F For Fake

The Sandman Absolutes are gorgeous books, and the only Absolutes I display with the book spines out instead of the slipcase side. I just love the look of those spines, the embossed symbols, the whole thing. I still need to pick up the Absolutes of Sandman Overture and Death, which also match this set.

Geez louise, I didn't realize that many He-Man comics existed! Of course the only ones I ever read were the DC issues from the 80's and Marvel's Star series. I guess I didn't realize it had been relaunched. That's nutty, looks cool! For me, the big 1500 page jobs look really impressive on a bookshelf, and it is nice to have a comprehensive volume of all of the content. But man they're a pain to read, and sometimes I wish they'd been broken up more.

Yes, exactly. Highly stylized, but not as much as an "animated" style. I always thought it was unique, and a good fit on books like Guy Gardner. I liked his Green Lantern run a lot.

I dig this, and I dig the Crow avatar. You're hired.

Also, on the Pressman games, I know some came with the actual comics, but later on they came with an "offer" of to get a comic, right? I would have sworn I had one at one time that had an offer to mail away, but didn't come with a physical comic book. I totally agree, keep it sealed, as you don't see them sealed often. You can find an opened example any day of the week if you're really eager to get inside of one. It's a cool little game. I never played it, but I had one, and the figurines are really cool!

That's a nice group of books!

I feel like Joe Staton is underrated, on the whole...but this series didn't do him any favors.

Nice! I'll have to dig out some of my Legion sketches later! Grell draws a good super babe!

You weren't (and still aren't) wrong!

Oh wow, that's great! The only sketch I ever got from Adam was a Wonder Woman head sketch. Around that same time I was collecting sketches of LoSH characters, I wish I'd gotten something from him. I was a big fan from the Justice League International days, so back in the late 80's and early 90's it was pretty easy to keep up with his stuff, I just had to look through previews and buy whatever was coming out. I don't think I ever paid more than cover for anything in my AH collection the first go round. Second time was a different story! And whether it's true or not, I'm going to tell myself you got that book from me. It was sharp, a NM+ for sure. I'll just say it's in a loving home of a fellow boardie, and be content with that possible lie!

I'm sure I've told this story, but what the heck. A friend of mine sent me a listing to an estate sale that had a picture of a box of comics, and on top was a copy of Avengers 4 and Tales of Suspense 52 The sale was supposed to open at 9. From past experience with this particular Estate company, I knew that people usually showed up a couple of hours early to line up, and then they'd give out numbers so you could hold your spot in line and come back at 9. I messaged the sellers to ask what time they thought I should arrive in order to line up, and they told me they'd had a lot of inquiries about the comics, so I'd probably want to get there early, like 5:30 or 6. Well, I decided no one was going to beat me to that Avengers 4, so I got up at 3:30 am, and got to the house just a little before 4. It was a muggy, humid summer morning, pitch black in a residential suburban neighborhood, and I felt like a creep walking around trying to find the front door to the place, when I hear "Hey, good morning!" And sure, enough, even though I got there at 4am, someone else had gotten there at 3!!! So I ended up talking to the guy, I mean, what else was I going to do for 6 hours sitting on the porch of a house? He was a totally nice kid, I'd say very early 20's, and he was interested in the comics, but just generally. He didn't know anything about them, he just liked to buy stuff to sell. So he was interested in comics, toys, whatever else he could find. So, I laid my cards on the table, I told him I was specifically looking for those two books, and I told him why. Didn't see the need to lie to the kid. He said he didn't really care about those in particular, he was just going to buy whatever he found. So, we agreed that we'd work together to find the comics, and we'd work something out. Other folks started showing up around 6, and were angry that we'd been there so early and had beaten them to the punch. But the thing is, being first in line doesn't mean you're going to be the first to find what yo uwant. Once the doors open, it's still a mad dash. However, I knew from experience that comics considered "valuable" were usually kept at the front register. So, when the doors opened, I went in with my new buddy. He was immediately drawn to a big box of comics on the floor, whereas I went straight to the register and picked up the Avengers 4 and ToS. I brought the rest of the stack back to him. The box he'd gone through was mostly beaten to death Archies and Dell's, along with some National Geographics and stuff like that. I showed him that I got the two books I wanted, and I handed him the rest of the stack to see if he wanted them. There were some early Spidey's, 11 and 13 I think, a DD 4, and some DC SA books, like the Superman/Flash race, etc. I could have bought them all since I'd gotten to them first, but I kept my end of the deal. He was tickled to have them, and I was pleased that I'd gotten the books I wanted. I paid $125 for the Avengers 4 and $40 for the ToS 52. The Av4 is around a 2.5 and the ToS is about 3.5-4. They're two of my favorite books in the collection just because of that whole weird morning. The weird epilogue is that after my new friend bought those comics, he'd left them with the checkout folks to go look at toys and stuff. When came back, someone had stolen the comics. It took him some time, but he eventually tracked down a couple of guys who run a antique store, who admitted to "accidentally" picking them up. He got the books back, so, happy ending, but man, there are a lot of vultures out there.

Yes, I sold everything on eBay back then. I was moving in with my then fiancee (now wife) and decided I didn't want to haul all of those long boxes around anymore. So most of what I sold were complete runs. But I sold this one separately, along with all of the other Adam Hughes stuff I had at the time, as I'd been collecting his books since the early 90's. I think I got about $20 or so for the book, and was happy about it at the time, since most of the Legion runs were selling for pennies on the dollar. A few years later, after we bought our house and seemed to be relatively settled, I decided I wanted some of that stuff back again, and have managed to put the LoSH runs back together on the cheap with the exception of this book. I also put most of my AH stuff together again as well, only I sold most of it again last year when I gave up on completing his cover run. I don't like store exclusives and variants like that, so once he got into that game, so I punched out again. Will I take up the collection a third time? Who can say! I can't imagine selling the LoSH runs again though. One title I haven't picked up again is L.E.G.I.O.N. I think those are still cheap as well, I need to start digging through the boxes again and put that one together, it's a fun book.

Germane to the LoSH discussion, I suddenly recalled that there is at least ONE Legion book from the last 30 years that is worth considerably more than a buck. I got mine at cover price as a holds customer. Sold it when I sold all of my books (the first) time several years later, I think I got maybe $20 for it? It took a LOOOONG time for this book to spike. Hoping I'll find another one at a not-stupid price some day.

I love this book. It's definitely not as hot as it was back in the day, but nice copies can still fetch $10-$20. I pick it up when I find it in a dollar bin for sure.

Cool book! I don't have that one. It's odd because going into the 80's, Legion was on a level with New Teen Titans as one of DC's flagship books. But at some point they lost the readers. Was it 5YL? Was it Threeboot? I know Crisis threw a monkeywrench into things, and even with Zero Hour and everything else, they never seemed to "fix" Legion continuity, at least not enough to bring readers back. It's been relaunched at least three times since then, that I can think of. It just never seems to stick. It's a shame. I really love these books and these characters, but even I stopped buying them after the Shooter returned to the LoSH and that volume ended. That was it for me. I sampled the New 52 books but couldn't make myself care, and haven't read any of the newest relaunch either.

It's out! Came out last week. Mine should be on the way. I can't believe it happened, and I'm pleased as punch, but the truth is if anyone wanted to go the cheap route, they could probably assemble the contents in floppy form for about half of the Omni price (or a quarter of the msrp.)

That Hulk poncho is awesome, but I'm going to need you to crack open this mag and let us know what the deal is with Elvis!

Those are cool, UK exclusive? I don't think I've ever seen one over here.

Indeed my friend, it is a gift which keeps on giving!

Grendel is an interesting case because the first appearance, Comico Primer 2, is still one of the top dogs of the Copper Age, and very pricey in high grade. Also, the three issue Grendel miniseries is relatively expensive, and not something you see every day. However, everything that followed is a big zero. The 40 issue Comico series has been quarter bin fodder for so very long. The last two issues, 39 and 40, can sometimes command a premium, as they are uncommon compared to the rest of the run, but again, it's not unusual to find them in the bargain bin with the rest of the series. Then the various mini-series from Dark Horse, all of which are dollar bin books that no one seems to want. And what's more, Dark Horse went back and reprinted the Comico series, so those are reprints of books no one seems to care about in the first place, so you can imagine what those are worth. And all in all, it's a real shame, because Grendel is one of the best series in comics. The scope is insane, as it moves across the centuries from Hunter Rose through everything that followed, in a crazy mix of crime, sci-fi noir with religious commentary and werewolves and vampires thrown in for fun. Man, what a great, great series.

Huge LoSH fan here, but it's true, once you get into the 80's, there's very little that will cost you more than a buck. And that includes the entire runs of Tales, the Baxter Series, the Five Years Later series, the Threeboot/Archie Legion, and the Abnett/Lanning Legion, the Waid/Supergirl series, etc. It really is like 25+ years of books without a single key or hot issue. There was a time when the two Baxter Death of Superboy issues commanded a premium, but they're dollar bin books now as well. I will occasionally see those two issues in a dealers bins for $10-$20, but ain't no body paying that when you can go to the booth next door and get them for a buck. On one hand it's a shame, because that run from the Baxter series through 5YL is one of my absolute favorite comic series of all time, and I wish more people dug it. (I also really love the Moy/Threeboot books, they were super duper fun. I'm less enamored of Legion Lost/Worlds etc and the Waid stuff.) But on the other hand, I don't mind, because I've been able to put all of those runs together a couple of times now for a buck a book or less.

Ha I knew what was coming even before the image loaded! Yes! That one is actually pretty fun, if I recall they incorporate the hole into the design of the pages, right? I haven't looked at that one in many years.

Adding my voice to the chorus, the Spawn 1's if they're 9.8, nothing else here. If you just want to keep them in nice shape, get some mylars and full backs, and sit back and enjoy. No need to go to the expense of grading.

Ah yes, I remember this one well. "We're gonna do a die-cut cover!" "Oh yeah? Like a cool cut in the center that reveals a scene from the first page? something like that?" "Nope. We're going to cut the cover so it's the outline of this dude's ENORMOUS NOGGIN!"

Went into the comic shop just to buy some bags, ended up bringing Dracula home. Total beater, but for $4 I couldn't leave him behind. I love the crazy Dell monster superhero books. They're so nutty and have such strong cover design, I'm amazed they don't get more love. Oh well, keeps 'em cheap!