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Mr. Zipper
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Posts posted by Mr. Zipper
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100% restoration. Age of the person wielding the marker is not a factor.
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On 3/3/2024 at 3:31 PM, Kripsys99 said:You can call it a "diplomatic approach", or "being practical to achieve a solution", or dress it up with whatever language you want - it's still subservience...that's why one has to "swallow [their] pride" when they do it. There was a time in this whole ordeal where such an approach may have been practical (in an "every man for himself" kind of way). I think we're long past that point, and have been for some time. And I universally disagree with the sentiment that victims are unerring and/or have no greater societal obligation when deciding whether or not to hold perpetrators responsible for their criminal actions - failing to do so has consequences which reverberate beyond the victim's own personal situation and feelings. Nonetheless, I feel a great deal of empathy for those who have been victimized in this situation - it's never good when people are hurt.
On 3/3/2024 at 3:31 PM, Kripsys99 said:You can call it a "diplomatic approach", or "being practical to achieve a solution", or dress it up with whatever language you want - it's still subservience...that's why one has to "swallow [their] pride" when they do it. There was a time in this whole ordeal where such an approach may have been practical (in an "every man for himself" kind of way). I think we're long past that point, and have been for some time. And I universally disagree with the sentiment that victims are unerring and/or have no greater societal obligation when deciding whether or not to hold perpetrators responsible for their criminal actions - failing to do so has consequences which reverberate beyond the victim's own personal situation and feelings. Nonetheless, I feel a great deal of empathy for those who have been victimized in this situation - it's never good when people are hurt.
It's easy to play keyboard tough guy when you aren't the one out thousands of dollars. If you understood empathy, you wouldn't be shaming the victims for whatever route they choose to get their books back.
- AJD, Lazyboy, thehumantorch and 2 others
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On 3/3/2024 at 2:33 PM, Kripsys99 said:Fair enough. What I take issue with are the posts (like the one I quoted) which state some version of "I hold no ill will towards anyone. I just want my items returned." It perpetuates a feedback loop of subservience to Mike in the hopes that not ticking him off may result in him returning books (and I would argue, encourages others to do same), but in actuality, only serves to delay individuals who might otherwise take concrete steps which could legitimately result in them getting their books back (and/or Mike being held accountable). It's my personal belief that such delays may have given Mike the time to offload more books illicitly, and/or to devise a means of escaping criminal liability (ie: the "break-in").
The posts I would like to see would go something like this:
"On [Date] I sent [# of books] to Mike for [services requested]. I paid Mike [$ amount] for those services. Photos of the books sent can be seen below.
To date, despite repeated efforts to contact Mike, he has not returned either the funds or my books.
On [date] I made a complaint to the [police of jurisdiction where Mike is located] advising them that my books and funds had been stolen. The details of my complaint are as follows:
- [File #]
- [Investigator name and contact info].
I informed the investigator that there are numerous other victims who may be reaching out to them in the near future."
If someone decides to take a softer diplomatic approach, who is anyone else to judge them? It's not being subservient; it's swallowing your pride and being practical to achieve a resolution. It appears that some people have gotten their books back going this route. From what I've seen here, hardline and legal threats have resulted in zero books being returned. I'm grateful I am not in a position to have to choose what approach I would take.
Victims should take the approach they feel most comfortable with and don't let others' approach influence what you feel you should do. In either case, do something! In the end, whatever approach you take you want to feel like you did all you could.
- mattn792, D84, mephistopheles and 3 others
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On 2/25/2024 at 9:43 AM, seanfingh said:
I think it is because tons of these FCBD books are in the wild without store stamps. CGC chose to differentiate between stamped and non-stamped.
One could argue that there are tons of books without date stamps, yet they are not differentiated from books with them at the 9.8 grade level.
If they wanted to be consistent, the simple answer is that the FCBD stamps are too large and "not unobtrusive," so they would max out at Blue Label 9.4 or 9.6. This would at least align them consistently with date stamps in terms of Blue versus GLOD.
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On 2/28/2024 at 11:43 AM, comicjel said:
How about this one... "Hey Stan, please sign right on the black area where nobody will be able to see it!"...
Stan was notorious for signing in areas of poor contrast. Probably because he was half out of it after being driven like a $2 mule at public signings the last few years of his life. From what little I can see, nothing obviously wrong with it.
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On 2/28/2024 at 10:10 AM, sledgehammer said:
The actual signatures by Stan on all of these caught my attention as well.
The small size of two of them, done in 2011 and 2018, and this one on the Night Nurse, strike me as odd, but I'm no expert.
Would Stan's have looked this weird, in 2015?
I think the Night Nurse is fine. A tired Stan sig appropriate for that time frame.
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On 2/28/2024 at 11:11 AM, sledgehammer said:
"Hey, Stan. Can you sign my key book, but as teeny tiny as possible?"
"Thanks."
I've been studying and collecting Stan Lee signatures for many years. I would not want this one in my collection.
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Midgrade book, but I think a C&P would significantly improve eye appeal by brightening up the white areas, which have a lot of surface soiling that should clean up nicely.
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Pressing may help eye appeal, but won't help the chip out of the top edge and the creases at the bottom FC, which would limit it to 7.5/8.0 IMO.
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I'm going to go for 3.0. It's a borderline 3.5 IMO, but the stains on back and migrated staple rust will keep it at 3.0.
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On 2/24/2024 at 3:45 AM, LowGradeBronze said:
Since the white panel is expressly designed to take a store stamp, why on earth would you want to clean it off? It's performing it's function.
And further, I'm surprised CGC green labels this for a store stamp. That is what the box is intended for. How is it any different than a date stamp, which CGC allows up to 9.8 if it is "small and unobtrusive," according to the CGC Guide to Grading Comics. I'd argue that if the stamp is neatly applied and in the area intended for the stamp, it meets that qualification.
- Paul Kosnik, Readcomix and Yorick
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Assuming the book is around 5.0, I don't think the writing will further reduce grade.
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I have an early issue of Superman with this notation. It appears to be a pinhead smear of glue over a small edge tear. It really doesn't fix / restore anything, so I presume that is why it doesn't get a purple label.
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On 2/22/2024 at 8:06 AM, comicwiz said:
Steve has been a long-time, OG member here. I understand that when someone drops in and sees some of the discord that emanates from a thread, and a topic that exposes raw nerves like this thread has, that it's easy to draw parallels. The dynamics are complex, lots of history that gets overlooked, and despite this, the discourse has been for the most part civil. Although, it's impossible for someone lurking or not participating for long periods to see the full picture. Regardless, he does know about past scandals. His blog is the last remnant of the internet which documents the list I shared back when the micro-trimming scandal happened. What gets glossed over is that there have been some casualties to the ildle inaction from the grading company - people who stuck their necks out to "help" the community ended-up becoming targets. Some of us have learned from this, and recalibrated with our reasoning for sharing what we feel comfortable sharing. Money is a hell of a thing, it causes people to make terrible choices, and this is the common thread each of these scandals share. It would be more accurate to describe it as unfortunate that these types of things continue to occur, but it's the only chance the community has of staying informed, because the history of web evidence reveals we would otherwise never know the extent, scale or that the odds are not in our favour it is ever reported.
Thanks, Joseph. I have a lot of respect for your work and don't mean to diminish it. And clearly this matter is at a different level than most past issues. Frankly, I stopped following this thread closely because of the inevitable useless side comments, wild speculation and other typical message board noise. So, I probably have missed critical information.
Some of the issues in the past were certainly tempests in a teapot, yet there were people running around with their hair on fire scolding anyone who wasn't also hammering the panic button. That is why I quoted "scandals," not because I live in Saratoga, NY.
- thehumantorch, CJ Design and comicwiz
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On 2/21/2024 at 12:57 PM, justafan said:
It may not be that he was intentionally scamming anyone or setting out to pull a long con but early on and continuing until last year he was likely misrepresenting himself when advertising his services. He was practicing with customer's books and learning on the fly.
I believe Mike was scamming customers but not intentionally in the way some are accusing. I believe he set out with the intent of running a legitimate restoration business but ended up running it like a Ponzi scheme. He defrauded them through misrepresenting his abilities and capacity and using customer funds to pay for future work. He likely believed or fully intended on acquiring the skills to be a great presser and restoration expert but wanted to get paid to learn and took on work (too much work) on too difficult of cases to keep up. He may have even been good at certain types of restoration and pressing and perhaps those successful glowing reviews are what he promoted and those customers echoed, but at the same time he also had unsuccessful or incomplete jobs sitting waiting for work that would never get done.
At this point I'm worried he is in such a downward spiral with his arrest, personal issues, and possible pending legal action, I fear for his personal well being but hope he gets the help he needs to recover and can try to seek redemption and repay those he wronged at some point in his life.
Mike, in case you read this, please know there is always a way back to redemption no matter how difficult. Do not expect forgiveness or forgetfulness from others but focus on moving forward to be a better person and strive for restitution.
I believe this is likely accurate and makes the most sense. As I wrote some time ago, he was in over his head, messed things up and hid it. Maybe hoping the day would come when he would be able to fix what he messed up. And clearly the fees for restoration were not put into "escrow." So, it may have been a defacto ponzi scheme, whether that was the intent or not.
I admit this situation has been troubling for me personally. I have never been "friends" with Mike, but chat board acquaintances for many years and I enjoyed the occasional chats. I sent him books for pressing and never had an issue. We were friends on Facebook, but it appears he unfriended me. When trouble first perked up last year, I thought there was no way he would do anything intentionally wrong. He simply made mistakes, had health problems, but he would work through it and right the ship. It's been heartbreaking to see how this has developed because I knew the human side of him to a small degree. To me, he wasn't just an avatar on a chat board.
In any case, I continue to hope that the victims get their books back. They are foremost in my thoughts. And I do hope that Mike is held accountable, but can bounce back and resume what was once a healthy, happy life.
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On 2/20/2024 at 5:11 PM, NewWorldOrder said:Many are posting with emotion and complete speculation, as more facts come out then of course I readjust how I view situation. ...most of the posts now are just the angry mob that gets upset if anyone doesn't align with the group think.
This is pretty much how every "scandal" has played out since the beginning of these boards. And there is always an element that will jump down your throat if you aren't running around with your hair on fire like they are.
Of course this is a serious issue that needs to be addressed and CGC needs to do better. That said, the sun is shining, the birds are singing, and 99.9999% of the world carries on blissfully unaware of the apocalypse some are enduring over this issue.
This, too, shall pass.
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On 2/20/2024 at 4:16 PM, mikenyc said:
It reads like you did. You laid out his journey from amateur to professional restorer as well as highlighting the word “decade” when describing his years of work and satisfied customers. You also gave an example of bad behavior and justified it as “seemingly” being an “outlier”.
You’re angry that the boards are making it seem as though his intent from the beginning was to scam customers, but seeing the end result, does it really matter?The point of noting Flash as an "outlier" was because it's the only known item that turned into a problem dating back to the beginning of his practice. Other than that "outlier," his record was spotless for a decade. All the other problems are from the last few years.
I'm not angry about anything, but I believe in fairly and accurately representing the situation. People making accusations that it has been a long con since the beginning are simply not accurate and there is no evidence to support it. Unless of course, you wish to count the Flash 1 situation as evidence of a long con, which I don't. It was likely messed up and damaged, and the way he handled it criminal, but not an intentional long con.
Is it a distinction without a difference at this point? Probably. But I have never been a fan of revisionist history and even criminals deserve accurate reporting.
- jimjum12 and BlowUpTheMoon
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On 2/19/2024 at 8:01 PM, Domo Arigato said:
I don't think everything he did was one big con since he started the business......but I'm also not going to agree that any of this was just due to bad business decisions. Even if that is the narrative he would like everyone to believe.
Taking (and spending) someone else's $5,000 while refusing to return their multi-thousand dollar book for over 14 years isn't a bad business decision.......that's a scumbag decision.
And he did it multiple times after that instance.
Don't put words in my mouth. I said "not notifying the client" was a bad business decision. I made no excuses for his other behavior. Don't you have another thread where you can be a shrill drama queen?
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It's no secret that Mike was a fledgling restorer around 2009. He frequently posted here and at other chat boards about his learning and showed his progress. Over time, his work appeared to be professional quality and he hung up a shingle.
And he operated for a decade with no apparent problems and many satisfied customers. The dozens of victims here sent him hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of books because he was trusted and had a good track record. So I don't buy, "it's been a long scam from the beginning." Sounds good on a chat board, but doesn't add up in real life.
Granted, the Flash #1 seems to be an outlier. I suspect he was in over his head and made mistakes on the book, and rather than face the music with the client, he sat on it. (A bad business decision among many others.)
Interestingly, I was a admin on the CBCA chat board. This was a board where Mike had posted a number of his "learning" posts. I'm guessing about 8 years ago, Mike contacted me and asked me, as an admin, to remove his earlier "experimentation" posts. The reason he gave was his "investors" didn't want his amateur material on the internet.
- ZappedMoose9995, Mystafo, jimjum12 and 2 others
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On 2/19/2024 at 10:05 AM, Junkdrawer said:
For years or shall I say decades, the unscrupulous have infiltrated many hobbies where money and markets form. So the baddies hit the hobbies. Years before there were grading companies there were counterfeits of a wide variety of things.
Three magnets for scammers are: free flowing money, easy marks and low risk of prosecution. Whether it be comics, coins, autographs etc., the collectibles fields have all of this in abundance. Collectors buy emotionally and are often willing to suspend disbelief. Forgers and counterfeiters know they are rarely indicted, let alone convicted. These types of scams are too complex for local DAs and too low on the totem pole for the Feds. It's shocking that it took this long for a significant slab scam to arise.
- Dr. Love and Junkdrawer
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On 2/14/2024 at 5:58 PM, Nilo2 said:
Mike claimed he was fully insured with CIS. It's even stated on the Hero Restoration FAQ page, but I never asked for proof. Yeah, I know... Really foolish! In my defense, I had used HR for several "big book" C&P jobs previously and the results had always been good. I guess I was lulled into a false sense of security like so many others here.
It's a moot point whether he had coverage or not. Mike's coverage certainly isn't going to reimburse you for his criminal or negligent acts.
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On 2/14/2024 at 5:45 PM, Dr. Love said:
Wow. That's disheartening. Best to read my policy. So, fire only, no theft? Hmmm. Looks like I do need to concern myself with the insurance carried by others. Life - always something!
I believe "fraudulent, dishonest or criminal acts" refers to acts committed by the policyholder.
That said, I suspect that "loss or damage while being worked on by you or others working on your behalf; and mysterious disappearance." clause may exclude you from coverage.
Is it dangerous to buy a comics with moisture?
in Comics General
Posted
You'd probably get better answers if "moisture" was more defined. Moisture can be light cockling to musty smelling to rusty staples to "was once waterlogged."
A little light cockling can easily be pressed out and minor musty smell can be removed... the books may turn out great. Once you get to the point where there is rust or mildew, I'd avoid.