towards2112 Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 I was wondering one day, why pissants would congregate around my Milky Way candy bar, but leave the Baby Ruth alone. There was a chance of rain later in the afternoon, but we had slid the charcoal barbque pit a little closer to the baby's carriage just in case a brief shower came. Never being one to waste the opportunity to annoy the neighbors with loud noises and flashing lights, I began to drink some left over mixed drinks, from the party the night before. Most of the alcohol had evaporated, but I smiled, because I knew that a fresh virgin bottle of Crown Royal would liven up even the most sully mixed drink a little. The children playing in the front yard, and the lawnmower whirring hypnotically in the bathroom, soon enticed me to relax for a bit in my Lazyboy. I reclined back carefully to avoid scratching the interior coating of the swimming pool, as last summer we had pumped several thousands of dollars into the maintenance, and several more thousands of gallons of water out of, and then back into said swimming pool. The satellite dish mounted on the back of the barn had always wobbled a bit in stormy weather, so I paid the mule $5 to tap the thing back in place with a rather large candy cane. Once reception on the new tv had improved, I turned on my laptop to see if there were any new and exciting offers to be had on that spiffy new website eBay. I perused several ads for potted plants, various fenders for various models of cars, found a lovingly used pair of adult waterproof undershorts, at what I thought was a very good bargain, when my wife came in to inform me that the time had come for me to have "that talk" with my teenage son. Always wanting to be the proper husband, and the best father I could be, I tapped lightly on my son's bedroom door, hoping not alarm him. Several minutes later he unlocked the door and bid me to enter. I pushed a pair of jeans to the side of his favorite chair, and had a seat. I was truly amazed by the height of a stack of beer cans on the window sill. In my youth, I could never achieve a stable stack of more than seven empties, no matter how I tried, and here my son was at the glorious height of eleven empty beer cans ! I was amazed, and told him so, with just a slight wavering of my voice. I was indeed proud. As his friend rolled out of his bed and starting to dress herself, she profusely appologized for the lateness of her rising, and I smiled knowing that she was a hard working child, and that she had probably worked late into the wee hours of the morning at whatever job she was performing. I saw a bright future for her. Then I turned myself to the attention of my son and his continuing education in life. He had in the past brought things into the house, that the wife and I had not approved of. Snakes, coins, baseball cards, rifles, handgrenades, and a strange bubbling glass tea pot with surgical tubing all hooked up to it. He had wasted his money on all of these things, not knowing that they were probably not the real McCoy, and indeed, even that glass tea pot had been manufactured in the orient, and was not a genuine American collectable. I began slowly, explaining that in life, there were things that one did, and other things that one did not do. I patiently explained how one would never allow a small child to play with rifles and pistols, as that is why we have toy rifles and pistols. And why grandmothers never approved of adult men's magazines, but would rather have young men stare at scantilly clad young women in the JC Penney catalogs. He smiled as the light of reason slowly dawned upon him. I knew that he had been smuggling certain periodicals into his room when he thought his mother and I had not been paying attention. Rolled up and stuffed down his boot cuff, or in the sleeve of a jacket, things that I didn't like, and things I was absolutely sure his mother would never approve of. Image comics, and things from Devil's Due. Surely the road to hell was paved with these things. Scantily clad bimbettes, with bodies drawn in the archaic style of Liefield, animated poses that would be all but impossible to a real human form. He had been bringing Moderns into our home. And I knew it. I had been touched by the Dark Side in my youth. I had bought the Archie Summer Fun issues, just to get a glimpse of Betty and Veronica in a two piece swimsuit. Oh Lord, how I had prayed that Josie would shake her tamborine in that leopard leotard. And here my son was on the same path. I knew he didn't read Superman, didn't enjoy Gene Autry, had no knowledge Strange Adventures. Sure, he had the Spiderman and X-Men dvd's, but no Amazing, and no Uncanny. I felt as a failure. I looked deep into myself, and realized that the parachuting lessons and all the long hours driving him to the tatoo parlors, and biker rallayes, had been a poor substitute for the father figure that he needed, and I had so poorly provided. I decided at that point to confront him firmly. Surely he would see the error of his ways and turn back to the proper path. I stood and not really knowing how to proceed, simply blurted out the fact that I knew he had been buying Moderns. I went on, explaining that I knew that Moderns were exciting, that the artwork was new, vivascious, exhilerating. I knew the stories could draw you into their dens of inequity. And that sooner or later, he would, through no fault of his own, simply because it was what happened, that someday he would buy an Indie title. A small press comic. One without a major publisher, no Comics Code Authority stamp of approval. And with that step he would forever be lost to us. I thought he was ignoring me, or worse, that I was myself being childish. He turned and sat down at his computer. He tapped a few keys, a few more, jiggled the mouse once, then tapped the keys a few more times. Then my son, my pride and joy turned his head to me smiling, and motioned me near. I looked over his shoulder, afear at what I might see. But there before me was the glorious image of Whiz # 36. And what a copy. Bright clean and a solid Very Good. He then turned in his chair and reached under his bed and pulled out a long white box. Slowly he pulled off the lid and carefully reached inside. And showed me a beautiful copy of Flash # 112, and a Fantastic Four #27, and a JIM # 104, and quite a few other more Gold and Silver Age beauties. He smiled at me again and began to tap on the keyboard again, and then like something out of an episode of The Guiding Light, he introduced me to the world of CGC. 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MutantKeys Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PovertyRow Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 I wept, toward. Wept not only at your prose but at the bittersweetness of life itself...of hopes dashed then brought to rise again on a wave of mutual understanding between a father and his cherished son. ::sniff:: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
towards2112 Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 I wept, toward. Wept not only at your prose but at the bittersweetness of life itself...of hopes dashed then brought to rise again on a wave of mutual understanding between a father and his cherished son. ::sniff:: dam that's deep dude ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Hook Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 That's our dear, sweet fragile Pov, to the core. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fazybones Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 I only discovered comics four years ago and became seriously addicted and purchased hundreds of books off e-bay. With most purchases I would ask sellers questions to feed my thirst for knowledge until I accidently discovered some board members selling books who politely told me to check out the boards for information after answering several of my dumb questions. I've been lurking from afar for a couple of years reading all the fabulous information until I recently seen Bigfiver's war books for sale early this year. I finally took several other collectors' advice and joined. After buying a few books from these amazing boards I think my E-bay days are for the most part behind me. Fay I would like to thank Flaming Telepath, Divad, Arex Crooke, Billy Parker and Lizards2 for their time and effort educating me about this incredible hobby. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silvers24 Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 CGC website -> Collector's Society -> "chat boards" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sterlingcomics Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 The voices in my head compelled me to join. The power of comics compels you! The power of comics compels you! I'm fine, thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piper Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 From this link Link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark Knight Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 CGC website -> Collector's Society -> "chat boards" Yep, me too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djpinkpanther67 Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 I learned about the forum when I was browsing the CGC site trying to learn more about slabbed books. It took me forever to figure out how to get a profile on here, than even longer to set it up. I'm computer impaired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilsly Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 I've been a regular on non comics forums for a couple of years. was looking into getting some comics slabbed early last year, and was comparing pgx vs cgc, and found the STL comics boards that way. found lots of references on there to someone called 'ewert' who had done very bad things it seemed, so followed the links to threads on here about the FF3 etc, and lurked for a couple of months before joining. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad&Son-migration Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 I was on eBay about 3 years ago and saw this "CGC" in many descriptions. Did a google search and found the site. Lurked for a couple of years, never posting and finally got back into things pretty heavy and found this site to be the best for knowledge base. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ciorac Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 ................. ............... ............. Nice emotional transition... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
towards2112 Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 It's like communicating with Keates and Longfellow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_highgrade Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 I believe that 1/27/07 was the fifth year anniversary of the CGC Comic Forums. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ciorac Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 A friend emailed me about a forum where some books I had sold to Ian Levine were being discussed, with great passion. I signed up, made one post, then forgot about the boards, until the same friend reminded me last year about this place. Came back for a looksee and got hooked this time! My first (and only), not very memorable, post with the old user name: gotham39 linky Odlly enough, almost three years later I ended up with two of the books nochips was selling. Funny how things come around if you wait long enough! Then when I finally decided to post again (with the new handle): I had to stir the pot! second post Glad I've calmed down since then! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyStarkFan Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 I found out about the boards from my wife. I don't post much but I do prefer to read what everyone has to say about comics. I've learned so much from everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MutantKeys Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FFB Posted February 3, 2007 Author Share Posted February 3, 2007 A friend emailed me about a forum where some books I had sold to Ian Levine were being discussed, with great passion. I signed up, made one post, then forgot about the boards, until the same friend reminded me last year about this place. Came back for a looksee and got hooked this time! My first (and only), not very memorable, post with the old user name: gotham39 linky Odlly enough, almost three years later I ended up with two of the books nochips was selling. Funny how things come around if you wait long enough! Then when I finally decided to post again (with the new handle): I had to stir the pot! second post Glad I've calmed down since then! I still remember that post. That's why I liked you from minute one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...