F For Fake

That's awesome. Congrats on the sub AND the sale. Once upon a time I was trying to complete the set of 25h anniversary frames, but due to the rarity of books exactly like this, I gave up. Anyone who'd laugh at this sale clearly doesn't realize how hard this book is to find in grade, and how difficult and expensive it can be to complete this set. Price doesn't surprise me a bit.

It's an interesting re-read, because there are bits that I 100% remember reading before, and others that I don't recall at all. I got a bunch of the digital trades in a Humble Bundle many years ago, but I didn't understand the reading order AT ALL. it was such a convoluted mess, trying to figure out which books came in what order. Then, a couple of years later, there was ANOTHER Humble Bundle, and that carried me through most of Phase 2. And that was the stuff I really loved, MTMTE and RID. I don't remember a lot of the Phase 1 stuff, and that is most likely because I read it in a wacky order with likely many missing pieces. So I am really looking forward to reading the whole thing, from start to end, in something approaching a linear fashion. It's my understanding that the Collection HC's aren't 100% accurate themselves, kinda splitting the difference between publishing order and chronological order, but I think it'll probably be good enough for my needs.

That's great! I can't say for sure if it's the first, but it would definitely be in the running. Earliest date I can find for sure. It's interesting how the trade dress has her name misspelled, but it was corrected when this image was re-used for the 1996 Dark Horse comic. Great pick-up!

I would have been fine with that, and it would have made sense to me as well, but I guess I felt like they were building up Nakia to be something, and it didn't really pay off beyond being

That's really my only gripe with Shuri being BP: the physicality. I know the powers come from a magical herb or whatever, so the physique shouldn't matter, but man, Shuri looks like a breadstick in that suit, ready to be snapped in half. That's why I was pulling for Nakia to end up in the suit, because that's a lady that I'd believe could kick some .

Saw the movie this weekend. Like most Marvel movies, I thought it was fine. I will say, I had a bit of cognitive dissonance with the tone shift, as the movie tries to reconcile paying tribute to a very real person (who died in a very real and terribly sad way) with also having a big silly action movie about a war against blue fish people. It's a hard job, and I think it was handled about as well as it could be. Still, I'm not sure how appropriate any of it is, and if it wouldn't have been best to just not make the movie at all. Of course, with the $$$ at stake in box office and merchandising, that was never really going to be an option, so I think it was handled with about as much class as could be hoped. There's no question that all involved were trying to be as respectful as possible. My only real complaint is the length, which was only exacerbated by the 20-30 minutes of trailers that preceded the film. The ads started at 12:10, and we got out of the theater at 3:15. That's just a bit much. Otherwise, I liked Namor quite a bit, and would have liked to have seen more action. The big fight at the end was pretty epic, and made me sad as I would have really loved to have seen Boseman's BP in that battle against Namor. The character who ends up taking that mantle is not exactly an imposing presence. Still, good fight. Speaking of filling out a suit, holy carp, Lupita Nyong'o in a wetsuit. Lord have mercy. Also, how is Angela Bassett almost 30 years older than most of her costars, and still the most beautiful lady in the picture? Damn. What a lady. The movie is chockablock with killer kickass babes, and that's never a bad thing in my estimation. Most superhero movies go in one ear and out the other, so the real barometer of success, for me, is whether or not I'd ever watch the movie again. In this instance, yeah, I'll probably watch it again when it hits Disney +.

Congrats to the winners, and thanks for the game, Mike.

I'd have to agree. I got my copy from my LCS, bought it off the stands, it was mixed in with the other copies, and wasn't the only variant on the stand. I held onto it as I was a LOSH and AH collector at the time. I sold off most of my collection around the time I moved in with my then girlfriend, and before we bought our house. So, between 2008 and 2012, and I remember when I sold this book I was amazed that I got like $25 for it. Had no idea it was "so valuable" at the time.

Cool, remind us when that rolls around, would love to see how it does!

That's about as nice as I've seen. I'm not sure if it's the way it was printed, or the way they were handled after the fact, but most of these books seem to have issues. There are two 9.8's and two 9.6's in the census, I'd love to see one of those.

This was great fun. I’m glad I got over my anxiety and played along this time. I’d do it again for sure. Two bullseyes this round, which is good. The others? Uh…not so close.

Nice! Looks like a clean copy, too!

Since I've nearly completed building the complete IDW Transformers collection, I've officially begun my re-read. I'm not a huge fan of the Phase 1 stuff, though there are some highlights to be sure. In this volume, I enjoy the "Spotlight" issues, but the "Infiltration" series set on earth, primarily focusing on poorly drawn human characters, was a chore. Good to know there are much better times ahead! That should bring my total to right about 407.

Stopped by the LCS today, as it has been a few weeks, and they're also having a sale. 45th anniversary, so 45% off any back issues under $20. So, I was able to snag this McFarlane Marvel Age for $11, and the same price for that whole pack of Madman comics! I've nearly finished rebuilding my Allred collection, just need a Dead Air and Grafik Muzik 1! The Immortal Hulk was an impulse buy, not super familiar with the story, but for the price the book seemed right. And the Liz and Beth was an eBay pickup. I'm slowly picking away at the Fantagraphics adult volumes. Hard to find them at all, much less in good shape at a good price. Liz and Beth was maybe my favorite title from the line back in the day. High class French smut! PS: the "chip" on the Marvel Age is some crud laying on the scanner, not on the book, thankfully!

I've won a large number of books in this most recent round, a surprising amount, really. Lots of run books no one else would care about for well below the cost of slabbing. kind of nuts. So, I'm not going to post all of that drek. But this one I will share, because I'm happy to have another copy. I bought a raw copy of this book off of eBay about 15 years ago. Looked like a stunning copy, so I subbed it, and it came back 9.8. I ended up selling it for about $250, which seemed crazy at the time. Anyway, ever since then I've kinda regretted letting it go, and have been watching as the value crept up. Recent sales were much more in the neighborhood of $400, asking prices even more, and they don't come up often. So when this one popped up on CLink, I threw a very strong bid at it...and ended up winning for $246. I was stunned and quite pleased. Spoilers for those who are offended by nekkidness.

And speaking of Joe Classified, another good coupon at Amazon today: $9.19 off of Croc Master, made him $29.40 shipped. Not bad! https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09HN3ST2Y/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

Yup, mine is waiting on my doorstep when I get off work!

RIP to the one true Batman. Only got to meet him once, but he was delightful. Didn't realize he was sick. Very sad.

Yeah, at that price I couldn’t pass him up!

A couple of pretty good Amazon deals on GI Joe Classified, if any of you are still troop building. I went ahead and grabbed four more BATs and three more Alley Vipers! BAT is $22.99 - $5.75 coupon (just a few minutes ago they were $20 + 15% off, which was a better deal by a few cents) https://www.amazon.com/Hasbro-Classified-Collectible-Accessories-6-Inch-Scale/dp/B08TLJHV3L/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3L9NANIT9T0G0&keywords=gi+joe+classified&qid=1668107604&sprefix=gi+joe+classified%2Caps%2C97&sr=8-3 Alley Viper $22.99 + 15% off at checkout https://www.amazon.com/Hasbro-Classified-Collectible-Accessories-6-Inch-Scale/dp/B08TLW39NL/ref=sr_1_6?crid=3L9NANIT9T0G0&keywords=gi+joe+classified&qid=1668107746&sprefix=gi+joe+classified%2Caps%2C97&sr=8-6 There's also a $5.75 coupon on Spirit https://www.amazon.com/Joe-Classified-Collectible-Accessories-6-Inch-Scale/dp/B09HN3GQZY/ref=sr_1_8?crid=3L9NANIT9T0G0&keywords=gi+joe+classified&qid=1668107746&sprefix=gi+joe+classified%2Caps%2C97&sr=8-8

Indeed, it's a great run for sure. Really enjoyed that run and should revisit it one day. Avengers Forever is the thing I'll probably always most closely associate him with. Terrific book. I really liked his style. It had that modern "flash", but with a good strong sense of anatomy and storytelling. A little Alan Davis in there as well, I think. Really great stuff. R.I.P. Far too young.

What? It could happen!

Grades in! Phew, it's over! And now, with that done, I can make my confession: I've never memorized the number grading scale. I still think of everything in "letter grades". I jot them down on a post-it, and then I have to look up the number scale system and convert them over. Letters are better than numbers. There, I've said it. Good to get that weight off of my chest!

1 bullseye, everything else pretty close, mostly at half a point/grade. Had Capt Flight at 5.5, Surfer at 8.5. Biggest different was the JIM, which I had a 3.0. I just can't give a book with two big pieces missing like that a 4.0. Can't and won't! Bah! Otherwise this whole game has been pretty reassuring, that my grading is pretty solid. I have missed a couple, but nothing has been embarrassingly off. I can live with it.

Stoked to have won this guy on CLink last night for EIGHTEEN DAMN DOLLARS. Amazing. It's a "lowly" 9.6, but that makes it the single highest graded copy! So odd that there aren't more of these slabbed. I know the Authority/Stormwatch have cooled in popularity, but at one time this was a hot book as it killed off the remainder of Stormwatch, and was considered the "first appearance" of the Authority. Anyhow, yeah, happy to have it, but feel bad for the sellers, it has been a bloodbath on CLink this round. I snapped up a huge collection of Stormwatch books for a registry set, most of them for under $20, well below the cost of slabbing, and most of them were the single highest graded copy, or the ONLY graded copy. Crazy times.