's surface structures and shadows. In a badly lit room the statue doesn't necessarily show many colors - it may simply look like this:

I'm considering setting up some spot lights to really show off the statue. About the $$$, note that depending on your location shipping and VAT may be expensive. I paid $200 for the shipping (from Hong Kong to Scandinavia, took 1 day using DHL Express, awesome speed, but not free ;-) - and $275 for VAT - $1250 in total. 

I don't care much about fire too - compared to theft. There once was a thread about a fireproof safe leading to buildup of moisture and possible corrosion af staples. I'm using a safe approved to EN1143-1 grade 1 (=Eurograde 1) - more info here:

https://www.safeoptions.co.uk/blog/what-do-eurograde-safe-ratings-mean/

I've talked to a few manufacturers, it seems that "fireproof" may mean that items within the safe will be kept at less than 338F (170C), which might not work well for cgc books anyway. 

As long as you buy something that no thief can lift and move, you should be fine - I keep remembering that scene from True Detectives, where evidence was hidden in a small hidden wall safe, which was relatively easy to remove from the wall and steal. That won't happen with a real safe ;-) I had a nice discussion with an experienced police detective, he told me that burglars never spend time on a safe - they just leave them alone and go for easier targets. 

So any heavy safe should be just fine ;-)