What did I just buy TMNT #1?? 11 11

[shadroch]

I saw my first fake turtles around 1990.  Thirty plus years seems like a long history to me. It and Cerebus #1 were notorious for their bootlegs.

[grendel013]

On 5/3/2024 at 9:43 AM, wardevil0 said:

Cerebus 1 and TMNT 1 are among the few comics to have a notable population of counterfeit copies, dating back decades likely due to the scarcity of authentic copies and authoritative information in the pre-internet era.  Without internet access in your pocket, it was relatively easy to pass off fake small-press comics.  They were odd sized, black and white, and too tempting to pass up if one appeared at a local hotel ballroom convention, flea market, or even LCS (since they didn't always have any better identifying information than the rest of us).  I'm not sure when TMNT 1 counterfeits first appeared, but I'm sure someone could check Copper Age back issues for ads from American Comics, New England Comics, and Mile High to find the listings.

I bought a raw Cerebus 1 just last year off of ebay. Because the internet was full of all the counterfeit "tells", I purchased it with a pretty good sense of comfort. My primary concern was if it had any touch ups/restoration. I was fortunate though. Sent to CGC and came back 7.0 blue label. Back in the day I would have jumped at the opportunity to buy a counterfeit, so long as I knew it was a counterfeit. I do recall one shop selling a counterfeit TMNT 1 but advertised as such. Think it was $100. That was too rich for my teenage self.

[Gaard]

The dude is still here?

[GeeksAreMyPeeps]

On 10/2/2023 at 10:31 PM, rich_TMNT said:

I suspect the same guy (the OP - @Mike Oliver) has been emailing and messaging people using different names / identities trying to somehow get some type of proof that will legitimize this fake book. It might be a few different people that are involved in this as well - hard to tell. These are the names I suspect the OP is using out there regarding this book (from my own personal interactions): Mike Oliver, Mike Stone, Matthew Beardsley.  A "Matthew Beardsley" was emailing me for quite a while asking multiple questions about how to get this book graded and authenticated using the Twitter message as proof this book wasn't counterfeit but instead uniquely original. He also wanted to know if counterfeits were valuable and kept asking how much a counterfeit would go for. When I asked to connect on FB, he conveniently had excuses why he didn't use social media anymore. He actually told me that he bought this book for $1k from a "buddy" but when I told him it was for sure fake and the Twitter message was as well, he then switched his story to "I don't really know the details of who sold it to me."  He also originally claimed that he sent Kevin the Twitter message (although the fake Kevin response was to "Mikey"). Hmmmm.   That's how I first knew he was likely not who he said he was.  But guess what?  The day I posted here about the Twitter message being faked, I never received another email from "Matthew Beardsley."  I bet he emails me now though - to say "I'm not the scammer." Haha

What I find most interesting is that, regardless of who the name is on all of these emails, messages, posts, etc., every one of them have the same or similar poor spelling/grammar, lack of punctuation, and a hastily-written feel to them.

Additionally, a guy named Eric Christian Magee posted about this book in my FB group back on Aug. 8 saying that his "cousin" found this book at an antique store.  When I commented about the book and Twitter message being faked, he claimed it must have been a faked Eastman Twitter account that it came from. But, when I called him on that obvious lie and asked who his cousin was, it has been radio silence from him.

This whole thing is a big scam and he (they) are trying to push this book for quick cash - and also likely the person/people that counterfeited it in the first place (and then forgot to include the price on the back cover LOL). He (they) won't stop though - this book will be forever out there getting sold and re-sold and passed around. Buyers will come to these boards to find out more. Let's hope they do that before dropping any cash on this big-time counterfeit. 

Wait: Mikey was using both "Oliver" and "Stone" as a pseudonym?

Oliver… Stone?

[oakman29]

Isn't this book just a bent up 35th anniversary edition?