Aman619

yes.  he knew he had some power.. but remember at that Peter Paul moment, Stan had NOTHING.  Avi and Ike kicked him out with everyone else!. They let him market himself and Stan Lee Media as a sop to make the ouster stick.  Meaning he was allowed to promote himself with character images.

Stan never thought he had an ownership of the characters.  but later on as ownership became a thing and lawsuits were being filed as the characters graduated from print to the movies, sure his people thought it was worth a shot like all the rest to assert a claim.  As an employer at Marvel he couldn't use the work for hire approach, but after bankruptcy in negotiation for an exit package and ongoing package, he did and had success.  But He always said he wished he could have bought Marvel in the late 60s , but his meagre attempts never came to gather as the owners wanted cash from bigger businesses over a less lucrative or long payout with a Stan group.

On 2/22/2024 at 9:58 PM, Prince Namor said:

In the Fireside book, Stan lays out 'his' version of the state of comics (he makes it sound as if the whole industry was in ruins - DC, Archie and Dell were killing it at the time) and then how his wife gave him the idea to 'do a comic HIS way' and then Martin wanted a superhero team and told Stan to put it together, and then... "It was natural for me to choose Jack Kirby to draw the new superhero book that we would soon produce."

Stan is claiming he came up with the idea. He chose Jack to draw it.

Yes, in specific terms he didn't 'claim ownership'. Goodman and Kirby were still alive at the time. He did it under handed the same way as he got rid of Goodman's son Chip at Marvel.

The same as he is laying the groundwork for sole creator status by the way he words the 'origin'.

Stan's goal from the 50's - and he thought he'd have to get there through newspaper strips - was to find an artist to latch onto - get popular, like Denis the Menace or Casper the Friendly Ghost (two he copied) - and ride it out. He saw the creativity Jack brought and latched on as the 'writer'.

(Stan also lies and says he and Jack were doing the Monster books together. Not one single Jack Kirby monster story from that era has Stan's signature on it - and Stan signed everything he did, including Paper Doll pages in Patsy Walker)

Yes, facts do frustrate those who can't handle the truth.

I can't ignore facts added to the discussion that you don't make.

 

Id just like to add when speaking about Stan Lee Media that in my experience you have:  it backward when describing Stan as having engineered that whole thing to his benefit.  As if HE were pulling the strings.  Peter Paul was hanging around Stan for years, introducing him to people in Hollywood/LA, getting him out with people, politicians etc.  Stan's office wall at Saban had press photos of his public appearances (not comic conventions stuff)  When Marvel went bust Paul had his shot and egged Stan into a partnership, and worked out the stuff regarding converting a penny stock public company, and floating Stan's "ownership" of the characters as collateral. Paul's plan was to put it out there, reap the press to sell SLM shares based on the "Creator of Marvel". As usual Stan was led by the nose (willingly of course) into this grand second act.  And it worked!! far better than Paul had ever imagined! Somehow with nothing more than the hype of "Stan Lee NOW on the inter webs!!" was quickly worth MORE than Marvel for a brief period of time before it all fell apart because there was nothing there!  No comics, no characters anyone knew or cared about, and no breakthrough multimedia content...  just internet 1.0 Hype devised by Paul and energetically as usual marketed by Stan. 

So many people want Stan to have been an evil genius... when he was just a guy striving in a low rent industry that became the face of the company and took too much credit. 

On 2/20/2024 at 10:29 PM, shadroch said:

The Pass the Buck management system only works in D.C.

I must ask- what do you suppose the duties of a division president should be? Forget his title. Let us call him the CGC Manager. 

What do you think his responsibility should be and when should he be blamed?  A scandal occurred under his watch. Then two employees are caught stealing.  I heard about an interesting saga about a mechanical error in a book described as the first Japanese language, Spiderman.   I've invited the owner to come tell his story but I'm not sure he will. 

Not sure this is a pass the buck situation.... That would be Matt passing the buck and blame on others.  Havent heard anything like that.   Look, I dont work there, but from my interactions with them etc I am confident as to what Im saying.  Matt doesnt do the hiring, or set up the already installed grading process or the regrading operations, and management understands this and there's no upside for them to castigate, chasten berate or fire him given all the other things he does for the company. He's a creator for them, lives and breathes comics for decades, and markets CGC very well.  He's NOT walking the halls with a clipboard checking on people and processes...  It's a ridiculous suggestion that he be taken to the woodshed given how the company operates.   Titles are just tiles and mean different things in different companies. We cant just say that the "President" is responsible because he holds the title.  I think we'd just as easily fault SGC for firing Matt for this as you are faulting them for NOT pinning the blame on him personally because "he is president" of that division.

On 2/20/2024 at 1:03 PM, thehumantorch said:

Exactly.  Matt is in charge and ultimately responsible for everything that happens at CGC.

sorry, I didnt mean to reply twice to same post. I clicked QUOTE 1 post on same post by mistake.. I thought I was replying to this post.

In a sense, sure, thats the way it wrks in many companies! Assuming that person truly has messed up and failed to do the job he was assigned.  But in many companies you can be VP, President etc, and there are PLENTY of thongs that can go wrong that dont cost you your job, or are even considered your fault just because you have a title of "president".  Plenty of companies use titles in different ways within their organization... and in this case it THEIR responsibility to clean up this mess.

Of course now that these flaws have ben discovered, if the President of CGC going forward fails to follow the new rules put in place, well, good luck. 

.

On 2/20/2024 at 11:54 AM, shadroch said:

"The buck stops here."    A simple philosophy every good leader understands. 

 

That was a famous saying from the man at the tip top of the endeavor, the President of the USA.   And it was a dont worry I got this political stance to say all is good and hes on top of it all, not hiding behind others mistakes.   Not even remotely the same as Matt Nelson as President of CGC as SGC operates their divisions.

On 2/20/2024 at 11:54 AM, shadroch said:

"The buck stops here."    A simple philosophy every good leader understands. 

 

If you are saying that the buck stops at Matts desk? ... not even remotely true.  gimme a break.

On 2/19/2024 at 12:18 PM, lou_fine said:

If Matt is not at least partially responsible for the operational running of CGC as the head hocho there, then who is?  

Not sure if I am correct here, but I see Matt as being much more of a "working President" as opposed to a "suits President" or more like a COO type in terms of his role at CGC.  As such, I believe he would have a lot of say in how the process is run and how security sytems are implemented including things such as chain of custody of books throughout the whole process.  

If the head honcho of CGC is not at least involved in these making these decisions, then I don't see who is because it shouldn't be anybody lower than him and I don't believe the "suits" upstairs would have the same level of detailed knowledge with respect to the operations and actual running of CGC that Matt would have.  

Id say your are partially correct in that when issues of CGC handling of books while graded are discovered to have been susceptible to fraud and/or bad actors, yes, they go to Matt when looking for assistance in fixing it.  But Matt came along after 15 Years of SGCs grading mechanism were in effect.  He wasn't hired to make changes to it unless and until they needed his input.  And sure, if Matt discovered a flaw in the system he'd offer solutions when reporting it up the chain of command. Same as he would to speed the system, grading, grading notes and census issues he may feel could be better.

But in my mind, he's not responsible for existing opportunities that no-one else at SGC has envisioned could someday be exploited, which is what has happened this year.  He didnt create the systems! Nor was he promoted to test them for vulnerabilities.  How would he be responsible for flaws in them?

On 2/17/2024 at 11:29 AM, shadroch said:

There are any number of reasons why "Suits" run organizations even when people more familiar with the product work for the company, and why CEOs and Presidents are let go when things go badly.                                    

sure, but that isn't happening here... The errors here were never under Matt's scope or control.

video says he has insurance... but insurance companies dont insure storage facilities, do they?  Maybe he said that BEFOARE he spoke with them and found out he wasn't covered...  Pretty big storage room though!  nice

or twice as much!  scarce foreign VARIANT!  nowadays it can go either way.  

It was down to earth, except I guess for the guy running around at night with a gas gun and gas mask catching bad guys.  I dont recall too many plots but his relationship with his girlfriend and the mysteries he solved were entertaining month after month.

I bought and sampled most of the Vertigo series the first x years.  The good stuff was great! Especially early on... but as more and more series came out they just weren't my cup of tea.  But of the titles not yet mentioned, I particularly liked Animal Man, Sandman Mystery Theatre. And Chiaroscuro was great and so was Enigma.  I really thought the art by Duncan Fegredo was amazing.  I thought he'd be very popular.   

"CGC needs to do better. A lot better at leaving no opportunity for error, misuse, or failure."

sure. OK. Why is that a CGC problem? Tell every business that too. They you and everyone in business understand that reality: keep messing up and you risk failure. CGC may have an edge over you me and the mom and pop businesses or whatever, given their market dominance, but thats no guarantee to continue if they dont take care of business, every day. Nothing lasts forever.

But your statement as written,  I agree with you.  It's up to them to maintain our trust.  And on them if they fail through efforts to be better, or through negligence if they feel impervious to errors.  I for one feel they have a healthy handle on their role and business to keep going and tightening up. 

It’s weird so many think that a the title as President of only one of many separate divisions of a larger endeavor (that performs the same functions for the clients of each of the collectibles they grade and slab ) would or should be responsible for all aspects of his particular specialty. Like how and where to store or access client books. Or setting up his OWN methods for these things differently from the other collectibles. Matt has been at CGC for like 10 years. It was set up and run for ten years before he got there. They trust him to be head grader, oversee pressing, the Pedigree efforts, create new holders, launch more slab hobbies as well as numerous marketing efforts. etc   

My point is that if CCG has problems with their in-house systems etc  it will and has always been addressed at higher levels as a coordinated effort than the honorary title of “President” of ONE of CCGs many divisions is tasked with. Matt is a comics guy, not a suit. The suits are tasked with making changes necessary to prevent these abuses based on division heads’ input. There will always be some seeking to game the system. It’s how you deal with these things. No system will ever be foolproof. 

I know this is a chatboard and we can write what we want and vent and complain and scream bloody murder. But golly, I just shake my head reading so many comments here when these issues arise. 

….and they’re off!

… wait for it….. 

here's a synopsis of the story:   Jimmy drinks a potions my a "scientist" and gets super speed.

https://comicsarcheology.com/index.php/2020/07/29/jimmy-olsen-15/

what's more important here maybe is Jimmy Olsen with the powers of The Flash published in the same month Showcase 4 appears.  Superspeed tryout ? Infections bullpen gossip, where one editor uses an idea going on elsewhere in the office?  (or were the editors of Showcase also Jimmy's editor at that time?

I feel like Im going blind from these pics!!  

Don’t kid yourself.  They definitely think of them as six figure pieces!   But I think I know what you are saying…

On 1/10/2024 at 3:27 PM, gunsmokin said:

looks like the exact same copy sold by the same seller in November for a heck of a lot more...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/375066327886?hash=item5753b1fb4e:g:fAwAAOSwOzllWbAj&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA0NfFn19oeIDQcuRJlnSFmIV02FCmtSAh1tFYj63L%2F9sKAVngi2k86OIbuD5CHpFPl1XAuJMV1tZI3P5lxfpGGJbuDCrHCk8CWtK8FAGJKYwkH9KT1he%2F3pIvPolbTX8Dc8RCQ6BH6uLxgb9Md7LFqjE3vuAiRB4Gu3FeZ%2BfuWnEfswS8oifNCDdtjXwLHvm1rCP7ZR1iWVEU5vN1DsiamWsbgumHtdt%2Ba9iKuYP9sL9hJlVx9219HDWa3son2lHAy1MkUXt6i3Bsa%2FRioSa3KYk%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR7CS2dCeYw

doesn't look like a match... note distance from right edge of the green blurb banner.  much wider on the copy supposedly trimmed.  and points of the burst below get cropped too

On 1/9/2024 at 8:46 PM, SalmonAssassin said:

Welp, I took a gamble on eBay and bought a NM Fantastic Four 36. It came trimmed. The book itself looks amazing though. Should I still submit to CGC or get a refund? I paid 1k for the book. 
 

Thank you for any and all advice/help. 

are you sure?  I looked at a quick search of other copies and you're not missing anything more than a misaligned original trim... 

When the millennials and gen xers and the rest inherit their boomer parents money it will be like 2020 covid all over again.  Free Money to burn!