F For Fake

Complete madness in all reality but I have my CGC 9.6 copy next to my computer so I guess I shouldn't complain. It's to the point where just about everything Harley Quinn has seen significant price bumps including her 2000 #1 issue, Batman Adventures #16 (wedding issue?) and any one shots she may have appeared in during the last decade. And it's not just her comics. Harley stuff is hot, period. DC Direct has been cranking out statues and figures, and they keep selling like crazy. The Bombshells statue that just came out a couple of months ago for around $80-$100 is now already selling for $200-$250, and the Bruce Timm Black & White Harley statue has already sold out with a second edition being solicited this month, AND THE FIRST EDITION HASN"T EVEN BEEN RELEASED YET. It can't last forever, and DCD is doing everything they can to milk the cash cow, but it's fun for the time being. The only problem is that I'm torn because I love the character, but I also love money, so I'm not sure if I should just be happy to have the stuff and watch the prices rise and inevitably fall, or if I should sell everything now and then rebuy in a year or two once most of it has cooled off. Everyone is hot for the character right now, but DC is definitely pushing product to the over-saturation point. How many folks can keep up with a new statue and/or figure every month (not to mention the comics) before they eventually give up on "having it all"?

I've been preordering the Bombshells through DCBS, and have been satisfied with the prices. However, I'm only picking up the Batman related characters, which, so far, has been most of them. (I cheated and included Black Canary, due to the Birds of Prey connection, and because that statue looks so great!) Echoing the sentiments above, there are lots of places to check out the statues in advance and get an idea of what you might like. As for preorders I would also avoid eBay, but I have had good luck pre-ordering through DCBS and Big Bad Toy Store, for non-Sideshow pieces. As for Sideshow, they offer Flex-payment options for most of their pieces, which can help even the novice collector afford pieces that they may have thought otherwise unattainable. Sure, some of the pieces are still $400 to $600, but it stings a lot less coming out $60 or $70 per month. Also, I'm not sure of the politics of linking directly to other message boards, but there is a forum out there called Sideshow Collectors/Sideshow Freaks, and they have forums dedicated to Sideshow AND non-Sideshow items, from every line/genre. Some good info out there, and lots of good pics of people's collections. I don't really post there, so I have no vested interest in the board, just throwing that info out there. A while back I sold all of my back issues, and got into statues and original art. Then I started selling statues to get some back issues that I missed. I find that I'm happiest when I try to split the difference between all three. I think the biggest hurdle to happy collecting is admitting that you probably can't afford to buy every single thing that you think is cool (I know I certainly can't) so it's best to focus on a certain character, or team, or product line. There's too much product to keep up with everything and remain sane and financially solvent. Have fun!

Been waiting to see WW for a long time, glad she's finally showing up. I imagine she'll have a large ES, so I may wait to preorder. With Harley, Red Sonja, Hellboy, and a smattering of Hot Toys stuff already on my Flex Pay, I'm in no hurry for her to get here!

Couldn't be happier with my purchase from Anthony. Friendly, responsive, super easy to work with, flexible, worked with me so I could get some great books! Fast ship, well packed, couldn't be happier. I will def deal again! Thank you sir!

If the finished product turns out anywhere close to as nice as the production photos, that piece is going to be an all-time classic. I preordered the exclusive before it sold out. I too am already trying to formulate the excuses to give the wife once it shows up on our doorstep...but I couldn't resist. IT'S WORTH IT. So, now, go buy it, so I'm not alone in being nagged. I think it's hilarious how scared guys are of their wives. Not scared, just resigned to the fact that the first words out of her mouth when it arrives will be "Sell this". Actually, that's what she says every time she walks into my comic room. Fortunately (for me), I don't actually listen to my wife.

If the finished product turns out anywhere close to as nice as the production photos, that piece is going to be an all-time classic. I preordered the exclusive before it sold out. I too am already trying to formulate the excuses to give the wife once it shows up on our doorstep...but I couldn't resist. IT'S WORTH IT. So, now, go buy it, so I'm not alone in being nagged.

Not really. Great pieces sell-out, become less and less available, and eventually start commanding a premium. That said, I think "investing" in these things would be a logistical nightmare. To make a significant amount of money at it, you'd need a lot of space for storage (which obviously costs money too), and you'd have to factor stuff in like breakages, shipping, insurance, etc... Also, the best time to buy would be pre-ordering (especially with Sideshow exclusives) and there's a lot of risk with pre-ordering, including significant delays and the product not meeting expectations or having a significant problem. Not to mention that there are usually restrictions on the best stuff (usually one per customer) so speculating on multiples of the same piece would be very time and cash intensive. Overall, there are much easier ways to make a buck. But if you collect what you like, and get in on the right pieces at the right time, you'll eventually end up with a collection that's worth more than you paid, and probably significantly so. 1-Some more sought-after statues and busts go up a bit, but I think many can be had for much less than regular price, just due to the fact that I think a lot of people tend to get rid of at least some of their statues after a while (money, space, etc.). 2-Initial price vs profit on them isn't nearly as much as say a valuable comic (plus a lot bigger buy-in per item vs a comic or even a toy). I can't think of many that would double in price ever, just due to the fact that they're expensive enough as it is. A lot of them, like someone else mentioned, for the rarer/highly desired ones, they tend to go up in price, then plateau for a long, long time. Pretty much they stay at that price for good. 3- Like COI said, it's just more of a hassle than anything to deal with these en-mass. Points 1 and 2 are salient and interconnected. There are a couple of pieces available for pre-order right now from Sideshow that I would be my house will eventually double and maybe even triple in price. But as you said, how many are you gonna buy? You can only pre-order one, unless you get friends and family to make dummy accounts, and even then you'll have to shell out a lot of money to get them and store them for a relatively significant amount of time. Then, when it's time to sell, you'll have to put the pieces out for a decent amount of time if you want to get maximum FMV. Yeah, not worth it. Do the Sideshows go up that much? (i.e. $500 statue worth $1,000- $1,500) It's more practical for an actual store to do this, I guess. Buy like 4 or 5 of something, sell a couple initially, and hold the others for a while. But again, they still couldn't do that for tones of statues, maybe a piece here or there. And then you get into popular characters vs the "oddball" characters (which I usually love). Have to decide which is the wiser investment. Most people are much more likely to buy a Hulk than an Apocalypse, but then the oddballs are going to be rarer, less statues around of them, etc., so might be more valuable, but harder to sell possibly. I don't buy my SST stuff as an investment per se, but I do make a point of picking up the pieces I REALLY care about via pre-order, particularly on Exclusive editions, because they do have a tendency to sell out and have significant price jumps on the secondary market. Bu, as has been pointed out, it's too much of a hassle in regards to storage space, potential issues with the pieces (two of the last three pieces I got from SS had paint or breakage issues, and that's just the tip of the iceberg) for me to collect SST solely for investment purposes. So, I buy what I like, making sure to get the pieces before they sell out (I bookmark the pages for the pieces I like, and if I notice the "quantity alert", that may push me to finally lock in my pre-order). If the prices really start exploding, I will sometimes sell if, and this is the BIG if with selling statues, if I think I can get the thing to the buyer in one piece with relative ease. A lot of these things are a nightmare in regard to potential breakage, and I'd rather not have to go through the hassle of doing an insurance claim, returns, etc.

I had that Black Bolt once upon a time, it's a beauty. I sold off most of my Bowen FS's, but that is one I really miss.

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Definitely get Titanfall in March. It looks like mad fun! Yep, I have the calendar circled for sure!

I received an X-Bone for X-Mas, and am enjoying it, but am not blown away. I suppose I've become jaded by the previous leaps forward in technology. The jump from 8 to 16 bit, then 16 to 32, and onward, was always exciting, but we are at a point where the games really can only look and play so well, no matter how advanced the hardware is. I got Dead Rising 3 and COD:Ghosts along with the system. DR3 hasn't been nearly as fun as the first two so far, and looks a little hokey. Ghosts is fine but I am at shooters, so I haven't gotten very far with it. The day after X-Mas, Best Buy was having a sale, buy two games (or a game and a controller) and get a $25 GC back. So, I picked up NBA2k14 (which looks great but is needlessly cluttered with a ton of online options I won't use, and confusing menus) and an extra controller. I also had at Target GC from X-Mas, so I picked up Marvel Lego, which is great fun, but not anything remarkably different from the previous Lego entries. After picking those up, Best Buy had ANOTHER sale, with most of the X-Bone games running about $40. So, I put the $25 GC I received from my previous BB purchase along with $15 and picked up Forza. Forza looks beautiful, and has been my favorite of the launch titles so far. Then, after I bought my $15 copy of Forza, BB sent me a $15 coupon, and a $10 rewards cert. So, I used those to pick up a $25 Energizer double controller charger, which is a remarkable deal considering that it comes with TWO rechargeable battery packs. It's a really nice little unit, takes up little space, seems to work like a charm. I'm already vastly preferring this to the old play and charge kit. I'm eagerly anticipating a really good RPG hitting the system. I need a Fallout, or a GTA, or an Elder Scrolls, or SOMETHING that is huge and time-consuming and lovely. Nothing like that out so far, and I don't see anything in the immediate future either. I'm also hoping that the XBL offerings grow soon. As for the other features, the motion controls are a bit wonky and hit or miss, but the voice commands can be useful. It's nice being able to fire up the unit and go to Netflix and start up where I left off on a show without having to touch a single controller. But so far most of the Kinect features are little better than parlor tricks, and not incredibly useful. Anecdotally, I've seen plenty of X-Bones around here, ever since about a week before X-Mas. I have yet to see a PS4 in the wild.

The biggest hassle I have had over the years with Sideshow is actually receiving my stuff from UPS. Our UPS guy always comes while I'm at work, so in the past I've usually had to have my packages delivered (after the first failed delivery attempt) to the local UPS hub, where they would hold them for pick-up. No big deal. But for my most recent SST delivery, they said they weren't allowed to hold it for pick up. Apparently SST had stipulated that the package could not be held for pick up, it had to be delivered to me at my home, and I had to sign for it at the time of delivery. UPS said that if I had an issue, I'd have to take it up with SS, and in the meantime the package may be returned to them. I got lucky on the third attempt when I just happened to be stopping by the house on my lunch break, and ran into the driver. Otherwise, I'm not sure what would have happened. It was unusual because this package wasn't any more expensive than any others I'd received from SST in the past. If you click through SST's site, apparently there is a process you can undergo to waive the signature process, but that leaves you completely unprotected. Seems like there should be a middle ground. I love their stuff, but the hassles of receiving the items plus the really lazy quality control of late (two of my last three pieces were broken, one I had to wait about six months for a replacement part, the other they said couldn't be replaced, so I sent the broken statue back, and a month later they have them for sale on their site again) has left a bad taste in my mouth. But then they turn around and put out a kickass statue (the new Hellboy and Red Sonja PF's) and pull me right back in. Jerks.

Holy cats!

Although I don't post often, I have lurked for years, and have enjoyed dealing with members on the board. If you've dealt with me on these forums, please post here. Thanks a bunch!

It will never cease to amaze me how the thinking on 2nd (and later) printings has changed over the years. When I started collecting as a kid in the 80's, opening up a book and seeing "Second Print" was the kiss of death, and Gold covers = garbage. Now, as an adult, it makes perfect sense that the smaller print runs and relatively scarcity of high grade copies (due to kids like me treating 2nd printings like when they came out) would make the prices rise and the books harder to find. It's just funny how time can alter perceptions so much. Now when I'm out in the shops, I'm hunting those same gold and silver covers and later printings that I shunned as a youngster. Comic collecting is strange. But fun.

Anyways, sorry to derail the thread, but I will definitely endorse Booster Gold #1 as a sleeper. It was quarter bin fodder for many, many years, so I thought it would be easy to dig up a nice minty fresh copy. Took me MUCH longer to track down a raw 9.8 than I ever would have thought, and I gladly paid about $15 for it at the time, because of how long I'd been searching. I'm not at all surprised to see the price on the 9.8's exploding. While he may have been a punchline for many years, there are a lot of folks like me who have very a very strong fondness for the JLI series. If you factor in the solo series from Geoff Johns, his role in Justice League Unlimited (he even had his own solo/feature episode) and his continued appearance in the DCU, he's one of the few 1980's characters that really stuck. I'm glad he's getting his due.

Agreed/Thirded. The 60 issue Giffen/DeMatteis run is still my favorite run on any superhero comic, and that is one of the best arcs, by far. True, I grew up with it the book, so I am definitely biased by nostalgia, but I still love the way they mixed humor, drama, fantasy and realism. For a superhero comic it was so different from anything else on the stands, in that there were large, vast stretches of time where nothing really "happened", and the characters were just allowed to grow. This growth made the stakes seem much higher when the action went down. I still have such genuine fondness for the characters, even in the hands of other creators, because of this run. When DC killed Ted Kord, it absolutely broke my heart, because of how much JLI made me care for him.

Also, in case anyone is interested, apparently they stat'd in some teeth on Booster. If you compare the original to the printed version, he just has the big "O" mouth on the original, no teeth.

Thanks guys. I like to drag this out whenever I think someone will appreciate it, because around my house it's primarily known as "the picture with the big butt." I guess I mentally attach the logo when I look at it, and just focus on Booster, but the wife doesn't see it that way...

My dream is to someday own a Dave original. I'd settle for a scribble. Something like this? This is amazing. Congrats!

Thanks guys, appreciate the welcome! Always nice to meet others with great taste.

I've lurked in this thread for quite some time, and felt it was long past overdue for me to give my two cents. Having grown up as a comic reader in the 80's, Dave Stevens has been my favorite artist for longer than I can recall. By the late 90's I had managed to put together a pretty much complete (I think it was complete, but it seems there's always some weird rarity here or there) collection of his covers. Once they started collecting this stuff in hardcover form a couple of years ago, I decided to sell the floppies. It remains one of the biggest mistakes of my collecting life, and a few months ago I started re-buying those books, only this time I'm going the slabbed route. At any rate, it was my great pleasure to get to meet Dave at DragonCon several years ago. I know I've mentioned this elsewhere, but D-Con remains my favorite con for meeting comic pros because comics are just one tiny sliver of what that show is about, so you can oftentimes find your idols just sitting at a table, with no line whatsoever. So it was that I found Dave at his table, completely alone and eating a sandwich. I decided to let him finish up before I bugged him, so I made a couple of passes at his table before I finally settled in. Of course at the time I had no idea that we would be losing him so soon, so I take some solace in the fact that when I met him, I used the opportunity to tell him that he had been my favorite artist since I was a kid, and how much his work meant to me. He was very humble and pleasant. I never like to overstay my welcome, so I had a couple of things signed and then went on my way. Of course now I wish I had bent his ear all day long, but at the time it seemed best to not burden him. These are the prints I walked away with, and they remain some of my most treasured possessions: and I had a couple of other pieces signed that I later sold off, and I'm kicking myself about that now. But they weren't personalized, and that is what makes these so precious to me. Some other favorite Dave related pieces that I own: Signed/Numbered Bettie Print Brush With Passion signed/numbered slipcase edition Signature page from same I bought the BWP book from a guy auctioning off several pieces of Dave's estate. (Who knows, he may be in this thread too!) He threw in a couple of extras that I was happy to have. I know someone else posted it earlier, but I was THRILLED to have the "Thanks for a Wonderful Evening" motion greeting card after years of searching. He also threw in some neat odds and ends like what appears to be a Christmas card. Anyway, the morals of this long-winded tale: 1. Never pass up an opportunity to tell your heroes just how much they mean to you, because you never know how long they'll be around. Don't put them off until "the next con". and 2. Dave is the best, and this thread is a terrific place to talk about his awesome stuff. Thanks gang!

My personal (admittedly worthless) opinion is no. The Cult of Harley has been growing steadily since she first appeared on BTAS, and now has an entire generation of fans only making her hotter. As far as DC's mainstream visibility, she is arguably the third or fourth most recognizable and/or popular female character in their stable (I'd suppose Wonder Woman is technically still the top, with Catwoman, Harley and Supergirl mixing it up behind her). The character has been cultivated through a previous solo series, a recent team book, and now another solo series coming up, plus appearances in video games and merchandising out the yin yang. I know I said this in another thread at some point, but it really seems like DC has been working the "Gotham Girls" characters, trying to turn them into their own twisted version of the Disney Princesses. She stands alongside Venom and Deadpool as one of the very, very few characters from the last 20 years that actually stuck. I really do feel like the sky is the limit with her. Joker's Daughter has obviously been around quite a bit longer, but has largely been out of the public eye until this recent New 52 reboot. The combination of the Joker + sexy lady mixed with the 3D cover hype has made the character a sensation overnight, and I don't doubt that those books will make a jump, and perhaps even stick there for awhile. But I think she has a long way to go before she is as omnipresent, and therefore as hot on the marketplace, as Harley. Again, just my two cents! They are still really cool books!

From one fellow Kentuckian to another that is one sweet run of books very impressive Ditto!