rich_TMNT

19 hours ago, mmmkam said:

Does CGC automatically give Turtlemania Silver (and gold for that matter) a green label for un-witnessed signatures on the back?  I just submitted one and was wondering since the census listed most as green qualified except for a couple copies of silver.

9 hours ago, Callaway29 said:

Not a CGC power user, but believe it’s whatever you request. If you ask for green they will grade as if the sigs weren’t there, if you ask for blue they will knock the grade for the sigs/writing. Is my understanding...most probably ask for green considering the nature of the book. I think I’d prefer blue though...

8 hours ago, Parabellum said:

The green label doesn’t detract from its value (IMHO) as far as turtlemania is concerned.

@mmmkam the Turtlemania Silver should come back with a Green Qualified label, unless as @Callaway29 stated, you request the blue.  My one Silver came back with Green Qualified as I didn't request anything specific.  My other Silver is CGC SS as I had Kevin Eastman sign it at a show so it has the Yellow CGC SS label.

Totally agree @Parabellum, the Green label doesn't detract from these Turtlemania Silver (and Gold) books.  

And, while we're on the Turtlemania topic...I'm now the proud owner of the little-known Hand-Colored edition of Turtlemania Special.  Thanks to fellow collector @ChrisFB for this !! 

On 2/7/2018 at 6:26 AM, Parabellum said:

Beware!  Counterfeit copies of Gobbledygook 1 and 2 for sale on EBay.

https://m.ebay.com/itm/Gobbledygook-1-and-2-MINT-SIGNED-/292439660633

I messaged the seller.  Let’s see how he responds.

I ended up buying this set of counterfeits as they are such cool pieces of Turtles history.  After we all contacted him telling him they were fake, he relisted them as "I was told these were fake but nice to have" a few days later.  In messages with him, he kept telling me the guy he bought them from years ago told him they were real.  I sent him some freely available Google search info. re: these and I even linked him to copies of the real things on my site. I felt bad for him because it sounded like he needed the money and he was just disappointed to not get the value from them that he thought he would.

This is my second set of yellow counterfeits...the first of which I bought years and years ago when I (and most everyone) thought they were the real thing (as @Turtle mentioned earlier).  Interestingly, my first set has matching numbers (#220 of 500 - meaningless, of course) but this set I just bought has different numbers between 1 (#213 of 500) and 2 (#206 of 500).  I've always been intrigued by sets of these sold together that have different numbers.  You'd think a set of them that someone had for a long time would have matching numbers.  I still wonder if there are copies out there with duplicated hand-numbering (i.e., two copies of #1 that are hand-numbered e.g., '#213 of 500')...that would be just another oddity adding to the intrigue on these.  

On 3/11/2018 at 12:01 PM, oakman29 said:

I sure would like to find a counterfeit TMNT1. To add to my set of #1's 

Me too!  I have been looking a long time for one.  I actually figured it would be easier to acquire than it has been.  

On 3/26/2018 at 4:23 PM, woregul said:

Wow. That is interesting as the seller is not the person I sold it to. Good luck to the seller and any buyers from here on the boards.

 

On 3/26/2018 at 6:47 PM, woregul said:

I got a response. Looks like it is staying off the market for now. The seller did buy it from the guy I had sold my copy to a while back. 

Re: Turtlemania Gold #6... it's crazy that it's changed hands now twice after you had it @woregul.  I suppose it gives me a bit of hope when one of these does seem to come up for sale every year or so...but, having the auction taken down was just a tease.  I was really hoping to finally land this thing...

57 minutes ago, Icculus308win said:

Love your site! Such a great resource and fun to look at it!!

Thanks!  That's awesome!  I love that my collection is available to the public.  I always felt so bad that my years of collecting was just stored away and known only to me.    

55 minutes ago, Icculus308win said:

Does anyone have any recommendations for mylar or mylite bags for TMNT 1-4? Or even any good poly bags that fit correctly?

 

With the TMNT #73 project I used Mylites-4 bags with Full-Back boards (both Standard Size).  They are kind of expensive but these bags and boards are fantastic and I think they'd be great for #1-4.  The size you'd need for the Mylites would be the "Magazine & Letter" which measure 8.75" x 11.5" and the Full-Back would be the "Magazine" size which measures 8.25" x 10.5".  Both are available on Amazon.

26 minutes ago, SpideyFein said:

Thanks man. It sounds really neat. You have to applaud guys like that. Taking what they love and putting it into something formidable. 

Yep, what @Turtle said (re: TMNT: Origin).  And as for my site and collection, I sure do appreciate your compliments about it.  I've collected Turtles comics for over 30 years and it is a fantastic hobby...can't imagine life without Turtles!  Just fun to be able to have my entire collection viewable in that way...for years it was just stored away and even I didn't know all I had.  

13 hours ago, SpideyFein said:

Thanks for posting this Adam. Rich, I had no idea this was your site! I've looked at it periodically for some time. Great work and a big thanks, from all of us. There's a lot of turtle love on there. Are these all of your books? 

Also, if you ever do another Lawson private signing/sketching, I'd definitely be interested. He really puts some much into his art. 

Yep, that's my site and I'm so glad you use it.  That's what I created it for - keeping track of everything I have (and to showcase it all - seemed a shame to keep it all stored away privately).  And yes, everything under "The Collection" portion of the site is mine and personally owned by me.  Pretty much the only thing I'm missing is Turtlemania Gold...tough book to get.  Hopefully the way I have the site set up makes it good for researching the Turtles comics.  Appreciate your compliments...I really do.  

Might do another variant at some point.  Will for sure announce it at widely as possible if I do.  Now that #73 is complete, next up is handling the distribution of Andrew's TMNT: Origin when that gets published this year.

@Turtle, thanks for the shout-out on this.  @Subby1938, please let me know if you have any questions about finding what you're looking for.  On the Blog portion of my site I keep track of all variants for the current IDW Turtles books.  Conversely, my collection itself is the historical record of all TMNT comic books, variants, etc. that have ever been published.  Since it appears you're looking specifically for TMNT #1 (IDW) variant covers, here's an easy link for you to the #1 variants.  

Hi everyone.  I'm planning to create a variant cover for TMNT #73 (Aug. 2017) to celebrate TMNT, Vol. V (IDW) becoming the longest-running TMNT title ever!  This cover will be drawn by a Mirage-era artist and will be limited in quantity.  If this is something you'd be interested in, I've launched a 30-day Kickstarter campaign to get things rolling.  There are multiple tiers of backing options available (starting at $10 USD) and every tier includes at least one copy of this variant cover when released.  If you're a Turtles comic book collector / fan, a regular visitor to my website TMNT: A Collection (tmnt-ninjaturtles.com), or just interested in backing a cool project, head on over to Kickstarter and help me make it happen.  Your support is greatly appreciated.  Thank you!

Very cool  set of amazing books!  I'll be on the lookout for some of these this summer.  But if you want to sell that Gold prior to then, definitely hit me up.    Make sure to post back here when these are scheduled to go up on ComicLink. 

Also, curious what that light yellow book is in the lower right.  I don't recall seeing that posted before.

This is hilarious.

 

I sold this last week for $50....a day after they received it they listed it for $500!! HAHAHAH...too bad they will probably never get more than $50 for it

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/TMNT-51-Oct-2015-IDW-CGC-9-8-NM-MT-SS-Steve-Lavigne-Casey-Jones-Sketch-Cover-/252752805548?hash=item3ad93dbeac:g:dckAAOSw241Yk894

Yeah, not sure what makes it a $500 book in their eyes. Very cool, but like you said, I can't imagine it's gonna sell for much over what they bought it for.

It is hard to know exactly why #29 is more rare (or seen that way) but I think it has something to do with #29 being released almost 2 years after #28. A gap of that length plus the distribution being handled outside of Diamond likely led to some readers or fans just not knowing the book came out. By the time they did realize it was out, there was probably little supply remaining. But, that's just my theory.

 

If 29-32 all had print runs of 1000, where are all the 29's? You see 30 sometimes, and 31/32 often. Did someone hoard the 29's? Really strange.

Actually, I do think many people bought multiple copies of #29 when it came out which is another contributing factor to it being so scarce. I bought multiples and I know others that did as well. At the time, I think many of us were under the impression it could be the last issue we'd ever see from Laird since it took him so long to get this one published. #30 took him another year or so to publish and then right after that he sold the Turtles to Viacom.

So, probably multiple factors vs. one single factor which caused this to be so rare.

 

#29 was mail order only. Was/is really hard to get if you didn't order it.

 

Right, but weren't 30-32 as well? I'm just wondering why 30-32 can be had for $30-$100, but 29 is darn near impossible to find, and seemingly $700+ now.

 

I suppose 29 was the "last" of the series at the time and perhaps just sits in set collector's hands? From what I've read Volume 4 wasn't particularly popular, and was only selling ~4,000 comics each release, so I don't think it was because of demand.

 

I haven't been able to find any answers, but it is funny looking at old threads and seeing people complain about the $10 price at the time!

 

Just wondering if I am missing something! Congrats to those who own one!

It is hard to know exactly why #29 is more rare (or seen that way) but I think it has something to do with #29 being released almost 2 years after #28. A gap of that length plus the distribution being handled outside of Diamond likely led to some readers or fans just not knowing the book came out. By the time they did realize it was out, there was probably little supply remaining. But, that's just my theory.

These arrived in the mail today

Merry Christmas to you ! Sweet.

He listed a few more last night. He probably has a decent stash, but is aware of the market and realizes he should sell them very slowly--just when he wants some quick cash. (Like right before X-mas maybe?) I have a decent stack of a pretty rare baseball card of a player who has some hardcore collectors and I do the same thing, I only sell maybe 1 a year, otherwise the "value" would plummet.

 

If there is something I see listed on eBay that I have been searching forever for, the first thing I do is message the seller immediately and ask what their best price is, and that I'd be willing to go directly through PayPal if needed. Saves me money, saves the seller on fees! I'd say ~80% of the time I'm successful at working out some sort of deal to buy it immediately (whether on eBay or PayPal).

 

If it's something you want bad, message the seller immediately!

I think he only has/had the 7 iron-ons he originally listed and these 4 currently listed are the same that didn't sell the other day.

What you describe above isn't a cool practice at all and, so you know, it's in complete violation of the eBay user agreements for both buyers and sellers. You're free to do what you want but I don't agree at all with this approach of contacting sellers privately and asking them to sell outside of eBay. In my opinion it's shady and not right. That's the point I've been trying to make with Steve listing and then taking down the 3 items most of us really wanted. I have no proof what he did with them but it's pretty likely he was contacted and sold off eBay....in violation of the eBay agreements.

Some of the iron-ons are back for those interested:

 

coopjacko items

 

Yep, saw those. Not the ones I need though. Would like to know who snagged the Fugitoid, Mikey, and Don. Couldn't believe he didn't let the public bid on those and just pulled them.

 

I like Steve & Dee, but this does seem to be their MO for ebay sales. I've seen quite a few items I'd have liked to bid on get pulled early.

It seems counter-productive to me to advertise them on FB and then pull or sell them before seeing if anyone even bids on it for what he's asking. That is, unless someone offered him more than what he was originally asking...which is possible (even likely). But still, those 3 were mega-rare...I think at least a few would have bid those up at least higher than original asking. They were pricey but the longer I thought about them the more I wanted them.

Additionally, only putting them up for a 1 day listing seems weird too. A 7 day auction would give much better visibility and more time for word to spread about them in the collecting community.

Some of the iron-ons are back for those interested:

 

coopjacko items

Yep, saw those. Not the ones I need though. Would like to know who snagged the Fugitoid, Mikey, and Don. Couldn't believe he didn't let the public bid on those and just pulled them.

Nice b-day present!

Thanks for nice words Rich. I didn't take pics unfortunately it didn't cross my mind at the time silly me. There is another book as rare as this called the ten pennie funnies it's a little mini comic it's truly a rare item as well. I was happy to land a copy last year also.

Definitely great early items for Peter's artwork. Great investments as well. Congrats again.

That's a really cool book. Love the staples in the cover...that's a truly home-made book! One of my Gobbledygook sets has staples in the cover like this. Congrats on picking this up.

Were you able to get pics of the interior pages before getting it slabbed?

eBay seller coopjacko aka Steve Lavigne has several iron-on's in one day auctions if anyone is interested. Here is my favorite one:

 

tmnt iron-on

 

Fugitoid iron on does exist! First I've ever seen one.

First I've seen (or even known about) Fugitoid and the Turtles logo with blood/red on it.

Would love to grab some of these but alas...too pricey.

EDIT: And...the 3 I had my eye on (Fugitoid, Donatello, and Michaelangelo) have now ended early with no buyer. My guess is someone contacted Steve and made a deal off-eBay. Should have done so myself....oh well

Very cool ! Kevin and team are really great people.

Has anyone ordered directly from Mirage recently? There are quite a few back issues available but due to "ramping down" they mention shipping may take 4-8 weeks which is pretty long. Just wondering if it does indeed take that long or if people have been getting them quicker?

 

Thanks!

I haven't ordered in the last year but they've had that "ramping down" message on there for years. I've never had any of my orders through them ever take longer than 4 weeks to be delivered though....and most times it was within 2 weeks or less.

 

Now that he's charging for signatures, he seems to put a small sketch on just about everything. He's done about a million in his lifetime, so it doesn't take him long. I think it's a nice touch.

 

Yeah I love it, and would definitely want him to do it on anything I had him sign!

 

Do you or Rich happen to recall him having any Black Friday sales on his website in previous years?

I don't recall a Black Friday sale at Kevin's site last year but, as others have stated, he may have had one. I know Jetpack usually does one though and their TMNT variants are usually heavily discounted.

I did get a response from Fiona to my e-mail from this morning::

 

"Thank you Ryan for your email inquiry and for your Membership which will be mailed out to you tomorrow. Unfortunately we do not offer the personalized signing service you asked about. Concerns over damage to prized possessions do not allow us to make this option available.

 

Kevin makes many many convention appearances throughout the year and would be happy to sign the book if you or a friend were to bring it to a show. Here's a link to the remaining 2016 shows: http://fan.kevineastmanstudios.com/?page_id=487 "

 

 

A bit of a bummer, not sure I understand how adding "To Ryan" to a signed comic raises any more concerns for the item being damaged than just a normal signed one would. (I would argue the normal signed one is actually more valuable ). It would be a great perk of being a member to have this option, even if it just gets added to his stack at the next show he does. But o'well. I'll just have to find a facilitator at some point soon.

 

Thanks for the help Rich!

 

Glad to assist, Ryan. From her response, I think Fiona maybe is referencing the signing of a comic you'd send to her...something you currently own...and not something she'd be sending as part of the Fan Club membership. Because the KE Fan Club offers signed items...and we've all received them previously. Just a thought.

Additionally, I think the main thing limiting a personalized signature from Kevin would be the fact that Fiona is Northampton (east coast) and Kevin is in LA (west coast). All the items she has in possession would either be pre-signed by Kevin or raw...but getting something custom-signed "To Ryan" would require her to send to Kevin, then Kevin to send back to her... so I can understand why they wouldn't offer this from a pure logistics standpoint. But Kevin is very approachable and gracious with signatures at all his shows...you'd have no issue getting an item or two signed if you attended.

 

Did you buy a membership to the Kevin Eastman Fan Club? If you did and haven't heard from them that would not be typical...they are usually very responsive. How long since you signed up?

 

Yeah I did. I tried to contact them on Oct 28th and never got a response, I then signed up for the membership early last week (hoping there would be some sort of "personalization" or "mail-in" option) and still haven't heard anything. I also left a comment which has yet to be approved, so it seems like whoever runs it (which I believe is his wife?) just hasn't been on this month yet. Not a huge deal, I'm sure he's a busy man and has a show this weekend. But I was hoping to get some sort of response.

 

I'm going to e-mail them again for the heck of it. I believe "comicsandponies" was taking consignments for the show this weekend, but I have not heard back from them via PM so if anyone else is going please LMK!

Kevin's wife doesn't manage the Fan Club. It's his manager Fiona. Maybe she's traveling...I'll try to find out.

EDIT: Just talked to Fiona and she's been traveling but does have your Fan Club items shipping out tomorrow Nov. 10. She apologizes for any delay...she typically gets orders out within 2 business days. The only message she can find from you was from this morning just about an hour or so ago and she's responded to that. Not sure what might have happened to the Oct. 28 message you mentioned above.

I'm not heading to any of Kevin's upcoming shows...sorry I can't be of more assistance there.

I signed up on Eastman's Fan Website, but have yet to get any response out of them. (Not too impressed with the membership stuff so far)

 

Did you buy a membership to the Kevin Eastman Fan Club? If you did and haven't heard from them that would not be typical...they are usually very responsive. How long since you signed up?