Randall Dowling

At long last, Round 3 will commence today. I will be listing a wide selection of magazines, digests and paperbacks.

Right? Who wants to advertise that they have substantial assets to be targeted by unsavory chumps? Hard pass.

I've said this hundreds of times at this point- leave the book alone. It's been through enough already. If you leave it as is, I (and many others) might be interested in the future. If you decide to cut the book up, hard pass.

I wouldn't call a book with even very minor staple tears or looseness a 9.6, no matter how nice the rest of the book was. If I were grading it, probably max grade would be a 9.2. Those staples are the only thing holding the book together. If one of those pulls, it's a steep dive down to 5.0 land.

I always assume we're not getting the full story or context.

Wow! Right on cue, here I am!

Feels like another "love the art, hate the artist" thread. I'm sure I'm in the minority, but I imagine that this is just one of hundreds of interactions this artist has had with people treating them like they're lucky to get a given commission. Really, who would get excited about drawing or creating something under those circumstances? I know I wouldn't.

Belarski rocks!

Agreed with all others, here, Tupenny. Those prices look about right to me. But that Dancing Sandwiches is a good deal. I still need one of those!

That's a tough trio!!

Classic book. I have a number of Maguire Signets but that other one is new to me. This cover is one of the absolute best Maguire covers of all, IMO.

What an awesome haul!!

Agreed. But after-printing micro-trimming has and does happen. We all know the most infamous case of it. But there are others also and the infamous individual is still out there.

I've had this happen as well. I've had times where I purchased books, set them in a pile with the rest of my collection (after doing a cursory assessment), and forgot about them for a few months. Only to discover that a centerfold was detached (or some other significant defect). It never entered my mind to ask for my money back after that much time. It was on me to check the book when I purchased it. And I've had a buyer ask to return a book 3 months after they purchased because they finally checked and it wasn't as good a candidate for pressing as they thought. I refunded the money but I think it's completely understandable to set some sort of reasonable limit for returns. Frankly, 30 days seems reasonable to me. I would never try to return a book after 30 days unless I discovered some sort of serious malfeasance by the seller (micro-trimming, etc.).

Hey! Nice Maguire! I neither have that book or knew about it. Now on my list!

That's awesome!

I didn't realize he was co-creator of Deadman and the Doom Patrol.

Very cool books, Dave!

That's a great page from a classic story!

I think I can help with this. I used to own a very high grade copy of Teen Titans 14. It took me many years to find it. I owned it for a few years, lost interest and sold it a few years ago. The book has now exploded in price as I no longer own it. This is a well documented cause and effect of my owning and selling books. I can't help it. I'm a force of nature.

What are you talking about? None of this is new. People have been doing various "whitening" treatments and other restorative attempts since the beginning of comic collecting. Just because these techniques are new to you and/or a few others, doesn't mean they haven't been around for a very long time. There are proper experts that spend all day, every day, studying the behavior of various newsprint and cover stock, looking at how it behaves with different treatments. In other words, professionals. It's their job and they specialize in restoration. And then there are a bunch of chumpy clowns trying to trick collectors out of their money with a fake high grade book that they doctored, usually badly. All in an effort to "get rich quick" no matter what. None of this is new either.

Awesome digests, SA! Getting harder and harder to find these in really nice shape.

I'm with Bob, that shark cover on Adventure 27 would have gotten my money.

I've had the good fortune to purchase many books from @The Lions Den (and sell a few to him, as well). Always an excellent transaction- hyper accurate grading, super fast shipping, and the nicest person to converse with. Highly recommended!

This is wonderful work! I love your approach with light and texture.