F For Fake

Same. I always meet up in a Kroger parking lot, Walgreens, somewhere well lit and heavily trafficked, in the daytime. ONCE I had a guy meet me at my house, but that's because he was buying 25 longs of drek, and there was no way I was packing that stuff up and hauling it out. But that was in my garage. No way I'm letting a stranger into my house. And I checked his FB page pretty thoroughly, seemed like a totally normal family man. Of course, those could have been famous last words, but it all worked out. Now, I HAVE gone INTO some sketchy homes a few times to buy comics, which is probably not smart, but, you know, comics. They're an illness.

I've had some luck selling large lots on FB locally that I don't want to mess with shipping. Lots of tire-kickers and low-ballers, but so far I've managed to get my price on everything. Just met a dude on my lunch break today and sold a run of Rebirth Tecs. Cash in hand is always a good thing! No PP/eBay fees, no tax-man. I dig it. Plus everyone gets to see the item in person and shake on it, so when the deal is done, it's done. No chargebacks, bogus returns, etc.

Man, I found two SHARP copies of 775 a couple of years ago, a first and second, both looked 9.8 but I just never got around to subbing them. I know this book was hot for a time, but then cooled off substantially. Now it's hot again. Guess when I sold mine, raw? Yup, you guessed it, right in the middle of the lull. My timing is impeccable, as always!

Yeah, that blows, but hey, it's a place holder. You'll upgrade in time.

I think it is simply a matter of UA being a more popular show. Of course this is all anecdotal, but I have several friends and family members coming to me talking about how great Umbrella Academy is, and these are people who aren't interested in comics at all. In fact, most of them probably aren't even aware that UA started as a comic. Also not saying that these people are going to turn around now and look to buy UA comics, but it just FEELS like UA is having a cultural moment right now, whereas I haven't heard a peep from anyone about Deadly Class. There is SO much content out there right now, it's hard to cut through the noise. But Umbrella Academy seems to have done it.

Congrats! Finishing a run is so satisfying, and this is a really fun series.

Love this series, but then again Mignola and Jones are two of my top artists, probably two and three behind Kirby. Well maybe 3 and 4 behind Kirby and Stevens. Well then you gotta wedge Simonson in there too...hrm...anyway, they're way up there. I love the Corum books, they're still readily available in dollar bins and they're such cool books!

It's been a few years since I've seen him, but the couple of times I did he had a portfolio of art as well as several sketchbooks. I know the first time I met him, I bought one of every sketchbook on the table and he thanked me because I'd already made his day (paid for his table) at the start of the first day of the show!

This makes the most sense to me. Preacher was a well-loved title that has stayed in print for a couple of decades now, and while #1 wasn't hard to find, it was still a good book to have. At the time the show was announced, it felt like the collecting community decided that AMC + cult comic title was going to instantly guarantee another Walking Dead success, which never made sense to me, because the properties are so different. Walking Dead is a never ending zombie movie. That makes sense, is easy to communicate, and is easy to understand why the general public would hop onboard. Preacher is much more convoluted. I love the show (I think the third season was by far the best) but even I would have a hard time selling a "civilian" on it, you know? It was always destined to be a cult hit, and never had a chance at WD style mainstream acceptance. So, when the show was a modest success (it has managed to make it to Season 4, though who knows how much longer it'll last?) but not a monster hit, I think the flippers panicked.

Good call. I love the way the Omni's look on the shelf, but reading those really huge ones can be a chore. That being said, i still love my Invisibles Omni/doorstop/blunt weapon.

Wait, do people care about Dakota North yet??? I've been hoarding for some time, ready for that ship to come in.

yeah, I really enjoy the show (realize I may be in the minority there) but am glad I didn't jump on that train. There's a #1 on the wall at my LCS that has been steadily decreasing in price for some time now.

If you're just wanting to read it, there's a lovely Omnibus of the complete Morrison Run. Well worth the money. (That and the Animal Man and Invisibles Omnis as well!)

Any 30+ year old toy made of of z-grade plastic is a time bomb, more or less. Breaking, cracking, discoloration, etc. They weren't made to last. But I likely won't live long enough to see my collection turn to dust (this includes the comics, naturally) so I'll enjoy what I have while I can.

Some dollar pick-ups from this weekend. Still surprised, after 25 years of hunting, to be pulling nice Dave books out of the dollar bins. Not that I'm complaining! I've got a pretty nice stack of the Crossfire books, I run across DNAgents fairly often, but in all of those years, I only have a handful of the World of Wood books. I just don't see them very often. I used to have the posters as well, but they were lost in a basement flood.

Yup, every book a buck a pop. My shop is The Great Escape in Louisville. There are a few shops here, but I've been going to (and worked at for a couple of years, long ago) TGE since I was about 9 years old. They have these dollar and fifty cent sales ever couple of months. Sometimes it really is junk, but there are usually enough books to make it worth stopping by. Overpaid?! Sir, this is WOODGOD we're talking about. There is no price too high!

Had a fun time at a $1 comic sale this morning. Wasn't sure if I wanted to drag my butt out in the rain, but I'm glad I did. Nothing earth shattering, but some solid dollar pickups, including a little of all of the random stuff I look for in these sales: - A few Dave books - A few Parrillo's - a couple of DCU's (common ones, but still, they're in nice shape) - random Bronze junk that no one except me would want (including forum fave Woodgod! A bargain at any price!) - books that were hot in the 90's that are worthless today but I still buy when I find them for a buck because my brain is still wired to look for that stuff (seriously, I'll buy every sealed Superman 75 you wanna sell me for one dollar) - nice high grade little runs of Transformers and copper X-Men that strongly push my nostalgia button -etc Good times!

Yay, welcome aboard, it's all downhill from now! Blitzwing is great, I loved that one as a kid. Great piece and a great start!

I know it's probably splitting hairs, but I tend to think of scalping more as grabbing up hard to find items exclusively to sell, whereas with the Barge, my understanding is that these were readily available to order for a set time, to everyone, right? I think finding a hard to find figure at Target and throwing it up on eBay is different than ordering an extra of something that everyone else had the same shot at getting, even if you are buying it for resale. As long as everyone else had the same opportunity, I'd think your conscience would be in the clear. Like I said, this is probably just being nitpicky, I guess we have our own definitions for these things. I don't have a problem with any of it, either. I buy, I sell, I buy for me, I buy to sell, I sell to buy more for me, etc. It's how this, and most, collectible hobbies work. I'm not going to knock a small child to the ground in order to grab a Marvel Legends figure, but if I run across it in the wild and know I can make some money on it, I'm not averse to that either. With the barge, the brouaha makes me kinda wish I'd jumped on it, but I don't collect Star Wars at all anymore, so it didn't make a lot of sense for me to grab this thing, no matter how horking huge it is. Of course, now that its out and selling for crazy money, I have the "missed out" feeling. But it shall pass. There's always something else out there to chase.

I think you're absolutely right about that, I still don't run into them very often. Seeing them at the Joe show, I felt that wave of nostalgia and had to pick them up. I adored MASK when I was a kid, and probably played with the Rhino set as much as I did any of my Transformers or Joes. They're such cool vehicles and the characters are in a very fun scale as well. It's a super line. I've had to stop myself from pursuing the line entirely, but if I run across them at a decent price, it's hard to pass them up.

Sure, but the fact remains that CGC shouldn't have ever slabbed this, because there's no REASON to slab this other than to trick someone into thinking it's something it's not. And looking at the other listings confirms that the dealer is terribly negligent at best, or, more likely, fishing for insufficiently_thoughtful_persons. CGC shouldn't be aiding in that.

I'm still working my way through the huge Transformers G1 collection I picked up a couple of months ago, and there are a few Takara (and other) pieces in there. My hasty research suggest that there's a healthy market for ALL of this stuff, particularly Takara/etc pieces that predate the Transformers line. That stuff is crazy expensive. But even non-TF contemporaries have seen an increase in value, for sure. Basically: there's a market for 80's toys, period. If it's a cool robot (particularly a cool METAL robot) then somebody wants to buy it.

Condor was the first MASK figure I ever got, still have a lot of love for that one. I picked up a few MASK pieces dirt cheap at a GI Joe show two years ago. Glad I got them when I did, prices have exploded since then. Got a complete Rhino, Thunderhawk and Switchblade for $20 each, beautiful condition, and less for the other pieces. Looks like with Transformers and Joes continuing to skyrocket, folks have moved onto these cheaper secondary lines. Pretty soon they'll be too pricey to complete as well.

If there was any doubt before (and there really wasn't) the Meteor Man reference just confirmed that this is a sock puppet account. It's less amusing than it was at first but if he keeps bringing the Robert Townsend references, I'll stay on board.

That's so sad and creepy. I'm glad I don't run into that scenario very often. We have several comic shops here, but the one I've always frequented is managed by a woman, and has at least three full time ladies on staff, which accounts for half of the current work force at that store. The ladies are very knowledgeable, they buy and read new comics, they write reviews for the local alternative weekly, etc.. I'm 42 and these 20-somethings know a hell of a lot more about modern comics than I do. I think it's great. I take my 10 year old niece to the store all of the time, and she never seems out of place or acts self conscious or weird. I guess this sort of thing is the exception rather than the rule (and I guess it makes sense that I don't encounter it that often, as I tend to avoid the stores packed with mouthbreathers stinking up the joint) but it's sad to think this gender disparity still exists in the hobby.