ExNihilo

wth, . You just can't turn away great Jim Lee covers.

I grew up with Bagley art. Maybe I'm heavily influenced by the fact that he draws the best Venom and Carnage, but Bags get's my vote.

Can this person deliver my book in a padded and locked suitcase that is handcuffed to them?

Hopefully it's eBay shutting his account down. Hopefully PayPal does the same.

some of us dream of just getting one.

Which Spider-Gwen #24 do you have? Cover A, B, C, or virgin cover D?

Love the pink sig on that gorgeous cover, I just wish I had the money to spend.

This. The base value is going to be commission fees plus grading fees. Then beyond that it's a matter of how much value a potential buyer attaches based on sketch (headshots are generally cheapest, full body is usually more expensive), artist (do they or don't they like David Finch?), and character(s) (does the buyer like Superman? are other characters sketched as well?)

I gotta say, there is an addicting quality to watching books move through the process (at least with FastTrack). I've elected to wait until I get the books in hand before peeking at the grades. For a n00b such as myself, the suspense of not knowing what grade I'll get is akin to opening a Christmas present. It's kinda fun in a way. (EDIT: interesting update, my Modern FT books went through Quality Control and changed to Shipped/Safe a day after my Standard book, yet has a scheduled ship date while my Standard book shows nothing for ship date. I hope they combine the packaging so the books all come at once. Until then, I guess I have to play the waiting game as it makes its way through registered mail. Speaking of which, do they provide a tracking # with registered mail? And how long does it take since I hear it's slower than priority.)

Yeah, it was a last minute auction that I came across so I didn't do a deep dive of his feedback. Just saw that they were all positive at the time. I'd be more upset if I was at risk of being out money, but eBay (and my credit card company) are good about these things so I didn't stress about it. I told eBay I was more upset for them because the scammer no doubt withdrew the money from the account already and eBay had to reimburse me so it was eBay and their insurance company who were really affected. I also came across his screen name mentioned in the thread below after I started digging around. https://www.cgccomics.com/boards/topic/418243-stolen-x-men-94-cgc-96/?tab=comments#comment-9833613

yup. hate to say it, but he had an ASM #300 listed that I bought and never heard from again. I opened a claim with eBay which is working its way through the system. Spoke with a CS rep who basically said I should see a refund to my account in 2-5 business days. I was gonna post his name here, but i think his record speaks for itself at this point.

Good to know. So apply it to the biggest purchase to get the most use out of it.

A little confused. Did you have a book signed and witnessed by a CGC rep? Then yeah, it's getting graded. Do you have a pre-signed book that you're submitting somewhere? Then again, it'll get a grade, but you'll also wind up with a green label because CGC did not officially witness the signature and can not with 100% certainty authenticate it. "The Other Guys" however will "authenticate" and grade under a different label (red).

via PM

As I understand it, Excelsior Collectibles are the official handlers of Stan Lee. Whether you use a facilitator or had the books signed yourself, someone has to go through them to get books signed. Stan gets a cut, Excelsior gets a cut. They have a shop in the greater Los Angeles region. I stopped in to drop books off for Palm Springs Comic Con (Aug 25-27) and had a nice chat with the guys there. The owner's the type of guy that tells you like it is. Some people might find that off-putting, others will find it good knowing someone's not gonna BS them. The shop was nice. All books were bagged/boarded, even new releases (maybe that's common, but in the shops where I live, new releases are never bagged/boarded). We talked comics and I learned a lot about the hobby and other collectors. Really could have talked for hours, but I had to get going. They seem to get quite a few submissions (understandable since they're the ones officially handling Stan.). All that being said, most of what I've heard about them has not been good. They'll take care of your books, but it just takes longer than one would expect. Example, in my case, I dropped my books off mid-August to be signed Aug 25-27th. I would have expected the books to be mailed away soon after. Instead, it took them nearly 4 weeks to mail my books out. Maybe i've just been spoiled by the customer service of some of the facilitators on these boards. But, I consider myself fortunate. According to this post, OP waited a solid 9 months to get their books back. (Anastasia was the old name. They rebranded to Excelsior.) That being said, I would say my experience with them has been good and I certainly wouldn't worry about being scammed out of your books.

Good Surfer (vol3) Bad Surfer (vol 7)

Gonna change it up a bit here... 1) Amazing Fantasy #15 2) Amazing Spider-Man #1 3) Fantastic Four #48 (7.5+) 4) Jim Lee OA Cover or Key Panel/Splash page from his Batman: Hush run 5) Jerome Opena OA Infinity #4 pgs 16-20 (Thor vs Builder) Pretty sure I'll only be able to get one of those in my lifetime. The rest will probably always be out of reach/never go on sale.

Verified to Graded in 2 days? That seems awfully quick. Is that Fast Track?

Tier (also list FastTrack where applicable): Standard Number of books: 1 Received: 9/28 Verified: 9/29 Graded: TBD Encapsulated: TBD Received (by owner): TBD Tier (also list FastTrack where applicable): Modern Fast Track Number of books: 7 Received: 9/28 Verified: 10/3 Graded: TBD Encapsulated: TBD Received (by owner): TBD

Watching the first 2 episodes, the scope seems very large, almost cinematic. The downside is the acting, character, and plot. Thus far, I feel no connection or urge to learn more about the characters. And the story appears to be more action drama and less sci fi. Gone are the days of weekly standalone stories of exploration and scientific intrigue. I mean, having a story arc is great because it keeps people coming back, but after watching some TOS and TNG episodes, Star Trek is about stretching the imagination. A blend of the two story types would have been preferable. Also, the Klingons...my god, the acting was horrid. I don't know why the actors were instructed to enunciate ev-er-y last sy-lla-ble. All in all, the show was entertaining enough to continue tuning in, but I'm convinced no Star Trek series will ever be as good as TNG or TOS in terms of pure imaginativeness.

That is astounding. I suppose the shame of it is, when slabbed, no one would ever know it has EIGHT covers until they looked at the fine print. Also, that signature is horrid. At first glance, it just looks like part of his symbiote. You'd think his handlers at the time would have handed him a silver pen or that he would have signed in the white space. >_<

I would keep an eye on this thread to see if any facilitators offer up their services for Stan Lee's LA Comic Con. Worst case scenario you just reach out to Excelsior Collectibles directly.

Not sure if I missed it, but how much is shipping?

I think graded copies of v2 #36 are going for $100 whereas raw copies of #880 are fetching that same price.

I agree with this sentiment, but I feel like it becomes costly buying a reader and a speculative copy. Of course, you could avoid buying speculative copies and just pay a premium for slabbed books on the after market. Perhaps this is the ideal/most cost efficient solution for someone in my position. Still learning, but I guess what is the recommended procedure for a more casual collector such as myself? (Note: when I said reader copy, I mean I read it once and then it goes into a bag/board. And yes, I understand that even reading the book once could potentially lead to ruin and the difference between a 9.8 and a 9.6/9.4. I think 95% of my books have been treated this way. The other 5% are stories I really enjoy that I've re-read).