Robot Man

Well, a nice Dodger win, a few beers and a good nights sleep and I'm back. Kinda have the post Torpedo blues but a little pile to console me. Arrived at the Hollywood Palladium right on time. Had to of course go to the Rose Bowl flea market very early first then made the short trip to Hollyweird. Turned on to Sunset and saw the old Aquarius Theatre. A 1960's land mark in the area. Great to see it still there and well taken care of. Parked in the back and walked right up to the front of the line. Was fun to go to the Palladium. Cool art deco building and still very viable. Last time I was there, my band opened for X and the Blasters. Good times. Bumped right into boardies. Some I knew and some I just met yesterday. Pardon me if I mispell your names. I met 50 years selling comics, Ghastly54 and Dreamtoreal1 in line as well as all the local flipper kids armed with their cell phones, GPA and their strong desire to make a few bucks at the show. Had a good natured discussion with a couple guys about, political issues, the intended ICE raids and some poor homeless guy sleeping along the fence in 80 degree heat. In we went right at 10:00. I was impressed with the venue for a comic show. The room was full, well lit and room to roam the isles. I went looking for my top tier dealers and hit them first. I picked up a few cool Atlas war books from Dale Roberts and a small pile of ECs from Mr. Bedrock. Sadly, Brain Peets from A-1 and Steve Ritter from Worldwide couldn't make it. Metro also missed, but I rarely buy anything from them anyway. Many big SDCC were there most with their full SDCC loads. A few like Terry, Graham Crackers and Harley brought small skeleton loads and probably didn't do too well. They soon realized their mistake. There were a ton of guys I heard talking that wern't going to SDCC who had big money to burn and they missed out. Lots of smaller dealers due to the low table prices and guys I've never seen around here. In the room saw more boardies and cool dealers I just never get to see. SaCentaur, Hap Hazzard, Mr. Bedrock, GA-Tor, Nerdy Girl. As well as a lot of my local old guy EC crowd guys. Probably a lot more boardies that were under the radar or I didn't know. Half of a show is buying books but the better half is being in a room with friends, making new ones and talking funny books. Market report... High, very high sticker prices across the board. Shocking in fact. I saw a book that I recently bought on the boards for $40. There were 3 copies in the room ranging from $150-$300. No biggie, an IW Phantom Lady reprint. I saw a cool Fawcett on a wall that I was after. Guides for maybe $150 but worth double that and I was willing to pay. His price? $1,200! Was hard to look at the wall books because I knew that they would be in the stratosphere so I didn't ask on very many. What is hot? Leonard B Cole!!! A few people have driven these way up past what they should be. PCH, Baker, classic covers. Even Archies and EC horror despite being in good supply in all grades. What is cool? GA mainstream superheroes. Especially DC. They were all over the place. All ttiles (except More Funs...). They just wern't selling. I got two lower to mid grade ones VERY cheap when I strong armed a few guys by waving hundred dollar bills and walking away only to have them chase me down the isle. Only chance for any kind of a deal was box diving. Wade through the stuff that is totaly dead and there is stuff buried. Dealers forget about that book that has become burning hot recently and most people are seduced by the pretty wall books. I also asked guys that had SA to modern if they had any GA and some were able to fish them out from under their tables. Got 3 cool midgrade Suzies for $10. from one guy. Another guy had pretty pricey stuff including LB Coles in the $150-$400 in his boxes but I pulled out a nice Target Cole cover he had marked $30. He gasped but took my $30. when I handed it to him. It is getting harder and harder for me to buy books at a show. Yes, I'm old school and have most of it already, but the even the obscure odd stuff is being snatched up or marked up past what I want to pay for it. I think as I said in my WonderCon report, dealers just can't get collections any more and can't afford to buy and sell amoungst them selves to come up with good material. When they do, they don't know what to sell it for because the GA market is on fire and so volital. A lot of pretty books went home yesterday to appear at SDCC and will probably go home with them after that show. Lucky for me, I love to dig and explore boxes. I find a lot of cool stuff that way. My expectations aren't that high and I am willing to "settle" grade wise if I find something I want. I can always upgrade and did so yesterday on a few books. I am also open to most all genres. Lots of cool stuff and very affordable if you do that. But damn, I brought a LOT of cash and wanted to overpay if I had to to come home with at least one killer book. Just didn't happen... John threw a great show. Good venue, $10. a stellar array of nationwide dealers and the customers were out in force. Nice mix of comics and original art. Even free donuts! Small tight old school show with something for every one. One day, is just perfect. I ran him down and thanked him. He said he would be back next year. Can't wait. And for those of you going to SDCC, have fun. It's an experience that just can't be missed. But for strictly comic buyers, Torpedo fits the bill to a T!

The last thing I need is more junk but I would have hit that. Looks like a lot of comics in there. It wouldn’t have taken that long to sort it out and dump the trash. I’m sure there was at least something good there. If not, you are only out $20. And a couple hours of your time. The empty tubs are worth that.

Congrats! One of the best Heath war covers. Nothing quite like an in-expected surprise like that.

Torpedo show is in the books. I need to burn my shoes, have a couple beers and watch the rest of the Dodger/Red Sox game. Be back here tomorrow with a full report and photos!

Good seeing you today Steve as well as many other boardies and a lot of good friends. Had a great time and took some photos. Too busy tonight but I will do a full report tomorrow with photos over in GA in my “Son of 50 Year Junk Obsecession” thread. Drop by if you are interested...

I'll do my best today. Can't wait, should be epic!

The Walt Disney Company...

I believe that if you file with PayPal they make the seller pay for a label with shipping included now. Not taking returns is now irrelevant. Buyer pays return shipping is irrevelant as well. I have had a few sloppy returns as a buyer and I always notify the seller that I am filing with Paypal no matter what their "policy" is. I always get a return label at the seller's expense. I have had the same thing happen to me as a seller too. My luck as a buyer and a seller has been going down steadily for the past few years. I rarely buy or sell there any more. Honor and professionalism is out the window in our faceless internet society.

Wow, Marty! You were a star!

Under graded Ebay purchase from Blissard. Wow, what a cool book! Great colors and a nice cover. I love Walt Kelly. This is also one of those cool matte covers from 1946 that seem to keep the inks so vivid and bright. Why these seem to go so cheap is beyond me...

Got a cool one recently from a great boardie. Many thanks! It will go well with the rest of the ones I have. These are pretty cool books with lots of real good, classy GGA art. Very recomended!

Depends on the pedigree, the book, the condition, rarity just like anything. Some pedigrees are more in demand and some aren't. Many don't sell for any more than a non-pedigree.

This is also kinda fun...

Done in 1940. I don't know that he had the art.

I usually only disagree with Bedrock on baseball not comic grades. And it’s always a “respectable” disagreement...

Not a bad problem to have...

I have had 2 bad experiences shipping to Italy as well. One “lost” and one destroyed. Won’t do it either. Too bad, I love the country and people but mail service is just a train wreck...

I just cut it myself from boxes from work. There are always plenty sitting by the trash bids in the halls. I cut them down to a manageable size and use the paper cutter at work. The boxes are usually very good double wall thick because heavy computer equipment are shipped from Asia in them. I also cut them to 9" x 12". Offers more protection to the edges and they fit in standard envelopes and boxes. I'm an old hippie I guess. I believe in recycling and I'm "thrifty" by nature...

Get him a $5. Subscription for old times sake.

Can’t lose. Single copies are more than that on the newstand. Even if they completely fold in a few issues you are ahead.

I have quite a few pedigrees and rarely slab any of them. when and if I choose to do so, these will be low on the list behind, Church, Allentown, San Franciscos, Larsons and Okajimas...