F For Fake

Don't be sad, @greggy! I can't bear the thought! I take back what I said!

About 15 years or so ago, I bought an old, beat up Seal press. Paid about $150. Was going to try my hand at pressing. At that time, there wasn't much info around, because the pros weren't sharing secrets (and I didn't/don't blame them), so, lots of trial and error. Turned many books into shriveled up bricks. Determined that I was doing a lot more harm than good to the hobby overall, and put the press in storage. A few years ago I pulled it out of the garage, dusted it off...and put it out on the curb for junk day. It lasted a few minutes before the Jawas scooped it up. I guess I could have sold it, but it was enormous and heavy as hell, and I didn't feel like dealing with it. Utinni! People should do what they want with their books. I can certainly understand the short term positives of pressing, as I definitely benefited many times, financially speaking. (Not books I pressed myself. I used Matt, Joey, Mike, and others). But in the long term, for my own books, I just don't care anymore. No offense to anyone else, but I get a sick little kick out of imagining a future where suddenly everyone's slabbed books have turned to ashes in little plastic coffins. "Oh, if only we knew then what we know now about pressing!" But I kid the pressers, I kid! We'll all be long dead before that happens, thanks to plague/pestilence/famine/volcanoes/aliens/etc

I've seen this a few times over the years, and it is without question terrible, but also fascinating. What a weird mix of characters to choose. And yes, the less said about Ghetto Man, the better. Yikes.

Between this and the Black C.A.T. thread over in Copper, I'm feeling the urge to revisit Cerebus. It's been 25 years since I read Church and State, I'd say I'm overdue. Glad you're enjoying the journey!

No offense to the new stuff (I've not read Locke & Key, didn't care for DCeased) but classic EC horror is gonna win the fight pretty much every time!

That's a good point, I really should revisit that story, as well as the rest. It's been a while. I sold my telephone books off quite some time ago, I need to pick them up again and give the whole thing another spin.

Yup, that's it! I remember buying it on clearance at my local comic shop, wearing it to school, and endlessly having to explain it to my friends. that was a couple of decades and as well as a couple of shirt sizes ago, so my Dad probably long since cut it up into rags. Oh well. It was fun at the time!

That's really great that Marvel and DC were able to come to terms to make this happen while George is still here. I am terribly sad that this illness has befallen Mr. Perez, but I am so glad that he is getting this opportunity of a "victory lap", for all of his fans and peers to let him know how much he is loved. I wish we celebrated our heroes while they're alive much more often, instead of waiting to eulogize them when they can no longer hear the words.

@Aman619I've very much enjoyed your reminiscence, thanks so much for sharing! Cerebus was a huge book for me as a kid and young man. I share your melancholy about how it all wrapped up. A book that meant so much to me in the early years eventually became an endurance test that I was determined to see to the bitter end. I always enjoyed the art (Dave stayed a strong cartoonist until the end, and Gerhard's stuff was always so beautiful), but the long, slow, preachy, bizarre stories, it really became a chore to read the book. Such a shame. It's still a singular achievement, and the first half of the run is still to be praised. Jaka's Story is also where it started to come apart a bit for me, and somewhere in the depths of my parents' basement you might find my "I Survived Jaka's Story" t-shirt, buried beneath some rags!

Big thanks to @mrwoogiemanfor the hookup with this addition to my Dave collection. For whatever reason, this is one I just haven't run across in my travels. Happy to have a copy, much appreciated!

This beast finally arrived yesterday, so the set is complete! DC's collected editions dept being what it is these days, there's always concern that they're not going to finish what they start. Like the first volume, this behemoth is a thing of beauty. Kirby's best work (yeah, I said it!) presented in the oversize Absolute format. Beautiful stuff. Also, this eBay pickup of GI Joe: The Last Laugh also showed up. This is the story that got me back in to GI Joe several years ago. I don't really care for the other IDW Joe stories (Hama's return, etc) but this run of stories by Costa and co, from Last Laugh, GI Joe: Cobra, the Coil storyline, etc is just terrific comics. This volume is OOP and sells for a healthy sum. An eBay alert yielded this used copy for $26 shipped. It's not perfect, but the price was right.

Agreed 100% on Human Target. I don't ready many new books, but I'm loving this one.

I've used them for many years, and for many years, they were great. But a lot of folks have been having trouble with them for the past two years or so, seemingly centered around their moves/business consolidation, the distributor shakeup, etc. When the pandemic and supply chain issues settled in, that just exacerbated the problem. I personally have had great service with them, responsive to emails, orders shipped quickly, etc. But I do know of many people who can't get their messages answered, have orders held up for months, etc. I kept ordering with them because it had been smooth sailing for me. I placed an order last week and it shipped today. But I have two outstanding orders, one from over a month ago, and another from about three weeks ago, which have not budged, and they aren't responding to emails. So, I dunno. It's just my turn, I guess. They did recently move warehouses again, and warned that might lead to delays of a week or so. But that was two or three weeks ago, and those old orders still haven't moved. In these times, there are no great options. The silver lining is that books aren't selling out within minutes of going up for sale, like they were at the height of COVID. That's a small blessing.

You know, I've heard the complaints about IST/DCBS/TOW for years, but I always had good luck, so I kept using them. Fast ship, fast response to emails, etc. My luck eventually ran out, I guess. There are just too many issues, it's always an problem with their distributors, or the weather, or the warehouse is moving (again), etc. There's always some excuse, and usually I was able to come out ok, but I guess my number finally came up. The prices are hard to beat, but if you can't actually get the books, well, that's not very helpful. My experience with CGN is as you describe. They're not perfect, but they're at least getting the books to me, and safely, after a fashion. So, that's where I'm going for the time being. I know some folks have switched to Organic Priced Books, but the prices are just a smidge too high, at this point. I know they're a smaller operation, so I totally get that. I may try them at some point, if CGN should take a turn for the worse.

How does Adventure 247 stack up? As has been said, I don't think any of them are truly scarce, but it's definitely not one that I see often.

Nice, always love Warlord, and LoSH 298 is one of my secret hording books. Well, I guess it's not a secret now...

Now THIS is cool. Herbie rules.

Hey Jimmers, hang in there my friend. If posting causes you anxiety, don't post! Just step away and take care of yourself. We'll still be here when you feel up to it. Meanwhile, here's Robert, and he'd like to let you know that this IS his happy face, thank you very much.

Keeping this on the main page through sheer force of will! Come on and show me those purty books! This pile is everything that's shown up in the last two or three weeks. I have two outstanding orders with IST, one has been open for over a month now. Emailed, no response. I always had good luck with IST, but it looks like I'm finally getting the service so many others have complained of. So, for the most part, I've been going with CGN. Prices are good, and while I wouldn't say shipping is necessarily FAST, it's definitely much faster than IST is averaging these days. I still have two shipments on the way from them as well. A mix of new stuff, and reprints of stuff I needed to fill some holes. Yes, the spine dress change on the UXM volumes is driving me nuts, thanks for asking. Also, with the announcements about IDW losing the Transformers license, the fire has been lit under me to go ahead and finish up that run. I had been slowly chipping away at it over the last couple of years, picking up a volume here and there when I found them on sale. But with the future being uncertain, it seems like the time is now. I'm done with Phase 1, need four volumes for Phase 2, need the first Phase 3, and two of the four reboot volumes. So, getting there slowly but surely! Update: thought it was worth mentioning that two of those IDW TF books were "scratch and dent" copies from CGN, and they arrived in perfect shape. Easily as nice as any of the "new" volumes. So, maybe they have to described returned books as such before reselling, I'm not sure, but just thought I'd say that if you ever considered buying "nick and dent" book from them, it's worth pulling the trigger.

It's interesting that people are finally waking up to this. JLI is probably my favorite superhero title of all time, so I've been picking these up for a buck a pop for years. I'm currently re-reading the JLI Omni Vol 2, and man, it makes me really wish Adam was still using that style. I mean, what he's doing now is fine, but that classic, Dave Stevens-esque style (with a little Kevin Nowlan and Steve Rude thrown in), with the beautifully illustrated and lush line work, that's what made me a lifelong fan. At some point he was bitten by a radiactive Drew Struzan, so now everything he does has that diffused, soft, painted look. But classic Hughes with pencil and pen/brush? That's the sweet stuff.

We already have one. It's called "Punisher War Zone", and I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say it is the best Marvel movie, if not the greatest motion picture of all time. I mean, there's this one part where Punisher punches right through a guy's face. HIS FACE. I don't see Iron man punching anyone's face off.

Frankly, I don't mind the rubs or light wear on a box, because to me, it gives it that air of authenticity. I can feel the age. We are living in an era of reproductions and customs, so I kinda dig a little wear here and there. Especially since the main draw, that lovely center image, is clean and bright!

Love it! I have been kinda sorta looking for one of these for a while now. A local shop had one, but the box was a repro, so i didn't pull the trigger. This one looks so nice! That is a real collection centerpiece right there, beautiful toy.

Won't...let...thread..fall off of...first page... Got this belated b-day gift from the in-laws last night, as we were celebrating the mother-in-law's birthday. Mine was in January, but due to a host of illnesses, travelling, etc, this is the first time I've seen the wife's family since x-mas. They get me a duck set for x-mas or birthday every year, so I think I'm once again caught up on my Barks stuff. I've already read these in the single volumes, and I wouldn't say this represents the peak of his work, but even the lesser Barks stuff is still totally charming and a breezy, beautiful comfort read.

Man, I remember thinking it was ridiculous when these hit $100 in 9.8. Seeing them creep up over $200 gives me that weird mix of "what on earth is going on?" and "wait, should I get one???" fomo. When I worked at the comic shop in the late 90's, every collection that came into the shop had copies of Spawn 1. We'd pay 10 cents a piece for them, and sell them for $10. Spawn had already cooled quite a bit, but you could always get ten bucks out of them. I think this is the reason why I just can't make myself pay more than a couple of bucks for a copy. I've just seen too many of them, and bought too many of them, to ever believe that they're worth anything, even if the evidence is mounting!