SeniorSurfer

ASM Annual 1 (7.0) and (7.5) per PM.

In "The Queen's Gambit" mini-series they slavishly re-created many settings from the 60s and I was happy to see a spinner rack in the drugstore where the main character discovers chess magazines. Imagine my disgust when, on pausing and rewinding in expectation of some Silver Age goodness, they had populated the rack with books that couldn't possibly have been around in that period (I recall an Avengers cover with an arrow in the letter "A" that debuted in 1972 for one). At first I thought that they might not want to shell out for the pricier books or have them ruined on set, but a simpler solution would have been to find some covers on the internet, make color copies and drape them onto any issues they wanted. My wife of course commented that only a nut like me would notice such a thing.

You can do both, you know. If I were still buying new books and one of them that was considered a "spec" book fell into my hands, I would say "wow... how about that?" and immediately sell it to get books in which I was interested. For example, if I could have gotten my hands on a score of UF books at the time they were "taking off" they would have lasted just long enough to get slabbed and sold. You yourself post "...that book does NOT exicted (sic) me in anyway" while the books you are attracted to "...are solid investments and books I genuinely enjoy and love to look at..." As it happens, those books have withstood the test of time as far as enjoyment and holding their financial values, while the years since they were published are littered with "spec" books that are lining birdcages now. In this respect your instincts are (IMO and shared by many, many experienced collectors and investors here I'm sure) to be trusted. As for your friend trashing your buys while touting his own: Talk about other things, nod and change the subject, or just ignore him altogether because your way of collecting is providing you pleasure as well as (again IMO) a better financial investment. Frankly if it were me, I would start to distance myself from such a person. No amount of gifts is worth the aggravation received every time a hobby is discussed.

I'd do both trades though I would try to leave out that FF 48 if possible and throw in some cash instead.

If only they would use the same printers that other companies use for their color catalogs/brochures/fliers that continue to incessantly appear in mailboxes. Not only would production costs be cheaper (I assume, as these free junk mail stapled "books" are just as prevalent as they always were), they might even be able to mail the comics directly to subscribers too. What's their secret? And yeah, I remember the .12 days too. I stuck around for several price changes but faded when they started all the obvious money grabs: excessive cross-overs, multiple covers -> cardboard covers -> lenticular covers -> foil covers, restart of the numbering via new titles/rebooting, increasing the paper quality in an attempt to justify costs (I mean really... did anyone ask for that? It's a comic book!), etc.

When you think back investment-wise, many that have been buying comics for years probably got them from spinner racks or LCS and paid cover price or less, so any money made is really "found." Owing to the general way of things, most do not have an unlimited supply of money so books were obtained to read and give pleasure. Owing to those same limited funds there might have been several pitfalls that were avoided by limiting the collectible books (speaking for myself, I might have missed out on a TMNT #1 but I also missed out on spending money on the avalanche of worthless paper that was also generated at that time). Selling books for what seemed to be a good price, only to find there was a higher ceiling further on down the road? What about other books that collectors hang on to for a little bit too long, only to find that the ship has sailed and they're best used to line birdcages? You can never really know how long to keep a collectible if you want to obtain the ever-elusive, just-out-of-reach max value. Sometimes these things just balance out. It would annoy anyone but, as in any collection, there have been bargains found and goals reached that made you happy also. You cope by looking over the books you still have that are worth a lot to you - both in money and pleasure in collecting or reading. And if all else fails, you tell yourself that these are only material things that we're all just (basically) renting out for a while and upon reflection there are things in life that are way more valuable.

Take

Yep, I just got that email a few moments ago. From what I understood, they'll still have the program but only when they say so in periodic emails. The earnings will also not expire for 12 months.

Link to "The New Yorker" book review of Abraham Riesman's new "True Believer" Stan Lee biography. It looks like a good read though some might find it rehashes subject matter that has probably been examined in more depth, in other publications, and by those in the business (it did get a good "review quote" from Neil Gaiman). And any publicity about comics is, as the saying goes, better than no publicity at all As an aside: I found it an extremely rough-looking picture of Stan used on the cover of Reisman's book. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/02/15/who-really-created-the-marvel-universe?utm_source=pocket-newtab

375 on SS 7

350 for SS 7

Natch. As one writer (don't remember which) noted, kryptonite had to be invented because it became increasingly difficult to write Stuporman plots as they involved a character that could basically save the earth just by listening hard.

Might as well keep going: As all life came from the sea, then Aqueousman has dominion over all living beings. By that logic, he's gone from a DC laughing stock to probably the most powerful/dangerous man on earth.

Congratulations to both! Though I might add: There are many, many, many more houses than there are AF 15s so... just sayin'.

In a word, "P" and "U" but then again I'm one of those guys that doesn't buy/read moderns so they're not trying to lure my dollars. I stopped buying right about when Marvel rebooted all their big titles to #1 (the first time, when it lasted about a year of plodding plotting), then rebooted them all again with new #1s. At that point it seemed obvious the money grab writing was on the wall (certainly not in the front offices). It's a depressing "What If?" that should comics survive in spite of themselves and lousy designs like this somehow find a following, there could exist an upcoming generation (and more) who might never know what the original design looks like and just come to associate the look of the Amazing Spider-Man, the look that has lasted my entire lifetime, with the "hit" out of all the misses. (Actually thought this was misplaced from the "Most Ridiculous Comic Panel" thread)

I will take Prize #31 ($50 Gift via PayPal) and Thank You, speedcake!

I'm here for a live pick. (It's the suspense that gets me)

Right? It's like Christmas in December! (Hey...wait a minute...)

And how does that marriage proposal conversation start? "Lois, I saw a whale the other day and it reminded me of you!"

If it had been cracked out, submitted to, say, the Putrid Grading hoaXers who would have missed everything as usual ("Does this book seem smaller to you?") and been given a universal-type grade, they might have made a bigger bundle.