F For Fake

I like pin-ups, I like Good Girl Art, I like sexy covers. But if we've gotten to the point of putting buttholes right on the cover...we may have gone too far.

The fact that GA has been swept up in the recent spec game is very interesting to me. On one hand, speculation has its various drawbacks, for the hobby and industry, and those are all well documented here on the boards. But on the OTHER hand...at least they're buying cool stuff. The popularity of variants, incentive covers, 9.8 moderns makes sense to me with that crowd. But I never would have foreseen the sudden and massive upswing in popularity for PCH, Planets, GGA, etc.

Oh man, that's a dream haul, and a great story. Love those attic finds. Congrats!

Oh, I know!

I've always done well the HBS. Not, like, crazy money, but solid $10-$20 on most of them even in rough shape. I remember back when I was working at the comic shop circa 96-97, we sold a surprising number of those whenever they came out.

I LOVE the fact that at this point trade paperbacks were still rare enough that they felt the need to describe the book as "the entire six issue series bound between two covers". Because, you know, that's what a book is.

Bought two copies at the show on Saturday, sold them Sunday. Doubled my money, so I was satisfied.

Wow, 7 books! I don't think i have that kind of willpower, but by the time I hit 64, I might!

Without question there are a lot of speculators who entered the hobby strictly because they smelled $$$. I wouldn't argue that. But I would underline that a lot of us are collectors who also occasionally speculate and flip books in order to buy more stuff for our collections. I have been wheeling and dealing ever since I sold a couple of old toys at a flea market so I could buy a couple of new toys, when I was about 8 or 9. I've been hooked ever since. I am a collector with a great, long and abiding love for the medium and the hobby. I also buy hot books and sell them. Speculators and collectors don't have to be mutually exclusive, and in fact, I'd say they're often the same. That being said, I've been doing it long enough to have a pretty good idea of when to jump in and out. I don't get left holding the bag very often...in fact, the opposite is often true: I jump too soon. Ah, well. It's part of the deal. So, I own books that have done well in the current bubble, and will likely see a decrease whenever the mania subsides. But I can weather that because 1. I didn't pay top of market prices for them, and 2. I love the books I keep. That's why I keep them. Buy what you love, and you will always love your collection.

I used to be all about accumulating as many books as I could. Sales, dollar bins, buying cheap collections, etc. I love completing runs. It was a lot of fun. But in recent years, as I get older (and fatter, oy!) and realize that someone is going to have to deal with all of this junk, I've been selling off stuff and consolidating the collection back into fewer, pricier books. I no longer get the joy out of hefting those boxes around. Also, once I kick the bucket, it'll be easier and fast for the missus to sell a handful of keys instead of hundreds of short boxes. That being said, there are some relatively valueless runs that I'm keeping out on sentimentality, and just because I love them. Big runs of 80's/90's LoSH books that no one wants, large run of Batman, Swamp Thing, etc. So it's not like I've traded it all to buy 1 big book. But I HAVE consolidated several dozen short boxes into I think only a couple dozen, and I'm happy with that. That's manageable. Of course, I still buy small collections, but I am generally turning those over pretty quickly. My "sell" stock fluctuates. I'm talking above about my personal collection.

My pleasure, I don't need much of an excuse to gush about all of the cool Alien stuff out there!

Apparently Pris makes me see double.

Thanks man! Yeah, I hadn't been for a couple of years so I wasn't sure if it was just my faulty memory or if it was really down a bit, but there was still plenty to keep me busy. The GSX1 was the only "big" book I picked up, everything else was strictly bargain scrounging, But I still had a lot of fun. I didn't see much Timely but I know that a lot of stuff moved early. A couple of guys from here were set up and told me that one guy walked in at early bird opening and bought the whole top row of their wall books, which I think was mostly Whiz and Pep stuff. So I think money was flying for sure. Glad you had a good time, I'm sure I'll run into you one of these years!

Fun box diving at Gem City this weekend! Posted the good stuff in the CG "This Week in yr collection" thread, but here are the $1 finds. If you need a Robin 1 3rd print, I got you! Also, my Dakota North hoarding continues unabated.

Sorry, took me a minute to get back to these! Let me know if you need more pics. Here's the first print tpb of the first mini, the beautiful anniversary edition HC, and the omnibus tpbs. Picked up a couple of Robocop vs Terminator sets out of the dollar bins at Gem City this weekend. Always pick them up when they're cheap, as I love Simonson. This inspired me to dig out the gorgeous, enormous Original Art Edition HC's of RvT, and my signed edition of the Alien the Illustrated Story OA HC. Such beautiful books!

Sure, here are a couple!

Gave in, jumped on the hype train, and picked this decent mid-grade up at Gem City this weekend. Had a nicer one that I sold a few years ago. A typical bonehead move on my part. Oh well.

All of that Robo stuff is sweet, but those Cyclones look FRESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSH and minty. Very cool stuff! I want to, like, eat them, for some reason.

Do NOT take that as a personal challenge!

I try to get along with everyone. There are some posters that make me roll my eyes every once in a while, but for the most part I don't take things personally, I don't give this place much thought if I'm not here, and I'm content to let bygones be bygones. I don't have anyone on ignore, and I have never reported a post. The one exception would be JC. Glad he's not here, hope he doesn't come back.

For the stuff I absolutely can't otherwise give away, I take it to HPB. They'll give you pennies on the dollar for it, but they'll take everything. Or at least they always have for me. That's my last stop before the recycling bin.

Spent sooooooo much time with the first two TM games, it was a go-to favorite with my friends. Ah, those days of sitting around a single tv with your buds, before online gaming reared its head. I also dug the storyline/mythology of those games, it was creepy and cool. Nice book!

Is there a story on that massive haul? I love to see pickups like this, and would enjoy any more details you have to give!

As inconsistent as the grading has been over the years (or as consistently tight/high as it has been lately) I wouldn't risk a regrade unless there was a serious flaw to the case that might possibly endanger the book. Just not worth it. And I'd never reholder a 9.9 or 10, ever, because those are almost completely arbitrary and unlikely to happen again.

Thanks bud! Yeah, it was touch and go for a while there, my brain was fried. Great shopping time for sure!