RockMyAmadeus

Especially the first 9 seconds.

Yeah, definitely. Most definitely. Almost surreal.

But where is "at any time" found in the DMM?

Yes indeed. Marvel Graphic Novels, for example, all qualify for Media mail, without question. Most TPBs do, too.

Beyonce's grading company doesn't grade very well.

I can, too.

Oh, and...."See you next Tuesday!"

Hey! WTF have YOU been?? You have been sorely missed.

...again.

it is actually Power Man 33 Hey, look. Like I said, Power Man 33!

Agreed.

Postmaster? Yes. The "clerk behind the counter"? No. 8 pages...? I think your math is off. It's an interesting discussion, regardless of the divergence of opinions. Why disparage the discussion...? There are 18 (actual) pages of argument in the Metropolis is suing Voldy thread. Is that a problem...? There's a really easy solution for those who complain about what other people want to talk about: don't revisit the thread. Instead, you choose to complain, creating tension and discomfort where it need not be. It's one of the actual problems this board has that the noobs are always going on about.

Sure, if I accepted that premise. I don't. But the DMM doesn't address comic books specifically, so those "written guidelines" are at a 0, if it can be shown that it conflicts with the DMM....and it can. Don't accept the comments of fools, who conflate issues in the attempt to create trouble. There are already OTHER regulations which govern the use of Media mail that should be taken for granted in this discussion. This is not a "it doesn't say you can't, so it must be ok!" argument. This is a "this CONFORMS to the rules AS THEY EXIST" argument. Remember: expired ads are no longer ads. They WERE ads. They are no longer. Therefore, if they are no longer ads, the regulation prohibiting otherwise-qualifying items which contain ads is no longer applicable. The easy solution for those who disagree is to not use the service for comics.

What a fun thread this is. Several immovable objects met by irresistible forces. And I should know from immovable objects, amirite...?

No, but there's a much easier standard: is the person before me shipping out dozens, if not hundreds, of the exact same brand new periodical, or is it someone who is shipping out what looks to be a bunch of old and different comic books? After all, "advertising" serves as merely the distinction between "educational material" and "commercial products." That was the easiest way to delineate the two. Under the spirit of the Media mail regulation, most comic books qualify as "educational material", even if they are also commercial products when published. The reverse is also true, by the way. Under Media mail regulations as they exist, a commercial book publisher...like Doubleday, for instance...can use Media mail to ship its brand new book to tens of thousands of its subscribers, even though, technically, they violate the spirit, but not the letter, of the regulation in the DMM. And if the counterargument is that "they're not qualified to make that determination", that's exactly what they're already doing when they open and inspect contents: making a judgment call based on what's inside the package. Frankly, the whole thing is nonsense and, like all bureaucratic "fixes", creates more unintended consequences than it solves. As far as "stale" vs. "evergreen" ad, again, there's no such thing. An ad for coke from 1937...despite such product still being available...is, itself, no longer a valid advertisement. It has long since expired and been replaced, dozens of times over. The DMM is all that matters. What someone says on a "website", even the official USPS website, is meaningless. This is a quasi-governmental agency that is bound by the DMM, not Wal-Mart. That there is "nothing in the DMM" that states a time limit on advertising is totally and completely irrelevant. An expired ad is no longer an ad, just like a former child is no longer a child, or an ex-wife is no longer a wife. And if it's not an ad, then it qualifies, per the DMM. No "time limit" statement necessary.

The registry, the census, workable forums...I hope against hope that someone, anyone, has been keeping records since Day 1. They did a fantastic thing in recognizing the difference between Direct market and newsstands (though calling them "variants" is a mistake)...but one great decision isn't enough.

I am immensely disappointed in the draconian way that board is moderated, and to say I am exceptionally disappointed in moderators who are also members here would be an understatement (not that they care. They clearly do not.) It's like they've never heard of the Streisand Effect. It was an area that was an easy, simple improvement over what exists...a slam dunk. Instead, it's far worse. Silencing criticism and banning critics is the worst possible way imaginable that a company could do business. The way to deal with criticism is head-on, by addressing the criticism directly, determining if it's valid, and NON-defensively responding to it. If someone criticizes the way you do things, that's a perfect opportunity to make your case and explain why either the criticism is valid, and we're working on it...or the criticism is NOT valid, and here's why. Tossing out the criticism, and threatening (and banning) the critics makes you look like you have something to hide. And yet, that's precisely what they have done, and continue to do. Immensely, incredibly disappointing.

He stopped posting because the board had grown tired of his endless attempts to provoke conflict, and he needed a "cooling off" period. Unfortunately, he's back, and whining about "walls of text", as if anything anyone posts is required reading at gunpoint. It's designed with no other goal in mind except to incite and inflame. Moderation, where are you? Edit: good thing I managed to report the latest potshot before it was deleted.

The question was smartest, not dumbest I stand most humbly corrected.

Hey, look. It's your avatar book! ;)

But you did, and so here we are.

When I was at Carbonaro's show at the Penn in 2009, I saw someone with a Tec #168 on the wall...it was maybe a 3.0/3.5 raw. It was priced at somewhere around $600. I wanted it, but couldn't justify spending that kind of money. That book is now $6-$7,000 or more. I sold all of my Joker covers...I had TWO Batman #40s....plus #23, 49, 66, 73, Tec #85, 91, 102, 118, 148....sold all of them about 5-6 years ago. I needed the money. The #118 was gorgeous. I sold them all for about $200-$300 each. Now, I'd have to pay 10 times or more that to get them back. Oh well. I take heart in knowing that most of us are in the same boat.

If that's your takeaway, I can only say, you're missing out.

The market is not concerned with the motives of buyers and sellers. It is only concerned that there ARE buyers and sellers. Why they buy, and why they sell, is irrelevant. Collectors can only hope that the people who drive prices up are also collectors, but it ultimately doesn't matter. Keep in mind...I built the vast, vast majority of my collection from 1997-2006...when comic prices had crashed precipitously from what they were in the early 90's, when I started collecting. I, too, am priced out of much I want to buy. Now, I can afford to spend what it would have cost me in the year 2000 to buy a Detective Comics #31. However, 5.0 copies of Detective Comics #31 sell for 6 figures...as much as a house in the midwest, or a closet in Los Angeles. Can I do anything about that? No. I can only wait until those millionaires and billionaires who currently infest the market lose interest, or I become a millionaire or billionaire myself. Will that happen while I'm still alive? Maybe. Probably not. But the market will cycle back eventually, as it always does. But I keep doing what I do, and maybe, someday, it will happen. If it doesn't...well, I got an immense amount of enjoyment out of what I do have already, so I win.

ST #1 has a 5/71 publication date, while HOS #92 is 7/71. I'm not sure how sale dates worked with magazines, but at the time, standard comics were 3 months ahead. If magazines were the same, that would put ST on sale in February, and HOS #92 in April. Since the editorial content (story and art) had to be completed at least a month prior to their presence on newsstands, that would have meant that ST would have been out a month, perhaps, before HOS #92. Certainly not impossible, but maybe not likely...? Certainly enough time for Len to write it, but enough time for Bernie to draw? Maybe Len and Roy talked about the idea...? Mark Engblom argues that even this short window would have been impossible, but I'm not entirely convinced. http://comiccoverage.typepad.com/comic_coverage/2007/10/which-came-firs.html And, of course, the Heap beat them both by nearly 30 years.