BassGMan

Some very nice books Butt, especially this one, love those women in peril with heaving bosom covers . One of these days I'm gonna have to buy my first ever Charlton, not there yet.... but someday. I'm just still too deeply in love with the Marvel and DC horror to stray just yet.

Be prepared, it's addicting. I was ignoring these books totally until maybe 9-10 months ago when I started wandering over here and "met" Sterling and Shiver, now it's my main focus in this hobby.

Great books Sterling. Thanks for taking the time to scan them all and then put them up here. I even saw some covers I had never seen before. Of all my DC Bronze horror I have the least amount of Unexpected so it was nice to see some new covers.

Not enough talk about comics in this room recently. OK, here's some nostalgia. In the period 25-30 years ago there was NOTHING more exciting to me than walking a mile down to the nearest drugstore and finding the latest issue of Werewolf By Night on the spinner racks. Back then I was not looking for perfect corners or a spine without creases, just that cool looking brown werewolf with the green pants was enough for me. Here is one of the issues I was most excited to see on the stands when it came out as I thought the way the werewolf was drawn was really cool. These Giant-Size issues with those corny reprints in the back were especially worth my two quarters and a few pennies for tax.

Sterling, hey, I beat you here by three days. I was referred here by Burntboy when he told me in an e-mail that I could get advice here after being ripped off big time on an ASM #1. If I hadn't been ripped off, I may have never found this place. May even be worth that $1,500 loss. I recall that thread. I remember giving you a warm BOC welcome. I remembered that you wanted to reserve judgement until you heard the seller's side! You are correct Gregory, I did wait. And then I heard the seller's BS words over and over again dozens of times. My side was right, his was wrong, but I at least reserved judgment until after he spoke his many lies. Hard to be in the middle when a seller advertises an unrestored 7.0 and then you receive a restored 4.5. You may have heard the seller's side but we never did. What's the difference between what you did and what others have done on the board? How do you know what the others who complain haven't heard the "BS" from the other side? It's ironic that we are supposed to know that you were "right" ONLY in your case! But, I'm sure your situation was WAY different. P.S. Isn't it time to post in the shrukenhead thread stating that "bargainbox" needs to comment before we label him a deadbeat? Gregory, I never said there was any difference regarding what others have done on the board, and I see nothing wrong with what others do on the board. It is with the one-sided jury (all of us) that I sometimes have a problem with. I don't speak up as a "middle-man" on threads where it is obvious that somebody was ripped off. I speak up on some of the threads where it is NOT so obvious and where a difference of opinion can make a huge difference. When the facts by themselves are not enough. I stated my case on the boards here, way back when, and asked others for advice on how to handle the situation. This was not the case of a he said/he said different view of things. This was a case of outright fraud. Advertising one thing, and then delivering another. Quite different kind of case than customer service and shipping policies. Had this seller just been naive and unable to grade and/or notice obvious restoration, then he could have refunded me and all would be well. But this guy knew exactly what he was doing and purposely commited fraud in an Ebay listing. There is a big difference between fraud and the gray areas regarding shipping and handling policies. I haven't read that other bargainbox thread yet. I also only get involved in a few threads here and there that stick out to me for some reason. I have no need or interest to add any input to every little problem that pops up. BUT, if I see the Lynch Mob getting ready to go out and hang somebody, over an instance where hearing the other side may very well make a difference (a gray area) then I am more prone to getting involved to try to mellow people out a little and try to get them to at least wait for the other side before stringing up the noose. If the other side is unavailable for comment, at least it is fair to think about what their side might be. Too many innocents have been hanged in the past, I hate to see it continue, but it does. So, one rule for you and one for everyone else? How do we know that it's a fraud? Was the seller convicted or charged? Wasn't it only YOUR opinion? Spin on Sid! I'm sure you'll respond to this but rational people already know the truth about your reasoning! You just had to respond to some innoculous comment that I made to BOC. I wonder why! Make your closing comments because there's really nothing more I need to say! Gregory, I'm just glad that you are speaking at all. This is much much better than just " ". I do have nothing more to say. My last statement said it all. I play by all the same rules. People are more than welcome to give me any other side of the story (to represent the other side) that they may want. I'd love to hear it, and I'd consider any reasonable argument for the other side. But just what could it be in a case like this? What excuse could a seller come up with in my situation? If you can think of a defense for a seller that describes a book as "unrestored and 7.0 or above" and then delivers a book that is a 4.5 PLOD (I told him it would grade out between 4.0 and 5.0 and was heavily restored as soon as I received it, then CGC confirmed it) then I'd love to hear it. There are some instances that are open and shut cases, this is certainly one of them. When I see them on the boards I usually do not respond as the guilt and innocence are obvious. Do you understand? If not, then I won't try any harder to help you understand as it seems pretty clear to me.

Sterling, hey, I beat you here by three days. I was referred here by Burntboy when he told me in an e-mail that I could get advice here after being ripped off big time on an ASM #1. If I hadn't been ripped off, I may have never found this place. May even be worth that $1,500 loss. I recall that thread. I remember giving you a warm BOC welcome. I remembered that you wanted to reserve judgement until you heard the seller's side! You are correct Gregory, I did wait. And then I heard the seller's BS words over and over again dozens of times. My side was right, his was wrong, but I at least reserved judgment until after he spoke his many lies. Hard to be in the middle when a seller advertises an unrestored 7.0 and then you receive a restored 4.5. You may have heard the seller's side but we never did. What's the difference between what you did and what others have done on the board? How do you know what the others who complain haven't heard the "BS" from the other side? It's ironic that we are supposed to know that you were "right" ONLY in your case! But, I'm sure your situation was WAY different. P.S. Isn't it time to post in the shrukenhead thread stating that "bargainbox" needs to comment before we label him a deadbeat? Gregory, I never said there was any difference regarding what others have done on the board, and I see nothing wrong with what others do on the board. It is with the one-sided jury (all of us) that I sometimes have a problem with. I don't speak up as a "middle-man" on threads where it is obvious that somebody was ripped off. I speak up on some of the threads where it is NOT so obvious and where a difference of opinion can make a huge difference. When the facts by themselves are not enough. I stated my case on the boards here, way back when, and asked others for advice on how to handle the situation. This was not the case of a he said/he said different view of things. This was a case of outright fraud. Advertising one thing, and then delivering another. Quite different kind of case than customer service and shipping policies. Had this seller just been naive and unable to grade and/or notice obvious restoration, then he could have refunded me and all would be well. But this guy knew exactly what he was doing and purposely commited fraud in an Ebay listing. There is a big difference between fraud and the gray areas regarding shipping and handling policies. I haven't read that other bargainbox thread yet. I also only get involved in a few threads here and there that stick out to me for some reason. I have no need or interest to add any input to every little problem that pops up. BUT, if I see the Lynch Mob getting ready to go out and hang somebody, over an instance where hearing the other side may very well make a difference (a gray area) then I am more prone to getting involved to try to mellow people out a little and try to get them to at least wait for the other side before stringing up the noose. If the other side is unavailable for comment, at least it is fair to think about what their side might be. Too many innocents have been hanged in the past, I hate to see it continue, but it does.

Sterling, hey, I beat you here by three days. I was referred here by Burntboy when he told me in an e-mail that I could get advice here after being ripped off big time on an ASM #1. If I hadn't been ripped off, I may have never found this place. May even be worth that $1,500 loss. I recall that thread. I remember giving you a warm BOC welcome. I remembered that you wanted to reserve judgement until you heard the seller's side! You are correct Gregory, I did wait. And then I heard the seller's BS words over and over again dozens of times. My side was right, his was wrong, but I at least reserved judgment until after he spoke his many lies. Hard to be in the middle when a seller advertises an unrestored 7.0 and then you receive a restored 4.5.

Sterling, hey, I beat you here by three days. I was referred here by Burntboy when he told me in an e-mail that I could get advice here after being ripped off big time on an ASM #1. If I hadn't been ripped off, I may have never found this place. May even be worth that $1,500 loss.

I was wondering if anyone would mention this. If this movie falls anywhere between Sixth Sense & The Ring, then I'll be one happy movie-watcher! Thanks for all the posts, Sterling, & please post some of your newly-graded books when you get 'em in! Can't wait to see 'em! The trailer creeps me out! I think I posted about this up in General a month or two ago... For Bronze horror movies, nothing beats the two classics, The Exorcist and The Omen. No sequals, just the originals thank you. I guess Jaws would also be considered a Bronze horror movie too.

OK, so what were we saying? Oh yeah, we were talking about WWT books with MJ inserts with and without the star stamps. I just looked at where I got my WWT insert books and I bought them all from RTS Unlimited at the San Diego con. All were fairly priced and graded. Sterling, I think the HoM #250 that I sold you was from these guys (the others from MH). From what I remember they had it graded at VF/NM but it looks like it didn't pass your pre-screen at 9.0 so maybe they were a little off on that one, if it was the same one you sent in. If it is, check for the insert. Anyway, below is one of my raw WWT with the MJ insert but without the star stamp. I also bought this one from RTS.

You have no idea what you are talking about. ok, point made. Do you want to take 20 more posts and tell me more of your opinion? Seems rather redundant. What pisses me off is that I'm just communicating my grades, I feel like I'm being lectured about costs and using 9.2 as my low end grade. My logic works for me and I don't have to answer to the likes of this group. Sterling, I made a comment earlier about using 9.2 as MY low end grade. I never said that you should do it that way, or any differently than you are. We all have our own cutoffs and goals for these books. If I included 80s and 90s books I may even make it a 9.6 cutoff. Different submissions may require different cutoffs. One thing I do know for sure is that we each know what is best for our own needs. Others may chime in with ideas, but I surely hope that no one thinks they know what is best for someone else. -----Sid

That's a very good and logical point Dicey. Another way that I look at pre-grading is like insurance. Nobody likes to pay for insurance, but we do it in order to avoid bigger losses. Really, all pre-grading is is another form of insurance. Insurance from getting a lower grade than wanted. All insurance costs something. And as Dicey just stated, if you are a good grader (like a good driver with auto insurance) then your "insurance" costs will be very low.

Do the math. Would I rather pay the reject fee or the slabbing fee for a grade that I can't possibly recover my slabbing fee? Sounds like a no-brainer to me. The price of not slabbing is education on my part so that I can continue to improve on books I submit. So, the fee, while not an optimal way of using my funds, is better than the next best alternative (as described previously). Makes sense? The math tells me that you should learn how to pre-grade yourself so that you don't have a 30% rejection rate. I would rather submit a couple test books to test my grading ability then to mass submit 100 books for the same purpose. Of course apparently you have money to burn, so burn away Nero, burn away. I know what you are saying Rick. If you feel you can pre-grade yourself well enough and only want 9.6 and up, but still get a few 9.2s or 9.4s in there, then fine, you will probably still make your money back on those 9.2s. But when having a cutoff around 9.0 for these books, then you are treading on a thin margin between losing money and being profitable (asuming these are for sell). If Sterling's goal was for 9.4 and up and only submitted what he thought were 9.4s, then he'd still be fine if he overgraded a few by a bit and got those 9.0s. I think it all depends on where your cutoff point is, which will dictate if it is worth taking the chance or not. If I do a pregrade I think I'll use a 9.2 cutoff as for me I even think 9.0 is a little close on these books.

Do the math. Would I rather pay the reject fee or the slabbing fee for a grade that I can't possibly recover my slabbing fee? Sounds like a no-brainer to me. The price of not slabbing is education on my part so that I can continue to improve on books I submit. So, the fee, while not an optimal way of using my funds, is better than the next best alternative (as described previously). Makes sense? I agree Sterling. If you have the patience to round up 100 books to submit, I think pre-grading would be optimum for these relatively low value books. I mean getting back a '75 or after horror book in 8.0 or 8.5 (with a few exceptions) is certainly not gonna sell for more than $15. Where as selling it raw may still bring in a $5 spot. Plus we all know that shipping raw is easier to ship than slabbed. So yeah, in a sense it is a waste to spend money on rejects, but when you factor in the variables I agree that it is the smart thing to do. Of course if you consider yourself a CGC-style grader and can accurately grade like they do 90+%, then just send the books in without a pre-grade and hope that you are right.

Thanks for the report Sterling, so overall, are you happy with it? Of course there are always disappointments, but overall did you get back the grades you wanted or were expecting? Any above your expectations? So at this point, do they ship your rejects back to you seperately or do they accompany the slabs? I imagine they probably ship your slabs in boxes or 30? My last submission was just a small Modern lot of ten including several TODs. One of these days I'm gonna also have to go for a bulk pre-grade submission and send in 100 or so.

Very true...I bought some Marvel's Greatest Comics a couple of weeks ago with the star but without the insert. But a good rule is...if you think the comics you're looking through may contain inserts, those with the stars will have them almost 80% of the time. But that's easy for me to say because I see a whole lot more omics with inserts over here, due to them being bought at military facilities and making it into the general German inventory, then someone looking through collections in the States... Jim So, the question is, do collectors have a preference of books with the inserts but without the stars, or do the stars not matter? Personally the stars do not bother me but I would not want to send a "starred" insert book to CGC if they are gonna downgrade because of it. I think that is why I chose not to send in my "starred" books for fear of it losing a .2 or a .4 in grade. I remember buying all of my WWT MJ insert books from the same dealer at the last San Diego con. Can't remember which dealer now, but I know at home the comic bags are marked with the dealer's name and grade.

The star stamp is a clue when looking for Mark Jewelers reprints... Jim Yeah I've noticed that too, but not all have the star, I have a few CGC graded copies of WWT with the MJ insert but without the star. I also have some raw with the star as well.

Nice list. Did you give them your own estimated grade? It would be interesting to see another column with your grade and then compare that to the actual CGC grade.

Are they actually late Bronze or do you have some "real" moderns? Most of my "Modern" orders consist of '75 - '79 books. I have never called up in advance to get my grades. That ruins the excitement of opening the box when I get it. When you get the grades in advance you can't look at the book and yell out "Why in the hell did that just get a 9.2, it damn well looks like a 9.6?" at the top of your lungs. I just have too much fun opening the box and seeing what I got. Like being a kid and hoping for one of the "good prizes" in a box of Cracker Jacks instead of one of those damn crappy tiny tattoo booklets.

He must have had quite the inventory. He just sent me an e-mail telling me that the last lot of HoS that he sold was to Guillermo del Toro, director of Blade 2 and Hellboy. He even offered to PayPal back any excess shipping fee if shipping is less than he charged. Sounds like a good seller. I noticed that somebody else hit the BIN on the HoM lot too. I'm tellin' ya', these old books may not be ASM or X-Men, but they are being dusted off and slowly being brought into the limelight.

I'm goin' a little crazy with these lots. Again probably buying more than I need. I imagine many of you guys noticed the two low to mid-grade complete HoM and HoS lots up on Ebay. Anyway, I just gave in to temptation and purchased the HoS lot although the HoM is still available if anyone is interested. It ends tonight (Sunday 12th). Not the best deal I ever purchased, but not too bad either. Seller looks good from what I can tell. Being in New Orleans I would imagine that maybe Shiver knows the guy. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=2293239002&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT

Yeah, paying over $50 for a raw 9.0 or so seems quite high for a book like that. I have a couple of those, maybe in the VF range that I'd be thrilled to get $20 for. But this IS one of the better covers, and certainly among Wrightson's best. I have a vast selection of many mid to lower high grade (6.0 to 9.2) DC Bronze horror that I'll start selling raw individually and in small lots on Ebay in January. It's gonna be fun to see how it goes. I've bought alot over the past year but haven't really sold many except for my G/VG reader copies, but even they sold well considering. This is an exciting time we are in for this genre. I just wonder where it'll be in two to three years from now.

Really? I haven't heard. What has this book been going for in mid-grade? Well drawn breasts always help sell a book. I'm not surprised. Hell, it'll make me pay more for a book too.

Really? That's odd... Have you tried putting a sheet behind the slab when you scan? Maybe your scanner has an automatic focus feature that the slab is screwing with... Jim I haven't really experimented with it, but it is a fairly cheap scanner. I think the fact that the book is actually about a 1/4" off the glass in a slab, and since the thickness of the slab lets light in the sides, it just doesn't come out that great. Maybe I'll at least try turning the lights off when I press the scan button. Maybe that will at least lighten it up. It's also a small scanner and can't fit the entire slab, so that causes the edge to be hanging out and also slightly tilts the book on the glass. I just need a bigger better scanner. That's all.