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A short story and then a question for the comic dealers

Started by Diamonddave,

38 posts in this topic

Diamonddave

Diamonddave

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Went to a small show today, very small, 8-9 vendors tops at the Raddison outside Kenosha Wi. Found a few good buys and people were generally having a nice timing looking through boxes and talking comics. The room was 100 x 60 I'd say with dealers set up along the perimeter and then a few set up along the interior. I was at the back of the room where a dealer had set up about 5 tables of long boxes and then a wall rack, browsing through what turned out to be a mixture of 80's and 90's garbage when to my left I hear " I WASN'T GOING TO STEAL YOUR COMICS!!" I turn and an older attendee was in the process of storming away from the dealer who owned the display I was looking at. The dealer in his calmest voice says, "I didn't accuse you of anything."

Angry Attendee turns back and says :"I SAW THE LOOK YOU GAVE ME!!!!"

Dealer: (incredulous stare)

Angry Attendee: "I SAW THAT LOOK!!!!" I WAS GOING TO BUY SOME COMICS BUT NOW I'M NOT!!"

The angry attendee walked away still muttering about the "poor" way the dealer treated him.

Now, my question is to the comic dealers who care to comment, when you have a person browsing your books who makes such loud outlandish protestations over an imagined slight what is your reaction internally? I think in this situation Angry Attendee was planning to lift a book if given the opportunity and reacted with theatrics to shift the blame from himself to the dealer.

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darkstar

darkstar

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I was there at that show, looking in that dealer's boxes when this happened. The "buyer" was taking wall books off the wall and opening them up without asking the dealer. He was doing this while I was right next to him, shortly thereafter he moved out of my peripheral vision and I believe that is when the situation occurred.

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Diamonddave

Diamonddave

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I was there at that show, looking in that dealer's boxes when this happened. The "buyer" was taking wall books off the wall and opening them up without asking the dealer. He was doing this while I was right next to him, shortly thereafter he moved out of my peripheral vision and I believe that is when the situation occurred.

 

I'm pretty sure the guy left the show right after that, older guy, white hair with a red 2-pocket folder.

Any good finds? Lots of moderns, LOTS of moderns. One dealer had a small set-up of PCH and another had a Showcase 8 G/G+ that I should have bought.

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oldmilwaukee6er

oldmilwaukee6er

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another had a Showcase 8 G/G+ that I should have bought.

 

$850 price tag? I think I've seen this book at another show.

Yep, so he's been carting that from show to show.......

 

That is likely only the second show based on what I've seen (I missed the Kenosha show).

Nice book. May be more 3.5-4.0 (I didn't handle it)

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darkstar

darkstar

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Any good finds? Lots of moderns, LOTS of moderns. One dealer had a small set-up of PCH and another had a Showcase 8 G/G+ that I should have bought.

 

Yeah I just picked up a whole bunch of moderns for a dollar or less. Actually found an Adam Hughes variant of Supergirl and the Legion of Super Heroes 23 from the dealer your story involves. It was unbagged and unboarded but it is really nice. I found a decent amount of books I can move, so it wasn't a waste of my time, but didn't nab too much for my collection.

 

Wasn't really impressed with the selection of wall books. Not talking about the pricing, although it seemed a bit excessive, just the selection in general. Later issues of Gotham City Sirens are wall books now? C'mon. Seemed to be mostly UXM issues from 143 and up. Saw only a few CGC books and questioned why some of them had even been graded.

 

I wanted to ask that one dealer about his Batman 244, I didn't see a price on it, but I forgot. Only other book I was interested in was a copy of FF 67 for 30 bucks, but it was in pretty rough shape. I was looking for an Astonishing Tales 25 but didn't see one, there were 2 or 3 copies of #26 though.

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VintageComics

VintageComics

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methinks the dude protesteth too much....he was probably lookin to grab.....

 

And some people just don't know how to fit into society.

 

I watched a customer get carried by the scruff of his collar and his belt by my boss at the time and get thrown into the parking lot at a car shop I worked at back in 1993 or 1994. In broad daylight. I laughed so hard uncontrollably I don't think we did any other work that afternoon. Guy seriously had it coming, though. lol

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lizards2

lizards2

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It sounds like to me that the "customer" was defensive because he was most likely up to something. -

 

It's the old "only the guilty are afraid of the police"..... hm

 

I'm not making a statement about the situation being discussed, however....,

 

when we were stopped at a game check station years ago, the local bull, after treating us terrribly, said, "90% of the people are criminals, and it is my job to catch them."

 

What a great statement.

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slym2none

slym2none

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methinks the dude protesteth too much....he was probably lookin to grab.....

 

And some people just don't know how to fit into society.

 

I watched a customer get carried by the scruff of his collar and his belt by my boss at the time and get thrown into the parking lot at a car shop I worked at back in 1993 or 1994. In broad daylight. I laughed so hard uncontrollably I don't think we did any other work that afternoon. Guy seriously had it coming, though. lol

 

I did the same thing to a New Year's Eve party-crasher a few years back, except I had their arm behind their back in an arm-bar instead of their belt. Damn drunk fool, they got up and wandered up the street, only to start pounding on someone else' door hard enough for the people to call the cops on the drunkard.

 

I was the hit of the party after that. The funny thing was, the person came back a few days later, talked to me to my face, asking about who lived there and did anyone see what happened to this person, looking for a lawsuit. I answered their questions without ever letting them know it was me that tossed them out. They were so drunk, they couldn't remember I was the one that tossed them out on their ear.

 

Ah, the good old days... :facepalm:

 

 

 

-slym

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