RockMyAmadeus

(Man, it's hard being this dopey. I envy you guys who come by it naturally.)

That would be quite a Saga. You're setting yourself up to be the Outcast At the very least it'll give people something to Chew on. It feels like this is an Enormous issue lately. What's the story with all you Morning Glories? That would be quite the...er....ROM situation there... Wait, wait, I got it...upon leaving a room, you should Micronaut leave a Danger Trail in your wake, or someone might accuse you of being Groo. Heh? HEHH??

That would be quite a Saga. You're setting yourself up to be the Outcast At the very least it'll give people something to Chew on. It feels like this is an Enormous issue lately. What's the story with all you Morning Glories? That would be quite the...er....ROM situation there...

Not without the heat...but that should come with the rapid insertion into the rectal cavity that is sure to follow.

"led"

Ooo, registered with the USPTO, all fancy and everything.

It's interesting they mention the last issues being rare. That is exactly what I was thinking as I was reading through this thread. I bet the last 10 or so issues of each run had pretty small print runs and very few people were probably collecting them at that point. Most probably ended up getting dinged up in quarter bins. I'm not saying those last issues will surpass the more significant key issues in value, but they are definitely scarcer. The final issues are definitely scarce, but I wouldn't advise reading them. ...if you value your sanity in any way. That bad, huh? Worse. X-O Bike.

I'm RICH!!

#cloneclub watch the show. It's awesome! I have no idea what this post, and the three posts before it, said.

It's interesting they mention the last issues being rare. That is exactly what I was thinking as I was reading through this thread. I bet the last 10 or so issues of each run had pretty small print runs and very few people were probably collecting them at that point. Most probably ended up getting dinged up in quarter bins. I'm not saying those last issues will surpass the more significant key issues in value, but they are definitely scarcer. The final issues are definitely scarce, but I wouldn't advise reading them. ...if you value your sanity in any way.

I dunno...it's pretty weak evidence, and there are many significant factors that would have affected the numbers, not least of which was the Direct market itself. I wouldn't be comfortable pulling 1/10th out of seeming thin air, starting point or no. There seems to be no reasonable foundation to start there. I'll have to do some research on this. For record purposes, Direct versions did NOT include the Canadian price for DC or Marvel until Dec, 1983 (DC) and Oct, 1982 (Marvel.), quite some time after the Direct versions themselves went company-wide. Did Archie have Direct market copies in the early 80's? I think the 10% number for the beginning is probably right, with it falling off towards the end - just anecdotally from several years of buying Canadian newstand variants, 75 centers are MUCH easier to find than 95 centers, both Marvel and DC. Some of the 95 cent Marvels are very tough - Thor 370, for example, is really hard. I don't have any hard numbers, but its just from the ten long boxes of Canadians I've bought over the past 10 years. Only 10 longs, over only 10 years...? Amateur.

Now THAT is a sexy pic.

Needs an editor.

I agree the cancellation/refund should have happened much sooner. But that is not the only thing standing out. The other thing standing out is asking for "9.8 potential" after the deal has been set. That is a conversation to take place before committing to the purchase. In my opinion both sides mucked this one up. Am I reading it right the "buyer" is getting a refund and also the books for free? Yes.

So you say. At least someone correctly used the word "drivel" around here for a change. Um. That's not classy, that's just common courtesy. Or, ya know, he could have just filed a Paypal dispute. Either/or. And if he has class, he will offer to pay for those books after he receives them. If he doesn't have class, he'll just keep them for free. Pretty simple. This looks like a Chuck "the bully" Gower post I always thought RMA was doing this first. Pocupine"woolybully"48 Jimmers knows his board history. I was bullying people long before Chuck showed up.

So you say. At least someone correctly used the word "drivel" around here for a change. Um. That's not classy, that's just common courtesy. Or, ya know, he could have just filed a Paypal dispute. Either/or. And if he has class, he will offer to pay for those books after he receives them. If he doesn't have class, he'll just keep them for free. Pretty simple. This looks like a Chuck "the bully" Gower post Where do you think he learned it....?

I dunno...it's pretty weak evidence, and there are many significant factors that would have affected the numbers, not least of which was the Direct market itself. I wouldn't be comfortable pulling 1/10th out of seeming thin air, starting point or no. There seems to be no reasonable foundation to start there. I'll have to do some research on this. For record purposes, Direct versions did NOT include the Canadian price for DC or Marvel until Dec, 1983 (DC) and Oct, 1982 (Marvel.), quite some time after the Direct versions themselves went company-wide. Did Archie have Direct market copies in the early 80's?

So you say. At least someone correctly used the word "drivel" around here for a change. Um. That's not classy, that's just common courtesy. Or, ya know, he could have just filed a Paypal dispute. Either/or. And if he has class, he will offer to pay for those books after he receives them. If he doesn't have class, he'll just keep them for free. Pretty simple.

As I said in the other thread...if you want 9.8 copies, you should 1. examine them in person; 2. offer to compensate the seller for his time and expertise to get you 9.8 copies; 3. buy an already slabbed 9.8. You can't say "well, what I *meant* was...." when you clearly said you wanted 9.8 potential copies, yet didn't offer to compensate Larry for the time and effort to make that happen. If you want "better than average" copies (and 9.8s are ALWAYS better than average), you need to be willing and ready to compensate the seller for that request, proactively. Getting 9.8s requires skill, patience, gentleness, and expertise. It isn't as if you can go to any store and pick the first copy you see and it will be a 9.8 potential copy. Not excusing anything else Larry did. He should have refunded you instantly. Well, really, these were brand new copies straight from the case. They are basically the uncirculated coins of the comic world. So, yeah, they start their life as 9.8s unless there's a print run issue or a ham handed delivery guy or shipping minion. We aren't talking about coppers, or even back issues. Hell, we aren't even talking about an issue on the racks. These are "pre-rack". I wouldn't call pulling a 9.8 out of a distributor's case any kind of skill. A book gets hot 6 months or 6 years down the road then there's something worth paying a premium. There's a reason why moderns don't sell in 9.4 or 9.6 slabs right after release (with some rare exceptions). It's because so damn many of them are 9.8's from the jump. Oh, no doubt...most books from a brand new case are likely 9.8 copies. But.... There's a difference between picking up a random copy, with no effort involved, and lucking out on it being a 9.8 copy... ...and actually applying effort to examine and make sure it is. "9.8 potential" means it's probably going to be, barring some weird occurrence, a 9.8. It's not all that easy, even with books straight out of the case. With a new case, this kind of request (if he decided to honor it), would take an extra few minutes. With moderns, you'll be able to scan a book in a few seconds to see if there are any red flags. True. However... The ability to know what will be a 9.8, and what will not, is a skill that has value, and should be compensated by those making such requests. Because this is also common: coming across all sorts of 9.6+ copies that just...don't...quite...make...the...cut. And then, what would have taken a few seconds IF you had pulled a 9.8 candidate right away, has now taken several minutes because this copy isn't good enough, and this copy isn't good enough, and this copy isn't good enough, and damn it, there's got to be a solid 9.8 in here somewhere! I've done it many, many times. And...on the off-chance that the book gets a 9.9, is the seller compensated for that? Never that I know of. Definitely. And, if Tiger Topher has any class, he will send Larry the money after he receives the books. We shall see.

There's a whole new experience for humanity with this internet thing. Instead of relying on fading memories, we can actually step back in time and see what we thought and said 20 years ago, precisely...and in the process, see how much (or how little) things have changed around us. It's been a whole generation now since the internet became a mass phenomenon. I wonder what those who never knew anything else think about it. Is it good? Bad? Indifferent? :shrug

As I said in the other thread...if you want 9.8 copies, you should 1. examine them in person; 2. offer to compensate the seller for his time and expertise to get you 9.8 copies; 3. buy an already slabbed 9.8. You can't say "well, what I *meant* was...." when you clearly said you wanted 9.8 potential copies, yet didn't offer to compensate Larry for the time and effort to make that happen. If you want "better than average" copies (and 9.8s are ALWAYS better than average), you need to be willing and ready to compensate the seller for that request, proactively. Getting 9.8s requires skill, patience, gentleness, and expertise. It isn't as if you can go to any store and pick the first copy you see and it will be a 9.8 potential copy. Not excusing anything else Larry did. He should have refunded you instantly. Well, really, these were brand new copies straight from the case. They are basically the uncirculated coins of the comic world. So, yeah, they start their life as 9.8s unless there's a print run issue or a ham handed delivery guy or shipping minion. We aren't talking about coppers, or even back issues. Hell, we aren't even talking about an issue on the racks. These are "pre-rack". I wouldn't call pulling a 9.8 out of a distributor's case any kind of skill. A book gets hot 6 months or 6 years down the road then there's something worth paying a premium. There's a reason why moderns don't sell in 9.4 or 9.6 slabs right after release (with some rare exceptions). It's because so damn many of them are 9.8's from the jump. Oh, no doubt...most books from a brand new case are likely 9.8 copies. But.... There's a difference between picking up a random copy, with no effort involved, and lucking out on it being a 9.8 copy... ...and actually applying effort to examine and make sure it is. "9.8 potential" means it's probably going to be, barring some weird occurrence, a 9.8. It's not all that easy, even with books straight out of the case.

Sorry, but that's not how the current market views the word "potential", and Larry, in this instance, is correct. You didn't ask him to send "high-grade comics"...you asked for 9.8 potentials. Worlds of difference. I'm not defending Larry...after all, the guy got his third strike for calling me a fat slob out of the blue a few months ago...but what you requested was not within reason, despite how you worded it (and are defending said wording after the fact.) If you want a seller to pick out excellent copies, you should offer to compensate him for that up front.

As I said in the other thread...if you want 9.8 copies, you should 1. examine them in person; 2. offer to compensate the seller for his time and expertise to get you 9.8 copies; 3. buy an already slabbed 9.8. You can't say "well, what I *meant* was...." when you clearly said you wanted 9.8 potential copies, yet didn't offer to compensate Larry for the time and effort to make that happen. If you want "better than average" copies (and 9.8s are ALWAYS better than average), you need to be willing and ready to compensate the seller for that request, proactively. Getting 9.8s requires skill, patience, gentleness, and expertise. It isn't as if you can go to any store and pick the first copy you see and it will be a 9.8 potential copy. Not excusing anything else Larry did. He should have refunded you instantly.

I miss Beau. And, the references are being lost. Time's a person_without_enough_empathy.

It happened in the early 80's, when the Canadian dollar fell in value enough against the US dollar to make the exchange worth the cost of printing up different versions for the (not insubstantial) Canadian newsstand market. As you know, Canadian price editions weren't new to the comic book market; they had been around almost as long as comic books themselves had. But, in the early 80's, it was determined at Marvel, DC, and other newsstand distributors like Archie, etc, that there was enough of a difference to print a special Canadian newsstand edition company-wide, and that's what happened. Marvel eventually figured out by 1986 that they only had to print the Canadian price along with the US price on the newsstand copies, which DC didn't figure out until 1988 (and Archie didn't until 1990 or so?), and that would save the additional costs associated with the separate version. Yeah, I realize that the exchange rate had become a factor, but who was making these decisions and couldn't figure out that multiple prices could be printed on the covers of newsstand editions as well? It would be interesting to know exactly how much that extra cover cost them. It just didn't occur to anyone, I guess. Multiple cover prices was a brand new thing, after all. Uncharted territory. It probably wasn't that much more expensive. I'll have to ask someone.