rumrunner71

On 3/10/2023 at 1:22 PM, Yorick said:

I feel that the Green Label here is not appropriate.  That came off the printer that way....

Same. I thought printer errors were listed but blue label 

My only green label (so far). It was a good reminder to check the interior before making a purchase

That is so awful. I'm really sorry, and I hope that someone can provide some help tracking them down. 

On 12/27/2022 at 9:15 AM, Mark Warren said:

I'd gladly accept the discount for a green-label book that is only missing the Mark Jewelers insert. The fact that Mark Jewelers editions are going for higher prices is one of the goofiest aspects of the hobby to me. Okay, they're rare. So was my red 1974 Gran Torino with the lime green front end because I got in an accident that crumpled the original front end and had to pick up a new one at a junkyard, and I didn't have the money to repaint it to match the rest of the car. Strangely, no one offered me a million bucks for my red and green 1974 Gran Torino, even though it was the only one in the whole world! 

 

Ah, but did you try covering the front end with acetate? Then you'd have the extra-rare Gran Torino variant. 

On 12/21/2022 at 9:51 AM, I Am The Answer! said:

  If you can afford it, don't pass on a book you really want.  There have been a few times at conventions that I found that special book I've been looking for but I didn't get it right away because I wanted to see if any other dealers had it cheaper or in better condition.  After making the rounds and finding no one else with it, I make my way back to the original dealer only to find out that he's already sold it. 

This +100. You might not see it again, or the next time you do, the price will have risen out of your reach. Can't count the number of times that happened to me. 

Scour these boards and get a ton of free advice about storage. 

Learn to grade raw books for yourself, and then test your skills against the "Please grade my..." forum here.

On 10/3/2022 at 1:26 PM, sfcityduck said:

I think Dr. Occult is cool.  But I've never bought the Superman prototype concept. It's based on the fact that in New Fun 14 he has a red cape (which everyone else in the story also has) and takes flight. Problem is that the only reason he takes flight is someone else moves him with magic. It is not of his own volition or due to any SUPERHUMAN power of his own. It is not until issue 16 that he gets a belt that lets him fly on his own but how is that different than Buck Rogers and his belt? Or other pre-superman magical characters? (Was Peter Pan a Superman prototype?) And, really, the character has no similarlity to Superman other than they were drawn by the same artist.  But, to my eyes, Shuster was ripping off Raymond's Flash Gordon stylings (which started the prior year) including with the swords:

Flash Gordon's look from a year or two prior to New Fun 14:

Fair points. Supes didn't fly, wasn't topless, and didn't have a cameltoe until much later

On 10/3/2022 at 10:47 AM, sfcityduck said:

New Adventure 26 and the MF's are, IMHO, candidates for the poor man's Action 1 because they are pre-Action 1 images of Superman and "first appearances" if you think ads matter for first appearances (I don't).  Again, the import of Action 1 is the first appearance and origin of Superman.

IH 180 is NOT a poor man's 181, again in IMHO, because it is the true first appearance of Wolverine in story continuity (just not valued as much as the 181 b/c he's not on the cover). 

I thought about that with the ads. For the vast majority, those ads are the closest we'll come to AC 1. There's an argument to made there about them being poor man's AC1s. (I won't make it, but it could be made.)

I wouldn't disagree on 180, either. Just trying to think of better examples than some of the suggestions in the thread for AC 1 alternatives.

I kind of wonder if some books are just too singular to have a true "poor man's" version. I mean, clearly, some do. IH 180 as the poor man's 181 comes to mind. Or one of the MF issues with Action 1 ads as the poor mans New Adventure 26. But with AC 1, TEC 27, I don't know that there is a true poor man's version.

So, for argument's sake, couldn't any collector create their own blue label variant now? Why limit it to just retailers, since it doesn't matter whether it comes from the publisher or not? I feel like I should get my kids to draw some junk on plastic and, voila, a blue label variant has just been born. Can I win a registry set competition if I have the only complete set of Rumrunner variant Shadowhawks?

If these were stolen from you, I'm really sorry. But I'm also really confused.

Your first post said you were only allowing the police to handle this. If so, why post here and tell people to return them to the auction house?

If you believe the auction house is complicit, why do you want people to return them to the auction house?

If you want the police to handle everything, why do you not want to share the police info if people have the books?

What the heck is a "red flag"??

On 8/3/2022 at 8:00 PM, Turnando said:

Some comics are so cool that low grade does not matter at all, imo.  You have great taste.

Agreed, that's a great group! I'm also loving the confused zombie on the Baffling popping up like, "What am I doing here?"

For me, part of the fun in collecting is the thrill of the hunt. I don't generally seek out multiples, but if I find a key or a good GA or Platinum in the wild, and the price is right, it's that thrill of finding it and the story I can tell that makes me buy it, even if I already have it. Just as an example, I found an Iron Fist 14 sitting unbagged in a stack at an antique store a few years ago. It was lower than the copy I already had, but it was just sitting there in a stack of dollar books, and the price was very good (more than a dollar, but still). I've gotten a few multiples like that.

A lot of the other comics, it's just my bad memory that leads to things like half a dozen copies of Death: The High Cost of Living taking up space.

On 7/5/2022 at 9:15 PM, Travaran said:

To all who replied. My example wasn't of any real life comics, just giving a example. And in this example, ALL things are equal with these two comics EXCEPT one is a 6 without white pages and one is a 5 with white pages. I was wondering if white pages could make up that point grade lolz

I think that's the problem with the comparison, though, as revat and KCO tried to point out. It's not that simple because "white pages" is one designation and "not white pages" is half a dozen designations. If "not white pages" means tan or brittle, then yeah, it probably makes a big difference to most sellers for most books. If "not white pages" means off-white, then it may not make that big a difference for most collectors or most books. As KCO said, if it's white vs. brittle, then maybe it makes up some of the price difference. But it also depends on what the other reasons are for the grade.

As you learn more about collecting, you'll see that some of the questions you are asking don't have black-and-white - or, in this case, off-white-and-white - answers, especially when they are hypothetical. The more specific you are, the more specific your responders can be.

On 7/5/2022 at 6:51 PM, MAR1979 said:

DC's Star Trek #22 raw for $20 - are you sure? do you have a link? The condition of yours looks to be mid-grade or lower mid-grade making $20 a way too high estimate.

Based on your pics sending any of those books for grading would be a loosing financial proposition for you.

.

 

Looks like this one. I'm not the only getting Spideysense going about this listing

https://www.ebay.com/itm/STAR-TREK-22-Wolf-on-the-Prowl-DC-Comics-1984-Series-/313553703549?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=706-127636-26712-0

On 7/5/2022 at 4:51 PM, jhlalone said:

I went through ebay and put down what that comic sold for on ebay the sharpie mark was me writing down what one sold for I bought all 27 for 1 each.

That's usually a good start and makes sense about the marks on the tags. But the seller with the Star Trek 22 seems...off. The real price seems about right, but the shipping is insanely high, and the listing strike me as suspicious. Also, all of these are available on other sites for very cheap.

I'm sorry, but you have what you paid for...maybe not what you were hoping for.

On 7/5/2022 at 12:00 AM, jhlalone said:

Are Star Trek Comics worth being Graded? I bought 27 of them this weekend for $1 each at a antique store and after looking up each of the 27 found out that as they are they are worth about $225 for all 27 I have an aditional 8 or 10 on top of what i bought this weekend. I wanted to know if they are collectable and/or worth getting graded.

In looking at just the ones you have pictured here, I hate to say it, but even $225 for the lot might be an over-estimation, depending on grade. These are selling for under $10 (some under $5) even for strong grades. You can find the current fees for grading on the cgc website. It'll cost you $24 plus shipping per comic. I'd say you have some wonderful reading material there, but whoever put stuff like "$20 comic for $1" on those tags was not being very honest. 

You can check ebay, but a better gauge might be mycomicshop. They have these listed for current sale.

On 7/2/2022 at 5:49 PM, OtherMan said:

I think they're really backed up right now, but Gerber has a lot of different sizes.

https://www.egerber.com/catalog_archives.htm

Thanks! Their list seems pretty comprehensive 

On 7/2/2022 at 3:17 PM, KirbyTown said:

Depending on the size, you may have to work with Life Magazine or Treasury bags and boards? There are also various art print / photo sleeves and backings. Many sellers of all kinds of things put their stuff in an oversized bag and then tape them. I guess it depends how often you want to pull them out.

As far as boxes I can think of anything standardized, just file boxes or similar

Thanks!

I have some in oversized bags that are sort of folded over and taped. They just seem a bit insufficient. I'll have to take a look for treasury sizes. I tried searching for "platinum age sized" and there was nothing.

On 7/2/2022 at 4:12 PM, zzutak said:

Here are a couple of my go-to sources for museum-quality art/book/paper conservation/display/storage supplies: TALAS  and LINECO.  Both companies offer acid-free archival storage boxes in a variety of sizes.  If you feel additional protection is warranted (beyond just a box), TALAS also sells interleaving paper as well as various sizes of Mylar envelopes and Mylar sheets.  

Those look great! I'll have to check out their sites. I have some older magazines I'd like to store, too, so it looks like they would have something for both.

Thank you!!

Hi all,

Not sure if this is the right forum for this, but has anyone found products or techniques for storing Platinum Age? I'm talking about the old Bringing Up Father, Gumps, etc., the square-style old ones. I've tried to search for boxes or mylars and come up empty. My assumption is that larger collections of these aren't common enough for companies to mass produce boxes, bags, and boards, but I could be wrong. 

If anyone has a link or a suggestion for how you store these, I'd appreciate the advice.

Thanks!

I did my first sales on Comiclink, and the process was really straightforward with prompt payment.

On 6/23/2022 at 2:25 PM, Travaran said:

Well for me I'd be worried about cleaning/pressing the older comics cause they're not nearly as strong as the modern ones. For example, pressing/cleaning World War Hulk would be a lot safer than some comic from the 80s lolz 

 Not necessarily. A good presser will be able to deal with comics of multiple ages. And a good presser will let you know if the comic might get damaged. (Speaking of which, DEFINITELY get it pre-screened. There was at least one thread where CCS damaged a comic that might have not been damaged had the owner known through a pre-screen of the risk.) The bigger problem than age seems to be page quality. If you got chipping pages or brittle pages or pieces hanging by a thread,then yeah, you might be asking for trouble.

On 6/23/2022 at 2:12 PM, Travaran said:

Well for me it's quality over speed. Idc who's faster as long as whoever it is gets the job done right

I would search the forums. I know there are a few threads with recommendations. With CCS, you definitely won't get speed. Maybe not even quality