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pastorofmuppets

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Journal Entries posted by pastorofmuppets

  1. pastorofmuppets
    Its also my first journal
    Like anyone else here, it was Christmas for me to see my books were shipped today and my grades were posted. Other than my ColSoc coupon, all my books have been purchased, so i was quite interested in how my eye was for high grade books. I sent 30 books at once, and i was realistic enough to know they would not all come back 9.8 or up.
    Now, i primarily collect J. Scott Campbell covers(and i am currently 2nd in the registry set), but i do have an near complete Batman #608-#619 run all in 9.8 and a few others. 27 of my 30 submitted book were JSC covers, the other 3 being DC 1:200's (Justice League #3 and a Batman #2).
    I am not going to list all my books/grades here, as i will have them in my set when they arrive in a few days, but in the end i received 13-9.8's, 12-9.6's, 2-9.4's, 1-9.2, and 2-9.0's.
    The most notable 9.8's were:
    Danger Girl #2 Smoking Gun
    Amazing Spider-Man #700 Midtown
    Superior Spider-Man #1 Midtown (Love that the connecting covers both got 9.8)
    Vampirella Crossover Gallery #1 Holochromium
    Justice League #3 1:200
    My Danger Girl #2 Smoking Gun Platinum Foil received a 9.6, and i am very happy with that.
    I Fast Tracked this order and they were out the door in 12 days. After reading here what some others are dealing with as far as wait times, i think i will be using the Fast Track service exclusively.
    I hope you enjoyed my little babble. Thank for reading.
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  2. pastorofmuppets
    I may have a problem
    In my first journal,i blabbed about getting my 30 book submission back. What a rush that was. I am still drinking in all the goodness. But, like most of you, i still kept hunting for more goodies not 2 days later.
    First off, i stumbled on to a nice, high grade Batman #1 1:200 at a very low price. No reason it should get lower than a 9.6. My #2 got 9.6, and they would make a nice pair.
    A week later, board member Tnerb hooked me up with a great book. On that note i just want to say thanks to those of you whom i have purchased from off of the boards. Been great experiences all around. And i was able to add a few more JSC books to my set.
    And then this happened. Being a J Scott Campbell collector, the Siege #3 book has been a thorn in my side for 2 years. It carries a hefty price tag for a modern book. And the past 6 months the only 9.8 copies i have seen on the auction sites are $1800+. I had my chance to get one for under $1000 (a 9.8 SS no less) and i took it. It will take some time to pay it off, but i am glad i have it. Some of you may call me crazy, or worse, but it is the holy grail to my set. And it looks so nice proudly displayed on my bookshelf next to my other gems.
    But let me ask you all. Do you think any modern book should carry that kind of value?
    Thanks for reading.
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  3. pastorofmuppets
    Here is to the next 100....
    With my latest submission, and the near completion of a large purchase, i have will finally have acquired my 100th graded book. It has only been about a year and a half since my first slab, and my goal was to end 2013 with 100. I have overshot that mark a tad. I know there are plenty of you with exponentially more than that, but go easy on me, i just started.
    So in celebration of this milestone, i thought i may share a short tale of my greatest single find, so far, of slabs.
    I collect primarily J Scott Campbell covers, and Batman related titles, as some of you may know. I was in Heroes Comics in London, Ontario about a year and a half ago. I had taken a friend their for a medical procedure, and i had 4-5 hours to kill. I wandered downtown and stumbled on to this haven. It is such a great shop. Its a fairly big store, and it took me a while to slowly browse my way around, grabbing books along the way. I must have been in there an hour before i made my way to the back of the store. As my eyes scanned the racks and made their way up, i noticed the shelf above the rack that held the CGC books. Right in front was a Batman #612 9.8, the infamous Superman cover in the "Hush" arc, for a mere $20. I thought "thats not right, maybe its $120?". Nope, it sure was $20. Then i noticed that behind it was #608. What?
    Now i should interject here and explain that reading the Hush TPB at a friends house 5 years ago is the sole reason that i started collecting comics. I love everything about that story, and the art is Jim Lee at is all time best. But back to the story......
    So there i am staring at #608 and #612, both graded 9.8, for $20 a piece. And thats when i see almost the entire run with them, all at $20 each. All graded 9.8. #608 to #619, minus the #610 that someone had bought the day before. And there were 3 of the 4 #619 variants. I bought the entire run without thinking.
    It was shortly after that, that i discovered direct submitting and joined. It has been an awesome time, being involved in this hobby. All the cons and shops that i have been to have been cool, i have met a ton of awesome artists, writers and other creators. And all the interactions i have had here on the CGC boards have been nothing but positive.
    So here is to the next 100, and beyond. Thanks for reading.
    ThePastorOfMuppets
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  4. pastorofmuppets
    ....or, i can't wait to get my hands on you
    Back in January, i made my first ever 30 book submission. I thought that i had sorted through and picked out the best of the best to add to my collection. It was a mixed return with 25/30 books coming back 9.6 or higher. I looked closely at the few books that received lower grades than i hoped, and studied why they were graded as such. A few weeks ago i made 2 seperate submissions, one was my 4 book coupon submission, the other, a 10 book Modern Fast Track submmision. This time, i wrote a list of predicted grades, grading conservatively, beside each title. All of my books were shipped this week and would like to post my predictions/actual grades below. Needless to say, i am one happy man today.
    Starting with my 10 book invoice (all J Scott Campbell covers too. First grade is my prediction, second is actual grade.
    Legend of the Shadow Clan #2 9.6/9.8
    Age of Ultron #1 Midtown Sketch 9.8/9.8
    Age of Ultron #1 Midtown 9.8/9.8
    Guardians Of The Galaxy #1 Midtown 9.8/9.8
    Nova #2 9.6/9.8
    Vampi #8 9.6/9.6
    Vampirella And The Scarlet Legion #1 RI 9.6/9.8
    Vampirella #1(2010) Red Sketch 9.8/9.8
    Vampirella #1(2010) Negative 9.6/9.8
    Vampirella #1(2010) 9.6/9.4
    All but one book met or exceed my predicted grades. And that 9.4 is really no big deal. When i saw my posted grades and compared them to my notes, a big smile and a wave of happiness enveloped me. My eye for high grade moderns is getting better. Keep in mind, that these are my 3rd and 4th submissions ever. I don't have the well trained eye that some of you have. However i am getting much more accurate.
    Now onto my 4 book submission. This is the one that made me most happy. Not so much the fact that they received the grades they did, but that 2 of the books graded much higher than i expected. This time it was 2 JSC covers, and two others.
    Wolverine #312 9.8/9.8
    Danger Girl:Revolver #1 Comicmarket Edition 9.8/9.8
    New Mutants #98 9.2/9.6
    and finally the one that blew me away.....
    Batman #1 Sketch New 52 9.4/9.8
    I was positive it would never get the 9.8. But it did. And i am a happier person for it. I know its not THAT big of a deal to you non-modern collectors, but i get the satisfaction of saying i have a Batman #1 1:200 in 9.8. And it will look quite nice next to my 9.6 of Batman #2 1:200, and my 9.8's of Justice League #1, 2, and 3 1:200's. As well, i get to add 10 more 9.8's to my JSC registry set edging me a little bit closer to the #1 spot, which i am about 4000 points behind.
    Thanks for reading,
    thepastorofmuppets
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  5. pastorofmuppets

    10 For 100

    By pastorofmuppets,

    1 milestone accomplished
    I haven't written a journal in sometime now, but this was something definitely worth sharing.
    I have been sitting comfortably in the #2 spot in the J Scott Campbell registry for quite a while now. Knowing that i was fast approaching my 100th book for my main competing set, i had started thinking back in September about whether or not i should, or even could, make my 100th book something really special. I wanted too, but i knew it would happen around the holiday season, and i had no idea what my $$$ would be like.
    When i hit 95, i had 4 more in the mail. And i stopped. Right at 99. Sure i bought other books, of course, but i realized that i really did want to make the next one stand out. So i waited almost 3 weeks. And after all the hair pulling, and the "hmmmmmmmm naaaaahhhh" -ing, i find the one that made the most sense. Courtesy of Mayor006, i am the very proud owner of my first 10.0. An Oz #1 10.0 SS Campbell/Ruffino. A perfect 10 for book 100 was, well, perfect. The price was just too irresistible. And the day it came in the mail happened to be my birthday. Couldn't have asked for anything more.
    Thanks for reading,
    thepastorofmuppets
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