n2wdw's Tales of the Comic Book Room 15 15

[Robot Man]

9 minutes ago, n2wdw said:

My New Favorite Collectible -- Dave Stevens and Bettie Page

I got this from a seller on eBay.  It's a Topps card of Bettie Page by Dave Stevens, signed by Bettie Page.  This is special to me, because I learned about Bettie Page through Dave's Rocketeer series.  Both Dave and Bettie sadly died in 2008.  This is the only item I've ever seen where she signed something by Dave.  There are a few of these signed cards on the market.  Apparently, a friend of Bettie got her to sign some of these after the card was shown (maybe released) at a Glamourcon.

I bought this from a seller on eBay, as I mentioned above.  I sent it in to PSA.  They will authenticate signatures, and also grade the sig and the card.  I was very happy that her sig is authentic, and it got a perfect 10 grade (I've sent other things to PSA where they told me the sig was fake, but that's another story).  The card itself was just one step down, with a 9 grade.

I tried to get PSA to give Dave a credit on the label.  But I guess there wasn't enough room. 

So here's my new favorite item in my collection:

 

Man, that's so purty!  Real hard to find Bettie Page sigs I would imagine. I remember seeing a large 11" x 14" b/w photo of her signed to him with a great inscription at his house once. They were real good friends.  Funny how she spells her own name "Bettie" and everyone else spells it "Betty"...

[n2wdw]

It took me to almost the end of February, but just got my first Baker of 2019:

[n2wdw]

Has anyone noticed that CGC's turnaround times have gotten faster in 2019?  Here are my most recent invoices.  Mags and Moderns seem to go fast.  Values take about 2.5 months.  Everything seems faster to me, but maybe I've just gotten to the point that I've accepted whatever the turnaround times are.

[n2wdw]

I’m sure things will slow down when we hit convention season.  But with this speed up, I’ve managed to catch up on all my submissions.

[n2wdw]

On 2/17/2019 at 7:34 PM, Robot Man said:

Man, that's so purty!  Real hard to find Bettie Page sigs I would imagine. I remember seeing a large 11" x 14" b/w photo of her signed to him with a great inscription at his house once. They were real good friends.  Funny how she spells her own name "Bettie" and everyone else spells it "Betty"...

Yeah, even the card says Betty. So you were at Dave Stevens’ house?

[Robot Man]

1 hour ago, n2wdw said:

Yeah, even the card says Betty. So you were at Dave Stevens’ house?

Yeah, many times. A long time friend of mine introduced us. As it turned out we had lots in common. Dave was a great guy that left us WAY too soon. 

[n2wdw]

Two Matt Baker Pickups!

I just won these comics moments ago on Ebay!  I didn't expect to win either.  You don't see WR 13 often; in fact I don't remember the last time I saw it for sale.  Similar for WR 16, and this comic also is one of Baker's best tail light covers.  I was hoping to win one, can't believe I won both!

 

[n2wdw]

On 2/23/2019 at 11:57 AM, Robot Man said:

Yeah, many times. A long time friend of mine introduced us. As it turned out we had lots in common. Dave was a great guy that left us WAY too soon. 

 

You're very lucky.  I met him one time at a SDCC, but unfortunately that was the only time.

Edited March 4, 2019 by n2wdw

[Yorick]

38 minutes ago, n2wdw said:

Two Matt Baker Pickups!

I just won these comics moments ago on Ebay!  I didn't expect to win either.  You don't see WR 13 often; in fact I don't remember the last time I saw it for sale.  Similar for WR 16, and this comic also is one of Baker's best tail light covers.  I was hoping to win one, can't believe I won both!

 

Way to go!  Those are awesome, and I was watching them too.

[Robot Man]

1 hour ago, n2wdw said:

 

You're very lucky.  I met him one time at a SDCC, but unfortunately that was the only time.

Yes, I was. He really knew how to throw a party too. Most of them were like the bar scene in Star Wars. Wild group of characters!

The best thing about Dave was he was just a fan boy like the rest of us. He never forgot his roots. Very humble.

Edited March 4, 2019 by Robot Man

[Microbia]

1 hour ago, n2wdw said:

Two Matt Baker Pickups!

I just won these comics moments ago on Ebay!  I didn't expect to win either.  You don't see WR 13 often; in fact I don't remember the last time I saw it for sale.  Similar for WR 16, and this comic also is one of Baker's best tail light covers.  I was hoping to win one, can't believe I won both!

 

Great grabs Mike!  And I got lucky and picked up this nice LB Cole beauty from the same seller. Only 5 on census.

Edited March 4, 2019 by Microbia

[n2wdw]

Additions to the Lady In White Collection

I've talked before about my Lady In White collection (which is a collection originally conceived by @miraclemet).  Whenever you have a collection like this, you have to have rules that define what's allowed to be in the collection.  Having strict rules can be frustrating, as it becomes hard to find books that meet the rules, and it can begin to feel like the collection is stagnating because you're not adding to it.  But opening up the rules too much can be worse.  Yes, it allows you to add to the collection faster, but if you relax the rules too much, the collection loses focus and really loses its appeal and interest.

The main rule is the cover has to have a gothic feel to it, with a beautiful damsel in distress wearing a flowing white dress or gown.  Now, there are comics that have a gothic feel with a woman in a white dress -- but she's the aggressor, not a damsel in distress.  You see what I mean about relaxing the rules?  I've decided not to include books like this in the collection, as it would go against the fundamentals of the Lady In White theme.

Originally, another rule was the book had to be gold, silver or bronze.  I decided to relax this rule and allow books from all ages.  This doesn't really change things, because gothic seems rare in modern books (Right now I know of only 1 modern book that fits the theme, Rom 33.  If you know of others, please let me know!). 

My final original rule was the book had to have a minimum grade of CGC 9.0.  This rule has caused me the most heartburn.  Especially with magazines.  High grade magazines are incredibly hard to find.  And they are expensive to grade.  And even more expensive to press (which I've done with comics to nudge them to 9.0; that's not possible with mags due to the high cost, at least for me, as there's only so much I'm willing to spend for this collection).  There's a treasure trove of mags that meet the theme, but I've been frustrated about adding them to the collection because of my minimum 9.0 grading rule.

I've decided to ease my grading requirement.  Now, the requirement is my Lady in White collection as a whole has to have a 9.0 grade.  In other words, the average grade of all the books in the collection has to be at least 9.0.  This allows me to have lower grade books, as long as I have enough higher grade books to compensate.

So, with these new rules, here are some additions to the collection.  I feel queasy about the Dracula Lives 3 at 7.0.  That might be too low to satisfy my anal collecting sensibilities.  So maybe my grade rule will be: the average has to be 9.0, but no book can be below 8.0.  I don't know.  I'm still negotiating with myself over this issue.

Edited March 5, 2019 by n2wdw

[n2wdw]

18 hours ago, Microbia said:

Great grabs Mike!  And I got lucky and picked up this nice LB Cole beauty from the same seller. Only 5 on census.

Nice win.  I was watching that one too.  Glad it ended up with someone here.

[comicnoir]

On 3/4/2019 at 4:20 PM, n2wdw said:

Two Matt Baker Pickups!

I just won these comics moments ago on Ebay!  I didn't expect to win either.  You don't see WR 13 often; in fact I don't remember the last time I saw it for sale.  Similar for WR 16, and this comic also is one of Baker's best tail light covers.  I was hoping to win one, can't believe I won both!

 

Knew I should have bid higher on the 13. Great scores.

[bounty_coder]

9 hours ago, n2wdw said:

Additions to the Lady In White Collection

I've talked before about my Lady In White collection (which is a collection originally conceived by @miraclemet).  Whenever you have a collection like this, you have to have rules that define what's allowed to be in the collection.  Having strict rules can be frustrating, as it becomes hard to find books that meet the rules, and it can begin to feel like the collection is stagnating because you're not adding to it.  But opening up the rules too much can be worse.  Yes, it allows you to add to the collection faster, but if you relax the rules too much, the collection loses focus and really loses its appeal and interest.

The main rule is the cover has to have a gothic feel to it, with a beautiful damsel in distress wearing a flowing white dress or gown.  Now, there are comics that have a gothic feel with a woman in a white dress -- but she's the aggressor, not a damsel in distress.  You see what I mean about relaxing the rules?  I've decided not to include books like this in the collection, as it would go against the fundamentals of the Lady In White theme.

Originally, another rule was the book had to be gold, silver or bronze.  I decided to relax this rule and allow books from all ages.  This doesn't really change things, because gothic seems rare in modern books (Right now I know of only 1 modern book that fits the theme, Rom 33.  If you know of others, please let me know!). 

My final original rule was the book had to have a minimum grade of CGC 9.0.  This rule has caused me the most heartburn.  Especially with magazines.  High grade magazines are incredibly hard to find.  And they are expensive to grade.  And even more expensive to press (which I've done with comics to nudge them to 9.0; that's not possible with mags due to the high cost, at least for me, as there's only so much I'm willing to spend for this collection).  There's a treasure trove of mags that meet the theme, but I've been frustrated about adding them to the collection because of my minimum 9.0 grading rule.

I've decided to ease my grading requirement.  Now, the requirement is my Lady in White collection as a whole has to have a 9.0 grade.  In other words, the average grade of all the books in the collection has to be at least 9.0.  This allows me to have lower grade books, as long as I have enough higher grade books to compensate.

So, with these new rules, here are some additions to the collection.  I feel queasy about the Dracula Lives 3 at 7.0.  That might be too low to satisfy my anal collecting sensibilities.  So maybe my grade rule will be: the average has to be 9.0, but no book can be below 8.0.  I don't know.  I'm still negotiating with myself over this issue.

Mike ( @n2wdw ) there are definitely some real celebrations here .  I am happy to see that the Eerie #25 and Dracula #12 (two difficult books) came inline with estimated grades.  A 8.5 Copy of Eerie #25 just sold in December for $200!  Not an easy book.

Further getting WHITE pages out of a handful of these is a celebration as Magazines typically were not stored as well with cheaper pulp paper.

The Dracula Lives #3 and #10 definitely got hammered harder than expectation. 

In regards to your dilemma around cut-offs with grades that is definitely a personal judgment call.  I have found myself over the years willing to accept lower technical grades for higher eye appeal.  For me, it's how the book makes me feel.  If there is a book I cherish but the defects simply make it un-attractive to me personally I can't buy it.  I don't want a copy that takes away from how I feel about the book in general.  If I can get a book with it's major defects on the back cover despite the hatchet to the grade I'm all for it and it makes the wallet book (and wife) happier 

 

- bounty

[n2wdw]

1 hour ago, bounty_coder said:

Mike ( @n2wdw ) there are definitely some real celebrations here .  I am happy to see that the Eerie #25 and Dracula #12 (two difficult books) came inline with estimated grades.  A 8.5 Copy of Eerie #25 just sold in December for $200!  Not an easy book.

Further getting WHITE pages out of a handful of these is a celebration as Magazines typically were not stored as well with cheaper pulp paper.

The Dracula Lives #3 and #10 definitely got hammered harder than expectation. 

In regards to your dilemma around cut-offs with grades that is definitely a personal judgment call.  I have found myself over the years willing to accept lower technical grades for higher eye appeal.  For me, it's how the book makes me feel.  If there is a book I cherish but the defects simply make it un-attractive to me personally I can't buy it.  I don't want a copy that takes away from how I feel about the book in general.  If I can get a book with it's major defects on the back cover despite the hatchet to the grade I'm all for it and it makes the wallet book (and wife) happier 

 

- bounty

Yes, the Eerie 25 is the highlight of those books.  To get a Steranko cover like that is pretty amazing.  I'm also very happy with all the others.  As for DL 3, I'm happy to have it.  It's a really good copy, even though it got hammered by CGC -- it's the only book I was surprised by of all the mags I bought from you -- I had pegged the book at the same grade as you -- so I figure I'm way ahead!  I'm looking forward to your next magazine sale!

[Black Bat]

Wow the Eerie 25 is really something!! Thanks for posting. 

[n2wdw]

On 3/5/2019 at 10:59 PM, Black Bat said:

Wow the Eerie 25 is really something!! Thanks for posting. 

Thanks!

[n2wdw]

Some photo covers I've gotten back from CGC recently.  The guy in My Own Romance has got to be a stalker.

[n2wdw]

Strip House New York City
 

I haven't posted any food pictures in a while, so here we go.

In the past month, I've been to NYC 3 times (twice for work).  And I've been to the Strip House twice.  Strip, as in steak rather than inspiration for Zenescope.

Here's a feel for the Strip House vibe.  It's a small restaurant with alot of NYC energy.

The most recent time (this past Wednesday), I started with their vodka martini.  What sets this apart are the olives.  Not only are they blue cheese stuffed olives, they are truffle blue cheese olives.  I had this the first time at the Strip House, and craved it so much I had to have it the second time.

 

After the martini, I got their barrel aged old fashioned, because life is short and I've got more years behind me than in front of me.  With this I said a silent pray for Luke Perry.

As for food, I got the grilled wedge salad (kissed with smoke), and a medium rare bone in ribeye.  I washed it down with a couple of glasses of their house cabernet, but as I write this I cannot remember what it was (with is a testament to the martini and old fashioned).  The food was wonderful (almost as good as the drinks).

 

Edited March 10, 2019 by n2wdw