ExNihilo

No no, you're saying it wrong. You've gotta use like (that's a valley girl "like" btw) a surfer accent. Like "duuuuuude, Harley got his books back. That is so righteous."

I live in California, and yeah, on a day to day basis, we are pretty blessed. The Beach Boys are my favorite band and I've always loved the part from the song "California Girls": "I been all around this great big world And I seen all kinds of girls Yeah, but I couldn't wait to get back in the States Back to the cutest girls in the world" That said, I've never seen such a stunning array of beautiful women as when I go to Vegas pool parties. It gets expensive though (the cover and drinks I mean).

Spectacular Spider-Man #198 signed by MC Hammer. So basically, I was waiting for my mom in the arrivals terminal at the airport. While waiting, my dad bought me a copy of Spectacular Spider-Man from those airport newsstands to keep me occupied. Well, my mom comes out and says "there's some famous person on the plane I just got off of because people kept going up to him. Do you want his autograph?" I was shy so I kinda quietly just said "no, that's okay." My mom though was like "I'll get it" but we had nothing to write on. Except for my comic. So she took the comic from my hands and went over to MC Hammer and got his autograph. I mean, I like "Can't Touch This" as much as the next person, but the comic fan in me cringes when I see that book. Sure it was drek to begin with, but I sure wish I had a clean raw (unsigned) copy. My first real creator signature though was Jim Lee and Brandon Choi on Fantastic Four (vol2) #1 at my LCS when those Heroes Reborn books first came out.

Clearly you haven't been to Las Vegas.

9.4 by the time Joey's done with it.

Not 100% sure how it works. I know ComicSketchArt (Doug) is a facilitator, but considering they represent so many creators, is he also certified by CGC as a witness? If that is the case, then it's likely that's another set of eyes at the table actually witnessing the signatures.

More like, as soon as it leaves the creators table, it is no longer eligible for SS. For example, if you buy a book at a creator table and then go "you know what, I want this CGC graded" and walk it over to the CGC table, they'll tell you "sorry, it's ineligible for a yellow label because we didn't witness it." But if you get CGC first to walk over with you and then buy the book from the creator, then it will qualify for a yellow label. CGC has to witness either the signing or the creator handing the book to you.

Maybe because I don't eBay enough, but I was confused by the subject heading as well.

If you get a blue label, the signature will count as a defect and negatively impact the grade. If you get a green label, the book will be graded as though the signature was not there and it will be labeled as "Name written on cover."

Regarding Mr. Sinister, judging by Hickman's recent tweet, it appears likely that he will have some sort of role to play in whatever story Hickman is telling I agree that aspects of the story took too long. But for me the beauty in Secret Wars are the references to threads that began years prior in Fantastic Four. For me, it was the first time I had really seen a writer build and return to a particular theme/idea over such an extended number of issues. Reeds revelation in particular just felt so poetic.

if I'm being honest, if I'm buying a $20 variant, I'd rather not be paying another $12-$15 for a large cardboard box when a $3 mailer works just as well. Most envelopes I received, the book is in a gemini mailer inside the envelope. Thus far (knock on wood) I haven't had any issues. Granted, you do get some sellers who just don't know how to package books. I just avoid those.

Unpopular opinion here, but I just don't get seller's stubbornness at times to abide by GPA pricing. I've reached out to sellers who respond to me "oh, this book is $1000 on GPA and I think that's fair so I can't go lower." But isn't GPA just completed eBay sales? My problem is that it doesn't factor in the 10% cut eBay takes or the PayPal fees. So that book that's sold for an average of $1000 on eBay, the seller is really only pocketing about $900. So when I come in with an offer of like $950, I honestly don't think I'm being unreasonable. You make more than you would have on eBay, I save more than I would have on eBay. And if we're being honest, it's even worst at cons where some books are priced well above eBay, but they'll cut you a deal for paying cash. Like, I might as well just go to eBay at that point and pay the lower rate, get my 1.5% eBay bucks, plus my 3-5% in credit card rewards. The only reason to buy from an actual vendor instead of eBay is because you can see the quality of the book for yourself and you can avoid any potential shipping hassles.

How many bans before the mods just make it a lifetime ban? Asking for a friend. /s

I only see one buck. But you do have some doe

The blank books don't have any ads so that must be factored in. No idea how much the publishers make on ad placements since most of the ad pages seem to be marketing/promotions for their own products (TV shows, movies, other comics, etc).

These books were sold in coordination with "24 hour comics day". The idea was for people to buy and create their own comic, hence why it's entirely blank. Here's the official blurb from DC's site. I personally bought one of each and am hoping to start a sketch book. Unfortunately, I imagine the cost will be astronomical.

So when you first watched GoT, were you confused why Sarah Connor was there (actually, there are two Sarah Connor's in GoT) and whether or not the T800 was the key to defeating the Night King? Or were you wondering why Queen Gorgo would defile the memory of Leonidas by marrying Robert Baratheon?

www.cgccomics.com will have all the relevant information. Just be sure you pack your books well to insure they're well protected from any clumsy postal employees.

If it's a celebrity book, then I go with the celeb. For example, the Wonder Woman #50 variant with Gal Gadot on the cover...given the choice of Meredith/David Finch or Gal Gadot, i'll take the Gadot signature 100% of the time. However, given the standard cover with art by David Finch, I'll take the Meredith/David signatures. I kinda don't understand getting celeb sigs on generic books for characters they've portrayed. They have nothing to do with the actual book itself and aren't portrayed anywhere, other than playing that character in another medium. The same applies to the new Conan book with Arnold on the cover. Or Star Wars #1.

Will Larsen be accepting sketch/commission requests? I sense the limited time of the show and likely the slew of people who will be at his table for sigs and/or shooting the breeze will make it difficult to complete sketches, but I thought I would ask. (And if he is accepting, what does he charge?)

Yeah, if anything, that is the biggest complaint against him as a writer. Every creator owned project is massively delayed and I hope that his Marvel contract doesn't detract too much from those other titles. Dying and the Dead has been on hiatus for almost two years (presently released 6 of issues of a planned 10 issue series). Black Monday Murders has been stuck on issue 8 of a 12 issue series. And East of West has been trickling out a book every 3 months it seems. But if I've learned anything from his work it is that if time is what is required to produce quality work, then i'm all for waiting. The part I don't understand is that the reason for the delays never make sense. When the last two issues of SHIELD were delayed, I had heard rumors various rumors ranging from "the story is complete, the art is not" to the artist saying "I'm waiting on the final -script" which implies the writing was incomplete. I think the same was said for Black Monday Murders. I get the feeling that in order to meet his deadlines, Hickman must have plotted and written out 4+ years of X-Men stories by now just to ensure he remains on schedule.

I was hoping we would get another Hickman/Weaver collaboration. I don't even care if it's a creator owned Image title. Those two together are fantastic.

You always remember your first...the artist that made me a fan of Silver Surfer in the first place...Ron Lim.

I realize this is old news, but it's brand new to me and I didn't see it mentioned anywhere here. So I was on vacation last month and was thus (largely) away from the interwebs. On top of that, I unsubbed from the Marvel subreddit to eliminate the chance of any Endgame spoilers (why I'm still perusing a comic book board is beyond me. That's like playing with fire amiright?). Anyways, so I've been happily oblivious to everything going on with the medium. Fast forward to last night and i'm getting caught up on my stack (i'm like 1.5 months behind on reading at this point). So I'm reading Jason Aaron's Thor, flip the page and I'm met with this ad/promo: I literally stopped dead in my tracks for a solid minute to process it. Was this really happening? Or was it some cruel April fools joke? I honestly sat there half dumbfounded, half over flowing with glee. Out of everything I read last night, one simple word brought me the most joy I've felt reading a comic book thus far in 2019 (and that's not even an exaggeration). Hickman is my favorite contemporary comic book writer. I mean, his FF/Avengers/Secret Wars run has got to be my favorite run of all time. I was so hooked after reading that run, that I went back and bought all the issues of SHIELD and Secret Warriors. I even went and picked up a full East of West run and The Dying and the Dead (and even now, i'm trying to find a full run of the Black Monday Murders). I mean, he's the guy where I'll buy any title he's attached to whether it's Avengers or My Little Pony. And considering how woeful Marvel stories were following his departure (though, it's recovered recently with quality writers like Donny Cates and Al Ewing), I had yearned for him to return to the House of Ideas. I'm just so absolutely stoked by this news and can't wait for whatever book he's on (it appears to be an X-Men title). (PS: I realize this is a rather meaningless post, but I had nowhere else to share my elation considering I've temporarily exiled myself from other websites.)

Having just caught up on this thread, from a third party perspective, I in no way construed RMA's "huckster" comment as any reference to you, more a background reference on how others have come in here previously with the intent to prop up the value of their own books/collections by trying to aggressively sway us into adopting a new definition for "first appearance". RMA's responses (as he often is) were balanced, measured, and informative. There's a hint of sarcasm in there, but it's not intended as, nor did I view it as "bullying". Heck, I'll throw in some jokes and sarcasm in my posts to avoid being overly serious as well. Largely, it seems to me that you mis-read the tone of the posts and believed these to be verbal attacks hurled your way when, as I said, from an outsiders perspective, that was not the case. From there, the conversation spiraled downward as you fought to defend yourself from non-attacks which you thought were attacks. It's all a misunderstanding that should frankly just be put to bed. While I appreciate the sharing of knowledge of the preview pages, it's widely regarded by the community that "1st appearance" refers to "1st appearance (in story)". I will say, OP's initial title is rather on point as he specifically asks for the 1st appearance "anywhere" which does open the door for other mediums/publications. Frankly, the 1st appearance "anywhere" was likely some sample art privately distributed internally between artists/writers/publisher. The "1st appearance (in story)" is really all that matters to the majority of collectors. But if you enjoy picking up the nuanced bits of comic book history, all the power to you.