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fastballspecial

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About fastballspecial

  • Birthday October 27

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  1. Its harder to compare more current artists because they have become cover artists only. They rarely do interior art anymore and who can blame them when they can make more from doing covers. While Campbell is not my favorite he is one the best at producing and selling his own cover art.
  2. I still find them in $1 boxes at flea markets and such. Its still not known well on many titles yet.
  3. Right and my question would be how much they paid originally and is the price pattern going up or down?
  4. Have him go down the union hall and ask if they need anyone to help out this summer. In my area they would take an 18 year old for the summer all day and twice on Sunday, but you only be so picky about what job you want.
  5. Well its well written that helps, but also the print runs were really low at beginning and end of series. The 12 issue ending is a must have. I've sold 3 sets and I rarely keep them more then a couple of months.
  6. Yeah the bags are absolute junk. Here we got sealed books from the 90s that still hold up well, but these bags actually fall apart right in your hands.
  7. I can only speak to my area of the country, but unemployment is at 2.2% in my work county. All the counties around my areas are 2.3 to 2.7% even the metropolitan area. We my company are paying yearly stay bonus and in the past year have paid relocation expenses of $5K for people who move more then 75 miles. We can't find workers and we pay very well with great insurance. The labor market at least in my area will not be tightening at all for the forseeable future. My children have never had to worry about finding a job. My first kid had 3 offers before he even got out of college. My second has already been offered full time employment and she hasn't even finished college yet. The labor market in my areas is fantastic for anyone in their 20s. Its great to be that age and be able to leave jobs for more pay and benefits which I see yearly currently. I know that's not the case in other areas, but its still shocking to me considering how many applications I had put within a 200 mile radius just to find a job out of college years ago. The Supply chain in manufacturing was just starting to get in good shape then the bridge fell over in MD which will affect us component wise at some point. Our suppliers suffer from lack of labor and critical party components they are getting from overseas vendors which again is the supply chain. Our GDP has shown positive results for several quarters in a row now. Traditionally the market slows in the summer months. I have not seen that yet, but I do try not to sell traditional books I specialize which gives me a better sell thru rate. I expect by June to slow down like usual. My shows locally have shown positive results average dealers at the show make between $1k to $2k on a one day show with some dealers making up to $3-5k per show depending on what they bring. Low end is $500 to $1k for dealers. Volume makes your sales some dealers rely on making a big sale too much while others sell 100s of $1 $2 $3 books easily. Some dealers hit it big with a nice sale then some go home not doing as well because they needed to rely on that big sale. Don't be the 2nd dealer in that example. Sales the last couple of months have been very good. Not record setting but constant. Speculators are entering the market again after having taken their lumps on slabs. That glut is going to sit there around some people's necks for awhile. Local shop was blowing out slabs for $25-35 a pop and they had probably 20 boxes they were selling. X-men 97 right now is fueling sales of X-men books and let me tell the X-men 97 show is fantastic so far. Invincible sales still do well as they introduce more characters this season. I continue to see strong sales for Simpsons, Spider-Gwen, Dazzler singles, and off all things Alf at local shows. Couple of women buying strictly Gwenpool and Spider-Gwen. Golden Age buyers are still strong looking for good cover books like EC covers. I didn't have any large sales, but had dozens of sales from books $15 to $50 this time around. 1st Marvel Zombies, Cap 241, Hulk 181 Foils, Dazzler 1, Watchmen 1, Marvel Age 12, DC Versus Marvel Set, Showcase 96 3. Nothing huge but solid books I sell consistently either on or offline. We did a card show with our comic book show this last time and it did not go well. When one group advertises alot and the other does not they cannibalize money from the other group. My advice is never do it. Dealers still made money, but I learned a lesson not to do it again.
  8. Nothing there to back it, but a lower print run. Biggest Hoax in the market. Paid $1 then hold it, paid more then that sell it.
  9. Couple of JSA newsstands. Not valuable, but I never see them so I scanned them just to prove they do exist
  10. Wont matter book will still sell for $20 to $25 at shows. I just sold one for $25 last show I think. Now slab buyers can punish sellers more due to glut.
  11. We are now seeing a generation of collectors that have no idea how many copies are out there of certain books. If you are at a show and you dont see ASM 300, Spawn 1 and Avengers Annual 10 its a really bad show. There are just alot of copies in general.
  12. Used to be a solid $5 seller based on the iconic Jim Lee cover I look at the time for a newsstand copy never see one.
  13. My LCS always told me Spawn 1 was his best repeat seller. Id buy them all if you get them that cheap. I sell them routinely at shows for $20 in NM and higher.
  14. Loved the games there. It was a great place. Met several boardies there. It got spammed so many times Hoss finally took it down. I still miss it. People from all over I remember some great people on there from Canada as well.