alexgross.com

On 6/6/2024 at 12:52 PM, WernerVonDoom said:

With Bitcoin and GameStop going crazy again, will comic prices increase? Or was too much damage done?

so much has changed in the last few years since the last bubble. i'm sure that wouldn't hurt, but with interest rates still being far beyond what they were in 2020, and inflation having persistently dented everyone's bottom line, i think that if crypto and stuff like that were to really explode, it would still be a far smaller group of people that would start spending on more discretionary stuff like comics and art. i know so many people that wanted to buy a home in the last three years but cannot afford to because of mortgage rates. these people would finally buy that house if they somehow had alot of crypto or gamestop or whatever it is that explodes. 

On 6/6/2024 at 6:29 AM, rumrunner71 said:

There was a good article on CNN this week about the end of the "YOLO" economy. Consumers just aren't spending on discretionary big ticket items anymore. Maybe there will be a bounce back for collectibles down the road

my career as an artist is about making discretionary big ticket items. and i can confirm that this is true, not only for myself, but for every artist and gallery that i know. yet the media keep telling me how great the economy is. 

people stopped/slowed their spending on this stuff since mid-covid. most comics are in the same basket as we all know. a bounce back would be welcome, though i don't really see a reason for one to happen, sadly. 

On 5/28/2024 at 8:28 PM, Stefan_W said:

If I was the owner of the 9.2 copy I would be extremely annoyed by these results that were only 40 second apart.

 

white pages matter to a lot of people, and books with wp are worth more than lesser page qualities. ( that is, unless you are trying to sell your books to most dealers, as i can attest from personal experience. )

On 6/1/2024 at 4:29 PM, jcjames said:

After her husband passed away, I know someone who went to the bank to get the contents of a safety-deposit box with important papers and documents. She and her daughter gave her key to the bank, the bank came back and gave her the safety deposit box in a private room. When the employee left, they opened the box. It was filled with gold bullion. It wasn't theirs. SOMEHOW there was a mix-up and they were given someone else's box. No clue how it happened but it did. They were honest and said they got the wrong box. Bank apologized profusely and got the right box with their documents. If it were other people, someone might have been out a lot of gold. Baffling how it could have happened, though this was kinda rural-ish Kansas. 

sometimes honesty is not the best policy! 

but seriously, that shouldnt be possible since each box has two unique keys. their box key would never open another persons box. at least thats how it works in normal, larger banks, not in farm country or whatever.

i bought printer supplies from adorama camera in nyc a few years ago. since my order, i have received at least one email per day from them, despite unsubscribing multiple times and emailing their customer support about it. 

this is another way to lose a customer forever. their emails still come, albeit straight to my junk folder now, but i will never patronize them again. 

deleting post- 

interesting piece in the wsj today. apparently every investment on earth is flying high right now with the exception of comics. and yes, i know some PCH and other less common genres are doing well. but certainly SA, BA and moderns have been in the tank since the covid bubble burst. 

i wonder if this trend continues in crypto, S&P, precious metals, oil, if we won't start to see comics prices return to being in the black again sooner, rather than later. 

the lack of any comments here for around half a year speaks volumes about how disappointing this show was, at least to loyal original GOT fans like myself. i know it's between seasons, but that didnt stop fans of the original from commenting at length.

i very much wanted to like this show. i was underwhelmed each episode, but i liked the female lead in the first several episodes enough to keep watching her. then they replaced her and several other actors with slightly older actors, abruptly, and the next ep was my last one. 

the jon snow sequel being put on the shelf is most disappointing, as at least i had hopes that that one might be decent. just seeing kit harrington as snow again would have been fun unless it was awful. 

On 4/4/2024 at 7:35 PM, kimik said:

Can we expect X-23 instead of Wolverine in light of the FF casting for Silver Surfer?

absolutely. 

first one was pretty funny and my son was like 4 or 5 years old. now hes 9 and the second one was mediocre. wondering at what point a kid will outgrow this series. but i'm sure we're in for number 3. 

On 4/10/2024 at 7:53 AM, Chip Cataldo said:

As a huge Byrne fan, you have insulted me. Also, you're incorrect. See: Byrne. 

Edit : Just make FF #242-244 into a movie. Count your billion dollars. Done.

i have had those issues since i was a kid. back then i was so disappointed in his self-inking post x-men that i dont recall much about the storylines, other than him putting himself in one issue yet again. maybe i should dig them out and re-read them. 

no great movie does not get ruined by a sequel eventually. 

On 4/3/2024 at 4:25 PM, MAR1979 said:

If you'd rather at some dude's package in the skintight Surfer suit there's nothign wrong with that. However speaking for myself and bulk of the potential audience for the film I'd much rather stare at a shapely female form with potential cam3l t0e in the taut Silver. BTW's I'm positive Lee and Kirby would agree with me!

good point! i didnt think of that. does make it somewhat more interesting, sadly. 

i was more bummed that we wont see the storyline from silver surfer 3 when mephisto teases norrin radd with reuniting him with shalla bal if he will only do his bidding. 

but like so many people, i'm beyond tired of marvel gender bending seemingly every character. i get it- women can do amazing things! they can be superheroes too- we know! it still wont bring teen girls to the theater for mcu. only taylor swift could do that. if that's their goal, they have cast the wrong person. 

wonka was great if you are seeing it with a kid. saw it with my 9 year old and we both loved it, to my surprise. i always have loved chalamet, but almost everyone in the movie was great, and the story was funny and interesting for a prequel. 

On 4/4/2024 at 7:23 AM, MattTheDuck said:

A picture from a local Estate Sale I will not be able to attend this morning because I have to work.  @alexgross.com

 

thanks matt- if you have more info on it please send it over--

On 3/30/2024 at 9:36 AM, Robot Man said:

My observations…

First off, BAD weekend for the show. Easter is a day spent with families. Dealers don’t want to travel. Only a couple of out of state dealers. Mostly the local crowd I usually see at shows. Not to mention we got another big storm blowing through here. Will really impact all the cosplay folks and the fun out door activities today. Was weird that unlike its big sister SDCC, you could just walk right up, buy a ticket and walk in. 

Lots of folks just gazing at the big high priced wall books. Seems like every booth had numerous high priced ASM 300’s. Why people pay or ask those prices for a book that is common as dirt is beyond me. I seemed to have all the GA boxes to myself. I fished out a few nice very obscure gems at great prices. Just not a lot of WWII, obscure publishers and scarcer GA. I brought a ton of cash and came home with most of it. Most dealers seemed happy with sales though. But what dealer would admit they didn’t do well? Hard to find many Pulps, my current interest. And what was there was priced insane.

It was pretty pathetic how small the “GA/SA Pavilion was. 5 or 6 small isles with a slight spillover. Looks like a small postage stamp on the floor map. A pretty large Artist’s Alley but I didn’t go because I really don’t know many modern artists and everybody I used to go see had basically passed away by now. I had no desire to shuffle the rest of the show of new toy dealers, T-Shirts, gamers and the great un-washed…

I actually waited in line at the CGC booth to get some pulps graded. There seemed to be a lot of confusion as what to do with them. I figured now is the time to do some. Not many on the census and a lot of them have very few sales. Many real good ones still fit into the lowest tier. For now… I also got this cool pin for my submission.

One of the best parts of the show is bumping into old friends and making new ones. I had a few conversations with my older buddies. We all agreed as to how many of us are dropping lately. Now is the time to keep in touch more often. Another thing that was a little disturbing was how many former old time board members have given up posting here. Most cited hostile interactions here as the reason. Real sad, as I have always enjoyed their posts. I urged them to return. Hopefully, they will.

Was very easily a one day or less show for me. Still what a great way to spend a day and will go back as long as it’s here. 

thanks for the posts and the info! wish i could have gone to the show. its nice to know that there are still a few lesser shows where some good dealers set up. 

On 3/28/2019 at 12:13 PM, comicdonna said:

I sold Gator about 2/3's of my Action run in 2013, that won a best GA set award.  (Keys and non keys) Basically, I submitted my ask for each book, leaving a little room for profit.  Rick  sent the money, with bulk packaging instructions, and he paid for the shipping.  It was a great selling experience for me, with zero regrets.  I feel  I turned out way better, than if I chose to consign to an auction house.   

 

If I had  a key book to sell at a con, I would go to Rick's booth first.

yes i sold a large number of books to rick as well several months ago. after reaching out to a number of dealers, he made the best offer and was easiest to deal with. 

the state of the market is obviously huge in determining what a dealer will offer you for your books. when it's hot, i'm sure it will be more generous, and when it's post-bubble bursting horror show like the last two years, it's the opposite of generous. 

what was aggravating is the double standard that many of them use. all but two of my 15 books were white pages and several were pedigrees. almost all were major SA keys. when you are buying these from a dealer you will certainly be paying more. but when trying to sell them, you won't be offered more than if they were C/OW pages, especially in this lousy market. perhaps if the market was on fire that would have been considered a bit more. maybe. 

another bit from the dealer's playbook is that they will always try to make you tell them what you want for the books. it's like they went to the same school and were taught this on day one. 

rick actually gave me an offer instead of worrying that i'd shop it to another dealer and try to get more. it's sad that dealers i have bought from for many years could not step up a bit more with me when i needed to sell. 

but the good news is that rick @G.A.tor is a class act. if i need to sell big books in the future and do not decide to go the auction route, rick is the first dealer i would reach out to. 

On 2/28/2024 at 4:53 PM, DC# said:

And it the same auction - this earthbound, mere-mortal 3.5 had a nice night.   Best result since last summer.

 

this was a gorgeous presenting copy for the grade, in spite of the lousy label designation. really nice looking copy! 

a few reviews i saw imply that this movie is so bad, it's great, kind of like tommy wiseau's cult classic THE ROOM. 

is this at all true, for those who've seen it? obviously it cannot be bad in quite the same way since it's done with an enormous budget and a cast of real actors. but it's said that dakota's performance is only slightly better than tommy's, as is her effort level. 

On 2/15/2024 at 8:48 AM, MAR1979 said:

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. -Albert Einstein

tell that to my wife, please!

hope everyone has a great time and looking forward to seeing pics. unfortunately not able to attend this year, and will miss the comics and the people-