Get Marwood & I

Spot on. Thank God we have the ability to post direct now. Had we not....

Exactly. Where is the thread that discusses this? It's quite staggering really isn't it. He's only Spider-Man, after all.

I don't buy or sell so that's the one area I'm not up to speed on. A lot of the software is miles better than it was, without a doubt. Direct photo-uploading is worth it's weight in gold, as you say, and likely kept many of us here. I was very positive about a lot of the new stuff, and still am. But the new car is on the drive, has been for a year, and no one is servicing it. Good car analogy, no?

For the last 16 months they have, yes!

Hurray! My first member! Welcome TVH, welcome!

When I do it, yes.

Cue eerie silence....as the vultures gather. Do we agree with him? Maybe, but we don't like him. How can we turn this against him. Etc.

Yes. Arch's boards 'to do' list.

OK, here's what I think as a mere member of 16 months. I would normally type this offline, fine tune it and then post it. This is off the top of my head, as I can't really be bothered if I'm honest (which is part of the problem). Broadly speaking, there are old comics and new comics. We have all run out of things to say about 'old' comics. Every aspect, every nuance of old comic collecting has been mined to the point of tedium. Consequently, all we really see are variations on a theme. Everything has been done. All 'new' threads are actually old threads in disguise. There is no new lifeblood, or interest in 'new' comics on the boards that I can find. That is probably due to the fact that the 'old guard' dislike new comics in the main. I know I do. They are not what they used to be. Younger members have no home here, and probably find the place and format off putting. Is anyone aware of a thread that discusses the latest ongoings in ASM? Spidey is most peoples first choice character and yet these boards do not have one thread or discussion point dedicated to the review of his latest exploits. If that exists, it is probably on Facebook or a blog somewhere, where the 'kids' hang out. If you want something to be successful, you have to nurture it. CGC and the Admin staff of these boards do not nurture it. It is a 'new' board, but is actually very stagnant. When the boards changed to the new software the management of the change and communication was appalling. The blinding white themes put people off, and a lot of members saw it as a jumping off point. The staff did nothing to promote the good stuff, just ignored protest and belittled genuine concerns. Then we had long periods of not being able to log on. Another jumping off point for many. It was painful, and when I banged the drum 'come on guys' I got stick for it. If you are into comics, and you find this site, where do you start? It is rambling and shambolic, full of repetition and ill placed features. I could list out now 20 'cosmetic' changes that I know would have broad appeal and have an instant impact. The fact that these things are not done as a matter of course shows that no one on the staff cares, either by design or otherwise. What are the boards for? Often, the non-comic traffic outweighs the comic traffic. Incident in Chennai? The boards come alive! What!? What would a newcomer make of this place? Why do they leave questions unanswered in the questions section for days / weeks on end? Is it really so hard to look there once a day and respond, even with a holding reply? Why are system abuses ignored? Because it's too much effort to police them? Why create divisions with special titles? Are we not all equal? The last 'change' proposed on the boards was Arch and his 'super cool thread stickies' idea. He unpinned the top threads in CG, threw his toys out of the pram when he was rightly criticised, ignored every one who posted and then abandoned the idea, leaving the old threads unpinned. A total muck up. Meanwhile, when I enquire as to when the old and new journals will merge, he says he 'doesn't know'. I think the journals have died a death because those with existing ones fear they will lose content when they merge, and those wanting to start new ones are reluctant to do so because the format is poor and merge uncertainty stops them doing it. It's been a year - when will they merge and what is the plan given that they are in incompatible formats? When will PMs be sorted? They are a key requirement for those selling and yet are clunky and un-user friendly. We can split the atom, but we cant make the latest PM show first? All these things make the experience unappealing. Moderation? I can't even be bothered to go into this, so silly it is. I have this idea in my head where CGC invest in the forum with a view to making it the absolute go to place for all things comics. No barred subjects, user friendly software that encourages people to share their stuff. People would say " You're into comics man - you've gotta join the CGC site, it's amazing". A bit of thought and investment, to tailor the boards to the requirements of it's users. The absolute one thing that is missing is a staff role that sees a person or persons actively engage on a daily basis. Not log in once a week, post once a month. Someone who listens, responds to questions, acts on suggestions. Imagine if they held a meeting where comic enthusiasts worked with them face to face to help design the be all and end all of comic forums. Imagine the selling opportunities for CGC, if anyone with an interest in comics was here because the place was so damn cool! Pipe dream I guess though. If you look across to the Ditch Fahrenheit site, it has no traffic now. It's dead. I can see the same thing happening here. There is no dynamism. No optimism. The software just sits here, warts and all, with nothing changing. There is no God given right for things to continue, just because they've always been there. Things die out, if left unattended. This is a brain dump, and I could've made a much better fist of it, if I sat down and planned it. I haven't even touched on the members and the cliques and the fact that the like button kills posting. I could go on and on. And that's the problem. That, and the fact that no one cares. So I have stopped caring too. All I do, like most people, is enjoy the bits I enjoy and ignore the rest. I try to help when I can, especially new members, and try to keep my own threads going by making sure everyone who posts gets a response. It's amazing how many people don't do that. You wouldn't ignore the guy talking to you in the pub, so why do it online? Anyway - @lizards2 - have a go at that wall of text mate As I've said in the past, release the hounds!

I know. Question is, should I?

Oh, OK. I won't bother then! Oh, OK, I'll do it then! That's not fair! I put pictures and graphs in and everything! I can't help it if lizards have such short attention spans! Shall I do it then, or what?

Trying to find someone who loves big-breasted women.....

You're welcome Bert! Give us some more to go on, if you can. Is it an old comic / recent. Do you recall the publisher?

71 views, 2 likes and no replies for DOL Club! Let's see if issue #9 gets the membership moving! "POWERHOUSE OF DECEIT"! (shouldn't the exclamation mark be inside the speech marks? ) I dream of love. Do you?

Would anyone like me to do one of those big detailed critique posts like I used to do? You know, the ones where I post what everyone else is thinking and then get hammered for being unkind by people who have been here longer than me? I have lots of thoughts on why the traffic is low, and lots of proactive suggestions for improvements. But seriously, does anybody care to hear them?

Four versions of ASM 400 to collect

There's a mention of some of these characters in here: https://www.amazon.com/BIZARRE-THRILLS-Paragon-Publications-Story/dp/B007PRXADA And the Girl from LSD appears here: http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=212126 Bill Black seems to have something to do with it all as you said.... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC_Comics Not much out there at all. Nice covers either way

You're welcome. They're hard to pack securely, so good luck if you dive in. Always go to ebay.co.uk when you're looking for UK stuff. Often, sellers stuff that is listed as worldwide postage doesn't show on .com. Ditto ebay.ca for Canada, ebay.com.au for Australia, etc.

Their there

You remembered!

What a view. If he's not pretending to be asleep, I'm a Dutch man

Nothing wrong with Mile High. You just ignore the insanely priced books, and buy the reasonable books when the half price codeword sale kicks in. Which is usually every week! Great packaging, and good grading on the whole. And Chuck clearly loves comics and promotes the nuances many dealers ignore.

I used to call this "New book, so I can't be bothered to grade it" syndrome. By that, I meant that quite often a dealer / shop would pay extreme attention to older books when grading. I ordered an ASM #74 from Mycomicshop years back and it was graded a 7.0. When it arrived, it was an easy 8.5. I was delighted, and found I was always delighted when buying older books from them (the fact I can remember it shows how happy I was). But quite often with new variants - and to be clear, I'm not singling out MCS here - books stated as NM rarely arrived as such when I ordered them. It's as if the seller has a mental block to grading the book in the same way they would a back issue book. "I've just received it from Diamond, so it must be NM". When I was collecting full pelt, and my LCS failed to get the variants, I'd order from the usual suspects, often via their eBay accounts. The amount of times my 'NM' book arrived with spine creases, dings and surface wear / dirt was ridiculous. It just seems to be one of those industry things. New books are NM by definition it seems. Maybe there are just too many of the pesky things to warrant close inspection. But to be fair to MCS, the focus of the thread, I found their back issue grading and service to be exemplary.

I've checked the online ones I know - Silveracre, Incognito, Quicksilver etc - and not much to speak of I'm afraid! Those that have them, have cents. I think eBay is your best bet, although high grade are few and far between. No London Fair now until May https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Marvel-Special-Edition-Star-Wars-2-NEAR-MINT-HIGH-GRADE-UK-Price-1976/132475479754?hash=item1ed82766ca:g:mv4AAOSwrfVZUV0v https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MARVEL-TREASURY-EDITION-10-1976-THE-MIGHTY-THOR-VFN-NM-9-0-PENCE-COPY/162379552912?hash=item25ce935890:g:zMwAAOxyXp5SQdGH No worries. Always spread the (pence) love as you go. That's what I say