F For Fake

Giving some thought to selling it all and buying another AF #15, as I miss my last one. The older I get, the more boxes that pile up, the more tempting it is to blow it all out and just buy a couple of big books.

Thanks! Yeah, they're pretty sharp. I'm not one to get toys graded, so these probably aren't up to that standard, but for my purposes (especially considering the prices) they were just right.

LCS had another one of their $1 blowout sales this weekend, which are always fun. Nothing to retire on, but I picked up a couple hundred books, mostly copper age Bats, Swamp Things, Hellblazers and Simonson Thors to fill in holes in my collection. I always enjoy these sales because there's a little bit of everything I like. Here are some of the more interesting cheap highlights, all for a buck each: - run of 10+ sealed subscription copies of Spectacular Spider-Man (not something you see every day) - a few first appearances (first War Machine, WildCATS, Black Beetle, and arguably first Spawn) - a couple of Image Newsstands in nice shape - a couple of DCU variants - a sharp Dave Stevens cover - that dumb Stan Lee Marvel Age book that is selling for stupid money these days - some standard covers, foil cover, and classic copper cover Wolvie goodness - a strange assortment of signed covers, including some Ultraverse stuff complete with COA's. Not sure who'd want these, but for a buck I figured why not. Throw 'em up on the bay, see who bites - nice little run of later Marvel Universe Handbook master editions, which I don't run into often in the dollar bins - 90's comic packs, some with fleer trading cards. Nothing sez the 90's like Age of Apocalypse and foil stamped trading cards! My timing was good, as when I returned to the shop in the evening for another go round, the toy buyer was putting out a small collection of BTAS figures he'd just picked up. I got almost all of these for $6-$8 each, which is nice, but the Combat Belt Batman was an absolute steal at $20! He regularly sells for $75-$100, and while I'm still researching, this one is the second release (had more characters on the back of the card, as opposed to the small assortment of the first wave) and the only ones I can find that have sold with this particular back have been closer to the $150-$200 range. May be a coincidence, but regardless, I'm pleased. This one is for the permanent collection anyway, as I recently decided to try to finish the run. The best part of all of this was that I won a $100 Mastercard gift card in a raffle at my wife's employers' Xmas party the night before, so most of this stuff was free to me. So all in all, a fun weekend!

Nice video! I'm trying to cut back on buying, but that Wolvie...that is tempting.

Your back will hate you, one day.

Christ, yes, long boxes are a young man's game. Short boxes all the way!

This is 100% the answer. It's all about timing, and unfortunately that's the one variable none of us can control. I've had items go unsold at BIN's, then relisted as auctions and go for multiples of what the BIN was. I've had auctions that went nowhere at .99, relisted as BINs that immediately pop. You just never know who is watching, and when they're watching.

That's a lovely poster! I've stopped buying posters and prints because I'm basically out of wall space, and have original art waiting in portfolios to be framed should a piece of wall real estate suddenly open up. I love stuff like this, but can no longer justify buying it just to stick it in a folder somewhere.

Yeah, I'm not nuts about the exclusive, but for $5 difference I figured I may as well get it, or else I'd curse myself down the road for not having it.

I totally know what you're talking about. I got He-Man and Trap Jaw the first Xmas after MOTU hit, and i vividly recall opening up the package and seeing that glow ring and just loving the figures. I got several more down the line, but those first two and that Xmas morning are still a very special thing to me.

Mondo's Rocketeer and Betty statue just went up for sale. Looks like a timed edition, only being sold between today and 12/8. I'll probably grab the exclusive. Mondo Rocketeer & Betty statue

Whoa, that's a beauty, and a great story too!

Howard the Duck 2 or GTFO.

I'd say at this point nothing in the DCEU is definite except Wonder Woman 2 and, regrettably, Suicide Squad 2. i'd imagine there's some major shuffling going on over there right now.

I was a big fan of Infinity Gauntlet back in the day, but have no idea what you all are talking about with Maw and Proximity and whatever else you're saying. I haven't read Marvel outside of a couple of titles in several years, so I'm assuming these are new characters related to Thanos in some way. As such, my interest is zero. As for the actors, you can feel the apathy coming off of RDJ in waves these days, so I figured even if they back the money truck up to the door, he's done. And frankly, I was tired of his Tony Stark shtick a while back, so I'd be pleased as punch for him to bite it. I get the feeling that Chris Evans is still into the Cap thing, and I'd wager that he'd still be relatively (RELATIVELY!) cheap to bring back with a new contract, as he hasn't really had any film success outside of the Cap movies. He's definitely not any sort of box office draw outside of the Cap costume, so I think they may have a chance of keeping him around. And I'd be happy with that, as he's easily my favorite of the MCU heroes. Hemsworth is kind of in the middle of Evans and RDJ; not a huge box office draw on his own, but has had some middling success outside of Thor, so he may be harder to keep in the fold. I don't see them improving on Ragnarok, so I'm also fine with that being the end of the Thor movies. Whatever happens, I'm hoping Black Widow finally gets her own series. Scarlett is a star and a box office draw (disappointing returns on Ghost in the Shell notwithstanding) outside of the MCU, and it's something fans have been wanting for years. A Black Widow movie could be made relatively (there's that word again) cheaply if they stick to the espionage and spy roots and stay away from CG monsters and . Seems like the best investment to me, out of all of the stars on the table up for contracts. So, with all of that in mind, I'm going to say that Iron Man dies (crossing fingers), Cap makes it, Thor's status is unknown, and Black Widow lives to star in her own film down the road. Let the betting begin!

I feel bad for everyone involved in the whole ordeal. I feel bad for the comics, I feel bad for the owners of the comics (though maybe not so much, because I'd wager the majority are just getting a sig to bump the value on their books), and I feel bad for Stan. I'm sure he's getting a cut of the money, but the whole thing seems just a hair shy of elder abuse. Plunk the old guy down in a chair and make him sign his name for hours on end, for money. I hope he's getting his piece of the action, but at his age, is it worth it?

Yeah, looks...gummy, or something. Like I said before, hopefully they'll firm that up before the movie hits. Widow with blonde hair looks like Toni Collette. I just can't shake it.

Yeah, doesn't quite look finished. Hopefully they'll firm it up before the flick hits. I thought it was a fun trailer, but it didn't give me goosebumps or anything.

God, I used to love Mid Ohio Con. What a fun little show. Met so many great creators there in such an intimate setting. Haven't been for about 15-20 years though. My only experience with John Byrne was at MOC, and it confirmed my assumption that he is a turd.

yeah, when it comes to a list of "good guys" in comics, he is definitely not someone I'd expect to see.

Oh yeah, that's how they get ya. Give you a coupon after you buy something, or send you a coupon with your statue, etc. They keep you on the hook! The other big sale is "Spooktacular" which I think is generally that last week of October leading up to Halloween. Lots of good deals then too!

Thanks, yeah, at that price I really couldn't lose. Some folks on the Blu Ray forums were picking up a couple hundred movies, but the pickings were a little more slim at my DG's. But I'm happy with what I got, including lots of cheesy junk movies.

Picked up the shiny version (for 6 damn dollars! Insanity!) last Wednesday and finally read it yesterday. I generally object to the idea of Watchmen being cheapened like this, but since it's well underway, why resist? The first issue was fine. I liked Gary Frank's art.

Yup, that's Sideshow disease settling into your brain. Too late to save you now. It happens to us all. I used to love Bowen statues, but then SST started with Premium Formats, and suddenly that was all I wanted. I guess this thread can be our support group!