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Thanks Mekon. Yes, I think the best comics I've gotten the last 2-3 years have been from boardies.

I'm like you, I think it's interesting to the story to tell prices. But I don't reveal prices on private deals like this, unless the seller gives me permission (and he didn't). Especially since Baker collectors in the DC area can probably guess who the seller is. In fact, the first dealer I talked to at the con (I showed him the books) correctly guessed who the seller is.

I posted this in my journal but thought it might be of interest to people here. Thanks for reading. Local Northern Virginia Con -- Major Matt Baker Additions Today I went to a local con in Tyson's Corner Va. The big draw was an appearance by Neal Adams. Each autograph was $30 and it seemed like there were lots of people getting Neal's signature. It was kinda cool to have him appear locally. I got close enough to get this picture. He seemed to be enjoying himself and was taking time chatting with fans. The main reason I went to the con was to meet with a boardie who recently PM'd me about Bakers he had for sale. We agreed to meet right before the con opening at 10am. He gave me a list of the books he was bringing, but I didn't have any pictures, conditions or prices. So I was cautiously optimistic but was prepared to go away empty handed. Well, the boardie -- and he asked me not to reveal his secret identity -- had some good stuff. He had 5 issues for sale, including 2 copies of 2 of them. I ended up buying 4, including the best copies of the 2 duplicates. This first one is probably the most common, Wartime Romances 4. There's a lower grade copy on eBay right now for $175. This one has creases along the spine but otherwise is pretty clean. This next one, Teen-Age Romances 36, is one of my favorite Baker covers. It's certainly not high grade, but it presents well and easily satisfies my bar for condition. It was the next 2 comics that got me excited. True Love Pictorial 2 and Diary Secrets 13. I don't often see TLP 2 and certainly not in this condition. And, I think this is the first DS 13 I've ever seen. I was already way over my comic budget for the month, but -- as I'm sure we've all experienced -- I was faced with either pulling the trigger on these comics or maybe waiting a long time before seeing them again, especially the last 2 in these conditions. We negotiated price for a few minutes, and he gave me a little off, but essentially I paid his asking price. The boardie didn't even bother going into the con. I spent a little over an hour in the con and ended up picking up another low grade Baker. I'll write about that in my next post. Thanks for reading.

Local Northern Virginia Con -- Major Matt Baker Additions Today I went to a local con in Tyson's Corner Va. The big draw was an appearance by Neal Adams. Each autograph was $30 and it seemed like there were lots of people getting Neal's signature. It was kinda cool to have him appear locally. I got close enough to get this picture. He seemed to be enjoying himself and was taking time chatting with fans. The main reason I went to the con was to meet with a boardie who recently PM'd me about Bakers he had for sale. We agreed to meet right before the con opening at 10am. He gave me a list of the books he was bringing, but I didn't have any pictures, conditions or prices. So I was cautiously optimistic but was prepared to go away empty handed. Well, the boardie -- and he asked me not to reveal his secret identity -- had some good stuff. He had 5 issues for sale, including 2 copies of 2 of them. I ended up buying 4, including the best copies of the 2 duplicates. This first one is probably the most common, Wartime Romances 4. There's a lower grade copy on eBay right now for $175. This one has creases along the spine but otherwise is pretty clean. This next one, Teen-Age Romances 36, is one of my favorite Baker covers. It's certainly not high grade, but it presents well and easily satisfies my bar for condition. It was the next 2 comics that got me excited. True Love Pictorial 2 and Diary Secrets 13. I don't often see TLP 2 and certainly not in this condition. And, I think this is the first DS 13 I've ever seen. I was already way over my comic budget for the month, but -- as I'm sure we've all experienced -- I was faced with either pulling the trigger on these comics or maybe waiting a long time before seeing them again, especially the last 2 in these conditions. We negotiated price for a few minutes, and he gave me a little off, but essentially I paid his asking price. The boardie didn't even bother going into the con. I spent a little over an hour in the con and ended up picking up another low grade Baker. I'll write about that in my next post. Thanks for reading.

I know you're joking, but I do think about this. I actually think my collection (and yours too, probably) would be relatively painless to sell. Auction off the CGC books on C-Link, and sell everything else to Mile High or Lone Star (or another big comic store). Even if sold at a discount for a quick sale, it's pretty good money. So if I go before my wife, then by all means she has my blessings to sell. And if I make it to those golden years. I won't hesitate to sell if I need the money; by that time I'll probably be more interested in sitting on a cruise ship sipping those cocktails with the little umbrellas, than having comics with Matt Baker covers.

Adding Shelf Space To Display More Comics Over President’s Day weekend I had some time for a project I’ve been wanting to get to. Currently in my comic room, I store a big chunk of my DC and Marvel action figure collection on a high shelf close to the ceiling. But, as you can see from this picture, for some reason I used a shelving board that was only about 8 inches deep. You can tell this by how the boxes extend beyond the edge of the shelf. This is not a good use of space as I can’t store anything in front of the boxes. So this past weekend, I replaced that 8 inch board with 16 inch boards. Here’s how it looked before putting back the action figure boxes. The 1st picture is the shelf, and the 2nd picture the shelf after I also extended the 2x4s supporting beams. By the way, I have a string of Christmas tree lights in the room for my comics-related Christmas ornament collection (which is 2 pieces at the moment). Here’s how the shelf looks after I put back the action figure boxes. The 2nd picture shows how much space I gained in front of the boxes by making this change. And finally, here’s a picture of the shelf with comics displayed in front of the action figure boxes. Thanks for reading.

It's listed in the Amash book. The blonde haired man looks somewhat "Bakerish" to me. Amash credits Colletta as inker. That might explain why it doesn't look like Baker, assuming it is a Baker cover. There are a few comics on my Baker list that I have doubts whether they are actually Baker. I pick them up if they're cheap.

Valentine's Day Dinner and New Additions to the Herd (Biro, Baker and a Fiction House Grail) My wife and I were in Atlanta over Valentine's day, to visit our daughter who's a freshman at Georgia Tech. We went to a restaurant called Livingston. My wife got lobster bisque and scallops. I got the cauliflower and asparagus appetizer, and the ribeye. At restaurants I always take a lot of time studying the menu, but then usually order the steak. I select (in order of preference) ribeye or porterhouse (tie), New York, then filet mignon or flank (tie). I admit breaking the tie is often based on the size of the cut (but of course you have to be careful with bone-in cuts as the bone is counted in the size). Also, at the moment I'm obsessed with chimichurri sauce; the variety of styles and flavors is really amazing. I try to balance out the red meat with a healthy appetizer. Although, not sure the appetizer was really healthy with all the cheese and the dipping sauce. Ah well ... red wine cancels out all the bad things we eat, right? Now on to comics ... I continue to be fascinated by Charles Biro covers. His Crime Does Not Pay covers are haunting. The stories don't seem to match the intensity of the covers, but I admit I haven't had time to do more than skim. What's great is his covers are relatively cheap. This CDNP 58 CGC 7.0 was only $75 BIN. I won this Matt Baker on eBay recently. I thought it was a good buy, but when it arrived I found it had water damage. It's not apparent unless you're holding the comic in your hand. For example, you can't tell when it's in mylar. The water damage wasn't disclosed. The seller's description said "Cover wrap and centerfold attached at both staples. Pages cream. Inside covers have tanning. No tape for restoration on book. Cover presents well for grade, retaining significant gloss." Finally, recently I picked up Fight Comics 27 from a boardie. This is a classic GGA cover and one of my grails. The copy is not perfect but it's solid and presents well, so I'm really happy to have it. Thanks for reading.

Jimbo - Thanks. I've always found Richie interesting to talk to and I've gotten good books from him, but mostly at cons. I haven't transitioned really to buying from him online, but contacting him via his website is a good idea.

RM, with all sincerity, I'm happy to be in any club with you.

I've been tempted too. I thought about buying the Bakers and binding them into one of those custom books. Haven't pulled the trigger yet but I'm tempted.

Well yeah, I won the GCE 12. My max bid started at $1500, went to $2000 and finally settled in at $2500. I decided to go for it because, even though the edges were ragged and there was writing along the top, I thought the colors were bright and the art clear. Also, my big collecting goal this year is to get a copy of FF 1. I'm looking for a low grade copy at a reasonable price. I've struck out so far but I had some money to spend so I decided to go for this. Now I can cross this one off my list. As I do whenever I buy an expensive comic -- when I buy at the top of the market -- I have some buyer's remorse. Especially when the comic has the issues this one has. But, I know from experience those feelings eventually go away. In my collecting life (going on 40+ years of active collecting now), the only deals I've regretted (where the regret has stuck with me) are the ones I passed on. I remember years ago at a SDCC buying TOS 39 and Sensation 1 (back then, the Sensation was the driver for the deal with the TOS thrown in at a discount). I had to run back to my hotel room for cash and it completely drained my funds for the con. I remember walking back to the con thinking "why the f* am I doing this?" Years later, they made Iron Man movies and now I can sell that TOS 39 for a down payment on a pretty nice car. And, the early appearance of WW is looking pretty good now (although, ahem, perhaps not as good Gal Gadot). My point is, our hobby is a pretty good investment too. That's what I tell my wife when I spend money on comics. She always looks skeptically at me though because she knows I won't sell, unless things get really bad (Knock on wood).

My list also includes the non-romance comics. As you can imagine, they are much easier to get for the most part. Also, here is Romantic Secrets 19 -- I think I mistakenly said #4 in my original post.

I posed this in my journal, but I know many here don't venture to that part of the boards so I thought I'd repost it here. Matt Baker Win and Loss I bid on a couple Matt Baker auctions on eBay yesterday. Both were low grade but complete and with covers that presented well. I lost the first auction for Teenage Temptations 4. My max bid was $175 and it ended at $178. I always hate losing an auction when my max price is so close to the ending price. I always think, if I just made my max bid $180 I would have won it. But that's a fallacy of course. Because the other bidder might have had a higher max bid too, The next one I won, Teenage Temptations 6. Again my max was $175, and this one closed at $108. I'm not surprised the other one closed higher. You don't see TT 4 at auction as much as TT 6. In retrospect I'm relieved the TT6 closed at $108, as I think my max bid of $175 was too high for the book. Here's an update on my goal to get a copy of every comic with a cover by Matt Baker. On my list is 293 comics. The one I just won, TT6, is my 100th Baker. Of those 100 comics, 33 are graded. So far I've spent a total of $11,346 on this collection, for an average of $113 per comic. The most I've spent is $510 for Cinderella Love 15. The least is $4 for Romantic Secrets (Charlton) #4.

Matt Baker Win and Loss I bid on a couple Matt Baker auctions on eBay yesterday. Both were low grade but complete and with covers that presented well. I lost the first auction for Teenage Temptations 4. My max bid was $175 and it ended at $178. I always hate losing an auction when my max price is so close to the ending price. I always think, if I just made my max bid $180 I would have won it. But that's a fallacy of course. Because the other bidder might have had a higher max bid too, The next one I won, Teenage Temptations 6. Again my max was $175, and this one closed at $108. I'm not surprised the other one closed higher. You don't see TT 4 at auction as much as TT 6. In retrospect I'm relieved the TT6 closed at $108, as I think my max bid of $175 was too high for the book. Here's an update on my goal to get a copy of every comic with a cover by Matt Baker. On my list is 293 comics. The one I just won, TT6, is my 100th Baker. Of those 100 comics, 33 are graded. So far I've spent a total of $11,346 on this collection, for an average of $113 per comic. The most I've spent is $510 for Cinderella Love 15. The least is $4 for Romantic Secrets (Charlton) #19.

Thanks Jimbo. Some of that mystical energy came from you. Always look forward to your sales. Here're the ones I got from you the last 2 months. (Also, while I'm still getting use to the new look boards, I definitely like how you can directly upload pictures, rather than having to go through Photobucket.)

Walking Into My Comic Room Well, I'm still getting use to the New Look boards. I think the beta skin is a big improvement because before the bright white on white hurt my eyes and made it hard to red. Hopefully we'll be getting some additional skins to choose from. Inserting pictures is way easier which I appreciate. I thought I'd post a few pictures of how it looks walking into my comic room. This first picture is the hallway outside my room. This is where I display some of my art. To the right is Jack Vettriano's Beautiful Losers (signed Artist Proof, 29/30). Next to it is a study by Olivia. On the facing wall is a study by Jennifer Janesko. The floor mat is, of course, a Star Trek transporter, to beam into my room (if you look carefully there's a beam me up Uhura on the shelf under the Olivia). I have a shelf unit right next to the door, where I keep storage supplies (mylars and backing boards). On the side I'm displaying Tomb Raider actions figures and Miss America Magazine #2 which has the first appearance of Patsy Walker. This next picture shows what you see when you're in the doorway. I've got a spinner rack in front of a TV. The TV is connected to Roku and Apple TV. Behind the TV is a sexy Supergirl, and behind Kara is my Lady Mechanika collection. On the ceiling is my Star Trek and Star Wars action figure collection. On the extreme right of the picture, in front of Miss America #2, are my convention tags. I think I have every tag of every con I've ever been to (of course, little local cons don't give you a name tag). I have a couple nails in the door frame and hang the lanyards there. I'm a pack rat (aren't we all, as comic collectors?) so I have the programs of those cons too. On the left side of the picture is a mask with orange flowers. It belongs to my daughter; we got it on a family vacation to Venice and she asked me to hold it for her until she's older. The mask is sitting on a Darth Vader that my oldest daughter gave me. On the side she wrote "You Are My Father." This next picture is a few steps inside the room. On the left is my PowerPuff Girls cell. I bought it at a SDCC years ago, because Professor Utonium is holding his 3 girls, and I have 3 daughters. My girls weren't much older when I bought the cell (now 2 are in college and the 3rd is going to college next year; my son, a high school sophomore, has a few more years to go, then my wife and I will be empty nesters -- I sometimes wonder if I'll be going to more or less cons when I get to that point in my life). Under the PPG cell is a Star Trek photo signed by all the Captains. Beneath that is a Yoda ceramic that my middle daughter made me a few years ago. Below that -- it's hard to see because of the Star Wars scanner -- is a copy of the Analog digest which had the original Ender's Game novella. I remember on eBay many years ago, I had to buy the whole year of Analog to get that issue. There's stuff packed everyone. It's organized chaos though, because I'm anal about it. I purposely try to make the room feel like a packed comic book store. You have to walk sideways to navigate the room, and that's how I want it. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this brief tour of my comic room. Thanks for reading.

Thanks Sagii68. I think I've gotten all the easy ones, so now it gets hard.

I think this is a good comprise. I like having the right column for the marketplace

The beta helps alot. I think the grey is fine. But I am having difficulty seeing where one post ends and the next begins. so I would like to have a skin with dark borders around posts. Thanks!

I'll take it

Modesty Blaise are the only books I bag (I use Mylites). A few years ago I found fungus on some of the books. So I cleaned them off and put them in bags and that seemed to solve the problem. I don't bag any of my other books.

The Nook In My Comic Book Room In my comic room, there's a small nook that's about 4' x 5'. I've built shelves and this is where I keep some of my special collections, such as Matt Baker and Dave Stevens comics and my Fiction House collection. Here's what the nook looks from outside the room. As you can see there's a window where I've put blankets on the ledge for my cat to sit. Here's a better picture of the cat ledge, with the window open. My house is on canals that lead out to an inland bay. The bay is great for fishing and crabbing. This picture was taken about a month ago in the winter, so there are no boats at the docks. The window looks to the north. So, if you go out my house and walk about 3 blocks to the right you hit the Atlantic. I store my books in mylar with a thick acid free backing board. They're stored standing up. On the bottom shelf, moving from right to left, there's my Dave Stevens collection. Most of my DS collection is slabbed but these are my raw copies of books I've decided not to grade, or autographed copies. To the left of the DS books is my raw Matt Baker raw collection. On the top shelf at the far right is my Alex Schomburg raw collection. Sorry about having to take the pictures at an angle. The room is too small to take them head on. I store my graded Bakers in another part of the comic room. Here's a picture. I also display some graded Bakers in plastic holders in the nook. Here's a picture of my Fiction House collection. It amounts to a couple of small stacks of mostly bondage GGA covers (many of them classic covers, IMHO). On the other side of the room I store my Modestly Blaise collection. I store hardbacks, paperbacks and miscellaneous mags and other paper collectibles here. I keep the Modesty trades stored in another location of the comic room. Thanks for reading.

Hello New Boards - Say Hi To 2 New Baker Covers (Diary Secrets 14 and Teenage Romances 31) I'm still trying to adjust to the look of the new boards. I guess we don't get signatures anymore. Or maybe things are still settling in. Anyway, here are 2 new Baker covers I picked up recently on eBay. The Baker market is still subject to randomness of who's looking at the time, because it cost me more for the 1st book than the 2nd (whereas I think the value is vice versa -- then again, the full cover Bakers always go for more than the piecemeal covers, even though I think the latter are sometimes fascinating). I'm happy to have both though. I recently updated my Baker cover list. I used to list 299 comics, now I have 292 (I delete some reprints). With these 2 I have a third of them (96 comics).

Pappy and Fried Chicken I'm a big bourbon fan and I was in SF last week for work. I heard about the Hard Water bar at Pier 3 of the Embarcadero (http://hardwaterbar.com/). The holy grail of bourbon is of course Pappy Van Winkle, and they have a flight of Van Winkle 10yr, 12yr, 15yr, & 20yr. Since I had time I had to try it out. Hard Water has so many bourbons they need a ladder to get to them, like the wine angels at Aureole in the Mandalay Bay in Vegas. Here's the flight. They have additions, the 23yr for $50 and the 13yr Rye for $50. But I decided to just go the the base flight (which was pricey enough, $175 for 4 half oz pours). Without getting too bourbon geek, I'll just say the 10yr and 12yr were as expected. The 20yr was a disappointment. The 15yr was freaking awesome! After the Pappy's I got a Jefferson Ocean. It was a 2 oz pour. I like this label because I went to the University of Virginia. And I've always been intrigued by this particular bourbon because they say they age it on the ocean. But it tasted like water compared to the Pappys. Hard Water is just a bar. A hip bar, but just a bar. No tables, just bar counters and stools. But the food is good. Along with the bourbon, I got 5 small courses: (1) Housemade BBQ Chips & French Onion dip; (2) Pork Belly Cracklins; (3) Crispy Oyster Po Boy; (4) Duck Pot Pie; and (5) 2 pieces of Spicy Nashville Style fried chicken. They were each small but afterwards I was stuffed. I completely killed my diet. But it was worth it! Here's the food (everything but the po boy). Thanks for reading.