justafan

Well modern slow is what you get when you go cheap so I guess I'll get them when I get them but whoa I nearly got whiplash with the one Express submission I sent in. Submitted Saturday July 22 at SDCC and had to go the express route due to the insured value. It was sent to CCS for a press as well. Checked the website and nothing for a week and a half and then I got a flurry of notifications within the last few days. I got the return shipping notification August 4 before they had updated the website invoice on the grade. It went through Grading and QC in 2 days. I got the grade last night online but the book will be here in 2 days. The press and the cost of express tier were well worth it and paid for by the grade bump it received. The modern and economy slow tiers are still at CCS for pressing...

My thing with the abundantly available has more to do with the ability to locate and buy one at market prices. SDCC had no less than 7-8 copies for sale not including the ComicLink/Heritage copies on display but many were still there Sunday before I left. HeroesCon had a few on Saturday of that show. Awesome con had several in low grade but didn't check to see if they were still there on Sunday. ebay has at least 30+ copies in varying certified grades of 1.5 or higher (assuming they are legit listings). I agree that AF15 is not as abundantly available as many other issues of ASM. The demand is there but so are the copies. It's just that demand for the grade at market prices is not equal to the overall demand. Millions of fans may want an AF15 but not/can't at current market prices or there would be zero left for sale. But an AF15 in grade does seem to trade hands very frequently. At least 15 copies have completed sales on ebay over the last 30 days with 11 in July alone (assuming those are legit). Many more may trade hands offline at various "market prices". So you see, they are abundantly available as compared to other rarer harder to find issues that rarely come up for sale as often. Perhaps we disagree in terms of semantics. To me uncommon would be something that you don't see for sale very often due to extreme value and scarcity like an AC1 or sheer scarcity where less than 20 copies exist. I've seen less of those for sale at shows or online than AF15's. You can find an AF15 for sale at any major show. You can't say the same for the more scarce books out there. If I wanted to spend the money I could buy an AF 15 today. I can't say the same about some other books. mind you scarce doesn't always equate to value. But I do fancy your 4-5 C's of comic buying/investing as a means of discerning value to an individual.

So this listing has been up for 30 days with no bites or accepted offline offers and is ending in 7 hour 23 min. I imagine his poor title and description choice in omitting certain key words no doubt limited the number of views but I'm curious as a run owner how this might shake out. I suspect it'll go back into storage or consigned to heritage/comiclink/etc eventually but makes for an interesting lesson to huge run collectors looking to sell all at once. The other thing that bothers me is he's marketing it to a collector but even says it in his description how much fun he had piecing it together. That's what a run collector enjoys: the hunt and achievement. Where's the fun buying it all at once even if you could easily afford his price: buying it as a starting point and then hunting for upgrades or better copies? If you had the money how much over tree-fiddy would you pay for this 6-title run? Hmm...I wonder if he has the Dell-Otto 667 variant.

Been a while since I've seen a $1000 copy. Common - abundantly available but highly sought after.

this is why I will send certain stuff to Joey with requests but he may also have hired help (correct me if I'm mistaken, Joey). The potentially lesser skilled/experienced help is why some of us seriously consider getting into pressing for ourselves. The assumption being that no one will treat your books better or work harder than you to get the best results. I've had books submitted for pressing (both via CGC and the other guys) where they both skipped the press due to clerical errors and went ahead and graded them with expected results. So at the very least, I can see where the desire to learn has more to do with ensuring the job gets done and done well. Both companies have appeared to have corrected their issues in this respect but what a disappointment. There's probably a profit generating tier that'll spawn from these comments: Quick Press: $8 Normal Press $10 Guaranteed Pressed by Matt himself $20

SWEET CHRISTMAS! Those could be a meme for something.

I submitted books using Firefox last weekend. Printed out the packing slip and dropped them off at SDCC CGC booth. all options including imaging were available. prescreeen is only available once you have 25 books entered, otherwise it is not available. Not to be confused by the pre-screen evaluation option which is just to determine if the book would benefit from CCS.

Well maybe it's just to scare off the scalpers. It warns you on the SDCC badge and ID sites as well as in the emails you receive to be sure your identification and badge names match or you may not be allowed to enter. Sounded hard core rendering reselling of your badges to useless. I was freaking out a bit because my name has a slight variation that exists on my drivers license but not my passport which is how I registered on my SDCC badge. I found my passport so that at least matches my SDCC badge. However, it sounded like they would be scanning badges and checking IDs as you entered. I can only imagine how much time that would add to the whole process of going through security and entering the convention center. Maybe it's just all talk. We shall see in 3 days.

Are those dealer passes or special passes? I thought the passes would be checked and had to match your license, passport, etc.

Is there any benefit to being among the first of the masses to be let in? Might the only advantage for getting in line before 9:30 be to try and be among those in first to enter to be able to go start lining up for some high demand early panel, show exclusive, or something with limited availability?

Copy that, SB. I'm taking that advice seriously and using the links you provided to help plan out my my strategy. I'll be happy of I make it into 2 of the activities I'd like to attend/day. Wish I could just pay someone to stand in line for me. That could get ridiculously expensive quickly.

Oh man so sorry to hear. I hope the damage is minimal. Can recent water soaked comics be pressed out or carefully dehumidified and pressed? This is always a good reminder for the rest of us to evaluate our own storage. At least 6-12" off the floor, 2-3" from the walls, and don't forget about overhead leak protection. Things like toilet overflows or washing machine leaks or pipe bursts can cause water to run down walls and drain out of ceiling smoke alarms, ceiling lights, and weak seams in the ceiling drywall. Curious, did your basement have a working sump pump?

K, guess I just misunderstood why it was being recommended by folks on here to submit using a dealers account over paying for the membership. $40/yr for 10% discount and free graders notes is starting to seem like a better option than paying a dealer to do it for you and not getting any of the benefits. Am I missing something?

No, I've heard and read of others on here who simply recommended folks use the CGC authorized dealer's account when submitting books on their own either directly on the CGC online submission page or by printing out and filling the form out manually and shipping the books directly to CGC or dropoff at a con without involving the dealer. I've submitted books through dealers before where they take possession of the books but that sometimes takes a longer time due to them not shipping them out for long after they receive them and after they are received back from CGC. I recall even reading an ASK CGC reference to doing this on your own on the site or on here somewhere with a link that was supposed to tell you the exact steps but that link only points you to the authorized dealer listing. Made it seem like the dealer account info was listed somewhere on the CGC site available to be supplied on the form to submit on your own. However, I can't seem to locate that page, if it ever existed and wondering how others on here were able to use a dealer's account to submit books directly. Maybe I'm just crazy thinking I heard/read this was ever something offered up by dealers out of courtesy. I was just wondering what the etiquette and process of requesting/using a dealer's account to get the discount might be aside from cold calling one up and saying "hi, can I please use your CGC dealer account number to submit some books for the discount?" I'd use my LCS but they don't have an account with CGC.

Hi, I'm hoping someone can help me out with this or steer me in the right direction. I did a search but couldn't find anything that gives me the who, what, how, and where. I've heard you can use an authorized dealer's account to submit books and get the 10 or 20% discount on grading when submitting books. How do I go about obtaining this info and how do I apply it to my invoice? Are there dealers on here that will provide it or is it something that has to be requested from a dealer via purchase or by sending my books to them to be submitted? Thanks in advance for all responses.

At first thought it might sound like a neat idea if a bunch of dealers rented out a block of rooms on the same floor and setup with doors open folks to walk through but this would clearly violate fire code. The alternative might be to rent out the 1st floor of a motel where each room was a dealers booth. Less of a fire code issue but the parking lot and chaos would be a nightmare. The only way I see this working is if there was either a decent covered venue big enough that could support a large crowd within walking distance to the SDCC convention center or a large open outdoor green space. I'm thinking something like a public pavilion or even a tent city setup outdoors. I recall hearing about some centuries old European festivals in Spain that started out as a traders market (merchant con) for merchants selling their goods brought in from their lands in large outdoor tents in a large open field. Flush with cash and profits they would decorate their booths to invite potential customers, network deals, and overall celebrate. It's now turned into a major party scene but each booth is now inherited and passed down by families and companies that own them. I can imagine a smaller, more sedate version of this scene if there's a large open park nearby where dealers can setup tented air conditioned booths for merely the cost of obtaining a vendors permit from the city and the tend/booth. Looking at a map of the convention center down town the obvious choice to me would be the Embarcadero Marina Park South or North or even the green spaces around the convention center. Not sure if these are already used by SDCC but there are green spaces near hotels and condominiums around the convention center and even a large park to the north west that could be negotiated. Maybe you guys are thinking something a little more clandestine comicon speakeasy style to keep the large non-comic buying crowds away.

I like the idea but the problem may be in finding a venue to support the comic only dealers and guests that won't gouge with the same high rates that SDCC and San Diego charges.

Can't blame him or be surprised if he cancelled the rest of the shows for the year now or calls it quits shortly after this. I realize she was a huge motivating factor for him but you know he also does it for the fans and the kids and will probably not want to stop doing shows. But, it may be even harder on him having thousands of fans offering their condolences at shows as a constant reminder of his loss. I fear that without those 2 key motivations in his life, he won't be around for much longer either. I'm infinitely grateful for getting the opportunity for me and my son to meet him last month at Awesome con and get his autograph. Rest In Peace Mrs. Lee and thank you for your contributions.

ooh such a grey area. Well unless those are OO books from the seller who knows who that $100 belonged to before. And if it does belong to the seller, it's clearly been long forgotten. If you feel guilty you can send them a little extra via paypal but it's probably best to let sleeping dogs lie. Curious though, which book was it in and on what page? The moral here is inspect all comics you buy and especially those you sell before you ship.

I'll be there all 4 days Thursday -Sunday. My first time. Got my badge in the mail a month ago. Staying at a buddy's place outside the city who happens to work near the convention so I got a decent hookup on a ride in and back. However, since this is my first time is there any advice on best time to show up to get in, where to go for the con exclusive comics and toys, how to avoid the lines or make the lines? Clueless about what to strategically try to schedule and attend. I see they have Thursday's programming schedule up but nothing for Friday - Sunday yet. I see the guest list has Stan and a few other notables. wondering if there'll be any other major artists or guests not yet listed.

That makes sense but I guess for Chuck it's go big or stay home. I am a little disappointed at the low dealer turnout being mentioned. I realize it's no longer comic focused and hasn't been for a long time but figured I'd see more dealers than your typical large annual con. I was looking forward to seeing dealers and stock that don't make it out to the east coast midAtlantic region cons as well. Curious as to how many other dealers are considering pulling the plug on SDCC. Guess I'll have to find something to do for the other 3 days I'll be there.

Seriously? So why the heck am I going to this thing?

Too bad. I finally got to go this year and was looking forward to checking out his booth.

True, but they pretty much did after v2, but I could also see them rebooting/relunching at issue 850, 888 or whatever then rejoining the numbering for a special 911 anniversary edition or 950 or 999 and continue on to 1000. This close to it, it's inevitable. I think that's about when I'll just stop buying ASM.

I think it's more about getting to issue 1000. Imagine tthe number of possible variants they will produce for that issue let alone the 999 issue. Could dwarf the 666 retailer variant hell.