SteppinRazor

Latest wall piece, 'WTF America'

On 5/11/2017 at 8:35 PM, SteppinRazor said:

 

 

 

 

Lamp I made (and posted in the art thread a while back).

Getting rid of my collection.  I've sold a lot of runs and individual stuff on the forum, but I don't know what to do with high grade drek.  It doesn't seem worth schlepping it to a store, and I can't imagine it's worth the shipping to sell it online.  I'm going to use a little bit of it for some artwork I have in mind, but not much.

They're all bagged and boarded, maybe those are worth selling?

On 1/13/2019 at 10:32 PM, the blob said:

At this point half these guys are dead, but I guess their widows, etc.  what happened with cockrum was terrible. I'm talking about $100-250k a movie. That's the craft table on the movie set for a few days. I guess marvel did not own x-men movies, but did they get any royalties? 

I'm sure Marvel got a piece of each movie.  Inidividual creators, I doubt it.  The truth is, people are going to go see the movies, so there is no pressure/need for Disney or Time Warner tio pay creators.  A big corporations makiing billions of dollars don't give a penny away that they don't have to.  That's not how that game is played.

6 hours ago, the blob said:

Disney/Marvel can give creators a piece of the action for new creations although calculating that could be tricky. Let's say ebony maw... Somewhat recent creation, minor character. Throw the creator a bone. Fact is they should have a modest set aside for every movie to creators (and innovators of a character, although I doubt claremo t and Byrne need the money... Byrne can live nicely off commissions until he drops dead) as a matter of good will. Herb trimpe and Len wein should have been getting a check for every x-men and wolverine movie. (Not "should" as legally obligated, but as good p.r. and corporate citizenship for marvel... Have them "consult") ... Dave cockrum, etc too.

They could.  Don't hold your breath, though

On 1/6/2019 at 1:50 PM, the blob said:

Only to the extent that it is a good way to generate new stories, characters, etc. that may be used elsewhere. If it can pay for itself, even turn a profit (my understanding is that publishing still makes nmoney right? And did even when marvel went bankrupt. Of course, arguably 55+ years of publishing for marvel, etc has generated plenty of stories and characters, but heck, some of the recent movies (and future ones) and shows have new characters..  Miles Morales, Ronin, etc

There's not much incentive for creators to generate original characters for Disney/TW and get nothing off the use of the characters.  True, Marvel did put Morales in ana animated flick, but that is mostly based on the spiderverse story line, like CA2 was based on Civil War.  Moralies is a hybrid, not an entirely new hero, either.

18 hours ago, Park said:

I there needs to be some reorganization in the next few years with both DC and Marvel. The question is do they actually care if the floppy market goes away?.

Not DC and Marvel, their parent companies - do their parent companies care?  Pretty clearly no, IMO.

On 12/25/2018 at 5:13 PM, Gaard said:

Because of the grades?

No.  Not exactly, anyway.  Mostly because it's all an illusion that people in the market have to share, which creates a differing set of business goals for CGC and its customers, and that doesn't benefit the customers.  Also, I sent mostly low margin comics since most of my more valuable ones were stolen, and my goal of selling them here instead of ebay can't be realized.

I sent in two prescreens, all copper/modern.  I regret all of them. Waste of time and money.

Volatile place to go.  Good luck.

14 hours ago, billbrown7080 said:

I Know my collection like the back of mind, I just know nothing else...I dont know how to sell them, I dont know the ins and outs on what usually collectors do.

 

anyways thats my story.

my dad died Monday, I need some extra money for Burial and funeral expenses, thought I'd try selling a few comics.

 

 

 

Sorry for your loss.  Selling comics at top dollar is no easy task.  If you are looking to ease the financial burden for the funeral, my suggestion would be to sell a couple of your duplicate keys raw, through a consignor.  The reasons being - the amount of time and research you'll have to do to determine how/what/where/how much/how long for the whole collection and the lack of feedback and history of selling high dollar books.  Short term that helps you for the funeral costs and is a small enough piece that if you don't make all of the money you want, it only hurts you for a couple.  Testing waters, kind of.

More generally, I would suggest doing some calculations on your time value vs the cut from top dollar selling to dealers/through consignors.  You may find that if your time is worth, say $30/hr, then taking an hour to sell a $100 book - grading time, listing time, scanning time, and pacakging time (comic collectors expect you to pack it like it's an imperial Faberge egg) vs. paying a consignor a 30% commission is a wash.

As for finding end users, you might find some here, but I would suggest not worrying about it.  The buyer will do whatever they do with it and that's out of your hands, no sense in letting dissatisfaction into your life as long as you got what you wanted for it.  Even if a dealer buys it, some end user probably buys it from them.  The guide price is retail price.  if you want it, you have to become a retailer.

1 hour ago, lighthouse said:

You'd love to think that customers who found them at your store at cover price when everyone else is sold out will remember you treated them "fairly" and give you extra business in the future. But from past experience with "hot" books, most of the folks who call ahead asking for a book currently selling at triple cover or better will come in, pick up that one specific book, and not visit the shop again until there is another hot book their regular shop doesn't have. You're not the store with the great customer service. You're that dumb LCS that sold them the book too cheap they brag about snagging in an online forum. There are exceptions, but it happens an awful lot.

57 minutes ago, FineCollector said:

I agree that the fairweather customers will only come in looking for a copy and disappear.  It would be nice to entice them to start a reserve by offering them a copy at cover, but they would probably only take one book, and not even come pick it up.  I wouldn't feel guilty, everyone who asked for one got one, so you've taken care of the people taking care of you.  A store needs those wins to make up for ordering mistakes, and to give you some breathing room.  If you chat up a customer who deserves one at cover price, you can always use it as good will.

Agree.  You're never building goodwill, those people are just like those who buy expensive books dirt cheap at garage sales.  Which is perfectly fine, but they are deal hunters, that is what they are looking for, not a shop to frequent to buy at regular price later on. 

Obviously, I have no knowledge of running a store to advise on when to pull them from selling at cover, but it seems to me if you aren't a pull customer, ya rolls the dice and takes yer chances.  The pull guys getting a littl emore consideration is warranted because they provide steady income and let you know ahead of time what they want so you can order more accurately and have known sales.

6 minutes ago, kav said:

I've done a lot of staple replacement-its incredibly tricky.  You have to push down hard, but paper is fragile so-

If you're replacing with a new staple so you aren't stressing the steel, you mean?  I'd probably make a tool - weld a piece of 20ga onto one jaw of a needlenose (goes on the outer cover side), and slide a piece of 22ga between paper and staple leg on the inside, then press staple leg closed with the other needlenose jaw.  Slide out 22ga when done

28 minutes ago, kav said:

as far as I know it it impossible to do-you cannot recreate that unique bend from the stitching machine.  If its the machine that does the flat staples, you can never get it flat again without a kink in it.  If you try to use an implement, it scrapes the staples.  The more you struggle to get it right, the more it starts to tear the staple holes.

Not to mention if you try to open the staple a little more to get it back in the holes, you work harden the steel, making it very likely to break when you try to re-flatten it.

21 hours ago, kav said:

what kind are you using?

Sakura Pigma pens.  Still getting the hang of them, but they make inking much better

Brush pens, where have you been all my life?

On 9/11/2018 at 2:06 PM, Real Elijah Snow said:

 I would also go through and "read" through a pile of other stuff while I was at the shop. Mostly I'd flip through a bunch that I was curious about. Sometimes I'd read the first 4-5 pages and decide I wanted to read it on the couch with my other books so it would go in my pile. Sometimes I'd get bored by the book, so it would go back on the shelf. As long as you're not just at a shop to read a bunch of new stuff for free, you shouldn't have any problems with a store owner, unless he's a total tool.

 

Agree.  Don't read a whole book, you're picking it up to browse it.  After reading 4 or 5 pages, you should know if you care to continue.  If yes, buy, if no, shelve it.  Buy something though, so you're not just showing up, picking up and putting down a bunch of stuff and then leaving.

To the second question, don't worry about it.  You'll pick things up if you read threads.  Someone will mention something, and then you'll be curious and go google it.  Or someone will mention something obliquely and you'll ask.  Reading threads and participating in them will get you a wealth of info.  If you learn something here, pass it on to the next guy who asks so it's not the same people having to repeat it. 

8 hours ago, delekkerste said:

Yes and Yes.  This reminds me of a conversation I had with the owner of the original cover art to Marvel Graphic Novel #4 (1st appearance of the New Mutants).  I am the owner of the original cover art to New Mutants #1.  MGN #4 cover owner says to me something like, "Well, if your cover is worth $X, mine is worth more, because I have the first appearance".  No question that his is the first appearance, but, there's also no question that mine is the more popular and desirable cover.  Same deal with Hulk #180 and #181.  The #180 is the first appearance.  Full stop.  But, the #181 is the more desirable book.  Full stop.  

Just because a book is the first appearance doesn't mean it has to be more valuable.  Venom first appears on the last page of ASM #299, but ASM #300 is the more desirable book.  X-Men #94 (the 2nd appearance of the new X-Men) is more valuable than GSXM #1 (1st app.) because it is main run and harder to find in grade. Now, each case is different; in Hulk #180/181's case, the market has decreed that the full Wolvie cover and story in #181 is more valuable than the first appearance in #180.  

Most of the cause of debate I think is that the term 'first appearance' has become a lazy justifier.  It's like how we take a horrific day in American history and boil it down to the word, "Nynilevin".  It just takes too long and causes too much room for confusion for the hobby, moving to keys only, to have to describe nuance to justify why this and not that.  Human beings just don't care enough about descriptive precision.

6 hours ago, kav said:

just make the shoulder larger and rounder and extending out from line of back.

Thanks.  I've got the deltoid wrong, the lateral deltiod should be lower than anterior/posterior

Other Wolive WIP.

Gotta fix the shoulder and forearm fix is in progress

On 9/6/2018 at 1:50 PM, FineCollector said:

You can be sure that any comic shop employee who tells me Civil War was a great story is one that I will ignore from then on. 

I can imagine that no matter what recommendations, there will be those who don't like it.  The Death of Superman, Knightfall, and the X-Men Fatal Attractions knocked me out of the hobby when they came out, but somehow there are people who like that pile of toilet paper.

Question is, would you stop going to that comic store, or just ignore the employee's recommendations?

On 9/6/2018 at 1:51 PM, RockMyAmadeus said:

And before someone gets kinky and tries to claim "You CAN tell a story in a single panel, you just need words!"...I will point out that that is NOT sequential art, but illustrated prose.

Not the same thing.

Indeed, you can have sequential art with no words.  Or even a story.

2 hours ago, RockMyAmadeus said:

Indeed.

OK, just wanted to be clear.  It confused me because I thought you had said multiple panels are required.  I agree, he's there and he had dialogue, which satisfies the need to be a part of the story.  Which is an essential part of visual storytelling.

15 hours ago, RockMyAmadeus said:

JO #134 is a great example. That single view of Darkseid is within the context of the story. 

Are you saying that's Darkseid's first appearance?

23 hours ago, valiantman said:

Seems like people aren't getting it.  No one thinks Hulk #180 will be worth more than Hulk #181.  But if you can get a Hulk #180 for $1,000 and the same grade in a Hulk #181 for $6,000 today... then the recognition of Hulk #180 as a better first appearance than a lot of other characters could make that future ratio more like $2,000 for Hulk #180 vs. $6,000 for Hulk #181, and the book which has the most growth would be #180.

No, I get it.  How's the bold gonna happen though?