OuterboroGuy

He was very nice and very funny. There was a break room, and once or twice a month, they'd restock the fridge with sodas. He'd immediately run and get 2 or 3 cans of his favorites -- usually everything except diet 7UP was gone by the next day. Every day I'd sit on the couch in his and Denny's office and read the Daily News until Pat Bastienne (who was Managing Editor) would come in and tell me to get back to work. Oh yeah -- we were all waiting for the lettered Watchmen #12 to come back in. Writers and artists were calling trying to get an advance photocopy. One inker, Al Gordon, was so relentless in calling Mike that when it finally came in, he asked me for a photocopy of the book, and then did a mock up with jokes and fake dialogue to send to Al. I still have a copy!! It's great. Can I post a PDF doc in here? If so, I can scan it in when I get back to the office on Monday.

Here's one of the boards . . .

So, I was a senior in high school in New York City in the fall of 1986. I went to a private, all-boys Catholic scholarship school. (This story is NOT going where you think it is going.) We all had a choice to make for our spring trimester -- do full-time Christian Service (i.e., volunteer work), stay in school and take electives, or participate in something called the "NYC Executive Internship Program" where the city placed high school seniors in internships in businesses they were interested in. I was planning on just hanging around school and playing a lot of hoops with the massive free time we'd have, but then one night as I was re-reading Watchmen #1 or 2, I had a flash of inspiration -- both Marvel and DC were in Manhattan -- maybe I could work there? Our school's Headmaster looked a little askance at my proposal to intern in comic books, but they put the application through and I ended up interviewing with Marvel and DC and eventually decided on DC (because of Watchmen, Swamp Thing, Crisis, etc.). Plus the DC offices were much more corporate than Marvel, which suited my more conservative and introspective nature. I ended up getting hired for the summer of 1987 as well, until I went off to college at the end of August. I was brought on as an intern in the editorial department, and my job basically was to photocopy scripts when they came in from the writers and then send them out to the pencillers, photocopy the big boards when they came in from the pencillers and send the photcopies to the writers (to do dialogue) and the originals to the inkers, etc. etc. I worked with editors like Denny O'Neil, Mike Carlin, Robert Greenberger, and Karen Berger. Giordano was executive editor, but I didn't interact with him much. I met a lot of artists and writers who would come into the offices, including Len Wein, Bernie Wrightson and others. One day I was given the task of sorting and cleaning out some large file cabinets. At the bottom of one cabinet I found the fully inked and lettered boards for a Batman story that I didn't recognize. The art was immediately eye-catching. The layout of the story panels seemed familiar . . . where had I seen that style before? I went back to the first board, saw the author and immediately understood why it seemed familiar. I finished reading the rest of the boards, put the boards back in the cabinet and asked Mike Carlin about it. He said to check with Denny, who said it was going to be published, they just didn't know when. I told him it was the best Batman story that I'd ever read. I went off to college, discovered girls and forgot about comics for a while. Some years later (in law school when I started buying again), I saw a cover in the same style and immediately recognized it as the book I had found at the bottom of that file cabinet. Can you guess?

Bought a beautiful copy of Batman 251 from Keith -- great communication, super safe packaging, quick ship -- pleasure to do business. Will do business again!

Bought a FF#48 from Greg -- great communication, super fast shipping and packed well. Nice book! Will do business again!!!

I kind of have a hard time believing there are a substantial number of "lost" or "undiscovered" collections of SA comics out there in closets, attics and basements. Real collectors who have unslabbed books? Yes, probably a lot of those, although with prices lately it would seem crazy for people not to slab and sell any extras they might have, unless they already drowning in cash.

These three

FF 48 -- I'll take it

Will mostly be a buyer in here . . . any sellers are welcome to leave feedback. Thanks! Mike

@Dogsupreme that is some haul !! . . . just curious, do you get those unslabbed books at conventions, eBay, or here, or how? I am starting to rebuild my collection and am wondering where to get those kinds of books before they are graded. thanks

Sweet books . . . nice score

Purchased TOS 52 from Jeff -- great looking book, super price, great communication, fast shipping. Trustworthy and would do business again.

Just opened the box this morning . . .

My first purchase of a graded book (from someone right here in the forums) . . . decided to start building out a SA key collection after my brother and I went through all our boxes in the basement. I've got COMICS FEVER!

I'll take that TOS 52. Will send a PM.