F For Fake

This is me. I think I topped out at around 12k for the personal collection. A couple of years ago I started selling most of it off. Nowadays I'm down to less than 1500 books, comes out to around 12 shorts or thereabout, plus a handful of slabs. Aside from the slabs, most of what I kept is worthless, just runs I loved from my youth. However, taking the place of those longs, I now have shelf after shelf of hardcovers, omnibus, etc. So, there's no escaping the sickness, really!

I only made a window bag once, for a set of Batman Broken City comics I was getting signed because Azzarrello, Risso, and Johnson were all together in one place. I don't do signature series, I only get autographs on cheap books as a memento of meeting the person, I have no interest in the potential value. BUT, I do like for my stuff to be in nice shape, just because. So I made a window bag for those books, took them to that signing...and Azzarello made fun of me. Something about "you guys" having too much time on our hands or something to that effect. I told him I just wanted to keep them in nice shape since they were bouncing around in my backpack all day. So, now I have the set, signed by all three, and they're in great shape, but whenever I look at them all I can think about is Azzarello basically calling me a nerd. So, no more window bags for me! Let the chips/dings fall where they may!

Starjammers rule!

Wow, a Double Dave! That's awesome. I've owned a ton of Dave covers, and several copies of this book, but never had a double cover. That's terrific!

Yup, Sonic Disruptors is usually my go-to reference for drek.

Exactly. I'm not planning on hitting any shows at all for a long time, but if I did, I'd much prefer a large convention hall where there's room to spread out and more space for the air to move around.

I think this is absolutely true. There were huge growing pains as businesses and organizations tried to adjust to virtual on the fly, but even a few months in things have stabilized greatly. I work for a public school district, and the spring virtual learning was sort of thrown together, in a "doing the best we can" type fashion. However, for the 20-21 school year, classes and trainings were launched in a much smoother and more comprehensive fashion. I think for celebrities and creators, it will be a personal equation that each will have to reach on their own, of risk vs reward. Seems like there are a lot of folks making money by doing the virtual conventions, but I doubt it's as lucrative as the in person appearances, where a lot of these folks are walking away with literal trash bags full of cash, making $40-$100 per minute to sign autographs and take pics. That's going to be hard to beat, but for some I'm sure it will be enough. Same with creators, who are no doubt making some much needed cash via the virtual signings such as what CGC has been offering. But will it be enough to justify staying home vs a relative risk in attending a convention? I know that this has all had a big impact on me, from a safety/health standpoint. I consider the fact that since this all started, and I made changes to my life such as wearing masks EVERYWHERE as well as constant sanitizing and washing, not only have I not gotten COVID, I've also not had a single illness. Not a case of the sniffles, or a head cold, or a stomach bug. NOTHING. Working in the school is like working in bio-warfare. Kids and schools are germ factories. When I worked in the schools, I can't count how many times I ended up with strep, or a stomach illness, or several colds. (It didn't help that for five years I was working in the front office of an elementary school, where I took temperatures and distributed meds to students all day long.) I thought I did a good job of staying clean and safe, but apparently I didn't, as I was sick all of the time. Since COVID, I can't imagine ever going anywhere without a mask again, or gloves, or both. Not being sick is great. I'm not in a hurry to be aroudn people ever again. I wonder if any potential con guests may have a similar mindset.

My own two cents, when it's finally determined to be relatively safe for cons to take place again, we'll still see reduced capacity for several years to come. It's just not worth the risk or liability to have these shows packed wall to wall. Also, I expect some creators and "celebs" (such as attend these shows) are going to be gunshy about making appearances. I kinda think (but could totally be wrong) that those cattle call photo ops, where they ferry several hundred people in front of a camera with a celebrity over the course of hours or minutes, may be gone for good. Or at least drastically reduced. Who wants to be the guinea pig lowered into those viral pressure cookers?

I recall that Continuity went hard for pretty much all of the 90’s gimmicks. Remember those “indestructible” Tyvek covers? I wonder if anyone ever got some graded and how well the held up after all?

Love the colors and artwork on these, thanks for sharing! I picked up a 60’s Superman board game at an estate auction a couple of years ago. Not worth much buy the artwork was cool. Should have held onto it.

Skate Man is pretty dire. I used to do a blog series on the worst comics of all time, and Skate Man was one of the earliest entries. Not good. Not. Good.

I had that Jedi Presto-Magix, and have been looking for a nice one for years. So many great memories. Terrific pickup!

Yes, this exactly. With old slabs, there are two concurrent and sometimes contradictory schools of thought: 1. Grading was tighter then, so the book is likely not overgraded. (Though anecdotally I am to understand that grading is tighter now than ever before, so maybe that's not the case anymore?) 2. Books in OG slabs were submitted before pressing became the norm, therefore the book may be "upgradable", whereas everyone assumes that every book slabbed in, oh, the last 10-15 years or so, has been pressed within an inch of its life. So...I realize now that none of this is actually helpful, so yeah, just do what @onlyweaknesskryptonite said and have a pro give it the once over. Personally, I'd just leave it in the slab as is. Beautiful book and I dig the older labels, not worth the risk of a downgrade for me. You may gamble and win, though!

No time like the present! Let the warm, joyful, warming joy of Ambush Bug wash over you!

Hughes Legion/naires covers, can't beat 'em. As usual, Greggy knows what's up!

Wow, that giant mural is wild!

Yes, both Conan swords would be my immediate answer. I'd also like a Zatoichi cane-sword!

Hey now, Ambush Bug rules! Let's not lump him in with the likes of Alf! Edit: If I'd scrolled down, I would have seen that @Ken Aldred already came to Ambush Bug's defense!

Beauties! Love 'em. I love this line, but only have a handful. Had to have the Dave Stevens Rocketeer when it was first released, and I also grabbed the Simonson Thor and Mignola Hellboy in Hell, along with a few others. Terrific format but man they are hard to find a good place to store and/or display!

I've got this one, it's lovely. I still need to pick up the Mister Miracle and Kamandi books, though.

Wow, that is cherry! Look at the paint and how clear the wings are! Super nice. When I find this one the legs are usually broken off. Congrats on your Deluxe Insecticon set!

Yup, as @Ken Aldred pointed out, there are still some winners there. You may be surprised. There are Star Comics fans, including several on the boards, like me! Thundercats may not be as hot as big brothers Transformers and GI Joe, but it has a fan base. I'd say never count out any book tied to an 80's toy line. Nostalgia is a powerful force, you never know when one might pop!

I was at a store a week or so ago, and they had a few cases of 90's books. No hot titles or keys, but I thought "Eh, if the price is right, I may buy one of these. Might be fun." Then I saw one of the OPENED cases, some random issue of X-Force, and brother, those books looked like they'd been rolled up in an accordion, the stacking curls were so bad. I can only imagine what most of these books in sealed cases look like after 20+ years of sitting in storage.

I had a similar outcome when I sold my Mom's Beanies several years ago. She was just going to throw them out, and I told her I'd take them and give her the money if they sold, because surely they're worth SOMETHING! What I found was that they were almost literally worthless, and not worth the expense of shipping. I generally do "Free Shipping" and factor the shipping cost into the starting bid or BIN price, as people seem to like "Free Shipping" whether it's actually cheaper or not. But Beanies are surprisingly heavy, especially in bulk, so if I set the starting bid or BIN at the price of ACTUAL SHIPPING COST, they simply wouldn't sell. I sold a few before that but ended up losing money because I hadn't accounted on how pricey the shipping was going to be. SO, yeah, with only a few exceptions, Beanies are nearly impossible to make a profit on. Now, as for the side conversations about 90's drek comics, in the general I agree with you folks that they're usually not worth much. But there are exceptions, particularly if you have complete runs. Complete sets of even Image and Valiant 90's junk at its drekkiest will sell at the right price, and bulk boxes always sell, at least around here. The key is getting the drek at the right price. Paying a buck a book, yeah, you'll lose your shirt. But if you can get them for 5 cents a piece, or $25 a long, I don't think I've ever lost money on that stuff. It's not EASY to sell, and you have to put in work, but you can sell almost (ALMOST!) anything if priced right. Again, the key is what you put into it to begin with, and how much work you're wanting to put in. For me, it was a fun hobby. I don't buy bulk much anymore, because as I get older I get tired of hefting boxes around. My last "big" buy was a 30+ long collection of drek. Took me several months to get it sorted and sold off, and I made money on it, and it was fun. But I also got tired of hefting boxes around, or finding space in the garage and laundry room to process them. So these days I stick with much smaller buys, or buys that are practically guaranteed to sell quick. But drek can be profitable and fun, if your expectations on return are properly calibrated. Please note that none of these opinions are inre: the eBay scam being discussed in this thread. That guy is clearly a mook.

For me, the main thing is the Legion of Super Heroes Five Years Later Omnibus. That has been my #1 most wanted collection for most of my life. Also hitting that day are Batman by Paul Dini Omni, which is a probable pickup for me, and several others like Conan Marvel Years Omni 4, Golden Age Marvel Omni 2, and others I'm not interested in like Spider-Man Ben Reilly Omni. After that the year gets much easier! Just the Moore Swamp Thing Absolutes in October, and Excalibur and UXM 2 omnis in November. Phew! It has been an expensive year! Justice League International Omnibus 2 was originally slated for September, but now it's not on IST's schedule at all, and Amazon shows November. I guess we'll see. Holding out hope that they'll get restock on Wrath of the Spectre (I emailed IST and they said they may be getting more) and at some point I'll bite the bullet and pay up for the House of Mystery Vol 2 that I snoozed on!