• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Doohickamabob

Member
  • Posts

    10,913
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by Doohickamabob

  1. On 3/6/2019 at 6:07 AM, originalisbest said:

    Sorry to hear this... any other books taken? Hope you're able to recover it somehow.

    No, just this one, thankfully. I hope to recover it too. There is a comic collector out there who has it, somewhere. Really uncool for collectors to steal from other collectors.

  2. On 2/23/2019 at 9:24 AM, wampus13 said:

    I email Mad in with my picture and they never email me back. The way I found out I was in Mad Magazine, is my coworker saw me in the hallway and said your in Mad Magazine! I immediately went to the store and bought all the issues of Mad they had and made sure to show everyone in line and the cashier I was in Mad Magazine. I emailed them asking for my promised Alfred E. Neuman ornament and asked for a tour of Mad HQs and I of course offered Mad Staff a tour of my museum and no response. PS. On the picture in Mad they photo-shopped the 2nd framed Mad, so it is the same height as all 3 of the Mads. The middle frame is comic sized and the ones on the other are magazine sized. See attached unedited picture

    download (2).jpg

    How strange that they photoshopped it? I wonder what the thinking was, or why they had time to make such a minor adjustment.   EDIT:  Oh, now I see. They were using the image as part of a graphic, not as a photo. There were compositional and legibility considerations... etc. Cool either way!

  3. I think it's up to the buyer to check the book and make sure it looks like what you described. At that point if they're satisfied, then the transaction is over. I think it's unreasonable for the buyer to put the seller in a position where the seller has to wait for the buyer to get the book graded, and if the grade reveals something, the seller is on the hook for whatever the seller missed, as well as having lost an entire month or more with his payment in a state of limbo.

    If the buyer is going to have that high of expectations, the buyer should only purchase books that are already graded. Or better yet, the buyer should become enough of a restoration expert that he can figure things out before sending the book to a guaranty company.

    The exception to the above would be if a seller were discovered to be purposely concealing restoration on an ongoing basis. If the seller had such a pattern then it wouldn't just be a case of the buyer having the right to a late refund; it would be outright fraud and the buyer would be justified in telling the comics community to avoid the seller.

  4. On 1/29/2019 at 5:12 PM, Sqeggs said:

    There is the theory that Wayne developed cancer as a result of being exposed to radioactive fallout from the filming of the Conqueror on location in Utah.  Apparently a number of actors in the cast of that film also died from cancer.  I don't how plausible that theory is. 

    According to this article, Wayne's cancer is more likely to have developed because he chain smoked as much as four packs of cigarettes a day. (That's what his widow's theory was, at least.) But the region indeed was highly radioactive and likely caused many of the 100,000 local residents to develop cancer.

    https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jun/06/downwinders-nuclear-fallout-hollywood-john-wayne

  5. 1 hour ago, fifties said:

    I don't need to check anywhere in order to determine page count.  As soon as I get a book from an online dealer or an eBay seller, I immediately count the pages, which are generally 52 pages through about the 1951/52 dated issues, and 36 pages after.  Of course there are exceptions, such as EC's, as mentioned earlier, that always just had 32 pages.  If a 36 pager doesn't have 16 sheets, it gets returned.  Crime Does Not Pay is an interesting anomaly though, as they had some odd page counts in the early-mid '40's.  In cases like that of course, you follow the little number squares generally found in the right bottom corner of the lowest right panel of the story, to the "the end" panel, to at least ensure that all story art is present.

    It's funny, you're replying to a post I wrote in 2011. I'm glad my posts have such longevity!

    I understand that you, personally, don't need to check the page count with the Grand Comics Database. Somebody newer to golden-age comics might find that a worthwhile resource, though. It was valuable for me as I was figuring stuff out. (And I like to give that website a shout-out whenever I can, because it's great, and I recommend people donate to it.)

    There are some anomalous golden-age comics that have strange page counts, like 68-pagers, and annuals with high page counts (100's and stuff).

    Usually it's like you said, though, 36 or 52. The quick and dirty way to check is just to count to the middle, or go to the middle and see if the story has continuity or if the page numbers line up.

    Of course, it's worth it to count the pages anyway, and I always do: I check for clipped coupons or panels, torn sections, or pages torn out (which sadly, has happened a few times when it was a comic I *really* wanted to have in complete form).

  6. On 1/24/2019 at 6:34 AM, the blob said:

    As an aside, while I like the gemini mailers, the space for the comics is tight so your sandwich (you still need to sandwich, unfortunately) leaves no room on the edges, so the comic is very close to the edge. The pads for the sandwich they sell are very tight, 7 x 11. I cut my own, usually 7.25 X 11.25. But now I need to rewrite all my listings and add warning language apparently because people are dumb. (This guy lives 40 minutes from me in Jersey)

    As a buyer, I don't like it when there is barely any separation between the outside of the package and the stuff inside, especially if the outside has packing tape etc. that has to be cut to be opened.

    In addition, I've had some problems with sellers who make a cardboard sandwich but then tape it with the sticky clear-plastic packing tape. That interior stuff shouldn't have outer-package tape on it. The interior stuff should be taped with masking tape or painter's tape, which is easy to peel off without using a knife or scissors.

    Best practice is to avoid putting the buyer in a position where they need to put a sharp object close to the comic in order to un-pack the comic.

  7. 7 minutes ago, Pontoon said:

    Didn't realize his renown reached the west coast!

    Can't get my nostalgic east-coast friends to stop talking about Cookie Puss... Not to mention the seasonal variations, like Shamus O'Puss (St. Patrick's version).

    Listening to old Beastie Boys albums is also a factor.

  8. So this is from a Batgirl comic? Which one? Is the rest of the art as bad as this panel? How does something like this exist, and how does it get past professional editors? It's like they used a computer to draw the room, and just had a template of a room and added bathroom stuff with a few mouse clicks, or something. It is astonishingly awful.

  9. I just saw that Mad has gift subscriptions for $10 per year (you gotta get 2, for $20). Ten bucks to get somebody a gift is a pretty easy choice.

    A few years ago, on a whim I bought a few Mad subscriptions for friends and family. One of the first issues arrived just after a friend of mine had to be admitted to the hospital for an emergency surgery. His wife brought the mail, including the Mad, to the hospital so he'd have something to read. Astonishingly, there were actually some funny articles in there... I hadn't sent a note or anything but my friend later figured out the subscription was from me, and told me that the gift really gave him some much-needed laughs at a time when he was otherwise miserable. So I felt pretty good about that investment.

  10. On 1/9/2019 at 3:38 PM, FoggyNelson said:

    Is anyone still buying the new reboot issues ⁉️⁉️🏆🎶

    I have a subscription -- it's a good deal. $30 for a couple years, or something like that. Plus if you order now (this might be over, not sure) you get bonus stuff, like an Alfred E. Neuman "Geeky Tiki" tiki-mug collectible thing.

    The newest issue had their "20st Dumbest Things" (or whatever it's called) for the year. The artwork and concepts are outstanding, like they were trying to really raise the bar on quality. Each page of that feature is a little masterpiece.

    The previous issue, if memory serves, was the October issue and it had a really strong Halloween/monsters theme throughout the issue. They did a take on Edward Gorey's great "The Gashlycrumb Tinies" where instead of random deaths, the children were dying or otherwise embroiled in a school shooting. The approach and subject was uncharacteristically dark and edgy for Mad, but they pulled it off, in my opinion.

    There's lots of other great stuff in the new Mads. I am rooting for them to keep going and carving out a modern niche for satire, which is harder now that their competition is the daily onslaught of social-media memes and other material people are bombarded with constantly. For $30 (or whatever it is), a Mad subscription makes an easy gift for a friend or relative, instead of getting them something useful or sophisticated.

    And they still have Al Jaffee fold-ins! He is 97 years old. If I had my way he'd keep living and making fold-ins until he's 111 years old.

  11. 1 hour ago, LordRahl said:

    From the OP's first post on the subject... "PS I can't sell it anywhere on my accounts (Ebay, Comiclink, ect because of the Taxman.)" If he can't sell anywhere on his accounts, it stands to reason that he's currently selling under his friend's ebay account so that taxes will go to his friend. 

    I guess the idea is that he helps his friend set up an account with one of the aforementioned auction houses.