Sauce Dog

Right now I limited myself to buying from these accounts: streyflexin, howling_mad_fate, xeno_comics (all of which I bought a few books from on the boards since they are local to me), and elite_comics11 (where I got this one from, first actual purchase without knowing them IRL). Tag wise i'm following #comicsforsale right now (as well as some targeted tags for certain books I collect, such as #worldsoffear and #morefuncomics)

Took the plunge and started using Instagram to buy books. I did some deals with board members here recently that also sold there, so figured as long as I limit my spending with their recommended trusted accounts it would be fine. First pick up was this beauty, a cover i've always loved and wanted to own but for some reason thought was far more expensive, and so never considered hunting it down. Love the Manhunter, real shame most of his stories were never reprinted in ANY form.

Some of my golden age goodies are our right now: The Thing #15, Amazing Mysteries #32, Crime Mysteries #15, Seven Seas #3, and Worlds of Fear #3 I have no clue when those will be coming back, so one day i'll get a nice surprise out of the blue. I also have a low/mid grade Iron Fist #14 out as well but with another grading company to test them out with my own experiment (as they have a Canadian distribution drop of point near me, so figured why not since i don't have to pay to ship to them)

Overall a somewhat decent ending to the series, but the cut in budget and shortening of the series is really felt in this episode. The final confrontation between Swamp Thing and the mercenaries felt cheap - with all the action being dark, rushed and simply some vines popping into frame occasionally. This was an encounter that could have had so much potential, and been built up to feel like it was suspenseful (something that felt like the first Predator movie) but I feel production caused it to be one of the major sacrifices. Likewise the dialog involving all these mercs is just typical stuff we've heard a million times before, rather uninspired and seemed lazy ("we're not hunting him.....he's hunting us!"). Once again Woodrue steals the show, with his scenes seeming like a Hannibal-esq spinoff that I would have loved to see more of. Also mostly nitpicking, but if you have a phone with you in the trunk of a car you can still send text messages - especially if it is shown to have a full battery, signal, and the person inside is fully able to use it (and actually does...but only as a flashlight!!!). That was maybe the silliest moment of the show. Of course this can easily be retconned in a season 2 to reveal she DID end up sending a single text at the last moment, but that would be the only way the writers could be forgiven for an otherwise eye rolling moment.

Take it to a pro! I use Mike at herorestoration.net and have loved his work.

Yup, well to be fair that is what I did when in high school / college when money was more of an issue. I aimed to grab low/mid grade copies to 100% complete the first 4 Iron Man volumes (as well as the majority of issues from Tales of Suspense). Nowadays I don't like completing runs and rather prefer to buy the TPBs of the 'run' and then use the saved money to buy a high grade key from it (such as with Swamp Thing, all TPB but two mid/high copies of House of Secrets 92). Though 99% of the pictures posted above look to be MUCH worse than what I was buying - my idea of 'low' grade raw was basically at worst a 3.0.

They are checking you for trimming, once they miss that your account will be approved.

Ah! I did see that but for some reason thought it was the free CBCS notes. Good to know.

My god, they continue to post like there is doubt about it being the same book regardless of the unique top ink mark: "It does not convince me because there are other discrepancies just as compelling." The 'other discrepancies' they speak of are literally the result of camera variables and file artifacts. The two images were both shot differently (at a slight camera shift, lighting), have different plastic cases with wear, and both saved in different ways (color profiles, varying compression, possibly different web format type. Even HOW the original images were resized down matters!) - which would account for so many of those issues people are seeing on these lower resolution pictures. Sigh. Did anyone end up getting the CGC grader notes for the issue?

I'm going to bet on the post-credits surprise referencing the awesome cross over in issue #53. It will be something easily filmed, so perhaps Swamp Thing saying he needs to leave the swamp, as he feels the green pulling him towards another place where he is needed. Abby will ask where that is, to which Swamp Thing will reply "I am unsure. The green only whispers one word........Gotham".

The conversation over on CBCS is a joke, I am honestly baffled how anyone could think these are two different books. Color differences are just from the scanning/photo exposure, but all the minute details match up (and those that don't you can see are a result of the artifact compression in the image, so some scratches disappear or marks become blurred). Some claims about the book being trimmed after CBCS graded it are also reaching, as any difference in the right side can easily be explained by a shifting of the cover in the new slab (I have books that shift like this differently when I put them in an archive sleeve, with a tiny bit of the page peeking out more or less certain times). Also, as a web developer, I would like to officially declare that their forum system is a damn travesty of hot garbage. Who thought it was a good idea to sort content based on category tags rather then sub forums groups?

That is a crazy good looking for the grade. I also have a good looking .5 but this is leaps and bounds better - and honestly this copy is a PERFECT candidate for restoration (though if you go with a third party you risk loosing the signature authentication, but this could easily hit 7.0 or better)

One more label update which i'm honestly surprised no other Golden Age fans have noticed, but More Fun Comics #69 is the first appearance of Karkull (Ian Karkull, no code name) who is one of the few villains in those early issues to reappear again in the series (and then surface again later for a Silver Age appearance and a Modern Age appearance). I figure if Wotan gets a label note, then Karkull certain deserves one as well.

and with my luck it will be another superhero movie i'll be cut out of (curse you X-Men!!!)

They are shooting this near me and the casting call went out for more extras (friend of mine signed up for it), so I might try to jump in on it.

"Yeah, we made it better....took it out back and put a hole in its head....ya' know, "better"" Riiigghhhtt While the issue I'm considering getting the restoration removed on says all the color touch / pieces added are minor and on the right edge of the cover, I worry there are other spots or that the paper loss will be much more severe. I would have hoped CCS gives you a rough estimate on where the removal would happen so you can approve it prior to any work being done.

I'm going to cheat to get in on this thread - cause I don't actually seem to own any other Hitler covers Avert your eyes, purists! Zip Comics #20. Prices for this issue seem to have been on the rise lately, and while I don't like to buy cover-less GA books I made an exception in this case since its key status is less about the cover and more it being the first appearance of Black Jack. With that I decided to save some money and picked up a cover-less copy for $100, making a cover reproduction myself (buying a reproduction online was too expensive due to shipping to Canada it seems) and the printing house I use was able to match the GA paper stock fairly easily (which I then banged up and added some slight wear to it to better match the interiors)

I am totally rethinking my decision to send to them now. I have always used a third party for restoration services (restoring books, not removing), but figured this time I would go directly to them for minor CT removal and pressing...but now I really don't have the confidence it would be worth it, especially the pressing since this is a GA book with full book waving in the grader notes and I know that will require care

So i'm gonna put money on the next movie doing the following: Spider-Man now regarded as THE villain by everyone is seen terrorizing the city, and so JJJ petitions public support for a NEW team of respectable heroes to help stop this menace. Mysterio reveals himself to be alive, saying he faked his death as to get the murderous Spider-Man off his trail, and is propped up as the protector of New York and leader of a new super team that will make stopping Spider-Man the #1 priority. All the antics will be covered, with heavy bias, by the DailyBugle. Though i'll wager that Mysterio isn't real and only a hologram by one of his associates - as is the 'villainous' Spider-Man seen in many news reports, but the other members of the team are quite real (Vulture, Scorpion, Shocker, Black Cat, and honestly I would love to see them take the opportunity to create a brand new minor villain for just the movies to round out this version of the Sinister Six). basically what I mean is....GIVE ME MORE MYSTERIO!!!!

Just saw it last night, by far the most enjoyable Spider-Man film and a perfect rendition of my favourite villain Mysterio. It fit nicely within the MCU and i'm glad they addressed the technological connection and close bonds felt between Peter and Tony (as well as all the other characters in their lives) the way they did.

This is exactly what I do with my favorite issues, I get one that is as good a grade as I can afford and another low end copy for reading and sharing with other enthusiasts / friends kids (my three favorites below). It does mean i'm in the end spending more on the same issues, but it also means I can also 'cash out' if the market gets even crazier without having to part with my ONLY copy of a book.

Love it - and allows Thor to still be off with the GotG using Stormbreaker. Since the general public is now familiar with the fact others can hold the hammer, it is a good idea to explore that (as well as opening up the stage for other characters like Beta Ray Bill who otherwise might have needed even more exposition to setup & explain)

Episode 7's (and 8) shift towards a darker plot is welcome and adds a depth it previously lacked (No longer is it just 'the old bad guy who ran the town!' theme and gives some of the best actors on the show a chance to really shine) however the dialogue continues to be wooden, at the same time the side plots remain handled in an uneven way (not spun into the main story well, unimportant, or just not given any real reason for us to care about outside of comic book nostalgia). I like that Abby tripped out and saw Swamp Thing as he was, but the 'danger' felt forced and didn't add much to the story (Abby declaring that the Chinese lantern she ate wasn't helping was laughable, she literally swallowed it, and her being a seasoned doctor expected a raw natural plant to IMMEDIATELY have an effect on an unknown infection in her arm...give that sucker some time to even digest girl! This 'solution' wasn't needed and could have been cut, with more focus on her actual healing by Swamp Thing). At least by the end of episode 8 we have an actual threat and sense of danger for our protagonist, which shows some promise for the final few episodes. At this point I feel that hopefully my posting will server to only lower the expectations of others to the point that when they do watch it they will be pleasantly surprised it wasn't 'that bad' of a show (and to be clear, this isn't the worst show i've seen, but it certainly is a clunker).

As long as there isn't a spin split i'm not seeing, I could see this being 6.0.