The Less Blob

The S&P 500 was up 23% in 2023 and is up 6.5% so far this year? Unemployment is below 4%. Interest rates are down (although a 20-30 year mortgage needs some work, my VR HELOC is KILLING ME). I just paid $6.99 a pound for skirt steak in a family back AND got a free taco seasoning pack, a red pepper, lime, bunch of cilantro, and package of tortilla wraps. I guess they supermarket really wanted me to make fajitas or something. If we need government booster checks for folks or 1-2 years of stay at home to have disposable income again we are in trouble. The market got a big spike of bored speculator money during covid that continued what had been building before that, I'd be fine with 2018-2019 levels although so many spikes were spec jumps based on some character appearing in a show or movie, which are always bound to subside and I think folks learned the lesson getting burned on those again and again.

I went on an Elfquest kick in 2020 when they were still cheap, but couldn't find a FQ 1 at a price i wanted.

cool!

So based on how many of those you have been saving up like fine cheeses your net worth is $1 billion?

it would be nice if they could get 30 year mortgage rates down to 5%. i don't think we'll ever see 3%, but 5% would help

It probably isn't the same amount of work when you take into account staging, assuming the $1 million home is bigger (and will probably get higher end staging) and more ads for the more expensive home. Of course, the $100K home could be a brute to sell and have 100 showings, so yeah. With that said it is just as much work to carry an $80 steak to me as a $12 pasta, so why is my tip based on the value rather than per plate?

I think he got cancelled over some stuff too, outside of #1 and maybe the first 20-25 issues were these really ever more than dollar box books? I know the wolveroach ones sold, but I thought they were more like $5-10 and I see #54 just sold for $15. i see a low grade #2 just sold for $78. given his controversies it looks like there won't be a mainstream cartoon and it costs too much to make something for tubi

None, but if you sell them raw you should mention it

My jeweler charges a straight fee for a $1,000 diamond or a $30,000 diamond. I suppose at some point he may charge more. I thought house appraisers were about the size of the house, not the value. I'm just trying to understand this.

seems to me the upswing in fees is not in proportion to their increased insurance costs and not that they would ever do it because they are a highly ethical organization that provides a chat board for us to express ourselves on (within limits), but in every other business them getting paid more because they gave you what is, in effect, a higher appraisal, seems to be a conflict of interest. An Action 242 is not more difficult to grade than an Action 249, right? Is this possibly justified by increased liability if they screw something up and miss resto? Can CGC even be liable? Have they ever been? It is always just their opinion. I guess if the book is an outright forgery or pieces added that isn't a matter of opinion. Anyway, just pondering

I should have been paying down debt or something more responsible. But yeah, it didn't cripple me financially or anything and really nothing compared to going on one of my wife's planned family vacations where we spend $6K or the $45K car in the driveway we do not need because we already have a car that runs. The comics will be aged a bit more as I am in no condition to resume my job as a junior dealer anyway. Maybe the market will perk up in 2024.

well.... maybe I guess. I was buying stuff with my covid fun money (I didn't get the checks, but I was selling a bunch on ebay and saving so much with no commuting, etc. (and no "big trip" vacations in 2020 and 2021 as well) and for reasons unclear to me we were given like $2000 in free groceries because our kids were not going to school and getting lunch/breakfast), still hunting for bargains, or trying to, but made some purchases like a 9.8 lock and key #1 for close of market price, any of us buying in that market helped prop up prices even if we weren't the ones paying record prices for anything, we bid up books that others wound up buying, etc. We all played some role. But yeah, when I came back to work in 2021 and one of the new attorneys (30something) was talking about how he had gotten into comics over the last year and viewed them as some investment vehicle (without having any interest in the insides) i knew this wasn't turning out well.

I have been physically unwell for a while, which sort of saps all my desire to collect. It doesn't help that it is physically difficult to get up the stairs where my collection is and pick up boxes right now. Sucks getting old and breaking.

I get it, but 112 is kind of a nothing book in that run

Or treat it as a long term asset and lovingly fondle it for 20 years hoping it bounces back. It worked for many of the BA books that fizzled in the mid/late 90s, even some of the other stuff (case in point I paid $2 for a Spotlight 5 in about 1998 and everyone here knows the stories about ASM 129s at the dawn of ebay). With that said, if you're 50 and got burned jumping into comics it is no double different that watching some books crash at 25 in 1997, but I suspect most of these guys jumping in weren't 50.

Crack is wack.

Well, that's why this thread exists.

Never crack anything out. Future problems solved.

They need to have a section and cut comic dealers a break. Between the cost of tables, hotels, and parking in manhattan it must be a brute. I believe my last one was 2017 or 2018 and I've always been able to buy a ton of good stuff and find deals. But that was a while ago. As I had a weekend pass for the family usually I would have a shopping day on friday for myself, it would be wandering around with the kids on saturday (mainly not comics) and a mix of wandering around on sunday with the kids letting me do some comics the last few hours.

Hey, at least he is being industrious while inconveniencing hundreds of people

you're not really getting rid of it on your pants before you spread it on the handrail

OK, the one on the bottom would get me excited for sure

We native New Yorkers are very kind and considerate.

Seriously, I can't get a hold of my health insurance company on weekends but we expect the comic folks to be responding on saturday?

One problem is that my wife is an academic with 4 or 5 different jobs who is getting some sort of degree or certification in AI (beyond her STEM doctorate) who also works out (outside the home) about 15 hours a week who also wants to attend school events for the kids so she works insane hours and functions on 4 hours of sleep half the time so if I want to get to bed at 12 she is pissed. Half the time I am feeding her dinner at 10:30. Tonight she teaches until 10! So my attempts to have a regimented schedule will no doubt be in conflict with her insane one. And I understand this is getting into a "general" conversation, but I do see people here with jobs, active family lives, devoting a lot of time to this hobby/side biz, and have varied other interests, so I figured someone has it together.