What is your personal story about buying or selling comics that PROVES you're insane? 4 4

[nocutename]

It was many years ago though.   I am sure that is what it could have been but there were no other noises but a chainsaw or some type of machinery.  Most likely they were fixing the room up but again, he wasn't sweating or anything.  The noise was quite loud that I would have suspected the woman to apologize for such and such.  That didn't happen which was equally as unnerving for me.

1 minute ago, ADAMANTIUM said:

@nocutename

I don't blame you

But it could have been a video game hahaha

 

[Lazyboy]

10 hours ago, Marwood & I said:

Nice. I like the way you say "most of my non-graded copies" which implies you have more non-graded copies and, presumably, graded copies too. So lots of copies. And not a fan of Direct Editions I see?

You've got a hundred of them too, haven't you 

There are no Direct editions of that issue. If it had come out a few months earlier, it wouldn't even be defaced.

[Lazyboy]

4 hours ago, nocutename said:

It was many years ago though.   I am sure that is what it could have been but there were no other noises but a chainsaw or some type of machinery.  Most likely they were fixing the room up but again, he wasn't sweating or anything.  The noise was quite loud that I would have suspected the woman to apologize for such and such.  That didn't happen which was equally as unnerving for me.

Geez, a guy can't even repair a chainsaw in his own home without people thinking he's some kind of psycho.

 

[SteppinRazor]

On 7/13/2017 at 6:05 PM, Robot Man said:

Here's my scariest story. About 15 years ago I bought some books from a guy on ebay. Turns out he was a local guy so I contacted him. Turns out he found about 200 Atomic Age books stored in an un-plugged refrigerator in a garage. He didn't know much about them and didn't want to list them all on ebay. I got his number and we agreed to meet at his place.

We agreed at 8:00 pm on a Tuesday night since we both worked. He gave me the address and it sounded a little sketchy. I went anyway (alone). Turned out it was about 2 blocks away from where the Rodney King riot was in LA. As a rule, a place that a middle aged white guy should just stay away from. But the lure of sweet GA books pulled me there.

I pulled up to the address. The neighbor hood had lots of graphitti on the walls, funky lowrider cars on the lawns, houses with bars on the windows ect. All signs that would tell a sane person to get out of the area. But all I could imagine was that smell of vintage comics.

I got out of the car and spied a group of lets just say... "minority" kids staring at my car. Now I grew up in an area with a lot of mostly latin and black kids of low income families. It was fine to me and we were all friends. The '60's were a great time but this was 25 years later and this area was recently burned and looted. 

I left my money in the trunk, crossed the street and rang the door bell. It was answered by a large latin guy in a wife beater shirt and baggy shorts a little buzzed with a beer in his hand. We shook hands and he took me around back to the garage where there were several other similar gentlemen working on a beautiful 1964 Impala lowrider. I smiled and complemented them on their beautiful car. He talked horsepower and I realized they were probably OK. The guy asked me if I wanted a beer and I said sure not wanting to offend him. We went to back of the garage and he opened the refrigerator. Inside, packed top to bottom were piles of comics from about 1946-1957 (my favorite stuff). There were pre=code horror, superhero, crime, jungle, sci fi. Titles like Phantom Lady, Batman, Tales from the Crypt, Jungle ect. all in pretty nice condition. The best was a beautiful Capt. America #74 in beautiful shape. I was rather floored. He said they were there when he moved in and wasn't a collector. 

We worked out a very nice price and they packed them in boxes and helped me out to the car with them. We loaded them up, I paid him and I thanked him and drove off into the night with my heart pounding...

This is in no way meant to be advice, as I'm a few shades from white, but I've found that even in the neighborhoods I don't look like I belong, a friendly wave at least leaves people nonplussed.  And politeness = respect, which I was taught should be universal.

[Get Marwood & I]

11 hours ago, Lazyboy said:

There are no Direct editions of that issue. If it had come out a few months earlier, it wouldn't even be defaced.

I knew that....

Got me years wrong Lazyboy. Wonder why they didn't use their loaf, and put the barcode on the back...

[Robot Man]

21 hours ago, SteppinRazor said:

This is in no way meant to be advice, as I'm a few shades from white, but I've found that even in the neighborhoods I don't look like I belong, a friendly wave at least leaves people nonplussed.  And politeness = respect, which I was taught should be universal.

I don't know where you live but So Central LA is a TOUGH place. If you don't want to get shot at don't wear a blue or red shirt. Best you walk with confidence and watch your back. The real smart thing to do is stay away from there all together. In other areas of town your advice is well taken and I agree.

[SteppinRazor]

4 hours ago, Robot Man said:

I don't know where you live but So Central LA is a TOUGH place. If you don't want to get shot at don't wear a blue or red shirt. Best you walk with confidence and watch your back. The real smart thing to do is stay away from there all together. In other areas of town your advice is well taken and I agree.

I've lived in the DC area (when it was the murder capital of the US) and I'm in Houston now.  Like I said, I'm a few shades darker.  I also am a starving artist, so I tend to look like a hobo.   I used to go down to the 9:30 club on U street in the 89/90s to catch reggae shows in DC.  Houston, I used to work in the hood (3rd ward), but it's not super dangerous.

Hope I didn't come off as critical, I don't know what it's like to be white walking around the hood.  And certainly there are situations that don't even seem out of the ordinary to one that are very different for another group.

It's kind of funny though, watching the reaction  of someone in the hood when you give them a friendly wave (dude wave, I'm not doing any queen of england nonsense).  One guy here in Houston I used to pass every day on my way in to work, and he went from staring at me to ignoring me to head nod to raising his hand in reply.

[Robot Man]

2 hours ago, SteppinRazor said:

I've lived in the DC area (when it was the murder capital of the US) and I'm in Houston now.  Like I said, I'm a few shades darker.  I also am a starving artist, so I tend to look like a hobo.   I used to go down to the 9:30 club on U street in the 89/90s to catch reggae shows in DC.  Houston, I used to work in the hood (3rd ward), but it's not super dangerous.

Hope I didn't come off as critical, I don't know what it's like to be white walking around the hood.  And certainly there are situations that don't even seem out of the ordinary to one that are very different for another group.

It's kind of funny though, watching the reaction  of someone in the hood when you give them a friendly wave (dude wave, I'm not doing any queen of england nonsense).  One guy here in Houston I used to pass every day on my way in to work, and he went from staring at me to ignoring me to head nod to raising his hand in reply.

 Hey no problem. I didn't take any offense. I got what you say. I treat everyone with respect. Sometimes you got to stand tall and show you aren't intimated.

In high school, I probably looked like Charles Manson to some. I often hitch hiked or took the bus from middle/lower class Pasadena to skid row in downtown LA. There were all kinds of old used book stores, army surplus stores and thrift shops. Got a lot of cool stuff. I kept to myself and just "fit in" to observe the lets say "seedy" life.

I never felt in danger or threatened. I was probably a little crazy. But times have changed. I'm a smart guy now. I keep away from trouble.

[Jimbo749]

Don't have a story of my own to share, but read something yesterday that reminded me of some of these crazy stories.  New 52 Harley Quinn #9  where she got kidnapped by a guy posing as a police officer. The kidnapper killed the officer, took his clothing, and told Harley that "his body is in the basement with my long boxes".

[FlyingDonut]

Rob from Comic Connect called me last night to make sure that I in fact HAD placed the bid on an item in their auction, seeing as my bid was about 5X current market value on the item. I told him yes, that was my bid, and I know I'm stupid.

I ended up winning the book - setting an all time GPA high that will NEVER be broken (yay me!) - on something that I will look at for five minutes and put into a long box with its brothers and sisters, never to be seen again. If that's not the definition of insanity, I don't know what is.

[Amazing Spidey]

3 hours ago, FlyingDonut said:

Rob from Comic Connect called me last night to make sure that I in fact HAD placed the bid on an item in their auction, seeing as my bid was about 5X current market value on the item. I told him yes, that was my bid, and I know I'm stupid.

I ended up winning the book - setting an all time GPA high that will NEVER be broken (yay me!) - on something that I will look at for five minutes and put into a long box with its brothers and sisters, never to be seen again. If that's not the definition of insanity, I don't know what is.

[Robot Man]

3 hours ago, FlyingDonut said:

Rob from Comic Connect called me last night to make sure that I in fact HAD placed the bid on an item in their auction, seeing as my bid was about 5X current market value on the item. I told him yes, that was my bid, and I know I'm stupid.

I ended up winning the book - setting an all time GPA high that will NEVER be broken (yay me!) - on something that I will look at for five minutes and put into a long box with its brothers and sisters, never to be seen again. If that's not the definition of insanity, I don't know what is.

Haven't we all. It's the thrill of the hunt....

[BitterOldMan]

On 7/13/2017 at 4:05 PM, Robot Man said:

Here's my scariest story. About 15 years ago I bought some books from a guy on ebay. Turns out he was a local guy so I contacted him. Turns out he found about 200 Atomic Age books stored in an un-plugged refrigerator in a garage. He didn't know much about them and didn't want to list them all on ebay. I got his number and we agreed to meet at his place.

We agreed at 8:00 pm on a Tuesday night since we both worked. He gave me the address and it sounded a little sketchy. I went anyway (alone). Turned out it was about 2 blocks away from where the Rodney King riot was in LA. As a rule, a place that a middle aged white guy should just stay away from. But the lure of sweet GA books pulled me there.

I pulled up to the address. The neighbor hood had lots of graphitti on the walls, funky lowrider cars on the lawns, houses with bars on the windows ect. All signs that would tell a sane person to get out of the area. But all I could imagine was that smell of vintage comics.

I got out of the car and spied a group of lets just say... "minority" kids staring at my car. Now I grew up in an area with a lot of mostly latin and black kids of low income families. It was fine to me and we were all friends. The '60's were a great time but this was 25 years later and this area was recently burned and looted. 

I left my money in the trunk, crossed the street and rang the door bell. It was answered by a large latin guy in a wife beater shirt and baggy shorts a little buzzed with a beer in his hand. We shook hands and he took me around back to the garage where there were several other similar gentlemen working on a beautiful 1964 Impala lowrider. I smiled and complemented them on their beautiful car. He talked horsepower and I realized they were probably OK. The guy asked me if I wanted a beer and I said sure not wanting to offend him. We went to back of the garage and he opened the refrigerator. Inside, packed top to bottom were piles of comics from about 1946-1957 (my favorite stuff). There were pre=code horror, superhero, crime, jungle, sci fi. Titles like Phantom Lady, Batman, Tales from the Crypt, Jungle ect. all in pretty nice condition. The best was a beautiful Capt. America #74 in beautiful shape. I was rather floored. He said they were there when he moved in and wasn't a collector. 

We worked out a very nice price and they packed them in boxes and helped me out to the car with them. We loaded them up, I paid him and I thanked him and drove off into the night with my heart pounding...

Homie, sounds like where I lived before gentrification, except pure inner city with zero-lot-lines.  There is still plenty of graphitti, homeless, drug addicts (local crackhead call me bro), Sureños , MS-13, Norteños, and occasional dead gang member, but houses start at $1 million.  Somebody was killed outside my parents' house in the 70s, while I was in graduate school.  Recently, a busboy was killed around the corner late at night, just for being there.  Believe it or not, Mark Zuckerberg has a house three and a half blocks away.

 

Edited August 3, 2017 by BitterOldMan
Corrected grammar error

[mackenzie999]

7 hours ago, FlyingDonut said:

I ended up winning the book - 

What book?

[Robot Man]

4 hours ago, BitterOldMan said:

Homie, sounds like where I lived before gentrification, except pure inner city with zero-lot-lines.  There is still plenty of graphitti, homeless, drug addicts (local crackhead call me bro), Sureños , MS-13, Norteños, and occasional dead gang member, but houses start at $1 million.  Somebody was killed outside my parents' house in the 70s, while I was in graduate school.  Recently, a busboy was killed around the corner late at night, just for being there.  Believe it or not, Mark Zuckerberg has a house three and a half blocks away.

 

East Oakland???  Nice, ride but not my style. 

[BitterOldMan]

2 hours ago, Robot Man said:

East Oakland???  Nice, ride but not my style. 

I was born in SF Chinatown, lived there, North Beach (Beatniks), and finally Hispanic Mission District, which is in the process of being gentrified. Lived in Berkeley, while attending college.  Still own a nice house in the suburbs, but came back to take care of mom.  The Mission had some wild lowrider parties during the eighties, where the participants would block off traffic driving low and slo, which is the only way to go.  Had one party, where the police were called several times.  The police finally blocked off both sides of the alley, where I lived and arrested all the low riders.  Some guys tossed their weapons underneath cars.   

Fortunately, there was the fabulous San Francisco Comic Book Company run the the eccentric and ageless hippie, the late great Gary Arlington.  Gary and I would talk about comic books for hours.

[FlyingDonut]

6 hours ago, Mackenzie999 said:

What book?

Fantastic Four 164 CGC 9.8. Paid a ghastly amount - roughly double GPA. Yay me.

[Ken Aldred]

8 hours ago, FlyingDonut said:

Fantastic Four 164 CGC 9.8. Paid a ghastly amount - roughly double GPA. Yay me.

One of my favourite Bronze Age FF issues. Reintroduction of Atlas Era Marvel Boy.

For 2 issues, anyway.

[entalmighty1]

9 hours ago, FlyingDonut said:

Fantastic Four 164 CGC 9.8. Paid a ghastly amount - roughly double GPA. Yay me.

Yeah, but you're 1 book closer to finishing your run!  Silver lining Donut, silver lining.

[FlyingDonut]

On 8/4/2017 at 12:23 AM, FlyingDonut said:

Fantastic Four 164 CGC 9.8. Paid a ghastly amount - roughly double GPA. Yay me.

Nice bump. Top GPA since I bought my book has tripled.