Sauce Dog

Update: As of this week it sounds like four more customer invoices have been shipped, including the infamous Flash #1! There is one more customer I'm waiting for address confirmation from, but their books are all accounted for and ready to be mailed out. Once all those are confirmed delivered it will bring us up to eight customers from the survey getting their property back (over half the people who filled out the survey). Not including the Flash #1 (which I have no idea the actual value of in this case), the total value of books returned thus far will be approximately $150,000-$180,000usd (note this number is SUPER low. It is based on the amount each customer declared at the time of submission...some many years ago, in fact this calculation includes mid-high grade copies of AF#15 worth only $5000, More Fun Comics #73 valued at $5000, and X-Men #1 for $2000...so yeah, assume it should be MUCH higher at current FMV)

Have you filled out the survey? https://r8f0sk8dr88.typeform.com/to/yoKI6552 (be sure to include your board handle here in the notes at the end so I know who I'm helping)

Can we add that employee to the Hall of Shame sellers list now?

2.0 all day long.

Wait, it is? Seriously, who is saying that? an are they an actual conservationist and not just a comic flipper/presser? I have all of those books and found they were missing key important pieces of information when it came to actual CONSERVATION (not just trying to make a book look better grade and whitening the covers) that would lead to degradation of the paper. As for your original question, it will take LOTS of time to learn the feel of pressure & speed when using such an eraser. Also you will want to experiment on countless amount of beater books and watch others, such as Kenny https://www.instagram.com/p/CyfMKMRMIpN/?img_index=1 , to see how they might be doing things. White erasers are excellent, but you cannot just go at a page with a block of it as is (in most cases), one solution is to try reducing the eraser to particles (you can use a cheese grater for this) and then roll those around on the surface; much like you would get if you buy a Dry Cleaning Pad Eraser, that allows you to shake out particles of it before rubbing: I use one here https://www.instagram.com/p/CXzF72bFr_j/?img_index=1 (You can also note I'm using a pen top white eraser nub, which I find allows for getting specific areas I need to work around. I am also using a dry cleaning fire soot sponge there to clean my eraser tip off when it gets too dirty (so it does not transfer into other areas of the book, and I don't have to use an exacto blade to slice it every time it needs cleaning)

Yeah, it is most often an automatic thing based on a persons account settings I think (by default I think it is on, as many sold sold books don't even have the option to make an offer on). There are different offer types on HA, "Make Offer to Unverified Owner" / "Make Offer to Active Owner" / "Make Offer to Inactive Owner". Regardless, it makes it frustrating for buyers when you don't even know what is legit or not. It means owners of the books get to sit back and watch a list of publicly made offers build on the sold listing page for everyone to see - which they can point to at a future date as being the bare minimum they will accept if they choose to sell (even if the offer was made by a crazed fan with too much money at that moment - as I have done a few times, such as a 3k offer on a 1k book)

Metropolis Make-an-Offers are down there with Heritage Auction offers (though in many cases I at least get a rejection eventually on HA, even for books I'm offering 3-5x the GPA price for. HA offers seem to just be collectors wanting to publicly show off the price of offers without actually ever intending to sell the books). On a positive note, the last big raw book I bought from them turned out to have restoration on it when I sent it to CGC several years after the purchase. I contacted Metropolis and they actually issued me a partial refund even through it was years after I bought it from them.

@SuperBat5000 maybe this is a copy you might like?

Most of the communication directly with Mike was done by me in these cases, basically providing the list and reinforcing the reasons he should follow up on this, pushing for a priority of certain customers, and keeping tabs on him to get updates as often as possible.

Yeah, there are lots to doubt about it when we know for a fact he has sold customer books - I can't confirm it is 100% legally his book (I don't know where he got it from years ago)

I know Mike does in fact own a CGC copy of Startling #47 (since at least 2017), so it's not necessarily a customer book (unless someone has recognized it?)

Not interested in this cloak and dagger garbage. You can DM your details or reach out to me on instagram if you had any questions or requests for whatever actions you are planning, otherwise I'm not jumping through mysterious hoops for a stranger online who won't even extend the minimum courtesy of offering some sort of details or context to establish a sliver of trust.

I don't often like to call out specific users here, but I need to just make a statement. The user Flake Tapper has posted here talking about pursuing legal action, and several users have had communication with them and stated they feel red flags are popping up. I am not saying they are serious or not, I am simply recommending anyone conversing with them be mindful of what information they are sharing. It just seems very odd to me that someone serious about taking legal action is hesitant to even tell anyone of us what books they submitted to Hero Restoration - to that end they have refused to fill out the survey so I can't even confirm they are a victim. It is also odd that they are not at all interested in obtaining a list of contacts from me of victims who have already expressed interest in taking legal action, nor are they interested in communication with me, the one and only person on the boards that Mike has remained in contact with.

Yes, but we know that as a fact at this point - not just 'good reason to believe'. You might need to re-read this entire thread as I'm getting the sense you are missing a few things. The business is permanently closed, and has been for months now. All that is left is for him to dissolve the current LLC and start any necessary other actions (bankruptcy, insurance claims etc). He has sold customer books (the only thing most are questioning now is his claims of it being accident vs intentional, and how many / which books have been sold).

Maybe, but I don't think so. Mike is already aware of one customer taking legal action against him (as they have been in contact directly, not through me) and the others I've spoken with are doing their own thing already outside the boards. Those who were on the survey have already been put in touch with some other members looking into legal action, so they would just be bringing him onboard something already in motion or has already been brought to his attention (at least the ones I know about). Those on the survey also were contacted and consented to me passing along their names & invoice details to Mike when he requested them so he could make those customers a priority (not all of them though), so he is aware of them already if that was part of this. Thus far three customers on the survey have had their books returned, and last I heard from Mike two more are almost ready to be mailed out (and a few more he is still working on locating fully).

I've reached out to Flake Tapper but they have not provided any details to even partially confirm their identity - in fact they asked ME to confirm MY identity (if I wanted to join legal action, which anyone who's actually read these threads knows that isn't something I'm doing and knows what my connection is with all this kerfuffle). I don't think they even submitted anything to the survey either, so I cannot match them with any invoice or known submission details. Flake if you are serious, like many others were, at least provide your submission data to the survey and then we can talk about getting you connected with everyone else (otherwise you have to start from scratch and hope everyone sees your few small posts - which won't work, since most victims are NOT on the boards)

TBF all my contacts that ended up being legit also found the boards, but just never made an account (as they found my username first and reached out through other channels - such as creating social channels elsewhere to message me and only used them for that single moment) so I could see someone just dumping one post if they didn't know who to safely interact with and trust...that said, she needs to come back and seriously share the rest of those text messages. While lots of what she said is totally true (I believe he did buy an RV, he did sell - accident or not - a customers book which was FF52, and that AF15 pic is a customer book being shown off) us knowing the context and actual full discussion is key to how customers can proceed at this point and catch the lies that are coming from either side.

Okay, based on this...I think Jimbo is also on meth. Anyone else here on meth?

The unhoused have access to the internet many ways, including public libraries. There is a mom in my city who is on the streets (not on drugs or anything either) and spends time at the library so she can use the webcam to chat with her children overseas

I believe the intermingling part at this point, since everything has become so disorganized that books have been separated from their info (I have sent him the customer information for that Tales of Suspense which he lost, so now he has the info to return that order), but who knows...it's too much me to verify at this point with my limited connection to all this. I told him NOT to post here again until he had returned a good deal of customer orders so he could show actual action was taken - not empty promises. Everything on my end talking with him and seeing the tracking numbers, confirming delivery with other board members has actually happened and shown him to be actually trying to make things right. So from my side/perspective things were looking positive) As for the master list....I have access to a backup of the submission system before 2021, so at least for the very oldest of submissions I know I can help. For everything else newer, that was stored online via the system http://jotform.com but it sounds like he does not have access to it any longer (maybe unpaid account fees?) but it looks like the database is still hosted there, so it might be possible to get access to it again in the future.

This is getting too much for me to even parse and verify, but it was a red-flag to me when 90% of the claims in the original bomb post were new to me and NONE of my other contacts mentioned anything close to them besides the drinking and worry of sold books. Is he honestly mixing stuff up, maybe, is stuff being sold, maybe...I don't know anymore. Are books stolen, I have no clue....this is a mess and all I hope is he is making good on returning the books he can.

GUYS THIS IS GETTING CRAZIER. Mike has contacted me! He can't get into his account here for the moment, so maybe a post from him later. Apparently some of those sold listings were cancelled by him (but still appear as sold under ebay searches) when he noticed the mistake. Apparently he has his own comic collection, and with everything going on lots of them have been mixed up with customer books - so when he lists an item for sale he is 'getting books mixed up' but once he catches the mistake (finding the right copy he owns) he cancels the sale (which is what happened with this tales of suspense). @ZappedMoose9995 Your book is still in his possession!!! I will get him your invoice and he will have it put together for return as your customer notes he lost on it. Also, as I thought...the meth claim is false, and apparently well...better you read it from the horses mouth:

To be fair, I've see a picture of the dog and they do have the cold dead eyes of a chicken killer

Thanks for joining the boards and posting this. This is the most clear-cut, smoking gun out of all of this. Your instagram post clearly shows the same matching book that was sold on ebay here https://www.ebay.com/itm/256369553490?hash=item3bb0d0f052 (same hand written date notation at the top and tear on the right edge) AND the post even tagged where they were being sent to #herorestoration, showing a clear chain of custody - which I can confirm by looking at your HR invoice you provided me, showing your email submission for these exact books to them December 14th 2022 at 10:48 AM) The fact that the ebay account has had its name/handle/picture changed within the last 24 hours further shows they are trying to obfuscate any wrong doing, and are fully aware of this thread and recent revelations. UPDATE EDIT: For those seeing this post now an update: The TOS57 above with the unique markings was listed on ebay but the sale was cancelled and never shipped. Mike still has the book in his possession and apparently is returning it to the owner. The FF52 however does seem to have been a completed sale.