Beau

As some of you know, a buddy & I self-published a little short story called "The Ghost of Kareema-Lou". We handed them out for free at Heroes Con (and to anyone here who wanted one). I figured since I was at HC, and CGC was at HC, why not sub a few for signature series? It wasn't something we had really planned, so most of the copies were in rough (to us collectors, anyway) shape. We'd been carrying them around in backpacks and laptop bags all day, un-bagged and un-boarded...not to mention we had the darn things printed up at Kinko's, and then folded & stapled them ourselves in the hotel room the night before the con. Our professional comic book creation station. So, after a full day of wandering around the con, we hit up the CGC booth when they didn't look very busy (what was NOT the case when I had checked earlier...man, they were working like crazy!). We dumped out the copies we still had on hand and I did a quick spot check for major defects, then we picked out six, signed them, and handed 'em over.. I got them back today and couldn't be happier. The grades are only part of it, but what grades! Remember, these were hand-folded & stapled in a hotel room, then lugged around loose in bags during a con. I was expecting 7.5s, maybe. So the grades were an unexpected surprise. But, to have in my hands a slabbed book that I wrote almost gives me goosebumps. I know that any yahoo can make a comic and get it slabbed, but by golly, this one is mine! That's MY name on the yellow label We (Golden Hour Comics) are behind on launching "When Hell is Full", but it's coming...and having a slabbed book with my name on it next to my monitor, well, that's one hell of an impetus to shake a freakin' leg!

Oh, this should be fun.

There was a sandy vag in this thread from the very beginning.

My VCC books arrived in bullet-proof packaging, but were SNAD... Superbly Notable Awesome Drek, that is. I couldn't be happier!

ha! Awesome! Rifleman will be a blast! I am shocked no one picked the 181 yet, I have a nice idea for that one. I can't wait to see what you do with both.

...this is some amazing stuff. I would like two reserve two covers; Incredible Hulk #181, and The Rifleman #10. Especially The Rifleman #10.

I made this ages ago, but it's still an appropriate response to the above: I'm know I'm waaaay late to the game, but I figure this thread is the best one to get an answer to a question I've had for quite some time. A while back, Par2ch ran a charity auction for cancer research, and asked forum members to do cover sketches, which were then auctioned. I never found out who won mine...was it anyone here? I can't draw worth a lick, but I do know a professional artist, so I told him what I wanted, and he drew it for me. So, the question is, who now owns this? I'm just curious. If the winner wants to remain anonymous, that's cool.

Commas and semicolons can be your friends.

Thanks for the kind words, Julio - the situation you went through last year is not something I'd wish on anyone, and I'm glad to hear that you're in a better position now. I think it's time to just put this to rest ... I'm going to donate the books in question to the next charity auction that rolls around, and hopefully that'll be the end of that. Since you wanted an apology Mike; here it is: I'm sorry. I'm pretty sure nothing I say can mend our fences, and it probably shouldn't. We're a community here, and I hope this hadn't caused any sort of schism. Hopefully our catfight will be short-lived in forum member-memory. I doubt it, though.

Hey man, I don't bear you any real enmity; that's why I changed the amount of money in my OP...I thought that would be enough to derail the board detectives. I was mistaken. That was great of you to shoot Julio an additional $50. However, I don't know if you knew this, but Julio already had the money you paid for those books, and I wasn't about to ask him for the money back. The refund (and original postage) came out of my exceedingly empty pockets. I was seriously counting every penny those days. After my charity auction went down, 90% of the money immediately went to seriously overdue bills, and the rest was quickly gone as well, doing things like going to the dentist to take care of a cavity that had been bothering me for a year. At any rate, I honestly couldn't afford the return postage for those books. Seven bucks may not seem like a lot to most here, but when you've got no money coming in whatsoever, $7 buys a lot of Top Ramen. I think I've got a positive solution for this dilemma. Next time there's a charity auction, put those books up for sale. I'll pay the shipping. That way those books can help out two different people in need.

Yeah, I can be good at obfuscation sometimes.

I shall wear it like a badge of honor, and I'll wear it silently lest you honor me again.

A little while back, this forum did me a huge favor by conducting a charity auction in my name. After that, I made a promise to myself to give back when I could. Any time a charity auction came up for any forum member, I made sure I was 'Johnny on the Spot' with donations. That stopped when I offered up some sweet books at 33% of GPA, and 50% of OS from two years ago. It's for a good cause, right? The buyer got the books, and claimed that they were of a lower grade than advertised. What's funny is that if they were the grade he said they were, he still made bank. To complain about a minor grade difference in a charity auction seems pretty low-class to me. Put away the jeweler's loupe. It's one thing if I send you a rat-chewed book, but it's another if the grade is a matter of personal eyeballing between forumites. Anyway, I fully refunded him, told him to keep the books, and made sure the charity auction recipient got 100% of the original proceeds. I just wanted to be done with this guy. This particular forumite has a record of selling over-graded books, and complaining that the books he buys are weak sauce. He knows who he is. I was still recovering from my financial hardships when this happened, but I ate the $80 + loss & shipping. From then on, I've only donated directly via Paypal.

what is this I don't even

As opposed to the less spendthrift half-hardy.