Turnando

I have an incoming USPS package that I've tracked all over the US. It's overdue by a few weeks. It arrived in my city after a typical route across the US and THEN showed up a few thousand miles away a few days later. It's been in transit from that location to the next (unknown) location for over a week. It is MIA now. It's frustrating to watch it zig zig across the USA and not have a "report this package" button on the USPS tracking page. My USPS mail delivery person is an incompetent brain damage sufferer, by the way. He didn't get his hands on this package but he's the reason I installed a bigger mailbox. If he folded one more package I was going to throw a fit. He would bend or fold cardboard magazine/book shipping boxes to make them fit in the old box. He would jam it all into the old box with force. Any flexible package was folded and crammed. He often gives me many of my neighbors' mail and he blasts his radio as he wanders our neighborhood. He is despised by all. Now that I have the big mailbox with a nice wide slot for book-sized packages he inserts the mail so that the tail end of it is sticking out for any passer-by to grab. He can't bring himself to insert the mail fully into the box, rendering the lock useless. To complain would certainly bring destruction to me. He is a menace to society. Complete. Imbecile.

This is such a nice feature.

Me too on Planet of the Apes figures. Looking forward to some pics. I'd probably buy a few loose figs and cardbacks if he has any loose stuff.

Yes. I have not been to prison but one of my friends has. He told me in prison you don't shove or get in someone's face, if you are going to do something you do it without warning and you put the hammer on them. He shoved someone, got in their face, and was beaten senseless. That's how he learned prison rules.

I'd think twice about getting them graded, especially if they have sentimental value. Every time they are moved or touched there is a risk of damage. An archival case is probably safer than a board and bag but getting it from your bag into a case is not without risk. For books like that I'd very carefully bag and store them and admire them for myself. I wouldn't let anyone else touch them.

Saw that other thread with the crummy 0.5 Hulk and that label says .5 So CGC intentionally leaves the zero off of fractional grades? Wow. Bad math, man.

.4 is not a number. 0.4 is a number. So is 9.4.

If it were me I'd bag them, put them in a comic storage box, and keep them. They are your childhood comics. I wish I had mine, I only have faded memories of my first comics and I would love it if I had them in a box in the closet.

For sure. Lee was a thief. I just thought it was odd that Ditko would think Lee was confessing to stealing credit when Lee was obviously being sarcastic. Not being able to detect sarcasm is a red flag for a supposed writer. I'm not interested in reading someone who is that disconnected from humanity. I'm not a fan of either Ditko or Lee... I have read plenty of comic history. I like flawed characters (Wallace Wood!) but Ditko and Lee were flawed in ways that I cannot abide.

Was Ditko on the autism spectrum (not that there is anything wrong with that but reading an autistic writer is painful)? He missed Lee's sarcasm about 'taking any credit that isn't nailed down'. Ditko treats it like a confession. I'm embarrassed for both of them.

It might be fun to set up a picklist at some comic shop in the US. Let it sit for a year and then take a vacation to the US and pick up your books. I realize not everybody can afford that but if you ever come to the US plan ahead and have a stack of books waiting. I'm a reader more than a collector but I still enjoy holding a mint book in my hands. Just about every book I get from my picklists is as perfect as a book gets in a comic shop. Probably because it goes straight from the incoming shipment into my stack of books.

Try reading some high quality comics. That might kick you out of the funk. I recently had a weekend alone so I sat and read the 2012 Prophet run. It's a run that takes some focus to appreciate and it took years of it sitting on my shelves to finally get it done right. That really stoked my comic book fire. What an awesome creation. Now I'm reading the 1974 Marvel (Curtis) Planet of the Apes stories and that has me pumped up about trying to find a run of originals of that magazine ... I'm reading reprints. For me, getting excited about comics is all about reading good ones. Collecting is fun too, but I get excited by finding great art and stories to pore over.

That buyer sounds crazy to me. Not dishonest, just insane. Out them and put them on the bad ebay list, wherever that is.

'grail' has meaning only from the perspective of the seeker. It is a personal thing. Whether or not you think something is a grail is immaterial if it is not your grail.

Looking for reader grade copies of Planet of the Apes. The 1974 Marvel/Curtis series. I have #1, #3, #14 I want to read Terror on the Planet of the Apes so I'm most interested in: #2, #19, #20, #23, #26, #27, #28... but I like apes that talk so I'd buy any of them. Hopefully someone has a pile of low grade copies that need a good home.

I like talking to non-comics people about comics. The history of comics is fascinating and many of the key players have life stories that are stranger than fiction. Oddballs and weirdos. There is some magnificent art and writing in a medium that is mostly junk. An overwhelming amount of junk, but the good stuff is so good. If someone has trouble talking about comics to non-comics people I'd recommend focusing your conversation on what is so wonderful about comics. Realize that most people don't care about the collecting of comic books but most people would enjoy a good story and comic book history is a good story.

Unless you live alone I would not recommend seriously collecting anything of value while you are a poor college student. I loved college. But... One of my roommates threw a beer bottle, bounced it off the trash can rim and ricocheted it into the side of the fish tank, which shattered and dumped 50 gallons of water and fish on the floor. We had items stolen during a party attended by friends of friends. Also we were burglarized, like many people in the high crime college rental neighborhoods. One roommate watched the house while the rest travelled for the summer. He filled the empty rooms with deadbeats and a cat that moved its bowels all over the house. All of these were normal events in that environment. College is a time to learn, grow, make friends and future business contacts, and have fun. Put the comics on hold and enjoy school.

Is it a cat?

That's what I would do. I wouldn't ask CGC about it, wouldn't expect them to be responsible for the damage. If they had damaged it they would have told you (I believe). It probably happened in shipping. Just eat a cheeseburger on it. Don't put it in the dishwasher.

There is a cool thread on bound volumes here: https://www.cgccomics.com/boards/topic/450836-it-was-bound-to-happen-show-us-your-bound-volumes-and-books-removed-from-them/ That thread includes some ideas about value, sounds like an auction would be your best bet because they are so hard to value but they are super cool and plenty of people love them. I think thise things are incredible.

Same here. I'd expect them to establish a reputation the way good online sellers do: make a series of successful sales. Small sales then medium sales THEN big sales. If they are selling on a forum (like this) not just a selling site (like eBay) then that adds to what I would expect of them. A newcomer to the boards who is trying to make big deals is not a good thing even if they are honest. IMO they are taking advantage of the community of the boards for their own gain. To use a forum marketplace without establishing a presence is not acceptable (IMO). A seller should not only work their way up to big sales they should first share their knowledge in some posts to benefit others in the hobby, THEN I think it's OK for them to sell. New members in any forum: toy collecting, comics, whatever, who join only to sell are just trying to save on seller's fees, they don't give a rat's azz about the hobby (again, IMO).

I just finished "The Secret History of Wonder Woman" by Jill Lepore. This book probably moved me more than any other comic history book I've read. William Moulton Marston was a deluded but charming scammer and his life was a fantasy. He never succeeded or gained acceptance or popularity where he wanted it most, in academia, but he found it in comics. His family lived his fantasy with him. The secret family history and the history of feminism, especially as related to Margaret Sanger and her sister Ethel Byrne is fascinating and ultimately sad. I'll be seeking out reprints of the comics that Marston wrote and a few of the early Robert Kanigher stories. Kanigher is another story altogether. A chauvinist who seems to have delighted in destroying Wonder Woman. I'm looking forward to reading or rereading early Wonder Woman comics in this new-for-me context that Jill Lepore constructed. Some of the history she documents was intentionally buried by the Marston family and she has made or exposed connections to Wonder Woman that nobody did before her. I'm putting this book on the shelf next to my favorite comic history books. The ones that I consider to be very well written and essential for a comic history enthusiast.

I ask for combined shipping before I bid/buy. That is the time during a transaction during which the buyer has the most leverage. After a purchase is too late, IMO. Some sellers who don't combine shipping may be factoring that into their prices, etc. and I don't like to hassle sellers. I have been a seller and it is painful to go back and forth over what is, essentially, a few dollars. The time spent negates the benefit of the sale, IMO.

Keep the Deadman. IMO it's a historically important book and it has a great cover. Those other books, not so much.

Thanks folks. Yeah, I'm starting to suspect that my comic interests don't really align with a typical comic shop. I'm not a fan of comic book movies, for example. I liked a few of the recent Marvel films but would prefer to watch something like "American Splendor" or "Crumb" if I'm going to watch a comic book movie.