F For Fake

Well, I did it, and just under the wire! Probably not the wisest time to buy mid-grade SA, as prices continue to come down, but I found a copy I wanted, and went for it. I sold my raw copy (which I pegged to be about a 2.5) back at the beginning of the year for around $900. Then I waited to find a copy I liked. This 5.0 popped up on CLink, and while it does have some discoloration or staining around the edges, I was in love with those dark deep colors, particular the blues on Cap and reds on Giant Man. Just what I was looking for, and I thought it was better looking than the 6.5 they were also auctioning. Paid $1700 for it. In the long run that will probably prove to be too much, but this is my "keeper copy", so that suits me fine. In the last year and a half we replaced the entire HVAC system, water heater, new kitchen appliances, roof on the house and garage, and had the floor refinished. Phew. So there hasn't been much comic money. So while I did pick up a few odds and ends here and there, this had to be my one big book for the year. SO how did you all do with your 2023 collecting plans??? You still have a few short weeks to make them a reality!

That's a great idea, it could definitely be applied to SO many different kinds of displays.

Finally got all of the NECA Universal Monsters accessory sets assembled. These things are gorgeous, and really make the figures sing. I wish they'd make more, but seeing as how they haven't solicited any beyond these three, it seems unlikely. I would have to assume they weren't huge sellers, $40 packs that don't even include a figure, but man do they make for a nice display. The Mummy may be my favorite. The Sarcophagus is thick, heavy, and the paint apps are amazing. The Lugosi Dracula is probably the best figure overall, but his coffin is much flimsier than the Mummy's tomb. And while that table for Frank is lovely, it is a HUGE pain in the butt to assemble. I spent the whole time sweating bullets as I was sure I was going to break it. Super thing pieces having to fit into super tight holes, just a real piece of work. But once it's done, it's really nice! I'm comfortable saying this is the best figure line the classic monsters have ever had. Sideshow did great work some time ago, and I will always adore the Remco monsters of my childhood, but the sculpts, accessories and packaging really set NECA's line far above anything else we've seen to date.

Man, that stinks, I’m sorry. I have heard complaints about IST’s customer service over the years, but so far I have been lucky. That’s nuts that they won’t work with you on things that should be easy to resolve.

My ML order from the Pulse BF/Cyber Monday sale arrived. They didn't have much on sale I needed, though I did go ahead and grab that Super-Adaptoid to finish out my Avengers 60th collection. Blob wasn't on sale, but since he's sold out at several spots, I decided to grab him. The rest were to complete my Ch'Od BAF. This is the second X-Men wave in a row where I really had no interest in the wave, but really wanted the BAF. He looks great with the other figure I liked from this wave, Corsair. Hopefully we'll continue to get Starjammers, Imperial Guard, Reavers, and Marauders. I'll buy all they want to make! "Beautiful" is a term you may not normally associate with The Blob, but this is a really lovely figure, worlds better than the old BAF.

Yes, that is correct! I was surprised, as I'd only had that happen once before, and I hadn't messaged them about it or anything. Three books are still sitting there unpicked, but the rest of the stuff shipped out suddenly in two separate shipments. Have you contacted them about the order that's hung up? I have had to do that a couple of times in the past, messaged them and suddenly, miraculously, the books shipped out.

Man, boxes are starting to show up en masse, as I reckon with my Black Friday/Cyber Monday spending. Here's haul part 1 from Hasbro Pulse, knocked some common classified figures off my list at 35% off and free shipping. hard to beat. Next is a big box from BBTS. You're probably all aware by now, but they put a bunch of their Super 7 Ultimates on clearance a few weeks ago, and they're pretty great prices. At $55 each I was resistant to many of these lines, but when you get them down to $25, they're hard to argue with. So, to that end I picked up the first wave of GI Joe Ultimates, a couple of extra B.A.T.s, and the 2001: A Space Odyssey wave. May go back for some of the TMNT waves after the holidays if they're still around. Sorry for the boring pic of the BBTS box, I think I'm going to save these for after xmas to open up.

My haul from the IST Black Friday sale arrived yesterday, two impressively large boxes. I may have gone a little nuts, but while there weren't any CRAZY deals, the fact is that the added holiday discounts plus repeat buyer discount made many of these the cheapest they have ever been, or likely will ever be. So, it seemed like the best opportunity to knock some books off of my checklist. For whatever reason, Avengers 2 & 4, and Batman and Robin Eternal did not ship, and in fact, haven't even been "picked" yet. I'll give it a few more days before inquiring. In the meantime, this is plenty to deal with. NO MORE BOOKS FOR ME UNTIL THE NEW YEAR! AND THEN SOME!

A couple of new things hit the IST clearance list. I don't need them, but you might! Avengers Omnibus Vol 5 (this just came out a month or two ago) is 65% off $35 https://www.instocktrades.com/products/mar230943/avengers-omnibus-hc-vol-05 Transformers IDW Coll Phase 3 Vol 1 down to $17.99 (and since Skybound has the license now, once these IDW hc's are gone, they're GONE gone) https://www.instocktrades.com/products/apr210684/transformers-idw-coll-phase-3-hc-vol-01

If they have #2 the next time I stop by the shop, I'll try to pick it up. How many are out so far?

Cool, i really will give it another chance down the road, but these days I'm more of a collections/trades guy. The only stuff I'm really buying monthly is the stuff I've bought forever. A new book would have to be pretty mindblowing for me to buy it on the montly these days. TF didn't quite get there, but I will return!

@Cat did you read Void Rivals? Is it worth checking out, maybe flesh out the new TF stuff a bit more?

Well it's only one issue at this point, so it's too early to say I straight up disliked it, it just didn't really grab me, you know? Maybe because we've seen the origin story, the ark, all of that stuff, retold so many times in comics, cartoons, etc I'm willing to give it another chance once it gets going somewhere, which is why I'll trade wait. I don't buy many floppies anymore, and this one didn't grab me enough to make me feel like I needed to keep up with it month to month. Whenever they collect the first storyline, I'll pick it up and try it all in one go, and it may be more engaging at that point. And no, violence isn't a turn-off, gimme that carnage! (Not the character Carnage. Carnage sucks. But the idea of actual carnage, yes, I like that.) It's a tough thing to do, relaunch Transformers once again, in a world which has had so many comics, cartoons, toylines, etc. To have to reestablish the whole idea of the world, the core characters, and do something new with it, I'd imagine that's very tricky. So I won't say this was bad, it just wasn't interesting or new enough to make me feel like I couldn't wait for the next issue to hit. Once they have a few under their belt, I'll try it again, maybe it'll head somewhere new or different.

I am woefully far behind on my buying, reading, and reporting! Went to my LCS last week for the first time in about 7 months, and caught up on all of my new books. I don't get many titles these days, really just Love and Rockets, Alien, and the various Mignola-verse titles. Caught up on a good portion of reading over the holiday weekend. This represents my reading from the last few months, comics-wise. Just not enough hours in the day! TMNT/Batman Omnibus - about 18 issues. The first miniseries was pretty cute, and I was into it. By the third I was kinda checked out, but the art by Freddie Williams III has an underground funkiness that I very much enjoyed throughout. Fans of both franchises should find plenty to enjoy here. Tomb of Dracula MMW V2 - my Halloween reading material, haven't revisited these in a minute. Colan's art is always great, it takes Wolfman a while to get going with the stories. A bit of a bore at times, but still hits the nostalgia zones pretty hard, and as noted, much beautiful art to enjoy. Transformers #1 - grabbed a second print of the 1st issue of the new series from Skybound. It didn't do anything for me, art or storywise, but it's only one issue, so I won't judge too much. At this point I've sampled, so I'll just trade-wait to read the rest of the story, and see how it shapes up. Can't say I liked the art either, just not my thing. It's fine. Human Target 10,11,12 - FINALLY got to see how this story wrapped up. Loved loved loved the whole thing. Smallwood's art is terrific, and the story is engaging and fun. Of course, I'm a longtime, die-hard JLI fan, so it's fun to see those characters portrayed through a more contemporary lense. Looking forward to revisiting this, hopefully in an Absolute format, as the art certainly warrants it. Alien v3 5&6, V4 1-5, Annual 1, V5 1 - At least I think I have the volume #'s right. I wish they'd give these titles like DH used to, it would be easier to keep them straight. I will say that the books have improved from the execrable first series, and thank god Salvador Larroca and his photoshop antics have moved on, but there's still nothing remarkable here. Marvel is laying an egg with this franchise. Really wish it was still with DH, even though they fumbled the license a bit in their later years as well. I still believe there are interesting stories to be told in the Alien universe, but it's been a while since anyone was up to the task. -ton of Mignolaverse minis- Castle Full of Blackbirds 1-4 Frankenstein The New World 1-4 Hellboy and the BPRD: From Below, Fearful Symmetry (one shots) Giant Robot Hellboy Hellboy in Love 4,5,6 Lady Baltimore - Dream of Ikelos Miss Truesdale - The Fall of Hyperborea 1-4 Young Hellboy 4 Panya The Mummy's Cure 1-4 Although I love the Mignolaverse, encompassing both his "World of Hellboy" and "Outerverse" titles, some of them feel like a bit of a rip. These books are $3.99 each, and some of these minis can be breezed through in about 10 minutes. The value isn't always there as far as floppies are concerned. Quality varies from title to title. I really enjoyed the Frankenstein series, the Hellboy one shots, and the Miss Truesdale series. The rest were kind of a "meh". So, by my count that's 70 new books read, added to my previous total of 293, giving us 363. Looks unlikely that I'll even make it halfway this year. I'm currently about 1/3 through the Phantom Stranger Omnibus, would like to at least finish that one up before the ball drops. Happy reading, y'all!

Oh for sure. The best publisher of licensed properties ever, in my opinion, and they had lots of great originals at the time as well. They really had it going on.

It's a blast, definitely check out the whole series!

Found a few holidays sales this weekend. Black Friday was mostly a bust. Of course, I'm not the type to be out there at 5am, but I did eventually wander over to Ollies and Lowes. Ollies had advertised GI Joe Classified figures for $4.99, but all I found were the longtime shelfclogging Snake Eyes Origins figures. Still, for $4.99 it seemed like the right time to finally bring Scarlett and Baroness home. Also grabbed this fun little Reaction-style Hellboy set. Ross was a total bust, I did grab this Buzzworthy Cliffy for $7.99, just on general principle! Finally I stopped by one of the local toy/game shops, who were having a Buy 3 get 1 Free sale on action figures. Loaded up on Classified stuff, and also grabbed the NECA Thing, which I'll photograph properly when I have a moment. Also grabbed these NECA Glow in the Dark Monsters. I've been meaning to get these for a while, and am glad I waited, as the store had them 30% off, so I was able to grab them for about $16 each. Now I need the convention exclusive Creature and Phantom to round out the set. Love the REMCO-style cards, takes me way back. Now we sit and wait as an avalanche of junk I bought at Hasbro, BBTS etc for BF/Cyber Monday starts to show up.

Next up, some unremarkable, but fun, floppies from the lcs, which I hadn't been to in a few months. I usually buy any Aliens books they have in, so I grabbed another set of Batman/Aliens II, as well as the Archive vs Predator series we were just discussing in the crossover thread. I'm pretty sure I have a set or two of these, but hey, why not grab another? This Comico Previews with the Dave cover isn't one you see every day, so I pick it up. And most impressive to me were these big sets of Transformers: More then Meets the Eye, My shop tends to sell runs in big bulk lots, so I think it came out to about a dollar each on these, which is remarkable, as these books can be tough to find. I have all of these stories in HC, but I may take on the challenge of completing a set of the comics. Will likely take me a minute.

Been a minute since i bought any books, but picked up a few things this week. First up, a couple of slabs from Bay. I've been looking for that Gotham Knights forever, there are only a couple of 9.8's in the census. One of my all time favorite pervy/kinky Bollands, happy to finally land one, and remove that long-suffering eBay alert! Next was a book for my Aliens and The Thing collection.

Beautiful, and definitely hits the nostalgia zone, particularly this time of year.

What terrible news to find upon logging in after a holiday break. Like many of us, I didn't know him personally, but he was definitely one of the first boardies that I started paying attention to when I joined up, and I always enjoyed his sense of humor and eclectic taste. Sharp guy, this place will be less interesting without him. Condolences to his family.

Thanks, stupid autocorrect on the phone thwarts me again!

Jsa-wh-co Immediately after winning, contacted me to let me know his son had bought the book, not him, and obviously he wouldn’t have bought it due to the condition. I hear this lie about kids and accidental purchases a few times a year. Maybe it’s the same kid? Anyway, block away.

They've been doing random price drops, several books have hit 60% off, so hopefully we'll see a few more of those in addition to the discounts. Fingers crossed!

Thank you, was coming in specifically to post this. This series was a ton of fun, and surprisingly gory!