Westy Steve

I remember slogging through it. It was slow in the middle, but I liked the ending. I didn't like that style of art though...don't care who drew it.

I got my first BA12 in the mail the other day. A lower grade copy at a good price. So what did I do? I read it! And you know what? It was pretty good! Is the rest of the series as good as that? I might have to read them. Nothing complicated about them. Nobody died, or broke their back, or is being replaced by a clone of their sidekick. Just good old fashioned story telling. Good stuff!

I highly recommend that some of your boardies consider a meetup or club. We were surprised how many people were receptive to the whole thing and I'm sure we're all looking forward to the next one. Steve

Howdy. Just wanted to defend BA12 as the first appearance of Harley. If a comicbook comes out...let's say...Showcase #4, which introduces a character. Then some re-write occurs, like "New 52" and it relaunches the sequence of how things started in the DC universe, does the Showcase #4 lose value? Of course not. My point is that it really doesn't matter whether a first appearance is accepted in the "official" timeline of events. Collectors realize that a first appearance is a first appearance, no matter how they change the storyline. FWIW, there are a lot of "1st appearance in comics" in the Golden Age Disney Genre, where the character actually appeared in a cartoon first. While it is factored into the demand for that book, it isn't like a black mark against it that dogs the value of the book. As long as collectors are informed that it is the first appearance in comics, that is all that matters. Whether DC disavows it in their timeline or not. I think the book has a lot of potential because the character is a favorite among cosplayers. I think that will be a factor in popularity as the popularity in cosplay continues to grow. Steve

Ah, here's a couple of questions for conversation's sake: Which would be better, a comic reading club, or a comic collecting club? Would it be better to have several members or dozens?

I think this is the law of large numbers at play. You grade thousands of books, you're going to make a mistake here and there. Suppose the first time they graded it, they truly believed it was a "blue six". Then they graded it again, and after looking at it, they truly believed it was a "purple seven"....should they have graded it anything else? OK, so then they graded it again and they really believed it was a "blue six" again. Should they have put it into a purple label even though they reconsidered and believed it was blue? Wouldn't it be a bad thing if they put something in a purple label just because they didn't want to appear inconsistent? IMHO, that would be worse. Seems like at least 2 out of 3 graders that graded it the right before it was put in a PLOD really thought it was trimmed, and when asked about more opinions, tried to cover their butts. That does bite. The honest truth is that if you want your book graded again, you should resubmit it again if you really believe the grade is unjust. And if the service keeps coming out inconsistent, spend your grading dollars elsewhere. If I get a bad Hamburger at McDonalds, I don't think that there is a problem with the entire corporation. I think it was the cook working the night I got a bad one. If it keeps happening again and again..then I'll go to Burger King. I don't see anyone crying when they resubmit a book and get a higher grade...wringing their hands about inconsistencies. Someone made a mistake, but it's not the end of the world. Seems like the book belongs in the slab that it's in now. An CGC should pay restitution to the guy who ended up getting an undeserved PLOD. And that's that.

Sooo... How long until issue #2 comes out? Anyone want to speculate on what will happen?

Two points that need to be made here: Don't want to get burned in a bubble? Then don't pyramid up. Always buy the same amount of what you're speculating on. So when the bubble bursts you don't have all the profits you ever made tied up in inventory. Second point: There should be an understanding that the time and trouble associated with being a visionary and buying a bunch of these comics based on the great writing and artwork should mean that each of these issues are worth no less than $10. FP variants shouldn't be any less than...say...$40 for the same reason. When cartels cheat and undercut, prices drop. All that being said, price fixing is illegal so don't do it. An understanding of what things are worth sometimes lead to super close prices on airline tickets and rental car rates. Why should speculative comics be any different? All of that being said, I'm going to follow this series until it ends. Good writing makes for valuable modern comics. I'm in no rush to sell my extra copies at all. WC Plenty of stuff like this in my Blog

Just read it. Actually, I read it twice to help me aborb the first part of the story after I started catching on to what was happening. I don't read a lot of modern comics, but this one just converted me. I used to read the Sandman and it had that kind of feel about it, a mysterious, "I am not quite sure what's going on but it's cool" feeling to it. Maybe that's what Preacher was like, but I never read those....(maybe I should!) I'm happy to get in on this series from the beginning...it's been a long, long, time since I followed a series (my style is to collect keys or read old Bronze age runs), but I'll be reading this one. As an aside, I really liked the Night scenes with the stars. I guess the quality of the paper makes this possible...comics have come a long way. I've got a telescope, or two, or three...OK...six...and there is something mystically cool about the starry sky and maybe a primative fire. More of that, please. It'd be cool if the artist strives for some realism with the night sky...like maybe hang the constellation Orion up there or something. Assuming this is on our earth, and not some kind of alternate earth. WC

Hey guys, Anyone know how many of each of the variants were made? I apologize in advance for not having a scantily clad woman in my signature file. WC

OMG, ! Hoo! I needed that.

The $20 minimum is because I don't live close to the post office so there is gas money involved. Also, I'm a busy guy...wife, kids, etc. Packaging takes time. I want to reiterate something. If the same thing happened to me, I'd have just let it go. Why? Because making a big case out of it can harm the reputation of the seller. There should be (and maybe there are), equal rules about damaging a seller's reputation beyond a reproach. There should be limits on how far the "wronged party" can take things. Our civil courts work that way. Next time, you might be the seller and make an honest mistake and you could be trashed far beyond what is right. If it happened to me, I'd have let it go. That's the truth.

It’s convoluted because I’m being rational. Here are the facts: I did double sell a book. I didn’t know it was against the rules. I was censured for it. I apologized. Mark did try to buy the book. But he didn’t adhere to the criteria about a minimum order size. Folks, myself, and many others here, don’t want to be forced into selling $1 books. Our time is worth more. You will note one request for a book for $10 on my thread. Contact that person. I didn’t sell him a book either. I was contacted via email about buying one book and sold that person two. I’ve been here for over a year and I’ve never been in trouble. Why? Because I’m a good netizen. I conduct my affairs honestly. I have had transactions that went less than perfectly and always fixed them through refunds or price reductions. I always take the high road. Mark has shown he’s not interested in being made whole. He is using his popularity to push me around. That’s wrong. He threatened me by PM unless I did things his way, instead of the common sense approach of offering a refund of the difference. I do not want to send him a book now…I simply don’t trust what he may alledge. Yes, you know Mark. Maybe he’s a great guy. We might have been friends if things were different. He’s got cool comics. I’ve got cool comics. But that shouldn’t influence your decision about the severity of what I did and how I tried to fix it. I think most anyone receiving similar treatment from Mark would have reacted the same way. I hope he takes the time to think on that instead of lashing out. I’m a reasonable rational guy and I’ll send Mark the $$$ so that he can get his comic. That should be the end of this story. WC

The isssue is with shipping it is over $20. And, i'm not buying the book from ebay. If you want to sell me the other WD 43 you have for sale on ebay and sell it here...I will take it and let it go. AND the price isn't the issue...it's the fact you aren't following the selling rules here. What I'm reading is that you're not really interested in being "made whole" at this point. You want to punish me. Let the moderators decide if my actions warranted punishment. I've offered to make up the difference. You told me you don't even want to accept it. So it's not about money or comics, is it? I don't want to send you anything because you are demonstrating behavior that isn't rational. I feel that no matter what I send you, you'll have an issue with it, so I prefer to let you deal with someone else. And I do that voluntarily, because you didn't follow instructions on my sales thread. There are bad sellers. But there are also bad buyers, and you're proving yourself to be one by perpetuating this. Let it go.

Glad you enjoyed yourself, Donna.

Good God, isn't one thread bashing me enough? The minimum order was $20. Shipping cost is never part of an order. In fact, sometimes shipping costs are dependent on the size of your order (i.e., shipping is free with an order over $50). I did make a mistake. It won't happen again. I've tried to set it right financially. Personally...and completely honestly...if this had happened to me over an $18 purchase I'd have informed the noob of their mistake and went on with my life.

If the psychoanalysis phase of this thread has drawn to a close, I made an obervation. I've noticed there aren't as many first print Nowhere Men #1s being listed on Ebay anymore. Lotsa variants, but not many of those white beauties popping up. Why do you think that is?.

What the heck! It's been almost 24 hours since the last post here. I feel I must post now. Hey, why does the price of the thought bubble variant languish behind the color variants? It's just as rare and there are a lot of them trapped over seas. Doesn't get the respect it deserves here in the good ole US of A.

Thankfully there is SAGAH!!!!! I'm not a big fan of Saga. I love Revival but to say that it would be ongoing for years to come is a longshot. Revival should go for around 60 issues I was just reading that on another thread. I was thinking that if Revival continues to increase its sales, then it'll keep on trucking. If it was another walking dead (and that's a stretch), do you think they'd just get to issue #60 and say, "Ok boys, pack up...time to go!" Nah...they'll keep spinning ideas and giving the writers more money to keep the dollars coming in.

More info: For fun, I went to ebay and looked at the closed auction selling prices of raw 1st prints that were AUCTION sales (not BIN). You can see that prices have been steadily increasing on the closing prices in the past week.

I am buying raw #1s at these prices. Has good reviews and a big fan base. It's cool too. Dropping out before issue #4 is pretty early, I think.

I think some of the Thought Bubbles that made it to stores here in the U.S. were signed. I've seen a few pics. Not sure if this was one of them though. I have one that I bought from my LCS today (here in the U.S. of A).

Just be clean and polite. As for what to carry your books in, I just keep my books inside old-fashioned Showcase Sealers...a hard shelled holder. Wish I could find more in Silver/Golden Age size. Impractical for showing your books, but great for transporting them safely.