F For Fake

Like others, I was storing them in plastic bins, as well as packed up in boxes that were sealed up and stored in my "storage area" (fancy term for "laundry room.") And I do still have some stuff stashed away. But over the last few months I have sold a lot of that stuff, as I began to feel that there wasn't much point to owning stuff I couldn't see. And oddly enough, my MOC X-Men figures were some of the first to go! I love 'em, but they're not doing me any good packed up in a box for years. So off they went. These days I'm trying to limit my purchases to what I can reasonably display. This change in thinking has helped me prioritize my collecting, and partake in less runaway spending. I had to finally admit that I can't afford to buy every single thing that I think is cool, and I can't afford the space to store it all either. Good luck with whatever you decide. If you DO decide to store them, make sure it's in a cool, dry place.

It's not surprising when shady people act shadily, even to each other. I can only imagine how CGC heads feel right now...just when it seemed like this thing was finally going to blow over, and they could get away without having to come clean on their pay-to-grade monkey business, the story comes roaring back to life! Lie down with dogs, wake up with fleas, CGC.

I've picked up several XM/TT in the dollar bins over the years. I do a lot of dollar bin diving, and that is such a beautiful book with an awesome cover, I never passed on a copy at that price. I ended up selling some off when I did a cull a year or two ago, but I still have 3 or 4, I think.

I can see what you were saying, but honestly, even if there WAS a way to determine if they newsies or directs came first, I don't see anyone pulling at that thread at this point. The whole house of cards would come down.

I had a subscription to UXM that I stuck with until the launch of the "new" X-Men title. I bought the first three or four of those, and then was effectively done with X-Men altogether. I think my last issue of UXM was 283 or 284, sometime around whenever Bishop showed up. I was about 14 or 15 and drifting away from comics in favor of music and girls, and like you, I was tiring of the crossovers. The stories had become so convoluted and soap operish, the magic was gone for me. The Age of Apocalypse brought me back in, and that's reflected in my omni collection, jumping from X-men by Lee and Claremont volume 2, followed by Age of Apocalypse.

Pretty much identical to what I experienced, only I was chasing random copper age run fillers for the most part. I was cleaning up recently, but in the last two sessions I found the prices were pretty much right at what I considered Fair Market Value, and a couple even higher than eBay results. And I only won ONE book in the session that just ended last week. Will be curious to see how the fall shakes out.

That No Prize is great! When I was a kid, I wanted one so badly, because that would mean that I achieved the rank of Titanic True Believer, which would qualify me for Permanent Marvelite Maximum. But it was never to be.

I've definitely thrown a bid out here and there without any expectation of winning, and then "accidentally" won ha And if that happens, well, I placed the bid, so I have to pay. That's contract I signed. But since there are no real consequences, a lot of users feel zero obligation to honor their commitment. And since it's mostly anonymous, there's no need to live up to "your word", Which is a shame.

I believe it's not supposed to hit until May or June of 2023, so it'll be some time before it is officially solicited, and at that point it should be available for preorder. That's the problem with these big "announcements", they come out so far in advance of the actual books. As for the next volumes, that is apparently a raging debate going around at the moment. It's increasingly seeming like Marvel will just continue to collect everything chronologically in the UXM omni line, making those "Event" omnis (Mutant Massacre, Fall of the Mutants, Inferno, etc) redundant. It'll take several years to get to that point, so I guess we'll see how it shakes out, but if that's the case, I'm definitely out after we're caught up to the Fall of the Mutants omni, as that will be all I care to own.

Well 9.6 x 3 = 28.8, so that's like NINETEEN BETTER than a 9.8! You're ahead of the game, my friend!

Even if they'd only ever done Animal Man and Doom Patrol, that would be enough to make me ride-or-die with Grant Morrison. Two of my all time faves. Also loved Invisibles, New X-Men, JLA, We3, and a bunch more. Oh man, All Star Superman! How could I forget? I gotta say, the highlights are so numerous, and SO high, that I tend to forgive the lesser works. I have generally lost touch with modern comics over the last 5 years or so, so I really don't know what Grant has been up to recently. But whatever they do, I'd give it a shot, just based on my love for the older stuff. I think the last series I read by them was Nameless, which I got a kick out of. I guess I should get caught up on the stuff I missed.

Picked this up for a buck yesterday. You can never have too many!

Welcome aboard! You're in for a treat. And the thing about collecting Dave is, while it's true that there are many issues that command a premium, you can also still snag these books in dollar bins, particularly the 80's stuff. It's out there, and there are a lot of sellers, shops, etc who just don't have these books on their radar at all. They just get lumped in with the rest of the overprinted 80's indie boom stuff. If you're looking for a specific book right away, or if you want high grade slabs, yeah, those are going to get costly. But otherwise, if you're patient, and willing to dig, the books are still out there. I've owned several Planet 1's, but the nicest copy I ever got was for $1.25 at a garage sale last year.

I’m not sure about the specific list you were using, but the checklist at Dave’s estate is pretty robust. https://www.davestevens.com/gallery/checklist

Saw a FB ad for a comic shop in a town about 40 minutes away that was having a huge $1 bin sale. Figured it would be a fun afternoon. Dug out a small stack. Nothing crazy, but definitely a few worth grabbing, including a nice little chunk of AH covers. Sorry for the glare on the pics, I never claimed to be Ansel Adams over here!

At long last, I have completed this model kit, which I started back in January! I have a bad habit of starting something and then just...wandering away. I have been working on my Lost Light crew for a couple of years now, slowly picking away at it via a mishmash of Hasbro and 3P figures. However, I was never able to find a version of IDW Hot Rod that I liked. Then, one day, I saw the advertisement for the Flame Toys Furai Rodimus model kit, and I had to have it. Full disclosure, I've never finished a model kit in my life. I LOVE model kits! Love seeing what other people do with them. But I never felt I had the patience or skill to finish one myself. However, this seemed like it might be up my alley, being a snap-together kit that I didn't even have to paint. So, several YouTube tutorials later, and many months of laying dormant, I finally finished it up this weekend. The assembly wasn't difficult, though it could be tedious. As for painting, I tried my hand at "panel lining" for the first time. it was a learning experience, and I have learned what not to do the next time, but for a first ever effort, I think he turned out pretty well! I used my Molotow chrome pen to do the piping as well, and it's looks pretty snazzy. So, now that this is done, I have the confidence to continue. I think i'm going to try the Furai Megatron kit next, as he is the best IDW version on the market. And so now my Lost Light crew finally has a captain! Before and after panel-lining/chroming pics:

Cool, I'm definitely looking forward to it!

Oh man, that’s great. I never find those around here, and those look like sharp copies as well. No matter the printing, always worth picking up.

Back to the front page! Another week, a couple more boxes from IST. I own all of the Grendel stuff, and sold my paperback omnis a while back as I assumed that Dark Horse would give us hardcover library editions when the Netflix series hit. Instead…they’ve reissued the paperbacks. Oh well. For $18 I thought I may as well buy them again. As for the MMW Cap, I’m not a Byrne fan, but I’ve never read this run, and I hear good things. The most exciting part to me is that Zeck shows up here at the end, so the next couple of volumes will be the sweet stuff for me.

I had such high hopes for yesterday. It was a relatively cool, slightly overcast but NOT rainy Labor Day long weekend with a bunch of garage sale listings. I left the house before sun-up with visions of comics dancing in my head. And…it was a bust! And that’s just how it goes sometimes. The last stop I made was a parking lot sale at a church. At the very last booth, my last sale of the morning, I finally found some comics, the only comics I saw all day. By that point I was bummed and looking JUST TO FEEL SOMETHING AGAIN, so I likely overpaid at $3 each. Oh well. It was one of those days where I just didn’t want to go home empty handed. Hope you all had more luck than I did. As temps continue to fall, and summer activities are curtailed, the really good sales should be starting up.

Another week, another load of deadbeats. Two more that didn't pay, didn't respond to messages, just straight up ghosted. This doesn't even surprise me anymore. daniel.alar_55 belgian2008

Oh man, that's great, I'd forgotten all about this! What a great use for the piece.

That's great! Such a great series, one of the great, timeless books from that era. And the covers are all so gorgeous, this would of course make a terrific slabbed set. Congrats

Dude, it's not all drek. Those three Resident Evil magazines should cover the cost of the whole lot, and then some.

Oh man, I feel that. With the 13 A B C variants I am drowning in the Bone covers, because I keep thinking "Wait, do I have that one?" The answer is yes. Yes, you insufficiently_thoughtful_person, you have them. So many of them.