jcjames

Welcome to the world of high-volatility in the collectibles market! Timing was not on your side, sorry to say. Your list has a good deal of decent "no-brainer" slab-contenders as long as they're fairly upper-grade, though some need to be very high-grade (9.6+) to see immediate value gained. Hold them when you get them and for most the market will rise to them eventually. In the meantime while you wait for the market to rise, enjoy them!

I was going off top of my head memory, and that's the pictures I remember since I haven't watched the Oscar's in, oh, probably about 20 years! Lol 😆 If what the Academy President said is right (most doubtful) - then that only proves there's no need to force DEI into the industry via best-picture requirements. Which to me proves their dishonesty no matter what.

Same. But this puts a lot of pressure on the industry to awkwardly jam in even more social propaganda into great storylines and casts, weakening the whole production rather than just make a great quality film. Films like "Amadeus", "Apollo 13", "Tombstone", "Unforgiven", "Rain Man", "ET", "Goodfellas", "Braveheart", "Saving Private Ryan" and so many others would either need to hamfistedly socially-propagandized or just ignored for their greatness by the industry.

They were?

Richard Dreyfuss: Dreyfuss told Margaret Hoover during an interview Friday on the PBS series "Firing Line" that such rules "make me vomit." When Hoover asked him why, the actor said, "Because this is an art form." "I don't think that there is a minority or a majority in this country that has to be catered to like that," He then cited a bit of a history regarding Laurence Olivier being "the last white actor to play Othello," referring to the 1965 film, in which the British actor performed in blackface Dreyfuss praised the performance, saying Olivier played the role "brilliantly." "Am I being told that I will never have a chance to play a Black man?" Dreyfuss said. "Is someone else being told that if they're not Jewish they shouldn't play the Merchant of Venice? Are we crazy? Do we not know that art is art?" ...."Because it's patronizing," he said. "Because it says that we're so fragile that we can't have our feelings hurt."

I don't know if SBS boards actually off-gas acidic components or not, but at the least they are buffered surfaces.

I will likely buy more of the 56pt boards and use them with the rest of my Gerber Half-Backs (that I had no use for until now) as @buttock first described here - the boards are solid.

Second follow-up. Yes - I will definitely be doing this with my half-backs. I have a ton of HBs that I haven't been using, but now I put one of them with a 56pt board and that is super-solid with the full buffering HB board against the comic for archival protection and the 56pt SBS board behind for uber-solid protection. Thanks again for the tip!

Don't know of any LCS near Ahwatukee. Hardly any in the SE Valley area. Frankly, I haven't hit up a LCS in probably a year or two. Last one I hit was up in Snobsdale and they were pretty high $ for mid-lowish grade non-key SA and wouldn't budge an inch on pricing (I asked $100 for a book they priced at $110, nope, no deal). One of my favorites is just too dang far especially since he switched to FB selling shows and again jacks up the price even for cash-in-hand offers since there's always a sucker on FB shows. Ah well... good luck on your FCBD ventures today dude!

Great idea! Could also go with Gerber Half-Backs that way too.

Just received a small batch of ComicPRO 56pt Golden Size SBS Backer Boards and ComicPRO Golden Size Mylar bags. I am comparing them to E. Gerber #750 Silver/Gold Full-Back Boards and Mylites 2 #775M2 Silver/Golden Age Mylar bags. 1. Ordering on ComicPRO was easy and simple, you order it, pay online and immediately get confirmation. Ordered on 4/26, arrived via UPS today. Good service, easy ordering, packaged well and shipped correctly. My packages of bags and boards say "Made In Canada" FWIW. 2. Comparing the 56pt Golden Size SBS boards to E. Gerber Silver/Gold Full-Backs: They are of exact same dimensions, length and width. SBS boards are obviously much thicker, and are smooth on both sides like BCW boards, compared to the Full-Backs which are lightly textured: 3. Comparing the Mylar Bags, they feel very similar in thickness, the Mylites 2 are slightly larger, about 1/4" wider and about 1/4" "deeper" pocket, though the ComicPRO bags have a longer flap (this is also stated in the dimensions) and this slight size difference will become an issue later: From this view you can see in the next pic showing the difference in size (Mylites2 on the bottom, ComicPRO on top of it) the quality of the mylar seams - Mylites 2 have clean and sturdy seems, ComicPRO have rough seems and this will also become an issue later. 4. Bagging & Boarding a Golden-Age book: First of all, the ComicPRO 56pt "Golden Size" board is a pretty tight fit in the ComicPRO "Golden Size" bag just by itself - quite snug even without a book (five demerits for ComicPRO "Golden" bags - they're too small): But I put a book in anyway... It was quite snug and I definitely would not put fragile or valuable books into this combination of bag/board. It is too snug. Another issue with the ComicPRO Mylar Bags.... their seams split very easy, they don't appear to have good quality seams (note the rough cut edge too): I tried three different bags and they all split even with nominal tension at the seam where the tab is. Ten demerits for ComicPRO bags. So... I tried the 56pt ComicPRO board with Mylite2 Silver/Gold bags - since Mylite Silver/Gold are at least 1/4" larger - and this was a much more "comfortable" combination. The 56pt boards are DEFINITELY beefy-thick and sturdy, feels solid and confident to protect a GA book in a Mylite2 #775 bag: And here's where the Mylite2 bags scored more points over the ComicPRO mylar bags... the quality of the seams - clean smooth edges and no splitting: Because of the 56pt thickness, it is still more snug than the Gerber FullBack in Mylite2s, so it might give pause if one has a thick book or fragile cover. But I do like the sturdy thickness they provide. Scoreboard so far: Mylite2 >> ComicPRO mylar bags (rough seams that split easily, smaller dimension makes for tighter fit). Gerber Silver/Gold Full-Back ~ ComicPRO 56pt Golden Size boards (same dimensions, 56pt is definitely thicker, smoother, but are they "archival"??? ) So now I switched the teams - put a Gerber Silver/Gold Full-Back #750 board into the ComicPRO Golden-Size mylar bags and a GA book to see if the 56pt board was causing the split seams: Easier fit, but still tighter than the Mylite2s because ComicPROs are 1/4" smaller. And the ComicPRO mylar bag splits again with the Gerber Full-Back. Booo!!! Moving on to trying with a Silver-Age book - I again found the books just too snug to confidently put into the ComicPRO "Golden" bag with the "Golden-Size" 56pt boards - so I skipped forcing the issue just to take pictures - the verdict for me is that this combination is too tight for any book. "No" to ComicPRO bags with 56pt boards with Gold-Age and/or Silver-Age books. So here's the ComicPRO bags with Gerber Full-Back board a Silver-Age book: And again it splits the mylar seams even with the Gerber Full-Back board: Compared to the Mylite2 with the ComicPRO 56pt board and a SA book - no splits, no rough edges, just a nice sturdy board in a quality Mylite2 bag: Lastly, I attempted a square-bound book in a Mylite2 and 56pt board: As you can see, it is a super-thick sandwich and not what I would do to any square-bound book. Bottomline: I will not be buying any more ComicPRO mylar bags - poor quality compared to Mylite2, AND they are slightly smaller in size and so make for very tight squeezes when putting in and taking out even SA books with Gerber FB boards. Pass. I DO like the sturdiness of the ComicPRO 56pt boards, they are SOLID protection - but I can only use them in my Mylite2 #775 Silver & Golden age bags. And I would not use them for square-bound books - just too thick for my comfort level. Last question is, are the ComicPRO 56pt boards Archival? It appears they are very smooth like BCW, and since BCW are not buffered all the way through, I can only assume these are also not. Likewise, ComicPRO is confident to put "Archival" on their mylar bags, but only "Acid-Free" on the boards, while Gerber boards say "Meets strict US Government standards for archival storage". So I have to go with Gerber for my most valuable oldies, and save the ComicPRO 56pt boards for books that are newer (glossy paper) and super high grade for added protection.

This whole contest is my worst contest results I've ever had on these boards.

Dang. That's pretty awful. Still better than Liefeld though.

Another attempt at greatness