Nick Furious

I wonder if we might see a pattern emerge here where the broader scope mega-cons act as incubators for single-scope cons to emerge from. Maybe a Disney, Lego or Hasbro focused community becomes too large (and too intense) to be properly served at a multi-scope convention, causing those brands go off on their own. I wonder if they might be replaced by a lesser-known product or franchise that does benefit from the exposure to a multi-scope con audience.

That's just a function of demand. High admission prices are no more a threat to Convention promoters than high rents are a threat to landlords. They charge what the market will bear. If people feel they got their money's worth they will keep paying it.

A clever counterfeiter would add spine wear for sure to throw you off the scent but try to make it look like a pressable defect. An even more clever scammer would just call it trimmed and build a good story around that...both earning the buyers trust and throwing them off the scent at the same time.

To your point:

Started going through this old thread around 4th of July and just finally made it to the end. Well spent hours...very enjoyable. Almost makes me wish for an industry purge that would return fandom back towards the cozy and intimate level that it started off at. I hope all of you that posted in this thread are still healthy and still active in the hobby. I found it interesting that California, Texas and New York are well represented by fandom in the thread, but Florida is noticeably absent. Making it all the more intriguing that Florida would one day become the home of arguably the largest paradigm shift in the history of comic collecting...the third-party grading system.

In the early 80's the trending DC books were New Teen Titans and Warlord. Hot Marvel titles would have been more like X-men, Frank Millers DD, Moon Knight, ASM and eventually Secret Wars. Marvel books were just a lot more fun for most kids.

The solution is so simple and always has been. The money is spent and gone so it's not part of the equation. Those demanding their books back should get them back. In whatever condition or state of work they are in. Those willing to stick it out in hopes of getting the work they paid for should have that option. That's the two options available to you that you can offer your customers. It's really pretty simple, no need to make it all complex and convoluted. Your backlog of work will drop significantly just by sending books back to those who chose that option. Just give people the choice and quit trying to make the choice for them.

Running into guys like this is always kind of creepy. Makes you wish they didn't know your phone number or know that you have enough money to make these purchases. Makes you wonder what else they are capable of.

I once saw someone post online how they specifically did not like this cover. I was like "are you kidding me?". The first time I saw this cover it went onto my "must have" list. Finally bought one years later.

Grading has been around almost 25 years now and many of these books have changed hands enough times that someone has either slabbed it previously or decided not to for specific reasons. These days I treat any high dollar raw book as if there is something about it that makes it worth less in a slab. Exceptions being when buying from MCS or other trusted dealer that I have history with.

True, first 20 issues of silver age Flash came out a few years earlier than first 20 issues of Spider-Man. The difference in cost in same grade is probably at least 5X.

I think this is a great idea. Not completely fool-proof, but it should work a decent percentage of the time.

The way to handle this is to just say "The tracking shows the item delivered to the correct address. I need you to make it official by filing a claim with the Post Office before I will get involved". This will usually cause them to back off.

Do I see a small piece of tape on the back cover, or is that just the lighting?

I think it's funny (and a bit pathetic) that this guy is reduced to inviting people to his apartment to run game on them. It's like the internet scams for high dollar raw books are all played out and there's no more game there. So the only play left is to meet people in your home but don't let them inspect the books. That's going to end poorly.

So many possible replies come to mind. "Well actually, it's the chance I don't take."

Lesson should be: "I will not ask for advice online when advice is not what I seek".

Ebay just said it was past the deadline to request a refund, which it was. Seller offered to refund $100 even though it was past the deadline according to Ebay TOS. Buyer went to Paypal, who presumably ran it through Ebay, and Paypal offered $250 plus tax if he returned the book.

That's probably how the guy from Heritage figured out they were legit. Knowing that Stan could only lie, he probably asked him the double layered question "Stan, if I were to ask you if these books are your file copies, what would you say?" The lie about the lie revealed the truth! I have to admit, I'm blown away by the story told in the original thread. Stan invites the guy from Heritage to have a look at his storage, having no idea what's in there. The guy finds a box labeled #1's and Stan is like "Oh, that's where my file copies went! Lucky us!". And provenance is created in that moment. Shortly after we started Heritage's Comics division, we contacted Stan, and he invited me to come out and inspect his holdings. He told us that he had several storerooms worth of stuff (he admitted that even he didn't know what was in there), and that I was welcome to come out and see it for myself. If I thought there was anything of value, we could talk about his consigning that material to a future auction. I flew out to LA and met with Stan, and began the process of cataloging the storerooms. To be honest, the vast majority of the stuff he had was pretty mundane: lots of Marvel Masterworks, comp copies of more recent comics, lots of scrapbooks with fan mail, etc. But there were some gems. There was a box labeled "Number Ones," which contained the heart of what would become the first offerings of File Copies (FF #1, AF #15, ASM #1, etc.), along with several shelves of comics in various conditions.

As you should. Stan says "I don't know what's in there, have a look, if you find anything good maybe we can consign it". Woohoo, a box labeled Number 1's! And apparently that's how file copy provenance is determined?

Funny how Marvel Girl was perplexed by people staring at 4 costumes and a walking snowman. But then the guy with the laser-beam eyes reassures her that the bus fare had been paid.

The creators of Superman eventually followed up with Funnyman. We might be headed down the path of judging an artist by their worst day.

Someone in this thread mentioned Roy telling Kirby that his dialogue was lousy. I hope Roy wasn't the first person to tell him that. His friends weren't doing him any favors by holding back. Kirby's dialogue was typically lousy.

I'm not a Stan Lee fan, but my respect for him grows from reading this thread. He didn't have an original idea? He stole all his ideas from everyone else? Great! That just means he was a student of the business! He was able to observe and learn from others, understand his audience, and put the puzzle pieces together in a way that resulted in a successful product. The salesman who becomes a manager or sales trainer is not typically the best natural saleman...it's the guy who can learn from others, see what they are doing that works, and become a conduit for spreading those great ideas. The guy who manages a team of engineers is not typically there because he is the most naturally gifted engineer. It's because he works well with others, has leadership charisma, can see the bigger picture and bring all the individual pieces together. That's what Stan Lee seemingly brought to the table. He saw the whole forest, not just the individual trees.

This quote indicates that Stan Lee did in fact call up the writers with plots and high points...and left it to them to fill in the details of the story. Even saying "look, you know how the stories go" would indicate that in filling in the details they were working from his creative direction. That's why they would know how the stories go, because they knew what he wanted to deliver to the audience.