D2

On 12/4/2023 at 1:22 PM, musicmeta said:

I read Steven Pressfield's the "Gate of Fire" book first but 300 was freaking awesome when it came out both the books and the movie.

Gate of fire!! How do I not know about this. How close of a comparison is it to 300?

I feel so under read and under cultured  

Yes to Bosco’s credit, there is a good flow of content and updates. 

I was just looking for a site that also has other content too, which are usually fun opinion pieces. 

CBR opinion pieces seem to be geared towards stirring controversy, and sometimes I just need less of that in my life. 
 

geektyrant seems interesting

On 12/2/2023 at 3:05 PM, stormflora said:

That's an interesting approach... An "indefinite loan" that doesn't cost any interest. Not something I'd do myself, since I don't think I'd ever part with something of (significant enough) sentimental value. But if it works in giving you some relief, go for it  

I know. I am unconventional. Lol

but honestly, there isn’t a single thing in this life I wouldn’t sell. 

I don’t want to of course, but if push came to shove, there is no item on Earth worth keeping (in my eyes), there’s just a hierarchy of what to get rid of first. 

On 12/2/2023 at 1:57 PM, stormflora said:

Those people tend to be narrow-minded, as they fail to realize that not every single buyer is an enthusiast that knows all about the comic collecting scene. There's bound to be "suckers" who will buy something they think is worth the price, even if it might not necessarily be true. But yeah, it's a dictionary definition case of "mind your own business." I could list some pancakes at $500 even if I know nobody would ever buy them. Why do you care?

Yeah... I've never been fond of sellers that charge extra shipping per book. It increases the total cost of shipping. I know they do it to offset fees/commissions, but it's still a lame practice.

Some people walk by a hornet’s nest, and just feel compelled to hit it with a stick. 

On 12/2/2023 at 2:00 PM, stormflora said:

Sometimes, what we really want out of reselling unnecessary/incorrectly purchased items is closure. To pass it onto someone else who might see more value out of it.

Sure, we could simply donate it somewhere to do the same thing, but sometimes it can give us a little bit of relief to at least get a little something back, so it isn't a total loss.

On the bright side, sometimes selling things can be an enjoyable experience too, especially if there is a courteous interaction with another human being out there on the planet.

The satisfaction of knowing that you helped someone by offering them something that they needed, even if you did not.

That’s true too! I am selling one of my books as we speak that has sentimental value and when I do I always mention to a buyer if they ever consider reselling to let me know. 

I only do this because, 1) I do have books that mean a lot to me personally and 2) if I could ever get them back, I would. It does also open up potential conversation on if the buyer is truly an enthusiast or not. Surprisingly, not all of them are…

On 12/2/2023 at 2:06 PM, Cat said:

None of them happen in real life. 

On 12/2/2023 at 1:55 PM, BA773 said:

Buy only DC and there will be no more problem

 

Interesting how, it wasn’t a DC book in fact. Coincidence? 

On 12/2/2023 at 12:09 PM, shadroch said:

I don't expect to go beyond issue 10 unless it blows me away.   I have not read very much new stuff since the early 1990s, so I have a lot to choose from.  Right now I'm reading Kingdom Come and Dean Motters Terminal City.  Spawn is next.

 

hm… then it may be a short ride indeed. I think you could go 1-5, skip to 9 and end it there, you’d be happy. 
I haven’t read Kingdom Come since I was a kid. Would love to hear the feedback. For fun 90s shlock, I do recommend (a dirty favourite of mine) is J Scott Campbell’s Danger Girl. 7 issues. 

On 12/2/2023 at 12:18 PM, stormflora said:

It's called sunk cost fallacy. But everyone experiences that many times in life, due to poor insight or foresight. Nobody's perfect.

If I could refund/cancel all of the purchases I've made with poor judgement, I'd easily have another $100-200K in my bank account. But that's easier said than done.

As grown adults, all we can do is resell them at a lower cost to recoup losses or make money elsewhere to offset them.

If you lost $20 buying something you ended up never needing and thus never using, all you'd need to do is work a bit of overtime to earn back that $20.

But I can understand when people fail to see the exchange in such a light, dwelling on their mistake for making the failure in the first place.

I did not know that there was a term for that, but it does make sense.

That was kind of my thought too. I can’t begin to believe that I can avoid all moments where I lose money, or waste money. I have kids so, I lose money every meal. But if I can at least manage myself and learn from mistakes, I can offset some of those timely mistakes. It’s the time too, the time having to now, go back, list this stupid book, haggle… eventually lose, and drag my sorry butt to mail it out. 

On 12/2/2023 at 1:10 PM, Cat said:

"Just letting you know you're trash, and so's your item. 

Stay happy, God bless!" 

lol! Exactly! 

Nevermind the idea of… just moving on?? Just, I don’t know, continuing with your day?

NOPE. I must stop, and take my time to remind you…

On 12/2/2023 at 12:14 AM, badback83 said:

On 12/1/2023 at 12:37 PM, Happy Noodle Boy said:

This topic strikes close to home for me. Now that I've gotten back into the hobby after 30 years away I've been focused on collecting stuff I never even noticed when I was a Teenage Marvel Zombie - bronze horror and sci-fi, romance books with great covers, and a lot of Betty and Veronica stuff. I always looked straight past these books and now that I'm in my 50's I find myself wanting to experience the parts of the hobby that my teenage superhero collecting and silly over-interest in Marvel and DC "continuity" blinded me to. But I'm sort of afraid to actually read any of these books I'm collecting now, because if I really, really don't like one of them, it would kind of ruin that book for me. If a book is run of the mill standard stuff for its era that wouldn't be a problem, as I'm collecting these partly based on their covers, but if one was just outright horrible it would be hard to keep it in my collection. 

Having said that, the good thing about the stuff I'm collecting now is that it all really does have a sort of standard level of quality that doesn't vary much, as they aren't at all beholden to "continuity" and the silly gimmicks publishers use to keep their superhero universes going. Betty and Veronica are forever Betty and Veronica and that's just fine by me.  

That journey though, the one you’re experiencing, is a pretty wild ride, for what it’s worth. Obviously you are keeping an open mind and exploring different books, some nuggets you’re going to find, will be remarkable I assure you. I also got stuck in the Marvel/DC hamster wheel for years and it took a bit of coaxing to break out of it (Saga actually pulled me away), but definitely, definitely read first, buy second.

Another thing I would recommend, is DO read your books from childhood/past. I promise, some books will stand the test for you, and some may ring more nostalgic than others. I didn’t lose my love for the books that didn’t hold up, it just made me feel like a better reader today.

On 12/1/2023 at 3:19 PM, Dr. Balls said:

What he said. And if you have to sell at a loss, don't beat yourself up over it. Everyone does it, no one ever talks about it.

I wish we would. I’d be willing to share my losses and lessons for sure. But you’re right, it’s like this unspoken taboo that people don’t want to get labelled bad investors? Or show financial strain? 

Full transparency now, I got laid off work, and I am now selling books I bought 2 years ago. Big surprise, I’m going to lose money. But, that’s life! No big deal

@shadroch Spawn 1-5 is honestly, a wicked ride. Issues 6-8 go a bit off the rails, but issue 9 is arguable the best single issue in the series. From 10-38 is really good, really thought provoking stories, with hits and misses throughout, and 39-50 gets weaker. I would drop after 50.

So, I would like to confess,

I am, apparently, a cranky eBay seller. 

I have a green label book up for sale. It’s legit. I got it signed myself, and didn’t get it CGC verified at the time because I didn’t know enough about the program… blah blah blah. 

Fast forward 7 years, and I have the book listed.

Now I understand green label books are not ideal, but an eBay user (I won’t even call him a buyer) sends me a message, out of the blue (see attached picture) so I replied, so what’s your question? And his reply was basically telling me the book was worthless.

So you know what, I was rude.

But I think eBay users in general, are not a nice lot.

Edit: as a reference, I did meet my reserve bid, so, ironically, this eBay user was wrong, obviously  

On 12/1/2023 at 8:27 PM, universal soldier said:

Some of the mistakes I mainly make are with moderns. I might collect about 15 titles a month and most recently they relaunched She-hulk. The series prior was kinda  but I stuck through it. The latest series took me all of one issue to tap out. My LCS automatically signs you up when a series reboots and I never opted out during the relaunch. Certainly a lot less expensive than what @D2 was refernceing but I keep doing it over and over. It's the completionist in me that keeps me buying ...

Well to be fair, I think any raw comic book over $50 is expensive, especially after reading it, you think it sucks  

But I agree, a lot of what people are saying is the online method is the fastest, cheapest way to see what you like, and move on. 

Just curious to see what others use to browse and would suggest to see for content.

I am currently an avid reader of CBR.com, but with their latest bouts of 'journalism', I need a new news outlet.
Their last article on "What Made the Marvels Bomb..." 

Misogyny killed the Marvels... 

Anyway, back on topic.
I have tried Screenrant.com (meh) and bleedingcool.com (Rich Johnson, beloved longest standing online journalist in existence), but a site with a good community of posters would always be nice!

I agree, selling off those books immediately is the only way to curb a habit. And the pain of selling it, is the reminder of the habit I need to break. Especially when I, inevitably sell the book for less than what I probably paid for.

The Fomo is brutal, and with today's influences, I mean, I like to get in the dirt with comic enthusiasts. I find the line is blurred between enthusiasts and general vultures, posing as enthusiasts. 

But I think what you guys are saying is the best way, read online, as cheap as possible, and then invest up if I fall in love.
Speaking of spending money on books I already have... buying a CGC 9.8 that isn't a good 9.8 is also frustrating

On 12/1/2023 at 11:21 AM, mlovest said:

More fun...  Maybe I'm just an honest and life-long collector who's trying to get something reasonable for truly high-grade comics.  I collected Spider-Man comics and comics with Spidey on the cover, generally no later than 1990 for the cover appearances.  Some of those you may consider drek, but it's not easy to find Marvel Barbie 36 and Alf 47 (or Avengers #11!) in tight NM condition.  Maybe try an not assume the worst in people like myself, who have been on these boards since before some of you were born.  Maybe...  Or just assume I'm a jerk and maybe miss out on some great books.

Regardless, have a great day and happy collecting!

Look, I hear you. 

You took time, cherry picked books to get the best you could find. A true collector's mentality for sure, and one that buyers appreciate, of course.

Problem is, as I'm sure you know while selling them, is that, buyers, rarely take into account any of that stuff... Best bang for your buck. Best condition for the dollar.

Message boards and members on here, like talking and connecting, and showing off their collection, much to what you're describing... but buying? That's a different beast.

I agree with you, try not to assume the worst in people, and assume you're some jerk trying to screw you, but from someone who has bought books over the years, that's exactly what I've purchased in terms of raw books. Overpriced, overstated, overgraded raw books. Not saying that's you. I'm saying that's the general situation. 

On 11/30/2023 at 11:41 PM, Plantman said:

Was it The Official Marvel Index to the X-Men (1994) #1? It fits your description other than the anniversary issue detail.

This one?

Am I the only one? I can’t be the only person that does this?

I like to categorize this under: Mistakes I Did Again… 

I bought a (semi) expensive book that I hadn’t read before. 

I finally got around to reading it this morning, and it’s not all that good. 

I used to make this mistake all the time, buying comic books based on any number of reasons except for the one that mattered: loving it so much that I had to have it. 

So frustrating… even the reviews were good! And it’s not an entirely bad book, but it’s a standard ‘meh’, a forgettable tale that didn’t warrant me buying an expensive copy of the thing. 

I don’t know if it’s the speculator in me that won’t die or the neurotic collector that needs to own things, but I will tell you one thing… 

Book for sale
😂

Seriously. This is so frustrating. Owning a book I don’t care about is such a stupid problem to have. 

On 11/30/2023 at 10:31 AM, VintageComics said:

They're well known about here, I just stopped buying them years ago.I still have a couple.

I should really find a Miller one as he's on my Rushmore of comic artists. 

I have 3 of them, and they are all very different. VERY different. 

I have the Kitchen Sink Sin City AE as well as the Graphitti Designs Ronin and DKR books…

To be honest, as a Frank Miller freak myself, you need to have all three. Lol

They all are so very different that you can experience this crazy evolution in his art from 1983 to 1995. And people forget because his work now is, borderline offensive in some cases, but he was a true master. 

On 11/30/2023 at 8:55 AM, Funnybooks said:

Varley painted Silhouette....Miller added white paint for lightning

That’s very interesting. 
And you obviously have a reliable source. It’s just that I would have figured due to the nature of the process, it would have been the opposite. Miller intended for the silhouette and Varley painted the lightning bolt

On 11/30/2023 at 9:57 AM, VintageComics said:

I was surprised nobody posted it until now. A picture is worth 1000 words!

I don’t know if many people know about the Graphitti Designs AE. They were popular among AE enthusiasts, but I’ve come to realize a lot of people stay in their lane, and not many jump around between variations. 

On 11/30/2023 at 8:50 AM, VintageComics said:

Millar actually had a history of exaggerating boot heels. It's one of his signature motifs. Once you start looking, you'll start to see it in his art. 

The question is a very interesting one, but even more interesting is who chose to black out the silhouette?

Miller, Janson or Varley?

Any OA people with a deeper knowledge of this have any thoughts?

I was just going to post this. Good work