F For Fake

50 Is one of my favorite covers of all time, if not my favorite. 49 was one of the first “old” comics I bought when I was a kid. I paid $3 for a beater copy at this very same shop, 30+ years ago!

Fun day today! Last Thursday the LCS I frequent started putting out a collection of silver and bronze they'd picked up. I wasn't able to get there Thursday night, so by the time I arrived at opening on Friday, most of the stuff I'd been interested in had sold. I was telling this to the manager, and asked her if she knew when the comic buyer would be putting more stuff out. She then let me sneak a peak at what was coming next, and set aside some stuff for me. Comic buyer priced it this weekend, and I picked it up today! Most of the stuff is right around fine, a few are a little closer to VF and better. The SS 1 is an absolute rag, missing the back cover, but I couldn't leave it behind. Good times!

I mean no offense when I say that when I read these posts, I mentally add "Rorschach's Journal:" before each one.

Why can't America return to the good old days, where we had wholesome performers like GG Allin and Eazy E??

Fair enough. I’m glad that we can all have the reasonable discussion that we’ve had, without it getting ugly, or having the thread locked up. And you may very well be right about it being the beginning. Looks like they’re coming for Hansi now too! That being said, at the end of the day I think perspective is important. EBay may very well come for all of the questionable content our admittedly checkered comic past has to offer. Should that be the case, the stuff will still exist. We can sell GA books here, we can sell and buy them at shows, etc. eBay is a huge market, but the buyer pool for a lot of this stuff (speaking of GA comics, not Dr Seuss) is fairly small as it is. If anything, it’ll probably just drive prices up further (bad for buyers, good for sellers) and increasingly lead them to markets like the one we have here. Culture is changing. Is all of this hubbub a manufactured product of needless pearl-clutching, or is it possible that some of these things are overdue for reassessment? I think it’s probably a little of both. I don’t judge the collectors and fans, I am into plenty of stuff that is probably sketchy (at best!) But I also don’t think it’s the end of the world either.

I saw some PSA graded cards from this set at an estate sale three or four years ago. I think they sold for about $5. I thought about throwing a bid on them, but, me always being clairvoyant about market trends, I passed as I thought “who would want those graded?” Wise as ever!

Yikes! It’s one thing to be deceptive, it’s quite another to knowingly send a fire hazard to an unsuspecting buyer. That sucks. Glad you found out before anything bad happened.

Just to be clear, in case my tone isn’t easy to read, I’m not trying to be combative or start a fight, or make anyone mad. That being said: Was it censorship when eBay decided that we couldn’t sell digital codes to comics and movies? Was it censorship when they decided some items were adults only and others were acceptable to be listed in public areas? There are thousands of items that eBay has changed their stance on over the years, from a variety of categories, and have decided they don’t want sold on their site. It’s not censorship, it’s a business decision. If eBay thought that they’d make enough money allowing this stuff to be sold on their site to outweigh the number of complaints and bad pub they’d receive, then they’d still allow the books to be sold there. eBay isn’t taking a moral stand. eBay doesn’t have any morality ha They’re covering their financial butts. There are countries in the world where people have to deal with actual censorship, in that they could be put to death for saying dangerous things. Not being able to sell a book on eBay is an inconvenience. It’s not worth getting agitated about. There are probably hundreds of thousands of copies of these books in circulation. If anyone wanted a copy, they surely had plenty of time to get one.

If you just want to read them, I'd go digital, or buy the paperback compendiums. If you want something a little nicer and sturdier that is nice to look at on the shelf, there are the slipcased hardcover collections, those are pretty sharp looking! If you want the actual comics, I'd personally wait until they calm back down. After the show went downhill, and the comic was ended, prices sunk. 9.8's of #1 were down to about $1500. Now that we're in the covid bubble market, it's back up to what, 3 grand? I wouldn't be buying anything at all right now. Selling, yup, but not buying. However, for random run issues, you might get lucky at your local comic shops. I know that in the post-show post-comic lull, a lot of collections showed up at my local shops, and there are still a lot of back issues floating aroudn locally that I wouldn't have been able to find at all three or four years ago. So, you might be able to pick up run books at a decent price. But the keys are pricey again. If you're dead set on having them, I'd at least wait until the current run of new tv episodes has wrapped, as there's usually a post-season dip. Good luck, have fun!

I think it was @newshane who was buying the cases of Spawn looking for 9.9's, is that right? I know he had a pretty amazing collection for sure. I enjoyed those stories. Was never a Spawn guy, but I admired the dedication.

Whatever eBay is doing, the point is, this isn't censorship. eBay is not a public library. They're a business, beholden only to themselves and their shareholders. They've made the business decision that the possible bad optics of having this material available for sale isn't worth the trade off for the money they'd make in selling fees. eBay doesn't have an obligation to sell anything and everything. I'm certain they crunched the numbers, and made the decision they felt would be most beneficial to their bottom line, and that's the end of the story.

Batman is an Avenger now? This multiverse stuff is getting confusing!

I’m not sure, I just overheard that bit of conversation when I walked in the shop. They had a “Bad Idea Comics” sign/poster thing hanging up behind the register, so maybe?

Wow, that's really sharp! Love it! Oddly, DD is one of the few I haven't owned either loose or complete. Falcon is the other. They're both been on my "one day!" list, and I just never found the right one. As for yellowing, I can make do with a little bit, if the price is right. But it's the bubbles where it looks like the figure has been chain-smoking under the plastic for 30 years that I can't abide. When they pass yellow and go full amber? That's a pass.

At a shop today, overheard the owner talking to someone about Eniac. I had no idea what he was talking about until reading up on it here. Paraphrasing, he said something to the effect of "This guy said he got two copies. I own a shop, and I only got one!"

If the Jaws 3 set includes a "rookie" of Lea Thompson in a bikini, I'm in!

But that's the whole problem: sometimes you can sell Cherry on eBay, and sometimes you can't. I got a nice collection a few years ago, put them up, sold in no time on eBay. Got a second collection, eBay yanked the listings, so I relisted them in the Adults Only section, which really is the kiss of death for listings. Can't search it, no one goes there. So they sat unsold, until I gave up and sold most of them here. The ones that didn't sell here, I took BACK to eBay, relisted them as BIN's, and they all sold with no issue. Again, it's the whack-a-mole inconsistency with eBay's "standards" that drives me batty.

Wow, that would have been quite the deal, but there's always something that gets away. I agree completely, considering the popularity and cultural saturation of Marvel super heroes, and the appetite for all things 80's toy wise, it feels like Secret Wars are undervalued.

It was a gorgeous day today, 66 and sunny, by far the nicest day of 2021 so far. Spent a fun afternoon visiting the usual haunts, digging whatever there was to dig. The day ended up having a distinctly coppery feel, lots of X-Men and GI Joe from my misspent youth (and much more expensive than when I bought them off the stands back in the day!) Plus some random modern hot books, and Conan, and etc

Aw man, that Wolverine standee, I love it so much. When I was a kid, my first comic shop had one hanging up on the wall, and I'd see it every time i went in, and thought it was SO COOL. I've priced them on eBay a few times, but haven't pulled the trigger yet. One day. Looks great here, cool room!

It's eBay's site, they can do what they want. That being said, the most infuriating aspect, to me, is the completely uneven way in which they enforce their rules. I remember back in the day I used to sell digital codes from Blu Ray's, because I collect physical media, and don't have any use for the codes. I had several auctions pulled because this wasn't allowed, which I wasn't aware of at the time, due to the THOUSANDS of other auctions doing the same exact thing. The first time they pulled my auction, I was sure it was a mistake since I saw dozens of other sellers selling the same exact codes. So, I relisted, and they hit me with a 7 days suspension. I was furious. Now I sell the codes on the bluray.com forums, and make a lot more money! Free listings, no fees! I've had this happen a few times with adult themed comics and undergrounds, and men's magazines. Some things fly right past them, some things get flagged instantly. It's impossible to know where the line is and how you can or can't cross it relative to other vendors. It's maddening. Depending on how concerned you are about getting your hand slapped, you can always list it as a BIN and hope it sells before eBay brings the hammer down on you. I've done this a few times in the past. Most notably, somewhat related, there was a furor when NECA released 8' MEGO style dolls for the film Django Unchained. All auctions were instantly pulled. I threw my set up with a BIN of $1k, and it sold in under and hour. Sometimes the insanity can be financially beneficial!

That's a great selection of figures! A few weeks back I posted about my DC Super Hero collection, if you saw that, I have a great love for the line. I'll tell you, that Superman figure is NICE, and is getting very hard to find in nice shape. An unpunched card like yours, I'd expect to easily be a $100+ piece. The unpunched Joker is really sharp and desirable as well. Of course, market value can't compete with the value of nostalgia! edit to add: I don't keep up with Real Ghostbusters, but that Louis figure is apparently pricey as well!

The black suit Spidey is such a nice figure, I can definitely see why you'd want one. I have a nice loose one, but never a carded one. I think that the sculpts for Secret Wars, as simple as they are, are actually super nice, and especially suited to the silhouette of the Black Spider-man costume.

Love it!