CKinTO

What did your original window bag look like? Like I mentioned above, a big part of trying to maximize the chances of getting it done as requested in your window bag (and not taken out of the bag) is to make sure the window is more than big enough with lots of "wiggle room" for the creator to do their thing.

Nice book (especially since it's newsstand!) For what it's worth, I do think your original window was a bit too small, even for Jock's signature which is fairly compact. I find you need to give quite a bit of a "wiggle room" in the taped window, as creators are worried when signing quickly that they'll get certain pen strokes on the tape and miss the comic. Even if you have a specific spot you want, I think it's better to make the window bigger, but then write on the tape (like you did) where you want it. Eg. "Pls sign in the white space to the right of his chin please!" So I could see Jock taking the book out of the bag because of this. Then once out of the bag, it's a bit more uncertain he'll sign where you wanted it. I feel you that it can be disappointing when you go to the trouble to try and be prescriptive on sig placement and it doesn't come back that way, so just offering up thoughts on how to "maximize potential" for it to be signed the way you ask!

"This is the way"

Same, I picked up an A cover to read, and the 1:25 for $15 because I liked that cover the best, and it was still "reasonably priced". I agree with you all, I thought it was not bad / pretty good, but nothing amazing. I may keep it up in single issues for a few more, but unless it pulls me in quickly, I also will likely move to trade-waiting (despite knowing that if enough ppl feel that way re: single-issues and trade-wait, can lead to books getting cancelled down the road, especially for Indies).

I've enjoyed this series, also having caught up recently by buying the last 3 trades. I got a #1 Jae Lee raw a long time ago near the beginning, but never cared enough to battle the masses on the singles given the spec hype on the series. Now that I've caught up on the series, I will definitely agree it's quite good. Like the best spec, it started because it's a good and entertaining story. At this point I follow very few series in single-issue, but will continue to follow this one on trade!

Here's my contribution - don't have a ton of silver age books, but Havok was one of my favorite characters growing up as a kid, and this was a pretty affordable NM- WP copy I picked up a few years back.

@Kevin Boyd Is there no longer an iPhone app this year for FXC? Can't find it on the app store, and when I open last year's version, it's still the old info from last year (date's say Labor Day Weekend). EDIT: Nevermind, looked on the website and saw that it's the Fan Guru app now...

Some nice pieces of advice here. I split time between Toronto and NY (Manhattan), definitely some good recs here. A couple additional thoughts: - Comic shops: if just for the magnitude, check out Midtown Comics. It's one of the largest in the US, and NY has a few locations. If you do end up staying close to Grand Central, there's one very close by (their "Grand Central" location). Not a huge back-issue selection, but their Wed new comics wall is the largest I've seen before - Food. So much to try here, really ranging on your budget. Given you'll have an 11yr old in tow, a couple cheap eats that I'd recommend that's easy / quick, but that locals love: 1) The Halal Guys (basically shwarma food cart - their "chicken & rice" platter is well known and ppl still line up around the block during after-hours late night). They're at 53rd and 6th (near the huge Hilton hotel). If you are going to check this out, do a quick google search for "The Halal Guys", as they're so popular, there are lots of imitators nearby (and even at off-hours, take up the same corners. 2) Pio Pio (this is Portuguese chicken, basically rotisserie style chicken, with an addictive "green sauce"). 3) Sushi - if you like real "omakase" style sushi (you sit at the sushi bar, and you just get nigiri-sushi (piece of fish on small amount of rice pieces)), NY some of the best you can get in North America. Can get up there in price, and don't know what the sushi scene is like in the UK, but something to try if you're interested. If this is of interest, let me know and I can follow-up with some recs;

I know you and Linsner go way back. Any change to his stance on no longer allowing witnessed CGC? IIRC, he’s not against witnessed sigs (will do Voldy), but is still peeved about CGC grading some of the counterfeit Cry for Dawn 1’s?

Love this thread! As an 80s/90s child, I've geared my SS book collecting primarily to books I remember growing up with (Linsner's Dawn, Jim Lee's X-Men v2, McFarlane's Spider-Man), or modern ones as I've gotten back into reading comics in a big way the past few years. None are worth more than a couple hundred, and are pretty much all for the PC! Linsner's Dawn #1 - this is the one of the first "variants" I really remember wanting, the "White Trash" edition of the "new" Dawn #1 Another iconic book from my childhood was X-Men #25, when Magneto pulled the adamantium out of Wolverine. I was 9 when this book came out, and I remember my draw dropping when I read this for the first time. Was able to get this SS done on my copy from childhood by Kubert / Nicieza last year, and was thrilled it came out a 9.6! Go 9-yr old CK! McFarlane's Spider-Man #1, boy this was a big deal right during my peak childhood collecting days! My only McFarlane SS! One of my favorite on-going Image series today (enjoyed anime growing up), is Monstress (both Liu and Takeda won Eisners in 2018 for this book, Liu being first female ever to win Best Writer in an On-going). Got my #1 double-signed, as well as the first 2 trades. I thought Marjorie's messages were really sweet on the trades as well, they were both super nice Big Tom King fan, and I remember when this book came out, I had read very little of Swamp Thing. I bought this 1st print to get signed, and then bought a 2nd print as a reader. Really enjoyed this story, and my 2nd print is now left out on my coffee table. A few people have read it while over (perfect short-story), and when they finish, and I see the look on their faces, I usually pipe in with a, "this is why I still read comics!" Has led to some good conversations.

Yes, didn’t see this before my reply, but this is what I was thinking as well.

So I’m going to take a slightly different view as others. I think you were being reasonable, but I also see where he was coming from. He wants to buy more books to save on shipping. Given the books are cheap ($30 each), the shipping (i would assume for 3 slabs, it’s like $20-25), the shipping here is a big % of overall cost here. From my read, the breakdown came when: - He didn’t understand that the next sale would be the same books as what just sold, and that’s why you said for pics, he could look at the sold auctions. He also mistakenly took the auto-message from Ebay to be “from you”, and thus thought you were basically telling him to screw off - BTW, are all of the new books coming up in next auction slabs? Or raw? I suspect raw (given you don’t list grades when listing out the books), so getting pics of the actual duplicate books in next sale would be a legit request, to see grade - If you don’t want to do that, totally your call. Reasonable position to take - He offered to pay for the books now (exc shipping), and so if there was going to be back and forth on books, the only thing I suppose you could have done would be offered to revise the invoice to exclude shipping, so he could pay now and then wait for the next auction (or at least continue the discussion on what books would be in next auction). You don’t have to do this of course, and this would be going above and beyond, but that’s probably the only thing you could’ve done differently should you have wanted. I don’t think this was a case of him trolling you, but more some misunderstandings, some overreactions, and some immaturity / anger from him when he (mistakenly) thought you initiated a non-buyer ping on him

As primarily a buyer, I do usually add a note with my offers trying to explain why it's fair (usually based on past Ebay sales or GPA). My view is that I'm hoping the seller at least sees where I'm coming from, and it's not just a blind offer for offer's sake with no rhyme or reason. I can see how for some sellers, that doesn't matter, but I feel like for some, it would.

Yes as Kevin mentioned, Todd does private signings once or twice a year. I believe Celestial Comics is the store that handles it, and a bunch of facilitators are involved. At cons, he just does unwitnessed signings, I think only one item per person. I'm sure there'll be a huge line-up for his public signings - Kevin, I'm guessing that's all he'll have right (the public signings), no ticketed event for a guaranteed (unwitnessed) sig?

That's a sweet book, and I agree, I would be very happy with this green label, owning a piece of history!

If signature is not on the cover, but on the first page (typical), you'll still get a blue label and CGC will note "XXX name written on 1st page". And the grade really won't be affected much at all for a small signature on inside page. I've never seen a PSA/DNA/JSA sig certification before - but if they are putting a sticker on the back of the book (assume it's actually on the book), I would think that would significantly hurt the grade, and likely be net negative for you. If you don't want red label Voldy, but really want it graded / slabbed (and sig is on first page), I think sending to CGC is fine as you'll still get blue label, grade will hardly be affected, and you'll get the note about the name on the label.

Ah I see your point, yes, there's a bit more value in a Macfarlane SS 9.9.... Cool book. Have you looked at the B&W variant for Spawn #1? It was technically a reprint though CGC doesn't notate it that way (was a 1:50 retailer incentive for Spawn #65) They go for a lot more, but it's been on my list to pick up at some point when I can find a good deal.

Fwiw, even though you like Spawn, I would really steer away from the #1 9.9. Agree with @MadGenius above that 4 figures for a 9.9 when there are that many other 9.9s and a few 10.0s imo is overpriced, given 9.8s are like $150 books. Even aside from the subjectivity angle of 9.8 v 9.9 v 10.0... So many Spawn 1s out there. Just get yourself a 9.8 and spend the remaining $900+ on another really nice IM1 WP book. I think if you spent up for the 9.9, as you get more into buying slabs and understanding the market, you’ll regret the decision and think you could’ve gotten a lot better value for your money. But end of the day, do what’ll make you happiest.

Kevin this is a great line-up, if FXC is like this, I would be hugely happy! (Though I get Toronto is harder to get the same full line-up). Fyi for those interested in the John Byrne signing, I went to the one at Fan Expo Canada on Labor Day weekend 2018. It was the first show Byrne had done in ages, and was what I assume will be the same format here. - A signing paid package with William Shatner - Open signings at his table throughout the con A few notes from my experience: - I got the package. It guarantees you 1 signature with him + Shatner on the Star Trek omnibus that Byrne did, and 2 signatures on anything else you want from Byrne. I thought it was fairly priced, especially since it includes the cost of the huge hardcover omnibus. No witnessed grading whatsoever. He is really against grading. Fyi he won’t even sign on top of a slab. I was a bit bummed about this as I brought a PC book (Xmen 121 9.8 1st Alpha Flight), and said he could personalize it to me on top of the slab, but he still said no. Was a bit of a bummer, but I was respectful and didn’t cause a fuss as it’s his choice. - His public signings line was huge, every day. Like 2 hours+ minimum. And this was in Toronto, I imagine Dallas will be even more. Same rules as Kevin mentioned, as many as you want (hopefully ppl are reasonable given line size), no doubles, and obviously no witnessed grading. I think towards later in the day, if lines still long, they started putting like 20book per family limits, but Kevin will know better. - I was very happy to have gotten the package - given size of his line, to me it’s worth it to guarantee books signed, hard part is thinking of just 2!

@Kevin Boyd Great news that Jim Lee will be back this year. Assume there will likely be packages again like previous years for a separate signing (non-graded and graded?) Not sure if that will depend on whether CGC is there or not (I think the Jim Lee one from 2017 was official CGC reps at the signing, vs other special events where it's ComicSketchArt reps (Eg. at the Snyder/Capullo events)

I hope they never do. While it would be another avenue for revenue, I like that CGC SS holds the power it does, and think adding a red label type sig verification label devalues that power somewhat. Yes one could argue that they’re different labels, so one’s potential incorrectness doesn’t affect the other. But given the value of yellow label is the integrity and the belief that it’s 99.9% legit, even a chink in the armor of another label (but still CGC brand) IMO hurts the yellow label. It’s all built on CGC’s rep, and one bad scandal and the house can quickly come tumbling down!

Have only been a buyer so never got around to creating one of these, but finally getting around to it! Cheers!

I missed it, but am a big fan of the comic (got into it a year ago, caught up on trades, and have been picking up the singles for awhile now). Definitely want to watch it at some point soon - ep1 is no longer available on YouTube right?

Not about comics, but related. I bought a house this past summer, and the sellers were a family of 3 siblings (who are in their 60s), who grew up in the house as kids. Once they grew up and moved out, their parents continued to live there. The dad passed away many years ago, but the mom had lived there for many years by herself (with a caregiver). She passed away this past year, and so the "kids" sold the house. There was a lot of interest in the house, and in the end after a few rounds of increasing our offer, it was down to us and a "builder" (who would gut renovate and then sell the house). We were at our limit, and put in our final offer. As part of the offer, our agent told our story as a young growing family (I have 2 kids, a 3yr old and at the time my wife was pregnant with our now 4month old), and they ended up accepting our offer, which was meaningfully lower than the builder's (think mid-5 digits). In the end, given what the house meant to them, they wanted to see another family grow up in it vs a builder who was out for profit. It was a really touching moment, and they all called us together to tell us that we had won and they were going to sell to us. Now, a couple things: - The money offers were "relatively close". Within some amount, the excess dollars mean less to people vs the "joy" the sharing of the sentimentality can bring. - Related to that, I think it helped that the sellers were older in their own right, and had lived full lives themselves. They were likely fairly comfortable financially (and didn't need the money badly). Additionally, the incremental money would be split 3 ways, so less down to each person - So it comes down to what is the incremental dollars worth to you as a seller vs the benefit of feeling like you passed on something that brought you much joy in life? People have different "utility curves" with money, depending on how much you already have and how much you need the extra dollars. When I get older, for certain books that mean a lot to me, assuming I didn't badly need the money, I could see myself accepting less money to sell to someone I felt is a "collector" and would enjoy/love the books as much as I have. But presumably up to a point.

I'm guessing it has to do with the fact that his image / likeness is on the label. Presume CGC had to pay to be able to use that, and the contract was only good up until he passed away.