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Last Matt Bakers of 2016 (This is from my Journal today - thanks for reading http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=7287580&fpart=68) I won a couple of Matt Bakers last week. I'm pretty sure these will be my last Bakers of 2016. So here's where I stand in my goal to get a copy of every comic with a Matt Baker cover. By my count, there are 299 such comics. I have 90, with an average price of $115. The most I've paid is $510. The least $4. The 2 acquisitions below were kind of surprises. The first one was an offer on an eBay BIN. I made an offer and it was accepted. I knew the seller and I based my offer on my past deals with him, so maybe this one wasn't as much a surprise. The second win was definitely a surprise, as you don't see these giants very often. The seller was BakerFan and I was very happy to win the auction. Thanks for reading.

Last Matt Bakers of 2016 I won a couple of Matt Bakers last week. I'm pretty sure these will be my last Bakers of 2016. So here's where I stand in my goal to get a copy of every comic with a Matt Baker cover. By my count, there are 299 such comics. I have 90, with an average price of $115. The most I've paid is $510. The least $4. The 2 acquisitions below were kind of surprises. The first one was an offer on an eBay BIN. I made an offer and it was accepted. I knew the seller and I based my offer on my past deals with him, so maybe this one wasn't as much a surprise. I pulled the trigger on the book because, while the spine is rough, the art on the cover presents well. The second win was definitely a surprise, as you don't see these giants very often. The seller was BakerFan and I was very happy to win the auction. Thanks for reading.

Thanks Oakman. Yeah, I really put a lot into my collection. And I'm at the point in my life where my kids are going to college and I see retirement on the horizon, so I have more time for my collection and I'm enjoying more now than ever.

No CLink or CConnect Wins, Bettie Page, Dave Stevens, and Morena Baccarin A few miscellaneous ramblings this Saturday morning. I wrote a few weeks ago how I was excited about this month's CLink and CConnect auctions. Well they were a complete failure for me. I guess everyone was bidding with their Christmas money because all the things I wanted quickly went above what I was willing to spend. There was one book I considered breaking the bank for, Matt Baker's It Rhymes With Lust. Both auction houses were offering a copy. But at the end of the day I decided to pass. I've spent too much money on Matt Baker this year, and maybe I'm still in a post-election funk but I couldn't get enthusiastic about spending a lot of money. I did win this one book, Aurora Comic Scenes with Robin. I'm old enough to have put these together when I was a kid, so I'm still shocked you can find these manuals in such good condition (as mine all ended up folded and with paint and glue on them). I now have 4 of the 10 in 9.8. I won it for $28 and it's worth 240 points on the Registry. I picked up a couple books for my Bettie Page collection lately. The first is Fond Memories Z -- this fanzine is numbered with letters. The second is the regular cover of Who Killed Bettie? (There are 4 covers of this 1 issue series published back in 1998.) I am really close to taking over the #1 spot in the Dave Stevens Covers set. I've submitted a bunch of books for this set, hoping for 9.8, and as everyone who does this knows, you end up with a lot duds. Here's one of mine, that I just got back from CGC, Cheval Noir. These square bound books are hard to grade for me, so I was really disappointed when it came back just 9.4. Now not sure what I'm going to do with it; maybe put it up on eBay (because I already have a 9.6). But, this one came back 9.8 so now I'm less than 100 points from the top spot. A small subset of my collection is autographs by actors and actresses of my favorite movies and TV shows. Here's a signed photo of Morena Baccarin who plays Leslie Thompkins on Gotham. This one cost a bit more to get because her autograph was authenticated by PSA.

Georgie and Silk Spectre (Malin Akerman) Just a couple of miscellaneous things today. First, a couple of golden age GGA comics I picked up lately from the Georgie series. The 2nd one below is kind of weird. When I bid on it on eBay, I thought it was a problem with the seller's scanner or camera. But no, this is exactly how the actual comic looks. I've never seen such extreme misalignment with the comic printing process. And now here are a few autograph pictures of Malin Akerman, who of course was Silk Spectre 2 in the Watchmen movie.

Alex Schomburg I have a small stack of books with Schomburg's airbrushed covers. I bought them years ago mostly at the SDCC. I decided to submit a couple to CGC a few months ago and I recently got them back. Here they are: Here are a few more from my collection. I struggle over what to submit to CGC, but I think I'll be keeping these raw.

I'm very impressed you put together this list, and then circled back to check on your progress. The very act of doing that had to help with your collecting. I'm thinking about doing the same thing for myself for 2017.

via pm

The Original Art for Cerebus 6 -- Jaka's First Appearance I own the original art for Cerebus 6. Reading that sentence, you might think I'm bragging. But I'm not. It's more like I still can't believe it, even years later. To own the OA for an entire comic is big enough. But for it to be one of my favorite comics, and on top of that the first appearance of a major character like Jaka ... like I said, I still can't believe I own it. The art came up for sale on ComicLink a few years ago. I just happened to stumble on the listing, because I wasn't a regular CLink customer back then. I knew it would sell for a lot. Normal Cerebus pages regular sell for $500+, and this was 22 pages, many of them special pages (like the yak and apricot brandy pages). I told my wife about it, more in passing than trying to convince her to let me bid on it. She told me to go for it. We'd recently celebrated our anniversary and I bought her a diamond ring, kind of like another engagement ring (she still has her original ring but it has an emerald which is fragile and we'd been worrying about it as the years went by). So the OA would be her anniversary gift to me. So that gave me the green light. I thought about what my max bid would be, and after a lot of going back and forth, I entered it. I was sweating bullets as the auction counted down. And at the end of the day I won. It ended at about 18% less than my max bid. Still, to this day it's the most I've spent on anything other than a car, house or college tuition. The funny thing is, I've never been able to get a high grade copy of the comic There are 16 9.4s and 16 9.6s on the census, and 12 9.8s. There's one 10, if you can believe that. I sent in my #6 to CGC years ago, and it came back a 9.4. You rarely see anything higher on eBay or the other auction sites. Then just yesterday I saw a 9.6 being offered. The seller and I went back and forth (I used up my 3 offers), and we finally settled on a price. So now I have a 9.6 in addition to the 9.4. Here's my new CGC 9.6: Here's the page where Jaka first appears (dancing in the upper right corner): Here's the page where Cerebus offers to kill a yak for Jaka's dinner: And here's the sweet apricot brandy page. Thanks for reading.

I agree completely. Great post!

House of Prime Rib and W Hotel (SF) This past week I had to go to SF for work. Work was emotionally and physically draining, but I was able to look forward to dinner at the House of Prime Rib. I always get their House cut (see the picture below), medium rare and seared (you have to ask for it to be seared; to me it adds to the flavor but it necessarily makes it not quite medium rare). The food's delicious, and also a good deal as it's all inclusive. For one price you get a delicious chopped salad, huge loaded baked potato, creamed spinach, Yorkshire pudding, and a variety of horseradish sauces (there are other choices for sides, liked mashed potatoes and gravy, and creamed corn). They give you a bread basket too but I usually skip that. On top of that, at the end of the meal, you get another piece of prime rib. It's included but you have to ask for it. They're cool about it; you can actually request it and bring it home to eat it later. This is a good time to order an end cut (if you didn't order one for your main entree). I always get their vodka martin with extra olives i to start the meal (no, alas, they don't have blue cheese olives). It comes in a tumbler, so you always get a little extra to top off your drink. From there I turn to wine or beer, depending on my mood and who I'm eating with. Reservations are hard to get so book early; or you can always try to eat at the bar. During this trip I stayed at the W Hotel. I like the W's as when you walk in you feel like you're in a nightclub. This one has a cocktail video game table (just like the one I have in my house). Whenever I stay here I always try to play a game of Donkey Kong and Galaga. Also, it's an easy 30 minute walk from the W to the House, and you get to walk through a few hip SF neighborhoods.

Here's an updated index to this journal. Thanks for reading. Page 1 Dec 2013 My Lady Mechanika collection; Dennis the Menace #1 Page 2 My Gwen Stacy collection (Dijana Granov sketch cover; ASM 31, 121 & 144; Spectacular Spider-man Annual 8; ASM Movie Photocover CGC 9.6; Marvels 4); Bourbon Steak January 2014 Page 3 Jan 2014 CGC 10 – Inkwell Awards; Cerebus 1 CGC 8.5 (and counterfeit CGC 7.5); The Economics of Selling Comics; Original Marvels Collection (ASM 1, Hulk 104) Page 4 Buyer’s Remorse – ASM 6; Dennis the Menace paperbacks; Morning Glories books with gift certificate Page 5 Getting into the Walking Dead (with cast photo and Michonne sketch cover); Avengers 5 CGC 5.0 & FF 13 (ComicLink January 2014) Page 6 Cerebus 4, 5 & 7 all CGC 9.6 (ComicLink January 2014); Submitting My Next CGC Invoice (and the purpose of grading); All Flash 25 (jitterbug cover); Flash Comics 92 (Black Canary cover); Protectors of My Comic Book Room; Bone Hardcover Set Volume 1-9 and Rose; Lee's Comics on El Camino Real Page 7 Powerpuff Girls (me and my 3 daughters); Kiki's Delivery Service cell; Heritage Sunday auctions (Enric Torres-Prat paperback cover); Green Lantern 40 (Crisis origin); Midtown Comics; Jamie Tyndall's Lady Mechanika and Gen 13 sketch covers; beef tartar & fried padrón peppers and prosciutto from Bourbon Steak; Original Marvels Collection – Revisited Page 8 Feb 2014 Wins - ComicConnect January 2014 Auction; Famous Crimes 3 (Heritage Sunday Auction); Alfred Trujillo cover commission – sexy Black Canary pulling on boots Page 9 March 2014 Dave Stevens (and why did I do that?); Olivia De Berardinis; 2 Emma Frost sketch covers; Latest CGC Invoice #1; Latest CGC Invoice #2: More buyer's remorse; Latest CGC Invoice #3: Flash "jitterbug" cover Page 10 Latest CGC Invoice #4 - First Black Canary cover; Latest CGC Invoice #5 - Amazing Spider-Man 300; Latest CGC Invoice #6 - 1st Lana Lang; Gwen Stacy by Tim Sale; Carnegie Deli NYC; More Gwen Stacy and Not Going to ECCC; ComicLink March 2014 Auction; Lily Renée Planet Comics Page 11 April 2014 Game of Thrones -- Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister); DScott's Recent Sale (Dijana Granov sketch cover, Laurie Holden TWD CGC SS, Anthony Castrillo sketch cover); Grail Comics When You’re Over Your Budget (Wings Comics 85 and 87); Pax East Boston, April 2014; ComicLink April 2014: Annie Oakley, Gwen Stacy and Dave Stevens; Thony Silas Gwen Stacy Sketch Covers Page 12 May 2014 Comics Signed by Actors (Heroes - Hayden Panettiere); Some of My Star Wars and Star Trek Collection; My Next CGC Invoice and My Modern Indecision (Betty and Veronica 40 & 41); Fantastic Four #4: Kirby's cover of Reed, Sue and Namor; Incredible Deal or Waste of Money (Walking Dead cast photo with 11 signatures) Page 13 Signed Emma Stone photo; Tim Sale MJ sketch cover; More Gwen Stacy & Unexpected Generosity from Modelmaker (Gwen sketch covers by Lobresti and Joe Benitez); Getting Ready for WW Philly and On-Site Grading; A Couple of J. Scott's (SSS 20 & Black Cat); Miss Fury 3 Page 14 June 2014 Okay, You Can Have It - Part 2; Comic Connect Auction and Getting Ready for WW Philadelphia (Mademoiselle Marie); Another Gwen Stacy Cover and (NOT) Doing a Good Job Saving for WW Philly (Gwen by Broomall); One Week To WW Philly (sexy Lauren Cohan); Deciding Which Comics to Submit for Grading for Onsite at WW Philly; WW Philly Con 2014 Report – Thursday Page 15 WW Philly 2014 Con Report - Thursday (Part 2); WW Philly Con Report – Friday; WW Philly Con Report - Saturday (And losing out on Daryl but getting Michonne instead) Page 16 WW Philly On-Site Comics #1 (Frank Miller & Sin City); WW Philly On-Site Comics #2 (Joe Benitez and Lady Mechanika); WW Philly On-Site Comics #3; WW Philadelphia -- Star Trek the Next Generation; Commentary on WW Philadelphia: On-Site Grading Page 17 July 2014 WW Philly - Getting Signatures Witnessed; Startling Comics 1; Getting Ready for SDCC 2014; Most Recent CGC Invoice #1 - How Accurate Are Comic Connect's Grades?; Most Recent CGC Invoice #2 - My "Original Marvels" Collection; Most Recent CGC Invoice #3 - The first Margaret and some GGA covers Page 18 Getting Ready for SDCC 2014 #2; Showcase 30 (1st Aquaman); Getting Ready for SDCC 2014 #3; San Diego 2014 Con Report – Wednesday Page 19 San Diego 2014 Thursday & Friday Page 20 SDCC 2014 More Friday; San Diego 2014 - Final Thoughts Page 21 San Diego 2014 - Some things I got; J. Scott Campbell's Gwen Stacy & MJ Statues; Canteen Kate 3 CGC 7.0; How Does CGC Grade Missing Pieces? (Hawkman 1); CGC SS Photos (Jason Momoa); Easing Up on the Grades for Walking Dead Keys Page 22 Aug 2014 Jumping Into the Dave Stevens Covers Registry Competition; Getting a deal when no one else is looking (Brenda Starr 10); Two issues closer to completing my Original Marvels Collection; Are Sketch Ops on these boards worth the bother? Page 23 San Diego Is In!; Major Grail !!! Bone #1 CGC 9.6; Going to Baltimore 2014 for On-Site Grading Page 24 Sept 2014 This is why I can't save for Baltimore Con (CGC Photo Shatner and Nimoy); Baltimore Con 2014 – Friday & Saturday Page 25 Baltimore -- More stuff I picked up & last thoughts; First Mention of Batmobile and Gotham City; Something CGC Wouldn't Grade; On-Sites from Baltimore; Biggest Holder I've Ever Seen; My First Sketch Op Almost Done (sexy Black Canary and Scarlet Witch) Page 26 Batman 42 - the First Catwoman Cover in Batman; Star Wars Mini-Figs and a Brief Tour of My Comic Book Room; Game of Thrones CGC SS (Emilia Clarke and Jason Momoa); Update on Dave Stevens Cover Set; Game of Thrones and Seville; Mostly Striking Out in the September 2014 ComicLink Auction; Which Copy Would you Buy? (Conan 23 – 1st Red Sonja) Page 27 Oct 2014 Suzie Comics 51, 56; Still Waiting for my 2 Value Invoices; Dave Stevens (Bettie Page); RASL; Matt Baker Weekend; Latest CGC Grades -- DC War, Keys, Matt Baker, Good Girl Art; A few more from Baltimore on-site grading Page 28 Oct 2014 C-Link wins (FF 2, Startling Terror, ASM 4, Suzie 53, 70; Latest CGC Grades Part 2 - Golden Age Good Girl Art, Archies and Greg Reese Page 29 Nov 2014 Latest CGC Grades Part 2 - Valkyrie, Terry and the Pirates and a sought after GGA; All the Star Trek Captains!; More Valkyrie and Dave Stevens; Morning Glories OA; Running out of Room in the Comic Book Room!; Bourbon's My Drink Page 30 Chicago Cut Steakhouse; Dave Stevens Set -- Recent Additions; Avengers Annual 10; Olivia De Berardinis (Jelly Roll; Marilyn Monroe); My Statue Collection; Which Avengers #1 Would You Buy?; Which Amazing Spider-Man #1 Would You Buy? CGC 7.0(SA) or CGC 3.0 Page 31 Dec 2014 Modesty Blaise; New Matt Baker; Batman's Alfred; Scaling Back My Collection (December 2014) Page 32 Dec 2014 Planning My New Comic Book Room; Alfred Truillo commission (Black Canary and Scarlet Witch); Thoughts on The Walking Dead market; My First Buy of 2015 - Marvel Mystery 87; Walking Dead 105 (ironing face issue) Page 33 Jan 2015 Additions to My Gwen Stacy Collection; Update on My Collecting Life (reducing my collection to 25,000 comics); January 2015 ComicLink Auction; Focusing My Collection (DC titles) Page 34 Feb 2015 Dave Stevens Registry additions; Daryl Dixon In The Walking Dead Comic; a bunch of my Walking Dead books; Cerebus Graded Books and the origin of CGC SS; Update on Right Sizing My Collection Page 35 Feb 2015 Happy With Modern Submission Turn-Around Time; Dave Stevens’ Satanika; Non-CGC Blue Goodness; Miscellaneous Updates On My Collecting Life Page 36 Auction Wins -- Some Buyer's Remorse (Starslayer 2, Detective Comics 371); Results of My Latest CGC Modern Submission #1 (Optic Nerve, Gwen Stacy, Mining My Collection; Shadow Preliminary Art by Michael Kaluta Page 37 Franchesco; Broomall; Russ Cochran's Complete EC Library; Midtown Comics and Spider Gwen; Craft Beer and a Surprise Ebay Win (Hawkman 4 – 1st Zatanna); Archie GGA (Archie #50) Page 38 Spring Break and a Unique Comic Collectible at Universal Orlando; Collecting While on Vacation (and a few vacation pictures) (Disney Cruise); New Walking Dead SS Books Page 39 April 2015 CGC Overall Registry and Fun Lisners; My Custom Registry Set -- Sketch Covers; Stupid Mistake On The Way To Getting a Grail (Famous Funnies 209 – Frank Frazetta); Having Fun With the CGC Registry; Mixed Feelings About March and April 2015 ComicLink Wins; Gwen Stacy as Spider-Gwen Page 40 Marvel First Issues That Are Not #1s; Competing When It's All About Money; Recent Lady Mechanika Additions; My CGC Submission Strategy & Registry Addiction; Walking Dead and CGC Photos (Kate Bosworth); CGC SS from Hong Kong; This Is Why I Hate Heritage Page 41 May 2015 Gwen Stacy's First Appearance; Fluctuations in Registry Points and a Dave Stevens Mystery; Joseph Lisner (Steed and Mrs. Peel); Death of Gwen Stacy; Awesome Con (Washington DC) - Short Con Report Page 42 Bobbing Up and Down the Waves of the CGC Registry; Sunday Wins and One of Those eBay Sellers; More on One of Those eBay Sellers / Top Registry Spots / Howard Chaykin Page 43 June 2015 Jenevieve Broomall Commission -- Gwen Stacy “pulling on boots;” What Makes Your Collection Unique?; Registry Update - Almost to Page 3!; Frank Miller and Maxim; Game of Thrones Bummer Page 44 Using the Registry to Find New Things to Collect; Additions to Gwen Stacy Collection (Adam Hughes); June ComicLink Wins; My New Comic Book Room In Our Beach House (July 2015) Page 45 CGC Turn-Around Times; My New Comic Book Room - Wall Books (DC gold and silver keys) & Action Figures Page 46 CGC Turn-Around Times; My New Comic Book Room - Wall Books (DC gold and silver keys) & Action Figures Page 47 Terry Moore Strangers in Paradise Art; New CGC Books -- Matt Baker and Neal Adams; The Joy of Cheap Comics and Checking Off Want Lists; No Baltimore Con Buys (Matt Baker and others) Page 48 Finished Jenevieve Broomall Commission -- Gwen Stacy; More Matt Baker Page 49 Oct 2015 ComicLink Modern Wins; Steak and Eggs in Amsterdam; Recent Matt Baker Pickups; Latest CGC Invoice & Turnaround Times, and Peaking at CGC Grades; Batman 65 (Catwoman cover); Quality Meats NYC and Spider-Gwen Update Page 50 Nov 2015 Shadow 12 CGC and OA; Major Walking Dead SS Win (Rick and Beth); CGC Submission Strategy (Broomall); Anime USA; Matt Baker Weekend; When Your Grading Hopes Aren't Reality; Lisner Modern GGA; My Action Figure Collection Page 51 Dec 2015 Batgirl; Great Gwen Stacy / Adam Hughes Buy; CGC Photo Yvonne Craig; Holy Cow! I Have This?!! (Batman Adventures 12); Walking Dead Cast SS Book; Recent Golden Age GGA Pickups - Matt Baker Page 52 Jan 2016 Strangers in Paradise / Terry Moore Original Art; Championship Sunday Equals Deals On eBay; First Silver Surfer and Galactus Page 53 Feb 2016 A Rare Valiant Collectible (?) – Valiant Index; CGC Turn-Around Times -- 2015 Report; No SDCC For Me & Pics of My Comic Book Room; Good Burger / Some Golden Age GGA; Displaying CGC Books Page 54 March 2016 Newly Graded Matt Baker; Additions to the Gwen Stacy Collection (SDCC Program with Emma and Andrew photocover); Gwen commission by Richard Moore; Jane Arden - Fiction House; 1st Appearance of William Tucci's Shi Page 55 March 2016 Matt Baker -- 1 out of 4; Torchy -- Bill Ward Compared to Other Artists; So I Went To a Local Con Yesterday ... Page 56 April 2016 The Grail Fund; Jennifer Janesko; Recent Acquisitions and Pics of the Comic Book Room (Frozen); ASM Movie #1 multiple versions Page 57 April 2016 Mound City Auctions – FF 12; Jay & Silent Bob; Inkwell Franchesco; Adam Hughes Gwen; My Staging Table and Pax East; Mylar sizes; Additions to Dave Stevens Set Page 58 Before and After Pictures of My New Comic Book Room; THE Gwen Stacy Collectible – ASM Movie signed by Emma Stone!; Flashback - Vinyl LPs!; Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane; Jaka -- Wow! Page 59 May 2016 Bubbles, Wrightson and Amanda Segfried; Dave Stevens Covers Set; Game of Thrones; David Nakayama; A Dave Sim miss (Jaka); Wizard World Philadelphia 2016 - Con Report Page 60 June 2016 Tim Sale Gwen Stacy sketch; Matt Baker Wins and Losses; Tales of the Comic Book Room (Origin Issue!); My New Favorite Book -- Cast Signed Gotham Central Page 61 Patsy Walker and More Tales of the Comic Book Room; Update on My (Collecting) Life; Tales of the Comic Room - Where Do I Store Supplies?; Displaying CGC Books; Tales of the Comic Room - Making Space to Display CGC Books; My Little Beach Cottage; My Art Gallery; Tales of the Comic Book Room -- Making Room to Work Page 62 August 2016 Update on My Dave Stevens Covers Registry Set; Gwen Stacy Commissions (Ramona Fradon; George Perez; Frank Cho; Nick Cardy; Joe Staton; John Romita and JR JR; FF #3 & Boy Comics Page 63 August 2016 Gwen Stacy Before She Dated Peter Parker; Matt Baker Is Too Expensive; Update on Baker - I Can't Stay Away; GA Damsels In Distress; My Collecting Priorities and Some Classic GA GGA Covers; Original Marvels - Hulk 181 (6 left) Page 64 September 2016 LB Cole GGA Cover (Popular Teenagers); The Agony of Modern CGC Submissions (Spider-Gwen); Originals Marvel Collection – ASM 14 & 50 (4 left) and Matt Baker Covers; Heritage Sunday Auction Win -- Famous Funnies 211 (Frank Frazetta); I Need ASM 2 & 3 / Sailing the Danube; Vintage Paperback Collection; A Couple Oddities for My Gwen Stacy Collection; Update on CGC Turn-Around Time and Latest Matt Bakers Page 65 October 2016 Fiction House and Collecting Covers; Selling the Dreks of My Collection (22,000 comics & Star Trek/Star Wars toys); Classic Covers -- Spirit, Airboy & Bruce Gentry Page 66 October 2016 Waking Up and Realizing You Won (C-Link Auction); Modesty Blaise Collection - Last Day In Limbo; Disney World and the Presidential Election; BLT Steak (Atlanta) and The Palm (Tysons Corner VA) / Modesty Blaise Silver Mistress; What I Got - Part 1 (Original Marvels Collection - I Need Just 1 More); Walt Disney World on Election Day; Recent Acquisitions (Nyoka, LB Cole, Berthet, Bettie Page, Gwen Stacy & Lauren Cohan); Cheapest Win Ever on ComicLink; Completing Runs After Focusing My Collection

Recent Pickups / Last C-Link and C-Connect Auctions of 2016 Wow, some really great comics being offered in the C-Link and C-Connect auctions this month. The timing by the auction houses was certainly intentional, to take advantage of Christmas. I was planning to shop for a FF #1 for my Christmas present (to finish off my Original Marvels collection) but you don't see these comics often, whereas FF #1 is all over the place. So I think I'll use my Christmas budget on these auctions and shop for FF #1 sometime in 2017. The question is, will I be able to win any of my auctions? Right now I'm tracking a couple dozen lots and I haven't even gotten through all of C-Connect yet. But, most of these comics you don't see often; they might come up for auction 1 or 2 times a year. I don't want to break the bank though. Maybe I'll get lucky, as with so many great comics being offered at the same time, a few might go for reasonable prices. Anyway, here are a few comics I've picked up lately. First is this jewel I got from a boardie, Ringo Kid Western #1 with the 1st appearance of Ringo Kid. Of Marvel's 3 cowboy Kids -- Rawhide, Colt and Ringo -- Ringo was probably my least favorite, but it's still very cool to own his 1st appearance. A low grade copy, but it presents well to my eyes, and I picked it up for only $32. Switching gears, here are 3 leggy GGA comics I also managed to buy on the cheap. Thanks for reading.

What I Got - Part 3 (Legion of Super-Heroes in Adventure Comics) This is the last part of the story of my shopping spree after selling a lot of comics and toys, to thin down my collection. I used the last part of the money to complete my Legion of Super-Heroes collection. At the same time I completed my run of Adventure Comics. My goal with Adventure was to get every issue from 300 to the end, which was issue 529. It was somewhat tough at the end because the latter part of the series included a number of digest size comics that are hard to find. But over the last year I've bought a bunch of digests from boardies here so that helped complete my run. The reason I started collecting Adventure was because of the LSH. As a kid growing up, they were probably my favorite characters after Spider-Man. So that naturally led me to collect Adventure Comics. In addition to Adventure 300-529, I also have all the earlier issues that have appearances by the Legion. In addition, I have complete runs of the first 5 Legion series (in their own titles), plus the Legionnaires and a few mini-series. I finally stopped collecting with the 6th series -- the one that started in 2010 -- because, honestly, by that time the magic for me was mostly gone and I would've been collecting mostly out of habit. But the magic is still there for the earlier issues and series, and I had a lot of fun picking up the Adventure and LSH issues I was missing to finish my collection. Here are a few of the Legion comics in my collection.

What I Got - Part 2 (Matt Baker and the Vision) I'm continuing the story of my shopping spree after selling about 22,000 comics and a bunch of Star Wars & Star Trek toys from my collection. I sold this to get rid of stuff I no longer wanted, and to fit my remaining collection in the much smaller comic room in my eventual retirement home by the beach. I won 2 Bakers from Bakerfan on eBay. I previously wrote how his Baker auctions are fetching high prices, often well over $500. I got lucky with these. I won Teenage Romances #17 for $227 and #40 for $338. I also had a surprise win in last month's ComicLink auction, Avengers 57 (first appearance of the Vision). I wasn't actively shopping for this book but it has my favorite restoration -- a little color touch on the cover. To me, that's barely a flaw, yet it often drives down the price and lets you pick up a nicer copy for a lower price. I ended up winning this for $167, less than half GPA for a blue in the same grade. (By the way, I call it "barely a flaw" because if I bought the book raw I probably wouldn't notice, and the dealer might not either -- but since the flaw is disclosed, I can buy the graded book for less than a raw one.)

I emailed bakerfan about this thread so maybe he'll stop by and post a few of his treasures

bakerfan also told me he hasn't been on these boards for years. I'll email this thread to him, so perhaps he'll visit and give us an update on the Flamingo book. I'll certainly buy a copy! Interesting. Thanks for following up with him. I assumed he was selling off his own collection because he didn't seem to be a dealer. Imo, he undergrades a bit, perhaps to cut down on returns. I don't remember him listing high-grade copies, although I may be forgetting or perhaps I missed them. Of course, on many Bakers, even a copy in the Fine range is pretty high grade. Yeah, for me I think of Fine as high grade for Baker. One of the books I got from bakerfan was previously graded 7.0. He cracked it out of the holder but sent the CGC label to me. I'm resubmitting it. If it comes back 7.0 it'll be the highest graded baker in my collection.

I posted this in my journal and thought those here would be interested too. http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=9648386#Post9648386 BakerFan Speaks If you're a Matt Baker collector, you're probably well aware of bakerfan. He's been offering high grade copies of Baker comics for the last year or so. He's been getting high prices too, outside my price range, and I ranted about this some time ago (see http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=7287580&fpart=63). In that post, I talked about how expensive Baker covers have become, so expensive they were now out of my price range. After thinking about it more, I think I was wrong. After watching (and participating in) the market this past year, I think the price surge has been specific to high grade copies like those offered by bakerfan. But, low- and mid-grade copies remain reasonable (although they're higher too compared to a couple years ago, as a higher tide raises all boats). Also, I think the demand for Bakers is limited among a relatively small amount of collectors. Devoted and passionate, yes, but small. Because of that, Bakers are more vulnerable to price fluctuations depending on who's shopping at the time, who's spent their collecting budget for the month, etc. Because of that, I've managed to pick up a few of bakerfan's Bakers over the last year. Here are the ones I've won: I'm intrigued by bakerfan. How does he have so many Bakers to sell? This weekend I finally emailed him via eBay. He responded and kindly gave me permission to publish here his response: bakerfan also told me he hasn't been on these boards for years. I'll email this thread to him, so perhaps he'll visit and give us an update on the Flamingo book. I'll certainly buy a copy!

BakerFan Speaks If you're a Matt Baker collector, you're probably well aware of bakerfan. He's been offering high grade copies of Baker comics for the last year or so. He's been getting high prices too, outside my price range, and I ranted about this some time ago (see http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=7287580&fpart=63). In that post, I talked about how expensive Baker covers have become, so expensive they were now out of my price range. After thinking about it more, I think I was wrong. After watching (and participating in) the market this past year, I think the price surge has been specific to high grade copies like those offered by bakerfan. But, low- and mid-grade copies remain reasonable (although they're higher too compared to a couple years ago, as a higher tide raises all boats). Also, I think the demand for Bakers is limited among a relatively small amount of collectors. Devoted and passionate, yes, but small. Because of that, Bakers are more vulnerable to price fluctuations depending on who's shopping at the time, who's spent their collecting budget for the month, etc. Because of that, I've managed to pick up a few of bakerfan's Bakers over the last year. Here are the ones I've won: I'm intrigued by bakerfan. How does he have so many Bakers to sell? This weekend I finally emailed him via eBay. He responded and kindly gave me permission to publish here his response: bakerfan also told me he hasn't been on these boards for years. I'll email this thread to him, so perhaps he'll visit and give us an update on the Flamingo book. I'll certainly buy a copy!

Rune - Thanks for the information, that's really good to know. I guess now the original Danish copy is on my want list!

Completing Runs After Focusing My Collection It's hard to explain, but after selling off half my collection, I'm more into collecting now than ever. I'm more focused now. And collecting is more fun, because I'm concentrating on what I really like, as opposed to a lot of other stuff I was collecting more out of habit than any real interest. Lately I've been trying to finish off runs. Most of my collection was built off of dollar boxes at cons, but I haven't gone to many cons the last few years so I rely on eBay and a few online stores. I used to buy from Mile High but they are just too expensive -- ridiculously expensive (others here have written about this, but I just do not understand how they stay in business, or who are the poor misguided souls who buy from them when you can get the same comics elsewhere for a lot less). My favorite online comic store is Lone Star (mycomicshop.com). They have a good selection for fair prices. Sometimes when I need a particular comic I'll go to Atomic Avenue, but they have high shipping costs. When I'm close to completing a title, I'm willing to pay more (just to get the dang thing finished!). So, rather than try to wait for a good buy at a buck, I'll spend $2 or $3 per comic, even more. I know I'm probably paying more than the comic is worth, but the completist in me really feels good when I finish off a title. Anyway, here are comics I've recently bought from Lone Star. Thanks for reading.

Cheapest Win Ever on ComicLink I logged into C-Link this morning to pay for last month's auction wins when I realized I won this. Early on in the auction I entered a low tracking bid and then forgot all about it. How much was my winning bid? One dollar. Well short of my $2 max bid. If only I could be so lucky with Matt Baker covers.

Good luck with your con this weekend. I'm hoping to go to a con this weekend too as a buyer with my want list. As for the freebie bag, I think put a coupon in the bag for a piece of candy. That will get people to your table.

Recent Acquisitions (Nyoka, LB Cole, Berthet, Bettie Page, Gwen Stacy & Lauren Cohan) Here are a few recent inexpensive eBay pickups. It takes time to find these cheap gems among all the thousands of books offered on eBay, but it's a lot of fun too (I guess that's why they call it a hobby). It's both fun and satisfying to get cool things for the collection that cost little money. First, a couple of ladies in peril. I got the Nyoka for $9 and the Terrors of the Jungle (with an LB Cole cover) for $22. Next up is this small print by Philippe Berthet. I started collected Berthet a few years back because many of his characters are based on Betty Page (as with Dave Stevens). I got this from an eBay seller in France. I think this was actually a giveaway at a gallery or wine tasting. I won it for $3. Speaking of Betty Page (I guess the actual spelling is Bettie), I have a small collection of stuff devoted to her. I keep the stuff in Mylar sheets that are 3 hole punched (I get the sheets from E. Gerber). There are 2 sizes, comic-size and mag-size. The sheets go in extra thick binders, and right now my Bettie Page collection is up to 3 very full binders. This new acquisition though is too big for the binders. It's the issue of the old Comic Buyer's Guide where Don Thompson wrote about finding Bettie Page, and urging people to pay her if they use her likeness in their publications. I subscribed to CBG for over 20 years but never kept the issues (other than the few where they published my letters, and a few special issues, like the sideways Cerebus issue). It's nice having a copy of this again. I won it on eBay for $9. Here's a cool addition to my Gwen Stacy collection, the Danish version of ASM 121 (I got it for $9): Finally, to commemorate the new season of Walking Dead, I got this signed autograph of Lauren Cohan. She plays Maggie in the TV show. I won it for $21. Thanks for reading.

Walt Disney World on Election Day As I mentioned before, my family's tradition is to be in Disney World on election day. This is the third election in a row we've been here. We arrived very late Friday and we'll be leaving tomorrow. The voters in my family (me, my wife and my 2 oldest daughters who are in college) voted early. I can't do a Disney trip report without showing Cinderella's castle. And the Magic Kingdom is already decked out for Christmas, 3 weeks before Thanksgiving! Saturday night, after watching Fantasmic at Hollywood Studios (one of our favorite shows, we never miss it when we're here), we rushed back to the Boardwalk and ate dinner at Flying Fish. My family is into traditions, and we always eat at FF when we visit Disney but this might be our last time. They have a new menu and it's ungodly expensive. It's delicious though. For my appetizer I got the Kurobuta Pork Belly that's served with a shank croquette, apple slaw, bing cherry jelly drops and quail egg. Here's more food. Disney is expensive but they have some bargains. Like, the turkey leg which is under $15 and a meal by itself. And also the fish and chips at the Great Britain pavilion in Epcot -- it has 2 huge fillets and lots of fries. It's delicious and cheap at $10.49. Another good and delicious deal is the brat at the Germany pavilion in Epcot. The brat is only $9.49. Here's what I got last night, with a frosty beer: Right now is Epcot's food and wine festival. Epcot also used to have my favorite all-time Disney ride, the Norway ride (and you always have to stay and watch the short movie). BUT, they replaced the Norway ride with a very lame Frozen ride. Still, the food and wine festival is fun to graze at for dinner. Last night I got the brat and turkey leg plus beer and wine for my meal. I was also going to have a Peking Duck steamed bun, but my daughter ate it. Finally here are my 4 kids in Magic Kingdom. Our vacation this time was kind of melancholy because my two oldest -- the 2 girls in the middle -- had to leave early to get back to college (one left on Saturday, the other on Sunday). But, as your kids get older, you learn to cherish any time they can spend with you. Thanks for reading.