n2wdw

Nice win. I was watching that one too. Glad it ended up with someone here.

Additions to the Lady In White Collection I've talked before about my Lady In White collection (which is a collection originally conceived by @miraclemet). Whenever you have a collection like this, you have to have rules that define what's allowed to be in the collection. Having strict rules can be frustrating, as it becomes hard to find books that meet the rules, and it can begin to feel like the collection is stagnating because you're not adding to it. But opening up the rules too much can be worse. Yes, it allows you to add to the collection faster, but if you relax the rules too much, the collection loses focus and really loses its appeal and interest. The main rule is the cover has to have a gothic feel to it, with a beautiful damsel in distress wearing a flowing white dress or gown. Now, there are comics that have a gothic feel with a woman in a white dress -- but she's the aggressor, not a damsel in distress. You see what I mean about relaxing the rules? I've decided not to include books like this in the collection, as it would go against the fundamentals of the Lady In White theme. Originally, another rule was the book had to be gold, silver or bronze. I decided to relax this rule and allow books from all ages. This doesn't really change things, because gothic seems rare in modern books (Right now I know of only 1 modern book that fits the theme, Rom 33. If you know of others, please let me know!). My final original rule was the book had to have a minimum grade of CGC 9.0. This rule has caused me the most heartburn. Especially with magazines. High grade magazines are incredibly hard to find. And they are expensive to grade. And even more expensive to press (which I've done with comics to nudge them to 9.0; that's not possible with mags due to the high cost, at least for me, as there's only so much I'm willing to spend for this collection). There's a treasure trove of mags that meet the theme, but I've been frustrated about adding them to the collection because of my minimum 9.0 grading rule. I've decided to ease my grading requirement. Now, the requirement is my Lady in White collection as a whole has to have a 9.0 grade. In other words, the average grade of all the books in the collection has to be at least 9.0. This allows me to have lower grade books, as long as I have enough higher grade books to compensate. So, with these new rules, here are some additions to the collection. I feel queasy about the Dracula Lives 3 at 7.0. That might be too low to satisfy my anal collecting sensibilities. So maybe my grade rule will be: the average has to be 9.0, but no book can be below 8.0. I don't know. I'm still negotiating with myself over this issue.

You're very lucky. I met him one time at a SDCC, but unfortunately that was the only time.

Two Matt Baker Pickups! I just won these comics moments ago on Ebay! I didn't expect to win either. You don't see WR 13 often; in fact I don't remember the last time I saw it for sale. Similar for WR 16, and this comic also is one of Baker's best tail light covers. I was hoping to win one, can't believe I won both!

Yeah, even the card says Betty. So you were at Dave Stevens’ house?

I’m sure things will slow down when we hit convention season. But with this speed up, I’ve managed to catch up on all my submissions.

Has anyone noticed that CGC's turnaround times have gotten faster in 2019? Here are my most recent invoices. Mags and Moderns seem to go fast. Values take about 2.5 months. Everything seems faster to me, but maybe I've just gotten to the point that I've accepted whatever the turnaround times are.

It took me to almost the end of February, but just got my first Baker of 2019:

My New Favorite Collectible -- Dave Stevens and Bettie Page I got this from a seller on eBay. It's a Topps card of Bettie Page by Dave Stevens, signed by Bettie Page. This is special to me, because I learned about Bettie Page through Dave's Rocketeer series. Both Dave and Bettie sadly died in 2008. This is the only item I've ever seen where she signed something by Dave. There are a few of these signed cards on the market. Apparently, a friend of Bettie got her to sign some of these after the card was shown (maybe released) at a Glamourcon. I bought this from a seller on eBay, as I mentioned above. I sent it in to PSA. They will authenticate signatures, and also grade the sig and the card. I was very happy that her sig is authentic, and it got a perfect 10 grade (I've sent other things to PSA where they told me the sig was fake, but that's another story). The card itself was just one step down, with a 9 grade. I tried to get PSA to give Dave a credit on the label. But I guess there wasn't enough room. So here's my new favorite item in my collection:

Nice pickups!

I think you got this from Harley? I happened to be there when you were talking to him. I think you said something like "Let me walk around the room and think about it." Glad you got it. Or maybe that guy passed and you then picked it up (?). Either way, congrats!

Report - Terry's Con 2019 It's amazing how much things change in a year. Last year I was very much into going to Terry's con. I stayed all day and spent tons of money (for me), and I picked up a bunch of great comics. This year, my wife and I are in the process of selling our house. Downsizing, as our last kid is going to college in September. Packing and moving your keepsakes that you accumulated over 20 years -- while your kids grew up -- was ALOT of work. Then we hired a cleaning company to clean up 20 years of cobwebs and dust. Later this week, the painters come in to paint the entire house, then we get all new carpeting. Hopefully by the end of Feb, the house will be on the market. Whew. Big life changes. People ask if I'm sad to move. If I'm sad to pack up all my kids' stuff. No, not really. Maybe a little melancholy. Mostly though I'm excited. This entire process is incredibly liberating. I remember 25 years ago, when my wife and I had just gotten married, I talked to the mother of a friend. She said there are 2 stages in life. The accumulation phase, and the simplification phase. I didn't really understand her then, but I understand her now. My wife and I are definitely in the simplification phase of our lives. With the kids gone, I want to get rid of this big house and move to the city for the last phase of my working career. I want to walk or bike to work, and maybe sometimes take those fun scooters that are popping up all over the place. I want to be able to walk down the street with the wife to bars, to restaurants, to clubs. And here's the thing about kids. Yes, they are getting older and we don't see them as much, and that's a bad thing. But they get more interesting as they grow. You don't get the hugs and snuggles like when they were babies and children. But they are turning into adults and that's really something to watch. I think we have a few years before they start getting married and having kids. That will be another new phase of our life. I'm looking forward to that too, but I'm in no hurry (as long as the kids are happy). I'm a collector by nature. I have spent the last few years moving my comic collection to our little beach cottage. Those are the pictures I post here. That process is done. I also collect wine. At this moment, I have about 1600 bottles. In my old house (the one we're selling), I have a temperature controlled wine cellar where I store the wine. For the last 2-3 years, while getting ready for this life transition, the wife and I talked about what we would do with our wine. One option was to store it with a wine company who offered such services, like Zachys. But there are alot of drawbacks with that, which I won't go into here. Another option was to buy wine refrigeration units -- again, they have their drawbacks. At the end of the day -- and we just made this decision this past summer -- my wife and I decided to build a temperature controlled wine cellar at our beach house. So that's what I've been focusing on and why I couldn't really get into comics at Terry's con this year. Our new wine cellar will have a small footprint. About 10'x14'. But, like my comic room, I've planned it out so it can hold about 2600 bottles of wine. Below's a picture of it. We actually call it a "wine tower," somewhat reminiscent of the glass wine tower at Aureole in Vegas. Hopefully, by the end of March, the wine tower will be finished and we'll have move all the wine over. That'll be another adventure!

Thanks for your kind words! Lately I've been busy with the move so haven't posted much, but hope to start up again soon.

Yep, my wife is my real life Gwen Stacy.

Now $425 shipped in the US

Last year the food truck in the parking lot had good tamales!

Won’t be at preview night just rode splash mountain at disneyland

This book is now offered at $475 shipped in the US

One book up for sale tonight - Marvel Mystery #87 CGC 4.5 (blue universal). This is a classic GGA bondage headlights cover. Bondage in a unique way, with the beautiful heroine being forced to marry the gangster. I'll be upfront with you, the comic isn't rare. But it's not cheap. Check out the current offerings on ebay: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=Marvel+Mystery+Comics+87&_sacat=66&LH_TitleDesc=0&_dmd=2&_osacat=66&_odkw=matt+baker+-replica+-photocopy&LH_TitleDesc=0 This copy is a great looking, unrestored 4.5. The colors are crisp and bright. And Syd Shores is behind only Matt Baker and Alex Schomburg for golden age GGA (IMHO). I'm offering this book for $525, including postage within the US.

The rules: No PL/HOS members Payment via PayPal only First flag gets it. If via PM, then the earliest PM gets it. Sales only to the US and Canada. Shipping is included in the price for the US. Shipping to Canada is $10. Please pay within 10 calendar days of invoice, or the book will be available for sale again No returns on graded books.

Tomorrow is the big day. We're moving the stuff out of our house to put it on the market. That includes moving the rest of the stuff from my old comic room. Most of my collection is already in my new comic room -- that's the one I post pictures of here. But I still have about 10 mag boxes that hold my magazine collection, and about 10 long boxes that hold my miscellaneous alphabet. I'm moving this stuff to a storage unit, along with all the other things from our house that we want to keep but don't have room for in our beach house. Then on Tuesday the liquidation company is coming to clean out the rest of the house. At that point we'll paint it and put in new carpeting, and put the house on the market. This is the house we've lived in for almost 25 years. Whew, big life changes. I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned this here, but my wife and I also collect wine. So as part of this move, we've got to move about 1500 bottles of wine. That's something we'll tackle next month. Below is a picture of the wine cellar in the house we're selling. (My wife and I are way younger in the picture, and for me, thinner!) I'm going to miss this wine cellar, but life goes on I guess.

I'll be there in my Dave Stevens t-shirt (it has been washed since last year).

Perfect transaction, Daniel paid very fast and is a great communicator. Thanks!

Here are some random pictures of my comic room.

2018 Year In Review - Lady In White 2018 was a good year for my Lady in White collection. As a recap, a few years ago @miraclemet put together a collection he called Lady In White. Then after putting it together, he decided to sell it. I remember reading with great interest his posts about putting the collection together, and then how sad I was when he decided to sell it (but of course I think we all understand wanting to change collecting direction from time to time). Anyway, I decided to put together a Lady In White collection. But what to call it? Damsel In White? Gothic Chicks? Really, "Lady In White" was the best name. So I PM'd Miraclemet, and he gave me permission to use the name "Lady In White." To be in the set, the cover has to have a gothic feel to it, with a damsel in distress wearing a flowing white dress or gown. The books have to be silver or gold, perhaps bronze, but definitely not modern -- although I'm rethinking this requirement. For bronze and silver my threshold is at least 9.0. I haven't decided yet for gold. Again, I'm rethinking the 9.0 requirement. As of this moment, I have 21 books in this collection. Average grade is 9.4. Average cost is $97. The high I've paid is $200. The low is $25. But anyway, there are the Lady In White books I picked up in 2018. I got a few others but they won't be back until later this year, so I'll report on them when I get them back from CGC.