n2wdw Posted August 8, 2020 Author Share Posted August 8, 2020 Comic Link July 2020 Action - Bettie Page Here are the Bettie Page mags I won at this month's CL auction. I was able to win all the Bettie lots, which surprised me as my bids weren't that high. The only one I really went for was the Art Photography with the classic Bettie pose. Again, I thought bidding was soft this month. bc, Yorick, bounty_coder and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post n2wdw Posted October 1, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted October 1, 2020 Minor Tweaks To My Comic Book Room I haven't posted in a while. I just haven't felt like it, given the state of our country. So I've been mostly a lurker lately. Still, I've made a few tweaks to the Comic Room lately. I'm always looking to make more space. I installed this pull out metal shelf. When it's pushed in, it holds my GOT Iron Throne lamp and -- one of the pearls of my collection -- the complete original art for Cerebus #6, which is the first appearance of Jaka. Below's a picture when the shelf is pulled out. Now I can get access to the comics and books stored behind the shelf. And below's a picture of when I shift the Cerebus #6 OA, to show and get access to what's behind the OA on the shelf. Here's where I store some of my favorite movies. I mostly stream nowadays, but I like having DVDs when the Internet is down, or when I want to watch Ultra High Def. Moving to something else, below's another tweak. I'm always trying to find ways to display more comics, both CGC and raws. The below is a pic where I display some of my statues. Now though, I've installed this clear plastic shelf just above the statues. I can still see the statues, but now I have this extra shelf to display comics. Below's a picture where I've placed a Dogface comic, as an example to illustrate how I can display comics on the shelf. Moving on again, here's a corner of my Comic Room where I display some Bettie Page CGCs and autographs. Thanks for reading. badback83, jimjum12, bc and 5 others 7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post n2wdw Posted October 4, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted October 4, 2020 Some Recent Buys and a Trade Recently I picked up fairly nice copies of Rangers 6 and Junie 4, for sending to CGC. I'm working on a complete run of Junie. For Rangers, I'm working on a run of my favorite GGA covers, which all appear before the title turns to a western. I also bought this signed poster of Say Anything, which is one of my favorite all time movies. It's signed by John Cusack. The only registry set I'm actively competing in is the Dave Stevens Covers Set. Me and @Taxmick1 are pretty much the only people active in this set. Taxmick1 has an amazing ability to find copies of obscure Stevens' books. One example is the 2nd printing of 3-D Zone 16 (Space Vixens). Below's the 1st printing, which is common. The 2nd printing doesn't have the writing along the top, and also doesn't have the Canadian price. I've been looking for a copy of the 2nd printing for years. Then a couple months ago, I'm looking at TaxMick's set, and I see he has a copy. I wrote him a message, asking where he found it (hoping I might be able to find one there too). He told me he actually had TWO copies! So I traded for his undercopy (thanks TaxMick!), which was still 8.5 (qualified due to Dave's signature). In exchange, I sent to TaxMick this Sirens of Cinema, which is my undercopy. There are only 4 graded copies: one 9.8, two 9.6s and a 7.5. A few years ago, I wrote to the publisher to see if he had any copies. He said he had one box left. I asked him to pick the best 3 for me, and he did. One came back 9.8 (the one in my collection), and the other came back 9.6 (the one I sent to TaxMick). The last copy I bought from the publisher is still ungraded in my collection. So these are probably the highest graded copies, unless there are some nice copies out in the wild. Thanks for reading. Yosemite, Taxmick1, bc and 3 others 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted October 4, 2020 Share Posted October 4, 2020 Junie Prom is a fun set. You would think hey, 4 issues, no problem. Wrong. These are pretty tough in any kind of decent shape. I’m still looking for a 2. There was one right here on the boards a while back a I missed it by a nano second. I’m sure I will turn one up one of these days. Not much I lose any sleep over anymore. I also like those early Rangers. Also tough books. Finding the right copies at the right prices are a bit of a challenge. But isn’t what collecting is all about? Hope you are doing well Mike. jimjum12 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post n2wdw Posted October 4, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted October 4, 2020 4 hours ago, Robot Man said: Junie Prom is a fun set. You would think hey, 4 issues, no problem. Wrong. These are pretty tough in any kind of decent shape. I’m still looking for a 2. There was one right here on the boards a while back a I missed it by a nano second. I’m sure I will turn one up one of these days. Not much I lose any sleep over anymore. I also like those early Rangers. Also tough books. Finding the right copies at the right prices are a bit of a challenge. But isn’t what collecting is all about? Hope you are doing well Mike. Hi Bob - Good to hear from you. With this #4, I've actually completed my Junie Prom set. Here they are: Robot Man, Tri-Color Brian, mlansdown and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted October 4, 2020 Share Posted October 4, 2020 Such a cool run. Great to see them all together. I remember when you snagged that #5 from Rick. Very wise buy. One he ain't never getting back I suspect. Best cover in the run although #6 ain't half bad either. I thought about going after her sister (or brother) title but figured the one I really wanted was this cool drive in cover so I quit while I was ahead... Flex Mentallo, PopKulture and mlansdown 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BitterOldMan Posted October 11, 2020 Share Posted October 11, 2020 (edited) Michael, I noticed that you are a big Marilyn Monroe fan. Blitzway has some nice quarter scale statues available including this beautifully Seven Year Itch statue. Edited October 11, 2020 by BitterOldMan Yorick and jimjum12 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted November 27, 2020 Author Share Posted November 27, 2020 On 10/10/2020 at 10:43 PM, BitterOldMan said: Michael, I noticed that you are a big Marilyn Monroe fan. Blitzway has some nice quarter scale statues available including this beautifully Seven Year Itch statue. Thanks for letting me know. They also have a Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Marilyn. The prices are all over the place, from $500+ to around $125. They all look to be the same though. I might take a shot and order one of the cheap offers and see the quality, before buying the Seven Year Itch since those are consistently being offered at $500+. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post n2wdw Posted November 27, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted November 27, 2020 Completing Runs I used to be a completest, and for the first 4 decades of my life, I worked on completing runs of what I call the Original Marvels (ASM, Avengers, Cap, DD, FF, Iron Man and Thor). I completed those titles a while ago, and then I floundered around for a few years trying to figure out what to collect next. I eventually gravitated to Golden Age GGA, so I moved from a titles collector to a covers collector. But lately I've been trying to complete some runs that were almost complete before I switched to covers. The last issues to completing a title are always the most expensive, as I always bought the easy (i.e., cheap) issues first. Doesn't everyone? For example, recently I finally finished my run of the original Marvel Star Wars title (issues 1-107). I needed #107, which was the last issue and rare (it was rare probably because, by the end of the title, not many people were buying it). It's a cool cover with the entire gang, so I decided to splurge ($83) and buy a nice CGC copy. Another title I've completed recently is DC Wonder Woman Vol. 2 (issues 0-226, 1000000, Annuals 1-8, GS 1). The last issue I needed was #184 with the Adam Hughes "vintage" cover. I guess you'd call this a modern GGA cover. I like Hughes work but I'm actually not crazy about the cover art. I decided though to splurge since it was the last issue I needed, and also on eBay, there didn't seem to be a great difference in price between raws and CGCs. So I opened my wallet and spent $180 for this one. Thanks for reading. walclark, piper, waaaghboss and 3 others 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted November 28, 2020 Author Share Posted November 28, 2020 New Modern Additions to Lady In White Collection Here are a few recent additions to my Lady in White collection. This is the collection of comic covers where (1) the damsel in distress is wearing a flowing white gown; (2) the cover has a gothic feel to it; and (3) the overall CGC grade for the comics in the collection is 9.0. These are kind of unique, because I've found that most of the comics in this collection were from the 1970s. I got the Interview with the Vampire by buying the entire set on eBay for about $10. Luckily, #8 was the best copy of the bunch. I sent #8 to CGC for grading, and I gave the rest to the local library. The Carnage #6 was expensive and doesn't come up that often (at least not this cover). I don't know why as I don't collect this title. But after over a year of watching ebay, I finally decided to bid on this copy and got it for $120. The 9.6 grades of each help to bring the collection up to 9.0, as some of the older mags in the collection are hard to fine in nicer grades. And CGC's price to grade mags is so freaking expensive, I'm only going to submit a given mag once for the collection. I won't upgrade unless I find a higher condition copy on eBay. jimjum12 and FoggyNelson 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post n2wdw Posted November 30, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted November 30, 2020 New Matt Baker Addition Major win last night in the Heritage Sunday auction -- True Love Pictorial #11! I never thought I'd own this classic Matt Baker cover in CGC 6.0! (I wonder if I could inch up the grade with a press to get rid of the spine roll?) My goal is to get a copy of every comic where Baker did the cover. On my list there are 303 Baker covers (some of them are reprints), and I have 206 of them. At this point, I think I've gotten most of the easy ones, so the hunt is getting really tough now. This new addition is definitely one of the hard ones, so I'm very excited to have it. Funnybooks, podboy66, waaaghboss and 5 others 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post n2wdw Posted December 1, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 1, 2020 New Bettie Page Signed Collectible Recently I bought this card signed by Bettie Page. It reprints Bettie's famous Christmas photo from Playboy's Jan 1955 issue. Of course, you have to be careful when buying signed items on ebay, as the signatures may be fake. But Bettie's sig is not uncommon (unlike, for example, Marilyn Monroe). And if you were going to fake a signature, you probably wouldn't use a beat up ball point pen. So I decided to send the card into PSA for authentication, as I thought it would make a cool collectible in the slab. It only took about 2 weeks to get PSA's verdict -- the signature was authentic. Hurray! And I think this does make a cool looking collectible. Thanks for reading. 707comics, Funnybooks, waaaghboss and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorick Posted December 2, 2020 Share Posted December 2, 2020 On 11/30/2020 at 10:27 AM, n2wdw said: New Matt Baker Addition Major win last night in the Heritage Sunday auction -- True Love Pictorial #11! I never thought I'd own this classic Matt Baker cover in CGC 6.0! (I wonder if I could inch up the grade with a press to get rid of the spine roll?) My goal is to get a copy of every comic where Baker did the cover. On my list there are 303 Baker covers (some of them are reprints), and I have 206 of them. At this point, I think I've gotten most of the easy ones, so the hunt is getting really tough now. This new addition is definitely one of the hard ones, so I'm very excited to have it. I thought I had the worst St John miscut... This one might take the prize. LOVE THIS! n2wdw 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post n2wdw Posted December 2, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 2, 2020 Completing Some Additional Runs Recently I completed my Wonder Woman (1st series) run. For DC titles like this -- and Action, Batman, Detective, etc. -- I'm not trying to complete the entire series starting with issue #1. Trying to get Action #1 (for example) is out of reach of me, and even if I could buy a page in order to check #1 off my want list, getting the rest of the early issues is a collecting project I don't have the energy or money for. So for DC titles like this, I usually pick an issue to start from and then collect the title to the last issue. For the 1st Wonder Woman series, I picked #178, which began the "new" Wonder Woman run, and I collected it to the last issue, #329. The last issue I needed to complete this run was #196. Because it was the last issue I needed, I splurged a bit to get a nice presenting CGC copy. I also recently finished my Strange Tales run. Again, I don't have the cash or energy to start from #1, so I began from #110 (the first Dr. Strange) to the last issue, #188. I also included in this run Annuals 1-2. The last issues I needed to finish the run included the 2 annuals. Based on what was being offered on the internet, I just decided to get CGC copies. The last issue I needed was #111, the 2nd appearance of Dr. Strange. I paid more for this issue than #110, Doc's 1st appearance. Here's the quick story. I bought #110 from Mike Carbonaro at a San Diego con in the early 2000s. It actually was part of a larger deal. We were dickering over the price of Tales of Suspense 39 -- first Iron Man -- and to close the deal, he gave me a steep discount on Strange Tales #110. I remember running back to my hotel room for my checkbook, as I hadn't expected to spend so much money at the con. I still have both comics in my collection: So anyway, that was many years before the Dr. Strange movie so prices have changed. Back then, I got #110 from Carbo for $140. About a week ago, I got #111 from Lone Star for $192. Thanks for reading. szucchini, PopKulture, mlansdown and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post n2wdw Posted December 5, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 5, 2020 Just a quick post to show a cool comic I picked up recently, Shazam Annual 1, which reprints the classic CC Beck cover from Cap Marvel Adventures 18: Yorick, jimjum12, Ltpink2002 and 5 others 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted December 5, 2020 Author Share Posted December 5, 2020 Smoking Cocktails Recently I bought a smoke box for smoking drinks and food. Tonight I tried smoking my dirty martini. As one might expect, vodka takes on smoke much easier than bourbon. I'm playing around with bourbons to find one that is light enough to take on the smoke. It's a chore, but someone's gotta do it. waaaghboss, jimjum12 and Jayman 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlansdown Posted December 6, 2020 Share Posted December 6, 2020 19 hours ago, n2wdw said: Smoke makes everything better: jimjum12 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobbledclam Posted December 7, 2020 Share Posted December 7, 2020 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badback83 Posted May 22, 2021 Share Posted May 22, 2021 Wow. I had to go back a ton of pages to find this thread. Mike! How are you? I hope all is well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlansdown Posted May 22, 2021 Share Posted May 22, 2021 I miss your posts as well, Mike. Hope everything is good in your world... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...