F For Fake

Yes. All talk of the movies aside, Batman The Animated Series is, for my money, the single best translation of the character to another medium. It managed to meld the pulp aspect, the superhero aspect, the detective aspect, the supernatural aspect, all of those facets, into a gorgeously designed whole. In fact, in many ways I prefer it to the comics. Possible heresy, but for the most part, it may be the best version of the character in any medium, INCLUDING the comics.

Batman (1989) has not aged well. As an adult, I find it oddly stiff, airless, and the Prince soundtrack is every bit as bad as the Elfman score is great. THAT BEING SAID I still love it. As has been noted by @VintageComics and others, there's no explaining Batmania of that summer if you didn't live it. I was 12 years old, and I'd never seen anything that cool in my entire life. It was the perfect time and I was the perfect age to receive it. It may seem campy and goofy now, but at that time, it felt so dark and moody and weird and cool. And Batman was EVERYWHERE. Everyone owned a Batman or Joker tee, or two or three. Buttons, badges, shoes, hats, backpacks, everyone was sporting the Bat-logo. It was ubiquitous. These days, I vastly prefer Batman Returns, which retains the awesome art direction, set design and score, but adds the kinky, sexy, weird side of Batman to the equation. Those movies, more than any of the rest that followed, acknowledged all sides of the character and his world: it's all cool, it's pretty dark, it's also pretty silly. Best to embrace the whole thing. I like the Nolan movies to varying degrees (Batman Begins is my favorite, The Dark Knight is ok, Dark Knight Rises is a real chore), but they ditch the fun/goofy element of the character for the most part, and I think that is intrinsic to Batman.

That's the Omni, right? I need to pick up the new printing, this is the fourth, I believe. I had the ENORMOUS first printing back when it came out, sold it when it went OOP. Never picked up 2 or 3, now they're getting pricey.

100% agreed! There was a time, either late 90's or early 00's, I was buying all of the 70's Kirby books I could, because you could get nice copies for a buck each, and they were terrifically odd and colorful books. Eternals, Devil Dinosaur, Machine Man, 2001, I loved all of that stuff. Completely bonkers and full of imagination and inspiration, and at the time, cheap and common as dirt.

Possibly my biggest pet peeve is entitled, ungrateful, discourteous people. I do try to not be one of these people, and that extends to the world of buying and selling. As a buyer, I'm not one to harangue every single dealer to try to squeeze every last nickel out of a deal. If a dealer has a book I want in the condition I want at a fair price according to current FMV, then I pay it, no questions asked. I get the book I want, in hand, at a price I already decided was fair, and they get the price they were asking for. We both got what we wanted. Now, from THAT point, the ice is broken, and I may go ahead and inquire about a discount on some books if I think it is fair to do so based on their asking price. If the books are priced at or above FMV, but I have cash in hand and am willing to buy a stack, I see no harm in ASKING about a discount, but I never EXPECT a discount. And i think this is where the issue lies: that sense of entitlement. Why would a dealer sell you their keys at huge discounts? Keys move all day long. Why would they give a big discount on the flavor of the week hot flip? They know as well as you do that the book will be dead in the water by the next show. If a dealer has a sense that they may be able to build a business relationship with you, I can see why they'd go for it. But surely the experienced dealers can smell an opportunist a mile away, and who wants to deal with a jerk? I think, at the end of the day, the key is respect. Are you being respectful with your offer? If you are reasonable and it comes from a place of respect and knowledge, I'd think most experienced dealers will respond accordingly.

Blob! Bouncing Boy vs Herbie!

Yeah, I really wasn't prepared for how long it would take to find an unbroken one, or how much I'd have to pay! I got sniped on one back in August, so the next one that finally showed up, I was determined to win, no matter what. I'm sure I paid too much, but it was mine!

Thanks man! The cleaning and completing is as much of a hobby to me as buying the stuff!

Yeah it took about a year! One of my best friends is a longtime Joe collector with a big supply of random parts, so he got me started. The toughest piece was the turret cockpit, I finally had to bite the bullet and pay up to get an unbroken one. It would have been a lot easier to just buy a complete Rattler, but it was a fun project to complete it as cheaply as possible, with no deadline.

Since I finally finished up the Transformers collection, I can now turn to my next resto projects! Picked up the Rattler shell for $15 in Knoxville last summer, and slowly managed to pick up all of the parts I needed. I got the Terror Drome at KY Joe fest last summer, and it is 100% complete, but needs a LOT of TLC. It's GRIMY. Gonna be work, but it'll be fun!

I think this thread has taught us this: opinions are like buttholes: you can't slab either of them.

Welcome to the boards! You seem reasonable. That is not a quality that will serve you well here.

Yeah, all joking aside, I don't see why they care one way or the other as far as what they slab. Money is green, take the book.

Great report, @Bird!

Thanks so much, I appreciate it! It has been a lot of fun to go from 0 to 60 in my Transformers collection and share it with folks who like cool stuff!

AW man, that is WICKED! You got me thinking I need to put Night Force on my shopping list for the Joe show next month! Terrific setup! And yes, absolutely the Raven drone fits in perfectly!

Damn, hope you brought your checkbook!

Oh that's good to know, that'll help out! Yeah, the Rattler was my first vehicle and is still my favorite. I've sold a few over the years, picked up a junker for $15 at a con last summer and have been verrrrrrrry slowly picking up parts for it. Hardest was an unbroken canopy for the turret. Took forever but I finally got one. Now I just have to very carefully put it all together...

Those stands are killer! I'm going to need to get one of those for my Night Raven, I hadn't seen that one yet. I've been planning on getting the Rattler stand once I get mine all cleaned up. That's my next resto project. I finally have all of the pieces, now I just need to clean it, put it together and get some new stickers.

Thanks brother, much appreciated! It was a big project but a lot of fun!

Oh and here's the first, I apparently linked his second video above.

My pleasure!

Took me a minute, like I said, back then there was exactly ONE comic book pressing video, and it was this one. Now there are dozens to wade through.

When I was a kid, I was sure it was Sub-marEENer. That's what it looked like! Then I saw, I believe, one of the 60's cartoons narrated by Stan Lee, and he said "Sub Mar UH ner" and it blew my little mind. Same with Mag-NEE-to. I was sure it was Mag-NET-o.