The Less Blob

My shop put nice copies of X-O 1 out for $3 until not that long ago. I've never seen them have a Harbinger 1. I was trying to get one for under $5, I should have just sucked it up and shelled out $10 a pop for a stack of them. Just like trying to get NM 98 out of a dollar box. Should have looked in the $2 boxes....

Yeah, but at the end of the day can they really continue to stay in this business if, let's say, half the end buyers (folks who read these diligently) drop out and you're left wit the sequential numbering disorder folks/variant collectors/bottom feeders like me who may buy out of a dollar box.

I am glad I could get you two to be all hugs and kisses.

Dorks freaking out when a woman walks in has certainly not been a feature of any of the comic shops I frequent. Sure, the substance of conversations may need to shift...perhaps abruptly, but my guess is that 10-20% of the folks walking in the door are women. One shop I used to go to was probably 50% (and a woman seemed to be the manager), but they were all about trades, GNs, and new stuff.

I did not receive this notice. I think it is bogus. Though it is possible I gave Paypal my SS a long time ago, although I do try to avoid that if possible.

Ebay does the $20,000 AND 200 transactions

Hah hah, as if ebay will care. They have robots running things. I just had a notice that a listing was being removed as an improper medical device sale (never mind that there are 300 other people selling the same thing..the wrong kind of tube for my CPAP was delivered and I was just told to keep it...I might as well sell it). Thing is, I sold the tube 5 months ago. And they're removing the listing now? There was no frigging listing to remove! WTF? And you can't respond to the e-mail. You have to call them. And you know how easy it is to get a human at ebay...

Or he will claim not as described and ebay will make you pay

On a macro level sure, but I don't think most of these books can survive without folks reading them. I Do think we got up to $3-5 cover prices because publishers wanted a piece of that collectability premium. The collectability of moderns is pretty inconsistent. Heck, most variants don't even have a window of flippability. If you have a pull of 20 books a month you spend $60-80 on you're lucky to walk away with $20-30 of collectible value. And a book like walking dead was built on people reading the stories, but maybe that's the exception. Although you have titles lime invincible or goon folks read as well where one or two issues were collectible. I know, I don't seem to have much to say about marvel or dc. Fables ran 130 issues.. People bought that to read it.

You have nearly 7,000 posts. Surely this was not the first encounter of note? Get a thicker skin! If you're shaken up by him you're a goner in tbe zombie apocalypse. (So am I, because I don't run well)

My son goes to a title I school. Over half the kids are in poverty or close to. (This is the weird irony of where I live... $1+ million homes across the street from 1 bedroom apartments housing 6 people supported by an uber driving father and whatever public assistance they can scrounge up.) The new harry potter book is not an event for those kids even if it may be for the ones in the million dollar homes. There are a lot fewer of those kids. Do you think the 46% of the country (and their kids) who voted for a certain someone has books on their mind? Anyway, I can't seem to copy the link, but there was an article in Forbes about how youth reading rates have dropped since 1984. Not literacy rates.

Mine reads comics, though he prefers GNs and tpbs because he wants to get the whole story arc. He has no interest in waiting a month. He plays too much fortnight. He also loves all the comic tv shows. He watches them while playing fortnight. But that is anecdotal, I know. But it is telling and shows how the current way of selling story arcs has zero appeal. Heck, you binge watch a whole series in a week now. Nobody has patience for a story arc played out over months and multiple titles.

do you have any evidence of this? Just because you don't know what kids read back then doesn't mean they were not reading. People made a living cranking out cheap paperbacks read by the masses. Kids read the hardy boys and other kid stuff too. Being on the internet often involves little reading. Kids watch videos and play games. This is not to say there is not a population of avid readers now, but I suspect it is a smaller % than you think. Sure, the kids I know read the heck out of Harry potter, etc, but all their parents are college graduates. That is not America.

But you are likely not doing it for some unknown character from a new company. And if you are willing the vast majority of parents of younger readers won't.

Well, you are often avoiding substantial Canadian taxes (and international postage) doing that, right?

I hate flying so much. And my wife has no patience for TSA stupidity and starts going off, which I know one day will get her arrested, but she tells me not to be such a chickensh**t.

Hmmm, I travelled with a shoe box full of comics in my back pack, never opened. Security was much more interested in fondling my genitalia.

EBay sales tax helps show and store dealers for sure.

Contact your elected officials. They are the ones who pushed this. With that said, governments need money. Raising income and property taxes look bad.this is a tax I believe most people were supposed to pay on their own before. Very few did.

Yeah, but those are "good" dollar books. Within limits there are certain titles I'll buy for a buck or less unless I know I have a bunch of copies and they aren't nm or better. Spidey is one. Batman/detective usually as well (although sometimes I pass on some 90s books). Uncanny x-men usually. Walking dead. Deadpool and avengers usually.

Why do you think he paid anywhere near cover? (Is that in the video clip?) Other than a few dozen books I have never paid more than $1 for a modern and the bulk have been 50 cents - 66 cents. Of course that would still be $20,000 for that many books. I don't know how many moderns I have.

Overstreet has pushed bronze to 1983 or so. Yes, I know it makes no sense.

You can't get rid of those boy by bit in $1-$2 boxes at shows or do you not sell at shows? I'd probably buy a couple of nice Tarzan 1s at that price.

My extensive research into the topic the other day (5 minutes) showed that his signature added no value via 9.8 as slab and, in fact, sold for less than unsigned ones, BUT with liefield'S Sig too on a 9.8 #98 and 100 there is a premium that could conceivably justify it, but grading fees and Sig fees eat up most of any potential premium. (I saw no sales for 9.8 98s with just nicienza... I know you have an 8.5, 5 minutes was not enough time to research multiple grades. I spent 5 minutes on this so I am an expert.

Yes, roughly the same size, give or take. I might be more like 25,000. Maybe if I am lucky 20,000.