FSF

I use to have a subscription but stopped because I no longer by CGC books.  I agree is a solid tool all around for frequently sold books.  They did have a week trial when I signed on so I guess they no longer do that. 

My biggest end or year gripe would be Christmas.  Although there are plenty of things I do like about the holiday season, I think the concept of giving presents, apart from children, are a complete waste of time and money.

I ultimately went with a small pair of decent scissors cutting the top, right and bottom side.  It was pretty easy but something that should not be done with high grade books without being very careful.  This book was an overgraded 9.6 modern (Gal Gadot foil cover) so not much risk in price but I like the book a lot so I'm much happier with it out of it's tomb. 

BTW, I thought we were all automatically geeks for collecting comic books in the first place?

Thanks for the ideas.

So I got the book extricated from the outer shell.  But now I'm left with a semi-rigid mylar thingy that could get real ugly if I try to pry open any further.  Best I can think is to try and scissor the top edge.  Any better ideas?

Does the fact that the front cover has a lot coloring and the back much less so, especially along the edges, have anything to do with it?

I would never have comics to put in a storage unit but for the OP storage guy, what are your views on indoor storage facilities vs. outdoor. Just curious in general.

It's hard to imagine how it isn't the Green Goblin.  The guy is Spidey's best friend's father.  He's also an alter-ego billionaire.  He killed Spidey's girlfriend in a memorable way and also died a glorious death shortly thereafter.  He and Peter Parker are both science geek geniuses.  And to top it off, he just looks like a nasty villain and also looks very cool.

Nothing really jumps out at me though I don't find any of them objectionable.  Good job on the name.  i like it.

Flash Thompson

The first post in this thread might give you some sense though by no means comprehensive, not that I am by any means an expert.

Off the top of my head, there are 3 realistic options, none of them all that enticing.

1) Buy it in on ebay 1-2 issues at a time.  The benefit being you have more immediate satisfaction but the downside being the shipping costs.

2) Buy it in batches of 6-12.  Benefit being low shipping costs but downside is waiting to satisfy your craving.

3) Drive longer to another LCS.  Not even sure if that is a realistic option for you.

What does the term "dealer" even mean in today's world?  Obviously, there are full time dealers who sell comics, many who have done it forever.  However, with the advent of the internet in full force, it seems like any collector who strategically is on the lookout for good deals and flips them is doing basically the same thing on a smaller scale.  I personally have zero appetite for doing that even once but a lot of collectors seem to engage in that.  

So to the OP, yes buy any good deals you can and flip them if that's your thing.  But don't feel the need to call yourself a "dealer" per se and have to commit time running around in circles telling yourself you have to make things happen.  Just be on the lookout with your preferred sources such as ebay, new items at MCS, long boxes at Cons and whatever.  The more hours you spend on this, the less each hour will yield IMO.

Also, understand your primary motivation in doing this.  I mean, if it's money, you will be better off trying to get a PT job at In N Out or Costco which seem to pay $15-20 hour depending on where you're located. 

The one thing worth looking through their inventory for me, on occasion, is that they sometimes have modern variants that they don't know squat about and occasionally you'll see a $10-40 type book for less than $5.  I personally don't wast time looking to pick things off but if it is something that is on my wantlist, then I'll buy it.

5 hours ago, kav said:

In around 1979 Jeannette Kahn was trying to assemble all kneel atoms books as he had never kept any of them.   Word went out to all comic shops.   I donated my GL/GA collection and sold em at a negligible amount much to my current regret.

This just proves yet again that no good deed goes unpunished.

5 minutes ago, nepatkm said:

I remember when I joined in 2006 (you’ve  been around before me @icefires ) there was no way anyone could make a thread like this 😆 

Or even get to 5000 posts in a couple of years, unless you were a big time collector well known in the hobby. There was no just commenting in topics, unless you were well educated in your posts, and/or responses. I really like the patience, and tolerance of the boards nowadays...However the old guard was brutal. I got tore up just for commenting “Awesome book, never seen that before 😃” was a CGC 9.8 DC cover, and I only collect Marvel... Got my butt tore up for not recognizing the book beforehand. —Welcome to the boards for me, hence the still lower post count after 13 years...lesson learned Old Guard, lesson learned 😆

I'm not sure that Draconian style of message board is good for any hobby.  And I often see posts in various hobby forums talking about the decline in content quality.  To that I would say:

1)  Some of that is inevitable as the learning curve for a newbie will go down significantly as time passes and so even with threads that may contain great content, it's a "been there, done that" scenario which leads to less satisfaction.

2) For anyone who would complain about the content, and I'm referring to the previous poster, nothing is stopping one from posting whatever they'd like so instead of pointing out what may be wrong, perhaps one should post what they deem to be quality content with the hope that it engenders quality responses and maybe even other quality threads.

The easiest thing for a human being to do is complain.  I know because I am the Champion at it.

Your request doesn't make much sense. But I can be generous.  When Detective 5000 comes out and if we're both still walking this earth, I'll buy you 5,000 copies of it.

3 minutes ago, kav said:

I've never had a pull list but honestly how does this happen?  The LCS gets the same number of copies every month, right?  And they fill the pull list customers first.  So how does magically they run out when a book comes out of the gate hot?

Agreed.  And I'm assuming with this book that there was no chance of an unforeseen publisher print shortage.  I'm still puzzled as to how this happened and would love to hear the detailed facts.  It's not like in the mid 1980s when I "reserved" Elflord, what was I thinking???, or TMNT and their print runs were only a few thousand which would make thing understandable.

Anyone know what happened with that gentleman who started a shop in Long Island and was providing regular updates as to how things were going?  Quite an entertaining thread for me and provided a small vicarious thrill.  Hope he's killing it!

I personally don't have any desire to sell comics but every time I read these types of threads, for comics or coins or whatever, it seems like the answer is that it's a grind and a lot of work, for what most people in society would not consider that much money.  I'm sure there are exceptions for those who do it very well or are luckier than most. 

I'm only interested in a handful of specific artists so I search them on ebay which shows the presale for books a couple of months out.  I'm probably doing it wrong but it's what works for me.

9 minutes ago, NoMan said:

I still want it all. Damn wife keeps giving the money to the financial guy. 

Sounds like a keeper.  But make sure that the "financial guy" isn't sticking you in high load funds or annuity products without a clear understanding on your part.  For my part, I'm with Warren Buffet, virtually everyone should just stick the money in a diversified index fund and call it a day but a lot of people do need hand holding through the process so I do see value for some, as long as they are paying close attention and their money is in a well known institution, or two, or three.

I don't consider art a collectible but some do. And IMO it is the only thing that can reliably be expected to eternally have collector value.  Stamps have seen their day and are dying or really for the most part dead except for the uber high end old stuff and even then it's not exactly turning anyone's head.  Coins are in the midst of a series decline in collecting base.  

Cards and comics are hot right now because of the masses of people who passionately collected as children in the mid 1980s and 1990s are in their prime earning years and are trying to buy back their childhood years.  That has a shelf life.  The next generations will focus on sealed 1st generation iPods, iPhones and other things.  Comics also could seriously suffer from a time when the genre becomes out of favor.  Crime Noir, Westerns, Musicals have all had long periods of massive success.  I can't fathom comic book culture in Hollywood getting anymore popular so there is only downside I see on that front.

I'm shocked these didn't fly out the door at 10% off.  GLWTS.

Thanks for all of the responses.  A lot of good feedback to chew on here.