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About this journal

I have not written a journal since before the format change. I had the two password issue. I wish things were not changed but I will attempt to use it.  I quoted Ultron in my title as I finally completed my Voyage to The Bottom of the Sea set. I have been searching for years for a high grade copy of Four Color 1230 which was the movie comic and first issue of the title.  Metropolis had a 7.0 raw about five years ago but it looked like a 6.0 at best and I didn't buy it.  A few months back a 6.0 CGC came up and I really wanted to get the big 100% so I bought it.

It is the best I can do . The search will continue  and someday I might find a better copy. A 7.5 White Mountain copy is the best CGC copy out there and has been for years. I did pick up a somewhat scarce Buck Rogers in The 25 TH Century #8 CGC 9.0 recently which was distributed in multi-packs only.  My best find from the Gem City Comic Con in April was a raw Thor 126 which I got for $150.00.( It graded 8.0 off-white to white} I found it in the first five minutes of the early buyer part of the show and thought I'm off to a great start but everything was downhill from there.  Upgraded my Journey into Mystery 121 with a 9.4 recently.  The recent Comiclink auction had many books I wanted but my Arizona vacation and prior comic buying did not allow me to bid on only a few of them. I did win the Space Family Robinson #9 Double cover I wanted though.  Still waiting on them to be added to my set. Still hoping my old journals will show up soon , not sure what the status is on those. I hope they aren't lost in space.

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Entries in this journal

The Taj Mahal of Comic Shops

Last October on the way back from a mini vacation in Kentucky I stopped in four Cincinnati area comic shops. I'd been in two of the four before. One of them Up, Up and Away Comics said they had opened a new shop in the suburb of Blue Ash . It was on the way home and just off the interstate so I pulled off and proceeded to a really nice plaza. I saw the sign and walked in the door. To my surprise it looked like I walked into an upscale store of some kind.  A young lady walked up to me and as
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General

$37,200 vs $158

I recently watched the Mile High II CGC 10 copy of Thor 156 sell for a staggering $37,200 on Heritage Auctions. I had been looking to upgrade my 9.4 to at least a 9.6 for some time. Thor 156 is common in high grades similar to Thor 132. Not that hard to find. Seeing that copy, it lit a fire under me to finally get an upgrade. I managed to find a 9.6 on a dealer site for $210 but he had a promotion so I got it for $158. I'd love to have the 10 but for 99% of collectors it's not going to happen..
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Beatles,Big B,Bill Ward and Badger

I haven't journaled in a while mostly because I have been busy working but today I have my first Thanksgiving off since 2011 and it feels good.  Back in September My wife and I attended all three days of the Cincinnati Comic Expo. I wanted to share my thoughts on it.  It was a mid size show, good location and set up nicely but did not have as many comic dealers as I would have liked. Even though the number of comics bought was few I was happy with what I came home with.  I started Friday ni
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Oops they did it again!

I am sure this has happened to most collectors out there. You win an auction or make a purchase of an awesome comic at a great price and the seller refunds your money the next day. I had this happen twice in the past few weeks. Once on Ebay and the other on a dealers website.  The first one was on Ebay and it was an auction for an Avengers 24 CGC 9.6 signed by Stan the Man himself. I won the auction with some stiff competition at the end. I could not wait to get this comic but the following day
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General

Recent returns and grading differences

Two weeks ago my latest submission arrived. Four books bought raw from two large dealers. One was from Lone Star Comics. It is a Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery 11 John G. Fantucchio pedigree. It was listed as such but came with no documentation that it was from that collection. I called Lone Star and asked for documentation. They said it did not have any because they bought a large number of mid to upper mid grades of that collection and those do not have any documentation like the high grade co
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What do you think qualifies as slow shipping?

I wanted to get your thoughts on what do you consider to be slow shipping when you buy a comic online?  I did a" Buy It now" from Metropolis on May 25 of a Turok 56. Nice 9.6 , good price but ultra slow shipping.  I got an email from them on June 6 saying they were about to ship. That's 12 days after purchase. They then sent an email on June 13 saying it shipped. Seven more days. It arrived June 16 finally.  Now to be fair it does state that they take 2 to 3 weeks to ship but I've never bought a
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The postman always rings twice and forges once?

I wanted to mention something and get your opinion on it. Recently I purchased a CGC Fantastic Four 2 from a trusted seller. I thought I would get this book while I could still afford to buy it. It's a nice looking 3.5 off white to white paged copy.  I asked the seller to send FedEx with adult signature confirmation. Basically an adult 21 and over has to sign for it.  The seller did as I asked and I expected myself or my wife to be home to sign for it. The day it was due my wife had to leav
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HULK 2 Has returned to my collection finally.

Well,            earlier today the comic I most regretted selling has been restored to my collection. It is an Incredible Hulk 2.  The story on this begins in 2010. I saw a Hulk 2 raw listed on Ebay that looked seriously under graded  as a buy it now for $400 dollars. It looked to be 6.5 to 7.0 but was listed as a vg minus 3.5. I watched it thinking it was to good to be true . I waited and watched the seconds tick down to zero but did not buy it. No one did. A week later it was relisted as
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Marvel Multi-Pack set scoring.

I recently added a Thor 274 Multi-pack edition to my set. It's a nice 9.4 Universal. I noticed that I received 18 points for adding it. However, if it was just a Univeral copy I would have received 20 points for adding it. I looked at the different scores for issue 274, Universal and Multipack Universal. Some same grades had the identical point scores, but some did not.  It was really haphazard.  Does anyone know why some grades would get the same point total and others different for the same gr
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Buckeye Comic Con like days of old

I just returned home from Buckeye Comic Con. It's a small show in a hotel. Just like back in the 70's when I attended my first cons.  I like it because it is dealers loaded with comics. There are some small press writers and artists in attendance.  They say the attendance is 400 for the one day event and that looked a little low to me. Very busy. It is held every four months and I plan on being there in November for the next one. I picked up some high grade Swamp Thing , pristine Spawn 1to
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Buckeye Comic Con is on!

Just wanted to mention I received an email from Jeff Harper that the July 19th Buckeye Comic Con ( Columbus, Ohio) is still on. He did say bring a mask. He also mentioned that the Akron-Canton Con which is another of his shows on July 12th  is cancelled. I posted a picture of two recent pick ups. A Journey into Mystery 103 and a Thor 191.  The 103 completes my JIM CGC set . The Thor 191 was a recent online dealer purchase I have been watching for like a year. I decided to buy it after I saw a sa
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General

It's good to get out. Real good.

Sunday I was able to attend Buckeye Comic Con in Columbus, Ohio. The one in November was cancelled per Governor's order. I noticed that there was a lot more early attendees than normal. They were afraid of having to wait as they were only letting in a fixed number of people at any one time. I got there very early and managed to be fifth in line and got one of 25 Ironman "Believe " hardcover books they gave away. Got some of the items on my list. Such as mid high grade copies of Thor 129 and 168.
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A BIG BUNCH OF BRONZE HEADED SOMEONE'S WAY.

JUST NOT MY WAY. Tonight I had the opportunity to buy a 20,000 book plus collection before the big guns arrived. They were mostly very fine on average. A lot of nm also. A friend of mine said his friend was selling his 20,000+ book collection. I got over there and checked it out. It seemed he started collecting in the late 60"s into modern age. Half his basement was long boxes stuffed full. About 60% Marvel 30% DC and the rest a mix. I decided not to buy for one main reason. He had key book
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Some Recent Additions To The Collection

Four are Worldwide Comics-How'd they do on Grading? I received two submissions back recently. The first lot was comics that I've put off having graded for various reasons. Such as a Hulk 181. Reason, Marvel Value stamp cut out. Avengers 57 reason, lower grade. Tales of Suspense 65 reason, had other books graded. Boris Karloff 51 reason, thought it would grade lower than what I bought it at. The second lot was all Don Rosa collection copies. Three more Boris Karloff, I'll start with all fou
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Some Recent Additions To The Collection and 2016 goals.

A personal goal was hit. I have been busy lately trying to strengthen my collection. My first goal this past year was trying to get the top spot back on my Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery set. I set a goal of December 31st of 2015 to do that and did make it but only by days. It may not stay that way but I am working to complete this set by the end of 2017. I've worked more hours this year than I have in any year of my life so I have had more funds for comics. I also hit the 50,000 point
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Recent additions and some random thoughts.

Recent auctions- when to hang it up and a pet peeve of mine. I was browsing the various sellers and auction sites Monday night July 25th and checked out Comiclink's focused auction which was starting to close over the next few days. I noticed that the number one Registry set of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea was up on the block for Wednesday night. I've had the number two set for a number of years now. This set has a number of Gary Dalberg's Twin Cities copies in it. Most are 9.8's with w
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Recent grades, recent pickups and the "other " other guys.

I popped out a book from the "other " other guys to see if I was right. Thanks for the idea Tnerb. I recently renewed my membership and wanted to use my $150 credit. I always struggle to pick which books will make the cut. This year I decided to make a grading comparison. The owner of my favorite comic shop always makes it a point to let me know his grading is stricter than CGC's every single time I go there. Now in the past I have found he's normally 1/2 a grade above the CGC grade 90% of
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THE LATEST ADDITION TO THE COLLECTION.

It's not a 9.6 but I'll take 9.4 all day. Just arrived today fresh from New York City. Thor 144 9.4 Twin Cities Pedigree. I've always dug this cover from the King and have been looking for a 9.6 copy for a while but the price has'nt been right. I found this Twin Cities 9.4 on Metropolis and the price was right. They had it on Ebay and their website. It was $34.00 more on Ebay with free shipping. I paid $14 for shipping on their site so it was still $20 bucks cheaper. Also today my Value su
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This Years Final Four Part 2

The Grades are in. This years coupon submission posted today. The invoice date was 8/18/14. Two exceeded expectations and two slightly under expectations. My Strange Tales 110 which I thought would come in at 2.0 ended up at 3.5! I know you don't ususally use an exclamation for a 3.5 but it shocked me.   The big winner was the Voyage to The Bottom of The Sea 16 which clobbered the 8.5 in my set coming in at a lofty 9.4 with white pages. The two Boston pedigrees were somewhat disappointin
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THIRTY DAYS TO VERIFICATION.

Business days that is. Verification occurred on Friday September 5th for my Modern submission. I did count the day CGC received them. 7/25/14.   My coupon submission is currently at 14 business days. It was verified on day two, but is still in verified status. Thirty days actually is less than some of the posts I've read in the past few months. Maybe CGC is starting to catch up? To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.
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I am Titanium and some new pickups

I am just getting back full force to collecting since my new neck parts were added back in September. Basically my spinal cord was being crushed in my neck either from old injuries or old age.  I had to have spinal fusion surgery on four vertebrae . I have two titanium rods and eight screws holding my neck together. Much less titanium than the Titanium man though. Normally they would use spacers but my body tried to fix the problem itself by growing new bone thus the rods. I was told I was very
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Buckeye Comicon March 1st

I just wanted to mention that Buckeye Comicon is just around the corner on March 1st. If you like celebrities then this smaller con is not for you. If you love comics ( like 99% of you do) then stop by if you are in the Columbus , Ohio area. You can look up the info on the web. I recently acquired two issues I have be wanting to add to my collection for a while. Thor 137 CGC 9.4 is a tough issue to get in high grade because of it's black cover. I also added an Fantastic Four CGC 5.5 with the gre
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THIS YEARS FINAL FOUR.

Pedigrees or keys? I received this years Collectors Society coupon and as always spent a few days mulling over which comics to send in. With me it always comes down to high grade, pedigrees or keys.   I have a number of ungraded pedigrees. Mostly Bostons and Northlands and some others. Some key books mostly Silver and Bronze Marvels and some file copies mostly Gold Keys.   After putting together about 50 four book combinations I came up with a small group to choose from. This goup had
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HOW SECURE IS YOUR COLLECTION?

MOST CAN'T AFFORD ARMED GUARDS. Last week I attended the Gem City Comic Con in Dayton, Ohio. I always meet up with a follow collector who I used to work with. I've known him for 15 years but never knew where he lived. We were talking at the show and discovered his property actually is close to my mom's house. I was at my mom's house the next day and called him to see if I could stop by. Before I knew it he was walking over with about $14,000 dollars in key comics in his hands. Af 15, Jim
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Making a List and Checking it Twice

Well tomorrow (3/24-3/25) in Dayton Ohio is the 2018 Gem City Comic Con. It's not a big show but it has grown over the years. It is a true Con not a celebrity sign fest where you can actually buy comic books! I am making my list for tomorrow and plan on being there by 8 am and will spent the extra 5 bucks to get in an hour early at 9.  Last year my best buy was in the first five minutes of the early entry hour. So if you are within a few hours of Dayton I would suggest stopping by if you can.  I
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