Monstertruck97

Just checked Facebook where they also announced this there and there are like 200 angry messages already, mostly "my books were sent 14 months ago" kinda comments. Also the occasional "stop doing signings and focus on getting my books graded" comment. I am searching for positive comments and they are far and between. No mentions of acetates, surprisingly. People are mad at you, CGC.

I have never liked Rob, his work or anything about him. He is the only signature of a prominent artist I do not have in my collection. He fights with everyone and always seems to be in the wrong and then usually quits Twitter. I hope you fine folks let him have it over on that site (I am not on Twitter) so he can quit Twitter again and do the world a favor so he is unable to share any future moronic opinions. What a 🤡. You are a 🤡, Rob.

We have said all that could be said. We are tired. It apears nothing will change and the people in charge don't care what we have to say and just let ourselves vent and time to move on, sadly. 😔 Maybe they have so many books that still need grading and they are so behind that they want to offend their loyal customer base with poor decisions as to discourage new submissions so they can catch up on the old submissions and work on grading those toys with big, rectangular heads.

I didn't know who these people are (is one a famous talking mime or something?) but Googled them and found they are entertainers in the "sport" of wrestling, therefore doubtful this transaction actually took place and this was probably scripted. I gave up after a minute and probably missed a distracted referee or other shenanigans.

Two Brothers Comics did an almost six hour video last night and started off talking about this topic. They featured a video from YT about a dealer named Robert Wood who located the BF booth and found the employees and owner hiding inside the booth and he heckled them (with profanity) and eventually snuck up to talk to perhaps the owner who said he called security and ended with the filmer running away. Weird video, but thought maybe you would enjoy it. This starts at just before the 12 minute mark and lasts a few minutes. Enjoy!

Very funny. And never knew this YouTuber existed until yesterday and actually wish I didn't know he existed.

I agree as I like those guys very much and perhaps influencers is now an insulting term, but begs to question: Perhaps the only ones shamed here are the ones that were present and had the opportunity to do so. If other YouTubers had attended, would they have done the same thing? So many layers here and that's why this is so fascinating. Still think these are all artificial up so buyer can reneg out of protest.

I went to the store, returned and missed forty posts. Can't wait for tomorrow! Youtube influencers selling kinda funny shirt. 30 dollars.

Um, no. These sales are not real. If you go to the other thread, people are so opposed to all of this, they are bidding them up and not paying or reporting them. And it was mentioned in one of the thousands of posts that 10% was going to charity, so nothing like banking nine grand if the sale was true.

Same BS times 100, bigger price tag. These people in line in Boston are going to shell out 100 dollars per book???? Will they even have a platform to sell them before it becomes a ten dollar book? I believe in having the hobby pay for itself and my goal is an AF#15 (like everyone else) and I naively started watching these influencers three years ago and can honestly say, their predictions and my following "rumors" have not work out all that well. I have sadly paid 30 dollars for "hot artist, limited to 500 issues" variants that are worth half that now. By the time you send in the book and it's returned in graded form three years later, the book has tanked as the collecting community moved on to something else. Did everyone invest in that first appearence of Robin King? My neighbor sits in front of his TV every morning and afternoon and runs to his computer whenever Jim Cramer tells him (all his viewers) about a hot stock tip. My neighbor has not done well. My neighbor doesn't even know what a PE/Ratio is. In closing, these influencers do what influencers do. Watch them because Skeff seems like a great guy with his big beard energy or ComicTom seems like an energetic young man or what, but in the beginning they didn't think they would get this many fans and it eventually becomes less about the viewer and more about opportunity, greed and fame.

I DO NOT collect Modern books but kind of want this stupid book now. If I send this to CGC, will they grade it? I wish journalists like the Deep Throat guys existed because this would make a great expose' for print journalism or 60 Minutes or American Greed. Of course this generation's Woodward and Bernstein are YouTubers who are a tight, chummy community and who are part of the central problem here, so never mind. 😤

The problem so to speak may/and is how these YouTubers, these dozen or so "influencers" who are cherished like rock stars at these conventions. If you see ComicTom walking down the aisle of your convention, do you get all excited and want a selfie photo? People do. Skeff started out as this excited loveable dude who comes across as a "man of the hobby" who we get to share in his excitement when he gets a 9.8 and slowly he gets a fan base and "YouTube fame" which brings forth opportunities and he has his own comic variant and he is good friends with creators now and he is recognized at every show and fans want to take photos with him and then becomes the face of WhatNot (sort of) and then...he allegedly budges in line to purchase allegedly hundreds of copies of a book insuring others in line cannot buy them so he can make a quick profit? Boston show is up next. The fix will be in only if CGC did the right thing, but they aren't. These things are selling for more than two and half times what these guys bought them for. I wish I had the opportunity to buy some, but the person sitting in the 41st place in line was told that they had sold out, only to find another box and now the price was $100 each I was told and NOW they put a limit on how many you could buy. This was #2 last week on CBSI.

This is sad. Bravo for your research. 👏 And the YouTubers who have the best interest of the collector in mind, but profited from "cutsy's and greed" are hiding with no videos about their experiences at C2E2 on YouTube or IG? Someone commented on Skeff's IG account, most likely as this could be considered a WhatNot issue as well. I guess it's going to be called "Black Flagged", whatever that means. I hope this doesn't blow over as I said, this is just quite sad.

This whole affair is so sad and pathetic. From your favorite entitled celebrity influencers (many I enjoy, until now) jumping the line and being ALLOWED to purchase any amount they want to Black Flag being the true villain here to CGC grading this crud. The fans waiting to get in didn't have a chance and BF appears to be adding acetate to everything and all of this crap will be worthless in five years. I am just so glad I spent all my money on Eniac books. But saving up for this on eBay at 500K and $666 for shipping.

Yeah, shamelessly me too. The author will be so confused by the sudden increase in sales of this book. Ordered Chinese food on Friday. That's exactly what my fortune cookie said.

I had typed in Barry Dutter and for some reason it showed up Barry Trotter. Just noticing it now. When I did my search, found Harry Potter spoof, but all along meant to be more helpful than I originally was.

Barry Trotter. Meant to say Dutter.

Highly doubtful that comic books are a main focus at these shows (which has nothing to do with current horror cinema) as it is mostly an "autograph show" where fans of of the nostalgic variety want to meet up with celebrities that don't make that many convention appearances or have been out of the limelight for a while. I have found in the past a facilitator to take books for me from CGC, but not sure now. I have always wanted to go personally, but I need that special few celebrities I really need to make the trip and shows like this tend to have last minute cancelations.

I understand what you are saying and no way did I insinuate in any way that you were not on the level. I didn't implore further on getting artwork from Mr. Giella (as I was hoping to meet to and get something done at a convention and not through the mail) and simply questioned whether the person who received demands (and questionable agent tactics of demanding payment in an unconventional manner) was in fact the agent of the artist, perhaps yourself. I wasn't making any judgments to your character or your business practices. I apologize if it came off that way.

I wrote Joe a letter a year ago and included a few cards which he so graciously signed for me. I noted in the letter about possibly getting a commission from him in the future. About two weeks later, I received a letter from someone claiming to be Joe's rep (perhaps it was you, not sure) with handwritten contact information noting that if I wanted something done by him to go through them.

UPS once left a CGC box on top of a snowfilled bush and drove off, not even a knock on the door. Started using Fed Ex. Haven't once rung. Received CGC a few days ago. Didn't ring again. They signed for it.

Was it Giella? I got something similar from Joe's "guy". Seen (and own) FAR worse than "in his 90's Stan".

The way it's set up now, it's like several hundred people all waiting at roughly the exact same time and looking at their clock and counting off the seconds to make claim and everyone assuming they must be the winner because they sent their claim out at 3:00:00. What you have is a crashed site and/or hundreds of e-mails (that need to be addressed personally) and over a 100 disappointed non-winners who lost out because they didn't time it correctly. Somehow to me there has to be a better way. One of my favorite artists did the "Ten spots open, claim at 3 P.M (not a second before) and changed it to "Send request from 3:00-3:10" and all those who requested, a lottery is done and winners awarded that way which I think is far more fair, even if it means a bigger pool. 650 won't shorten the pool. A grand may.

There are three artists I can't get on their list and just have given up. I just give up and just wait to pick up on the secondary market. With DWJ, I have always wanted a piece from him and really enjoy the Inktober art he does ever day at the tale end of the month every year. One year it was Wrestling and the next was Musicians. I contacted him and he was kind enough to reply and tell me these will be auctioned off in a few months. There was one piece I really, REALLY wanted. So when the sale date was announced, I made sure I was ready to refresh. When site went live, reserved my piece within seconds. I tried to reserve two others but were told right away they weren't available. At least I had the piece I really wanted reserved. What a great way to begin the year (it was January 1st), but SIX HOURS LATER, I was told by e-mail that it was not available and in so many words "better luck next time". I was so disappointed and essentially gave up. I am now content in not owning a DWJ piece because that was the perfect piece. 😞 That's my rant.

A video on youtube showed an unboxing of books signed by David Nakayama and every book said "Signed by David Nakayama", but were all blue labels and had the signature right there on the cover. CGC just needs to do better.