RonS2112

Sure thing......there's a local con in Annandale, VA in two weeks. Specifically, an older gentleman named Gene (who gets mentioned here a lot) has a display in the back left of the hall. But he isn't the only one. Would also check out Moving Pictures' display. Rob always gives me great deals. Again, most of what these guys sell is unslabbed.

Hmmmmm......I'm going to disagree with this. I regularly attend several local cons and slabbed SA books are the exception rather than the rule. And this included rows and rows of beautiful unslabbed early keys, in some of the best grades I've ever seen.

Got this in today. Another eBay steal. Can't believe how this was shipped, but as the second phot shows, it ended up OK.

Scored these two off eBay for insanely low prices. I realize the Astonishing isn't Pre-code, but only just barely, and I love the cover.

The fact that this guy has the Web of Spiderman hologram book (a $10 book) under glass tells you all you need to know. If he DOES get $4000, he could easily invest in enough SA and BA stock, and perhaps a bunch of modern graphic novels to turn his store into something about 5X better than what it currently looks like, based on the pictures.

I was there and remember this event pretty well. I don't think anyone thought Superman was dead for good, and DC did a good job of making the "death" a real cultural event -- big enough to make the nightly news and grab newspaper headlines. It was enough to draw in non-regular comic book readers, who were willing to pay a small premium to have their piece of the event. So for a short time, speculators made some money, until the novelty passed and they were left selling to each other. So I can only partially blame DC for the feeding frenzy, Certainly, they published enough copies of Superman #75, that everyone should have seen the writing on the wall. Anyway, I till have my 9.8 copies of Man of Steel #18 and Superman #75, which I bought for cover price back in '93. So it would be a bit of a payoff, even now. Funny thing is, once you get past all the speculator-DC-contrived-cultural-event nonsense, the Death of Superman arc is actually a pretty decent storyline.

I don't believe Marvel had anything to do with those replicas. The recent official Marvel facsimile releases are easily distinguishable from the originals.

Interestingly enough, you can find versions of Hulk 1 - 6 in this "Silver Age Replica Edition" format on eBay right now: https://www.ebay.com/itm/The-Incredible-Hulk-1-Silver-Age-Replica-Edition-Mint/324278245306?_trkparms=aid%3D555021%26algo%3DPL.SIMRVI%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20190805154545%26meid%3D878d96d940ac4125b0e5cf90c3b3c668%26pid%3D100037%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D13%26sd%3D224084514284%26itm%3D324278245306%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DSimplRVIAMLv5WebWithPLRVIOnTopCombiner&_trksid=p2047675.c100037.m2107

I don't even know what the name of the con was, but it was held in a conference room at the Tyson's Corner VA Radisson in 1984 or so. The first time I'd really encountered so many back issues en masse. Brought about $20 and came home with an armload of Bronze-age Fantastic Four back issues. Wonderful day. The closest thing we have now is a monthly con in the Annandale, VA fire station. I still get that same feeling of awe every time I walk in the door. So many, books, so little time (and money).

Boy how times have changed. Not only do I regularly bring my sons to local comic-cons, but we always run into my 8th-grader's history teacher at them, and he's probably the best teacher he has. Likewise, my high school-aged sons have friends who think it's "cool" that I have a decent number of SA Marvels. But yeah, back in the 1980-81 timeframe, the fact that I was a ROM Spaceknight fan was a closely-held secret.

I've been at it for 45 years, and I get what you're saying. But I think we've been here before. Granted, we didn't have eBay and online auction houses in the early 90's, but if we did, I think it would look a lot like right now. And I think long-term collectors recognize this, as the older guys who sell at my local cons appear to be exercising a lot of restraint in the prices they're charging. It's the young guys with only moderns in their displays, charging $100 for Venom: Lethal Protector #1 or $60 for Rom #1 who make me shake my head. They'll learn the hard way...….

Not quite the same insofar as most gyms require a 1-to-3 year contract every time you renew. Gold's hasn't stopped charging me since this pseudo-quarantine started......

Not at all. Was talking to my LCS owner today, and he made the point that Geppi is NOT about to take one for the team. If publishers continue to produce books, it's going to get stored in Diamond warehouses and unloaded all at once on the LCS owners.

Any idea how long mechanical errors take to rectify? I received two slabs back from CGC with shattered corners, and followed the process for sending them back. Would think I would jump to the front of the line, but they've been marked as "received" for a week now. Will I have the standard Reholder wait time?

This. I swear I don't know what's wrong with some of you people. Go to cons regularly. Develop a relationship with the guys you regularly buy from. Get their e-mail address and get on their mailing lists. You'll find that: a) most will send out e-mails prior to the next con telling you what big-ticket books they're bringing, b) will be happy to bring anything you ask, if they have it, and c) give discounts to regular customers. Went to a show this past Sunday, and a guy I buy from regularly discounted me $30 on a $170 purchase (which was already a great deal for the books in question), without me even asking him. All because I talk to him without acting like a jerk-off. He even asked to take a look at my want-list, told me which he had, and asked me to send him an e-mail telling which to bring to the next show. At which point, I'm certain to get another good discount.

Gocollect.com is also a great resource. It tracks and averages recent eBay sales in all grades.

Should note that especially with 80's and 90's books you're hard-pressed to find a book WITHOUT distributor ink.

I JUST got an FF #25 back with a very similar tear. It graded at a 2.5. Although your book overall presents better.

Absolutely.....in the run-up to the holidays, I was less diligent in page count than I would have been otherwise. And honestly, I was excited about what I THOUGHT was a great deal. Lesson learned.

....or a 4.0 GLOD, apparently. It doesn't affect the story....

So, an update for those who care..... The FF #52 in question graded out at a QUALIFIED 4.0, due to a missing page 3, which doesn't affect the story. FMV for a Universal 4.0 FF #52 is right now about $400. I spent $300, and had judged the book at about a 4.0 or 4.5 from the eBay photos. Note that the photos included shots of the interior, but nothing that would have hinted at the missing page 3. Still, I'm going to assume the seller missed it as well. Given that I'll like be able to recoup about $200 on a resale with the GLOD, I requested that the seller split the difference and refund me $50, which I think is more than fair. We'll see what he says.

Now that it's been pointed out, that stain is hard to miss.......big, brown, and gnarly. Would be interesting to be able to look at the inside front cover, where it would presumably be more dramatic.

It's hard to tell from the photos, but I think I see some spine roll. Can't detect it from the front, but the back bottom pages look uneven to me. Then, looking at the spine from the back, I see more front page color at the bottom than I do at the top. Not sure what effect that should have on the overall grade, though. Agree that this book presents very well from the front.

Certainly it IS an opportunity, assuming that all is above-board when the sale is made. I don't begrudge anyone looking for GLOD's or low-grade copies to complete their collection, if that's what they can afford. But tht's not my situation: 1) I don't want green labels in my collection, unless its on an FF #1 2) I can afford an FF #52 in mid-grade 3) Despite extensive pictures in the eBay auction page, there was NOTHING to indicate that the book was incomplete. Had I know this, or if it had already been affixed with a GLOD, I would NOT have made the purchase. So in other words, this was NOT an above-board sale, and I freely admit that it could be due to an honest mistake on the part of the seller. But that doesn't free him of an obligation to make things right, now that the defect has been discovered.

Yes, this is a good assessment. A couple things: 1) I originally got the copy of FF #52 in question for about 70% of FMV (of a complete book) via an ebay auction. My intention is to sell it now (complete with GLOD) when I get it back. When all is said and done, I would guess that I'll end up at about an $80 to $100 loss. It's this amount that I intend to request back from the original seller, given that he didn't disclose all the problems with the book. Or he can give me a complete refund. 2) I've since bought a second UNIVERSAL CERTIFIED copy of FF 52 at 4.5, which will stay in my collection. Lesson learned -- while it's nice to find keys in the raw for a good price, unless you can physically look through the book, sometimes going the already-slabbed route is better.