General Zod

+6. Trimming is destruction, not restoration nor conservation.

Welcome to the boards! Yes to your question. Scanners are best. Cameras often add glare/unwanted light/shadows and can produce blurry photos which are the collector's enemy when it comes to discerning the condition of a book. The more doubt created in the mind of a collector, the less likely the final bid price will be maximized in value.

Could he drink through his helmet? That's the part that makes no sense. Want to display your power, have everyone float around smashing into each other. Levitate the table. Picking up a cup of hot liquid you can't drink doesn't do it for me. I always assumed he sucked liquids (and solids, eww) through his mouthpiece area.

He should've just Forced someone to hold the cup as he drank.

Dear Gator, I remember hearing about a dealer once taking out a brittle paged book to show a potential customer at a con and to their horror, upon opening the book, the pages started to split. What's the worst thing you've seen happen to a prized book in your personal experience?

Looking at the specs on Amazon and they have the same 8.5 x 14 scan area, the only thing I saw different was the 8250 had the auto feeder on top. Thanks, maybe she made an error. She did. I plan to pick up a HP 8200 some day.

There's a garbage movie called "The Dirties" that features a bunch of reprinted Copper age covers on a teenager's bedroom walls. It's not worth watching.

Oh the Kurt Busiek, Cary Nord and Dave Stewart team was god-tier stuff. I've got all the trades that collected their issues. So good.

I certainly don't ask OOs what they paid for their keys. Grats on the sweet books!

Think he would have been posting on here to crow about it if he did.

Now there are nine 9.9s (including a SS) and a 10 on the census. I consider that karma for throwing stones at one of the best Copper books. Brian, you got told.

and yet iron man has consistenly had a comic produced monthly (even in 2006/7 it was near top 50), where as TMNT couldn't even muster the sales to maintain a monthly comic during most of the 2000's, right (does anyone really count that 23 issue image disaster? ) I thought that was due the creators (Eastman and Laird) not doing the book together anymore, at least not on a regular basis. I remember picking up an issue somewhere around 1994 and putting it back after the effort looked extremely lackluster. I mean when you're off working on international merchandising deals and giving your book away to guest creators, the consistency of the book isn't going to happen. It got even worse in 1996 when Image started publishing it (what an abortion that was). But apparently it is now at IDW (since 2011) with Eastman back on the book (not sure what Peter is doing.) I haven't picked up a copy of the current run to see if it feels like old school TMNT, which is what I liked about it in the first place.

My post was addressing the perception that TMNT were a fad AND that most people consider Copper Age the most reviled. I don't care about the sale part - I said I'd love to have both books, and both parties got what they wanted and I didn't care to comment any further about that aspect.

Nah, I am excited for the new movie. As I said before this is not Amazing Spider-man it is Ultimate Spider-man, but AF 15 get the increase in value rather than Ultimate Spider-man #1 (any of the covers). If AF 15 has a downward trend than the hobby as a whole is done, but I believe more the major keys only have a chance of going down is if America collapses. These characters are American folklore, so IMO Jack Kirby, Romita, Sternako, and so on are so important to American culture it is a disgrace schools do not have them on US history books. I'm looking forward to the movie as well, though I am a little worried about the portrayals. And "funny books" will never get the respect they deserve from the people at large. Most think all these $B franchises popped into existence from nowhere. I just read in another thread here that someone donated a buttload of long boxes to a local university because they are offering a course on comic book history. It's playing out as a slow burn but it appears respect is coming. Every year of seeing creators promote comics via social media and movies getting made and blowing out box office records just makes for leaps and bounds of the visibility of comic books as a widely accepted means of entertainment or pop culture. It's like a marketing machine that grows like the Borg. In the 40s, 50s and 60s, comic books were considered a fad. But all those people were just as wrong as Jaydog... As I get older and watch the generations get younger, I more understand my inability to understand what intrigues the younger people. (Want proof? Go ask your parents about something you know "they just won't understand". "But Mom, THIS tv is better because it's in high definition and shows the movie in the correct aspect ratio!") The influences babies grow up with in the current state of the world shape them differently than 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years ago. When you see what remains stable through all that time, you know you have something special or at least ingrained as something basic or fundamental. I'll never get Pokemon or trying to pretend life before the internet didn't exist, but whatever floats their boat. I've made my peace with that long ago. That said, I'd still love to have both books. I would not want to choose.

Some sellers indulge in this practice if they have watchers on the book, thinking someone will panic and jump on it before the price goes any higher.

So you're saying Aussies tend to be a little psychotic?

Okay, I will remember that. Thank you! I remembered you as Detective27kid and figured you're aware where a good copy or two might be.

Dear Mr. Gator, If you were to inherit a sizeable amount in the near future (probably within 10 years) and wanted to spend six figures on a mid to high grade Detective Comics #27 or Batman #1 copy, who would be the man to talk to?

I always felt he was too tall to play the character. I can't find the info anywhere on his height anymore but he was shorter than the rest of the X-Men and I think that was part of his personae which never got translated onto film. Other than that, Hugh was a fine choice. If he and Robin Williams had a lovechild, that boy would grow up to be a proper Wolverine.

Many thanks to Jeff and Charles for putting up with a nightmare customer. First I couldn't get my account created for some odd reason and then the first package arrived ripped open by someone in the postal system. They mailed out replacements to get me taken care of. Thank you guys! I will be back (not in re-runs).

Nutsahakian the ebay ID doesn't exist. NARUed?

I have a question: If you're strictly a buyer on eBay, will putting seller names on the blocked list do anything, like remove their listings or your ability to bid/buy with them?

He's popular, but there are 1400 9.8s, and who knows how many more raw copies waiting to be pressed into 9.8s. You'll need thousands of people willing to spend more than $400 for a 9.8 - which by the way looks identical to a 9.4 or 9.6 - if this book is going to see a significant increase. I talked to a guy who owned a large store in the US. He said that Deadpool carries his entire store. The character is insanely popular right now. Maybe not so much the Vintage crowd. but very much so to the younger crowd. And this is exactly what's important. The younger crowd is perpetuating the popularity of the character. If you're playing the long-term game smartly, pay attention to our younger generations and what's mainstream. I do not see this book going down in value for at least 10 years. Anytime you question the health of a character, just look around and see what the kids like. And they love them some Deadpool, TMNT and Harley Quinn in spades. Just be happy they still like most of our favorites (i.e. Batman, Wolverine or Captain America). As long as demand outstrips supply, the books will prosper. Also, as someone pointed out earlier, the CPR method is artificially inflating the census numbers. By what percentage, we'll never know unless CGC starts an incentive program to return old labels for accuracy.

I have a follow-up question. For clarification, this is directed at Patrick (Silvers). On August 5th I wired you a $12,500 deposit for a book which I have still yet to receive or even be allowed to see. Under our written agreement, we agreed that as soon as I paid the deposit, I would be allowed to inspect, finish paying for, and pick up the book. I immediately wired you this money in good faith, because you told me you needed it right away. You told me that you needed money to send to your wife so that she could close on a house in Thailand and get back home from there. After I paid you, you changed the terms of our deal and told me I could not inspect the book, but that the book was being sent into CGC instead. When that didn't happen either, you have spent the past 5 months telling me repeatedly that you couldn't pay me back because SparkleCity owed you a lot of money from books you consigned to them that you were never paid for. Now it is difficult for me to even get you to respond to phone calls or texts. Since it turns out what you told me is not true, and you have been paid by Sparkle City for all your consignments with no problems, and I have still not been made whole, I'm just wondering when I can expect you to resolve this matter. Thanks Did this ever get resolved? I just have to say someone lying about getting paid by a proven liar (Jortner) just makes me feel that the "rehabilitation" of Greg Jortner under the wing of Brian Howard and Sparkle City Comics does not pass the smell test to me. Unfair? Perhaps, but lying on such a grand scale makes it nearly impossible to take that person at their word ever again.

I have considered that. I wanted to get the notes but back in 2008 it would have been a PITA to get those. Still not crazy about the idea of being charged for that.