F For Fake

My problem is that when it comes time to downsize, I go through the boxes and suddenly it's "Oh, well, I can't possibly sell THAT one...oh, and this one has sentimental value...oh, and this one is part of that set, if I keep this one I have to keep these," etc. It's tough!

Oh man, I LOVED Excalibur, far and away my favorite title during that initial Claremont/Davis run. Would LOVE to have a page one day, any page. Gotta love Davis' pretty gals. Congrats!

"I thought you were referring to me...Mr. Wensleydale."

I'll PM ya, before I manage to hijack/derail yet another thread today!

Oh my god, that's awful! What on earth is wrong with people? Glad you were able to get some closure though. I like this kind of thinking myself!

Awesome! I Go Pogo, big time!

What a sweet baby! Sorry for your loss, @Get Marwood & I It's never easy.

To be fair to the big galoot, we think he had a rough life before we got him. He was a rescue that the wife found on Facebook, he was being advertised by the local No Kill shelter. He'd been in the shelter for about 5 months before we got him, and before that he'd been adopted and brought back TWICE. He has a big long scar underneath his chin. Who knows what he went through. When we adopted him, the folks at the shelter spoke in hushed tones to each other, "Oh, they're taking BOB home." One of them said we were "heroes" for taking him. Had no idea what I was getting into! At the time we had three other cats, and they told us that in most instances you should keep the new cat closed up for a weekend or so, so the other cats can sniff around the door and get used to them before letting them out. They said with Bob we should give him a month, at least. We gave him a month, and even that wasn't enough. He terrorized the other cats, and destroyed the room he was in. But now, five years later, he is almost fully reformed, a real doll baby most of the time, and muuuuuuch more mellow than he used to be. We just never gave up on loving the big lummox!

It also doesn't help that Bob is a big boy, and he can do some damage. One day I made the mistake of bending over, looking at him and saying "Hi, Bob!" He responded by slashing me upside both sides of the head. It was my niece's birthday party. I came out of the bedroom looking like Sissy Spacek at the end of "Carrie".

True, but Bob is a little...extra. You're welcome to come sit with him for a while and experience the magic in person!

If you still have 'em after the first of the year, hit me up, I may need some!

Aw, thanks buddy! That's a great story too, it pays to be a good dude and treat people square. Can't wait to see the pics!

If anyone is buying Marvel Legends, Bestbuy.com has some pretty good sale prices going right now. The recent X-Factor 2-pack for $29, the Wolvie/Hulk and Colossus/Juggernaut packs for $45. You could do worse! https://www.bestbuy.com/site/searchpage.jsp?st=marvel+legends&_dyncharset=UTF-8&_dynSessConf=&id=pcat17071&type=page&sc=Global&cp=1&nrp=&sp=&qp=&list=n&af=true&iht=y&usc=All+Categories&ks=960&keys=keys Also, gamestop is having a 25% off sale on their toys, but I didn't find much available for shipping. You may have better luck in store.

You know, it's a shoot. Most of the estate sales I go to are set up by professionals, but it's remarkable how pricing can be all over the place, even within the same company. Sometimes the prices are grossly over-inflated. Sometimes they're wildly under market value. I guess maybe they have input from the estate holders or families whoever, so sometimes their hands may be tied with pricing. I'm not sure. You really never know until you get there. But yeah, #1 rule: always go to the cashier stand first, that's where the goodies usually are! I did well, I think. $120 for the AV4 and $40 for the ToS52. i was more than happy to pay for 'em!

Oh wow, yeah, I'd imagine shipping, customs etc is a huge hassle and potential deal killer. Yeah, you know, digging around locally gives me that thrill that I had when I was a kid, before we had the internet, when the only way you had to find new books was to go to shops when you were traveling out of town, or look in the bargain mart, etc. You couldn't just jump on mycomicshop and order up that one issue you needed to complete your run. It was a hunt, and that was fun. THere is still bargain hunting to be done on eBay, but it's just not as satisfying to me. So I think my goal this year is to keep cash on hand and just dig through local listings and see what turns up. I did really well with it the last couple of years, so I think I'll just keep going down that road rather than seeking out specific books. I'll just take what comes my way.

Thanks! I can't remember everything he got, but I do know that there was a low/mid grade Spidey #10 as well as a nice Superman 199 (the Flash race), and a big stack of Archies and I think some Gold Key hero books. I feel like I'm forgetting something else, but it's not coming to me. Nothing fancy, but he was happy. I got the better end of the deal for sure, but I also could have just bought them all since I got to them first, so he was just happy to walk out with a stack of stuff, and I was content with my two books, especially since they were for my personal collection and not to flip. Yes, the estate sale folks have a FB page, and they had pics of the sale items, including the comics which were in random stacks. I could clearly make out the Avengers 4 and the ToS 52, but no prices, so I wasn't really sure what they'd be asking. Sometimes these people dramatically overprice, but sometimes you get a deal. I got a deal this time.

Yeah, that was the day he figured out how to get the food drawer open on his own. Thank the gods he hasn't figured out how to open the cans themselves! That one is a maniac, for sure. 95% of the time he is a cuddle bug, super lovey, but that other 5%, boy, he is a holy terror.

Go for it! I often consider selling off everything I currently have and sinking into one great book like that. It's tempting.

My only real goal is to cut my collection way back from a volume/space perspecitve. I sold a lot this year, but I'd like to get at least 10-15 more short boxes outta here, we'll see how it goes. I don't have many buying goals, I just like to take stuff as it comes. I've found that chasing specific books hasn't been as rewarding as seeing what I can dig up locally via Facebook, Craigslist, the comic shop, etc. When you can find pretty much whatever you want on ebay and via auction houses, it takes the fun out of the hunt, so restricting myself to digging locally is a challenge that I enjoy. I'd like to get a good amount of money together for the GI Joe con this summer (we're setting up a table there as well) so I can walk in and buy whatever I want. But as for comics, I guess maybe more bronze X-men to finish out my run (for the second time in my life, since I stupidly sold the first collection), and I've also considered selling off the last 30 years or so of Batman floppies and buying some key Bat slabs with the money.

Thanks for reading! And yeah, I'm still loving those books, they're low grade but they're mine!

I can make that happen! We used to have four cats, but now we're down to two. Angel (or "Queen Floof" or just "Floof" as she is sometimes known) is really skittish around our other cat, Bob. This is because Bob is a maniac. SO, for the most part, Angel hangs out in what used to be our guest room, but what is now essentially her condominium. So, since she doesn't get out much, at the end of the night I bring her into our bedroom, and we read together. In this pic I think we're finishing up the Hickman Avengers Omnibus. I liked the epic scope, but she felt like the characterization was lacking. In the next pic, this is her fresh after getting a trim, with the stylish Star Wars sheets in her room (which alternate with Batman Returns sheets from my childhood). She seems to dig it. And finally, here's the aforementioned maniac, Bob. He's...something else.

Jimmers, sorry for your loss, my friend. It seems like as we get older, they tend to stack up quickly. Keep the memory in your heart and keep yourself above ground, that's all you can do. Hang in there. Now, getting MYSELF back on track, if you need a pick me up, Angel recommends a good Carl Barks tale!

Man, that's rough, I feel your pain. But that's the thrill of the hunt, and what makes the wins so sweet! I used to be able to score at estate sales by showing up an hour or two early, but nowadays you practically have to camp out overnight. The comic bubble has the sports card guys and every Tom, and Harry out beating the bushes and driving up prices at auctions. It's madness. You can still find deals, but you have to work for it. Sometimes it works out. Summer before last, I saw this estate sale on FB. Started at 9. I emailed the agency to see if they'd be handing out numbers, and was told that they'd give them out at 7:30. But she warned that a lot of people were showing interest, so I may want to come earlier. I asked if she thought 6am might do it, she said maybe. So, I showed up at the doorstep of this house at 4:30 am, thinking SURELY I'd be the first one there. I was walking up the driveway, crickets chirping, mosquitos buzzing, when a voice said "Good morning!" There was a kid in his 20's sitting on the porch. He'd been there since about 3:30. He was interested in comics and toys. Didn't know much about them, but knew they were worth money. I told him I was there for two specific comics, and if I could get those two, he could have all of the rest. We spent several hours talking, and he was a nice guy and we ended up becoming estate sale buds in the subsequent months. Anyway, the time came, the doors were open, and we ran into the room. He went to a box of magazines, but I went directly to the cashier, as I knew they usually had the valuable stuff with them. True to my word, I took the two books I wanted, then called him over and gave him the rest. He was happy, and I was happy. Everyone won. This is what I got:

Aw man, that would have been an awesome score, but I still enjoyed the story. You know how it goes.On to the next pick!