oldmilwaukee6er

The Big Con Job

This weekend was warm WARM; between the family & a work event & the 90 degree temps I kept a pretty low profile & did not feel up to much (LAYzeee). Monday way the usual back to the office grind & late Tuesday I finished a 6-week night course that I was managing but was beginning to wear thin on me (group conflict & entitlement). It was the oddest thing, storming & arguing before class & then suddenly gelling and norming during the oral presentation. But it had me pretty wound up (teaching high is some-THING, jack), so I slipped down to the corner spot for a celebratory pint. AND NOW, since I compartmentalize, I can begin to get excited about Wizard World Chicago (WWCHI)! Woooooooo

My lady and I save a little throughout the year to do this con up in style (for one day) and it is a milestone for our summer and marks the beginning of the academic year. Nevertheless, we nut up for FRI tix $56ea & gas $12 tolls $7.50 parking $13-21, plus a little extra juice for backpack snacks into the con. WE KEEP IT LEAN for the Big Con Job! Limit overhead(!); the American Pickers never reveal their full overhead. However, you gotta and you know I am focusing on picking BACKISSUE comics and rarely other stuff (e.g. vinyl pops, autographs, TPBs.

Tomorrow (today?), I will start working on my con bag- made a list tonight:

*Empty water bottle

*King-size snickers

*Beef jerky

*5-10 various bags & boards (namely for TWD con variants, or odd raw book)

*Bubble wrap, just in case I find some schweet MOC Usagi Yojimbo action figures or perhaps pop on a 1977 Kenner R2D2 AFA figure (WOW totally outta my league)

*Mock-box… AKA a USPS Spiderman box that I cut down to hold some of above and transport comix back

Spare bag for $1 books to grind, dredge long boxes (tested @Mighty Con and can hold 40 comix plus)

Check my airbrushed Deadpool T all ready for the con. I bet Deadpool outnumbers Batman.

Corner spot comix (Summer o ’72)!

Soundtrack:

So while hanging out at the corner spot TODAY, I got a chance to kick it with a ‘geek friend’ of mine, the chef at the corner spot. He is old school service from back in the day in Milwaukee, has his set gaming friends for Necramunda, Star Wars X Wing, D & D (he is DM), etc. I mean tight group, I have not even been invited. Before I helped out at the corner spot, he and I played trivia together and PWND the old Two Bucks in Milwaukee ($20-30 gift almost each week at Monday trivia). ALSO, we often carpool to small cons, as he is picking reader copies of X-Men 100-200. That was before the whole racist mess blew up there (http://fox6now.com/2015/05/06/breaking-two-bucks-milwaukee-is-no-more-corporate-moves-to-revoke-franchise-license/ ).

ANYways, he stopped by and gave me the following Bronze Age books for free. Seems he picked them from a second hand place & the guy had just marked the stack at $3. He kept em and read em for a while and then gifted them to me.

THEY ARE (books range-graded at 4.5+; range 3.0-7.5; CROW; assume spine roll; Overstreet 45 GD-VG prices).

AS-IS; two books detached at bottom staple per below

Marvel June 72 (4 books)

Monsters on the Prowl 17 $3-6

Combat Kelly & Deadly Dozen 1 $3-6

Stg Fury 99 $3-6

Astounding Tales 12 2nd app. Man Thing (Neil Adams) $3-6

Charlton July 72 (2 books)

Just Married, All New 86 $2-4

Career Girl Romances 69 (dude)- detached at bottom staple $2-4

Classics Illustrated 145 The Crisis (Churchill) 7/58 $6-12

DC Comics May-June 1972 (7 books)

Tarzan 208 John Carter app $3-6

House of Mystery 202 $5-10

Weird War Tales 5 Heath / Toth art; Adams cover $8-16

Superboy 186 detached bottom staple $3-6

Adventure 419 $3-6

Dark Mansion, Forbidden Tale of 5 $5-10

Jimmy Olson 149 Golden age Plastic Man; rat chew at bottom front cvr $3-6

Hanging out at the corner spot

Scanning some Harvey Pekar and thinking about work-a-day stuff; last night marked 3-weeks working as a bar-back at the neighborhood café/bar. A lot of my acquaintances hang out there and it is the ‘brown café’ of the neighborhood- serves news, coffee, beers, & small plates from 5-midnight. One of the bartenders is traveling in Europe and so I am helping Thursday nights in August (cash plus tips & drinks). It is a tough job and sometimes it is tough to let go of one’s ego and grind service industry (where I am the noob), but it will lend itself to some wild Pekar ‘at the corner’ nights. Maybe I can make $200 or so toward the ASM1 fund before WWCHI. So far, I have netted about $150.

American Splendor #1 VFNM

AS1 undercopy (VF+ or better)

AS 2-5 (VF to NM-)

TODAY family in town, as my niece is dancing at Irish Fest that night ($5 FRI ticket 4-5:30pm entrance; cruise my bike down to Summerfest grounds and I only have to cross one street). My sister just sent me a text about possibly hitting the Wisconsin State Fair this morning for some deep-fried fun- http://wistatefair.com/fair/new-food/

SAT is a work function down in 'the Northern ILL.' New boss party, ugh, before the semester. I am leading a small carpool, so I will have company for the ride down. I think my new boss is into shooting pool and BBQ!? Hopefully he HAS a pool (cannonball) or is into COMICS!

If you get a chance, head over to the CPG UG forum. I posted a few things over there, including a question you may (or may not) be able to help me with. I just spent a long time today going through my undergrounds, as I wanted to add a new empty box to my collection as things were getting tight.

I sure will. Forgive the delayed response (my account over there is frozen due to inactivity).

The Wednesday One

NOTHING for me this week from my usual pulls and money is tight, so I popped on a single spec book ($4)- Batman #43 1st app. of Mr. Bloom (after the lads at CBSI: http://comicbookinvest.com/2015/08/12/the-wednesday-one-8/).

Plucked the best of five copies, plus there were two variants on the small LCS shelf. Pretty interesting at a glance and I picked up the regular cover because it features the character. Seeing yet another Capullo Batman in my spec box reminds me that I miss him on Spawn.

ASIDE- Pop art in Milwaukee

I have been enjoying the discussion in this thread posted by ComicWiz back in 2014 http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=8157893&fpart=1

I enjoy his postings, as he is an underground comix guy from way back (we met back in the old CPG days and even hung out at San Diego 2005ish for the launch of the underground comix reference guide).

Lichtenstein’s Crying Girl painting is probably my fave piece in Milwaukee’s permanent collection (currently off display for renovation): http://collection.mam.org/details.php?id=13085.

After just basic research, I now understand it was a direct lift from a panel in Secret Hearts #88 (June 1963; DC Comics).

Freaks and Zaps on the brain

Soundtrack (listening to Rounders on Netflix)

Biked to work yesterday on the new bike (13mi roundtrip). Ouch. The new forward riding position and the seat have me hurting a little. I can put my old seat, but I am trying something new and it is likely to hurt for a while. I took some time to think about my Wizard World Chicago (WWCHI) nut and I think I may just enjoy the show on a smaller budget and continue to save for a nice ASM1. I shall see. I really feel like I need 3.5-4k to acquire a book with which I would be satisfied (but the more that money sits, the more the lady gets accustomed to seeing it there). SO TODAY, to distract myself a little, I dredged up my registry sets to see the damage from the 2015 Registry Awards. I lost the top spot on both my sets this year, a title I held for only one year (now reclaimed by the reigning champion). This may be the year I make a run consistent with Goal #2.

I still pick underground comix. My wife recently said that nothing gives me quite the thrill of finding a high grade, first print underground. Sometimes I am the only one in the room looking for undergrounds. Part of me loves systematically working WWCHI, comic booth after comic booth, grinding undergrounds. It is because I have a knowledge advantage when it comes to identifying first printings. Nevertheless, I rarely buy anything, so it is a tough grind. There is just so much mess out there, so many uninformed dealers; it is almost like being on autopilot- grind GRIND undergrounds. Natch.

However, I do have a strong affinity for Zap Comix and the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and it has been a goal of mine since about 2002 to put together the best first print runs of those titles that I can afford.

Registry

Freaks- http://comics.www.collectors-society.com/registry/comics/SetTypeDetail.aspx?SetTypeID=3378

Zaps- http://comics.www.collectors-society.com/registry/comics/SetTypeDetail.aspx?SetTypeID=2710

As of right now, I am trailing by 382 points in Zaps and 931 points in Freaks. I do have quite a few raws that I should have graded, but long TATs have always been my excuse. With just Zap alone, I have about 20 raws that I think would grade 9.4 or better and I once calculated the grading fees at ~$460 (plus shipping, ins, etc.).

WWCHI raw pickups

I really SHOULD do a complete inventory. And I really should sell my under copies on eBay. It seems to me that this is a situation where it will take a little money, but the result of this project may be a little extra ASM1 money and some more downsizing / curation of the collection. I think I should target the end of the con season, perhaps submit sometime before the holidays.

WWCHI Sucha News Freaks (before my new scanner)

Daydreaming about Wizard World Chicago

After new comics Wednesday, I turned my eye toward my regular work and my new part time Thursday night gig bar-backing. THUR worked late on a slow night and made about $50 in tips. That brings my total to $100 over three shifts (more on that). FRI was groceries and then I went to a little upstart brewery that an acquaintance started and hung out (‘crashed a beer’ then did ‘detail work’ AKA cleaning). Being a brewer is mostly about being a good janitor. FRI night was chill. SAT was the Steampunk invasion of the Bristol Renaissance Faire and I used my sport-card hustle money to take the lady out for the day. Bought the tix at Walgreens for $20 each and then brought another $45 to spoil her a little. We dressed ‘steampunk light,’ which is really all I do (I cosplay a basic dirtball mechanic), and the weather was perfect for it high 70s and overcast. I am not a big cosplayer or steampunker (more my wife’s thing), love dressing up on Halloween tho, but not some rando WED. However, I feel comfortable the two times I cosplayed at Renn Faire. It was nice… stunning ladies everywhere- took in the joust, the mud show (comedy show), music, and there must have been 200+ people cosplaying steampunk. Crazy busy tho. Was able to drink a beer early but then the lines were horrible, and then the lines for the bathrooms was horrible, and food too. So we just zigged when everyone zagged, and had a beer earlier, and then ate light veggie fare through the day until around 4pm when the lines died down. Glad to be back among my ‘mics last night and was out like a light in the chair at 8pm (haha).

So since I have not been journaling, I have been thinking a little about WHY I feel lost in collecting and DAYDREAMING about my glorious FRI at Wizard World Chicago (WWCHI).

Between the extra $100 I made at the corner spot and the extra $500 I netted from the sport card hustle, I have doubled my WWCHI budget. I believe that this is my 5th WWCHI in a row, having hit it almost every year since relocating to the Midwest- and we always do it the same way- FRI only, smash and grab (not hotel, low overhead). Each year we save a little money each month for WWCHI. Being blessed with a wife who (somewhat) collects comics, but enjoys all manner of popular culture, comics culture, SCI FI, PlayStation gaming & more. In fact she is the gamer by far. I like to collect and hunt for vintage systems, but she is by far the techie and gamer. ANYways, it is a blessing. But is also means budgeting equitably. So our planned budget is $500/ea, plus $250 for go-juice, parking & a celebratory steak at Gibson’s (7:30pm reservation this year). If we personally save more (e.g. from additional discretionary work) obviously the budget can go up (e.g. 2013 was a year I was flush and added two Silver Age keys).

AND, I have been saving throughout 2015 for my primary goal- the ASM 1. In fact, to date I have squirreled:

+$700 partial recovered deductible (I was hit by uninsured driver the deductible was recovered!)

+$240 in comic sales

+$110 bonus gift from lady

+$1000 in pay-myself bonuses for extra classes taught

+$500 WWCHI monies

+$600 side-hustle monies

-$450 for new bike (yeah, I splurged on a flat-bar road bike from Nashbar w/ minor upgrades last month)

= $2700 MAX WWCHI budget

That makes for some fun daydreaming. So the questions for today…

**Stick to my strict $500 budget and let my ID run wild a little?

**Or bring it all and hope there is a nice presenting 2.0 ASM1 in the room to satisfy the EGO?

**And would a 2.0 satisfy said EGO?

The Wednesday One

This week’s pull really is one book. We Stand on Guard #2 from Image.

I actually went early to the store because I did not want risk it being under-ordered and my tiny little east side store only having 2 copies. Arrived at 1240PM and there were 4 copies left. I scooped up one and paid in cash.

Through two issues, I like the series. I bought it because my LCS pretty much insisted, and he is a big Brian Vaughn fan. I read Saga 1-12 electronically and liked the book but thought it a little (airquotes) overly sexualized and indulgent. I know I know, this from a fan of underground comix, Crumb, and S Clay Wilson kinda guy. I like the big feel of the book and the nice price point of $3. The book also has Steve Skroce on art. I remember him on X-Man during my second phase of collecting, but he also works with the Wachowskis on their movies (e.g. storyboards for the Matrix and more).

Set 100 years into the future, We Stand on Guard sets out to be a ‘military thriller’ where Canadian civilians are resisting an invasion by U.S. manned and unmanned giant mech robots. The central conflict appears to be in response to a White House bombing (references to the British torching 300yrs ago; War of 1812), but “water” and “land” are hinted as important as well. MORE INFO: http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2015/04/21/we-stand-on-guard-comic-book-first-look/26111205/

As a Yank, I feel BKV is again indulgent in a steady stream of anti-Americanism. Sorry, not sorry. Because he can- the same way he reminds us 47 times that Alana always LOVES (lurvs) to do down on Marko (Saga). For example in issue 1, a revisionist history that pegs Superman as Canadian and Krypton as Canada and we poor American savages as Metropolis run by greedy corporations ala Lex Luther (though I CANNOT say I did not enjoy this and I WOULD like to see more comic-as-symbol references).

All that said, I will kiss the ring for another month- nice colors, rock solid art, more BKV than you can shake your Wreathian at, and cheaper than the village insulter at the Renaissance Faire (ok, I’ll stop). Thanks for reading! 500 posts in 11 years Haha

Very nice!When I saw the title,I thought i was going to see the mean green machines from when I was a kid!!

Wow... I fell down the rabbit hole

$110 mean green machine

http://www.toysrus.com/buy/push-pedal-riding-toys/huffy-20-inch-green-machine-green-98223-12835619

$75k mean green machine

http://www.hammacher.com/Product/Default.aspx?sku=11894

Most collectors collect out of a feeling of nostalgia, either for family, home, childhood, or adolescence (toys, games, etc.). They accumulate during their earning years, value reaches its peak when the first generation is 45-60, and then they begin to stop. This is because few individuals are able to sustain their income into retirement (IMHO this will be more true for future generations). Once a collector learns to live without, the passionate need to possess diminishes. Thus, when we get priced out of a particular collectible, we may switch to smaller quarry.

One day while picking the local Burnham bowl show, I bought a Spay-C Go Bots model that transformed still in the box for $5 and put it together. Poorly too, just like I did when I was 9 (broke one small piece, altered two decals). I used to have Go Bots when I was a kid, not really Transformers. It wasn’t a mess but it was imperfect. I displayed it for while at my desk at work. I thought about collecting the other models in the box, scooping them all up and sitting on them for a while (there are three, then a larger one, and like one variant chase model). And then I found a Transformers Construct Bot (Ironhide) for $7 at the Brady Street Walgreens. So cool! Ages 8 and up (so I couldn’t frog it up), no painting no decals and they transform without disassembly and their parts are all interchangeable, so you can customize your bots or replace bits.

I put together the following want list, 16 for the set, and decided that I would focus on ONLY the original run and not the Age of Extinction/Dino or Beast Hunters

Scout

Wave 1 (2013)

E1:01 Ironhide

E1:02 Starscream

Wave 2

E1:03 Thundercracker

E1:04 Bumblebee

Wave 3

E1:05 Silverbolt

E1:06 Cliffjumper

E1:07 Dead End

E1:08 Breakdown

Elite

Wave 1

E1:01 Wheeljack

E1:02 Soundwave

Wave 2

E1:03 Autobot Hound

E1:04 Optimus Prime

E1:05 Megatron

Wave 3

E1:06 Smokescreen

E1:07 Decepticon Dragstrip

E1:08 Shockwave

Triple-Changer

Wave 1

E1:01 Bumblebee

E1:02 Blitzwing

Yesterday I added the final Wave 3 Elites that I have been missing (below). Actually the lady bought them for me as a thank you off of Amazon for $33 ($11ea). Super nice gesture as these did not hit Walmart or Target like the others, at least online or my store!

I display them on a small curio cabinet just off the kitchen (the boxes fit in the bottom). I bought the first few Wave 1-2 Scouts from my two local Walgreens for $7ea c, then made one online purchase each with Walmart & Target… based on my list the Scouts were $7-8ea, the Elites $11-13ea, and the triplechangers $14-15ea

Finally, I did cave and buy the Target EXCLUSIVE Predaking, part of the Beast Hunters: Predacons Rising imprint, it was sold at the triplechanger + price point (~$24). I passed when it was on the website, because I was trying to stretch my collecting dollar. However, I found this at a local Mighty Con and had to pop- $15 unopened, but the box had some wear and lots of discounted price stickers and sharpie marker lines through price stickers.

FINAL NOTES

The Decepticons are the coolest. They dominate PWN the air with those sweet planes.

My Smokescreen arrived bagged! I know I am going to open it up and assemble it, but the collector in me is like ‘damn why is this one bagged and ALL the other ones not?’

FINALLY, I would probably add the following to my collection in the future:

Ultimate

Wave 1

E1:01 Optimus Prime vs. Megatron (this was pretty much sold out when I first started and I already have these two separately as Elites. The Ultimate pack would have extra weapons and spare parts).

These items were on my want list but I now read they have been canceled, with no current plans for release.

Scout Arsenal Pack

E1:02 Starscream

E1:04 Bumblebee

Elite Arsenal Pack

E1:01 Wheeljack

E1:02 Soundwave

Long story short he came back around and purchased the paper pile for $300. My brother laughed and said “and we haven’t even stopped MFing you yet” and the guy was East Coast (and now NC) and laughed and took the whole lot. Good guy and probably THE ONLY GUY in the room that would have bought that stuff (feel bad for his wife).

MANY dealers were out starting at 930AM on SUN with dollies and carts on the floor by noon. We were packed up and out at 5pm (show close).

Interesting enough. There was a power outage at 300-315pm. It knocked half of the floor out completely (only very small back up) and half on stronger backup. No major panics, no major deals lost (that I heard). The cause was a little popcorn pop-up storm that was pretty intense for 10minutes.

Breakdown & roll out, sweating muggy balls at 430-500PM

Home by 630pm

Budget breakdown

+$57 in tips I made bar-backing THURS night

+$60 picking budget (with up to additional $40 on card for parking (spent $26), tolls (est. $10), gas as needed- strict $100, but NEVER count ALL the overhead dammit)

+bonus $15 from the lady (I wuz like aww baby baby, please)

+bonus wallet $20

-$2 in tolls (most of them I just blew and will pay online)

-$x in “go juice” (gasoline)… I did not have to fill up. Thanks, Scion.

+$200 for common cards

-$15 for SAT night beers

+$70 for scrapbooks

+$50 for autograph book

+$150 for NY Times sports sheets

+$15 (my only sale)- used Bruins hockey jersey / sweater

=$620

-$40 juice to the lady (jersey money (hers) and some juice to cover tolls, etc.

=$580 in my pocket. I just effectively doubled my budget for WW Chicago (OR moved closer to my ASM1 goal)… if I can only stay disciplined.

And that’s why you always gotta have a side hustle!

SUN

The side hustles (part 2)

Soundtrack

SUN we rose early and walked around my bro’s new downsized neighborhood before grabbing an egg mcmuffin and heading into the show. SUN traffic was light and the show was SLEEPY to start with many dealers arriving around 10AM (1/2 hour after early birds). We were there right at 845AM so my brother went out picking for stuff and consigning some of his bulky stuff to auction. I covered the booth until after 10A and made a few small sales without issue and EVEN sold the scrapbooks for $70 to someone at the booth (we agreed to try and wholesale them for $10 each), so I was please and he was in such a good mood he let me keep the sale (lumped into some other stuff for an extra $50).

SAT late I did find a former producer for ESPN and co-author of a book (w/daughter) about Babe Ruth who wanted to pick through the papers for $2 each (and maybe take the best 20-50). Rather than have all the Ruth picked out we decided to hold firm on the whole lot at around $1 ea wholesale or $500. He hemmed and hawed and passed but promised to stop by AM for one last offer.

About 1130AM he did stop by and inquired again about cherry-picking through the papers (no). but I asked him to sign our copy of his book (we had it!) and we got to talking/laughing real nice and quoting $300 for all (we were working with one auction house, but ALL were hesitant to deal with shipping, the size, etc. He countered $250, my bro held firm and they continued to talk cordially. I thought CLEARLY this deal was done, only a few dollars off, getting 50c each for sports one-sheets, so I sought out the HULK 3-6 dealer to lowball him on the books (ASM1 be damned)… with barely 375 in my pocket, needing the paper deal to go down and thinking I might could go to 125 per book (you never know, but sometimes I get out of my league at the real low grading end).

Came back after a long lap and the papers were still there! WTF? My brother is usually pretty good about closing deals, but the guy walked (bulky, etc) and we were left talking about their previous fun conversations (letters the guy had from the Hall of Fame about stat corrections and his book, musical, and more. Impressive guy! I was bummed. I both missed out on a whiff of the HULK my next big commission was gone.

The comics (SAT cont)

Incredible Hulk #2-6 in 1.0-2.0 (perhaps a little better), two had tape, and #4 was a pence copy (9d)? $800 for all three. When I thought I was up $400 I looked for his booth again midday Sunday to low ball him $100 a book, but he must have packed up… there were empty booths in the vicinity and the books were decidedly not there anymore.

VFNM+ Harbinger #1 for $30 (and VFNM+ Archer and Armstrong Gold for $30 too)… the guy had a few good Valiants- (2) XO Manowar 1, Armorines Gold, Magnus 0, Solar 1. WOW- remember cards and Valiants back in the 90s? HEY Valiant fans, pick baseball card shows for your books!?

The Harbinger & Archer/Armstrong sold by the time I circled back around on Sunday (I Had to make a little money to spend a little more), and they were probably a good deal.

I also tried to hustled the newspapers by targeting the vintage and ‘more papery booths’ and got a pretty brutal education on old paper that I somewhat suspected

Dinner with family at the Hofbrau with a nice sauerbraten and 1.0L of dunkel (and I bought my bro a beer at the tail end of the show).

National Sports Collectibles Show

SAT

First impressions. Arrived about 1015am after parking at MB Financial Park ($13/day with overnight). Brother came out and with my pass and I got in without issue.

I was struck by how few people it seemed were in the convention hall at first. I mean Wizard World is usually a 30min wait or more to get in, especially if I came at 15min after the public arrived. There was really no wait for tickets, maybe 2 people deep. But by the time we made it back to my bro’s table I saw the scope of the show. It seemed like less people, more small time dealers (I heard a record), and less congestion. But it was huge, do not get me wrong and there was easily more product and I thought more dealers than Wizard World.

Lots of dealers look the same! A sea of slabbed cards in glass cases. Or run pulling from notebooks of cards or long rows of cards. Or the vintage booths (of which we were one)- pre-War cards, equipment, paper, etc. There were also the autograph dealers, of which many only dealt with authenticated autographs (as I would later find out).

The side hustles (part 1)

Pretty much as soon as I arrived, my brother tasked me with a few side hustles- that is selling a few items of my father’s for a 50% commission. He would outline the general details and then task me with getting the desired amount for the item. This is not unusual, as having grown up picking since I was 16 I was accustomed to such small games (who can flip something they purchase at a show for more money, who can sell the next item, etc.). The items, as they were unfolded to me:

*4000 common baseball cards from 1969-1975, with more 70s (and some football and basketball)

*~500 NY Times cut/stored flat sports pages from 1927-1936 (85% OWW)

*8 scrapbooks with newspaper baseball/magazine clippings 1938-1946, generally focusing on stars and World Series

*An autograph book (94 charity golf event) with~ 28 autographs, including 7 HOFers and 8 deceased players (many on their picture, some not).

I focused on the common cards first after getting a quick education from my brother (20c each for 60s common wholesale price $800, but ours were VG average and more 70s with the 75s in good condition). After a 35min hustle of rejections, I found a “run” store that specialized in these type of items and paid $400 cash for the cards. Very nice guys. Good deal at about 10c per cards and I just earned my first $200.

(my brother's) 1848 Baltimore newspaper that lists the 'inventor of baseball' Abner Doubleday's graduation from West Point. I had this appraised by Heritage autions at about $300. Not something you see everyday (as we say).

500+ NY Time sports pages (cut) c. 1926-1930s that feature all sorts of Ruth and Gehrig content. For scale, that is a magazine jammed down to serve as fulcrum to access the bottom part of the box. To say that my father was 'a reader' would be an understatement.

My old Spawn #1 box c. 1992 (now my brother's). This represents my first big investment in comics. I bought 100 for $1 each and sold them on consignment for $4-6 each during my early college years. I still have the best 3 copies left.

UPDATE from road- Arrived in Chicagoland without issue. Worked the show 'with mah bruv' (oldest brother) & it was not long before he tasked me with a few side hustles. The first one I made $200 on, while the second one has been a bust.

The best comics that I have seen are Hulk 3-6 in 1.5 - 2.0 for $1k. Seems like full boat to me. #4 is a pence copy too.

So the question for tonight is... Do 4 GD Hulks get me any closer to my ASM 1?

Thanks for the post, James! I appreciate your response. And welcome to the boards! I like these boards, great knowledge and great reading. I remember the Super Bowl show that you were speaking of. Apparently, there was a whale scooping up wall books like mad and spread something like $4k around the room. Wild! I personally did not make it because the show was Super Bowl Sunday and (as you said) it snowed like crazy late the night before. I remember that I was at The Corner Spot (1/2 block away from my apt.) that night drinking with friends and we partied down because of the snow and being trapped in along the lake bluff. I skipped that show!

COOL! Small world. YESTERDAY, I volunteered for Junior Achievement Finance Park and TODAY I am off to Stephens Convention Center (Rosemont, IL) to attend “The National” sports collectibles show: http://www.nsccshow.com/show_details.shtml. I am helping my brother, who is set up as a small time dealer at the show, spending the night and helping him break down on Sunday. It should be interesting and I will be sure to do a mini report. Apparently he is selling like mad through two days and so it may be a slow Sunday (perhaps we can sell out completely). I am bringing a little picking money and a few things to flip. MORE TO COME ON THAT.

ANYways… Here are a few more spec books that I [have picked up since getting back into modern comics about a year ago. Generally, I pick up a book that catches my eye or that my comic book guy recommends. Rarely am I looking for a quick flip (I have been lazy & not setting up at the local shows), I guess I am just plain old collecting to odd modern. I like the new incarnation of my collecting, My regular visits to the shop mean I can stay up to speed on some current news and my comic guy is good at filling in the details of major story arcs that I am not collecting, e.g. Secret Wars.

Effigy #1. I like this book and along with Star Wars it is my favorite read. Scientology, meets crime drama, meets pop culture with a lot of dualism.

Divergence #0 FCBD. These [days I have a softer spot for the odd DC book versus Marvel. I kinda liked some New52 stuff- e.g. Harley, Lobo, & Bats. Early appearance of Grail (cool female character). In writing about these books, I do see a leaning toward a good female character.

Batman (2010) #40. Great freakin read. I flipped through this on the shelf and went “oh, cool, I gotta show my friends.”

Django & Zorro #1. Tarentino comics!? This one does give me a pang of regret though. I kinda cringe at it every time I see it (just not something I would normally collect).

Kodansha Comics FCBD: Attack on Titan. I am not a anime guy but I watched the bulk of the series on Netflix and I must say the trailer does not discourage my interest.

(2) Harley Quinn New52 Annual #1 (Marijuana) Ant Lucia Bombshells variant. Also have 2 Connor marijuana covers. Hilarious book, but I found one still on the rack a few weeks ago.

Star Wars 7 My Wednesday One (if I could only pick one)!

In the end, my pull of the week was Star Wars 7 and the digital download to read & Sex Criminals #11 variant for the new spec box. I read some articles about the book and there it was, last copy at my small LCS.

NSFW (but really not THAT bad, I mean c’mon, very Nintendo cartoony)

I bought a new short box to hold the $1 moderns and spec pulls that I have picked up since mid-2014 or so. I also scanned a few books in.

I think some of them are pretty laughable, but when I say spec books I suppose I really mean an eclectic slice of comicdom. Here are a few…

Shadow Show 1 (Hill)

Silk 1

(4) Usagi Senso #6 (Death of Usagi YoJimbo?)

Garbage Pail Kids; Puketacular sketch blank

More tomorrow! I start a new part-time job tonight.

The Wednesday One

I follow this group (http://comicbookinvest.com/) on Facebook for the fun of it. And my favorite weekly post is the Wednesday One: http://comicbookinvest.com/category/the-wednesday-one/

SHOUT OUT(!) Great read guys!

These days, my main collecting goals are as follows:

1. Buy ASM 1 in GDVG

2. Put together the best first print runs of Zap Comix & Freak Brothers that I can afford (i.e. Registry)- Presently ON HOLD

3. Curate Spawn run (inspired by newshane’s journal) Completed- basically this meant pulling them out of storage, rebagging, and putting together a want list.

4. Run collect Usagi Yojimbo on the cheap, with less emphasis on condition

5. Run collect Spawn on the cheap with more emphasis on condition

6. Foster comic interest with my nieces & nephews

7. Overall downsize and re-invest in Silver Age mega keys

8. Enjoy the geek-Con era boom

There are a few other items on my want list, and some I hope to acquire quite soon, but that is for another day. Anyways, my weekly pull list may only amount to 2-3 books each week. In fact, I do not even maintain a subscription as there is a comic shop right around the corner from my apt. If I cannot find it there, then I may run over to the old man at the Turning Page or (more likely) out to Lost World of Wonders. I made the decision that I was NOT going to chase books and NOT pay up for variants. I get it, lots of guys are making money and leveraging into better books- that IS the way to hustle a comic boom. I am just lazy this time around and it is inconsistent with my primary goal.

Consistent with #6 and #8 above I pull the following:

• Usagi, Spawn, Effigy (Vertigo), Fight Club & Star Wars (maybe odd Harley Quinn book)
  
• Avengers Assemble & The Fox (nephew)
  
• Squirrel Girl, Lumberjanes, & Archie (niece)
  
• The wife pulls- Jem & the Holograms, Munchkin, Sandman Overture & maybe the odd issue
  

Therefore, the week of 7/28 it is a big week for us with five titles-

Spawn 254

Star Wars 7 My Wednesday One (if I could only pick one)!

Munchkin 7

Jem 5

Sandman 5 (prestige)

Plus a new short box for those modern spec books that I am not supposed to be buying (more next time!)

I think a lot about collecting, the art and science of it (hence the original title). I like to study comic book speculation websites, or articles about comic books as investment vehicles. I have been buying and selling comic books as sport since I was 17 or so. It is hard to believe that now the comic book back issue market probably represents a $150-200M/yr industry. That being said, I do buy what I love… and it has been since the last boom in comic books that I have been randomly investing in comics. Or is it? In 2013 I paid the most that I had for a book… $1700. Suddenly spending several hundred dollars per book became commonplace. Often I only had to speak to my wife if the purchase even went over $100 or so. Imagine trading stock like that- perhaps you do. But doing it without even a conversation? It was unsustainable and my collecting was becoming unfocused.

Sometimes it is fun to think about the collector we were and the collector we have become. I also like making yearly collecting resolutions and thinking about the collector that I would like to be.

It is also fun to think about the differences between my acquisition phases versus my curation phase versus my selling phases of collecting. Always in my minds’ eye am I a minimalist, with just enough stuff to fit in one pickup truck load and hit the road. And for years it wasn’t too much more than that. Sure, I probably had close to 15 long boxes of comics at my peak, but I also moved across the U.S.A. three times and jettisoned stuff along the way. Anyways, but the idea is free flowing, blow with the wind, minimalist. Hahaha. In the early daze of the CPG comics boards**, I used to have a signature that represented my minimalist desires… “3 short boxes for the revolution!” Now… one could not contain my underground comix in 5 boxes and I have a short box full of Usagi Yojimbo, two full of Spawn, one of ‘modern indy stuff’, and lots of miscellaneous stuff too.

Yet for all the hard work and the acquisitions (and considering a geek-Con era boom); it felt like I did not really have anything with Big-Comic-Geek-Cache. I guess this is consistent with the part of me that enjoys the conspicuous consumption side of comics and related popular culture.

And so, I looked with longing toward bigger game- and Amazing Fantasy #15.

**Comics Price Guide had very active underground comix message boards c2004-2007 or so. It was where many of us u-comix collectors met and started working on the first u-comix price guide in over 26 years (Fogel’s in 2006). Then we tried to write a wiki, the Head Comix wiki, which would have been a free, open access u-comix guide. But that died on the vine over a fight about slabbing underground comix and is in part why I spend way more time lurking on these boards. But perhaps more on that another time.

Around the winter of 1986/87 I set up at two Milwaukee shows... Came back alone the next time and did poorly. Since I was coming from about 4.5 hours away, that was the end of Milwaukee for me.

Tough one! When I set up at the old Burnham Bowl show (or out at Elkhown WI antique fair), I often paraphrase Jimmy D

"these *spooning* people wouldn't pay $10 for a $20 bill."

I love those cheap dollar book shows in Milwaukee! I used to pull some quality material... and once I was done rooting through comics, I would go to the bar with the wife and have one of their tasty toaster oven pizzas or a Bloody Mary with a beer chaser.

Milwaukee misses you friend! Ahh... Burnham Bowl. A 35+ year old comic show. In a bowling alley. With a bar. Low lighting & dollar books or less everywhere. Maybe my X-Men #2 is the best book in the room, haha! The dealers all love the pizza. I like their cheeseburger/fry basket ($5) with the little paper cup of pickles (the food I crave if hungover).

Burnham Bowl is old school. I guess Mighty Con is new school & more popular culture focused (and growing, whereas Burnham rarely sells out dealer space anymore).

The next purchase made my show and from then on I was in celebration-mode and without any money. First, I plucked two more Drizzt books (probably dupes, who knows, I was punchdrunk on $1 Drizzt books by this point) and the following book for $3. I actually said out loud “are you sure this book is $1?” And then paid my money and skipped around a little.

Outliers #1 (2012). I recall coveting this book c. 2013. It was the first Kickstarter book that blew up on spec, perhaps on rumors of it being optioned for TV? I am not 100%, but as a collector / admirer of many underground, self-published, creator owned properties, I remember being jealous that I missed out on this one. It stung a little more, somehow. Later, over a beer, I looked up two completed eBay sales ~$20 shipped and one parked on eBay at $50.

This book pretty much made my picking day! I had about $15 after soda refills and tips. I looked through some more boxes before deciding to try to see if there were more Drizzt books at Sutdog. In particular, I now need his first appearances in Homeland #1-3. There I closed down my show with 18 Vol. 3 Usagis- 5 VFNM lower issues, and NM copies of 132-144 (last issue) for $15. Overall, it was a huge haul for me, with over 40 books pulled! BOOM. The lady and I decompressed over a beer in the bowling alley, as is fitting for a Milwaukee show.

Cheers! Om

Next I wove my way through the crowds, popping in and out of books to generally spy wall books, before losing half my stack to Sutdog Comics on 19 Forgotten Realms / Drizzt books! Holy schnickies! I was so geeked I bought an additional 3 doubles and also plucked 2 NM+ Scud #22s (Jim Mahfood cover), all for $20. I knew I was buying doubles (one was 3 issues- Sojourn #1), but here I had just built a want list that I crushed it and gobbled up all of them. I got a little overwhelmed, I think, because at one point a supercute/tall comic book girl tossed me Drizzt / Legacy #1-3! Hot damn. I bought em all. Half my stack gone, I retreated out of the main hall and grabbed a coke $2 from the bowling alley bar.

Scud #22 (Jim Mahfood cover). A guy I describe as my favorite modern underground artist. I imagine he lives the modern R. Crumb lifestyle- http://www.jimmahfood.com/. I generally collect his small press stuff and avoid some larger projects, but one has to admire an artist that can pretty much do whatever he/she wants!

Shared the coke with my wife as she recovered from the ‘bloodletting to the vampire guild’ (as we say). Great turnout for the drive, lots turned away (did not eat or iron levels low; some puking Haha), but great turnout and interest throughout the day. The t-shirt was “Real Superheroes donate blood” in comic / pop culture zip-o-tone font. We re-upped on her coke $1 as she was now a pint low, and I took stock of the Drizzt haul.

Drizzt DoUrden is a wonderful, 2 scimitar wielding badass, anti-hero-esque dark elf and I read many of the R.A. Salvatore books back in high school around the same time I started collecting comics. I learned via my want list research just how Drizzt has grown into the flagship character of Forgotten Realms since my high school daze. Drizzt may never see the big screen treatment that he deserves, but if for some reason he did… I want in. Can you imagine Artemis Enteri vs. Drizzt DoUrden on the bigscreen? Or Rumblebelly Regis the Halfling played by Peter Dinklage? I image that Devil’s Due could not have that large of print runs. The wife read most of Sojourn #1 and she commented that it was pretty good and she liked Seeley’s more simplistic art. The books are 48-pages each and the run is VF+ to NM- and included 2-3 prestige editions with cover prices of $9.50. Happy to have them and pulled out three under copy doubles to serve as the first throwaway readers. I ended up with-

Forgotten Realms: Exile 1-3 (NM- or better)

Forgotten Realms: Sojourn 1(3), 2 (NM)

Forgotten Realms: The Crystal Shard 1(2), 2(2), 3 (VFNM)

Forgotten Realms: Streams of Silver 1-3 (VF+)

Forgotten Realms: The Halfling’s Gem 1-3 (VF; two prestige editions))

Forgotten Realms: The Legacy 1-3 (VFNM)

Forgotten Realms: Starless Night 1 (VF)

Recovered, the lady went to pick some $5 graphic novels that she found (maybe Comic Verse). I knew the booth that she talking about, in the past I have plucked great $5 80s Fantagraphics from them. I browsed later but didn’t pull the trigger (BTW she ended up getting 4 X-Men essential volumes and was on :cloud9 in the bar later reading / flipping through them).

I slow-picked and stopped by the madman Jimmy Decker’s booth. He deals in esoterica and does shows irregularly and thus was busy all day and wheeling and dealing (up 300 hundo at this point). He had a signed Air Pirates #1 from Hallgren’s private collection, all sorts of cool stuff- Rolling Stone with the Hulk cover, Hansi, early fanzines, underground comix, I mean all sorts of weird, oddball stuff. He also reps a bunch of wrestlers, C/D list celebrities at other cons and helps run a few Zurko Promotion shows around Chicagoland, such as the Wheaton all-nighter flea market.

Anyways, I wanted to start a blog for some time and a collector friend (BrotherJ) asked for a con report from this schweet up-and-coming local con- Mighty Con. So, please forgive the combination of the two at the beginning (and also look for my con report from Wizard World Chicago).

Mighty Con Milwaukee

Con pics before the crowds- https://www.facebook.com/MightyCon?fref=ts

I should probably preface this by saying that this con is quickly becoming my favorite local con, and that I have a little bias there. Mighty Con Milwaukee is run by a trio of collector-dealers out of Chicago (namely Geek, Inc. Comics) and it has always attracted an eclectic assortment of local comic dealers- Jim (Bula?), John Hauser Comics, Comic Verse, and Tango Comics Unlimited, plus the core trio of dealer/hosts- Geek Inc Comics, Pulp Culture Comics And Collectibles (autographed comics], and Sutdog Comics. All of these dealers band together 2-3 per table at Wizard World Chicago too. Besides comics, there are also artist alley types, print makers, and others (horror genre)- Check out their website for more information: http://geekinccomics.com/

The other shows in Milwaukee, e.g. the 30+ year old Burnham Bowl or one of Alan’s dingy no-tell-motel show, are dollar book shows. Or books for fractions of a dollar (2 for 1 up to 5 for 1). Thus, Milwaukee has been fed a staple of old store stock, surfaced collections, and reader copies for longer than my tenure here (c. 2008). No order. Sometimes no bags and boards. Often fresh meat. At times, I have picked them all and I have learned to have no agenda and be open to the moment, typically, I just work comics and namely ask after “adult or underground comics.” At Burnham Bowl, I routinely spend $12-40 and have been known to strike out completely, opting for the old bowling alley cheeseburger instead. I think my best day there was hitting the ATM to buy about 180 Atari 2600 and 22 Intellivision games for $80. One time I set up at Burnham to deal and bought the most beat up copy of TOS 39 you can imagine for $100 and flipping it the same day for $200. The most I personally made there as a dealer was $250 (I sell underground comix and weird hippie stuff). Anyways, hopefully you understand my point- Milwaukee grinds comics.

Some dealers have emerged from the mire to dare a wall display, alphabetizing, $5 boxes, and a wee comic chat, e.g. ‘Mark the Lawyer’, ‘Bob Parbs’, Bula, Hauser, & many more from other parts Wisconsin, Illinois, and Minneapolis. It changes sometimes and there really are nice people. It is just that Milwaukee cons are Kevin Smith dirt cons, complete with **insert** n fart jokes.

Mighty Con takes place at the American Serb Hall, on Oklahoma Ave in Milwaukee. It is not too far away from one of the best comic book stores in Milwaukee- Lost World of Wonders. They advertise a show that “welcomes the whole family with low prices, free parking, and tons of great deals for people of all ages... thousands of comic books, toys, statues, posters, t-shirts, video games, artists, and collectibles of all shapes and sizes.” Each Mighty Con has gotten bigger and this one was the largest yet, with a sold out dealer space and simultaneous Wisconsin Blood Center drive (donate and get a free T-shirt, plus entered into a drawing for $100 gift card at Lost World of Wonders). If you order your pass online and pay via Paypal, you can get in at 10AM, otherwise the show opens at 10:30AM.

We rolled in about 11:10AM to a full parking lot! I parked in the back, damn near by the grease trap. And wow was it hopping! My wife almost immediately split off to donate blood. We both donate regularly, usually at her work and she was feeling up for it (and wanted the T-shirt). I was being selfish, this was Mighty Con after all, and so I went straight in to soak up the sights. It was great- one classic convention room with four rows and booths all around the perimeter, as well as another ‘bar’ room, with a non-functioning bar in the middle and booths around the perimeter. I overheard they may eventually take over another room.

OK, let us all pause for a moment and recognize that we are in a comic / geek culture zeitgeist boom! As a ‘maturing collector’ that has already survived one comic book crash, I become more hesitant in a boom. Therefore, lately I have adopted the Buffett-esque motto of “when others are greedy, be fearful.” I personally think now is a good time to be selling some comic books. Do not get me wrong, I am not fearful for the near-term of comics, but there is lots of fresh blood in the water in terms of speculators, new collectors, and a diversifying fan demographic. Right now, I am focusing on my goals, enjoy the benefits of a boom (merchandise, movies, etc), buying2-3 new books per week, and otherwise trying not to spec too much as I did back in the early 1990s.

So, I was running lean for this show… with $46 after the $3 admission to eat, drink, and pick. The lady had $47.

I have been consistently pulling Usagi YoJimbos and Spawns out of the bargain boxes, and so I figured if I could pull some of those books, I would be a happy camper. Recently, I made a list of Drizzt DoUrden / Forgotten Realms adaptations from Devil’s Due Publishing c. 2005-2008.

I stopped by Jim’s booth first, as he was right by the door and his booth cleared up right as I was passing. HE commented on my Deadpool shirt and we chatted about ‘Alan’s show last weekend’ and comics in general. He mentioned that he did quite well there and I spoke of budgets and trying to save for Wizard World Chicago (FRI only, as is my custom). We made a tentative plan to have a drink at Gibson’s around 730pm at WWCHI. I bought a nice little Usagi book from him for $3 (marked 7). Nice deal from a nice guy that always chats me up.

Critters #14 (1987). A great early Usagi Yojimbo cover and the last pre-UY #1 appearance, this also features the 2nd appearance of Gen (Gennosuke the Rhino bounty hunter) and wraps-up the “Bounty Hunter” storyline from Critters #1.

Bought the first copy of Cosmic Toast (1996) I have seen in about 10yrs collecting Jim Mahfood (very excited!)

I have this spinner that is large enough to hold slabs. Each individual rack spins in turn, giving it a kinda heliocentric spinning action.

I also have just the top rack of a more modern spinner (background in image below).

My buddy is going to fabricate a top for my main spinner, now that he has a plasma cutter and some digital capabilities in his home welding studio.

I may mimic the classic Richie-Spidey-Archie-Supes tin litho top, but make it more underground comix-themed.

It will be a fun project.