F For Fake

That's kinda what I was thinking, Classic logo on the front, but '89 Batmania likely being the culprit here. Thanks everybody for your guesses!

Hey gang, A friend of mine sent me some pics of a Bat-Hat that he'd picked up, and asked me to pintpoint an era. He was thinking 70's, I'm thinking 80's. I don't have it in hand, just these pics, but it looks like a standard painters cap to me. Anyone have one or recall owning one? I call upon the power of the boards!

Even though it was all taken from the comics, I think the show runners underestimated just how much the brutal killing of beloved characters, especially when used as a calculated cliffhanger, would turn off mainstream tv fans. I remember reading a lot of articles last season (and reactions from various fan forums) about how it was the last straw for a lot of longtime viewers. It's a zombie apocalypse, characters are going to die. But the cynical cliffhanger ("wait all summer to see which of your favorite characters is gruesomely bludgeoned to death with a baseball bat!") was a bit much for some folks. The missus and I are still watching, even though we complain all the time about how terrible the show is. But it's been pretty terrible for a long time. Since the first season, really. I guess we have a low threshold for quality.

Jiminy jillikers, a 1.8 is $500???? I haven't been keeping up with the book lately, and I know it's always hot, but that just seems nuts. We really are through the looking glass.

That's terrific! I love themed set ups like these.

Nice! Enjoyed the vid!

Wow, that was fast! I knew they had them the warehouse already, but that is a pretty major turnaround on shipping them out.

Very nice! I put Green Jean on flex pay, so I won't get mine until December, but I'm just happy I got my order in time. Asking prices on eBay are already crazy.

Hey now, as a former Radio Shack employee (my first job out of high school) I have to say...uh...yeah, you nailed that one.

Thanks for the write up, it continues to be fascinating, but more importantly, condolences on your dog. From experience I know that is never easy. Take care.

Craigslist is good, and my local paper also has a "garage sales" section as well. I usually just do a Ctrl+F search on th e page for "comic" to see if it finds anything, rather than waste my eyesight going over each individual listing. It's been a long time since I had much luck at a yard/garage sale. For me, auctions and estate sales are the place to be. Auctionzip is a good site for seeing what auctions are coming up. Once you are familiar with the auctioneers in your region, they most likely have their own websites and facebook pages where they'll list upcoming sales. I just monitor the sites of my local guys and wait for comics to come up. Same. It used to be a gold mine. Now they've doubled their price on new books ($2 vs $1) and it seems like the good stuff rarely makes it to the floor anymore. I still score every once in a while, but nothing like I used to. I think everyone around here knows about these honey holes now.

Aw man, Rust is such a great book.

Wait, you finally had some alone time, and you spent those precious moments opening up old Rob Liefeld comics, instead of furiously cranking it? Priorities, man. (Unless you were furiously cranking it to the Liefeld comics, in which case, uh...I'm backing slowly out of the thread.)

Whoa, lots of nice scores there, congrats!

Nice looking book! From here it looks like a 9.2-9.4 range, but a an actual scan, like on a flatbed scanner, front and back, will tell the tale. A mylar like that can hide too many defects. Certainly a nice looking book though, and well worth grading!

Absolutely agreed. And again, back to my original point, I just don't think this is going to be on most submitter's radar as a book that is worth sending in. Not everyone is nose-deep in census and gpa data. A few folks are going to make some money, it looks like, but I still feel like a lot of folks are going to take a hard pass. Good luck to those of you who are subbing!

Welcome! To get an idea of what it might grade out at, take some high res scans and post them in a thread over in the Please Grade My forum. There are many experts on the boards who can give you a great idea of what the book will grade at. Not to be the Debbie Downer, but the likelihood of 9.8 isn't high, and the 9.9 is practically impossible (there's only 1 in the census). If you are new to having books graded by CGC, it's good to start adjusting those expectations downwards, to avoid disappointment. But for your sake, I hope you're right!

The irony here is that the books that probably have the best shot at 9.8 are the ones that people bought off the stands and opened up immediately, as opposed to the ones that people left sealed in plastic, which have been stewing in their own juices while enclosed trading cards leave little impressions and marks all over the books. So chances are, in the long run, the folks who left them sealed "because they'll be worth more" are much worse off than the ones who opened them up way back when. I'm not going to argue the facts as presented, it's just amazing that the value drop off is so steep, in that as a 9.8 it's a $200 book, but raw it is completely worthless. I know it's not the only example, but it just furthers the idea that number chasers are looney tunes.

Finally, so THAT'S why his art looks like that!

Well, you've got me there, because I'm not sure. I only slab to sell.

Oh, I have no doubt. There are even several that I'd be interested in. I'm sure for the right price, and the right dealer, this could be a slam dunk. It'd just be intimidating for a small timer like me.

Yes, I think I posted a similar thread with the same question. The decision was made that for a show where it wouldn't be a hindrance to accessibility, a hand cart like what is shown above is a fine solution. I am primarily a dollar box diver, so I tend to walk out of shows with hundreds of books, which can be a pain if parking is far away from the event. After years of working with a combination of backpack and satchel, the hand cart is a nice compromise.

Yeah, unless I could get it dirt cheap, or I was getting it for my own personal collection, this would probably look like more trouble than its worth. Lots of really neat stuff, but not sure how much of it has real value. But if you're looking for a one stop Steranko collection, this is the buy for you!

Nice, thanks for the heads up!!

Whoa.