n2wdw's comic book room 5 5

[n2wdw]

ComicLink Winners (March 2016)

 

Actually I should call this C-Link losers as I've lost on everything so far except 1. Is it just me, or has bidding been usually aggressive on C-Link all this year? Or maybe this is the new normal. If it is that's a good thing as I head towards retirement in just over 10 years.

 

My lone winner so far is Alpha Flight 6. This is one of my favorite covers in the John Byrne run. Another one is Alpha Flight 3. Both came up for auction last year (I think on C-Link but it could have been C-Connect, I can't remember and that's something I don't track in my database). In that earlier auction I won #3 for $38 but lost out on #6 (my high, losing bid was around $40). This time I won #6 for $26 so now I'm glad I lost out before.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On a somewhat related note, I've made it to #281 on the overall CGC Registry list. I jumped a few positions lately, mostly fueled by my Batman Adventures #12 CGC 9.8 (worth 1200 points). I told the story of that one before, how I found it among the long boxes of books I'm planning to sell, and somehow it came back as 9.8. Talk about serendipity. (By the way, if anyone is interesting in buying about 25,000 comics + boxes of fanzines + lots of Star Trek and Star Wars toys for a really good price, just let me know.)

 

As the listing shows, I have 733 CGC comics in the Registry (which is less than what I have in my collection as I have about 50 more CGC books that do not have a set). My average points per comic is only 95. That's not completely unusual, as jmuell2952 has 798 books at an average score of 90. Then on the opposite end of the spectrum is Ross Fischer with 15 books at an average of 4770 (having AF 15 in CGC 7.5 will do that).

 

I think something that's different about my collection is the diversity, as I have 5 pages of sets. In contrast, most of jmuell2952's collection is in his Amazing Spiderman set with almost 400 high grade Spidey's. That's something I really like about the Registry (although I was slow to catch onto it). You can explore what other people collect. Even though what you collect might not be for me, I'm always interested (and often fascinated) by other people's collections.

 

Something else the Registry has motivated me to do is scan in every CGC book I own. I'm kind of proud of having 100% of pictures in the Registry. But a big side benefit is I have all the scans on my computer. So when I'm traveling (which I do alot of for work), I can always browse my collection by flipping through the pictures.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

 

 

[n2wdw]

Matt Baker -- 1 out of 4

 

Recently I lost out on 3 Baker covers. The 2 on the left on C-Line and the one on the right on eBay. I got priced out of the Authentic Police Cases CGC 8.0 early on. It closed at $1006; no way I'm paying that. It's a cool cover that doesn't pop up often, but I'll wait for a lower grade copy.

 

The other 2 hurt; APC CGC 6.5 went for $280 and Pictorial Romances for $284, especially the Pic Romances. Yes, I would have bought it for $284. But as we all know, if I bid $300 it might have gone higher than that; such is the way of auctions for rare golden age books. But I do have regret missing out.

 

 

 

 

Then, after these loses, it was like the clouds parting and the sun coming out. Pictorial Romances #6. On eBay it had a BIN of $275. The seller was taking offers. What the heck, I offered $225. When I checked next my offer was accepted! A nice look copy too although the middle staple has me worried.

 

So 1 out of 4 for Baker over a week. Actually, given how hot Matt Baker is right now, that's not too bad.

 

 

[n2wdw]

ComicLink Winner #2 (March 2016)

 

Just won this tonight, my second C-Link win this month. I've been looking for an affordable DD #7 for some time now for my Original Marvels collection (which are complete runs of ASM, Avengers, Cap, DD, FF, Iron Man, Incredible Hulk). I already have a beat up, raw DD 7 so this is an upgrade for me. Personally, I don't mind the missing page (because it does not affect the story) or the torn page. That's just me, but these defects don't bother me; so, these are EXACTLY the kind of books I look for. For a hammer price of $40 I'll take it every time.

 

So now I've completed Daredevil. Also complete are Avengers, Cap and Iron Man. I need 11 more comics to complete this collection (listed below). In Fine, Overstreet has the price at about $34,000. I don't want to spend near that much so the quest for restored and qualified books (with defects that don't bother me) continues!

 

ASM 2, 3, 14, 50, 119 and 122

FF 1, 5 and 12

Incredible Hulk 181 and 182

 

 

 

[n2wdw]

ComicLink Winner #3 and #4 (March 2016)

 

I was definitely bottom feeding this month but I managed to pick up 2 more comics at C-Link's auction. I got Amazing Spider-Man Annual 5 CGC 7.0 for only $35. It goes into my Gwen Stacy collection as it has her face on the cover.

 

What's funny is, as a kid I had an incomplete copy of the book, so I was never able to read the whole story. And now I have an encapsulated copy so I still can't read it. Don't feel sorry for me, I do have a raw complete copy now. I just haven't gotten around to reading it (in fact, I forgot all about it until just now).

 

 

 

 

I bid on Gidget 2 because -- well, what the heck, why not? I won it for $21. Gidget is a short run of 2 issues but, alas, there's no existing registry set. So I don't know if I'll resubmit it to CGC or just leave as is.

 

 

 

 

Winning the book did motivate me to hop on eBay and buy an autographed photo of Sally Field so I can display them together in my Comic Book Room. This is a great time to be alive, that the world's shopping mall is open 24/7 (and you can get lunch delivered via uberEats too).

 

 

 

 

So anyway, here are my 4 wins from this month's C-Link auction. I won them all for a grand total of $122. Auctions are fun so there's some entertainment value there too. Thanks for reading.

 

 

 

 

 

[n2wdw]

Torchy -- Bill Ward Compared to Other Artists

 

 

 

 

I have a few Torchy comics (above) and I've recently started buying other appearances of Torchy. She appears in Doll Man and Modern Comics. Bill Ward created Torchy but others penciled his creation. Here's a comparison, Doll Man 27 (by Bill Ward) and Modern Comics 91 (by Gill Fox according to the Grand Comic DB).

 

 

 

 

 

Ward's Torchy (above) is noticeable more suggestive than Fox's, both in dress and poses. Sort of like Ward's is R rated and Fox's PG 13. The differences are even more apparent as you flip through the rest of the stories.

 

 

 

[n2wdw]

So I Went To a Local Con Yesterday ...

 

It was a slow Sunday (no football, little baseball, the in-between day for the Final Four) but luckily there was a local con, about 75 min drive for me in Timonium MD (run by Clandestine Comics). I've bought alot of comics lately so I figured I'd just browse around for a couple hours. I hoped to get a couple raw books to submit to CGC, fill a few holes in my runs, maybe a statute. In other words, I had low expectations for the show, which was a good thing. Just a relaxing way to spend a sunny not quite spring Sunday.

 

Here's a pic of the con when it just opened. It got a bit more crowded (but not so crowded you couldn't easily browse through long boxes).

 

 

 

 

And here are the only wall pictures I got around to taking (sorry):

 

 

 

 

 

 

I only spent 2 hours at the con. With the drive it was close to 5 hours away from home and that was about the most I wanted to spend away (otherwise the wife gets kind of annoyed and that's not a good thing). I left home at around 815am and stopped by Sheets for gas. I also got my favorite fast food breakfast from Sheetz MTO -- a burrito with scrambled egg, double sausage, cheddar cheese, LTO and jalapenos. I was home by about 230 after stopping at the Wegmans for stuff to grill for dinner.

 

At the con, I spend most of my time at Basement Comics. They had the best (only really) selection of gold.

 

Here's the problem with cons -- there's limited selection and that's leads to bad decisions. In contrast, at home on your computer, there's so much selection it's easier to be disciplined.

 

 

Basement Comics had this Baker on their wall:

 

 

 

 

It's a beautiful copy, even though it's only a 5.5. As I browsed through his boxes I thought about whether to make an offer for it (because it was priced pretty high). If I saw this on eBay, with all else available, I might be tempted but never pull the trigger. But at the con, this was the only book I wanted. So that leads to bad decisions.

 

Anyway, I made an offer of 35% off. I picked that because I heard the dealer tell someone else he sometimes gave 35% sales on his website. He didn't go for that (no surprise there). He said he had a customer who bought alot of Bakers and would probably sell to him in a couple weeks (certainly some salesmanship there, but it didn't matter what he said, I have a fairly good idea of the current demand for Bakers).

 

His final offer was 15% off. I took it. Like I said, bad decisions.

 

But was it really a bad decision? I don't know. The problem is, there are so few Baker sales on GPA. And there are only 7 graded copies of this book. Yes, this is the most I've ever paid for a Baker. But it's also probably in the top 3 of the Bakers in my collection. (And no, I'm not going to say what I paid for it, although if you do a little Internet research -- or call Basement Comics -- you could figure it out pretty easily.) Also, for the same money, I could have a pile of spoon comics. Or this grail. So maybe it was an okay decision.

 

Also, I had something in my backpocket. The day before, out of nowhere, a boardie made me an offer for this book. I hated to sell it but it didn't really fit in my collection and it was a fair offer.

 

 

 

 

We closed on a price and he immediately paid me via paypal (thanks Mr. Lady Luck!). So I had some found money in my pocket that helped offset the price of the Baker.

 

Thanks for reading.

[thehumantorch]

Thanks for the mini report and pics.

 

I don't know what you paid for that Baker but congrats on a great purchase. It's a wonderful Baker cover that presents very well and you rarely see it. Frankly, how could you not buy it?

[sagii]

+1. LOVING your recent entries. Great pics, vivid storytelling, puts us right there in the moments. And SUPER acquisitions!

Edited April 5, 2016 by Sagii

[n2wdw]

Thanks for the mini report and pics.

 

I don't know what you paid for that Baker but congrats on a great purchase. It's a wonderful Baker cover that presents very well and you rarely see it. Frankly, how could you not buy it?

 

Thanks - Yes, I'd rather have the Baker than a half box of cheaper comics. I have some buyer's remorse but I'm always that way when I buy an expensive comic. But probably, if I put it up on eBay right now I'd be able to get my money back, so maybe that's the way to look at it.

[n2wdw]

+1. LOVING your recent entries. Great pics, vivid storytelling, puts us right there in the moments. And SUPER acquisitions!

 

Thanks! I've enjoyed your recent Wabbit posts too.

[thehumantorch]

Thanks for the mini report and pics.

 

I don't know what you paid for that Baker but congrats on a great purchase. It's a wonderful Baker cover that presents very well and you rarely see it. Frankly, how could you not buy it?

 

Thanks - Yes, I'd rather have the Baker than a half box of cheaper comics. I have some buyer's remorse but I'm always that way when I buy an expensive comic. But probably, if I put it up on eBay right now I'd be able to get my money back, so maybe that's the way to look at it.

 

It's a keeper, congrats.

[n2wdw]

The Grail Fund

 

The other day I sold Gay Comics 31 to a boardie who PM'd me out of the blue. Believe it or not, it was actually the first book I ever sold over the internet. In fact, the last time I sold a comic was Gaiman's Sandman #1 over 20 years ago when I was trying to raise spending money for the old NY convention at the Jacob Javits center.

 

I guess I'm a dinosaur but I was shocked how easy it was to ship the comic to the buyer. I imagined having to go to the post office but no, I was able to buy a postage label via PayPal. Then it was just a matter of taping the label to a box and dropping it off at my office's shipping department. Easy Peasy!

 

That experience motivated me to offer some stuff for sale on eBay yesterday. As I've written, in about 10 years I'm retiring and my wife and I are moving to our little cottage at the beach. We've recently done a renovation to add a small comic room that is about 1/3 the size of my current comic room (I've already moved a lot of my collection over to the new comic room and I've posted pictures a few pages before this one). I can't fit everything so I'm focusing my collection on what I really like. As a result of this pruning, I now have tons of books, comics and toys I need to get rid of.

 

If I sold this stuff to a big dealer like Mile High or Lone Star, they'd give me pennies on the dollar, and that's even assuming they want this junk. But one man's junk is another man's treasure. So, I figure I'll sell what I can to other collectors on eBay and then whatever I have left (in a year or 2) I'll sell as a big bulk lot.

 

I did incredibly well yesterday. I sold 25 DC Archives to 1 guy for about $10 each. I'm really happy to see those books find a good home. Yes, I sold them at a major loss at what I paid, but it's still $250 and 48 hours ago I didn't think I'd get anything for them. Also, pruning this stuff is liberating. It helps focus my collecting. For example, now that I'm rid of all these DC Archives I don't want, I'm more mentally and emotionally able to focus on getting the ones I do want (mainly the Legion of Super-Heroes).

 

I also sold an unopened Star Wars AT-AT (the re-released one, not the original). There were a few on eBay being offered for $200+. I wanted mine to sell so I priced it at $145. It sold by the end of the night.

 

So, wow, in 1 day I made almost $400. I've decided to put this money into what I'm calling my Grail Fund. My goal is to eventually use this money to buy either Fantastic Four #1 or Amazing Fantasy #15. I'll give updates from time to time to let you know how things are going.

 

Here's what I sold on eBay yesterday. Thanks for reading.

 

 

 

 

 

[DeadpoolJr.]

Congrats on the sales, was it hard to sell it though? I've toyed with the idea of selling a few things, and only did it once at comiclink not sure if I could do it again even though I liked the money I got. Also what method are you going to ship the AT-AT with. I have a few Star Wars toys myself that size, and can't really think of how I would ship them.

[n2wdw]

They were easy to sell because I'd already emotionally taken them out of my collection. It was harder to sell the Gay comic book (published back when gay meant happy instead of a sexual orientation; not that there's anything wrong with that) because that one was still part of my collection when I decided to sell it. So I definitely see where you're coming from on it being hard to sell stuff from your collection.

 

I've learned alot about shipping in the last couple of days. I'm putting the AT-AT in a shipper box Hot Flips used to ship me some CGC-size boxes (luckily I still had the box). The AT-AT happens to fit perfectly. I'll mail it by USPS Parcel Post and I figure it'll cost no more than $20 (which is what I charged for shipping).

 

Shipping is actually more affordable than I thought. I shipped those 25 DC Archives (about 50 pounds) using 2 day USPS Priority mail that has a weight limit of up to 70 pounds. I lost just a few dollars on what I paid versus what I charged for shipping.

 

Update: I just shipped the AT-AT. I had to cut down the Hot Flips box to save on postage (it was a big savings, about $20). I used Parcel Select Ground and it cost me $25, so I only lost $5 on shipping. eBay makes it easy because it shows you all the shipping choices, the restrictions on each, and the different prices. For Parcel Select, it lets you enter the size of the box, so I was able to quickly see that if I made the box smaller I'd save $20.

Edited April 7, 2016 by n2wdw

[n2wdw]

Jennifer Janesko

 

Jennifer Janesko is one of my favorite pin-up artists, along with Olivia. Here's information from her website:

 

The female form has been the focus of the art created by Jennifer Janesko since she was very young. After earning a degree in fashion design she immediately launched an art career, focusing on fashion illustration. During the same period, she developed a collection of stylized pinup images that continue to be displayed in galleries around the country. The artist gained additional recognition when her art was featured in popular magazines such as Maxim and Playboy as well as appearing in feature films, national television shows and international publications.

 

Janesko has redefined the term "pinup" art. Her focus lies in developing the glamorous yet edgy side of pinup but with a great respect for her subject. "In a way I am able to live out my desires and dreams vicariously through my subjects," says the artist.

 

I recently won this Janesko sketch on eBay:

 

 

 

 

Jennifer used to set up next to Olivia at the San Diego con. Maybe she still does, but the last time I was there (a couple years ago) she didn't set up. A few years ago a wine company called Haut Wine released some wine with labels by Janesko. There were regular and limited bottlings. Jennifer had the bottles on display at her table at the SDCC and I eventually bought a few bottles. Here they are, one each of the regular and limited bottles.

 

 

 

[n2wdw]

Grail Fund Update

 

The fund is now up to $939. This is what I've sold (new sales shown in bold):

 

• 25 DC Archives $250
• Star Wars AT-AT $145
• DC Lot #1 - about 295 comics -- for $150 (Batman Gotham Knights 1-74; Batman Legends of the Dark Knight 1-214 plus Annuals 1-7)
• DC Lot #2 -- about 250 comics -- for $120 (Teen Titans Spotlight 1-21; Teen Titans Year One 1-6; Legends of the DC Universe 1-41 and Giant Size 1-2; L.E.G.I.O.N. 1-68 and Annuals 1-5; Legend of Wonder Woman 1-4; Superman Confidential 1-14; Superman Birthright 1-12; Superman Adventures 1-20; Wonder Woman (3rd Series) 1-44 and Annual 1; Batman/Robin 1-26; Showcase 93, 94, 95)
• Star Wars Micro Machines Millenium Falcon
• Marvel Lot #1 – 27 issues of Strange Tales and 12 issues of Marvel Premiere: $150
  

 

I have 1 buyer who is buying alot of DC runs. These comics have little value. They are dollar box material and would take years to sell at cons. If I sold to a store I'd get -- what? -- maybe a dime each? A nickel? So I'm happy to sell in big bunches at about 50 cents each. I'm becoming an expert at shipping via media mail.

 

Selling silver is more fun. I had 1 buyer scoop up the mixed lots of Strange Tales and Marvel Premiere at an average price of about $3.8 for each comic. I'm ecstatic with these sales. Again, what would a dealer pay for these VG books -- a buck each if I'm lucky? To sell them all to a single buyer is great. Easy transaction, fast money.

 

That's my mantra with these eBay sales, easy and fast. I'm pricing low to blow them out.

 

Star Wars toys are slow to sell. I knew the AT-AT would go fast. In contrast, Micro Machines are in low demand. I was delighted when an offer came in last night for the MM Millenium Falcon. My price was $45, the offer was $40 -- I accepted it immediately.

 

Thanks for reading.

[Rune]

 

 

 

They are both so beautiful Congrats

 

It could be the one time where I would be in doubt - what do I like the best, the wine or the bottle

[n2wdw]

Recent Acquisitions and Pics of the Comic Book Room

 

I won this Baker cover on eBay a couple days ago. It closed after I went to sleep. The first thing I did when I woke up was to check the auction. I hoped I did NOT win it as I felt my bid was too high given the condition. But I did win it for $82 and immediately had buyer's remorse.

 

That was until I saw the other Baker closing bids, as 3 other Bakers closed that night too. Two of them closed at over $400 and the third closed at almost $200. Wow. If you keep up with this on eBay, you know that a lot of Bakers are coming up for auction and they are getting incredible prices. My win is in sketchy condition but at least I can check it off my Baker cover want list for a somewhat reasonable price. Also, I like the vibrant colors. I'll probably submit it to CGC and see what comes back.

 

 

 

 

I recently bought a few CGC SS books from a boardie in Hong Kong. I asked him how he gets so many great SS books and he said he has some really good facilitators in the US (makes sense). Here's one of them, a TV guide with signatures of the Frozen TV cast. Also here are pictures of how I'm displaying the book in my comic book room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[n2wdw]

 

They are both so beautiful Congrats

 

It could be the one time where I would be in doubt - what do I like the best, the wine or the bottle

 

Yeah, I doubt I'll ever be drinking those bottles of wine

[n2wdw]

Another SS Book from the Hong Kong Collector

 

Here's another book I recently bought from Ultramanking, the collector in Hong Kong. This is the first Stan Lee SS book in my collection.

 

 

 

 

It's a nice pair with this San Diego 2012 Comicon program I recently got graded.

 

 

 

 

Here's how I've got the program displayed in my comic room. It's standing on a stack of Star Wars books. Since my room is small, I have to stack books (rather than line them up horizontally) to ft everything in.