F For Fake

Yeah, exactly. Spending 5 bucks on a grab bag can be fun, I liked it when I was a kid. But I just don't see laying out a lot of cash and HOPING you'll get something you like. I'm way too tight for that.

Oh yeah! There's also the guy(s) with a wheel of fortune type deal. I think a lot of that kind of stuff has been replaced by "mystery boxes", as there are entire booths these days that just sell mystery boxes. I'm too tight to take a chance and buy one, but I guess it must work, because it seems like there are more of them every year.

Yup, sums it up exactly!

Gem City is a fun show. A good selection of dollar books, contemporary hot books, golden age, etc. Some real old school dealers with "real" books as well as fly by nighters with the most recent variants. I was really impressed with the selection last year relative to the size of the show. I mean, it's not going to give Heroes or Chicago a run for their money, but in that geographic area and for that size, I think it's a really nice show. I'll be curious to hear what you think about Indy, I may have to add it to my rotation,! But that'd be four shows in one month for me, as I also attend Louisville Arcade Expo the first weekend of March, and although I'm sure the missus is happy to have me out of the house for a bite, four weekends in a month may be pushing it. I'm just that irresistible.

That's just nuts to me. If he doesn't want to let a buyer handle it, then he should take the book out and show you the back himself. Oh well.

Friends of mine shot this King Cobra "commercial" several years ago. Some NSFW language.

I actually gave it some thought, but I believe we've got some sort of family function that weekend. I know I HAD a reason why I was booked up that weekend, but now I can't remember what it was. I'm assuming the wife will tell me what I'm doing before that weekend hits. I just go where she tells me to go. I've not done Indy Con before, though, is it good? Gem City is the week before, and it's not flashy, but it does have a TON of books, and no celebrities or anything like that, so I tend to favor that show, with them being so close together, calendar-wise.

Highlights from my LCTC2018 trip.

Ha, now that is a new one, a dealer not letting you see the back of the book. That's nuts. There are some real dealers at the show, but there are always several part time wingnuts as well. Yeah, I learned my Saturday lesson the last couple of years, I don't get anywhere near the place until late in the day. This year they had the added nuisance of bag checks and metal detectors, which were a first. On Friday it was no problem to get through them, but on Saturday it was such a disaster that by the time I got there, they'd apparently given up on them entirely, they weren't searching bags or doing metal detectors at all. So much for that! On Sunday they were back to checking bags, but still not wanding people. I'll be curious to see what they do next year, if they give security another shot, or just lump it after this Saturday's dumpster fire morning. Yeah I had no idea what was going on with that Beckett booth, I saw them talking to a lot of people but I steered clear. Seems nutty to me.

And that's it! As for my market report and final observations, here's what I saw: 1. All of the keys are over-priced, but I'm not sure how well they're selling, as most of the "big" books I saw over the weekend didn't seem to move. I passed on a IH 181 missing the MVS and beat to hell for $625, went back to give it another look, and it was gone. I was interested in the only other IH 181 on the floor, but it was pretty rough (though the stamp was intact!) and sat at $1200, which I felt was a bit steep, as I pegged it around 2.5-3.0. Maybe I should have picked it up? 2. Mid-grade silver seems to just sit, and sit. 3. Every dealer and their mother has ASM 300, NM 98, and Bat Advs 12. I think the Bat Advs 12 are moving at asking price, but if the ASM's and NM's are moving, I couldn't tell. But again, I didn't see any deals on the floor that could beat eBay. 4. Where are the frickin' dollar books? 5. Gamer nerds tend to be smellier than comic nerds, but comic nerds aren't afraid to drop atomic diarrhea clouds at will. Beware! 6. Where are the frickin' magazines? 7. I actually, for a change, saw several copies of WWBN 32 for sale, but again, none were priced where I would be interested in buying. So, that's it. If you're in the area, or it's convenient to you, I recommend the show, with the following caveats: A. Buy the VIP pass, take advantage of the 3 hour early entry on Friday. Get your bizness done then. B. Don't even try to get near the place on Saturday until after 2pm. C. Early Sunday is also good. Later in the day it does fill in, though not nearly as bad as Saturday. There are also TONS of toys at this show (hence the "toy" part of the name") includings tons of Joes, Star Wars, and just about every franchise you can imagine, vintage and contemporary. I didn't do any toy hunting because I didn't want to have to carry anything like that back to my car, but if you're a toy guy, there's a lot to like here as well. Thinking of running back up to Gem City Comic Con in a couple of weeks, as that is a fun buying show. Otherwise, I'm probably done until Cinci Comic Expo in the fall. Thanks for reading!

And my final "big" purchase, I am so happy to have this book back in my collection. I bought my first HoS 92 about 23 years ago, and I think I paid about $175 for it at the time. Had it graded way back when, came back 7.5, and a couple of years later I sold it for a song, and have regretted it ever since. Lately I've been looking for a decently clean copy in the 7.0 to 8.0 range, I think this one is fairly solid. Could use a clean and press. This is for the permanent collection, unless I upgrade at some point.

And finally, I made two "nice" pickups at the show this year. I DID find a dealer with a copy of Alf 48, but it was $50 for only about a F+, so I couldn't pull the trigger on that. One day I will track this book down in the wild! Until then, although I've still had no luck with the Rifleman 10 cover either, I did manage to finally snag 1/3 of the smut trifecta. At long last, I have a nice clean copy of Betty and Me 16!

Also picked up some cheap Vampi readers from Gary, and a couple of nicer ones as well. He was the only dealer I could find selling mags like this. Once upon a time everyone seemed to have a bunch of old Vampirellas, but that wasn't the case this year. Of course, that's only because I'm actually looking for them. If I wasn't interested in them, they'd be giving them away.

As for buying, I was actually kind of disappointed this year. I ordinarily leave this show with several boxes worth of dollar books, but dollar diving was limited. Several of the dealers who normally bring dollar books didn't have any this year (most seemed to be replaced with "50% sticker" boxes of mid-grade silver and other stuff) and the dealers who DID have dollar books just didn't have much I could use. I DID pick up some fairly clean bronze Archies for a buck a piece from Gary Gamboa. I usually find some nice, cheap, or weird (sometimes all three) stuff from him. I picked up all of the nice-ish bikini and girly covers I could find.

Next up, Steranko. I've met Steranko several times, and as I'm sure everyone knows, he's quite a character. Everyone needs to talk to the guy at least once. Since I've already had several books signed in the past, this time I decided to pick up the Supergals prints. I actually owned the "Phantom" version about 20 years ago when I was working at the LCS, and always enjoyed the series. So when I saw he was selling them for $5, I figured I needed to get the set. Warning: butts and boobies. (I couldn't figure out how to just spoiler the pic, cuz I'm a dummy. So if anyone needs to mod it, feel free.)

Next up, I ran over to Dave Dorman's table. I know he's primarily associated with Star Wars, which I could give two craps about, but I'm a huge Alien fan and collector (meaning I have a large collection, and am also, myself, quite large) and have always enjoyed the work he did with the franchise. My favorite piece of his was always the cover to the Hive TPB. It's such a fun and playful image. So, since he was selling a print, I had to have one. I don't really collect prints. But here we are. Super nice and easy to talk to.

The thing is, I'm not really much of a signature guy, but I do like to meet my favorite creators, so a signature is a nice memento of meeting them. With Capullo I thought it'd be fun to get the different printings of Batman 1 signed, and maybe frame them up, Warhol style. I'm also not really a variant or virgin cover guy, but Capullo's reps were selling several Metal variants, and I thought they were pretty snazzy, so I picked these two up. They will sit in a box for few years and eventually I'll say "Why did I buy these" and then I'll sell them on eBay at a loss.

First up, as I said, I was able to knock out my sigs in about 30 mins total on Friday. I've been getting these Batman B&W statues signed over the years, on the rare occasion when a local-ish show has an artist who designed one. Was happy to add Jae Lee and Greg Capullo to the collection this weekend. Jae Lee seemed nice, but we didn't talk much. Greg, as many will attest, is super friendly and personable. A+ dude.

So, this weekend March 9-11, I returned to my favorite local-ish (within an hour drive) show, Lexington Toy & Comic Con. I remain amazed at how this show has exploded over the years. Attendance is reportedly 25,000+, and based on Saturday's madness, I'm inclined to believe it. The show was at one time contained in a large hall in the basement level, but it has expanded to fill every available space in the convention center & attached mall, and this year, for the first time ever, they expanded into Rupp Arena itself, with the "celebrities" (i.e. washed up wrestlers, Power Rangers, Chuck Norris, etc.) on the floor of the arena. Craziness. I will tell you, if you're interested in the show, the only way to fly is to get the 3-day VIP pass, as that gets you in 3 hours early on Friday, which is the best time to get anything done. Saturday is so clogged you can't move, people were waiting in lines for hours just to get in. No thanks. But by going VIP on Friday, I was able to get all of my business done in about 30 minutes, which included stopping by to get sigs from Jae Lee, Steranko, and even Greg Capullo. That's the best thing about this show, if you're a comic guy: most people are here for the aforementioned wrestlers and Power Rangers. If you're interested in "legends" like Jim Shooter, Neal Adams, Michael Golden, Jim Steranko, etc there is NO wait to meet any of them pretty much all weekend. Even Greg Capullo, who is a rock star in the industry this weekend, never had a line that was more than, say, 15-20 people deep, and on Friday, I was in line 5 minutes tops. So, again, if you're looking to meet anyone on the roster, this is a good show to go to. So, I have to tell you upfront, I don't have any wall pics or cosplay pics, because, eh, I don't care. I'd have to talk to people, take my phone out, and exert minimum effort, and that's just not how I roll. So, instead, you get pics of the I bought. Enjoy!

Looks like a laserdisc.

I think that Spider-Man 2 is still the best superhero movie ever made. Then probably Iron Man. After that, it gets kind of muddy for me. Most of the MCU movies are just variations on Iron Man with different set dressing. They're entertaining ( to varying degrees) but it's usually just more of the same, to the point where I have zero anticipation for Infinity War. I mean, I'll see it, but I am not excited at all, and wouldn't care if I didn't see another Marvel movie for 10 years. The DCEU movies are almost entirely abysmal, with the better than average Wonder Woman being the sole bright spot. The Nolan Batflicks are spotty. Batman Begins is pretty great, but The Dark Knight (aside from Heath Ledger's entertaining Al Franken impersonation) is an overlong snooze of a Heat remake, riddled with plot holes; and The Dark Knight Rises is just, ugh. Going back to the "classic" superhero movies, the Tim Burton '89 Batman hasn't aged well at all (it's stiff, airless, and the Prince music is pretty terrible, and I say that as a fan. Keaton is great, Nicholson is inspired, but as a film, it doesn't really hang together), and I'm not a Superman guy, so while I can appreciate that Superman II is a solid movie, I don't care about Superman, so it doesn't do anything for me. As was mentioned above, if you're talking "comic book movies", then suddenly Ghost World, Road to Perdition, American Splendor, Sin City, and Josie and the Pussycats (that soundtrack is killer, don't even front) can all come sniffing around . I've never read or even seen the comics, but Atomic Blonde was one of my favorite movies in a while, so I guess that would have to make my list if we were talking about a wider "comic book movie" umbrella. And even though I don't really care for them personally, a valid argument would likely be made for 300, V for Vendetta, and a handful of others. But...if we're JUST talking superhero movies, then I'd have to say: Top 10 Spider-man 2 - An auteur director retains his cinematic identity while presenting a beautifully made, perfectly cast, colorful, exciting, and inspirational superhero tale. It's the tops, hands down. Iron Man - Marvel created the mold with this one. Just wish they'd break the mold at this point. But you can't fault the original for the endless imitators. Batman Begins - This movie captured the globe-trotting adventurer AND street level action that make an exciting Batman tale. Bale's McGruff voice is a bit much, but overall, it's a great Batman movie, with the Scarecrow bits being visually inventive enough to give the flick a little flair. Batman Returns - Now THIS one fulfills the promise of a Burton Batflick. Dark, kinky, arty, silly,sexy, weird. The Rocketeer - What a terrific, old school action adventure picture, and so faithful to the source material. Darkman - I'm a Raimi fan, true, and I love this R-rated gonzo gory superhero horror pastiche. Such an odd movie to have been as successful as it was. X2 - As a childhood X-maniac, this is the only film out of all of them that really FELT like the X-men, to me. Hellboy - Perfectly cast and lovingly rendered adaptation. Dredd - It's a sci-fi remake of The Raid, but that doesn't make it any less cool. Captain America: The Winter Soldier - By far my favorite MCU movie after Iron Man. It had a grittiness that the other Marvel films lack entirely. Honorable Mentions: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Yeah, it may not still be as awesome as I thought it was when I was in middle school...but it's still pretty awesome. It's surprisingly faithful to the tone and origin of the comic book. Swamp Thing - It's garbage, but it's garbage that I love. The less said about Return of Swamp Thing, the better.

Yup. Never go by Amazon asking prices, those people are loons just waiting for an insufficiently_thoughtful_person to take the bait. Ygogolak's link shows you the approx sold value. I think I got about $150-$175 for mine a year or two ago.

I used to buy that one when I'd see it in dollar bins just because I thought it was such a cool cover.

Heading to a show this weekend, and I have a short list of books I'd like to add to my collection, but in my heart I know I'm going to blow it all on dollar books, hookers, pizza and bennies.

Hmm, i thought it was just me. It's loading a bit slow over here, but I'm also watching the ACC tourney in another tab, so I thought the streaming may be slowing it down.