L'Angelo Misterioso

On 3/9/2024 at 8:38 PM, comeaux said:

Too bad this thievery & chicanery occurred in Oregon where lawlessness is rampant, in most other states there would be serious criminal implications

 

Can we stop this circlejerk about Oregon being lawless or whatever? It's not true and just really judgmental. There are far more chief reasons for why Mike hasn't been held totally accountable, and much of that is the unique nature of this case.

I'm also with the theory that Mike was behind the Cool Stuff robbery 🤷‍♂️

Here's my rapid fire analysis. The deposits customers gave to Mike are basically gone, he's probably been selling the comics over time and they seem to not be all in the same location, and no law enforcement is going to take this case completely seriously because 1) customers willingly paid Mike (obviously hes been doing theft, but not in the more traditional sense of snatching property) and 2) the assets of concern aren't fine art, but comics, a collectible that's barely taken seriously by the general public and is relatively ambiguous with respect to monetary value. I doubt any more people will be made whole here, but Mike getting locked up would be a sweet outcome. Him being gravely sick recently has to be bullshi as well.

Also, as a young guy (20s) who's green in this hobby, I'm shocked at how charitable (and dare I say passive) some people here have been along the way, even in the formative stages when it was already evident the guy is a crook and had no intention of completing the restoration jobs and returning books and cash 

On 9/1/2023 at 8:16 AM, davidpg said:

The Alan White books look amazing and feel good in hand, though they're black and white and the paper isn't newsprint.  I have a number of them and they're getting pricey now.  I'm tempted to get some of these PS artbooks I gotta say.

Which ones are picking up steam? I own a majority of them and I figured most are worthless ($8-20)

I think the only ones worth much are the various editions of the first Overstreet guide.

Guy got hit twice in the course of 2 months? Yikes

 I remember my huge disappointment when I drove all the way to this one comic shop in SE Michigan, only to find that they went online-only several months ago. Wouldn't be surprised if that's the norm now for old old back issues.

On 7/20/2023 at 8:26 PM, C. Spaulding said:

Too many cliffhangers in this one. Now I’m invested. 

Imagine he's burying a massive lede and all the early books are Timelys and popular horror comics

On 7/20/2023 at 9:04 PM, revat said:

Thankfully you actually have the best, most current information available.

it is worth exactly what you paid for it

You know what he meant, but yeah it is a silly question to post haha

On 7/19/2023 at 5:56 PM, drmccoy74 said:

I would ask 4K obo. I wouldn't risk an auction because it could get lost in the shuffle of bigger books and end up a steal for someone 

That's been my concern. I feel like if you don't have a high rep on ebay and your book isn't a popular thing like Detective Comics or a Spectre cover, it's easy to for the auction to get buried and end low. If I were OP, I would only do an auction for this book if I had a popular ebay page such that the listing would get a lot of views/watchers.

What's the best platform to do a no reserve auction for a book like this, where the current FMV is hard to determine? Asking because this forum clowns ebay a lot 

On 7/11/2023 at 12:42 PM, theCapraAegagrus said:

Like I said, stripping all nuance and context from the discussion.

What's the nuance and context missed, with respect to discussing these movies?

Filing is definitely wise here. It won't necessarily (?) put the cash back into the victims' pockets, but any efforts on the legal front are better than doing none of that at all. The unfortunate nature of the circumstances is something that I can understand causing hopelessness, but filing a criminal complaint against Mike, all while @Hero Restoration returns the victim's comics, would be productive. There is very clearly a strong case here, and I encourage those affected to contribute as much information as they can to help in any legal processe.

On 7/19/2023 at 11:43 AM, MarybethR_Boyd said:

Hello everybody. I'm sorry, I understand what's wrong. But I have to ask. Where is the best place to appraise my comics because I found them in my grandfather's attic? But should they be immediately sold or kept?

You can make your own thread in the Newbie Questions section regarding this. But why would strangers be good at advising you what to do with your comics?

On 7/19/2023 at 10:48 AM, wombat said:

Flat out theft. NINE years. I eagerly await someone to throw out some kind of excuse for this. 

Noo!!! You don't understand it DOES take that long to restore it, because it's a blue chip key!!! It's the cost of doing business guys!

On 7/19/2023 at 12:54 AM, paulailp said:

He has had one of my flash #1, books along with $5000.00 paid for the restoration. Paid in 2014. Minimal updates and different excuses. Mike is a very personal person and I wish the best for him. However I am skeptical  I received a call today from another victim. I don’t know how they had my name and contact information. They asked me to file a criminal complaint. I sent Mike an email requesting a call asap. Let’s hope he is ok and I get my $100,000 book back. Just went back and checked my records. Sent book in 2014. I made the check out to Mike personally and Hero Restoration was not listed as an llc at this time.
 

 

By far the worst case out of all the ones we've heard so far, if all of this is how you've presented it. Flash #1......wow

On 7/19/2023 at 1:07 AM, Poka said:

This is a business gone broke. I expect people will get their books back, but the money is gone when the business burst. Sorry - but part of life

 

? You've been speaking about this like Hero's clients were major shareholders taking a risk with an up and coming business, and not customers who were practically robbed when said business took their money and failed to fulfill the service. This kind of loss is okay to you just because the business went belly-up?

On 7/18/2023 at 2:29 PM, Lazyboy said:

 

When did he do that? Is he not continuing to work on books and provide those services, albeit slowly?

As far as I know, he has just straight up done no work on submissions. He even knowingly sent a flawed book to CGC without customers consent. He's also been upfront here about how the LLC is basically dead because he has no cashflow and by extension no money to make the victims whole. And the situation wouldn't really even be much better if he was slowly doing work on the books for the few people who still want them restored by Mike, because he doesn't have the money to pay people back. 

On 7/18/2023 at 9:40 AM, Point Five said:

The last address I see for Roger is 104 Washington Place, and checking on Google there appears to be a barber shop there now.  

I really can't think of any great back issue shops... high Manhattan rents make that a tough business model. There weren't many left in recent years and unfortunately covid likely snuffed out the last few. The only one that might still qualify is Metropolis, but I believe they're by appointment only if you reserve books to pick them up, or at least that's how it used to work. There's maybe a few left way out in Queens or Brooklyn where rents are lower, but (IMO) not the best use of your limited time to hike way out there to find them.

With all that said, if you're in the midtown/Times Square area anyway, I'd recommend either of the two locations of Midtown Comics -- tons of TPBs and new issues, the occasional back issue, and just generally a fun browse, with friendly staff.

 

Yep I made the mistake of going to that address for Roger's, only to see a barber shop. Total waste of time and a letdown. Midtown Comics is a solid comic shop but don't expect any back issues older than bronze age. 

NYC just isn't conducive to a business model based on high end comic books

Still a worrying number of unresolved cases here

On 7/1/2023 at 9:33 PM, skypinkblu said:

I think perhaps we have a modern collector who got a little lost.  I get that, I'm not a fan of most modern covers...but I don't think I'd advise people who collect those, that they "Suck" because they have different tastes.

I don't own a single modern hahahah

On 7/1/2023 at 7:33 PM, adamstrange said:

I think you may be in the wrong thread...

https://boards.cgccomics.com/topic/397260-unpopular-golden-age-opinions-thread/#comments

Lol a lot of them straight up aren't very good but ik golden age collectors love em

New to FH books. I'm disappointed by how many Planet covers just suck, despite them being highly coveted, but #71 is amazing. Will be getting a copy when I can. #57 is also cool!