n2wdw

Just picked up these books on eBay. Only low to mid grade, but Dennis is hard to find in hard grade, and the joy of collecting comics like this is to just have copies. 15 books and 4 Pockets Full of Fun for only $15!

I wrote earlier about collecting Dennis the Menace. I recently bought these books on eBay. Only low to mid grade, but Dennis is hard to find in high grade, and the joy of collecting comics like this is to just have copies. 15 books and 4 Pockets Full of Fun for only $15! By the way, here's a great thread on all things Dennis: http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=688143&fpart=1

Buyer's Remorse

I won this on eBay recently and just received it, Amazing Spider-Man #6 the first appearance and origin of the Lizard. The seller advertised the grade as "Grade: Apparent NM- 9.2 (Color Touch on the Cover, Trimmed)"

I think the seller over graded. I think it would be lucky to get 8.5, 7.5 is more likely. But I don't hold that against the seller, I could tell that from the picture, and I'd be happy frankly with 7.0. The seller also disclosed the restoration. So, I think it was a fair listing.

But after getting the book I'm having buyer's remorse. The trimming is more extensive than I thought, about a quarter inch along the bottom and right side.

I bought it for $435. My highest bid was actually higher (I think around $500). The rule of thumb I use on restored comics is to try not to pay more than the raw unrestored VG for a restored book. The Overstreet VG price for ASM #6 is $358, but I think that's low. So at the time I thought my bid was fair; not a steal but fair.

But now a couple weeks later I think I overpaid. It's so hard to tell with restored books. You can get a better looking comic, but it's so hard to guessimate the FMV.

Oh well. I plan on submitting to CGC, maybe I'll feel better if I see it with a 7.0 or better grade (even with a purple label).

I'm kinda bummed right now for another reason too. I won an auction for Lady Mechanika Long Beach #0 CGC 9.8 for a great price, a book I need for my set, and the USPS sent it into the abyss. It looks like the seller sent it to the right address, but it did not arrive (even though the tracking says it was delivered -- but the idiotic USPS website only says it was delivered, it doesn't identify the address it was delivered to!). Hopefully it will turn up Monday, but right now I'm anxious about getting it.

Original Marvels Collection

My collecting focus has changed over the years, but what's been constant has been my goal of finishing my "original Marvels" collection. For me, as a kid, the original Marvel titles were Amazing Spider-Man, Avengers, Cap, DD, FF, Hulk and Iron Man, and my goal was to get complete runs of all these titles. I know there are notable titles missing like X-Men, Thor, TOS and TTA, but as a kid they were secondary to me.

I’ve been working on this for over 20 years. I got the easy ones fast, but then slowed way down as I got down to the expensive issues. The last decade, I might go an entire year without adding even one issue. To make my task harder, a couple years ago I decided to upgrade some of the issues. (I wrote about this at http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=280191&Number=6204478#Post6204478.)

The last couple of years I’ve gotten more serious about it and purchased maybe 8-10 comics. Here’s a buy I recently made on Ebay, Hulk #104, which completes my Hulk run. I went back and forth with the seller on this book for almost a year. The original price was $48. Early last year I offered $30, and he came back at $39. I declined, and then shopped around. I wanted to finish Hulk, and how hard could it be to find an affordable mid-grade 104? But it was tough, especially to find a graded copy. This wasn’t an absolute necessity but I wanted it if possible. A few months went by, and I lost interest in the issue. Then recently I checked Ebay and the book was still being offered. I decide to split the difference and offered $35. The seller agreed, and like that, my Hulk was complete. I wished I’d offered him $35 way back last year. (I know the picture is lousy, but I think it’s a decent 5.5.)

With this buy, here’s what I need to complete my Original Marvels Collection:

Amazing Spider-Man 2-5, 9, 50, 119 and 122

Avengers 1, 5, 9

Captain America – complete

Daredevil 7

Fantastic Four 1-5, 12, 13, 21, 25, and 48

Hulk – just got 104 so complete!

Iron Man 2

Still a major challenge though, but slowly getting there. The next books I’d like to get are Iron Man 2 and DD 7 to complete those runs. You see both books on sale all the time, often in high grade, but I’ve not been able to get a copy for the price I want to pay (especially DD 7).

In a recent post I said how my favorite place to buy comics is conventions. I’ve acquired most of my collection from conventions, mostly from dollar boxes. There’s nothing like rifling through long boxes at cons and gazing at dealers’ wall books. It I had to pick, I’d choose family vacations with my wife and kids over conventions. But, there’s nothing like the complete geek immersion of a multi-day convention away from home, like SDCC and WW Chicago.

I just ran some reports on ComicBase (the program I keep my collection on). Of my Amazing Spider-man run, I bought 454 issues at $1 each. In WW Chicago this year I got one of my biggest collecting goals, ASM #1, a restored CGC 7.0. I struggled over this decision, because there was a CGC 3.0 universal being offered for the same price. This decision was tough because the front cover of the blue label looked better than 3.0 (there were tears in the back that brought the grade down). I wrote about it here: http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=310019&Number=6945884#Post6945884

Anyway, if you include this ASM #1, then the average cost of my ASM run is $11. But if you take out the ASM #1, it drops down to $5. And I’d say my run averages VF-. So I think this proves you can collect an entire run of one of the most important titles in the history of comics for a reasonable price.

Sometimes you see threads here about people agonizing (my word) about what to collect. Runs versus keys versus themes; CGC versus raw; Marvel vs DC vs independents. My approach has always been – why not everything? Or, more precisely, why not ANYTHING that interests you? Right now I’m really into high grade Lady Mechanikas because I like the title and artist, and I’ve caught the Registry bug (a little). In the past I was into collecting every single First title (about 95% there). For a while I was into the big DC war titles (I still buy bunches of reading copies when I find them cheap). Back when they were coming out I was obsessed with Valiant. I’m starting to collect comics with Matt Baker cover art.

My point being, my interests move around, and that makes collecting fun. But I don’t sell parts of my collection when my interests wane, because I know I’ll eventually come back to it. I learned that one the hard way, when as a kid I got into 1st edition SF books and sold my ASM collection. I’ve made a couple of other mistakes like that. I’ll never do that again.

When I read here about people selling their collections .. well, I get it if you need the money, the nice thing about comics is you can make a profit ... but when they say they're selling because their collecting interests have changed ... I think, been there, done that.

Just my opinion ....

I agree, GPA is useful but not perfect.

The best books I've gotten are through this board. By far. Sometimes the deals start here, but often they start at ebay. I give ebay so much business I don't feel guilty about that. And one large dealer, mycomicshop, sells the same books on ebay and their website, for less on their website. Ebay must have given their approval for this. So I think it's hypocritical for ebay to ding dealers who do deals off ebay.

I'd rank my best sources as:

(1) Conventions (still the most fun!)

(2) CGC boardies

(3) Comic-Link / Comic-Connect

(4) Ebay

(5) Heritage

Hey SW3D,

The inside cover of the counterfeit is glossy, whereas the real is not. So actually once it's slabbed you can't tell if its real or counterfeit without CGC's notice on the label. BTW, I just checked Overstreet to make sure I got that right, and they also do not provide a value of the counterfeit. So CBG was not alone in taking that stand -- although I still think it's silly at this point, almost 30 years later.

You're right, my wife is great. We've been married over 20 years, and now she knows for Christmas, birthday and anniversary gifts I prefer comic type gifts, so she tries to make them memorable so when I look at them I'll remember they were gifts from her.

The Economics of Selling Comics

Even though I’m predominately a buyer, I’ve always been interested in the sell side of the hobby. At cons I like talking to dealers about how they’re doing, how the market’s been, what’s selling in different parts of the country.

I’m fascinated by the economics of grading and how it affects prices. For example, at this moment there are over 1500 CGC 9.8 modern comics on sale on Ebay for $30 and less. How does anyone make money? Let’s say they were graded at the Modern tier at $18 per book. Assume $2 per book for shipping (to CGC and back). So you’re at $20 in grading costs per book. Then you add in the cost of the comic itself, say an average of $5 for these cheap comics. Then you add in the Ebay fees. So again, how does anyone make money?

The answer must be, you don’t. Okay, if you sell on the boards you don’t have the ebay fees. So maybe you make $5 per book. Is that worth it? How much is your time worth?

So I don’t really understand why people grade common modern comics, unless it’s for your collection.

Then who’s selling those 1500+ 9.8 CGC comics for $30 and less? Sure, there are collectors who are cleaning out their collections, and are looking to get whatever they can get (even if just a small profit or a loss). But the volume speaks not to just collectors, but dealers. And that I don’t get. Why would a business take part in such a low profit venture? And what if you get less than 9.8? For common moderns that’s a huge drop in value.

For hot moderns, grading makes more sense. Consider this Franchesco cover. You can buy this comic raw for about $5, and at WW Chicago the Zenescope table was giving it away for free. Yet, it sells for $45 and more. So now your profit is about $20 for a book that probably sells pretty well. That makes more sense to me.

It makes sense to grade SA keys. But does it really? I think many dealers are pricing keys AS IF THEY WERE GRADED. The days of buying a high grade raw at a discount and then grading seem to be disappearing. This isn’t entirely true, you can still get a discount for buying raw, but it’s not as easy as it used to be. When buying raw my standard argument (valid I think) is “you’ve got to give me a discount off GPA because I’m assuming the cost and risk of grading.” That argument doesn’t work as often now. Often I hear from the dealer “I know how to grade, if I say it’s 7.0 then it’s 7.0, so I’ll discount the amount it’ll cost you to get it graded by CGC.”

What about SA non-keys? I think there’s huge variability here. Many dealers are pricing both raw and CGCs high, but you can still get great deals if you’re patient and lucky. The same is true of graded restored SA keys.

Anyway, these are some of my thoughts. I’d be very interested to hear what others think.

(I posted this in a separate thread, but then was pointed to this thread by some kind folks, so I'm reprinting here to better connect up with Dennis fans.)

I wrote in my journal how I collect Dennis the Menace based on fond memories of my late mom. http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=7287580#Post7287580

Today I received the Dennis #1 I bought from mycomicshop.com before Christmas. They've had a abundance of #1s lately. When I bought my 2.0, they also have a raw copy for sale (advertised as 1.8). At this moment they have a 2.5 for sale for $519. http://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=196331

I bought my 2.0 for $459. Not sure if I paid too much, but other than the recent supply from mycomicshop.com, I haven't seen them for sale often.

Anyway, I started collecting the Fawcett series, but then branched out. After collecting for over a decade -- buying a bunch from Mile High and one particular dealer at the SDCC -- I now have almost every Dennis comic, missing only:

Dennis the Menace (Fawcett) 2-9 and 13

Dennis the Menace Giants 6A (Christmas) 29, 35, 67, SE 1 (giant vacation special)

Dennis the Menace and his Friends 38-40, 44 and 46

Dennis the Menace and the Bible Kids 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10

Dennis the Menace Comics Digest 1, 3

Dennis the Menace Pocket Full of Fun 1-11, 14, 16-19, 22-28, 30, 36-37, 42, 45, 47-49

Very Best of Dennis the Menace (Marvel) 1

Very Best of Dennis the Menace (CBS) 2

I don't think Dennis is too hard to collect. Not too expensive, not too hard to find. Hard to collect in high grade though. Overall I think my Dennis collection is VG. I think most copies were well read by kids like me. In fact, my original stack of Dennis books were so beat up I gave them away to kids one year for Halloween (now I kind of regret giving them away because they were the copies my mom bought me, but the kids were really happy to get them). Although scanning this thread there are some beautiful higher grade copies out there!

For me, the main challenge with collecting Dennis is the title names. This is especially true of the Giants, as some issues look like separate titles but are in fact part of the Giants series. For example, Triple Feature #1 seems to be a distinct title. But Triple Feature #12 is actually Giants #12. And as far as I can tell, Triple Feature 2-11 do not exist.

For Christmas, my wonderful wife told me to buy a special comic. I didn't have to be told twice!

There are 3 comics on my "splurge list" right now: Richie Rich 1, Bone 1 and Cerebus 1. I couldn't find the first 2, but a Cerebus 1 was on sale in CGC 8.5.

Cerebus 1 is tough to find in high grade, due to the black cover. Most copies have extensive stress lines down the spine. This 8.5, I think, was a touch over-graded, but still a great looking copy. Here it is:

The book is a lot better than this picture, taken with my camera. So, I wanted this book, but the seller's price was $1500. After years of looking, I thought $1500 was a fair price. GPA shows the most recent sale as $820, but that just shows the limitations of GPA, especially on books without a lot of activity (in contrast, GPA on ASM 1 is probably a lot more accurate). As a more accurate data point (IMHO), at this moment, there's a CGC 8.0 on sale on Ebay for $1600.

But anyway, I didn't want to pay $1500. I think I offered $900. I didn't mention the GPA data as I didn't think it was credible. I just offered what I was willing to pay, at that moment in time. The seller came down a bit, we exchanged a few emails, and we finally agreed on $1100. It was more than I wanted to pay -- my budget was $1000 -- but in the end I thought it was too good a deal to pass up. (The seller told me he was willing to sell this one because he has ANOTHER 8.5! That I find amazing!)

Now, I only need #4 to complete my set.

I also have the counterfeit #1, and here they are side-by-side. From the front the counterfeit looks better than the real copy, but there are some stress lines on the back that brings it down to 7.5.

Way back when, there was so much controversy and outrage over the counterfeit. I remember the Comic Buyer's Guide wouldn't list a value for the counterfeit, out of moral indignation. I always thought all that was silly. Yes, I agree, the counterfeit was wrong, but once it was out there it had a value. It wasn't the duty of a price guide to make a stand like that.

Interestingly, CGC REALLY wants to make sure a potential buyer isn't mislead to think the counterfeit is the actual copy. If you look at the picture, you'll see CGC writes "Counterfeit" 4 times in the label. This, I think, is entirely appropriate, and I applaud CGC to provide this notice.

Anyway, here's a picture of Cerebus 1-10 in my comic room (sans #4 which I still need, and #6 -- the first Jaka -- that I display in another part of the room). You'll see the grades are all over the place. These were my original copies that I read and re-read, so I was actually kind of surprised they got the grades they did.

Hi SW3D - Thanks. I did see that sketch cover, and I'm a big fan of Terry Moore. I have a few pieces of his original art from Strangers and Paradise (one of my all time favorite series) -- some day I'll scan them in and show them here. But $4500 is beyond outrageous. Terry doesn't do many sketches nowadays -- a few years back at SDCC, he did a free sketch for me each day of the convention (you just had to wait in line, and getting in the line more than once was way bad form), but those days are over. But still, if you catch him in a good mood he'll do something for free, or at most for a few hundred. But $4500? How do you even start a negotiation when the starting price is so high? You could get a really nice mid-grade FF #1 for that, and maybe even throw in a lower grade Avengers #1 (2 books I REALLY WANT AND I'M GONNA GET THIS YEAR -- OR ELSE!). Sorry, I'm ranting. I'll revert back to my nice guy mode and say the seller can offer for whatever he wants, and good for him if he can find a buyer (sucker!) to pay something close. (BTW, Gwen (Katchoo) doesn't look too happy with Peter holding her boobies. Good thing it's Gwen and not Katchoo, or he'd get his butt kicked.)

BTW again, I looked at that CGC 10 book thinking I could add to your first graded thread, so I was really disappointed to find so many copies already graded. http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=7309921#Post7309921

I have one CGC 10 book, the 2010 Inkwell Awards Donation Book.

I was surfing ebay earlier this year and saw it for sale. In case you don't know, the Inkwell is an award for inkers. From their website:

The Inkwell Award, sometimes shortened to the Inkwells, is an award given for creative achievement in the field of inking in American comic books. It was created to focus on and show more recognition toward the inking art form and its artists, a production skill exclusive to comic books that is often misunderstood and under-appreciated and whose inkers are at times not presently credited as they were traditionally.

On a whim, I placed a low bid and ending up winning it for $40.

There are 9 copies in the census. Surprisingly, FIVE are 10s. One is 9.9 and three are 9.8s. So 6 of 9 made it to the Promised Land. We all know there's a subjective factor when a book gets a 10 or 9.9 instead of 9.8. It makes me wonder if the CGC graders nudged this one up because it's a donation book for a good cause.

Supergirl, Power Girl, Black Canary, Saturn Girl, Invisible Girl, Katchoo, Pepper (Gwyneth version), Torchy ...

I think I win with just the 1st two (or the last 2)

Hey SW3D,

Yeah, the fries are great -- and free! Can't beat that. But the steak's pretty good too ... The brussels sprouts were awesome (of course, anything with bacon is gonna be good).

I definitely prefer Gwen, but I think it depends on a blonde versus red-head/brunette thing, like Betty versus Veronica. I have to admit, though, Gwen died for me with 121; I read the clone saga but after that haven't kept up. Read some of Ultimate Spider-man but it's not the same Gwen. The original's the best for me.

Ok, a break from comics. Since this is MY journal, I'm gonna post about other things I enjoy, one of which is food!

In SF, my favorite hotel is the Westin St. Francis on Union Square, and one reason is its Bourbon Steak restaurant. Beyond its long list of bourbons and great steaks, I like the high energy atmosphere, which I find rejuvenating on business trips.

Anyway, here's what I got during a visit last year in October. First, their amuse bouche, crispy fries with 3 sauces. More than once I've sat down here for just a drink and these fries:

This is their Gulf Shrimp & Avocado Louie appetizer. It has a half avocado and they pile on the shrimp. If you love avocado you'd love this.

Finally, the main course, a bone-in medium rare ribeye with poached lobster, and a side of brussels sprouts sauteed with bacon and topped with crispy onion straws. The bone's so good I packed it in ice and brought it home for my dog.

Here are a few others from my Gwen Stacy CGC collection.

I got this one off of ebay. It was one of the first CGC books I ever bought, and in retrospect I wished I had waited for a higher grade. But it was only $29.

I bought this one earlier this year on ebay. By the way, I buy a lot of books on ebay, and I've only had 1 buy where it was a problem, and even for that one it could have been a case of miscommunication. So I don't really understand the threads where people say ebay is broken (I've never sold on ebay so I can't speak from a seller's perspective). Frankly, IMHO, people who complain about ebay are people who don't remember what collecting was like before ebay. Anyway, on this one I struggled between buying this 9.6, or waiting for a 9.8 to come on sale (as I didn't want to play the game of buying raw and submitting myself). In the end I bought this one, and I was able to get it for $29. By the way, Emma Stone is a GREAT Gwen Stacy!

I got this one for $40, again on ebay. This one actually brings some bad memories. About 10 years ago at the Pittsburgh Con (a great con for buyers), a dealer had the preliminary sketch of this cover for sale. I didn't even bother to ask the price, thinking it would be too expensive. I've always regretted that, I should have at least asked.

Looks like this one will be my last buy of 2013, worked out a fair deal with dscott. I had a few Best Offers going on ebay but they all fell though. I really like this rendition of Gwen (and Mary Jane) by Dijana Granov. The huge busty Gwen sketches you see on ebay and CAF just aren't Gwen. (And the red Mary Janes on redheaded MJ are a nice whimsical touch.)

This year I've built a small Gwen Stacy CGC collection. I graded these two Gwen bookends from my collection, her first appearance and unfortunate death. I remember reading 121 when it first came out. I was cruising on my bike after delivering papers, and literally fell off the bike when she died. I was hoping for higher grades on these two, about +0.5 ... oh well ...

I got this one in WW Chicago from Greg Reece, where he had a large selection of CGC books. I only knew to look for this book in his stock because the night before I'd surfed through his website looking for another book. We worked out a fair price, about 25% less than what seems to be the going price in this grade.

Back when I was a kid and had to stay home for a cold or something, my Mom would always get me McDonalds for lunch and a few comics to read. It would always be two filet of fish sandwiches (my favorite) and large fries. And the comic would always be Dennis the Menace. Sometimes there might be some others too, like Richie Rich, but the stack would always include a few Dennis comics.

My mom passed away almost 20 years ago, right before I had my first child (who is now 18 and picking a college to go to next year). But I still have a great fondness for Dennis the Menace. I have almost every Dennis comic every published. They're not expensive to collect, although sometimes hard to find (and in high grade very difficult, although that is not a problem for me as I collect reading copies).

The first issue is kinda hard to find. Then, recently, Lone Star Comics (aka mycomicshop.com) had 2 for sale, a raw advertised at 1.8 and a CGC 2.0. (Here's the thing about mycomicshop -- if you see something you like on ebay sold by them, then immediately go to their website, as they sell the same comics on their website for less than on ebay. The prices mentioned below are from their website.)

The raw was about $250. It was too beat up for me, so I never really considered buying it.

The CGC 2.0 was about $475. Was this a good price? I don't know, I'd never seen a CGC graded copy of this comic before. Based on GPA, it seemed fair, but the sample size was small so who knows. I waited a few days, mired in indecision. I put it into my shopping cart along with a few $1 and $2 comics (to save on shipping, assuming I finally decided to pull the trigger). Finally, I decided to go for it. This, after I'd already spent way too much on comics this year, AND after I bought a nice comic my wife gave me for Christmas (more on that one later).

At the end of the day, I decided to buy it because you seldom see this issue, and I thought it looked good for a 2.0 blue label. It had clear flaws along the bottom, but overall the cover looks pretty good to my eye. And I really wanted this comic. (BTW, I just checked and the raw issue has also been sold). Anyway, here's the comic (from the mycomicshop website):

My favorite Lady Mechanika comics are these SS sketch covers. One even got a 9.9! I bought these from FrankJP here on the boards. In fact, I bought most of my LM CGCs from boardies, FrankJP as well as a few others. FrankJP told me he commissioned these from Benitez before a convention, so Joe would be able to work on them outside the rush of a convention. I think that approach worked as these sketches are better than others I've seen on the Web (although I'm biased of course). I believe FrankJP commissioned these from Benitez all at the same time, so he got the same edition number (71 of 200) on all 3. I'm hoping to contact Joe about getting the same number when #4 comes out, assuming they'll be a blank cover edition.

Hope everyone is having a great Christmas!

Here's a few more pictures of my LM CGC collection. In the one below, the top row shows part of what I call my modern GGA 9.8 collection, most of which I've bought already graded, rather than raw and then grading myself -- for moderns, I pretty much want only 9.8 and above, and I stress too much over getting those grades when I submit myself.

Something I find interesting is how yellow labels can be used to make additional variants of a comic. Like the 2 LMs on the right on the 2nd row, where the same comic is a blue and also a yellow.

This is probably my favorite Benitez LM cover. The one on the right even has a cool LM head-sketch by Benitez.

I keep my raw LMs in mylar in a magazine holder for easy access:

Home Depot. I use the "dustless" shelving, just turn it upside down.

With Lady Mechanika #4 delayed, there seems to be a drop in demand and prices of back issues.

Initial prices in Ebay remain high, but sellers seem more willing to deal lately (at least some). I've always liked LM. The story's great, and the Joe Benitez art is excellent. I've been able to pick up a bunch of CGC copies for reasonable prices. I've even taken over the #1 registry spot for the LM set! This is my first venture into the registry and it's kinda fun (and expensive), more fun than I thought it would be. Also a great marketing mechanism for CGC, as it fires the competitive spirit and makes you want to send more books to CGC. I've even gotten into getting some yellow labels for blue labels I already have, for the extra points. (It would be more fun though if the registry updates happened more often.)

Here's a picture from my comic book room, displaying some of my LM CGC collection.

See more journals by n2wdw

Here's info on how I used my spinner rack. http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=280191&Number=6204478#Post6204478

I have 2 of them that I bought new a few years ago from a company I found on the internet.

It's very hard to peel off the tape with your fingernail -- I'm always afraid of putting a dent in the book. Usually I'll try to open the bag and pull the comic out, but that doesn't work if more than a few are taped together. The next best approach is to cut the tape with a knife or scissors, but this still puts stress on the comics (especially the ones on the top and bottom).

None of this really matters if you're buying less than perfect comics of new comics, which I often do. but sometimes I'm buying high grade comics with the hope of submitting to cgc for high grades -- you'd think these sellers would know better than use tape, but still some do.

when I send comics to cgc, I put them each in a mylar with a backing board, put a few (never more than about 5) between two pieces of thick cardboard, put the bundle in a large fed ex or express mail envelope (which are free), fold back the envelope and then tape around the envelope. then I put these bundles (using 2 when I'm shipping 10 to cgc) into a fed ex box and send the fed ex box to cgc. If I didn't have the envelope I'd use newspaper (like others have suggested).

It amazes me how people tape comics either to cardboard or together in a bundle when shipping. It is VERY DIFFICULT to remove the tape without damaging the comics. Probably 40-50% of the comics I get are shipped this way. Hard to believe anyone who works with comics doesn't see the flaw of this.

Anyone have recent experience with the wait for modern fast track?