Coach

Isn't this a close up of one of Gene's pictures from preview night?

The signature looks odd to me.

The sales tax percentage varies by state. I believe Heritage charges sales tax on everything (bid, BP, and shipping).

Enjoyed the show very much. It seems like prices have outpaced my budget but I saw some really fantastic art. I hope this becomes an annual event, I'll be sure to budget for next year (fingers crossed). I did buy a NM #98 so I left happy!

That's true, these are special appearances. I believe someone did ask about signings/photos but Byrne didn't respond to it. I guess we'll see what happens.

Didn't he also say he doesn't do conventions? If he changed his stance on that, couldn't he change his stance on slabbed books? Personally, I don't think he will, but you never know.

After giving the issue some thought, I believe there are valid points on both sides. I don’t pretend to know all, but for me, it boils down to value. If you take two books: same title, same condition, and same signature, it’s obvious that a CGC SS one will maintain a higher value than a raw uncertified one. If a creator recognizes this and opts to charge a higher price for a signature going towards a book getting CGC SS certification, I don’t begrudge them asking a higher price. I also don’t begrudge them for other conditions that I have seen such as personalizing or, in Byrne’s case, not wanting CGC SS certification. Now this is my opinion and I have no problem if people disagree with me. To clarify, I’m not saying revat or RockMyAmadeus are wrong, our positions on this issue may not align, but I recognize and respect their opinions. I sincerely hope that common ground can be found on this issue with any creators with which there is a divide.

I agree that why collectors prefer CGC SS books is none of the creator’s business. But revat seems to be trying to facilitate understanding and change from creators. You yourself hoped to make a point with a creator with your polite challenge. I believe asking about the CGC SS preference is a genuine question and it seems like answering that you like it and the rest is none of their business is contrary to facilitating any sort of understanding or change from creators.

Just curious, how would you respond if the creator asked "You're obviously a real fan, why is my autograph on a CGC SS book preferred over a raw ungraded book"? Edited for a typo

I would agree with your statement if Byrne wasn’t involved in any way, but he is. He is involved because he is signing the book, and therefore it appears that he is putting conditions on his involvement. I don’t believe this is uncommon in business. My understanding is it’s called a covenant. From Wikipedia: A covenant is a type of contract in which the covenantor makes a promise to a covenantee to do (affirmative covenant) or not do some action (negative covenant). Obviously, this isn’t a legal agreement we’re dealing with here, but what I believe Byrne’s position is “I’ll sign your item as long as it doesn’t get CGC SS certified”. In this case, he’s bypassing the fan and going straight to CGC with his “covenant”. That said, I would love to add a John Byrne CGC SS book to my collection but I guess that won’t be happening anytime soon.

Apparently McFarlane's webbing was inspired by Michael Golden: http://www.cbr.com/comic-legends-the-secret-origin-of-spider-mans-spaghetti-webbing/

Not sure if this was mentioned before but it appears that Warner Bros. owned Rotten Tomatoes (through Flixster) until February 2016 when Flixster was sold to Fandango. Warner Bros. currently owns a minority interest in the merged entities.

I don't know about anyone else, but I didn't do anything specific to get the magazine (Intelligent Collector) other than to bid and win some auctions (more bidding than winning lately, since Heritage opened an office in CA the addition of sales tax seems to price me out of many lots). They include a postcard to send in to renew the subscription but I never send it in (I prefer not to send a postcard where they want personal information and my signature for anyone to see) but the magazine keeps coming.

Yes, you are correct, it is not a splash. In my haste I called it a splash but it is a very nice over-sized panel. A great image and I can't wait to see the scan. I mean an over-sized panel image of Wolverine.

Yes, you are correct, it is not a splash. In my haste I called it a splash but it is a very nice over-sized panel. A great image and I can't wait to see the scan.