RCheli

This is around 35 years ago and an N of 1, so take it all with a grain of salt: I placed probably a dozen different 35/50-cent orders from Mile High starting in the early-80s. I had to get a money order from the Post Office to pay, and they took a while to get to my house. (I never bought from their individually priced ads nor from their catalog, even though I got a new one every few months.) I remember not getting a book perhaps 3 or 4 times and being replaced by something I had on a back-up list. All of the comics I received (that I can recall) were in very nice condition. I stopped buying from Mile High before their first Mile High 2 ads, as I had already started getting a CBG subscription by then and was spending my money on those books.

The placement of the sticker would be my biggest concern for its legitimacy. The price is not nearly as troubling, even though this is the first one people have seen.

Things that shouldn't be happen a lot in comics, and unless they are proven to be impossible (like that ASM #121 Mark Jeweler's), I tend to think that they are legit. Printing and distributing are not exact sciences, and things can happen due to many different hiccups in the process. The two Canadian-variant Mark Jeweler's I found in a random box of stuff are good examples. They should not be, and yet they are. This All-stickered ASM with a price shouldn't be, but I can see how it could have happened.

It looks like I will be there. I'm bringing boxes and boxes of 50 cent and 1 dollar books, most of which have never seen the light of day. I don't want to bring any back home with me, so make an offer!

Is he the guy with the monster shop on Harlem? (Is it Harlem?) He has more stuff than he knows what to do with.

I will not be setting up. I know, I know... That's devastating news to all of you, I'm sure.

I heard that it was slow. I debated whether or not to go but I decided against it.

I'll be there. The wife wants to go to Universal Studies this winter, so buy some stuff and help get her off my back.

I think the thing that also goes well for the X books is that there are a ton of first appearances throughout the series (from GSXM on). You don't have to go too many issues without having a first or origin or something that will bring people in. And you're right -- X-Men were it throughout the 80s and 90s, and it really wasn't until the turn of the century that Spider-Man took a significant stranglehold on the top spot.

My X-Men sales -- which had been in the doldrums for years -- have picked up significantly over the past few months. I sold a 122, 128, and a few nice copies in the 140s and 150s at my last show, books which had been sitting in my boxes forever. And nearly any X-Men in the 50-cent bin (those ultra common 90s books) have been quick sales too. Hopefully this is a return to people caring about this team again. The 90s and 00s were full of too many series, too many characters, and too much confusion. (Same goes for the Avengers.)

I picked up two different piles of GI Joes over the past week -- one a nearly complete run from 50 to 130 and the other a pile of issues from 115 to 140 -- and when I was rebagging/pricing them, I noticed this. It's an Australian priced copy. I assume there's plenty of them out there (just looking through the Australian Price Thread), but it's always strange to find them in Philadelphia.

I did a show on Saturday -- a medium-sized one-day con -- in the Lehigh Valley (PA), and while I sold my fair share of wall-type books, I also sold 3 long boxes worth of comics (50 centers to $50). While there certainly were plenty of people just looking for that hot book, there were a lot of people with their want lists out, checking off that issue of Dr. Strange from the 80s that they needed. Comic collecting is still going strong. It may not be as strong as in the early 90s, but there was a wide range of collectors out in full force, whether it's that hot variant that came out this week (not that I sell any of that, but others did), to keys, to filler, to random comics that just have a good cover.

It was ridiculously busy and I had my best sales day ever (for that show). I literally didn't get a chance to walk the room until after 4, and ended up buying only about $20 worth of stuff even though I had the cash to go on a spending spree. Some of the regular dealers weren't there, so maybe more people were concentrated to a smaller number of comic sellers, but I wasn't complaining. I suspect there were around 800 people in attendance.

The Five Belows near me have a regular stack of OOP trade paperbacks, including Batman, XMen, and even How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way.

While this one-day show pales in comparison with some of the larger, multi-day conventions, this is a pretty good one-day event that has a nice range of books -- from Gold to current. (It also has cosplay and panels and such, but I never really get to do any of that as I'm always behind my tables.) It's on the western edge of the Lehigh Valley, just off the Northeast Extension and a hop-skip-jump from I-78. Lehigh Valley Comic Convention Saturday, August 17, 2019 10:00 to 4:00 Lehigh Carbon Community College 4525 Education Park Drive Schnecksville, Pennsylvania 18078 www.lehighvalleycomicconvention.com

I see a lot of kids at the conventions I set up at, and if they show any interest at all in comics, I'll give them a few comics out of my 50-cent bin. (I also always carry around a pile of 90s overprinted dreck -- Adv of Superman 500, Turok 1 -- that I have accumulated, and hand those out.) I also see a lot of people in their early 20s buying comics. I don't see a lot of teenagers, but I don't think that's surprising. I mean, I was comic crazy in my teens, but I wasn't going to cons then either. Comics are not going anywhere.

My latest Facebook Marketplace fiasco. Somebody posts a Young Men #25 for $700. I know that that specific book was part of the JC Penny reprints of the 90s, so I asked the guy to send me a picture of the pack cover. He does, and sure enough, it's a Stridex ad (which I don't believe was advertising in Atlas in the 50s). So here's our conversation:

Ernie was a very talented artist who did everything from humor to fantasy to super heroes to a comic version of the 9/11 report. He was 88. https://erniecolonunlimited.blogspot.com/2019/08/rip-ernie-colon.html

I liked the cover from Byrne's first Action the best....

I can only assume this picture was taken in 1997...

Realistically -- is there a value difference in these? I mean, I would sell a regular #414 for say... $2 or $3 at a con. What would you price a copy with the DC bullet sticker? $5? Does it even matter?\ I'm not trying to pull every penny out of my customers, but I'm a capitalist, dammit!

This is the best comment. None of the three are great, all have delays, all have some complications involved in getting to the West Side. But if you find a ticket for $200 less out of one over the other two, grab it.

And I'll be there with nothing nearly as exciting...

I messaged him that if he can send me a photo of the book, I'll get a cashier's check for Tuesday. I mean, I could turn that $50k into $65k easy. 😀

Now he's "selling" a Batman #1. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/396919507604235/