chrisco37

Uh, yeah.

Huh, I didn’t remember that at all. Well, it was a forgettable movie. I’ve only seen it once.

Just got back from seeing it with the family. I enjoyed it more than I did TLJ. It wasn’t great, but it was entertaining (although a bit long). It felt very much like ROTJ in the way the The Force Awakens felt like ANH. I thought Princess Leia died in the last one? They just ignored that part. My daughter enjoyed it.

My "Top 4" in order: Romita Sr.- the quintessential Spidey artist for me. I though his run was the best as far as establishing the character that I loved (and he drew the best looking girls) Ditko - the original. Great in his own right (I think his ASM Annual 1 art is among the best I've ever seen; especially the villain splash pages). Not as "polished" an artist as JR Sr. McFarlane - re-defined the character and re-established "the bar" with regards to Spidey. Everyone since has "copied" him. Kane - a worthy follow-up to JR Sr. Nothing spectacular, but a solid "workhorse" artist who doesn't quite get the credit he deserves. I don't have any artwork from the above artists. Only one I have on "the list" is some Jim Mooney (a decent artist). Bagley turned out better than expected. I'm not a huge fan of his work on Amazing, but he was a really nice pick for Marvel on Ultimate Spidey (especially when he was inked by Art Thibert).

As others (buttock) have said, the biggest factor is the environment in which books are stored. Remember, the "greatest collection" of all (the Church books) were not bagged & boarded. They just sat in Edgar Church's basement, stacked on top of one another for years and years in a cool, dry basement in Colorado. To this day, these books remain some of the best examples of a particular copy. Slabs are not the "best" way to store books. Yes, they provide great protection to the books (under ideal storage conditions). But, a mylite 2 with full back will provide the same "protection". A slabbed book, stored in an attic (hot for 6 mos, cold for 6 mos) will degrade regardless of the method of storage. The best thing you can do is have your books stored at a consistent temp, humidity, etc...

We won’t really know that for a few more years (decades?). But, it’s certainly possible. I’m more “worried” about all the high grade SS books out there signed/sketched with sharpies. Will the ink ultimately bleed thru the cover? I don’t know.

Crazy. Why didn't CGC note "Bondage Cover" on the label?

$1027.62

Earlier this year, I decided to solely focus on my ASM 1-40 run. I’m not an OCD collector where everything has to be in the same grade or have same PQ. I just try and find books with eye appeal better than the grade so I don’t break the bank. I bought 5 books total this year. Here’s my “Top 3”: ASM 5: bit of a sunshadow on this one that’s slightly distracting but, structurally really nice. Next is Spidey 8. There’s a light pencil circle on the cover that brings the grade down. At first, I thought it was a stain, but it’s definitely pencil. My “least favorite” book of the single digit Ditko’s but, I need it to complete the run at some point. The colors are really nice and I thought the value was there. Last, but not least, is this 28. Probably my favorite of the bunch as it’s very much a mid-grade copy that presents much higher than the grade. Usually this book will look pretty busted with spine stress/color breaks except in the higher grades. This one looks much higher grade than it actually is.

Sorry to hear this. Sucks when this happens (especially around the holidays), but you’ll make it thru. Chin up. When one door closes, another one opens. Think positive thoughts.

Shoulda gone with this one...too quick pull the trigger.

And I would be remiss to not include a favorite of our most gracious host...