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Etreiw

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Journal Entries posted by Etreiw

  2. Etreiw
    Whew, that was a cool experience.   When I started back in January with sending my comicbooks down to Florida to get them graded, the idea of getting any them signed wasn't in my tunnel vision.  With the pandemic hitting, things changed. Including 5 books that will be normally graded/slabbed, I have a total of 26 books that will be preserved a tad longer than just being bagged/boarded.  In fact, I can hang some of them on my barren walls.   If there are no signature distractions next year, I hope to get more of my older comic books to get graded.
     
     
  3. Etreiw
    After looking at the state of the Canadian dollar exchange rate at the time of prepping for signatures, I had to take Mrs. Louise Simonson off my wish list.   Getting her signature on the first 3 issues of Superman: Man of Steel would have been awesome.    Not long after sending the package of books, I find out now that Mr. Chuck Dixon, who I enjoyed his Bird of Prey run and Mr. Rags Morales, who I enjoyed his art during his run on Hourman will be signing sometime in December.......I've mapped out 3 books for each of them but if I send another box down there....then there will be less books for Johns/Fabok/Finch/Anderson to sign when they come around late december/early January        I blame all these Shenanigans on the Pandemic!!!!!!!      Long wait begins now!!!!!!....

  4. Etreiw
    Well, the first part is pretty much done,  it's just question what the currency is like near the middle of November when I do send my books down to Florida.  I wonder how much the currency would change between November and January/February.  
     
  5. Etreiw

    Signature Signing from writer Peter David.

    By Etreiw,


    Signature signing from Mr. Peter David
    It has been awhile because of the waiting period for slabs to come back and finally getting around to posting the video of the unboxing. In this video I shared my experience with my oldest niece and nephew cause they hardly read comic books but now they know the process of preserving somewhat old books.  When I'm an elder, I will be asking them to do the job for me.    This is the first set of books that have come back, the Dan Jurgens books are currently at the Grading stage and the ones from Howard Porter are still at the "Receiving stage".  Sadly I could not send books down to CGC for those Johns,Fabok and Anderson signings, cause of the Canadian dollar exchange rate....with everything going on because of this freakin pandemic I have to wait till fall to see if my wallet can send any more books down to CGC this year..... so just 2 more videos of unboxing coming down the line. 
     
  6. Etreiw

    Slabs of Signature signings by Dan Jurgens. YAY

    By Etreiw,


    Signature signings of Dan Jurgens
    Another fun time opening up a box from CGC with the youngest nephews.  My brother convinced me to try out the whole green screen thing aka background soooo I did thus the results are pretty rough  .  So as of today being Sunday, the last set of books that consist of Howard Porter's signature are still at the "Receiving" stage so probably maybe by the middle of February I'll see them..... then after that.....no new slab stuff my wallet says I can afford to send more old comic books down to be graded which looks to be near the end of fall.
     
  8. Etreiw
    It was quite the learning experience this year when I decided to start slabbing some of my older books and then taking a stab a prepping comic books for signings. As of now, I have about 26 books slabbed and that was all I was gonna do this year.   Then came that big signing thing sometime in October/November as well as that Geoff John's and company signing in January.  The end result, my budget on slabbing is gonna be hitting the ceiling.  It's time like this where it would be awesome to win lottery, that way I would get Mr. Dan Jurgens, Peter David, Howard Porter, Mrs. Louise Simonson, Keith Griffen, J.M DeMatteis to sign "EVERY SINGLE ISSUE" of their work that I have in my collection....sigh....only a dream.  Frustrating part is sending enough to make up for shipping costs coming back...Sigh
     
     
     
  10. Etreiw
    This past weekend I was going through my collection to decide what books I would  want to get signed by either Geoff Johns or Jason Fabok, I guess they must have updated the news memo cause now I see that Mr. Brad Anderson is in on the mix too now.    $120 bucks American for 3 signatures...how the hell can you fit 3 signatures on a comic when there's alot of art going on!!!!!!!!!!!!  My initial plan was actually to get Mr. Geoff Johns to sign some older books that he has done like the Justice Society of America aka Stargirl as well as Cyclone cause apparently that character will be in the Black Adam movie which is freakin nuts, cause I would have never thought that a character like would be in a movie.  Then I would have Mr. Jason Fabok sign off some beautiful covers from the Justice League Darkseid war which eventually gave hints to today's series "The Three Jokers".....  I have already worked to get 2 signatures on one comic...but 3 signatures that's hard work!!!!  Since the deadline for CGC to accept comics to be signed is on Dec.15, 2020 I guess I can hum and haw on whether I can really fit 3 on one comic......at the moment $120 American dollars =  $157.01 Canadian..... OY  or maybe instead of having all 5 books of justice league signed with Fabok, get Anderson to sign 2?...  so many choices...



  11. Etreiw

    Today, was the last day I bought new comics.

    By Etreiw,


    The end of picking up new comics.
    The summer of 1987 was my first experience walking into a comic-book shop and buying stack of superman comics and then today was the last time going into my local shop picking up the last round of comics as well as closing my account.
    Due to some big bills coming up,  I realized that the most expensive thing I have to trim from my budget is comics. Last week alone I spent $20 bucks on 2 new modern DC comics, something is wrong with that.  There looked to be some interesting stories that were gonna be told but the cost now out weighs the entertainment.  You will never see me buy/read digital, if you gonna make a digital comic, you maze as well make it animated.  Hopefully once I tackle these bills coming down the line, I can slab a few old ones before the year is out.  Gonna feel weird in the coming weeks that I don't head over on Wednesday to pick up my weekly dose of new comics..... ;( 
  12. Etreiw
    New member here.
    My opinion, reading current *storyline* comics isn't cheap.  Back in the late eighties as a teenager I was looking forward to having a job so that I can buy comics and fast forward to now, I have a job but it's getting to the point that I can't afford to buy today's comics.   I found myself thinking if I'm gonna spend a lot of money for only a few current comics then why not start reinvesting a.k.a slabbing the 34 years of comics that I have collected so far.   I can remember spending $20 bucks and getting 20 different titles back in the eighties, now you spend $20 bucks, and you are lucky to get 4 different current titles...sigh.   What worries me is what the future holds when I stop reading....cause I don't see enough young people behind me picking up the slack when I do "quit" reading comics. 
    Guess you can say I'm a DC fan, no marvel collections here.  DC accomplished what they set out to do when they did the Crisis back in 1985, as a teenager I was interested in the fresh take of Superman.  Having a summer job during the late eighties, I started reading anything related to Superman and down the road the new takes on Wonderwoman, Green Lantern, Green Arrow,  Justice League, JSA, Special DC events.  The only big things I don't have in my collection is runs of Batman, Flash,  Aquaman...why have them when they already show up in Justice League.   To end this, I decided to post the issue of Superman where he almost died! Imagine all the money I would have saved it he did die in the first issue!  

  13. Etreiw

    Books I'm sending down for Stanley "Artgerm" Lau signing. :)

    By Etreiw,


    Books I'm sending down for Stanley "Artgerm" Lau signing. :)
    As I was going through my vast comic collection to figure out exactly which issues that I had come across his cover art or varient art, I was reminded how DC ended the latest "Supergirl" series, which I guess was the start of me not committing myself to other DC titles.  DC would probably blame it on the pandemic but just of it was they had cancelled the latest Supergirl series even before the last 2 issues were to be printed.  I think you could read the 2 issues through digital at that time but I'm old, I don't do digital.  Eventually they packaged the last 2 issues with a trade paperback consisting of the storyline that had occurred near the end of her run.  By then I didn't feel like spending more money than needed to just read 2 issues.  I like Mr. Lau's art, and with these books slabbed I can put them on the wall. ;)
    Gonna be a busy weekend coming up, packing the books, unboxing 2 boxes from CGC and visiting a local comic book fair....maybe come across some books I think I would like to add to my old comic collection. ;) 





  14. Etreiw

    It all comes to the space I have to store my comics. :)

    By Etreiw,


    Storage for my comics
    Looking at my titles that I have read over the years.... the only mild interest I have reading in today's comic market are a few short DC series, Wondergirl and that's it. ;( I guess DC made it pretty easy for me to wind down my comic reading. 
    looking at my titles that I have read over the years.... the only mild interest I have reading in today's comic market are a few short DC series, Wondergirl and that's it. ;( I guess DC made it pretty easy for me to wind down my comic reading. 
  15. Etreiw

    One more order to fill up the packing box. ;)

    By Etreiw,


    Superman Supergirl Hawkman Hawkgirl
    Rather than filling up the rest of the box with bubble wrap, sending off 5 more books.   As I reread them one last time, I noticed the Action Comics one with the Teen Titans that the "Man of Steel" contest form which also in Superman #1 was somewhat bent and thus was somewhat indenting the pages in front of it soooo will the pressing of the book smooth out the minor indenting? Guess I will find out if not probably come back like a 9.2.  I always liked the 1st cover of the mini-series for Supergirl.  It reminded me how difficult it was back then to see characters get their own issues outside of Superman, Batman and WonderWoman.  Eventually Supergirl did get her own series but 2021 all we have is another mini-series for Supgergirl and the last season of Supergirl on TV...... 





  16. Etreiw
    I was not gonna make another journal entry until my first ever batch of of newly minted slabs were sent back to me but the recent news of In-house signings of some great writers and artists have changed my plans. Now I have course in the past I got lucky enough here in Edmonton to get some signings from writers etc but of course no CGC officials were around to witness and eventually when I send those comics in they will likely get a qualifying grade, oh well can't win them all.  
    I finally got around to deciding which comics I would like to send down there, get signed and *pressed* especially Action Comics 600 issue, I think I have about 550 issues of that title OY! If it were not for this signature thing coming come my second batch would have likely consisted more of the action issues of the late 1980's.   The variant covers that Clayton Crain did are kinda of dark and from the videos I have watched having Dark/black grounds makes for harder grades.   Before making "WINDOW BAGS" for these comics, I decided to scan them so that I can remember what I sent down there cause,  who knows if everything goes according to plan. 
    When DC decided to create serious attraction between Diana and Clark *again*, I thought, good lord Really? I saw all this go down back in the 80's already! Darkseid was involved too! After the signatures are done, they are all going back into my PC.  
    Now as for my first set of comics that I sent out...CGC received them on Jan. 15 and first week in April CCS gave me a headsup with a credit charge that were in their eyesight and now this weekend trying to figure out where the best place to but the signature window on the comics.









  17. Etreiw

    First time sending a full cover wrap on a signature submission. :)

    By Etreiw,


    Sending down a full cover wrap to be slabbed.
    I don't recall of seeing alot of complete cover wraps on the comics that I have, in fact how I came across this one was trying to find the comics that have the least amount of spine ticks and etc to send down to get Mark Waid to sign on Nov. 11.  I know he had a long run on the Flash but the only time I read the Flash was when he was in the JLA series/Titans/ or crossover with Green Arrow/Green Lantern. As for other issues, I enjoyed the JLA mini-series that lead to the Grant Morrison run.   I read that mini-series too much I guess, too many spine ticks but the covers were awesome.   I enjoyed Kingdom Come as well as it's sequel.  Now I could have sent some of his current work aka Batman/Superman but I want to do the old stuff so I went with JLA Year One as well as The Brave and the Bold.  
    First Issue of JLA: Year One  is the wrap around cover and possible Platinum edition?  I put that down in the info.... if I am wrong about that oh well they can fix it right?  





  18. Etreiw
    When I sent my first package to CGC way back in early January, I had no idea how much things would change because of this pandemic.   Both Marvel and DC have canceled titles as well putting remaining issues of titles on digital format...which I don't do.  My comic pull list has decreased alot which is sad.  I find myself wondering which will be the next set of comic books that I will want to preserve a tad longer than just boarding/bagging them.  It has become a crazy world.  The following picture are the grade results.  I am happy with the grades, the one thing I am surprised was Superman 1, I thought for sure that it would come back as off-white pages because I thought the interior pages where somewhat similar to the yellow color on the title page but I was wrong, no problem with 9.6 with white pages.  I find it cool that my Birds of prey which was part of a mini-series ends up being the only 9.6 on the census hahahahaha.  The picture shows the before and after when my slab was register into the census.   Now the next set will be exciting because it will the signature signings coming back which will be sometime this summer maybe?? or fall?   I do expect some low grades on some of those comics because of the condition of the books, it is what it is. Catch you later.


  19. Etreiw
    Since the turn around at CGC has been very long, I have not sent any books to them because of it but next week is gonna be October.   So if I send them down in October maybe they will get a chance to look at them in December, har har har har.   I forgot that my Superman #4 was newstand edition, so I'm curious what Grade I will get outta that one.  As for Birds of Prey, I already sent the first 2 issues of the mini-series and got a 9.6 and a 9.8 so I'm curious what grades will be for the last 2.  I want to slab the specials and one-shots of Birds of Prey before I begin slabbing the first volume of Birds of Prey.  
    As for Wonder Woman, just dig the artwork and want to preserve the books.   
    I might send a 3rd set of books depends if I have space in my shipping box.  










  20. Etreiw

    What a 6.0 on a modern slab?!?! ;(

    By Etreiw,


    Slabbing old books
    My biggest regret was I should have taken a few pictures of the damage envelope inside the book, just to show how bent the envelope paper was and it was thicker than your typical comic paper.  Hell that type of envelope was also included in my 1st issue of my Superman and that one came back as a 9.6.   Oh well it is what it is.  
     
  22. Etreiw

    Signature Slabs by Howard Porter. Yay. :)

    By Etreiw,


    Signatures of Howard Porter
    It's been about 7 months since I had any reason to post in this particular journal.   This year I have yet to send any further old DC comic books down to get slabbed because my wallet says "NO! NOT YET....maybe by October you can."
    I could have got Howard Porter to sign some of my newer books he had recently done but the first time I came across his art was actually the JLA reboot back in 1997 and that JLA run was a fun run.  What a better way to start slabbing that particular run by getting a couple signatures from him.
    Next books though must be from the start of my collection, these signatures from various writers and artist became too much of a distraction.   I do have to chuckle with this set of slabs, one of them is registered to be the only one slabbed/signed, which is pretty sweet.
    Also if you squint at the video image you can see where Howard Porter signed. 
     
  23. Etreiw

    Can you spot the difference?

    By Etreiw,


    Slabbing Superman!
    First time this has occurred to me...it's always that risk of it happening, it had to have occurred after grading cause they sure would not grade it that high if it occurred before the grade process.  Oh well it is what it is.  Also that is why you always scan your covers before sending them out to any grading company.... Nice signature matches the color layout of the cover....


  24. Etreiw
    laughed in your face!  Funny thing is, back in the late eighties I had no interest in Green Lantern whatsoever because there was a whole corp out there in space that had the same power as this guy named Hal on earth, it wasn't till after the rebirth of Superman/destruction of Coast City as well as the destruction of the Green Lanterns that got me into reading Green Lantern aka the one and only Kyle Rayner!!!!!  I enjoyed reading his adventures and the process of how the other Lanterns came back but somewhere along the line DC messed up.  Here we are near the end of 2022 and there is not a regular running series of Green Lantern which is freakin nuts!   So when I saw that Ron Marz was gonna do a signature signing in November, I thought well what better way to start slabbing my large collection of Green Lantern  by starting where I jumped in head first.   Will any of the 4 be a 9.8???? All four of them are getting old sooo who knows maybe 9.4    Back in those days, I was lucky enough I guess to pick up 2 them as newstands yay me.