bagofleas

I was going to respond to TNerb's last journal, but instead decided to do a journal of my own. When it comes to filling out CGC forms, I have put any amount from $5 to $200 on the invoice for value of the issue, but I too have tried to value issues from the mindset of personal value and cost of creating them as they are or will be. The very rare sigs like Sal Buscema are far more valuable in my opinion. But even with the cost and readily available Stan Lee sigs, it comes down to what issue is the sig on? If you have the only Stan Lee signed copy of a particular comic, then it should be far more valuable than one that has many many copies with his sig on it. Of course, this also depends on what the issue is. As an example, I sent my New Mutants Special Edition off to the NY Masters last month for signing by four different people! Chris Claremont, Jim Shooter, Terry Austin and Stan Lee! When I get it back, I will probably have Art Adams add his sig to it at ECCC, making five signatures on it!!!!! In this case, the comic may not be the most sought after issue on the planet, but it is popular to some degree among collectors, and having that many creators on it as well as Stan Lee will make it far more valuable. I doubt there will be another out there quite like it. I also now have the only 9.8 copy of Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #18 in the world and it is now SS signed by Pat Broderick! What should I ask for it if I sell it? I have a number of issues in progress at CGC right now that will be OAK SS issues when done. Some go back into the 70s, like my Jonah Hex #1 & #2 which will both be OAKs signed by Jose Luis Garcia Lopez! It's hard to place a real value on something like that. It doesn't exist in that form anywhere else, so what do you do? Ask for the moon and refuse to back down? Ask for the moon but be willing to come down some? Start it fairly low and see where it goes in auction? Start it a little high and see where it goes? IDK, but being the only issue signed in the world has to account for some seriously increased value, again, depending on the issue you're talking about. The real value is actually directly relative to what someone else thinks it's worth and how much they want it! Below is a pic of Dazzler #34, which I had signed by Geof Isherwood in a rare convention appearance! I may have Sienkiewicz add his sig at Megacon in March! To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

We Built OAK City... We Built OAK City on Star-Starlogs!!!Ok, so I'm cheesy and goofy. That's just me!But why is this silly 80s song playing over and over in my head today? Well, because I just got back 2 packages from CGC today, one of which has 6 copies of Starlog Magazine that I submitted to CGC at the Florida Supercon in Miami back in July!No matter what grade these things get, they are all OAKs, since none have ever been graded before. In fact, I am the only person who is actually submitting multiple Starlogs right now. Gemma created the Starlog set category at my request. Thank you, Gemma!Every one of these magazines that I submit are ones that my father and I picked up right off the shelf when they came out! We're talking late 80's and early 90's issues. They have been stored for decades and moved from place to place to place. It's amazing that they still have high grade possibilities!The fact that all of them are now OAKs is why I am singing my re-wording of an old Starship song in my head. LolI am looking for signing opportunities on most of these, but I just couldn't help myself but to go ahead and submit a few that I felt I might not get signed. I was wrong on 2 of them, since Scott Bakula was just at NYCC and I could have gotten one of them signed by him, and the other I could get signed by Michael Dorn at some point.If I really want to, I could always crack and resubmit. But anyway, back to the packages!The first package contained 3 items that I had signed at the Tampa Bay Comic Con in mid-August. I did not press these. I just cracked, had signed and submitted them for regrading. Here is what the results are for this invoice:Marvel Graphic Novel #16 SS 9.8 WP signed by Greg LaRocque on Back CoverAmazing Spider-Man: Parallel Lives #nn SS 9.8 WP signed by Alex SaviukDeadly Hands of Kung Fu #18 SS 9.8 WP signed by Pat BroderickThese are all OAKs now, being the single highest graded SS copies of each one. I am considering selling the DHOKF issue. It is the ONLY 9.8 graded copy out there AND SS as well!!Ok, now for the Starlogs! Remember, I just eyeballed these at 9.8, so this was a good test of my magazine grading abilities. Here were the results:Starlog #128 - 9.8 WPStarlog #132 - 9.8 WPStarlog #141 - 9.8 WPStarlog #153 - 9.8 WPStarlog #155 - 9.8 WPStarlog #156 - 9.8 WPHOLY ACCURACY, BATMAN!!! I hit them all exactly right! This is the first invoice that I didn't look at the results online once it reached Shipped/Safe status. I decided I would make it more exciting by waiting and pulling them out one by one. I must say, this sure did make the experience so much more enjoyable. I may have to treat all of my upcoming invoices the same way!Looking at these now brings back many memories of my father. His passion for collecting. His child-like exuberance at finding and acquiring both new issues and back issues. The long hours we spent together, organizing and categorizing our collection. The shows we attended.But what I miss most of all is walking into The Comic Book Corner, our LCS, together every week and simply going through the newly released issues on the shelves, picking them up like hens in the barnyard pecking at the corn thrown in by the farmer."Check this one out, Dad!" (Peck!). "How about this one, son?" (Peck!)"Hey look! They're starting a new series, Dad!" (Peck!)"Do you think this is the best copy of this issue, son?" (Peck!)Man, I miss those days. But being able to have original items like this graded and immortalized makes it seem a little more like my father is still here, looking down at the issue and saying, "Told you that one looked good."I love you, Dad.Below is a picture of the DHOKF #18! Give me a few minutes and I'll post pics of all of the other ones in the replies.To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

But I'm gonna wait... There have been 3 Status changes to my invoices currently at CGC today! Two have gone from "Received" to "Verified" and one has finally gone from "Grading/Quality Control" to "Shipped/Safe"!!! The invoice that is on its way back to me is one I have really been waiting to see how the grades came out. They aren't comics. They are 6 raw, never graded, original collection, right-off-the-shelf copies of Starlog Magazine that are from 1989 and 1990! I went through my Starlogs and after examining them thoroughly, I picked these as possible 9.8 copies with pressing. I have a few others that I feel also meet this criteria, but waited on them because of possible future signing opportunities for them. These 6 are ones that I don't feel I will ever have the chance to get signed. So now I'm left with the quandary of whether to look at the grades online or just wait until they arrive on my doorstep to find out how well I did on eyeballing these beauties. I want to look so bad, but I have ALWAYS looked before getting an invoice back. For once, I think I'm gonna wait and just let myself be totally surprised as I pull them out one by one. Oooooooooh, the suspense is killing me.... But I love it!!! Below is my copy of New Mutants #63 that I just got back a couple days ago. I had it and TNerbs copy signed by Bo Hampton at the Tampa Bay ComicCon back in August! To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

The first ones in! I've got 3 cons worth of signed comics in process at CCS and CGC. But thanks to fast tracking one invoice, I have my first ones back now! I only fast tracked the invoice so I would at least get SOMETHING back to enjoy while waiting on everything else to muddle through the 5 to 6 month process of pressing and grading. There were only 4 comics on this invoice. They were signed in Tampa. Among these are the first 2 copies of Dazzler that I have had signed. I have 7 more in process, one of which Tnerb just did for me at NYCC. Here are the issues I just got back: Web of Spider-Man #1 - SS 9.8 WP signed by Greg LaRocque New Mutants #63 - SS 9.8 WP signed by Bo Hampton Dazzler #34 - SS 9.8 WP signed by Geof Isherwood Dazzler #36 - SS 9.8 WP signed by Geof Isherwood (pic below) Geof Isherwood is particularly difficult to get since he rarely does any shows. In fact, the only cons I've ever noticed him attending is the Tampa Bay ComicCon. I've been working on my New Mutants to get them all upgraded to SS copies just like Tnerb, but now I have started doing the same with my Dazzler, Marvel Fanfare, What If and Marvel Graphic Novels. I don't really have any personal interest in chasing after the modern artists and writers, though I think its cool to do so. I tend to stick with the old school creators from the 80s and earlier. Tnerb went after a bunch of the modern guys with his issues for NYCC and that's awesome! I hope he is able to sell them all for good profit to help fund his collecting habits. But I would much rather spend my time and money on older stuff and older creators. Of course, if my brother keeps this up, he may be able to finance a lot more cool, signed older stuff with the money he makes and that can be just as beneficial to his ultimate goals as my own. Good luck, Big Brother, and thank you again for helping me out with my issues at NYCC!! It's amazing how much you got done there! Below is the pic of my newly yellow labeled Dazzler #36! Both of my Dazzlers on this invoice are now OAKs!!!! To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Reaching new heights of glory! So Tnerb is at the NYCC getting a bunch of comics signed for flipping purposes. He is also doing me the biggest favor in the world by getting ten of my comics signed as well. One of them is the very first comic book I ever owned. For Tnerb, his intro to the comic book world was New Mutants #15, of which his original 4.5 graded copy is a beauty to behold, having been signed by so many creators of the issue. For me, it was New Mutants #36, which I have had a 9.8 graded copy of for years now. With the NYCC coming up, I finally decided to start getting sigs on it, since Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz were both attending. I sent 9 other issues to Tnerb as well for Claremont, Sienkiewicz, Wiacek and McLeod to grace with their sigs, but my Annual #1 for triple sig and my #36 are the big ones for me with this bunch. Tnerb has finished getting all of mine graded now and I can't possibly thank him enough! I eventually would love to get all the creators sigs on my #36 just as he has been doing on his #15, but it may be tough since Barry Windsor Smith is so iffy about signing for CGC graded comics. We will have to see.... But in the meantime, my beloved #36 has its first two sigs and I couldn't be more pleased with the way they came out! Tnerb sent me pics of my issues after signing. Below is the one of my humble beginning graduating to its next level of comic book glory. Thanks Big Brother, you are the best! To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

What was that grade again? As most of you know, I have been steadily putting together a graded Marvel Graphic Novel set for some time now. When I first started getting them, the registry set was limited. It only had up to #38 and a few others that had been graded, but it had not been updated or listed completely. So when I got my hands on some that weren't numbered or listed, I requested them to be added and Gemma was gracious enough to do so. After that, I did some research and found that after the first 38 numbered issues, there were another 37 that had been released with no numbers. I listed them in the order there were released and requested for Gemma to have them added to the set. Unbelievably, she had it done in 2 days!! WOW! Thank you Gemma! Anyway, the set listing is now complete, so now it just stands for me to add, add, add to it! Not long ago, I placed a bid on a copy of #68 (technically) in the series. It's an Avengers story from 1991 called Death Trap The Vault. It was on Ebay and listed as 9.6 condition. I put in a bid of $26just for the heck of it. After all, I had never seen a graded copy of this issue. Well, I won the auction at $23.50!! I was amazed! Little did I know I would be more amazed once it showed up on my doorstep. When I got it out of the packaging, I saw it was a 9.8!! Say what? I thought it was a 9.6. I went back onto Ebay and looked up the original listing. Sure enough, the title of the listing said 9.6, but I could look at the photo and clearly see that it was actually 9.8! This might explain why there wasn't more bidding action on it. In this case, looking before I leaped really worked out for me!! Tnerb gave me 4 MGNs in Baltimore, 3 of which can be inserted into this set. 2 of them, I got signed in Baltimore and am now awaiting a pressing and grading to be done on them. One I am holding until a signing opportunity comes up. The last one is a really neat DC Star Trek Graphic Novel that I was told has NEVER been graded by CGC! I was able to get 2 sigs on it at the show and submit it! I read it the night before I did this, since I never had before. It won't get a 9.8, probably more like a 9.0 or a 9.2, but I don't care. It is a gift from my Big Brother that holds more memories and meaning to me than any monetary amount. Thanks Tnerb!!! Below is a pic of the Avengers MGN along with two more MGNs that I just acquired last week. To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Starting something new. Or old in this case... Throughout my life, I have always had some sort of comic art interest. My interest in animation and comic art originated with Disney cartoons and movies. Mickey, Goofy, Donald, Pluto, Chip & Dale and all of the Disney movies available at the time were my bread and butter. I know I drove my parents crazy when I was like five and every time they asked what I wanted to watch on our $900 VCR, my response was, Dumbo!!!! Yes, VCRs were that expensive at one point. In fact, that very same VCR worked and lasted for over 10 years! Now that's quality! But starting when I was like 7 in 1980, my parents would give me little comic digests to read and enjoy, and I did exactly that. Whether it was Archie, Jughead and his gang or Richie Rich, Casper and the other Harvey characters, I would read through each one over and over again. When I got to be a little older in the mid 80's, my father and I caught the comic book collecting bug really bad and we began our lifelong adventure into the fantastic and wonderful world of Marvel and DC comics! I remember walking into comic book stores at home and especially away from home and looking at all of the back issues in the boxes and drooling over the more expensive lovelies up on the walls behind the front counters. One of the stores I always looked forward to perusing through was a store called the Dragon's Den in Panama City, Florida. It was there that I was able to look at and hold in my hands actual copies of old Dell and Gold Key comics. I loved them! Especially ones that were Disney oriented since I had been so into those characters from earlier in life. But even the ones that were not Disney oriented were neat to me. Some were based on old TV series or Peanuts characters or movies or even real life celebrities! I marveled at the sheer age of these comics and at the time was amazed at how much they cost. Remember, this was back in the 80's, so for me and my father, who were just getting into collecting, paying over $30 for a comic was absolutely outrageous! Many of these cool old comics would fetch $15 and up at the time even in so-so grades. Oh well, I could dream, right? Well , the years have continued to roll along, as they always do. My father is no longer here to enjoy the new era in comic collecting that has emerged as a result of CGC. I know he would be all over this hobby if he were still around. He and I would be like two peas in a pod, constantly patrolling the internet for the best copies of our favorite stuff. I miss him terribly, but life goes on. Anyway, once I entered into this current way of collecting our favorite comic books, I decided to start by collecting the stuff that my father and I were really into when we first got into comics. Series like New Mutants, Indiana Jones, Booster Gold, X-Men and many others were tops on my list. As I would search the net for top graded copies of these varying series, I would come across an occasional old Harvey or Dell or Gold Key comic that sparked my interest, but would invariably move on to looking through the stuff I was collecting at the time. Well now, after over four years of putting sets together, I have the end in sight on many of my sets and while sitting around waiting for those few 9.8 copies to show up for me to steal away from other prospective buyers, my sights are wandering to some of the other, older stuff that I remember drooling over as a kid in those comic stores back in the 80's. I've already begun to collect Silver Age Harveys. In fact, I am currently the #1 rank on three different Harvey sets now. Spooky Spooktown, Casper's Ghostland and Little Dot's Uncles and Aunts. But up until now, I have yet to acquire a single copy of an old Dell or Gold Key issue. I now have an old Dell Four Color issue! #1058 in 9.2 OW condition! When I started with CGC comics, I swore to myself that no matter which comic it might be, I would never buy one that was less that 9.2 or OW pages, so this one sits right at the bottom of my limit, but it is a neat little issue! It features two different Colt .45 stories and once I did a little research, I found that even in this condition, with only one 9.4 and one 9.6 above it, it was worth 640 registry points! I decided that I would only try for it if I could get it for a X4 RP/AP or better. Well, I got it X4.3 RP/AP! Yaaay! This is my first foray into the older Four Color comics and I couldn't be happier! While there are many more valuable comics out there to own, I am a sucker for older, rarer items such as this. Yes, I love my New Mutants, Dazzler and Marvel Graphic Novels, and will continue to buy and submit and upgrade those nostalgic beauties. But there is something about owning a 1950's and earlier comic in rare top notch grade that just inspires me. Am I stupid? Probably. Am I happy? Definitely! You can collect to show off what you have to OTHERS that you know will drool over what you have, or you can collect what makes YOU feel good about what you have. Either option is commendable. But when you can combine these two options, so much the better! I probably only meet the latter of these two options with this purchase, but that's fine by me. To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Hey, none of us are perfect either.... right? OK, picture the scene. You're perusing through your raw comic books, searching for those top notch copies to either get signed and graded or just simply graded. You're thoroughly eyeballing each one, checking their spines, staples, edges, corners, fronts, backs, interior pages, surface texture... you name it. On one particular issue, you decide that it looks pristine! A real chance at a 9.8 or 9.9 or even a vaunted Gem Mint 10! Your heart leaps with joy! The heavens open up! Angels begin singing!.... except for one thing. It has what you determine to be a manufacturing defect (MD). Things like printing smears, wrinkle creases, ink drips, missing pages, wrong interior pages and even missing staples that were never put in are some examples of MDs. Oh no, you think! How will this affect the grade? Is it worth even submitting to CGC now? What should you do? Ok, the first thing is to make sure that it really IS a MD and not some sort of damage from mishandling. CGC knows what to look for to determine this, but until they look at it, you will have to make that determination yourself. Once you are sure that it is a MD, you are left with the choice of submitting the issue or not. How will the MD affect the grade? Tnerb posed a question in his last journal as to whether a comic with MDs could reach a Gem Mint grade or not. I can answer that one. YES!!! It CAN happen and HAS happened. I know this for a fact, so always keep that in mind when examining your comics for grading. CGC does NOT count MDs against the grade they apply to a comic. If you can identify something as a MD, you can rest assured that it won't drop the grade. These things may seem like grade breakers, but the truth is that as long as these things occurred during the production of the comic and not by human handling, the grade will not be affected by them. I have cracked a boatload of comics lately for SS opportunities, and have come across a MD or two on 9.8 copies. My Rom #3 is among them with a wrinkle crease on the front cover. My Rai #0 has a red smear on the front cover and a printing hiccup on the back cover. Both of my New Mutants #16 copies have problems. One has spine-corner wear on the top and bottom of the back cover with a bad ink drip on the bottom one. The other copy has two wear-tears on the front cover at the top, caused by production. All of these are graded 9.8, even with these MDs scarring their flawless beauty. As to whether a Gem Mint issue with a MD is possible, I know it is because I HAVE ONE! That's right, I have one. My Gem Mint copy of New mutants #1 has 4 different MDs on the front cover! A print smear under the TM next to the title, a white blotch on the "S" in "Mutants", a light blue ink drip next to the "S" and the TM, and a print streak right down the center of the "A" in "Mutants". See the pic below. This does nothing to reduce the enjoyment and appreciation I have for this ultra rare Copper Age first issue. The truth is, it is being extraordinarily nit picky to point these minor MDs out at all. I do so now to prove a point. MDs do not reduce grades and also do not keep top grades from being achieved. What MDs have you found on your raw issues or your graded issues? Did finding them ever keep you from submitting a comic? What is YOUR opinion about MDs? To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Multiple levels of waiting. With 3 Cons worth of comics currently being evaluated, I feel like everything is in varying stages of completeness. I have 3 invoices that haven't even been inputted at CCS yet. I have 9 invoices that are "In Progress" at CCS. I have 6 invoices in "Received" status at CGC. I have 1 invoice in "Verified" status. I have 2 invoices in "Graded" status. I have 1 invoice in "Grading/Quality Control" status. 3 of the CGC invoices changed status today. These are just the invoices I can see and account for. It doesn't include the following: I have 3 comics that I sent to Desert Wind Comics for signing at the SDCC that I don't know the status of yet. I have 2 comics that I sent to the upcoming NYMasters for multiple signatures. I have 10 comics that Tnerb is most graciously having signed for me at NYCC. I have 3 comics that I just sent to Desert Wind Comics for McFarlane sigs. With all of these issues in limbo through CCS/CGC and the ones that are awaiting being signed over the next few weeks, it feels like I'm juggling invoices, with another one being added every day or so, making it harder and harder to keep up with it all. Some of these have been in process for 3 months now. It seems like it will be forever until they finally start trickling into my eager hands. I do have a few comics on the way that I won on Ebay, and I have waited for months now on some TMNT prints from Bowie, including 2 brand new limited edition prints that he is giving me for free for my long wait!! They will be here by Friday. Check out the pic below to see my limited edition print from him that I have now had framed! On top of all of this, I have Megacon and Supercon to start planning for next year. Ever since following Tnerb into the wild and wonderful world of Con-hopping for SS upgrading of my CGC comics, it seems like everything is in a constant state of flux. ... And I love it! There is always something going on or changing status or being shipped or being planned for. WHEW! Heck, I even have other's invoices to look forward to, having helped both Tnerb and Ronnylama with some signings. In some ways I feel overloaded, but in other ways I like having so many things to look forward to. I may not always be able to enjoy having this much on my plate, so I'll do it while I can. Being able to start meeting fellow members like Tnerb and Tom Skahan has also been a wonderful side note during all of this. Now that I have a big brother to talk to, coordinate with and meet up with from time to time, I have a far more complete experience with the registry now. As the comics start coming in, I will have the task of deciding what to keep and what to sell, which just puts another level of constant shifting and changing into my life. It's wonderful having friends here in the registry to share these experiences with and even include in the experience by helping me get many of these things done. Thank you, everyone for making this hobby so worthwhile!!! I will post journals as items start coming in. Stay tuned...... To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Time is so short. In some ways, cyberspace can produce life, but it cannot stop death. After being alone for so many years, my older brother has appeared from out of the murky anonymity of cyberspace and become a living, breathing reality. Never would I have predicted such an outcome from my decision to start collecting sheets of paper with art printed on them and encased inside clear, protective plastic. My big brother has been an inspiration to me both in CGC and in life. We both share the same concerns, although while I have been mired in the past, he has held a more comfortable balance between what was and what is. His enthusiasm for both has now made me more aware of the current offerings available in the hobby we share and love so much. Whether its Locke and Key or Ten Grand or East of West or Day Men, he has opened my eyes to the many possibilities of the present. I have a growing understanding of my need to have something to strive for in a short time. This is because I am slowly coming to accept that the creators and icons of the past are beginning to enter into their next great adventure after this life, one by one. With wonderful creators like Jack Kirby, Carmine Infantino and Joe Kubert all permanently leaving the scene and with many more not getting any more youthful, I have to stop and consider some questions. What will I do when they are all gone? Whose writings and artwork will I continue to enjoy? Who will I look forward to meeting one day when all of those I have known have vanished from meatspace, from cyberspace, from time and space... For now I must put aside my dire contemplations and appease myself with simply planning the next Con I will attend, just as my big brother is doing. As I sit here, writing this journal, with my mind considering so many avenues of possibilities, many of my little ones are away from home going through a maturation and transformation that will completely change them by the time they decide to visit with me again. Some of them are even staying with my big brother for a time and I can only hope that he will have a hand in helping them to become all that they can be in life. When the day comes for all of them to come home to me, I will have aged just a year short of a year and a half and I may have a different outlook on life by then. Already, I am contemplating the option to sell off some of my progeny to the CGC collecting masses out there. Like my brother, I am having a difficult time deciding which ones I should hold close to home and which ones I should send off into the world as examples of my patience, perseverance and accomplishments. As they begin to trickle in, I will have the unenviable task of choosing who goes and who stays. Pray for me, fellow CGCers. I will need it..... Below is a pic of me getting something signed by Pat Broderick at the Miami Supercon! To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Now the waiting begins.... I have collected CGC comics for over four years now, but its only during this year that I dove into the wonderful world of conventions. Oh, I had gone to a number of cons with my father when I was a kid, but that was back in the 80s and early 90s. And we never went to any of the big cons, just smaller local ones thrown by Tallahassee LCS or ones in nearby towns. Now I have a sudden drive to get a big hunk of my CGC collection signed and turned into SS yellow labeled glory! I have Tnerb to thank for this. He went on a signature acquiring spree during 2011 and 2012 and managed to pass me on my New Mutants set in 2012. After six months of sadness at the loss of my favorite first ranked registry set, I decided to hit Megacon in March of this year, taking a big chunk of New Mutants issues with me for Chris Claremont and Bob McLeod to sign. I also took a number of other issues with me including some Starlog and Star Trek TNG magazines for cast members to sign. I can sum the experience up in one word... AWESOME! I loved it! I loved meeting the creators. I loved getting the items signed by everyone. I especially loved it once everything came back graded and gorgeous with fresh yellow labels announcing their presence through the clear plastic. I also loved knowing that a bunch of those items were now OAKs!! Most of them still are! This caused a chain reaction in my brain and I decided that I would try to attend at least one more show this year. Before that would come to fruition, however, Surfer99 would lend me a huge hand by taking ten of my New Mutants issues to the Phoenix ComicCon for Bret Blevins to sign. I am eternally grateful to him for this. Following those being done, I looked and looked around online. But it was when my mother told me she would be going down to Sebastian to stay with her sister for a couple of weeks that I realized that the Miami Supercon would be taking place right around the time she planned on coming back, so we organized it so that I could attend the show and then bring her back home to Tallahassee. The Supercon went wonderfully and it served as an opportunity for ME to actually help a fellow registry member for the first time. Ronnylama sent me a number of comics to get signed by a few creators there and I was thrilled to be able to do it for him! He also sent me a number of issues for myself that I would later submit for grading or get signatures on! thanks Ronnylama, YOU ROCK! Tnerb would later inform me of the Baltimore ComicCon and after some financial shuffling, I decided to attend that show as well. I managed to do a one day run down to Tampa for the show down there while waiting for Baltimore. I even managed to help Tnerb with a signature in Tampa as well. Then came Baltimore and I did a record number of issues for myself at this show! Meeting Tnerb for the first time was the real highlight of the show for me and being able to walk around the con with him was a really fun time! I now feel that I have a brother I never knew and look forward to our next meeting! Now I have sent off ten more issues to Tnerb for the NYCC coming up next month and could not be more thankful to him for helping me out with them. I have also just sent off two issues to the NY Masters signing for multiple signatures. With these last two send offs, I have officially ended my signature collecting endeavors for the year. The next Con I will be attending is Megacon again in March. Tnerb will be joining me for that show. If anyone else wants to meet us there, let either of us know. Anyway, now that I am home and reorganizing my collection, I realize I am in waiting mode big time! Between everything I did at Supercon, Tampa, Baltimore and now what I have sent off for NYCC and the Masters, I have over 150 comics in the process of being pressed and graded or just graded!! I dont think any will start showing up on my doorstep until at least December and they will continue to show up throughout the first couple of months of next year. I will be all gnashing teeth and tapping feet until then but that is the nature of the business when submitting to CGC. Thank you to all who have helped me in these adventures, I am forever in your debt! love this hobby and the friendships I have developed with fellow CGC collectors. I cannot wait to see what else this hobby of ours brings in 2014, but for me it will start the same way it did this year... MEGACON, HERE I COME!!! Below is a pic of the empty boxes that are just waiting for the SS issues to start piling in! To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Four years with nothing and now this! I have been collecting CGC comics for four years now and havent actually met any of the other registered collectors until the last week. I have now met two other members in the past seven days! I met with "Tnerb" last weekend for the Baltimore ComiCon (see my previous journals) and now I have met "Tom Skahan", another fellow CGCer (and his lovely companion) who was on his way through Tallahassee on his way to Orlando. He stopped here in town, after an unexpected detour(), and we met up for an early dinner right next to my condos. If you examine his collection you will find that he is a Dell, Gold Key, Star Trek and Harvey collector. I too am a Harvey fan and thoroughly enjoyed spending some time talking with both of them about Star treks and harveys. I took a few issues for him to hold, including a Spooky Spooktown that it turns out I outbid him on! , small world. We also exchanged a couple of comics. He gave me a 9.6 graded copy of Casper's Ghostland 82 that I did not have a copy of, and it just so happens that I had brought a 9.6 copy of casper's ghostland 48 that he did not have. WHAT A TRADE!!! He even had a black and white photocopy of me and Tnerb holding our prized babies in Baltimore included with the comic! . Anyway, it's really wonderful to have these rare opportunities to meet and speak with fellow collectors who share the same passions as myself. If anyone else ever happens to be passing through, let me know and we'll see if a meeting can be arranged. I would consider it an honor to meet any of you guys! Thank you, Tom Skahan. May you and your family be blessed. To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

But only twice as fast. Being impatient can cause you to make mistakes. It has also been known to cause regret later on after a decision. On the flip side, it can get things done quicker, which can sometimes turn out to be very advantageous and put you ahead of the curve over others. Impatience has its pros and cons. No, I dont mean that there are professionals at being impatient, though some people are habitually so. And I dont mean that there is an Impatient Convention, though I will admit to being impatient a time or two at the cons I have attended because of wanting to get my signatures as fast as possible to avoid missing out on any. There were a couple of times in Baltimore alone where I felt this way, but the CGC guys can only do so much and go so fast with the sheer number of people and items being thrown at them. Personally, I dont see how they do it. Big shout out to Mike and Mike, Darren, Molly (pants),Joe, Bree, Cynthia and all of the other CGC staff in Baltimore who helped make everything happen for me and Tnerb. YOU GUYS ROCK!!!! Ok, ok, stop being impatient. I will get back to the subject at hand. Most people dont think there is any value in being impatient. But CGC and CCS have put an actual monetary value on it. $10 for CGC and $6 for CCS. What am I talking about? Why, Fast Tracking, of course. As most CGC collectors know, CGC has always had the option to Fast Track your individual items at $10 each. This reduces the amount of turnaround time for your comics by half. Now that CCS has become part of the CCG family, they also have Fast Tracking available at $6 per item, thereby giving the same time cutting results for pressing. Now the question I propose to all of you other collectors out there is... What does or does not make this option worth it to you? I will say that I take a number of things into account before I decide on Fast Tracking anything. 1. How many issues are on the invoice? Marking Fast Track on the invoice means you are agreeing to Fast Track everything on the invoice. 2. Am I keeping or selling the item or items on the invoice? I might be more or less willing to pay the extra if I am trying to flip the item for profit. I just have To take into account that it takes $10 away from my profit per item. 3. How sentimental or important is the comic to me personally? Sometimes this has a bearing on the decision for me. 4. What are the current turnaraound times? This can be a major factor in determining whether to add Fast Tracking or not. if the current turnaround times are 60 days or more, I may be more willing to consider this option. 5. When are the registry awards? The deadline for the registry awards can also have a bearing on choosing to apply Fast Track, since you may be trying to put yourself at the top of a set or have a shot at a best presentation award or best set award. These are some of the reasons I consider when marking that little box on the upper right of the CGC submission forms. It can add up fast though. Take my most recent trip for example. I didnt Fast Track ANY of the invoices from Baltimore. If I had Fast Tracked the CGC side of it, it would have cost me an extra $800!! If I had Fast Tracked the CCS side of it, it would have cost me an extra $480!! Put those together and you will see that to do Fast Tracking on both the CGC and CCS forms would have lightened my wallet by $1280!!!!! YIPES! As much as I would love to get all of these items back as quick as possible, that is just too much money, even with turnaround times being bad right now. When CCS first started with CGC this year, their turnaround time was 20 days. I fast tracked an invoice with 4 comics back in March through both companies and it took exactly 10 days at CCS and 15 days at CGC, so I got what I paid for. My stuff was back to me in 30 days, pressed and graded for $64 extra bucks. It was worth it to me at the time. I currently have one invoice with 4 items from Tampa that I am Fast Tracking through both companies, so we will see how that goes. But right now, CCS turnaround times are... ready for this?.... 60 days! Thats just for pressing!! CGC is pretty much the same! In the last nine months, the sheer volume of submissions has absolutely skyrocketed at both CGC and CCS. And a lot of the people that were hired at the end of last year have either been let go or simply moved on to other occupations. That same $64 that got my items back to me in 30 days will probably take more like 60 days now!! So lets discus it, folks! What do each of you think about Fast Tracking? What do you consider when deciding to do Fast Tracking or not? Is it even an option you consider at all? What about these slow turnaround times? Any influence at all? Would you Fast Track CCS and not CGC? Or vice versa? To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

My eyes may be bigger than my signature expectations. Beware, this is the longest journal I have ever written! Baltimore was awesome! I will always remember this show and hold it near to my heart. So without further ado, here we go....! It was a dark and stormy night.... Ok, it wasnt stormy, but it was dark. This was because I left my house on Friday at twelve fifteen in the morning. After all, I was traveling from Tallahassee, Florida all the way up to Baltimore, a 15 hour drive. I know, why didnt I fly, right? Because I am terrified to ever get into a plane. As long as my feet are connected to something that is in turn connected to the ground, it doesnt matter how high I am, but separating myself from the ground and putting me at the mercy of a machine that I have absolutely no control over whatsoever is just not my cup of tea. So anyway, I drove. And drove. And drove... See a pattern here? Tnerb kept in touch throughout the long journey, and once I arrived in Baltimore, I checked into my hotel and walked five blocks to meet up with him and his lovely friend he brought with him for dinner. We talked and talked and showed each other some of the things we brought for each other to see in person and exchanged a few gifts. I gave him a very personal copy of What If 47 in 9.4 that my father and I acquired back in the late 80s. Sienkiewicz did the cover and we are both fans of his work, plus it puts in his hands something that I know will mean so much more to him, being that it comes from me and my fathers personal collection. In turn, Tnerb handed me 3 raw Marvel Graphic Novels that I dont have yet. #2, #3 and #34. I realized I could get #3 signed by Starlin at the show and #34 signed by Tom DeFalco as well. He also brought a DC graphic novel of Star Trek Debt Of Honor that I have never remembered seeing before. I could tell just from my first impression that Tnerb was a kindred spirit and a person that I was going to love to hang around. Similar interests, personalities and attitudes make me feel like I now have an older brother. I will always look forward to those rare times when I can spend time with him again. His friend is no different. I will enjoy any opportunities to meet her again as well. Once we finished dinner, I walked back to my hotel and proceeded to look online to see if there was anyone at the show I could get the Star Trek issue signed by. Sure enough there were 3 people at the show! So cool!! I went ahead and read the graphic novel that night before I went to bed so I could at least have read it before encapsulating it. It wont get a top grade but that doesnt matter. Its what it means to me, having come from such a wonderful friend. Anyway, I got up Saturday morning at 6:00 and went to stand in line at the convention center for all of us even though the show didnt let in until ten o clock. I was like the 10th person in line! An hour or so later Tnerb and his friend showed up and we hung out until they let us in. While standing in line, I found out from someone that apparently the Simonsons might not make the show because Walt had come down with a nasty stomach flu that he had acquired from Louise earlier in the week. I was so bummed because I had 27 things for Louise and 16 things for Walt to sign, but what can you do? Sick is sick. They love the fans and love to talk and spend time with them, so for them to not show up meant Walt was pretty bad. We would just have to see how it went. OH. The answer to the Gameshow Trivia journal is... READY? JONAH HEX #1 AND #2. Both to be signed by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez!!! These will be the only SS 9.8 copies in existence once I get them back. Assuming they retain their grades, of course. So anyway, once they let us in, we went on a rampage of signatures. We started with Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz. I had over twenty things for DeFalco to sign and three things for Frenz. In fact, half of the things I had for DeFalco were also for Louise for double sigs. DeFalco was a nice guy and so was Frenz. I actually made Frenz laugh out loud while getting something signed by him, so that was cool. Then we went back to the CGC table and spent a while coordinating with them for setting up open invoices and getting another witness for more sigs. I will say right now that while I have had a lot of luck with my timing and sheer volume of signatures in the past three shows I have done, this show was a whole different animal. I had more things to get signed for this show than almost all three of my last shows put together! So by the time I got done with DeFalco and Frenz, I wasnt sure that I was going to get it all done. But back to the show. While waiting for the next sig chance, we found out that Mike had set up a private signing for Sal Buscema for $10 per sig. This might cost a little more, but it would make it so we didnt have to stand in a long line for Sal, who was only going to be there on Saturday from 1 to 4 anyway. While those were getting done, we could be working on other things. I had 19 issues for Sal, so it was $190 for me to get them done this way, but this is almost certainly the last chance for a Sal sig at a show since he DOESNT do shows. He is 77 years old and the only reason he did this show was for the Hero Initiative. There was a little time until Mike went for the private Sal singing, so we went to Mike Mignola next. I had 2 items for him, including a New Mutants issue that he accidentally started signing in the spot I had for Sal to be added later. Whoops! Oh well, just have to get Sal in the other spot. No biggie. I also picked up a copy of the first Year of Monsters issue that he signed and personalized for me. Neato! Then we went on over to Jim Starlin next. I had 3 items for him. He refused to use my silver sharpie on one of my issues because he has an allergic reaction to metallic markers. Interesting. So I had to actually remove one of my copies from the bag for him to sign. It came out great though, so no worries. Then back to the CGC table. At this point, Tnerb and I gave Mike all of our issues for Sal to be signed. Some of mine still needed other sigs as well. But Sal was more important than anyone else at this show. Tnerb had been with me up until now getting his items done as well. Now he went off to get something to drink for us and check out a few things with some friends of his at the show. I went with Darren to get a few other sigs. I got Adam Hughes on my Star Trek Debt Of Honor. Darren said that CGC has NEVER had a copy of this Star Trek Graphic Novel come through them before for grading, so no matter what the grade is, it will be an OAK! I think it will get a 9.2, so thats not too bad. Besides, its not the monetary value as much as the sentimental value to me anyway. Darren then went with me to get Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez on my Jonah hex issues. While I was in line for him, they cut the line off behind me so Jose could go get some lunch, but luckily, I was within the line already and got him done! YAAAAYY!!!! We went back to the CGC table and took care of some more organization. At this point, Tnerb went to stand in the EXTREMELY LONG line for David Finch. His line was insane for the entire show! Poor Tnerb wound up waiting for an hour and a half just to get his sig for Finch! Luckily I was able to coordinate a witness for him at the righ To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

But without the bugs. My phone alarm woke me up at twelve thirty in the morning yesterday, and I proceeded to leave my lifelong hometown of Tallahassee in the great state of Florida and travel the 14 hours and 945 miles up to a little town called Baltimore. The Baltimore ComicCon was scheduled to start Saturday morning with a captivatingly crazy contingency of comic creators and I had a full box of cool stuff for a spectacular series of subsequent signatures to be scrawled upon. The trip was long, the weather was fine and the music was loud. Had to keep myself awake after all. I only got three hours before heading out. Anyway, while the main reason for my attending the show was Sal Buscema making an unheard of appearance to do signings, the main reason for the trip in general was to meet the resident writer of the registry, Tnerb himself. After working together with him over the last few years putting our New Mutants sets together, I finally have the chance to meet up with him face to face. He wrote in a journal last night that he felt like he has met a younger brother. I may be a year younger than him and have no siblings, but if I am to adopt an older brother, I couldnt find a better one anywhere out there than him. Walking around around at the show, talking, eating and geeking out with him has made this the best Con I have attended yet and any that I go to from now will seem so much less without him there. You are a true friend Tnerb, and I only hope that I can continue to be so for you in the many years to come. Once I am safe and sound back in Tallahassee, I will do another journal on the final results of the trip, and reveal the gameshow trivia answer for all who are still curious. To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

These are your comics on crack.... Any questions? Well, the Baltimore show is in just a few days and I have been cracking my comics at an insane pace! There are just so many great classic artists and writers attending the show, that I just have to take full advantage of the opportunity. Even with all of the issues I am getting scrawled on, I cannot do everything. I may have over 50 comics getting signed and regraded, but I have forced myself to remove some issues one at a time during the decision process. I could get over 125 issues if I really wanted to, but I have to be somewhat realistic. Most of what I am getting done are keepers. There are a few I will sell to help offset the cost of doing all of this. Between New Mutants, Star Wars, Dazzler and Mutant Massacre issues alone, I have like 34 issues. I also have the chance to try for a 9.8 copy of XFactor #6 with FOUR SIGS!! That one is completely in thanks to Ronnylama, who sent me the copy. Anyway, just check out the pic below and you will see why I titled this journal as I did. Oh yeah, you guys wanted that last hint on the gameshow trivia question from my last journal didnt you? Ok, this last hint will remove a good half of the possibilities from your consideration. Ready?... The two issues in question are from a DC SERIES! NOT A MARVEL SERIES. Oh hoooo!! That is all you are going to get everyone! Go ahead and keep sending in your guesses, and I will post a journal with the final answer once the Baltimore show is done this weekend. Only Tnerb will know the answer ahead of time, since he will be joining me at the show. And he is sworn to secrecy until then, or else he looses one of his get out of jail FLEA cards that he has earned from me! To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Bing Bang BOOM! Ok, I decided a couple of weeks ago theat I would try to hit the Tampa Comic Con this weekend. There were only a few comics by a few creators that I would consider having signed, but I felt that it was worth it. Since I live in Tallahassee, this is a show I could literally drive down, get items signed, and drive back, all in one day. That is exactly what I was able to accomplish in a VERY short timeframe. Bo Hampton was in attendance at this show, and he did artwork on just ONE issue of New Mutants, that being #63. Tnerb sent me his 9.8 copy. I added my 9.8 copy. Both to be signed by Bo. Not only do we have the only two 9.8 graded copies of this issue out there, we are both getting them signed at the same time! I had a few things signed by Greg LaRocque. Web of Spiderman issues #1 and #2. Micronauts #37, which he said was the first thing he ever did for Marvel. What If #35, which he commented on loving the original What Ifs. And finally, Marvel Graphic Novel 16, which I had him sign on the open space on the back. He said that was fitting since he drew the little girl featured on the back! I had Alex Saviuk sign my ASM Parallel Lives Marvel Graphic Novel. I almost took my raw copies of Web of Spiderman #50 and #100 but I dont see them getting 9.8 so I didnt. I told this to Alex and he said I should have brought them anyway. Oh well. Pablo Marcos signed my Star Trek TNG mini series #1. His signature was kind of neat. The S in Marcos is slashed like a lightning bolt throughou the O in Pablo. Pretty cool. Pat Broderick laid down his John Hancock on my Fury of Firestorm #1, my Marvel Fanfare #26 and my Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #18, which he went gaga over once he saw it! He said he had been wanting to find a copy of it for a long time and hadnt been able to. He said I better hold on tight to it or he might just steal it from me! Haha. He is definitely looking his age, BTW. Geoff Isherwood made a rare appearance at this show as well!! He just does not do shows for the most part. I got him on my Web of Spiderman Annual 2 and my Dazzler #34 and #36. I just realized that I could have had him added to my already SS copy of New Mutants #85. It is signed by Liefeld and McFarlane! Its the only NM issue Geoff did any art on. Darnit! Oh well... again. And last but not least, Frank Brunner signed my 9.2 copy of Doctor Strange #1, which I hope moves up to a 9.4 with a repressing, and my raw copy of Doctor Strange #2, which I hope gets a 9.6 with a pressing. I was able to get these items signed by everyone in less than an hour and a half! Every time I walked up to one of them, there was either no one in front of me or just one person in front getting a few things done. It was BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM, etc... I was surprised at the quickness of it all. I would have brought a few other things if I had known how easy it would be to get the sigs! Now if only Baltimore can go this easily, I will be in hog heaven! Below is a pic of Frank Brunner signing my Doctor Strange #1! To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Sponsored by CCG, CGC, CCS and many other three letter companies! Alriiiight, everyone! Its time for GUESS THAT ISSUE!!! Its the gameshow where you, the CGC collector, has to guess which comic, Graphic Novel or Magazine that I, Bagofleas am getting signed at Baltimore! The winner will receive an exclusive contract to write a comic right alongside Stan Lee himself! ...Ok, not really. Just kidding. Shouldnt have gotten your hopes up... blahblahblah. But seriously, folks... really, I mean it this time. I am about to attempt something never before accomplished here on the registry. at least I dont think so. Forgive me if I am wrong. I have been coordinating with Tnerb on some items for the Baltimore show. He has even sent me some absolute beauties for Sal Buscema to sign, since Sal will only be there on that Saturday and Tnerb cant make it until Sunday. I have told Tnerb about the majority of what I am trying to accomplish at the show, but there is one thing that I have not told anyone yet! But instead of just telling you guys, I will throw out some hints and leave it up to you to guess. Ready? Here we go! There are two items. They are from the same series, be it comic or magazine. They are #1 and #2 in the series. They were published between 1967 and 1980. They were published by either Marvel or DC. Both were written, drawn and edited by the same 3 individuals. There are currently NO SS 9.8 copies of either one in existence! They were part of a series with over 30 issues. Not a Miniseries or one-shot. I will be getting them both signed at the Baltimore Comic Con. With these hints, see if you can guess what issues these are. I will remove one possibility from your guesses by telling you that they are NOT Doctor Strange #1 & #2. There ARE SS 9.8 copies of those, and no one appearing in Baltimore had anything to do with them anyway. Besides, I just happen to be getting those exact two issues signed in Tampa tomorrow by Frank Brunner! So that is one possibility down the drain. The fact that there arent any SS copies of these is pretty amazing to me. I figured somebody would have given these a chance at SS 9.8 by now, but apparently not. Anyway, there you have it, folks! From these clues, take your guesses. Once I am back from the show in a few weeks, I will post another journal with the answer and a photo of the items. The winners can then pat themselves on the back or I can send my Fleas over to do it for you. HAPPY GUESSING EVERYBODY! Below is a pic of my favorite Starlog issue that I had signed at Megacon. I posted this pic on Instagram a while back but never in a journal, so here it is. I remember picking this copy up off the shelf in 1988. I was helplessly hooked on watchng ST TNG back then and could not believe it when I saw this cover. Were they actually going to kill off Tasha? NO! She was probably my favorite character after Data. Sure enough, a few weeks later, ixnay on the Ashatay! This was the first published article on the possibility of that event. Meeting Denise Crosby at Megacon and getting her signature on it was awesome! Having it get a 9.8 after having it for all of these years without even pressing it was astonishing! To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

The stress of getting signatures. Whenever a show is coming together, writers and artists are added and sometimes cancelled as the date for the show gets closer. Deciding which shows to attend can be a headache. Deciding what to take for signatures can be a headache. Getting everything prepped and organized can be a headache. Having someone cancel after having things prepped can be a headache. Doing the show and getting all the sigs can be a BIG headache. Oh, did I mention the amount of money spent can be a headache? It is a good thing I dont get headaches. Yes, thats right, I have never had a headache in my life! I only know what they are like by others descriptions, and from what I have heard, I am thankful that I have never had to experience one. I have been jokingly told by friends that I dont get headaches because I AM a headache! In reality, it is probably because I just dont let things bother me or stress me out. Even now, as I prepare for the Baltimore Comic Com, I know that however things turn out, it will be ok. I have a few items that I can only hope will retain their 9.8 grades even though I am not totally sure if they will. I am getting a boatload of issues done at this show. More than I did at the Megacon earlier this year. Between my New Mutants #16, my Rom #1, my Star Wars #107 and others, there are plenty of chances for things to not work out for me. But I will not let it stress me out. It will be what it will be. Once my 50 or 60 issues finally come back to me, I will have what I have and only then will I decide what to do with them. Most I will keep. A few I may sell. But I will cherish all of them. A lot of them will be the only signed copies out there and that really means something in this hobby! So dont let things stress you out, everybody. Take the plunge and let the dice roll as they may. After all, who needs headaches anyway, right? The pic is of another Harvey I just got. Spooky is taking the plunge. Things can only look up from here. To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Oh No, Not Again! Stan Lee has cancelled his appearance at the Baltimore Comic Con. For the second time, I have looked forward to meeting Stan Lee and getting a photo and an autograph or two, and for the second time he has cancelled his attendance at the show. This is very disappointing, especially since I was really looking forward to having Tnerb in the photo as well. Both times it has happened, it has been labeled as DUE TO UNFORESEEN CIRCUMSTANCES. Is it just bad luck or timing on my part, or are there some untold heath reasons involved? hmmmm... Well, now that he wont be there, it frees up a little more money for my signature opportunities. Michael Golden has now been added to the show! My copy of Transformers #2 will look so much nicer with a yellow label hovering over it! I also have something that both he and Neal Adams can both sign! It just sucks that I cant try out my idea for the Stan Lee photo. I can only hope that he will actually attend next years Megacon, since Tnerb will also be going there. Please, Mr. Lee. Pleasepleaseplease... The pic is of another Harvey OAK I just acquired. To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Baltimore, Harveys and Stan Lee It has been a while since I did my last journal. I have been really busy helping a good friend get moved and established with their own business, and rearranging my condo with a new TV and some new furniture as well as getting a number of prints framed and hung on my walls. Now that all that is done, I have turned my full attention to preparing for the Baltimore Comic Con, which is shaping up to be a Fantastic show with MANY artists and writers that I want sigs from! Between Walt Simonson, Louise Simonson, Mike Mignola, Herb Trimpe, Joe Rubinstein, Ron Frenz, Sal Buscema (WOW!), Dave Gibbons, Brian Bolland, Joe Staton, Jim Starlin, Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, Joe Hill and J. M. deMatteis, I have numerous issues that I am looking to get scrawled on. With only two days to do it within, I will be quite busy at the show just getting signatures. On top of all of that, I plan on getting my picture taken with Stan Lee and Tnerb. He has had pics with Stan a few other times, but this will be my first one, and I have a great idea for my copy that I have told Tnerb, but will share with everyone else once it is completely done. I have well over fifty issues I could have done at this show. Mostly New Mutants copies. But I am going to have to try and trim that total down somewhat. This is looking to be the most signatures I have tried for in one show, since most of the copies I plan on getting signed by more than one person. I just cant pass up on the chance for multiple signature opportunities when they present themselves! Just as an example, one such opportunity is the Xfactor #6 that Ronnylama gave me last month! It is most probably a 9.8 and I am getting it signed by Louise Simonson, Joe Rubinstein and Ron Frenz! AWESOME!! Thank you, Ron! If all this was not enough, Harvey issues have been coming up on auctions hot and heavy for the last two months! Both Casper Ghostland and Spooky Spooktown issues are flying out the door, many being single highest graded copies! My favorite one is Spooky Spooktown #20, which I just won. It is an OAK with a jet black background! Absolutely gorgeous! Check out the pic below. Once I get all my issues back from CGC with all the yellow label goodness from the Florida Supercon, I may put a few up for sale. I need to pay myself back for some of the other stuff I am having done in Baltimore. Decisions, decisions... To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Not involved but applicable nonetheless! Ok, so I was going through my comics tonight, searching for any and all SS possibilities for the Baltimore show coming up in September. I have decided that I am just going to have to go to the show myself since there are too many issues that I want done there. I came up with over 60 copies that could be signed!!! Sheesh! I have whittled that down to 48 now, but I will probably have to cut a few more in order to make it manageable! I have cracked, signed and re-graded 43 issues so far and EVERY ONE of them has retained 9.8 grades! That is pretty darn good, I think!!! Of all the items I took to Supercon, there were 15 that I did the same process to. Hopefully the trend continues. But anyway, back to the reason for this journal. While going through my issues for Baltimore, I came across my recently acquired 1986 9.8 copy of Vigilante Annual #2. Vigilante issues are nearly impossible to find graded, let alone 9.8s. In fact, the vast majority have never been graded at all! Well, the cover was done by Brian Bolland, who will be at the show, so this is one I would definitely like to get signed, since it would be the only thing I have that I can get done by him. Here is where the genius moment happened! Without even thinking about it, I just happened to turn the issue over and glance at the back. After all, I always look for interesting signing possibilities, and sometimes the back is more appropriate than the front. On the back cover is a full page ad for the then upcoming Watchmen series, along with a large piece of art by Dave Gibbons!! He will also be at the same show! I can have Bolland sign the front and Gibbons sign the back, even though he had nothing to do with the actual issue! How cool is that! Below is a pic of the back cover so you can see what I mean! Have any of you noticed an opportunity like this before? I found this out by sheer accident! I think it is a great idea! What do you guys think? To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Fallen Angels , that is!!! Being a HUGE fan of the New Mutants, I have been looking into acquiring some of the Fallen Angels 8 issue mini series. I have scoured the web in search of any of the copies that I felt might have a chance at reaching the high grades. As many of you know, doing this over the web is NOT easy. Not being able to actually hold and closely look over the issues makes it extremely difficult to know exactly what you are getting. You have to rely on what the seller tells you, and I am sure I dont have to tell you that what one person feels is 9.8 worthy is not what another feels to be the same. I have had my share of triumph and tragedy doing this before, so I was extremely selective this time around. I managed to find what appeared to be worthy copies of all 8 issues in one listing. When they arrived, I tore eagerly into them, pulled out my loupe, and proceeded to examine them intensely! After a thorough eyeballing, I came to the conclusion that these were all 9.8 possibilities! #1 was the only one I was not totally sure about, but I believe even it has a good chance after a pressing! But instead of just racing out and getting them submitted, I looked up the creators in order to search for SS opportunities. And I found some! So as of right now, I have 5 of them in process and 3 waiting until the Baltimore show. When it is all said and done, here is how my Fallen Angels will FALL OUT... #1, #2, #3 and #7 are currently being graded. #4 is currently being processed by Desert Wind Comics for Val Mayerick SS #5 will be double signed at Baltimore by Mayerick and Joe Staton #6 will also be SS x2 at Baltimore by Mayerick and Mike Mignola #8 will be signed at Baltimore by Joe Staton Ok, my unstoppable Flea Ring Circus! Get on over to Sarasota and MAKE those graders give them high grades! Haaaahahahaha.... Anyway, hopefully these will all come back 9.8s, but if not, I will still put them into my registry set. After all, most of these will be OAKs no matter what the grade! Below is a picture of the 3 issues that are awaiting Sigs in Baltimore! To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

More signature goodness!!! As many of you know, I cracked open 11 of my graded copies of New Mutants for signatures. One I sent through Desert Wind Comics to get signed by Jon Bogdanove in Denver, and the other ten I sent to Surfer99 to get signed in Arizona. Annual 7 went to Denver and has now come back to me in SS 9.8 condition! Woo Hoooo!!! I would like to take this moment to throw out a HUGE thank you to Surfer99 for the other ten copies, because thanks to his efforts, all ten came back SS 9.8!! The 11 issues were... #59 Bret Blevins, Fall Of The Mutants #60 Blevins, FOTM #61 Blevins, FOTM, PICTURED BELOW! #70 Blevins, Golden State Copy! #71 Blevins, Inferno #72 Blevins, Inferno #73 Blevins, Inferno, Golden State Copy! #79 Blevins, Golden State Copy! #82 Blevins Annual #6 Peter David Annual #7 Jon Bogdanove Go to my NM set to check them out! I lovelovelove em! If it was not for great guys on the registry like Tnerb, Ronnylama and Surfer99, among others, I would not be where I am on my New Mutants set now. You guys are all wonderful! I look forward to the days ahead when I can return the favors back to each of you! This Flea Ring Circus Master and New Mutants fanatic bows deeply to each and every one of you. This hobby would not be the same without you! My Fleas salute you, and are even now forming the words THANK YOU on the wall behind me! Mwaahahahahaaaa.... To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

The show was fast and easy, but this journal is very lengthy. Be warned! Ok, so like my last journal said, I was in Miami this weekend for the Florida Supercon! I originally planned on going to the show on Friday, then heading back to Tallahassee on Saturday, but I found out that two people I wanted signatures from were only going to be there on Saturday and Sunday. So Saturday was the day I had to go. Now, Ronnylama sent me a number of his issues for signatures from three of the four people I was going to see! Who were these people? Dave Gibbons George Perez Bob Layton Jose Delbo I only had one for Delbo. More on that in a minute. But I had a number of issues for the other three, just as Ronnylama did. But before I get to these issues, let me tell you what the undisputed master of Good Karma on the CGC registry did for me! Along with the issues he wanted me to get signed for him, Ronnylama also sent me a number of comics for me to keep and get either submitted or signed for my personal collection! Some of these I am waiting until September for the Baltimore show to get signed, but some I submitted at this show, and a few I got signed at this show! The Master of the Flea Ring Circus thanks you, oh great one, for your extreme generosity! You are the BEST!!!!!!!!! Now back to the show. It was a lot smaller in size than Megacon was. The problem was, there were just as many people wanting in! In fact they never stopped letting people in during the entire time I was there from 10 in the morning until about 3! The line was around the entire building when I left!! It was so crowded in there by 12, that you would be literally standing in the same place, sometimes for minutes, just to get a clearing to move a few feet! SHEEESH! Luckily, I was there early and had advance tickets, so I got in quick and when they opened the doors, I went straight to the CGC booth, turned in my issues that were just being submitted, and got a witness to go with me in search of signatures. As we got to Laytons table, no Layton. Hmm. So we went to Gibbons table. No Gibbons yet either. ooookay. What about Delbo? uh uh. I really began worrying at this point. Were they going to show up much later in the day? Did some of them back out at the last minute? OH NO, I thought! Then we arrived at the table for Perez, and there, with his shiny head and white gotee was the man himself! FINALLY! There were about 10 people in line already so I got in line and pulled out both mine and Ronnylamas issues in preparation. as I stood watching him, it became very apparent, very quickly, that this was one heck of a nice guy! He was happy to do sketch after sketch after sketch for people, who usually gave him some money for those, but he flat refused any amount of money for just signatures, no matter how many you wanted!I know, because I tried to give him some and he would not take it. Just shook my hand and thanked me for my interest in his work. Awesome! A beautiful and quite well endowed girl dressed up as Poison Ivy showed up at his table and he stopped everything to come out from behind the table and get someone to take his picture with her on his camera!I think he was just trying to cop a feel, but it was still neat. Once I got those done and got them back to the CGC table, I went to see if any of the others had arrived yet. HALLELUJAH, Dave Gibbons was seated at his table scrawling away! I rushed back to the CGC booth, got a witness, and proceeded to get all of both mine and Ronnylamas Watchmen issues signed by him! He was also very nice and did not ask for any money, but I offered him $20 for signing my issues anyway and he took it and thanked me and shook my hand as well!! Great Guy! On my way back to the CGC booth with these lovelies, I saw that Bob Layton had just arrived at his table! FANTASTIC! So I turned in the Watchmen and got a witness to follow me over to Layton. He was sitting there, doing a sketch for nobody in particular, being that no one was getting anything signed or drawn by him when I showed up. He turned out to be just as nice as Perez was! While I was getting Ronnylamas issues signed by him I kept telling him that these were for a friend of mine and he kept nodding his head and making silly remarks like SUUURE, SURE THEY ARE, and winking and laughing. He was extremely nice! In fact, I asked him about one of my issues in particular that did not have him attributed to it in the original CGC notes on the label, since I had noticed his name on the cover down in the bottom left. He told me that he HAD helped with both the cover and with three pages of the issue that he finished for Perez because he had gotten sick and could not finish them before the deadline. It is cool to learn those types of things from the creators! The issue was Marvel Fanfare #11. Once I was done with our comics from Layton, I took hem back to CGC and asked them if they could inform the graders about the Layton involvement on the issue so they would apply his name to the label notes. They told me they would and even wrote it down on the form for the graders. So we will see... BTW I also offered him 20 bucks and he told me that he had never accepted money for his signatures in his life, and was not about to start now. He also was just glad that I had enjoyed his work over the years! So the only one I needed now was Jose Delbo. I had one issue, Transformers #50, for him to sign. I went back to his table and there he was! So after getting a witness and heading back, I placed the issue in front of him and was told by one of his helpers that it was $15 for the sig. This was the only time anyone had asked for money straight up, so I was fine with it. I was only getting the one thing signed after all, so no big deal. The one thing I noticed about Delbo was that he seemed to be having a slight bit of dimentia starting to possibly set in on him. He took a moment to find the pen that was lying right next to him and had to do a test signing on a blank piece of paper before he actually signed my copy. He seemed to hesitate with everything that he did. I overheard the helpers telling someone else that he was 80 years old now. I know he is going to be at the SDCC in a couple of weeks, so anyone who is going to that show, let me know if you see him and get the same impression or not. Anyway, after that, I WAS DONE WITH THE SIGS!!! HOOORAY! or so I thought... By this time the floor was getting awfully crowded, and I wanted to really look around but it was VERY difficult. As I went from booth to booth, I looked in a few boxes and just happened to come across a BEAUTIFUL copy of Xmen #112, which Surfer99 had mentioned to me in response to an earlier journal as a great issue to get signed by both Perez and Layton! I looked it over very carefully and figured that with a pressing, it is probably going to get at least a 9.6 and maybe a 9.8! So I bought it and had Perez and Layton sign it as well and turned it in to CGC! I cannot wait to see how THAT one turns out! I then went upstairs. Yes, there was an upstairs. There I picked up a couple of prints, including a limited edition TMNT panoramic print by Bowie. It is limited to 1000 copies and this was only the third show they had offered them at, so mine was 46 of 1 To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.