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Lee K

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Journal Entries posted by Lee K

  1. Lee K

    Waiting

    By Lee K,

    for my first submission to be graded...
    OK - so I am naturally impatient, particularly when I don't know the answers. I sent three packages in to be graded and I am eagerly waiting for my first set of grades. Right now I am showing one package Scheduled for Grading and the other two Verified...it's weird because I just grabbed some books, more or less at random, from the piles of stuff I have as 'I aught to get this graded some day' - so I sent some Marvel, some DC, some silver, some bronze, and some modern. I guess just to get a feel for the grading process.
     
    Well, my first batch of grades came in while I was writing this entry: Showcase 61 - 9.0; X-men 94 - 6.0; X-men 95 - 7.5. Exactly what I expected from the Showcase, but 1.0 lower than I expected on the two X-men. I'm sure I'll get better at it with time.
    L
    Be well, and happy hunting.
    Lee
    Well, my second batch graded today: Iron Fist 14 - 8.5; All Star Batman 10(vulgar edition) - 9.9; GI Joe 0(retailer incentive) - 9.8; which is a little better than I expected for the two new books. Since Diamond ships UPS, a lot of the time the books arrive on the west coast with their corners dinged and spine creases from the strapping.
    Lee
    The last two grades just popped in: Justice League of America #45 - 8.5; and Hawkman #4 - 6.5. I'm a little disappointed about the Hawkman, but the JLA came in right where I expected.
    :L
  2. Lee K

    Mike Grell

    By Lee K,

    is an old friend of mine - 15 years and counting now...
    and since he moved from across the river from me to about 100 miles south of me, we haven't touched base. Anyway, I was thinking about him over the weekend because he and his wife Lauri didn't make it to our annual winter gathering and when I checked my morning email there's an invite for me & mine to come down & spend the weekend at his new place.
    I feel unprepared; usually I bring something from his past to tease him with - last time I visited I had a 'Warlord' action figure still in its box. Anyone else remember these? Really nothing more than a Warlord head stuck on a He-Man body. I guess one of the best things about knowing Mike and collecting comics is the stories. Here I am trying to tease him with this terrible action figure and he tells me a story about how he met the man the sculpted the bodies for all of the original He-Man figures and his Warlord figure. Turns out he's local to me too.
    Anyway, I just thought I'd share. Does anyone else have an old comic artist or writer that they get to hang out with on occasion?
    Good luck & good hunting.
    Lee K
  3. Lee K

    Waiting again

    By Lee K,

    Books are out to CGC and are verified...
    so now all I can do is wait. Plastic Man (1966) #1; Inferior 5 #1; and Teen Titans #2 are all sitting in line waiting their turn behind boxes and boxes of convention submissions and I'm sitting on my hands. I anticipate they will come back 9.0 OW/White; 9.2 white; and 9.0 OW - I hope I have gotten better at grading before I sent this batch in...
    L
    well - here's an interesting turn of events, my order status from CGC says graded, but they came in as follows: Inferior 5 #1 shows 8.5 OW/W and I anticiapted a 9.2 - this is the nicest book by far; Teen Titans #2 came in 8.5 OW - which doesn't surprise me too much - I thought it was a weak 9.0, but that's what Heritage had called it and I was willing to agree...the problem is with Plastic Man V2#1 - it came back 9.2 White, apparant SP.
    Slight color touch on cover. Damn
    Lee
  4. Lee K
    But I'm not really a marvel collector, I mean a read some Marvel when I was young, but the stories don't really hold up well for me as an adult...
    So after digging through my stacks of DC goodness I found Stan Lee presents Just Imagine Wonder Woman - for some unknown reason I was really, really choosy when I selected this off this rack so I am excited to see how it comes back graded. The nice thing is my current wife is a huge WW fan and I didn't even know her when I bought this, so she's never seen it. It might just make a really nice stocking stuffer.
    L
  5. Lee K
    So I finally got back to 100% images and 100% texts for my entries..
    I don't really have a lot of time to spend on the computer, so I am happy that the site makes it so easy for me to add a comic to one of my sets. The problem is, I don't always have a comment about a book right away and I often have to adjust the image if I ripped the image from a site I bought from or I have to work up my own and edit it - and that takes time.
    I feel much better knowing that my page is up-to-date. Now I can get some journals written and maybe answer Surfer99's question myself.
    L
  6. Lee K
    thanks to Tnerb for reposting in his half-answer.
    10 books? 10 BOOKS!? That's it as I'm running out the door in the underwear because the house is on fire? In all honesty whatever books were on top - or in the top box of slabs would probably be the ones that were saved, so Action, Adventure, Batman, Brave & the Bold, and Blackhawk would make it out the window/door...but, if I could choose 10 books, limited to my CGC slabs (I do have a couple brand x slabs...), then I would choose these - presented in alphabetical order.
    1. Batman 59 - CGC 8.0 OW - 1st Deadshot. Plus I love this cover with its childlike stars & planets and silly bat-spaceship.
    2. Brave & the Bold 28 - CGC 3.0 Cr/OW - 1st Justice League. I still maintain that this should be a 4.0; it fails to have any of the major flaws associated with a 3 - no detached cover, missing staples, significant tears or other damage - without regard to its grade, it is still my grail book. When I was young, Justice League was the first book I looked for on the rack with my mighty 20c in hand, and it still is today.
    3. Brave & the Bold 70 - CGC 9.4 OW - Pacific Coast. One of my nicest books from my go-go check collection and one of my favorite cover composition of the B&B run.
    4. More Fun Comics 78 - CGC 5.5 OW - One of my favorite Green Arrow covers of all time. Although not part of my go-go check collection, it is the 1st book in one of my forthcoming collections of Green Arrow cover More Fun books...I love the Arrow Car with the fins on the back and the pointy front-end; I love the spring loaded seat and just the fun of the whole composition.
    5. Our Army at War 168 - CGC 9.2 OW - 1st Unknown Soldier. The black backgound makes this one hard to find in high grade, it really should be scarce in HG in overstreet. My 9.2 is tied for second on the census with only a 9.6 higher. I might try to dig this one out 1st.
    6. Our Army at War 173 - CGC 9.4 OW/W. Not as rare in grade as the previous book, with 2 others at 9.4 and two at 9.6; but this is probably my favorite OOAW cover composition of the go-go check run; background explosions, the beach-head and whatever those big metal things are called that keep landing boats from beaching there - the men hunkered down into their helmets, it all ties together to be a favorite of mine.
    7. Sea Devils 3 - CGC 7.0 W. The only White Pages catagory on this list. There has always been something about grey tone covers that resonated with me as a collector. I don't have many of them, but the few I do hold a treasured place in my collection.
    8. Strange Adventures 195 - CGC 9.0 OW - White Mountain - 1st full Animal Man. For some reason, I really love Strange Adventures - but I have a fascination with anthology books anyway. Any time I can skip issues and still get an entire story (or 2 or 3 stories) in a single book, that make me way happier than continuity.
    9. Wonder Woman 164 - CGC 9.4 Cr/OW. The first book in my go-go check collection and still one of my favorites. What a great cover, plus a special meaning to me in the set.
    10. World's Finest 165 - CGC 9.6 - OW/W. Tied as the highest graded book in my go-go check collection. And the 9.6 with the best looking cover. There's just something fun about the little -eyed crowns and the gold swords that Supes & Bats are waving around. Kings of Crime indeed.
    This was harder than I thought - there's so much stuff to choose from. Well, that's my thoughts for the day.
    Happy Hunting
    Lee

  7. Lee K

    Scheduled for Grading

    By Lee K,

    What does it really mean?
    For practical purposes, it means I should see my grades tomorrow; but hasn't my package been 'scheduled for grading' since it was received?
    I just making noise because I haven't gotten my grade back yet on my SS submission - so, maybe tomorrow I'll be satisfied (maybe I'll be happy too).
    L
  8. Lee K

    Stan Lee SS

    By Lee K,

    9.6? 9.8? 9.9? 10?!?
    OK - ok, so I carefully hand picked a modern book to send in for the signing; and I selected Wonder Woman because my wife digs WW...So how could I possibly be disappointed with a 9.8 White SS book? Well, I really gave it a hard, critical look before I packaged it up to send cross-country and I was completely comfortable that the book was nicer than the one 9.9 I own (since I read that one before I sent it in...)
    That having been said, I am certain that I will be happy with it upon its arrival and my wife will be happy with it under the Cristmas Tree, cause she's my Wonder Woman.
    Happy? yes.
    Ecstatic? no.
    I'll post my image when they email it to me.
    Good Hunting
    Lee
  10. Lee K

    Every single go-go check

    By Lee K,

    Finally I have a place for each one
    When I first decided to pursue all of the go-go checked books issued by DC in 1966 & 1967, I failed to adaquately comprehend the magnitude of my targe collection: 464 issues over 45 titles; war books, super-heros, funny books, and romance...
    Sure, some sets: Action, ASM, X-Men, Detective, for instance are larger, longer, contain more books - but at least some of the books are bronze & copper...the titles have strong followings, so there are multiple slabbed versions to choose from. On the other hand, all of my books are from 1966 or 1967; some: Sugar & Spike, Secret Hearts, or even All American Men of War, don't have many slabbed examples to select from - or they may be tied up in the collections of Silver, or SeaDevils (special thanks to SeaDevils for the raw Swing with Scooters that I have) he was very fair and kind.
    The more immediate obstacle when I started was that some of my sets didn't exist: there was no place to put my Inferior 5's, my Sugar & Spikes, my Swing with Scooters...but today, today I was able to add the final collection - Gemma, bless her heart, added Swing with Scooter and although all of my books are still raw, I have a place to put them after I have them slabbed.
    Today is a great day.
    Happy Hunting!
    Lee
  11. Lee K

    Happy Thanksgiving

    By Lee K,

    Just so there is something to read that Tnerb didn't write...
    OK - just kidding, I read Tnerb's journals all the time, I find them an interesting window into the thoughts of another collector that I will probably never meet (I'm on the other coast...).
    But I wanted to take the time to give a little thanks. Thanks to each of you for being part of a bigger community that I enjoy, because without many of us and our many different likes there wouldn't be a comic book industry.
    Thanks that I still have a job, and even in this poor economy I have the extra funds to spend on something as frivolous as comic books after paying my mortgage(s), car payment, insurance, food, power, water and all those other little things we need to make our worlds go around.
    Thanks that I am healthy, that my family is healthy, and that we can all get together tomorrow and enjoy more food than some families see in a month.
    Thanks that as bad as life is compared to the 'good times' just a few short years ago, that life is still pretty darn good.
    Thanks you all.
    And as Tnerb says, "Thanks for reading."
    Lee
  12. Lee K

    What else is there?

    By Lee K,

    I mean, we all collect comics or we wouldn't be here, right?
    So, what else makes you smile like comics make you smile? Now, I don't mean your spouse or family - my wife makes me smile, I understand that.
    But, I have other guilty pleasures - I love looking at the movie poster auctions on Heritage. I haven't purchased any - as an artist myself, I have no wall space; but I might make wall space for the 'perfect specimin'.
    When I was young, I was sure that I wanted to collect Buffalo Nickles - that didn't last.
    Before that and after that, stamps. U.S. Postage, which along with comics have some relation to my art. I love portriature - people are too cool not to paint.
    And, I have a thing for vintage european cars: right now it's a 1969 MGB GT, which was a little bit banged up Friday night by my buddy's Silverado. That's alright - we'll get it patched up: new grill, grill badge, grill trim, bumper arms, and hood. Plus repaint the hood.
    Now - what makes you smile?
    L
  13. Lee K

    Hole in my routine

    By Lee K,

    After 30 days of reading, I think I'm hooked
    Now that Tnerb has finished his 30 in 30 experiment - my morning routine has a hole in it. Although perfectly aware that it is December this morning, I anticipated logging in and reading what new tid-bit Tnerb had to share with us today and I was terribly dissappointed when there wasn't anything.
    Obviously no-one can write every day, forever, ad infinitum...but good writing, and I think Tnerb's qualifies, is addictive.
    Thank you for 30 days of entertainment & enlightenment.
    Lee
  14. Lee K
    or: how I dropped 30 ranks in 30 days...
    I don't know - last month I was ranked 391 and trying to determine how many years it would take me to get in to the 200's - now I'm ranked 421 and wondering how many months it will take to get back in the 300's. Did we get a bunch of new registry members? if so, that's really cool - more people to share with. Or did everyone all of a sudden have a lot more money to spend on our hobby than me? which is kinda cool, but I wish I had some cash too...
    Oh well, buying season is ahead and I anticipate good things for 2011: reaching the 20% mark for my go-go check, and acquiring one of the 'big 3' of the go-go check set in HG: Lois Lane 70, Batman 181, or Detective 359...
    Happy hunting
    Lee