Qalyar

Very nice! Also, really nice copies there versus the beaters these tend to be. I've always been fascinated by the whole genre of British republication books, but it's never been in the cards for me to chase them personally. Definitely looking forward to your writeup on these. I'm especially interested in which, if any, are actually numbered in the indicia. In particular, there seem to be two styles of these books. Yours have the Streamline Pictorial Romance text off to the side, wherever they can find room (a couple like that actually gave up and placed a colored box behind the branding). The other style has an actual banner that includes the branding (and cover price, often on both sides). I've never seen a title come both ways; I suspect it's always one or the other. My guess -- and it's a total guess at this point -- is that the banner-style books are the only numbered ones, and Streamline viewed these as more or less one-offs under a shared "imprint", more or less.

My name does have very tricksy letters! So, I admit, I took GCD's count of 10 books on faith for that response two years back, and I really probably shouldn't have. GCD came to the conclusion that there are 10 books because they have information about books numbered 6 (My Fabulous Past) and 7 (They Called Me a Flirt), and therefore assumed the existence of books numbered 1 through 5 -- in addition to the three issues they're aware of without issue numbers at all. That's a terrible assumption, and I should have known better. Streamline viewed numbers more like suggestions than an orderly progression of integers that increased steadily from book to book. That said, I'm not entirely without my own information about these books; sadly, I do not currently own any of them myself. Regardless, I can confirm the existence of the following Streamline Pictorial Romance books: He Knew My Secret Honeymoon Without Love I Dared Not Love I Lied for Love * I Lived in Fear Long Distance Wife My Fabulous Past They Called Me a Flirt * Strictly speaking, I Lied For Love is advertised as a "68 Page Bumper Pictorial Romance", but both GCD and I consider that to be variant branding for a larger-than-usual book in the same "series". Frankly, to what extent this should be considered a series at all is debatable, as the various issues reprint utterly unrelated content from (so far as I know) various late 1940s Fox romance comics. Additionally, there is one more title that I believe to be a Streamline Pictorial Romance. I have never seen a copy of The Frightened Bride, but a copy was part of the Anne Renier collection, which she donated to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Based on my library searches, I believe that copy to be held in the museum's Blythe House Archive (with reference number 862.AA.0679). I am not certain whether arrangements can be made to examine it or have the cover imaged or whatnot. I am very, very far from London, so I'll leave that to others. Under the assumption that The Frightened Bride really is a Streamline Pictorial Romance, that brings our count to nine books, so the GCD's ten-book estimation is at least not very wrong, although how they got to that number is certainly sloppily ahistorical. In any case, If there's anyone in the world who has a more comprehensive list of these, it might be Michael Carroll, who has been on a years-long effort to catalog British comic publications. I know he keeps a very well-researched database, but it is not currently public. It might be worth reaching out to him to see if he's recorded any that I have not. Also, good luck to anyone trying to assemble a set of these. They're likely to be just a few dollars when they come up for sale, but having them come up for sale? Yeah, that's the tricky part.

Short version, as best as I can tell. The trailer that was supposed to move it from one part of Cali to another wasn't available when we expected it to be. The package didn't get correctly reprocessed to go out on the next one, though, and so more or less got left behind for... awhile. Customer service misinterpreted the available information and so a lot of time was wasted by having people look in the wrong place. Some of this was functionally unavoidable. I'd like to say that delays never happen, but delays do happen; it's reality. Obviously, we try to keep them to a minimum. But for detailed internal reasons, the failures here were sort of unusual, and I think customer service wasn't real familiar with what they were seeing in terms of messaging, so they got their messaging wrong and made things worse. We'll probably make some recommendations about process improvements there, because honestly this should have been fixed a lot sooner than it was.

Sigh. I was really happy to have intervened anonymously, but since you seem willing to stoke that into a conspiracy... I'm the board member who helped out here. I work for UPS Operational Excellence. I can't take credit for finding the package because I don't work in Operations and because that had actually already happened before I got involved. On the other hand, I did work out what was going on from the raw data involved, determine where bad information had been provided (and we're not blameless there, customer service gave some really, really bad information at times), and tried to ensure that nothing else went wrong. Unless something changes, it should deliver some time this evening. Hopefully without any further complications or damages. We'll see. Regardless, my workgroup makes proposals for process improvements; we'll definitely be taking a closer look at this whole sequence of events after the fact. What I can't do -- and why I was content to be an anonymous benefactor here -- is help everyone who has a problem. I just can't. This isn't the part of the company that I primarily work with, and I just do not have the time to intervene whenever someone here has a late or lost delivery (so please don't everyone DM me like I can). But I'm also not going to let the fact that I looked into this case to somehow snowball into suspicions against the person who deserves the most empathy here.

I like trying to provide fun facts about weird indies that turn up in collections like this. In this case, well... I don't have all that many fun facts about the indie titles pictured. Flowers on the Razorwire was a horror anthology that tried to be edgy and trangressive. Tried, in my opinion, a bit too hard, frankly. This is #2. Not a ton of market on these, but indie horror does better than other genres, all else being equal. Nightmark Blood and Honor was the third of three "Nightmark" titles from Alpha Productions, and the only one to go past #1 (you have #1 here). The series is about a detective who investigates the paranormal in New England in the 1930s. Writer Christopher Mills has had an okay career at various small publishers, and I believe is still the editor at Atomic Action. These are okay, although the art quality does the books no favors. For better or worse, probably really is dollar bin fodder. Phantom Force #0 was published after the title left Image for Genesis West. Jack Kirby and Jim Lee cover art, and some interior work by Kirby too. Somewhat challenging to find in high grade and probably a dollar bin book in that condition, but almost purely fodder for the Kirby or Lee completionist. Frank, published by Nemesis, was a vaguely interesting re-imagining of the Frankenstein story in the modern era, with an organized crime / police procedural background. I don't see a lot of these in high grades, but no one really seems to care about anything from Nemesis except the 1993 Ultraman series. Do note that this book -- Frank #4, the last issue of the miniseries -- was printed in two editions that differ mostly by cover price ($1.75 vs. $2.50). Killroy is Here interpretes the WWII "Killroy was here" graffiti as the sign of a supernatural agent of vengeance. Sort of Caliber's take on the Specter. This is the #0 issue. Like most Caliber stuff that's not Crow, FMV is minimal. But like pretty much everything from Caliber that used the color black on the cover, this is really really tough to find in high grades, if anyone ever cares. Mangazine was Antarctic Press's anime- and manga-fandom magazine. There are a few issues in the very long run that are actually important for various reasons (v2 #11 comes to mind as the first appearance of Fred Perry's Gold Digger). This is v2 #33, with the cover story about the, ahem, "controversial" Legend of the Overfiend. But I don't know if there's any real collector interest in this title outside of the handful of books where otherwise significant characters appear. Spider-Femme 2088 was a spoof comic by, well, Spoof Comics, a publisher who did nothing else. I don't consider any of the Spoof books to be really dollar box fodder, they're weird enough to attract attention.

Is that color loss along the back cover spine, especially near the top, then especially about 2/3 of the way down, and then again near the bottom edge? I'm not convinced those white dots aren't just scanning/imaging artifacts. If those are real, that's a lot of area with some degree of color loss, and I think the graders might hammer you on it. Comparatively minor defects with a large area tend to be "scored" harshly, even compared to a tiny, but more serious, flaw. Assuming that's an actual problem, I'm maybe gonna lowball here and say 9.0/9.2.

No Goon included, but I don't feel this one's off topic. One of the relatively few non-Goon covers Eric Powell has done was this Baltimore Comic-Con exclusive Labyrinth variant. Unsurprisingly, I think he pretty much nailed it.

Wow, that's crazy. Was this from a LCS or a private owner or some weird place that wouldn't have been expected to have these in the first place? Condition looks pretty good eyeballing those pics; 32 has what looks like a NCB crease at bottom-left that would almost certainly press out. FMV-wise, the final issue is of course the real winner, but frankly the whole run is harder to find than a lot of people would expect. It's also pretty awesome.

Honestly, I posted the (in)famous pommel horse fight scene, which is definitely "so bad its good". The rest of the film, much of which ostensibly contains acting, is a less pleasant watching experience.

This thread needs more Gymkata. "Martial arts" expert versus ninjas in eastern Europe. Except for all of those things, really.

Congrats on that book. I was aware it existed, but I've never seen one. That's the sort of item where you probably only have the one chance to snag it. Sharp looking copy, too.

I've read everything in my collection. Not necessarily every copy in my collection, mind you. But I don't own any books where I'm unfamiliar with the interior. Indeed, for nearly all my permanent personal collection, I have unslabbed undercopies and/or collected editions so that I can continue to read the books I enjoy. I do not consider this in any way incompatible with having a high-grade slabbed collection, and appreciating those copies for their condition even if I do not plan to sell them. As for the main topic, I think the subset of Modern books that will be high-value items 25 years from now is small, but far from zero, but that's true of most books. It remains to be seen how the low-print variants (especially stuff like high-ratio incentives and store exclusives) hold up in the marketplace over the long-term. But there are definitely books that are going to still be valuable. Things like UF4, Saga, Canto, etc. aren't likely to go away. Other books may see their demand emerge as new content happens over the coming years; that's how it's always worked. The rest of the books will be fodder for run collectors (which isn't anything new; Hulk 183 isn't much of a value book, for example, despite what came before...).

This shouldn't really be complicated. If you have an error copy, you submit it as the error (and claim the appropriate replacement value), if for no other reason to protect yourself in case of loss in transit. If it's not the error, you should not submit it as the error. There's not really a lot of calculus there; you should always submit books to CGC as whatever they actually are. You seem unconvinced as to whether your book is the error or not. The Lethal Protector black error is pretty visually distinctive. There are some ways to produce counterfeit copies, but most of those tend to be pretty obvious, because they don't actually look that much like legitimate ones. This isn't a case where you have to determine the weight of the paper used to identify the printing (as with at least a couple undergrounds) or examine fine details of print quality (as with... I don't know, the Cry for Dawn counterfeits, or something), or straight-up consult a Ouija board (as with Eerie #1, which CGC won't even attempt to authenticate). It's not a special case. Many people on this board have handled copies of this error before and are quite familiar with how it appears. That's why you were asked to share pics. From what you've posted, though, your primary motivation in asking seems to be coming up with a way that you can submit this book with the intent of getting it slabbed as the error, without paying the higher tier of processing that the value of the error would demand. No one is going to help you do that. And, for that matter, CGC won't allow that either; if you have an error copy and try to lowball your submission by claiming it's the normal book, CGC can (and, assuming this is the error, will) charge you what you should have paid had you submitted it correctly. Furthermore, you open yourself up to considerable risk of loss doing that; conceivably, if you mislabel your submission and the book is damaged, lost, or destroyed in transit, you've opened yourself to being "made whole" merely with a copy of the normal book, because that's what you claimed you had. So, again, don't do that. If only there were some way that others could help you confirm what it is you have...

CGC does what it'll do, but I don't think I would expect a 9.8 here. It's tough to tell what's going on in some of these pics without an overall shot for context, and with the reflection of the bag (the last two pics, in particular), but if nothing else, I think that funky FCUL corner is pretty suspect, as is whatever corner you're showing in the first pic. They might consider the FCUL a bindery defect and let it pass, but in general I'll say that I've had nicer looking corners on 9.6 books.

Wait, his attorney sent you emails last April when he was claiming they were stolen?? I ... would be very interested in, first, confirming those messages are from an actual, practicing attorney. Then, if they are, I would consider sending said attorney a politely worded letter including the full record of communication, wherein you point out that his client agreed on a reimbursement value to make you whole for his negligent action, and is now attempting to break that agreement also. You should nicely suggest that, if you are not made appropriately whole, you will be required to "contemplate other action". If you got emails from an "attorney" that isn't actually, you know, an attorney, that's a different kettle of fish entirely. I hate to even suggest that's a possibility here, but... well... Do your own due diligence here. There's no way that I would be willing to accept goods of equitable value (e.g., other slabs) from this guy at this point, because frankly, nothing in this timeline instills very much trust. YMMV, of course.

This is absolutely fantastic work, and is the sort of thorough specialist-level investigation that I'd love to see more of.

Huh. Well, I stand corrected. I think I've only ever owned books with those big chonky black stamps. So yeah, when you assume... haha! I still think that's sun fade though.

I agree that the line across the Avengers book here was the result of a window muntin. Reflected light from the precise angles involved (or window glass imperfections) is probably responsible for the weird waviness near Vision. One of the big clues, in my mind, to this being sun fade and not defective plate wiping is the Thorpe & Porter pence stamp. These were pretty much always done in black ink, but the sort of ink used for inkstamps isn't anywhere near as sun-stable as the black ink used for comics printing. Accordingly, with the upper right getting some of the worst of the sun on this book, the T&P stamp now appears more like a blue-purple rather than the presumably original black. That Strange Mysteries is, um, a strange mystery. The bit at the left was clearly something written on the bag, like with a marker, but I have no idea how this poor comic would have had typeface text shielding the upper middle from the sun. I can't quite make out what I think that text says either, though I think it starts with an S up there between the title letters.

I have a thing for obscure books. Arrived today, here's one that's way more obscure than most. Teeny Titans was a mobile game, sort of like knockoff Pokemon with DC characters, released in 2016. It was also something of a parody of the toys-to-life fad (Skylanders, Lego Dimensions, etc). Along with the game, DC produced a promotional comic -- also called Teeny Titans -- for digital distribution. It's very much a Teen Titans Go! product, with the Teen Titans discovering Teeny Titans in-universe (where it is a toys-to-life game), and rushing off to collect figurines of themselves to play with. DC's digital comics portal still has it available to read online. What the DC website won't tell you is that this comic wasn't only released for digital distribution. DC printed a very small number of physical copies. To the best of my knowledge (and general consensus online), these were exclusively distributed at SDCC 2016 to attendees of the Teen Titans Go! panel (10:15 - 11:15 on Thursday, July 21). Also of note, the scheduling blurb for that panel didn't make any mention that there would be a comic book distributed; it was solely advertised as a "Video Presentation and Q&A" about the Teen Titans Go! cartoon (with producers and voice cast members on the panel). So there was no particular reason for comic book collectors to attend, unless they also happened to be fans of the cartoon with an open convention slot on Thursday morning. SDCC records show 653 registered attendees for that panel. Even if they all attended (unlikely), and even if everyone who attended got a copy of the promo comic, it's a fair bet that most of the attendees paid little heed to what they likely viewed as merely an advertisement for a mobile game they were probably mostly uninterested in. Most copies probably didn't survive much past the convention. It's a safe bet that there are fewer than 500 copies of Teeny Titans in circulation, and given its near-total absence from the secondary markets, I'm willing to bet that there's a lot less than that. In fact, most discussions of the book online don't even use an image of the actual, physical comic! As far as I'm aware, all physical copies have the blue "Teeny Titans mobile game available now" sticker on the cover at bottom-left; images without that sticker are taken from the digital edition. So, here it is. It's (probably) not Twisted Metal 2 levels of rarity, but it's certainly one of the most elusive modern DC promos. Doubly so for one that features major DC characters in any form.

One of these days I should post some pictures of what my local dollar boxes look like. They're a different sort of "adventure".

I'll second that all the 32+ issues are scarce, especially the last book. The only real challenge for the early issues, including #1, is finding them in high grade.

Promethea was a pretty fantastic series. And I'm 100% jealous of people who pull copies of #32 (or 1, or 31, for that matter) from unsuspecting dollar bins. Needless to say, that book is worth a lot more than a buck.

I think that might very well be moisture damage. 3.5ish.

You can probably snag a reader copy of the normal version for the $15-20 range with a little patience. There are always a bunch on eBay for $50+ but I don't really believe this book is worth that No idea what FMV would be for the promo cover; I may eventually sell my undercopies once I have one I'm happy with for the permanent PC.

First three printings, in fact (NO HRN, HRN 17, HRN 20), all with the "Classic Comics" title. When they reprinted this after the switch to "Classics Illustrated", someone apparently actually paid attention to the art! As for the genie deal, I don't think there's anything in the proposal that would stop you from rebuilding your collection. You're not limited to one book forever, you just have to trade your entire current collection for one book (which you must then keep until death, etc.). Anyway, no deal from me. A couple of years ago, I might have gone for it, but I've since picked up too many weird chase pieces that I'm not guaranteed to be able to replace. And, frankly, nothing that I want for my personal collection will be 6- or 7-digit books anyway. So patience wins out over pesky genies.