ttfitz

Technically speaking, the community didn't invent the term, they just identified the problem to be a term that has been around since 1665. Signed, Mr. Pedantic

Wendy?

Sorry, Mike, but given that the response when you asked about getting a copy of the updated information was not "Oh, sure, Mike, we should have included you on the distribution list" but was in fact a flat "nope", it seems a pretty clear indication that these boards aren't the bottom of the totem pole, but aren't even on the totem pole. (And this shouldn't be taken as a criticism of you and the yeoman's work you do on behalf of those here)

So "no" then.

It's clear that the folks here matter almost not at all. This post pretty much makes that 100% clear:

I don't buy graded books but have some (ie I don't pay more for slabbed than I would for raw) in my collection. There are a few that I have most likely specifically because of Newton Rings - early on when it was found, I won some auctions that featured them, probably because other people didn't know and thought they were defects on the books.

but yet you post on their message boards? Did I miss the requirement to submit books for grading - or even buy graded books - in order to participate here?

I've never been a condition freak, but I do have some standards. But if it's a book that I bought when I was a kid, as long as it is complete it stays in the collection without being replaced. And I've even got a few that, while I bought another copy because of the condition of the original one, I still have the one I had as a kid. I've jokingly referred to some of them as the "Timmy and Mark" pedigree collection:

You collected 85 years of Superman story? Awesome Action Comics 243 is from 1958, so more like 65 years (and 189 is from 1954 which is almost 70 years).

Being a DC fan, I realized long ago that I would never have a complete run of most of the titles I followed, so I made it a goal to get a complete run published during my lifetime (ie 1962-present). I have done so for most of them - Action Comics ('59 to present), Adventure Comics(1955+), Batman (1961 (#140) - present), Detective Comics (Dec-1961-present), Flash (1960+), Green Lantern (1960+), Superman (1955+), and World's Finest (1960+). Although I recently was going thru my collection and discovered a few issues that I had marked off my list that were actually missing the centerfold or had an ad cut out, so I've added them back to the wantlist.

I have complete runs of (Uncanny) X-Men, Avengers, and nearly complete runs of Fantastic Four (#1 and #5 missing), Amazing Spider-Man (1,3, 9, and 14), Silver Age Green Lantern (#1) and Flash (112 and 132). I guess my longest run is probably Action Comics, where I have from issue 243 to present (along with all but 4 issues back to 189).

Same.

That appears to be a different episode from season 3: "Rob Klein joins Lisa Whelchel to appraise Vivian Eisenstadt's collection of over 2,000 Wonder Woman items and offers the superfan the chance to trade one of her favorite pieces for an item Rob considers the "holy grail" of Wonder Woman memorabilia." So looks like they've done comic related a few times!

I thought I had seen this a while ago, but since this is a new episode, I guess it must have been a different one. Looks like there was a comics related one back in season 2 which must be the one I saw: "Allen Stewart's Hall of Heroes superhero museum houses his collection of 65,000 comic books as well as a wide range of memorabilia, movie props and more; including a wooden Superman action figure and the comic that first cover-featured Wonder Woman." Although there is a Batman episode, too, it might have been that one.

Exactly. I use halfbacks these days, but not because "regular" boards will damage my comics, but because when bought in bulk direct from E. Gerber they are cheaper than almost anything (particularly when I am able to go pick them up and not pay shipping). These Comic Pro boards are looking pretty competitive price wise, so I'll keep them in mind when I run out of my halfbacks.

Drats, you had the same idea and beat me to it!

I wanted to repeat this, as it's very good advice; but also because many of the tips here are about what I think is the lesser part of a show for me, the dealers room. I mean, there's nothing wrong with hitting up the booths and looking for those sweet deals we all love, but for me the attraction of a show is the opportunity to meet a favorite creator, attend a fun panel, check out the interesting stuff that you might never have run across in your typical comic shop. I mean, yeah, it's fun to dig thru the boxes looking for things, but there's so much available these days just sitting in front of your computer, I tend to spend much less time on the floor than I do in the panel rooms. Heck, one show my daughter and I attend regularly (Awesome Con in Washington DC) we sometimes find ourselves spending most of the day in the Science Fair portion of the programming learning about the Artemis mission or what's in a black hole or any number of fun interesting topics. Now, granted, Awesome Con is less comic-centric than many shows. So I'd say see what all the con has to offer, and figure out what your priorities are. Then you can figure out how to beat Greggy to the good stuff (you can't, but never stop trying).

A lot of people I knew really liked Bone, so I gave it a try and didn't really get into it. Maybe I just didn't give it long enough.

Previous Count - 215 Something is Killing the Children 29-30 Have I mentioned how annoying it is when you go from "Part 4" of a story title to "Part 1" of a different story title, but it's still part of the same storyline??? Well, it's also annoying to have a couple months break and still not finish the story that you made me think was over before. Fantastic Four 240-244 Avengers 217-221 Finally reached the point on these series where I had started back reading comics again in college, so I decided not to reread a bunch of stuff, given how many comics there are here in the house I haven't read the first time. Marvel Teamup 115-130 Amazing Spider-Man 225-239 Spectacular Spider-Man 64-79 Apparently I didn't pick up on the Spidey titles back then, so I still have some stuff I hadn't read before (first Hobgoblin!). I've been surprised how long it's been since we last saw Mary Jane (only a brief cameo with her and her aunt at a beach resort somewhere in one of those titles recently). Okay, that's it for this month, looks like... 60 this month, so the new total is... 275. So, not as far along as I had hoped, but doing okay I think.

Captain Math doesn't care about narratives, he only cares about math. And the point was not about how few firearms were involved in a shooting, but how likely one was to be a victim of one, so the statistic was meaningless. As an example, in Canada from 2016-2020, 10,021 deaths and injuries due to firearms occurred, so 2004 per year. With 7.1 million privately owned firearms in Canada, a similar "statistic" as the one presented for the US would be 0.028%, vs the stated 0.025%. Does anyone truly think that this means your "chances of being wounded or killed by gun violence" are higher in Canada than the US?

It's good for a laugh, I guess, but as @Domo Arigato pointed out two years ago, there's some facts involved that make this have a certain degree of sense: And to be sure, the part of the paragraph from the newsletter you didn't post makes clear it's the same this year: " If you are seeking individual issues, one 2023 FCBD variant can be requested for each $10 in purchases that you make with us this week (net of all discounts). Simply add up your order, and then deduct the benefits of the 60% off NEWYEAR! codeword discount to reach your "net" figure. Let us then know in the "notes" as to which FCBD individual issues you would like us to reserve for you. Please do note that orders containing this year's FCBD sets and/or singles cannot ship until next Monday, May 8th." I would be shocked to learn of a comic shop anywhere that would give you a complete set of FCBD issues for free without any sort of purchase.

Yeah, Captain Math would like to point out that you are not quite correct with that. I'm assuming you divided the 100,000 victims by the 400 million guns to get that figure (since that's what comes from such a calculation), which only gives you the chances of being wounded or killed by a particular gun in a given year. Which I am sure you will agree is pretty meaningless, as far as statistics go.

No doubt, but the question wasn't whether it was "quite a bit" but whether it was "way up" from other points in time, defined by you as "I don’t ever remember things being as bad as it is now"

I think the key word here is "seems". According to a chart from LA Almanac (http://www.laalmanac.com/crime/cr01.php), in 2021 there were 58,177 violent crimes and 227,695 property crimes reported in Los Angeles County in 2021. Compare that to 95,908 violent crimes and 488,535 property crimes in 1985 (both around double the 2021 numbers). That's just raw numbers, it becomes worse when you look at crime rates - 585.8 violent and 2,292.7 property per 100,000 residents in 2021 vs 1,181 violent and 6,015.7 property in 1985 (more than double and nearly triple 2021, respectively). Further, 1985 wasn't even the peak - 1992 had 163,513 violent crimes (1,815.2 per 100,000), and 517,495 property crimes (5,744.8 per 100,000). So there is really no question that crime is down in Los Angeles over the late 80s and early 90s, quite sharply, in fact. Now, part of the reason for that "seems" that you mention might be that certain violent crimes are up over the past couple years compared to earlier, like homicide and aggravated assault (although rape and robbery are down). And it is conceivable that the place where such crimes take place in Los Angeles has changed, which can change the perception - as well as what gets covered in the news, thus feeding the perception.