F For Fake

Yikes, that should be illegal.

I'm sure you're right about a lot of folks, it's just not relevant to my experience. PS to add: The question is whether those additional run-fillers are making enough to sales to offset the time and expense of bagging and boarding. It's interesting to me, but I don't have the answer.

I will also say that it is my experience that most of these collections are being put out for sale exactly as they were received. So if the dealer bought a collection that was bagged and boarded and sorted, that's how they go out. If they were all "raw", that's how they go out. The entire point of buying and selling bulk is to buy cheap and turn the junk over quickly. Putting time and money into bagging and boarding and sorting a box of drek you probably paid $20 for is counterproductive. It's worth taking a flip through to make sure you didn't overlook any gems, for sure, but that's about all the time that's worth it. I would be surprised if a dealer piped in and said they noticed they made better dollar bin sales when they bagged and sorted the books, though I could be wrong.

I will say, as a regular dollar box diver, that while I don't EXPECT the books to be bagged and boarded, it does make browsing easier. If you're a dealer with several dozen dollar boxes, no, it wouldn't make any sense to go back and bag and board a lot of the books, considering that most of them are completely worthless. But when flipping through, I will carefully flip over every bagged and boarded book, whereas the "raw" books tend to clump together, get damaged, are yellowed, etc so it's easier to just pass them by. Sometimes it'll be nicer stuff and it's worth the time to look at each book, but for the most part it's not worth the time. As for ordering them, no, I see no purpose in that. The whole point of dollar diving (aside from the cheapness, naturally) is the thrill of discovery. It's panning for gold. I actually really enjoy the random nature of having no idea what to expect in each box.

I feel like the true blue chip keys will always retain a relatively high value, though the prices will likely come down quite a bit from the lofty heights they're currently enjoying (the mega super duper keys notwithstanding. Action 1 and Tec 27 and Bat 1 will likely never get cheaper in my lifetime). We've already seen the shift away from run collecting and reading, while key collecting continues to pop. I don't expect these trends to reverse, as there is no new group of readers coming up. But there are a lot of people who couldn't be bothered to read a comic book, that would still think it was cool to own the first appearance of Spider-Man or Iron Man. For instance, around my group of friends, the only comic I ever owned that actually generated any sort of interest was my AF15, because it was the first Spider-Man. They had no interest in reading a Spider-Man comic, or in collecting comics, but there was always palpable envy and desire for that book, because it represented something valuable and cool. I think there will always be some of those folks around, though I don't know that there will be enough to absorb ALL of the material floating around out there. Right now low grade keys are blowing up because people just want to own these books, in any condition. Will that continue? I think it's more likely that as the current collectors quit, retire, or die off, the low grade stuff will come back down to earth, while the highest grades will maintain, or at least won't bottom out disastrously. And to be clear, I'm not talking about in the next 5 to 10 years. I'm talking quite a bit further out, maybe 20, maybe more. Therefore, while in 10-20 years the bottom may completely drop out of mid-grade readers and common books, I think the big keys will retain some value, for sure. But I wouldn't invest in the books today, at these prices, with the expectation that they'll continue to appreciate at these rates. It just doesn't seem sustainable in the very long view.

Wow, that really is something. I think a lot of the entries in this thread just come down to individual taste, but this one, there's no question: from layout to execution, it's a stinker.

Awesome! I always think it's so cool to find original art in the wild like that, instead of the usual auction houses and dealers. You just never know what is lurking in private collections. Very cool!

So the Hulk and Poison Ivy bumped uglies, eh?

Sometimes you can find a friendly clerk who will help you out. Last time they had these 7 day sales, I went in and looked at a book and was going to check out with the 40% off coupon on Saturday. I just happened to mention to the clerk that I was thinking about waiting until the next day so I could use the 50% off coupon, but was afraid that the book would be gone, and he went ahead and rang it up at 50% off for me. They have some leeway, so if you're a regular and friendly with your store, they may help you out.

Where do I find that picture? Just need to see it for, uh...scientific purposes.

Oh wow, I love store display pieces like that, so nice! Now I'll be huntin' for one...

I bought a stack of Archie art from Dan Parent about 20 years ago at SDCC. I think it was something like three pages for $25 or something like that, and even then, I knew to pick out the splashes and 1/2 splashes (no covers available.) Sold them a while back, need to get a few more back in the collection. Doubt I'll get them that cheap again, though!

I've always thought Silke was underappreciated. Cool stuff!

Sounds good. I'm going to try to make it up there, but we'll see what things look like the week of.

Also, @Bearcatcoach whenever I see you post, I think "Oh, that's Mick Cronin". But seeing as how the Cinci Bearcats are likely going to be too busy these next couple of weekends (should my bracket prove correct) to set up at comic book shows, I'm going to assume that's not you after all. Oh well.

I remember getting that one at a sale in the parking lot of a local high school when I was a kid. Always dug that cover.

One of Dave's best, for sure. I've always liked that UXM as well, it's the first app of Binary, right?

Ok, that makes more sense. But if "tombstone" was what they were going for with that overlay, they definitely miscalculated. It looks like dirty cotton candy.

Gah, that just breaks my heart. True, I only get to a TRU about once a month or so these days, but growing up, there was nothing else like it. Kids today have no idea. All of those long aisles and enormous shelves, lined top to bottom with toys. The GI Joe/Transformers aisle...drool. I remember when we got our first TRU here, I went on opening day, and they had a PARADE through the store, with Geoffrey and He-man and I don't even remember who else. It was an EVENT. There's just nothing like that today.

You know, i've never actually read or owned that book, but have always wondered: what is that cover supposed to be??? Is it supposed to look like a tombstone? or a cloud? or a tombstone cloud made out of webs? What IS it???

I saw some BWL cosplay this weekend, which often bodes well for a character's popularity/value. However, it doesn't bode well for the cosplayer, as there is no good way to SEE when wearing that get up. Yeesh. What looks cool in a comic isn't always a good idea for walking around a con floor.

Your LCS can probably order them. I've gotten all of my art boxes (including some of the ones pictured here) through my LCS for about $12. Worth asking your shop owner.

I keep waiting for the Blue Fairy to fly through the window and give me a custom title, so I can be a real boy. Maybe I painted the window shut?

Cool! I'm trying to remember which booth was yours exactly, but I feel like I bought something from almost every booth, so I probably ran into you all. I'd like to make the show if I can, I think it's a really fun show with a nice selection. That's interesting about the bargain books, I wonder if rates have been going up across the board? I've been going to LexCon for about 6 years (I think?) and the number of dollar bins has fallen drastically, just from last year to this year, so I'd imagine you're probably right on with your analysis. Definitely hoping to make Gem City this year, we'll see if I can pull it off!

I'll definitely let you know if I end up going! At this point it all depends on what the missus has planned the last couple of weekends this month, but if I end up going, I'll let you know for sure!