delekkerste

Decades at this point. As much as I love both Conan and Arnold, I think this is a pairing that is now past its sell-by date unless they want to digitally make Arnold look 25 years younger a la Harrison Ford in the flashback part of the last Indiana Jones film.

I've heard it referred to as "Porno Thigh". Once seen, it cannot be unseen.

Yeah, I guess they're moving these to focused sales with the lower-rent stuff placed in the weeklies. But the real question is whether they decided to remove them from the Signature auctions because they thought they would do better separately or whether there were just too many NoGarfielders and NeverGarfielders complaining about all the Garfields in the big sales.

The first 5 strips (1 daily, 4 Sundays) I got were all from 1979-1981. What I lacked was an example that had Garfield, Odie and Jon all in the same piece. Actually - I'm wrong! Turns out I already had a Sunday that had all three. But it only has one panel of Odie and one panel of Jon with the rest Garfield. Anyway, I didn't think I'd ever want to go out as far as 1985, but, this example had lots of Jon/Odie/Garfield in different poses/looks, a great gag, and drawn in a very pleasing style (can't say that about all of the strips from this era):

I think there will be two competing forces at play: 1. The constant debasement of money (bullish for prices) 2. Demographic changes (likely not bullish) My prediction is that one of these forces will be stronger than the other.

Picked up my 6th Garfield strip in last night's Jim Davis auction.

My three entries were all bought at public auction last year, so, easy to verify. That said, I have Heritage hold all my purchases until I'm ready to have them shipped. As a result, I have some late 2023 purchases which will get shipped to me at some point this year and may end up getting posted on CAF. I would have no problem including these in the 2024 "Best Of" showcase as I don't count these until they are actually in hand. I mean, if you buy a piece on eBay on 12/31 and it doesn't arrive until Jan. 7, should that make it ineligible for that year's Best Of? IMO, no.

There were some disappointing Heritage auctions in 2023 but last month's auction was a barn-burner.

What rumors? If anything, I'm surprised that prices haven't been even higher lately given the 1999-2000 style froth (aspects of which are "worse than 1999" according to JP Morgan this week) that has enveloped the financial markets.

I only interact with one other sealed record collector (he is also very much pro-sticker) so I don't know what the consensus is on the matter. But the fact that TiG doesn't downgrade for the stickers is great in my book - I'll just keep using them over VMG as long as their sticker policy matches my collecting interest! I agree, the stickers on old albums are great, even better than the '80s/'90s era stickers you see on albums and presumably videogames. Like here's my copy of The Beatles' Revolver: And how about this holiday 1963 price sticker from The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan: (just sent both of these albums in for grading)

TiG has better looking labels than the hideous ones that VMG uses. They also have a partnership with Heritage. Also, VMG downgrades sealed albums if they have a store price sticker on them (perhaps not coincidentally, they offer a "sticker removal service"... ) whereas TiG does not. Price stickers can often provide valuable information that help date the pressing of an album (since the exact same sleeve was often used for later pressings) and are often really cool looking in and of themselves. All things considered, I generally prefer albums to have a store price sticker on them as 9 times out of 10 it's a net plus.

I think it was sometime in the Aughts but the years all blend together at this point. Years ago in any case. I'm a big fan of rock biographies and Pearcy's autobiography was a fun read.

Sent off another dozen albums to Tuned in Grading yesterday and sending off a second dozen (including Ratt's "Out of the Cellar" and "Invasion of Your Privacy") later today. Stephen Pearcy hit on my sister a while back.

Well, it's got Daredevil fighting The Hand and DD is drawn in a variety of Miller-esque fighting poses. I would say that there are more desirable 4-panel layouts (Lots. Of. Crates.) that could have given the fight panels more breathing room, but, at the end of the day, it's Daredevil fighting ninjas from a memorable part of the run with full Miller scripts and pencils. Is it the best Miller DD piece? No, but, it's an excellent example and you could certainly do a lot worse IMO... I know where some of them are but know it would take unfathomable money to pry them out of their owners' collections.

I just like to own cool stuff..

I would wager a fiver that this isn't really her. I know people change over time but nothing about this woman looks like her. Here is a photo posted by someone claiming to be her niece (refuting the authenticity of the 2019 photo above) which looks much more believable:

Marianne Gravatte I will submit my sealed copy of this LP in my next grading submission (I have sealed copies of the Ratt EP and first four LPs in my collection ). All this talk about nostalgia and whether now is better than then or vice versa...all I know is that '80s music and pop culture will never be exceeded as the high point of Western civilization!

I would guess mid-to-high 4 figures

I finally got my first record submission back from Tuned In Grading today. Very happy about the results except that 4 slabs arrived cracked (not surprised; the packaging was not great). Here are the results - all the records are sealed first pressings; they labeled the Sex Pistols as a "Late '70s Pressing" though I'm pretty sure it's a first US pressing: U2 - Achtung Baby graded 9.3 Pearl Jam - Ten 9.0 GN'R - Appetite for Destruction uncensored cover 9.0 Queensryche - Operation: Mindcrime 9.0 Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks 9.0 Def Leppard - Hysteria 9.0 Nirvana - In Utero 9.0 Styx - Kilroy Was Here 8.5 The Cult - Sonic Temple 8.0 Asia - Asia 8.0 Nirvana - Nevermind 7.5 Duran Duran - Rio 7.5 From what I can tell, a 9.5 is like a CGC 10 (I've never seen a 9.5), a 9.3 is like a CGC 9.9 (I've only ever seen one other 9.3), a 9.0 is like a CGC 9.8, an 8.5 is like a 9.6, an 8.0 is like a 9.4, etc.

Re: DD #181 page in the last auction vs. DD #174 page in this auction I think the #181 page is better drawn, better looking and is from a more important issue, but the #174 page has Daredevil fighting The Hand which is probably what more people are looking for content-wise than a Bullseye-only page. There are certainly those who collect Miller for the artistic elements and will prefer the #181 page, but, I think more people would want Daredevil on the page, in action. I think a Daredevil-only page > a Bullseye-only page, though, Elektra+Bullseye (the #181 fight sequence) > any page featuring Daredevil in the run. And given the scarcity of #168-181 Elektra pages (and she being a major creation of Miller's), I think many of those would also be > Daredevil-only pages. Given where prices are these days, if you are looking for a "one and done" type of example, I think you have to go with the #174 page. If you like the #181 page better from an artistic standpoint, that's fine, but, then I think you have to ask yourself whether that's enough or whether you still need a page with Daredevil on it as well to fill that hole.

A friend of mine was complaining to me that his goal was to keep his art collection under 20% of his net worth, but, due to the price appreciation of recent years, it is now way above. I told him to do just do what I do - mark down the value of your art in your spreadsheet. Problem solved.

Ughhhh...I had two great Norem SSOC covers and sold or traded both of them during The Great Painted Comic & Illustration Art Purge from my collection. I regret selling/trading very little, but, not keeping at least one of those Norem covers is one of the few regrets I do have. And with prices at $20K+ now for lesser examples, regrets they will remain.