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bagofleas

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Everything posted by bagofleas

  1. According to the pricing chart, “cards may be a mix of different types/games. This makes me think they WILL grade other types of cards besides MTG or Pokémon. What I’m curious about is whether they can encapsulate thicker cards, like 100pt thick or thicker.
  2. It's been a while but Kaholo had one of my cherished original collection books and hadn't sent it back to me yet. It's an ASM 300 in CGC 9.4 with Stan Lee, Bob McLeod, David Michelinie, Tom DeFalco and Todd MacFarlane signed on it. He sent me a picture of the book, which is shown below, right before the "you know what" hit the fan with him. It was completed and graded, but never returned to me. Please let me know if someone can reunite me with my book.
  3. Its finally that time again! Since hitting Heroes Con last year for the first time, I resigned myself to never missing this awesome show again! Easily the best show on the east coast every year! And now its finally time for Heroes Con again this weekend! Ive got lots of stuff to do at this show! Many books that I will get signatures on, many people to aid in their searches for that next awesome graded treasure, and many friends to see and spend time with! And of course, all of the awesome artwork that the artists do at this show for the annual art auction that they run every year!! This will be a fantastic weekend filled with comic art greatness!! I will post pictures after the weekend is over. To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.
  4. Little by little. As many of you know, I am slowly putting together a set of all 29 of the Marvel 25th Anniversary Border Covers. I am shooting for all 9.8 WP on them. Although a few will be nearly impossible to accomplish with that goal. I have a copy of Classic XMen #3 that surfer99 got signed for me In process at CGC right now, but while I am waiting on that to get done, I had a chance to win one for really cheap online, so I went for it...... and got it! I figure if the signed one does not get 9.8, at least I will have a 9.8 copy. And if it does get 9.8, then I can either sell this one or give it to my big bro, Tnerb. Anyway, here is a picture of the unsigned copy that I won. Now to try and find those last couple of pesky Star Comics issues....... To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.
  5. The nature of grading. As graded comic collectors, we all know how it's a patient man's way of collecting. You can fork out the money to buy already graded books like I did for the first five years of my collecting cgc books, or you can submit books yourself, which is mostly what I do now. But the length of time to get them back after submission can be agonizingly slow. We understand that that's the case ahead of time, but it doesn't make it any less frustrating. But that's what happens when everybody wants books done in massive volume all year long. Paying the extra $10 per book for Fast Track is always an option, and one that I very often take advantage of, but when you're submitting a lot of books, that extra cost adds up fast!!! So depending on what I've budgeted myself for my current round of invoices, I may or may not do Fast Track. In the case of the four current invoices I have at CGC, only one is Fast Tracked, and that one is only because I want it back YESTERDAY. It is my ASM #300, which I sent to Kaholo1256 (thanks buddy!!) for getting MacFarlane to sign. I would normally be willing to wait the regular time for it, but it's a personal thing and not for selling. It is the copy that my late father and I picked up right off the shelf back in 1988. It has been graded and cracked a total of FIVE TIMES now!!!!! But when it comes back to me for this last time, it will have signatures from Tom DeFalco, Bob McLeod, David Michelinie, Stan Lee and Todd MacFarlane!!! It was 9.6 at first but fell to 9.4 during the multiple cracking sessions. I had it pressed this last time to try and get it back up to 9.6, so hopefully that will be the case, but regardless of the grade, it is a very sentimental book to me. The other three invoices however are in the process of going through at the normal snail's pace. I've been patient, but I dying to know what they get. Among the three invoices are six total books. Four of them are for my Marvel 25th Anniversary Border Covers set!! One is for my Indiana Jones set, and one is for my What If set. Two of them were sent to Surfer99 for Herb Trimpe to sign at Phoenix Comic Con, les than a month before he passed away. I am so thankful to him for getting those done for me. Heck, once the Transformers #22 and Indiana Jones #17 come back, they will be not only the only signed and graded copies, they will both be the only graded copies that will ever exist that are signed by Herb!!!! So while it may be mind numbing to have to wait so long, it just makes it that much sweeter when they finally make their way back to you! The picture below is of my copy of Transformers #5, which I'm contemplating cracking for Bob Budiansky to sign at Baltimore Comic Con. Ive never seen him attending a show before and the only reason he is going to this one is to support the Heroes Initiative. I want to be sure to take advantage of him being there, and I have a few books I can get signed by him, but this cover was always one of my faves of the original series. To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.
  6. Onsite is always awesome! No, I'm not trying to be a poet with my title. Not on purpose, anyway. But what I AM trying to do is post a journal that describes what books I'm going to get done onsite at the next convention I'm attending. Baltimore Comic Con wasn't an onsite convention until last year, but they couldn't have picked a better show to add to their repertoire of super-fast-TAT conventions. Baltimore always has a massive guest list of comic creators, which always makes for a lot of multiple signing opportunities (sig-ops). Being able to get books signed and done onsite at this show is a real treat. I have done what I always do when preparing for a show. I go through the guest list, do a massive amount of research, put a list together of everything I have that can possibly get signed, and then slowly start whittling the list down to the most important books to me at the current time. Usually, it boils down to three things: 1. Books that can help with sets that I'm trying to complete. 2. Books that can be multiply signed. 3. Books for creators that I've yet to meet and get sigs from. I believe I have dwindled my choices down to four books, hence the title of this journal. I may do another book or two, including the Marvel Super Special #10 I did my last journal on, but these are the four that I will do for onsite. New Mutants #58 - Louise Simonson New Mutants Annual #4 - Louise Simonson and Bob McLeod Avengers #273 - Tom Palmer Conan the King #37 - Mike Manley I simply can't let an onsite show happen without trying to finally complete my New Mutants set in 9.8, which is why I'm doing the NM Annual #4. The NM #58 is so that I can try to get an SS 9.8 copy. If I do manage it with this one, my big bro gets my Universal 9.8 copy. The Avengers and Conan the King books are to get ever closer to completing my Marvel 25th Anniversary Border Covers set. I actually cracked the Conan one for Tampa Bay CC, but Mike Manley cancelled literally on the first day of the show. Hopefully he doesn't do that for Baltimore too. I have more books that can be done to help complete these and some other sets I'm working on, but I'm holding out for two reasons. 1. I need to put intervals in place for my spending. 2. I want to try and wait for sig-ops on them. If any creators are added to the show that can sign any of these other books I'm waiting on, I will have to seriously reconsider my limitations I've put on myself. I'm sure this will be another fantastic Baltimore CC, especially since I will finally (hopefully) be able to meet up with Kaholo1256!! With me, tnerb and Kaholo tearing up the convention floor together, this will be a show to remember!!!!! To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.
  7. Here it comes! It's been a while since I've posted a journal. This is due partially to being so busy for the last few months, and partially due to having more jobs placed upon me. But now it's time to start back up with posts again. I have done far more shows this year than I thought I might be able to. When the year was starting, I was looking at doing ECCC, but once I realized what it was going to cost me to the show, I decided that this would restrict me from being able to do all the other shows throughout this year that I wanted to do. So I didn't go to ECCC, even though it would have allowed me to meet up with so many fellow board members. But even after making that decision, I wasn't sure I would be able to attend all of the other shows I really aimed to this year. But somehow I managed to go to Megacon, which was great. Then I went to Heroes Con in North Carolina for the first time! It was an amazing show!!! It reminded me very much of the show I will talk about in just a moment, but with more of an emphasis on original art. Then I attended Tampa Bay Comic Con, where I was able to get a number of things done, and meet a bunch of creators that o have never been able to before, including John Bolton, who hasn't attended a U.S. Convention in over 20 years!!! Now I've got yet another major con coming over the horizon. Baltimore Comic Con is a show that just a few years ago, I never would have thought I would attend. But I have been to the show for the last two years, and I was sure that due to finances, I wouldn't be able to go to it this year. But thanks to some new jobs and newly acquired funds, I will be able to go for a third straight year! This show means a lot to me, because it was at this show that I met tnerb in person for the first time and as a result, acquired the big brother that I never knew I had. We will be attending the show together again this year as well, and I couldn't be happier about it. It is also the first show that I ever attended that was strictly comic book oriented. No TV or movie stars, no wrestlers, none of that. Just artists, writers, dealers, producers and manufacturers. I've gotten so many awesome books signed and graded at this show over the last two years, and I hope that this year will be just as rewarding. The one big difference for us this year is being able to do audio recordings for our new podcast! We are really going to try and get some interviews with creators and attendees, so hopefully we can get some really great audio for our next episode! So far we only have one episode from a few months back. We've wanted to do more episodes by this point but we've been so busy between the two of us that it just hasn't happened. But now that con season is beginning to come to a close, and all of our other personal distractions are starting to settle back down, we can hopefully start being more consistent with recordings. Baltimore CC will feature our first recording done onsite at a show, so it should be very interesting. Being an onsite show means that I will try to get at least a few books done right at the show. I have a few options and I hope to get at least 4 or 5 done. But one book that I absolutely HAVE to get signed and submitted at this show is my Marvel Super Special #10. Being a magazine means it can't be done onsite, since Megacon is the only show every year that CGC can do onsite mags. But having Tom Palmer sign this and then getting it graded will make this the single highest graded SS copy in the world! Why? Because it is easily a 9.6 copy, which is awesome all by itself. But getting it signed as well is the big bonus here. So far, the highest graded signed copy is one single 9.2 copy. So this will be an OAK when done! With the hyper popularity of GOTG now, these early Starlord books are a lot more pricey tha they used to be, and finding top notch copies of these mags is very tough. If you're planning on going to Baltimore CC and want to meet up with us, and maybe even do an interview with us to possibly make our podcast, let us know! We can maybe meet up! Between hanging out with my big bro, getting books signed and graded, doing audio recordings for our podcast, and scouring dealer boxes for awesome books and fantastic deals, this will be a show to remember!! To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.
  8. You want low print run? You got it!! I sent some books to Tnerb last year to pass along to Kaholo1256 to get signatures on them at NYCC 2014. I just now got them back, and among them is an extraordinarily rare book that I got double signed! The book is Solar: Man of the Atom #1, but this copy is the Bob Layton Ultra Rare Virgin Variant Cover. They printed plenty of these with the logo title and everything else in the cover, but when it came to this virgin variant of the cover, they only printed....... 25!!!!! Yes, only 25 copies of this book that look just like this exist! Now if that's not rare, I don't know what is! What makes this book even better than that, is that it is now signed by Bob Layton himself and the writer of the book, Frank Barbiere. I've always been a fan of Laytons work, and I loved it back in the 90s when he was doing the early Valiant stuff. Having such a rare commodity as this is a thrill to me, even more so with the sigs! To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.
  9. Got it all done! The guys who run the CGC booths at the various shows around the country really are fantadtic! Mike, Molly ,Bree and all the others are fast, efficient, knowledgeable and very helpful and friendly. The fact that Megacon was an onsite convention makes it twice as hard on them, but they take it in stride, work hard and make it as enjoyable an experience as is possible under the circumstances. I was literally able to get all my onsite books done at the show this year, at the last moment, and it's thanks to them and the great bunch of guys (and gals) they had doing the actual witnessing. I got three magazine size books done onsite and seven regular comics done as well. Two of the comics I got done were for me and Tnerb (pic below), and I was very pleased with the results. I also got a few books done after onsite was closed. These were books I found right there at the show and got signed as well, except for one, which I was just astonished to find for just $4 at a dealer. I will post a journal on that one once I get it back. I got all my books done, I got sigs and sketches in my big bro's sketchbook, I got to browse through the dealers and found some real gems for my registry sets, took lots of pics of cosplayers, and met a bunch of very cool artists and bought some awesome prints. The only thing I didn't do this year was go anywhere near the celebrities section, which is a change for me. Up until now I've always tried to get at least one photo op done at these shows, but this year I was so focused on the comics that I didn't even bother with them. It was an fun experience this year that I felt was very productive and I look forward to the next show I can attend and talk, deal with and hang out with the guys at the CGC booth. To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.
  10. bagofleas

    Daredevil

    A non-spoiler review of the Netflix series I have always been a big Daredevil fan. When the movie came out 12 years ago, I had high hopes. But those hopes were dashed in what I felt was a watered down, misrepresented form of the cast of characters and stories that I loved from the series. But now Marvel has seen fit to revisit the character on the newer format of Netflix, which allows them to be more free and in-depth with what they want to do, and be able to release the whole 13 episode origin story in one fell swoop. This gives us a far more complex and deep glimpse into the character, his past, his friends and the other cast of people who make up this corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The producers have done a fabulous job of balancing everything together, even with giving Fisk (Kingpin) a love interest that adds a more human element to him, even in the midst of his extreme brutality. I cannot possibly recommend this show enough to everyone, whether you are a hardened comic fan and reader of the original series, or just a fan of drama, action, adventure and suspense. Be warned however, the Netflix show has some very brutal, visual sequences in the violent fight scenes. This is the MCU underbelly, down on the street level, in a gritty, dark and corrupt area of New York known as Hell's Kitchen. It has language and extreme violence, so keep that in mind when considering letting your young children watch it. But the cast is amazing, the acting is top notch and the cinematography is amazing! Just check out the hallway scene in episode two to understand what I mean. It is a sequence that was filmed in one long, uninterrupted shot. Absolutely astonishing. So if you want to see something that grabs at the seedy underside of the MCU, with characters that you come to care about and root for (or despise), in a believable location with extreme, brutal action, then look no further than this "can't miss" new show on Netflix. If this is any indication of what the future Neltflix MCU shows (AKA Jessica Jones and Power Man) will be like, then sign me up! To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.
  11. bagofleas

    Get Savage!

    My favorite result from Megacon! I did quite a bit at Megacon this year. I think I was able to do so much because I pretty much completely ignored the celebrities area and only focused on comics and sketches and dealer boxes. I got some comics and magazines done onsite, I got some signatures and sketches done in my big brother's sketchbook, and I dug through dealer boxes, finding a few great books I've been looking for. Among the onsite books I had done, one in particular wound up being the highlight of the show for me, in a couple of ways. I bought a "near mint" copy of the Marvel Graphic Novel, Ka-Zar: Guns of the Savage Land from Mile High Comics over 18 months ago. It's a tougher MGN to find at all, let alone in good shape. I decided to finally take it to Megacon this year for Chuck Dixon to sign. He was thrilled to see it!! Said it was "A blast from the past". Apparently no one has ever asked for him to sign a copy before! He was so happy, that he wrote "Get Savage!" on it and signed it! I turned it in for onsite grading. Megacon is the only convention all year that CGC will do onsite grading of magazine size books, so I always like to at least do a few. I did not expect this copy to get 9.8, but I had it pressed just to give it the best chance. Well I couldn't be more happy with the results! This is now the only graded copy in existence!!!! To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.
  12. The "death" of a creation is followed by the death of its creator. As a child, I loved the comic books that I read. I loved the art in them. But I wasn't really aware of the names or faces of the creators who wrote/drew them. It wasn't until I grew up more that I began to familiarize myself with the names associated with the books and characters that I loved. It wasn't until then that I began to truly appreciate them for their skills and talents. One of the names that first entered into my repertoire of comic heroes was Herb Trimpe. His work on GI Joe, Transformers and Indiana Jones was always among my favorites. It was his seminal creation however that truly enthralled me. I was always first and foremost a Marvel Mutants fan; primarily the New Mutants and the X-Men. Wolverine was right near the top of my favorites in this regard. Herb inspired me through his art and the characters and worlds he drew. I had the pleasure of meeting him on a few occasions at shows over the past two and a half years, and what a fantastic guy he was! He appreciated the fans who in turn appreciated his work and was always willing to spend a few minutes with each and every one to discuss comics, art and whatever else life had to offer. Unfortunately, life has offered up the end of this great individual and not too long after the "death" of his creation, Wolverine. While we all know that Marvel can and will bring back the rough and tough Canadian with the adamantium skeleton, they cannot undo what has been done to his beloved creator. Rest in Peace, Herb. You will be forever loved and missed. To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.
  13. Long "line" at the show. Or.... I've cracked books before but I've never done crack... and now this happens.Megacon brought many awesome sights and sounds for me this year. In at least one case however, it was a little too much.I had some books graded on-site with CGC at the show and had a rare Marvel Graphic Novel signed by Stan Lee during a quick, unannounced signing session on Friday afternoon.I managed to get a bunch of signatures and sketches in my big brothers sketchbook he sent me for the show, browsed through dealer boxes and found a number of fantastic looking copies of books I've been on the lookout for; and yes, I got a lot of pictures of cosplayers and saw many countless things I had never seen before.But one thing happened to me at this show that I will never forget, though I may wish that I could.I bought a limited 69 copy print run of a Lady Death book from Brian Pulido today at the show, then I went and grabbed a witness to have it signed.It was when we got back to Brian's booth that I visually got a little more than I bargained for.While I was standing there, he had his back turned to us, bent over and down, doing something for a good solid minute........ with his butt crack in full-moon-mode!After about a minute, his wife, who was dealing with a different customer, turned around and noticed it. She tapped him and told him to stand up, and why.He laughed and apologized, using saggy pants as an excuse. I told him I would rather have seen Lady Death instead of the full moon he was giving us.He is a great guy with an awesome sense of humor though, so we all got a good laugh at it.And just when I thought I had seen it all at a comic convention.......To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.
  14. bagofleas

    More OA!!

    It just keeps on flowin'!! So, along with all my other OA pieces I've been picking up lately is this 11x17 beauty! I'm a New Mutants fan first, before any other series, so I've always loved the particular characters from that run books. Among my all time favorite mutants is Magik (Illyana Rasputin). So when I can get my hands on some OA featuring her, in any era rendition whatsoever, I'm all over it! This is one I just had to have and it was DIRT CHEAP! The artist is Carl Frietas. To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.
  15. Still working on them. I've been slowly in the process of acquiring Silver Age Harveys for years now, but I don't pick them up unless they are at least 9.6 and preferrably OW/W pages or better. It's been quite some time since I last picked any up, so when Pedigree comics had their recent Harvey auction I just had to try for some. The one I was most interested in picking up was this awesome copy of Casper's Ghostland #2 CGC 9.6 OW/W!! Casper's Ghostland is a series I definitely want to totally complete someday. I am quite a ways along right now, with only 38 more copies to get before I have all 99 issues! But this is one of the toughest ones to find in great shape like this, since it is one of the first two issues. I was stoked to finally get my hands on one! To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.
  16. Picking them up more often lately! While I am an avid graded comic collector, I have been acquiring a lot more original art lately for some reason. I have always loved original art for its OAK-ness, but lately I have really been trying to acquire more of it than I usually do. I havent won a lot of them, but I have certainly tried. The picture below is one that I just won on an auction tonight. Im not an enormous FF fan, but I have always had a hankering for Galactus, and when I saw this piece, I was instantly taken by the image! I love the perspective and how all four of the FF are in mid-attack from different areas of the image! The only drawback to this particular piece is that the artist is unknown, but it is still an amazing 11x17 piece! To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.
  17. bagofleas

    Rogue!

    Newest Original Art Piece! I just got my hands on my newest Original Art piece! It's a very cool looking number of Rogue, done by Birds of Prey artist, Alex Lei! I am a Marvel Mutant fan above all else, especially New Mutants characters. This may not be one of Cannonball or Sunspot or anything like that, but it's hard not to like this cool artwork! Rogue is walking by, with a worn out wall in the background with a star, an "X-Men-like" symbol and the word "Untouchable" airbrushed on it, which is suggestive to her powers of course. Rogue's mid-stride pose is very sexy, just in the motion suggested by her stride. The way her bosom and thighs stand out in the piece is very enticing Her beautiful eyes are looking up as though towards something that has just come to her attention, outside of the image. It almost looks like she is thinking, "Well, look what we have here." Her half-jacket with rolled up sleeves is present and lends a solid "framing" to the curves of her body, as well as giving that rough-and-ready look to her that she is well known for. The trademark gloves are on her hands, though the image suggests that whatever has caught her eye may wind up making those come off very soon. All in all, I think it's a great piece, and being 11x17 makes it a nice size for framing. I have another original art page on the way as well. I will put it up in another journal soon for everyone. To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.
  18. bagofleas

    Hammer Time!

    Wonders by Walt! The last invoice I did from Baltimore CC is finally back in my hands and I was astonished at the grades! Virtually every book got the best I could have hoped for or higher! Two of the books I had done on this invoice were two versions of IDW's Ragnarok #1. Both the regular cover AND the Subscription variant cover! I had them both double signed by Laura Martin and Walt Simonson, and couldn't be happier about how they turned out! What's even better was the timing. I was able to just wait one more day and then open the box in the presence of Tnerb, who flew down to join me for a seminar. We filmed it as he took out the books and looked them over while I talked about the books and what I felt they would achieve in grades before having him reveal them to me one by one. It was a lot of fun and a lot more exciting than just looking at the website and finding out what the grades were. Below is a pic of the two books I mentioned here! Enjoy! To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.
  19. Try not! Do, or do not. There is no try. I am a sucker for painted covers, whether they be done by Frank Frazetta, Tom Palmer, Ernie Chan, Bill Sienkiewicz or whoever. I am especially a sucker for a painted Star Wars cover. Which is why Star Wars #81 has always been one of my favorite covers of the entire original series. I have tried for years to acquire a 9.8 graded copy, but always lost out on the bidding wars that ensued, even when a Ron Frenz signed copy showed up. So I had resigned myself to just not getting one anytime soon, since I'm so focused on so many other things. I love finding raw books in 9.8 worthy shape and getting them signed and then submitting them for grading. I especially love it when I can do all of that in the space of three days at a convention! I will peruse through the dealer boxes and find a book, knowing that I can get it signed at the same show. There is something just more personal about doing it that way. It gives the book more meaning to me. But like Yoda says, I generally don't like doing this unless I am absolutely sure of achieving a 9.8 grade on the book. I don't try, I do or do not. And it all depends on the condition of the book. So when I was at Baltimore CC four months ago with my big brother, I came along a guy who had boxes of books, all in bags WITHOUT backs in them. At first I thought this would be a waste of time, but as I started looking through the boxes, I was astonished! The books were in fabulous shape, and many of them even were even newsstand editions! I couldn't believe it. I picked up a number of books there, including an astonishing looking newsstand copy of Star Wars #81!!! I could not believe my luck! I had finally found a raw copy of the book that was easily 98 worthy, and the cover artist, Tom Palmer was at the same show!! What did this gorgeous raw copy of Star Wars #81 cost me, you may ask? 2 whole whopping dollars!!!!! Flabbergasted does not begin to describe the way I felt on finding this book under these conditions, at that particular time and place! I prepped it for the sig at the hotel and took it to Tom Palmer on the last day of the show. It was thrilling to watch him sign the painted cover that I love so much!! The book just got back in my hands, and Yoda's words of wisdom are still ringing in my head. To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.
  20. bagofleas

    EAGLE EYES!

    I have the best big brother in the world!! Ok, kids. STORYTIME!! YAAAAAYYYYY!!!! Once upon a time, there was a young man who bought all 8 issues of the comic book mini-series "Fallen Angels". The young man got them all graded by CGC and all but two came back in 9.8! The young man was happy about the ones that got 9.8, but really wanted to find 9.8 copies of the other two books to have a complete set in 9.8 or better. A year later, the young man's big brother found copies of the two books that were good enough to get 9.8 and gave them to his younger brother! The young man was thrilled, and after getting them signed by the cover artist, he had them graded by CGC. They both came back in 9.8, and the two brothers lived happily ever after. THE END. Hahaaa! Ok, this is simplistic, but it's also completely true! In early 2013, I bought all 8 issues of the Fallen Angels mini-series from a seller on Ebay who promised me they were all very high grade books. After receiving them and looking them over myself, I had to agree with him. I wanted to get this series because of three members of New Mutants being featured in it. I sent #4 to Desert Winds to get Val Mayerick to sign it at SDCC 2013, since he was there. Then as Tampa Bay CC approached, I planned on submitting the rest of them for universal grading. That's when I noticed that Joe Staton and Mike Mignola were going to be at Baltimore CC, which I had just decided I would be going to. So I held back #5, #6 and #8 since they could sign them and submitted the other four copies at Tampa Bay CC. Long story short, when I finally got them all back, 6 of them got 9.8s and two got 9.6s! Turns out both the dealer and I were right! The only two books to not get 9.8 were #3 and the #4 that Val Mayerick signed, unfortunately. So I planned on eventually finding 9.8 worthy copies of those two in order to complete my set. Fast forward all the way to Baltimore CC the next year. Once again my big brother and I were hitting the show floor in search of signatures and books. I hadn't really made any mention of this set for a long time, nor do I have any designs to really look for the two I still needed in 9.8, due to having so many other things I wanted to do at the show. At one point on the first day, Tnerb walked off to do some looking around while I was standing in line for a signature. When he came back, he handed me a few comic books and said something along the lines of, "I found these at a dealer and they look great, like 9.8 possibilities. I know you're trying to put together a complete set of them". That's paraphrasing, but what's completely accurate is that he handed me a few copies of Fallen Angels issues, including #3 and #4!! I was flabbergasted! I was even more astonished when I looked them over later at the hotel and determined that they were definitely 9.8 worthy! Not astonished at Tnerb's grading accuracy, which I already knew was fantastic. But astonished that both books were at the show and he just happened to be at the right place at the right time to find them. The fact that he thought about me when he saw them and picked them up for me is just another reason to show why I love my big brother so much. To make matters even better, Tom Palmer was attending the very same show! Talk about timely!! Not only did Tnerb manage to find the two books I needed to complete the set in good enough shape to achieve 9.8, but the cover artist could sign them right then and there! So that's exactly what I did! I prepped them right there in the hotel room and took them to Tom Palmer on the last day of the show and submitted them to CGC, along with another Palmer signed book which I found at the show. I will do another journal on that book very soon. So the books just got back in my hands and the verdict is in! Ol' Eagle Eyes (Tnerb) strikes again!! My 9.8 set of all 8 books is complete thanks to you, big bro!! Thank you so much! I couldn't have done it without you!! To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.
  21. When everything has to go.... these DON'T!! 20 months ago a few of us here on the registry did top ten lists of the books that we would not part with come hell or high water, even in the case of an emergency sell-off or purging of our slabbed collections. I also jumped on this idea and did what I referred to as a PSL, or Purge Survival List of my top ten books at the time. Well it's been almost two years and with 2015 looming on the near horizon, I have decided to revisit my list and make a new top ten PSL for 2014. After all, since the last time I did this, I have been to a number of shows, had a major portion of my collection signed and regraded or submitted raw to CGC or purchased already slabbed from the various online auction sites. In the future, every year just after Christmas, I will try to do an updated, annual PSL for the new year, since changes are bound to occur. This is very difficult to do, especially now that I have nearly 1,000 slabs in my collection. It's very hard to pick just ten that I can't part with. Truth be told, there are far more than ten, but these would be among the very top. This time around, my PSL holds books that are far more rare and less likely to ever be able to replace. So without further ado, here is my PSL 2014!! #10 - Infinite Crisis #1 RIE CGC SS x4 9.8 WP This one is the same as last year. A more modern book, with all four creator signatures on it. Andy Lanning, Phil Jiminez, Geoff Johns and Jim Lee! I just love the cover and while there are 15 SS 9.8 copies out there, I don't believe there is another one with all 4 signatures! Even if there is, finding another copy and getting all of the signatures on it would be extraordinarily difficult to ever do again! #9 - All four of my Copper Age CGC 9.9s WP Warlord #82, Warlord Annual #1, and Wonder Woman #4 and #6! Again, the same as last year. Also again, actually four books in one. While this is a top ten list, I group these together only because they all fit into the top ten category for me, but putting them in individually would take up half of the list. Copper Age 9.9s and up are very rare and nearly impossible to replace, especially when 3 of these are OAKS! #8 - Starlog Magazine #130 CGC SS 9.8 WP The first newbie to the list! After requesting for a set to be created for Starlogs, I dug through all of my old copies and pulled a bunch that I felt had high chances for top grades. This one was among them, so when I got Denise Crosby of Star Trek: The Next Generation fame to sign it, it became a real treasure for me. This book holds a lot of nostalgia for me, since I am such a huge ST:TNG fan and also since I picked this copy out myself right off the shelf back in 1988, when I was just 14 years old! #7 - Little Dots Uncles and Aunts #2 CGC 9.6 OW/W This one not only remains from my last PSL, it bumps up one spot. I have to keep at least one Harvey comic from my slabbed collection and given the choice, this one is definitely it! The jet black cover on this beauty makes it nearly impossible to find in this condition. There's only one other copy out there in this grade, with none higher! #6 - Daredevil #168 CGC 9.6 WP This one drops significantly down the list from last time. Not because it means any less to me, but just because it's far more readily available to replace should I ever need to. The only reason it's on this list at all is strictly due to the sentimental nature of it for me. My father and I found this copy in a friend's basement and bought it for $5 back in 1986. This copy holds great memories of my father for me, so it would pain me greatly to ever let it go! #5 - The Hulk! #13 CGC SS 9.8 WP Another newbie to the list! This series started out as The Rampaging Hulk and then turned into just "The Hulk!". This particular issue features the first ever published artwork by my favorite comic artist, Bill Sienkiewicz, who took over drawing duties of the Moon Knight portion of the book with this issue. I bought this copy raw off of Ebay, took it to Megacon, had Bill sign it and was elated to have it receive 9.8! It is now the only SS 9.8 copy in the world, making it completely irreplaceable!! #4 - Marvel Graphic Novel #4 CGC SS x2 9.8 WP No surprise here. This book stays on the list, in exactly the same spot as last time. Having a 9.8 copy signed by both Claremont and McLeod, with a head sketch of Sam Guthrie (Cannonball) on it as well, make this irreplaceable for me. My big brother, Tnerb has an even better copy now, with a full sketch of Cannonball on the back of his, but I still hold the same reverence for my copy now as I ever have since getting it done. #3 - Jonah Hex #1 CGC SS 9.8 WP Another newbie on the list, and debuting very high as well!! I bought this copy already graded for $300 and took a gigantic risk in cracking it for Jose Luis Garcia Lopez to sign at Baltimore CC 2013. I did it because I had always wanted a 9.8 copy of the book, and because it is now the only SS 9.8 in the world!! Another irreplaceable OAK!! #2 - Howard the Duck #1 CGC SS x2 9.8 WP Yet another newbie to the list and coming in even higher than #3 did!! I cannot begin to tell you how thrilled I was with this book! I bought it raw from a dealer on Ebay, sight unseen for $100! I always wanted a high grade slabbed copy of it, so I took it with me to Tampa Bay CC 2014 and had both Frank Brunner and Marv Wolfman sign it! I was thoroughly astonished to have it achieve 9.8, which only one other copy has ever done before. But unlike that single other copy, this one has been signed twice, while the other one has only been signed by Brunner! That makes this the single greatest copy of this book in existence!! WOW!!! #1 -......... Oh, come on now. Do you really need me to tell you? Most of you know me well enough by now to know that there is only one book that will ever hold the honor of the top spot on my PSL. But for those uninitiated few out there, here it is: NEW MUTANTS #1 (1983) CGC 10 WP!! This book started me on my CGC journey, and it will still be in my possession when my ultimate journey comes to an end. There really is no need for me to go into detail as to why this book stands head and shoulders above all others in my collection. It's age, grade, and significance should speak for itself. So I will bring the list to a close and continue to bask in the loving glow of myyyyyy preeeciiiooooooouuusssssss...... AHEM! Sorry about that. This book brings out the Gollum in me. Hahaaa! So there you have it, everybody! A great PSL with representatives from Marvel and DC and even Harvey. Books from the Silver Age, Bronze Age, Copper Age and Modern Age, featuring both comics and magazines, some signed and some not. There are old hats, as well as some new faces! But one thing remains the same among them all... They all are staying right here with me, no matter what may happen or what may ever cause me to need to sell my collection off. I can already tell you that my PSL for next year will be different than this, since I currently have some books in process right now that will be vying for their chances to occupy spots in my illustrious PSL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Below is a pic of the Hulk! #13. I've shown it before, but you can never see it enough!..... right?? To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.
  22. No better feeling!!! I have been an avid comic collector for nearly 30 years. In that time, I have had many fantastic collecting moments. You know, those moments when you find a copy of a book you've been dying to locate. This occurs as you dig through box after box in store after store or show after show. It's that super-excited, tingly feeling that overcomes you as soon as your eye hits the exact book you've been pursuing! Once I started collecting CGC graded books, this experience became heightened ten-fold! I now peruse through dealer boxes at stores and shows looking specifically for only the highest grade-worthy copies of particular books. When I come across a copy I'm in search of, I initially feel excited. I pull it from the box thinking, "Here's a possible copy that could reach my grade-worthy desires". I look it over in its bag first. I either dismiss it right there as not grade-able or I move on to the next phase, which is taking it out of the bag. As I hold the actual comic book in my hands and look it over with questionable eyes, I scroll the spine, scrutinize the edges and corners, and repeat for the rear cover. I grow more and more excited as I can't find any noticeable defects. After this process is complete, I hold it at different angles using the light to reveal any surface imperfections. Once finished I move into the guts and examine the inner pages, until I feel it's a 9.8 worthy copy! When that happens, I start shaking. This is normally the time I feel I should put the book very carefully back into its casing. My insides become jittery and loosey-goosey. I'm ecstatic at having finally found a copy worthy of submitting to CGC and adding to my set! After shipping the book to CGC I go through the waiting process. As soon as I see "Shipped/Safe" on the invoice, I can't help but look and see how it came out. I use a piece of paper to hide the grade on the screen and slowly move it out of the way until the grade is revealed! If it doesn't reach the vaunted 9.8 I hoped for, I sigh and sag to the floor, shaking my head and wondering what I must have missed in my examination. Thankfully, this happens a lot less now than it did when I first started in this hobby. But ultimately, I'm still thankful for having a graded copy. If however, it DOES reach the grade I expected, or even (dare I hope?) surpasses the expected grade, I once again get that jittery and excited sensation! I squeal with delight, dance a jig, jump up and down, etc... etc.... I've even done this at a convention with onsite-grading right at the CGC booth. My big brother and others present were in attendance watching and I must say I got a lot of smiles and laughs from everyone. At times like this, I feel like a kid in a candy store who was just been given the whole store's stock for free!!!! Which brings us to the reason for this journal and what currently seems like rambling on my part. Why am I telling all of this to you now? Because there is a development in a year long process that has come to fruition and I can't wait to tell you about it! Back in January, I decided it was time for me to really get down to business and try finding top notch copies of Howard the Duck #1 and #2 so I could get Frank Brunner's signature on them. I have always been a Mr. The Duck fan and these two particular books are nearly impossible to find in good enough shape to be worthy of getting graded (in my opinion). They are very pricey to buy CGC graded in 9.8, if they even show up at all. I resolved myself to being ok with 9.6 copies if I could only find them raw without having to kill myself doing it. The first thing I decided to do was look around online, especially on eBay. I have become very adept (or lucky?) at finding top grade copies on eBay for some reason. I've had numerous raw Ebay purchases achieve 9.8s before, even with older comics from the Copper and Bronze Age. It took some time, but I came across a couple of copies of Howard the Duck #2 on Ebay from the Tongie Farm Collection that the seller swore were 9.6 worthy. I looked the pictures over on both copies, and decided that they were worth a try. I picked the one I thought was a little better and paid $48 for it. Once I had the book in hand, I was sure they were right, it was at least a 9.6. Perfect! I took it with me to Megacon, for Frank Brunner to sign and take advantage of CGC's onsite service. I got Frank's sig ($10) and submitted it along with a number of other comic books. I also had it pressed just to be sure of giving it the best possible chance. I had thought in the back of my head that it could possibly get 9.8, but I wrote that off as wishful thinking on my part. I'm not perfect with grading comics from the Bronze Age and feel that I still have some practicing to do before I'm consistently accurate with this era. My big brother was with me when it came back on the last day of the show. Astonishingly, it WAS CGC SS 9.8 OW/W!!!! This, along with a few other unexpected results, is what had me doing the aforementioned noises, accompanied with dancing while jumping up and down. It didn't get white pages, but that's a minor issue compared to the grade itself. If it had received 9.6, I had planned on sending it with my big brother to ECCC the following week for Steve Leialoha to add his signature, but being graded at 9.8 had me rethink that notion. I wasn't going to risk it any further. I was perfectly happy with Brunner's scrawling on it at 9.8!! Who wouldn't be? I was so happy with the results of this book that I contacted the seller that I bought it from and told him what had happened. This turned out to be a very fortunate event, because not only was the seller very happy for me, he then told me he had a copy of #1 of the same title, if I was interested. He convinced me by telling me the comic was in just as good of condition as the issue I already purchased. Are you kidding? Of course I was interested!! I didn't even need to see it. I bought it without haggling for $100. When I received it, I once again agreed with their determination of the book at 9.6. The only thing I saw that was detrimental to the grade was a wide area on the outside edge of the back cover, where it was bent hard over towards the front cover. It didn't break color or anything, and I wondered if a pressing could get it to smooth out. I figured it was worth the try. It just so happens that Frank Brunner AND Marv Wolfman were both going to attend Tampa Bay CC in August. I decided to take it with me and get BOTH of them to sign it! Marv Wolfman was the editor of the book, and I love getting any signatures I can that apply to a comic if possible. He's there anyway, so why not, right? I went to the show with my oldest godson, got the book signed by the aforementioned creators and submitted it along with a group of other books. This was not an onsite show, so unfortunately I've been having to wait and it's been killing me. Well, the results are in and I will let the picture below speak for itself. Best copy in the world now! There is one other SS 9.8 WP, but it is only signed by Brunner. I'm sure you can guess by now what I was doing when I saw the grade for the first To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.
  23. Be Honest! How good of a grader are you? When it comes to being accurate in my grading abilities as they stand right now, it completely depends on what I'm being asked to grade. To put it all in perspective, let's separate out the varied types of books by AGE and TYPE, and apply a grade to how accurately we feel that we honestly hold up, using the same grading scale as the one given to our lovely treasures. The higher the grade, in this exercise, the better you are at getting the grade of the book exactly right, more often than not. The lower the grade, the farther away your grade of a book is from the experts grade, more often than not. As an example, here's mine (remember, I'm being completely honest here): Golden Age - 9.0 Silver Age - 9.2 Bronze Age - 9.4 Copper Age - 9.8 Modern Age - 9.6 Graphic Novels - 9.9 Magazines and Magazine size Comics - 9.8 Squarebound annuals and specials - 8.0 Treasuries - never tried Actually, now that I really look at it, this is pretty darn good overall. If I had made this list six years ago, the grades would have been far less. Probably more into the 7's and 8's overall. Since then, I have learned a whole lot about what to look for when eyeballing a comic for grade potential. Being a perfectionist by nature also helps, but as you can see by my current list, there is still room for lots of improvement. When it comes to magazines, graphic novels and Copper Age items, I'm in my element. But I still have some improvement to make in being more accurate with Bronze Age and older books. And when it comes to those darn squarebound books, I have not been very accurate with them at all. And if they come from out of a polybag, I'm horrendous with them. While Treasuries are not a "slab-able" item, I would still like to spend some time with them someday and develop the ability to be accurate with them. But those aren't always around in plentiful amounts to really examine closely, so that will be a future goal for me down the road. With modern books, I tend to lean just slightly towards being a little too lenient sometimes, because I'm willing to forgive a little more, as I do with Copper Age books, when I should actually be a little more strict. After all, modern manufacturing technology means that new stuff should be far more perfect right off the press than back in the Copper Age and earlier. So I'm still working to improve myself and become a good enough grader to compare with these awesome guys at the third party grading companies. You never know when you might need to apply for a job right? Someday I hope to have each of these grades be a minimum of 9.6, and preferably all 9.8 or better, but until then I will continue to practice, practice, practice!! I hope to be an even better grader by the end of 2015. So what do you think? How do you stack up if you're being completely honest with yourself? How much more do you feel you could improve? Below is the copy of Fury #1 I found raw in Orlando at Megacon earlier this year. I knew it would get 9.8 and since Sienkiewicz and Palmiotti were both in attendance, I went ahead and had them sign it! To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.
  24. Key? No. OAK? YES!! One of my lofty, but at least feasible long-term goals in my graded comic book collecting endeavors is to eventually have all 75 original Marvel Graphic Novels in CGC 9.8 WP. This is a very difficult goal to achieve and I have a LOOOOONG way to go before I ever hope to reach it. But little by little, one at a time, I'm very slowly getting there. For a while, I held the number one ranked MGN set, but when a bunch of them showed up in 9.8 earlier this year on Ebay, somebody paid extremely high prices to acquire most of them, then inputted them on the registry and passed me for the top spot. I'm slowly gaining ground on them but it will be some time until I catch up again. This is due to a number of reasons. MGNs are notoriously tough to find in high grade. The large, cumbersome nature of the books makes them difficult to store and protect, and many of them have solid, jet black or solid white covers, making them highly susceptible to visual imperfections. Add to that the lower print runs of many of them and you have a recipe for difficulty in finding 9.8 copies. While some of them are immediately recognizable and even iconic and highly sought after, most of them are not so easy to locate, let alone in good enough shape to have graded. In fact, many of them don't even have a graded copy yet! Such is the case with one that I just recently located at the Baltimore Comic Con. While browsing around the dealers with my big brother, I came across a raw copy of MGN #30. It's titled "A Sailors Story" and I knew of it, but hadn't found a nice enough copy anywhere yet. It's not a big key or anything. It doesn't feature a major Marvel character. It's not highly sought after. It's nothing "special", per say. It's just one of the many MGNs that no one has ever submitted for grading before, and I still need in order to ultimately have a complete set. I found it in a magazine box, among a few other magazines and took it out of its bag for a close eyeballing. It looked gorgeous except for a couple of small indentions that did not crease or color break the cover in any way. So I had to decide whether a press would be necessary or not. Ultimately I paid for the book ($5), paid to have it pressed ($25), paid to have it graded ($28) and paid to have it shipped back to me ($10). That's $68 total to get the book from the dusty dealers box to its final, graded completion. For me, that's a deal, when you're talking about what would become an OAK for a set I want to complete, because no matter what the final grade was, this would be the only graded copy to date of this MGN!! I now have the book back in my hands, and I'm happy to say that my estimation of its condition was right on the money! I am one happy camper!! Now I'm no grading expert by any stretch of the imagination. My big brother is a much stricter grader than me in my opinion, which typically results in the graders generally agreeing with him in most instances. But apparently I'm pretty good at grading these awesome Marvel treasures.... unlike square-bound annuals, which we won't mention here....... please. This isn't the only MGN I found at Baltimore though. At a different dealer, I also found a copy of MGN #18, which is the John Byrne She-Hulk issue! It has a jet black cover and is extremely hard to find in top grade. I believe it is 9.8 worthy as well and will submit it soon! I'm just waiting for a little while to see if maybe I can it signed before grading. I also have a copy of MGN #2 that my big brother gave to me a while back, which is the P. Craig Russel Elric issue! I believe it is 9.6, but definitely worthy of grading, since it is an especially tough issue to find in high grade due to its jet black cover. These books are more expensive to grade and much harder to locate in high grade, but I feel that ultimately they are very much worth the effort. To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.
  25. no....really....my first error. The first one I've ever purchased anyway!! As many of you already know, I already have a graded set of Dazzler, including a SS 9.8 double signed copy of #1. But when I saw this super rare printer error copy of the book in graded 9.8, I just couldn't help myself! I...must...purchase. I.....must......PURCHASE!!!!! Haha! It just cried out to me, "you will buy me NOW!!!!" I'm sure if I could've seen my eyes from outside of myself, I would have seen swirling black and white irises, because I was under its spell. I have never seen a graded error copy of this book before, let alone to see it in 9.8 condition! I definitely have plans for it, and those plans definitely involve getting signatures on it. But they also involve doing something with the book that I cannot discuss here. I'm sure some of you can guess what that may be, but I won't talk about it here, to avoid any troubling complications...... like having my journal deleted. Anyway, gAaaAzE oN It'S mAgnIFecENt BeAuuuUuUUuuUtY............. To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.