Triskelion

Two key “collecting milestones” for me were getting a hold of a copy of Hulk 181 (a 3.0 SS signed by Len Wein and Herb Trimpe), and later on, one of the Sideshow Collectibles diorama statues based on that iconic cover. Showed both here side by side with a graded 7.0 I’d acquired more recently, amidst a backdrop of 181 facsimiles and other slabs in my custom display cabinet/ drawer.

Thanks! Yes I LOVE pairing books with statues/ figure!

Haven’t posted a journal here in a loooong time, and have never attached a hyperlink to a journal post before (so not sure if this will work). Below is a link to a Custom Set I’ve been trying to update for the last several months. Focus is on comic books signed by celebrities (actors/ actresses). Another thing “unique” about it (I think!) is that I’ve also been trying to create photos to go with each slab showing the comic book along with a few of my other collectibles (statues, figures, etc). Still havent been able to complete shots for all, but getting close and hope to get this done in a couple of months or so. Please do have a look if you have the spare time, and let me know what you think! Thanks for reading, happy collecting and advance Merry Christmas! https://comics.www.collectors-society.com/WCM/ComicCustomSetView.aspx?s=16813

Congratulations!

Thank you Chris Faulkner I've always found storing and displaying comic book slabs very challenging. Always seems like a difficult trade-off, ie keep 'em stored away im boxes or frame and hang 'em, etc. When I saw Chris Faulkner's You Tube uploaded comic book glass drawer storage system, it suddenly dawned on me: "Yes, this is it, this is EXACTLY how I would like to both store & display my slabs." Had my buddy make this one for me, just recently completed. Display + storage rolled into one. 6 x 4 drawer type shelving which can hold approximately ~750 slabs (or a combination of slabs, raw books, TPB's/HC's, etc). What I really like about the glass front cover is that it allows me to change & rotate slabs I'd like to display etc. It's been a personally wonderful 2014 for me especially in the CGC collecting space, and this shelf/drawer was a great cap to the year. I wish you all the best in your collecting journeys in 2015! Thanks for reading and happy collecting guys! To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Painfully fun Been collecting slabs for the last 6 years or so and its been a pain (in the wallet!) being based overseas here in Asia. I'm sure those of you reading this from Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand (all places which at one point in the past 10 years I've called 'home', and where I've had the pleasure of interacting with several fellow comic book fans) can relate to. Fortunately I have a shipping address in California where I have my slabs purchased from US sellers to, later consolidated and shipped en masse to the Philippines which saves me big time on freight. On the brighter side, I do see interest and the hobby in general growing, albeit very slowly. In 2008 I remember searching for and not finding any Ebay listing for slabs located out here. Nowadays I see a lot more interest as well as active buying/selling in this around the region - local Ebay, Facebook forums, even in an LCS in Manila (where I just recently found out we also had a CGC SS witness which is cool). Pricing I can see is still normally about +50% at the minimum higher versus what one would pay if one were based in the US though, but on occasion I do see pretty good bargains though I suspect the sellers could be absorbing losses. A few things which I've learned through the years (which worked for me and which I'm hoping can also help my fellow collectors out here): 1) Leveraging door to door shippers who provide the service to Southeast Asian countries, most of which are based in the west coast. Several have even begun offering consolidation services. Makes sense paying say $50 bucks for sea freight which can cover for over 100 slabs versus having 3 slabs USPS'd here for the same amount if not higher. 2) GPA and OPG have been my best friends throughout, and have really helped me not overpay for books (raw or slabbed) .... or at least not do it with my eyes closed. I know astute collectors in general living anywhere use these as references, but its even more important for overseas collectors, for obvious reasons 3) Cautiously try out non-Ebay and non- trad online auction sources, i.e. direct deals with reputable sellers, BST forums etc. Over the past 2 months I was able to get 2 modern slabs and 2 SA keys very close to guide (+/- 10%) DELIVERED here in Kuala Lumpur. Bit risky and won't do this for pricier slabs I will pursue, but makes sense I think for some. Always good to develop relationships also with sellers you can trust. 4) Leverage the selling community both locally and in the Region. I got several of my SA slabs from an Australia-based seller, where shipping fees are obviously lower versus getting from NA and where I found his pricing very reasonable. Also active in a handful of FB forums here where I clearly see interest grow (which can only be good) 5) PATIENCE. I've found that the most economical way for me to get from raw to slabbed is to ship it to Sarasota and have them ship to my CA consolidator, then sea freighted to Manila. This process takes months - on top of CGC grading. So I end up physically seeing my slabs maybe 6 months or more after I send in my raw book. Many other things learned through the years. Love this journey and I really do hope that hobby continues to thrive for us out here in this part of the world. To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Or am I? I really love spending time and reading through various journals, fantastic collections, awesome pictures & fascinating stories posted in this forum by you guys! And every now and then, I do get inspired to post and share my thoughts also. Here's my latest 'venting': Being based and living in Southeast Asia, sustaining a comic book collecting & practically any other similar genre collectibles hobby can become annoyingly tricky. There's always the natural question of cost & availability. A little over 10 years ago I had to relocate overseas for work, which made things even worse, forcing me to leave my home and treasured comic books & collectibles behind. Until now I've been moving & living around the region, coming home only briefly in time for celebrating the year-end holidays. This means that I only get to physically see and grasp the vast majority of slabs and collectibles purchased online & shipped to Manila once a year, before they go back into storage. While I've been able to establish quite an effective system of having items procured online from sites such as Ebay and Heritage sent over to an LA-based consolidator's address (a friend of mine in the business), verified, accumulated then shipped overseas in bulk at a reasonable cost, it's still gets frustrating especially at the start of the year when I begin winning the occasional online bid for a slab and have to wait several months before I actually see what I won! This also unfortunately creates a situation akin to 'hoarding'. Accumulated slabs and similar theme collectibles like statues and die-casts do take up a lot of space. Trying to control this as much as I can (i.e. given my situation 1/4-scale or larger statues/ dioramas for example are simply out of the question, also getting back into less space-consuming coin collecting), but even small things pile up. Took me a while personally to get focused on my CGC collecting hobby, so there are several slabs (over half of what I'd accumulated) & items back home which I will definitely need to somehow dispose of when I get settled back. Impossible for me to do anything major about this now apart from the occasional consignment here and there, and no idea when I'll be able to really sit down and better manage my 'hoard'. I'm not sure if some of you are in the same or similar 'predicament' as me. Maybe not exactly under the same circumstances but I imagine a lot of us share a bit of the 'hoarder' traits also, as avid collectors who at one point in time in our 'journeys' sit back and make difficult decisions on which items to keep, and which to part with. And struggle with constraints relating to space, and of course changing collecting focus and even life priorities. At the end of the day though, I'm still a believer in the adage that it's the journey that matters most, rather than the destination. Personally, I find that the angst I feel whenever I think about just how much stuff I will need to inventory, store etc whenever I get back home is simply overshadowed by the excitement I feel whenever I find an item I am looking for overseas, whenever I win a bid or see status of a CGC order shift to 'Shipped', and when I go back once a year, unwrapping packages, arranging my stuff, etc. Priceless memories over the last 10 years, for me. Helps make it all worthwhile. Thanks for reading guys, and happy collecting! To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Beyond comics Every now and then I like taking a step back, evaluate priorities in life (including this hobby), and ask myself if I need stop what I'm doing, continue, or modify. Seems like I do this more often nowadays. I think its simply because I'm getting old. Hehe. Take comic books for instance. A little over 30 years ago, it was all about saving up to buy the next issue of my favorite series (back then, Avengers). Prior to this, it was about browsing through and reading (and unfortunately destroying in the process) my dad's huge collection of silver age Gold Keys and Dells. But in any case, it was primarily comics and reading pleasure, back then. Then came the 80's and mid 90''s, with the explosion of new titles and new publishers. While continuing to read, I got caught up in the speculation frenzy, sometimes buying multiple copies of 1st issue Images, Valiants, etc. Expanding beyond this though I started buying the random statue/ figurine here and there. The late 90's and early 00's was somewhat of a hiatus from the genre. Responsibilities, early family life took a stronger hold. Didn't even buy any new book for months on end. However did get into collecting DVD's and later Blu-Rays and amassed a huge collection. From the mid 00's though I did see a resurgence. Got back into the hobby and started reading Avengers again plus the new Ultimates lines, and several other books. Started collecting trades and hardcovers. Got my first slab in the 2009 SDCC, first time I attended too. Bought a few original art also. And started buying Sideshows also, later on Hot Toys, Master Replicas etc. 2010 onwards was somewhat more restrained. I'd since slowed down comic and CGC 'collecting' habits significantly. No longer feel obsessed with completing some sets. And settled for virtual copies of favorite books I continue to download and read. At the same time, have slowed down statue and figurine collecting also. Recently though, a 'new' side hobby (for me) started by way of commissioned art. Never really got into this until now. I feel I'm lucky enough to have 'stumbled' into this with a first encounter with the Fraim brothers, who to date have been nothing short of awesome in my experience (great artists, extremely professional service, reasonable prices). I have a work in progress JLA/Avengers cover homage with them, with several character cameos representing genre figures who've at some point in time influenced me, and/or which I really liked, a lot (photo below). This seems to me like something I will probably settle into for the foreseeable future. What I like about this hobby is that it gives anyone the option of 'branching out' to multiple side hobbies/interests beyond just reading comic books, which I think most if not all of us in the forum started out with. Some expand to collecting statues. Some to collecting original art. Some to collecting genre trading cards. Some to starting up a business of buying/selling books and collectibles. Some to CGC, PGX collecting. Some to simply watching and enjoying comic book character TV and movie interpretations. Many, I think, expand to a combination of some or even most of these. And the beauty is that the hobby is so much entrenched already in today's culture and also very scaleable, depending on the priorities of the day and one's plans for the future. I really treasure this hobby, as it's one of the things which has been with me all these years, ups and downs, and has truly helped make life very interesting and enjoyable for me. I do hope you are enjoying the same if not even greater satisfaction in this, than me. Thanks for reading, and happy collecting guys! To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Reading, collecting, slabbing, & downloading It's been about 5 years since I started collecting slabbed CGC books, and almost 40 years since I began reading comic books. Over these years, I've amassed quite a large collection of books, slabs, TPB's/HC's, artwork, and figurines/statues. Now I'm having what will likely be my retirement home built. Quite large space I may say, and is being constructed with an eye towards preparing for an ideal environment for a collector (ie Low E windows to keep out UV, LED lighting to avoid damage, shelves with glass covers, ample cool/dry storage space etc) but still it will be impossible for me to properly house & display everything that I have collected (most items now in storage). Choices I will have to make, and make soon: 1) Which of these items should I keep, and which should I dispose of? 2) Which books do I keep in a display shelf/bookcase, and which should I keep in storage boxes? 3) Which slabs do I frame and display, versus those which I keep hidden in storage? 4) With limited display space, how do I decide what items to display (books? statues/figures? original artwork? what's an optimal mix?) What makes it somewhat easier to avoid the temptation of further amassing more and more books is the availability of online comics; to date all my issues of Walking Dead and Justice League are virtual. Helps avoid needing space to store more books. What makes it difficult however are the dozens of great Bowens, Sideshows, Hot Toys, Efx's etc which are released every day. Many better than previous versions. It was hard for me to resist the temptation of not buying the complete line of Hot Toys 1/6 Avengers for example. Soon, it will occupy a prominent space in my display. I know that I'll need to stop someday. I have considerably slowed down, i.e. a year or so ago made a decision to cease expanding my CGC collection, start selling off, and only focus on a core CGC set on the Turok character (ie highgrading where financially feasible, and completing a few uncompleted sets). So I thought my intense CGC collecting days were over. Of course, earlier this year Dynamite revived the character .... and I'm back! Its been a great 40 years of ups, of pauses, and downs. Of wanting to get each and every issue of a particular character. Of countless hours reading and re-reading favorite books. Of following certain creators. Of eagerly waiting for slabbed books shipped by CGC. Of hours looking both mine and at other collectors' image galleries (in CGC, in Comicartfans, etc) and admiring with envy! Of waiting in line to be among the first to see Avengers. Of attending comic conventions, meeting creators and fellow fans. Of eagerly anticipating results of an Ebay bid, or availability of a Sideshow release. Of refocusing buying habits. Of rationalizing with my very patient wife on why this hobby is good. I've enjoyed all these years as an avid comic book reader and fan tremendously. From the time I picked up and read my first comic book (a hand me down Turok from my dad), to the time I write this journal. It was an opportunity I was truly blessed with to enjoy. And, I presume like all of you reading this, I look forward to moving on to the next chapter of this journey. Happy reading and collecting! To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Hectic weekend! Had a great time at this year's SDCC, despite having been able to attend only the Sunday last day events. Highlight for me was being able to bring my entire family along this time. Kids had a blast; my 12 year old son was able to get for himself a Simpsons convention edition TPB, with a personalized autograph and note from none other than Matt Groening (he's a big fan), and my other 10 year old son had a great time getting into the Back to the Future Delorean display (he also had a nice opportunity to be interviewed in what looks like a segment for a Michael J Fox foundation clip). That said, I'd noticed that I actually spent significantly less this year than my last SDCC attendance (in 2009). I guess partly because I only spent a day (and the last day, at that!) though some of the retailers I'd spoken too did mention that this year wasn't so successful sales-wise than previous years. Spent almost the entire day browsing through the Golden & Silver Age sections, some key books I'd wanted to get were either simply unavailable, or priced way above my budget (I'm still drooling over the 'highest in grade' Dell Four Color 596/Turok #1 and Four Color 686/Turok #2 displayed in the A-1 Comics booth, just couldn't afford the > $7K price tag). Still managed to score myself a few nice raw books - including about a dozen silver age Marvel Avengers and a handful of silver age Gold Keys (e.g. Star Trek) from Tomorrow's Treasures, at first glance appearing to be in Fine+ condition or higher, for about $5 - $10 each. Plus a handful of raw Dell Turok Son of Stone cover price variants from A-1 Comics and Terry's Comics (which I've been looking for, for years!), and a nice 9.2 CGC slabbed/graded copy of Dell Turok at slightly below guide. Another thing which 'made my day' this week was the very pleasant surprise of finding out that my silver age Turok set had been recognized by CGC in this year's Registry Awards. I think my dad, who accompanied us to this year's event, was equally elated (he's a Turok fan himself, who brought me into the hobbly in the early 70's, and I dont think he actually realized that I managed to complete the set over the last several years!). It's truly a great honor to be counted among the best sets out there (still reeling from the shock), and I'd like to congratulate all the winners in this year's awards. Flying back home tomorrow, and will be spending the next several weeks/months sorting through my purchases (and budget!) and submitting a subset for CGC grading. Not sure if I can attend subsequent SDCC's in the future (i.e. I heard that ticket prices are increasing significantly), but who knows? All for now. Happy collecting!

A never-ending quest Seeing Amazing Saul's recent journal on upggrading inspired me write this up. Over the past several months, I've finally been able to complete my Turok Son of Stone set in the registry. Took several years to do this, and I'm sure many of you can relate to the feeling of fulfillment one gets when one is able to complete a favorite set. So what's next? On one hand I've been able to meet one of my primary collecting goals. On the other hand, there is that ever-present temptation to continuously upgrade issues in my set to a higher grade. I have a handful of issues in my Turok set for which I feel I could get higher grades at an affordable price for me, so I'll continue to pursue this. Also, there's also a temptation to 'expand' the set by getting 'special issues', which could take the form of special one-shots or mini-series (e.g. in Turok's case, 3 issues of Western Publishing's March of Comics giveaway series published in the early 70's which I was also just recently able to procure), or some nice foreign edition copies. For the latter (and I recall Liaton-9000 published a related journal on this recently) I felt fortunate enough to come across reasonably priced Turok #1 foreign editions over the past several months (an Italian/Spada edtion circa 1972, a Spanish/Mexican edition circa 1958, and a black & white Australian edition circa 1958 also), many of which I am hoping to slab once I have saved up for it later in the year. I find that part of the interest too lies in doing some research to try and find more information about these relatively 'obscure' titles and editions, and subsequently trying to see if there are any issues out there put up for sale or auction. The journey just gets more and more interesting. Thanks for reading, and happy CGC collecting!

What if? It's the year 2020. The live action "JLA/Avengers: Part III" is breaking all box-office records. Happy news for the now combined Walt Disney / Time-Warner Marvel - DC Comics conglomerate, as this follows the heels of its successful Marvel/DC Universe animated series. 'Walking Dead' is in its 10th season, still going strong. Now in HD3D interactive TV. Robert Kirkman is on the cover of Time magazine. Its the 3rd year anniversary of the successful merger between CGC and PGX, and their combined registry. Differences e.g. imperfections in relative grading have been resolved, and the no. of registered collectors have quadrupled since 2011. Because of the influx of collectors and resurgence in popularity, gold/silver/bronze/copper age slabbing costs drop to $10 a book ($ 7.50 if its sent as a 30-book batch) with a 10-day turnaround. Imaging provided free of charge. A 5.0 grade 'Action Comics 1' sells for $5 million in a Comic Connect auction. Modern age books finally reach similar relative price levels as Silver age issues 10 years ago. 500,000 visitors registered in SDCC '20. CGC Registry points roughly equate to about $5 per point, market value. All comics ever published 1938 onward now available for download online. Aliens vs Predator vs Terminator vs GI Joe vs Transformers vs Robocop vs Archie volume 3 issue no. 1 hits the stands Life is good. Ok, I'm willing to settle for a small drop in CGC slabbing costs, or even quicker turnaround times, how about that? Happy collecting! To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Comic book collecting in Asia - and why I can't wait for SDCC '11! Every time I log in and view recent journals from my esteemed fellow collectors (e.g. the recent posting of Doc Joe and others), I'm always inspired to jot down and share my thoughts (End of preamble) Over the last several years, I've been going around and living overseas, staying in places where as a child avidly reading and collecting Marvel and DC comic books in Manila I'd never dreamed of going. Right now I'm based in Singapore, having moved over from Thailand a few months back. And everytime I move to a new location/country, finding the nearest place to buy comics is top on my 'to do' list. In my experience out here, comic books never got the traction/widespread readership, as it did in the US. Even in countries where theres either a lot of western cultural influence (e.g. Philippines, which had been a US colony until WW2) or integration (e.g. Singapore, with a large western expatriate population), the options are limited. A part of me always envied friends/family living in the States - conventions left and right, comics widely distributed/available, and (relatively speaking, given the shipping premiums) cheap! As a child (and until now), I always looked forward to whenever we visit friends and family in the US, as the trips were always a great opportunity to purchase bundles of books, subject only to the limits of allowable carry on & checked in luggage. Here in Singapore, there are two major comic book outlets where I regularly purchase the most recent releases from. Books Kinokuniya, located at the huge Takashimaya shopping mall here, undoubtedly has one of the best selection of hardcovers and trades in the city-state. There's another smaller outfit, Absolute Comics, which specializes in both recent issues as well as trades (though nowhere near the size of Kino). I find that these two stores are able to satisfy by basic reading/collecting craving, but I'm not sure how long they can stay operating (I've seen 2 other shops in Singapore close down in recent years). For my CGC purchase/collecting needs, there is unfortunately no other option other than going online (and finding ways to deal with the price premium/ disadvantage an overseas bidder would have versus a domestic US bidder vying for the same, US-based item). I'd also attended last year's Singapore Comic Convention with my son, and left very disappointed (it was probably 95% manga-cosplay-anime themed which I'm really not into, and ended up with zero purchases for myself, though admittedly my son had a blast). I guess one part of me feels that the industry I've loved and been into all these years is sunsetting, which of course saddens me a bit. But then I go into the CGC portal (reading journals, messages etc) and browse through Ebay, Heritage and other auctions online, read recent releases from great creators like Brubaker, Bendis, Ennis and Johns, and I can clearly see that there's still a lot of 'life' in the hobby, which as mentioned above I always find inspiring. And my young kids, who have never been to a 'real' comic convention, are wondering why I'm so excited planning for our upcoming San Diego trip in July (can't wait for them to experience this, first hand). I love this hobby!

Success...and waiting... I'd recently shipped 30 silver age Dell/Gold Key Turok Son of Stone books for CGC grading, and very happy to note that they're now in "Verified" status. Why the elation? 1. This was my first CGC submission for the year, with the last one being roughly a year ago. Part of my self-imposed 2010 new year's resolution to stop myself from overspending in the hobby (quite expensive as I ship from overseas), and set aside funds on a monthly basis to save up for a batch submission. Right now I have another batch waiting to be shipped (all modern books, including what I hope to be min 9.6 or higher grade Avengers/Invaders, my personal 'read once and subsequently carefully stored' Marvels set, and assorted unread Turok Dinosaur Hunter issues), but need to save up for a few months for this. 2. I'd had about 8 raw book batch submissions to CGC to date (including this one), and had a terrible experience with my last submission where books I'd submitted were inadvertently damaged during shipping. The boards I'd inserted inbetween the bagged and boarded individual issues apparently did not have sufficient allowances in the edges - should be at least 1", mine were about half that - to protect the books. So now I'm paranoid, and apart from following the 1" rule, I placed the items in a conveniently sized hard plastic container purchased from Ikea(costs about $5) prior to shipping. Seems like it did the trick this time, thankfully. 3. In a few of my earlier submissions, it took two weeks to move status from "Received" to "Verified". And on many occassions the books were shipped well over the regular time expected. This batch, took less than a week to move to "Verified" so I hope the batch moves quickly through other stages in CGC's pipeline. 4. I really look forward to having this particular batch slabbed. Took me a while to accumulate these from various sources (e.g. Metropolis, Worldwide, Neatstuff plus the occassional Ebay purchase) given the scarcity and relatively limited print run of the series, and my intent at this point is to high grade my existing complete Turok set to a minimum 8.5 (I'm realistic, unless of course I win the lottery or something) or higher. All for now. It's always been a great pleasure to be part of this forum and the CGC collecting community. Reading through fellow member journals and the occasional chat board post is one of the highlights of my day, as its always nice to know that there are a multitude of fellow collectors out there enjoying the hobby, experience and journey as much as I am. Happy collecting! To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Crossing my fingers Is it just me, or are a lot of us irked at the unusual delay it is taking to open up general registration for SDCC '11? Being an overseas-based collector, until I attended the Con for the first time in 2009, SDCC had always been part of my bucket list for as long as I can remember. Extremely happy to have gone 2 years ago (and crossed this one out of my list, though that visit did ramp up my interest in CGC collecting, thereby creating new items in the list). Made a few key purchases for my collection (e.g. Four Color Comics #596, a 9.8 graded Secret Wars no. 8), met with a number of retailers I still deal with on a regular basis (Worldwide, Milehigh), and had a chance to meet and have casual discussions with some of my favorite personalities too (e.g. Francis Manapul). Am looking forward to attending this year's event, so is my wife (who really isnt into the hobby, but who had a great time attending the '09 con nevertheless) and my kids for that matter (who couldnt come with me the 1st time). Hopefully they fix the registration problems soon. Latest info from the website says they'll open for registration this Saturday/ Feb 5, hopefully things are smooth... To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

How do we manage our growing CGC collections? Because of the nature of my work, over the last several of years my comic and CGC collecting activities have been constrained by an inability to have CGC's I purchase online delivered direct to my residence overseas (I have them shipped to my hometown address). So over the holidays, I went back home, eagerly anticipating opening, storing and registering CGC's I'd been processing and having graded over the last 12 months. Ended up sorting through over 250 slabs. The feeling was awesome, and I have to admit there was a considerable amount of excitement as I opened dozens of boxes (from CGC, Metropolis, Worldwide, and a host of other folks I'd transacted with), saw the number of books I was registering growing (200 before, 460 now), and my overall points/set rankings jump up significantly in just a few days. Which now leads to a somewhat pleasant albeit real dilemma: How does one sustain this hobby going forward? As I'm sure most of us would appreciate, unslabbed books and boxes take up a huge amount of space, not to mention CGC's. I currently have nearly 500 slabs stored in about 1/2 a dozen jumbo-sized airtight plastic containers. While I'm sure my purchase and collection this year will be nowhere near the level it was in the last few years (ie was able to complete a few sets I was targetting to date, and now really just focusing on upgrading), this still poses a problem in the future. I've sold a few items here and there, but unless I either win the lottery or go into more active selling/trading of the CGC's and books I'm willing to part with (something I dread), I will run out of storage space. Its an even bigger problem where I come from (Manila), where the comic and CGC collecting community is very limited. This will be top of mind for me over the year. Happy collecting! To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Deciding on what to store, and what to keep Because of work, I'll be relocating in a couple of months' time, to another country. It's been my 3rd relocation, to different countries, in 6 years. One of the more difficult decisions I make, each time, is to determine which of my comic book collection to bring along with me, and which to leave back home. I have about 20+ short boxes of raw books and TPB's/hardcovers, and 150+ CGC slabbed, back home. In my current location, have managed to accumulate 15 short boxes of raw/TPB/HC's and 50+ slabbed books, also. In my experience, as I come from a tropical country with high humidity, its way better to keep books in semi-air tight plastic boxes, versus just storing them in acid-free boxes . Some of the stuff I'd kept back home, received extensive termite damage despite being kept away from wooden floors/shelves and inside acid free plastic sleeves(thankfully, just a few non-key reader's copies). Since I'd started keeping them in plastic containers, havent seen this problem recur, and every time I go home for the holidays and check, they are in pristine condition. So I went with my wife to purchase lots of small-sized plastic boxes yesterday (approximately the size of a standard comic book short box - my wife uses these also as she's an avid book reader), and am beginning the painstaking task of sorting out which I will bring along with me to my new assignment, and which I will ship back home. Those trade paperbacks which I'm shipping back, am encasing in acid-free bags and boards as much as I can (usually Golden-Age size to accomodate size), and placing in containers. Slabbed books I'm enclosing in bubble wrap, individually. I'll end up shipping most of my books, and ALL of my CGC's (* sniff sniff *), back home. I simply cannot bring too much stuff along with me. Will end up just bringing along a box or two (or three!) of reader's copies of books I really love and read over and over again (e.g. Kirkman's Walking Dead, Ennis'/Dillon's Preacher, Geoff John's Green Lantern run, classic Marvel and DC collected sets such as Secret Wars, Avengers Disassembled, Secret Invasion, Crisis, a handful of Absolutes, etc). Needless to say, I do feel sad to let go of a lot of the books I currently have on hand. Always nice to be able to actually physically see, reread and hold them, and for CGC's to scan and upload into the Registry. Kinda feels like starting a collection from scratch. On the bright side, I do have a lot to look forward to, when I eventually settle back home in a few years' time. Reopening these boxes every time I go back home always feels like Christmas. And especially since I've not been able to register the majority of my CGC books to date (e.g. my all time favorite Turok Son of Stone set, which I have completed and am now upgrading, has yet to be completely registered), I DO look forward to cataloging, registering and scanning these books into the registry, someday. The place I'm headed also, has a much larger and wider network of comic book shops compared to where I am right now, which is a definite plus. Always a challenge here in Asia, where I'd seen interest in western books and titles (Marvel, DC, etc) wane in contrast with Japanese Manga (which I'm not really into). In the meantime, I've likewise been blessed with a wonderful family, and fullfilling job which supports my hobby also. Can't really ask for anything more, no? Happy collecting!

Has CGC finally overcome their delays in the slabbing process? Can hardly believe it. I sent 2 batches of mixed silver/ copper/ modern books for slabbing (non-fast tracked Value tier), which CGC received March 22. Couple of weeks later, I'd sent a 3rd batch in, 30 books modern tier (also non- fast tracked), received April 7. As of today, all 3 batches, have now been marked as "Shipped/Safe", way ahead of the advertised 40 business day turnaround time, and way ahead of the previous 50-60 business days it took them to receive and ship earlier batches I'd sent through. The 3rd batch was actually processed ahead, shipped out about a week ago. I'm impressed. I'd also like to acknowledge Mr. Eric Downton from CGC, who managed to resolve some issues I had with the books I'd sent. There was a mix up with one of the batches when I checked status online. CGC got the invoice number correct, but the books shown online - Avengers #1 and # 4 (great books by the way) - werent mine, which really worried me for a minute there as a lot of the books in the batch I'd sent in were silver age Gold Key books which I'd wanted slabbed really for nostalgia more than anything else (they were handed down to me by my dad, old Tarzan/ Korak/ Mighty Samson and Space Family Robinson issues). I'd also sent in two chrome variants of "Sachs & Violens #1", initially marked as regular issues, now identified (correctly) as variants after I'd raised this. I recall contacting CGC in the past, a couple of times, without getting a response. So, again, pleasantly surprised at both the quick response (within 1 day) and resolution. Thank you Eric and the CGC Team, for working this out. I hope CGC keeps this up, and the fast/ quick service isnt just an anomaly. I guess the true test would be items sent for slabbing right after SDCC, where I'd imagine CGC gets swamped.

Really cool online sellers Thought I'd share with all of you folks my own "personal favorites" list, of CGC sellers I had transacted with over the past few years (mostly in the last 12 months), since I got into this hobby. Covering nearly 400 slabs in all, different grades and various titles and ages which I'm chasing (Avengers, Avengers/Invaders, Turok Son of Stone, Infinite Crisis, Crisis on Infinite Earths, Locke & Key, etc). Really a random list, mixed bag of established brick and mortar stores dabbling online and folks selling off personal collections. Guys who offer what I view as fair prices and shipping rates (not too far off guide for raw, and CGC points value for slabbed), accurate product description, good communication and reasonably fast shipping. In no way am I connected or affiliated with any of these shops, beyond a relationship as a buyer. Also, I'm disinclined to mention sellers whom I've had unfavorable experiences with (gotta admit, it IS tempting to sound these guys off, but as the saying goes, "if you dont have anything nice to say ...." . Here goes, my list of "top 10 sellers", in no particular order: 1. Mile High Comics - been buying raw comics off Chuck Rozanski's store for over 20 years. I've had 7 silver age "Turok Son of Stone" raw issues purchased from them slabbed by CGC, and they were right on the mark. I have looked at their listing for CGC graded books and have bought a couple, find it a bit pricey. But raw book prices are very reasonable, especially during their special CODEWORD sales/ promo period (which happens practically weekly I think). Great seller, overwhelmingly massive selection (and their newsletters are wonderful reads!) from whom I will continue to buy. 2. World Wide Comics - first bought off these guys in the 2009 SDCC. Purchased about 27 CGC books from them, to date, primarily bronze age Avengers. They have a great selection, cool website (mentioned by tnerb in his post also), fair prices, and co-proprietor Stephen Ritter is very reasonable and easy to deal with basis our communications around prices and haggling (for lot purchases). I also think they are listed in Ebay as "spectre52", (from whom I purchased books also) but not sure. 3. Timetrapper - an aussie-based shop (I think) whom I'd transacted with in Ebay, for Turok Son of Stone purchases. Also pleasant experience. Has a nice Turok collection (also here in the Registry), many of which are posted in Ebay right now. 4. Jerry3204 - bought a few NM/M and Gem Mints from him, off of Ebay. 100% satisfied (pricing, communications, shipping). Great Locke & Key selecion. Thank you Jerry. 5. Metropolis Comics - another big seller. Purchased a few Turoks and Avengers from their online site (slabbed and raw), as well as their Comic Connect auction site. Very professional. Website is also top notch and easy to navigate. The CGC grade for the raw books turned out to be even slightly higher, makes me fully trust their raw book grading system. 6. Neatstuffcollectibles - Purchased a sizeable lot of silver age Turoks from them via Ebay, amassed I assume from various sources, and had over a dozen graded. Right on the mark. Only wish they'd had even more key Turoks in the lot. Thanks guys. 7. quiltmomma70 - another Ebay seller. Loved their modern age Avengers books. Quick shipping. 8. comiclink - cool auction site, where I'd managed to get great deals for some relatively high grade silver age books. 9. Paradise Comics - another good seller, whom I'd transacted with in Ebay for a number of modern age, CGC SS books. Professional and quick shipping. 10. comicxchange - nice site where I bought a dozen raw books from, now all graded equal to or higher than their grading system, similar to my experience to date with Metropolis. Definitely another site I will visit, again. So thats my list. Not all inclusive, as I'd dealt with many others seamlessly also. Of course, cannot guarantee everyone will get the same experience from these guys (dont sue me if you get a bad deal, okay?), as this is solely based on my personal assessment. Hope you guys find this useful, and that we can all continue to share great buying experiences in this forum, which only helps all of us as we continue with our personal CGC collection journeys. Makes it much more enriching, and fun! Happy collecting!

Looking for the link between market prices, CGC Registry points, and personal value Since I started my personal collection of slabbed books, I'd been maintaining a detailed record of purchase price, dates acquired, sellers, cost and Registry Points. These would either be slabbed books I won bids for or purchase outright, or unslabbed issues I send over to CGC. This personal record really helps me keep track, as I'm not really a professional comic book dealer BUT I am interested in keeping tabs on my collection and investment. Coverage is for 260 slabbed books which I have purchased to date. Procured(either outright or negotiated) or won via online bidding over the last 5 years or so (but significantly from the last 6-12 months) from nearly 100 different sellers ranging from reputable dealers such as Mile High, Metropolis/Comic Connect, Neat Stuff Collectibles, Harley Yee and World Wide Comics, to individual sellers in Ebay. With a nice combination of mid and high grade books, and with my final price including shipping/handling to California. Here's my hypothesis: 1. Registry Points DO approximate market value I have a collection of 78 Turok Son of Stones, different grades, which I had been able to secure in total for about +41% higher than Registry Point value. Similar, slightly above Registry point trends for the other sets/collections Im trying to actively pursue (e.g. Marvel Avengers/ 99 books/+21%, Marvel Avengers/Invaders/ 37 books/ +31%, JLA/Avengers/ 6 books/ +10% etc). And when you actually deduct shipping costs, the gap narrows. Obvious exceptions would probably be high grade books sought after to complete personal collections, with the best example probably being the recent Comic Connect $ 1.075MM sale of a CGC graded 8.0 Action Comics 1 (Registry points = 180 thousand, so the final price went for a 6x multiple of Registry points). 2. The more one pursues set completion, the wider the gap (price willing to pay is higher versus Registry points). Action comics example above clearly illustrates this. I see the same trend is the sets Im collecting. I have about 32 books which I'm not really that interested in collecting or high grading further, and which I will probably sell someday. Either got them when I was just new to the hobby and buying from bargain bins, or part of a set being sold which included books I'd wanted. This set, cost me about -54% LESS than equivalent Registry Points. One of the highlights are 3 9.8 Justice League of America books I was able to purchase last year for a combined price of $127, with a corresponding registry point score of 992. So, what are the insights, from the data? Nothing really shocking here. All of the above, very intuitive. Selling prices would tend to be higher for people who ascribe more value to the item (eg serious collectors). Less, for items with lower demand or ill-timed intersection between the buyer (maybe not really that interested in the book) or the seller (perhaps rushing to dispose). CGC registry points, appear to be a relatively reasonable "general" guide to slabbed book prices, basis my collecting and buying experience its +/- 40% or so. Do I enjoy paying relatively high double-digit "premiums" over CGC Registry Point or Overstreet guide prices for books I really want? Well, I wouldnt really say I love it, and of course there are limits but then again a guide is simply a guide right? I always do shop around online, use Overstreet plus Registry points etc to determine my default "reserve" when I participate in online bids. But nevertheless, I've always felt its all about the somewhat "priceless" satisfaction in hunting for, finding, haggling, paying for, and ultimately getting on hand and enjoying, that singe comic book or slab I'd always aspired to have. So I end up thinking of every purchase, for books I really want, as a case by case decision, and go with my gut. Love this hobby. Cheers!

Where to spend money on? Ever since my elementary and high school years, I'd always envisioned a time, in the future, wherein I'd be able to raise a nice, happy family (1st priority) and get myself a job which will support my comic book and collectible hobby (2nd priority, yes!). Lo and behold, I have been ticking off these things in my "to do" list continuously. Have a happy wife (at least that what she tells me and two wonderful kids with whom I spend equal amounts of time working homeworks and doing fun stuff like playing videogames with. My work has also been a blast; not only do I enjoy it immensely (both the work and the people I work with), but it also pays enough (after normal household spending and forced savings) to support discretionary "hobby spending" (comics, collectibles, games etc) of about $400 to $600 a month. Alas, therein lies the dilemma: what to purchase, with my hobby spending money? Video games, less of an issue. I try and control this spending more, and only focus on games which I know I will fully complete and possibly repeat. Recent buys have been COD: Modern Warfare 2, RE/BioHazard 5 and Heavy Rain for PS3. Immensely satisfied, still playing now. Since great games like these come out very seldomly, I feel this is an area of my budget which I can control well. Comic books, well, is more of a problem. Do I spend time and effort bidding or buying my favorite CGC graded, or books I will send in to CGC to get slabbed and graded, online? Or do I spend money buying the latest reader's issue, TPB or Hardcover? This came to a head recently, when a 9.2 graded issue of Dell Turok Son of Stone #1/FC 596 (2nd highest graded) came out in Ebay. Been looking for this for a long time (I currently have 2 copies, a 3.0 unrestored and a 7.5 qualified). I knew it would probably end up being sold for over $1,000. If I pursue it, would be a great addition to my collection, but also means I will need to curtail spending for 3 to 4 months, more if the bidding goes higher (which was likely). So I made a decision, to go for an absolute limit of $1,800, right near the end of the bidding. The highest I have ever bid on a single issue. Said to myself, thats the maximum I would pay, anything more will give me diminishing returns in as far as my personal fullfillment in the hobby is concerned. The bidding ended March 7, with the comic selling for $ 2,088. Did I feel like I lost something? Well, of course, it made me think, what if I'd gone the extra mile and put in a higher bid, would I have gotten the book or not? What's an extra $200 or so, if I was already willing to shell out $1800 for this? But then, who knows what would have happened, if I sniped at say $2200? One can easily argue, that the winner of this book may have had a higher max bid/ book meant more to him or her than me. Was I happy? You bet! A few days after the bidding, I made a trip to Books Kinokuniya (the largest retailer of US comic books and trades in Bangkok where I live), and spent about $200 on TPB's and hardcovers which I'd wanted to purchase and try out for some time. Just finished reading the last 2 TPB compilations of Vertigo's Fables, and Ed Brubaker's Criminal deluxe edition compilation - among the most satisfying and enjoyable reads I'd had in a long time, and to think I would have probably been able to only read this late 2010 had I purchased the slabbed Turok # 1. This (cost avoidance) has also enabled more aggressive bidding and purchases for less key/ more affordable slabbed books (eg 5 9.6 graded non-key Avengers titles I'd purchased from Worldwide for a little less than $25 per book, shipping included, which I'll be registering soon). So all in all, not a bad deal. I enjoy this hobby tremendously, as I assume most if not all of you in this forum do. I look forward to making more of these, well, "tough" but "happy" choices in the future, knowing that in virtually all instances, the result will be well worth it. Happy collecting!

I wonder how much our CGC collections will be valued, 20 years from now and beyond The market has seen a reached a significant milestone recently, with the record setting private purchase of a CGC graded 8.0 Action Comics #1 issue for a cool $1 million To better appreciate the mainstream significance of this event: I am currently living in Bangkok Thailand, and the news of Metropolis Comics' sale of this issue in the US hit the front pages of the Bangkok Post! Upon reading that article, and while in the midst of preparing 2 30-issue Silver age book set submissions for grading by CGC, I couldn't help but wonder how much, truly, would our CGC collections be worth a few years down the road. And if time and effort and more obviously the cost is worth it. Little doubt in my mind that key Golden/ Silver Age issues will continue to maintain their premium values. I wonder if the same can be said, for non-key (and even some key!) and lesser known Golden/ Silver/ Bronze/ Copper/ Modern age books. I for one feel that prices for these are now hitting unsustainably high levels; $25 or so probably covers costs to purchase and slab a 9.8 modern age book, but I see these items selling for less than $20 in Ebay all the time. Unless CGC drops prices/ improves turnaround times and/or companies like PGX can get themselves better organized/ create registries and foster healthier competition in the slabbing industry I'm concerned that costs remain prohibitively high, returns on slabbing investment for non key books remain poor, and the YZ generation of collectors become alienated from the slabbed book collecting hobby. And can prices of $60 and above for new books like Locke & Key be truly sustained? Of course, one could question the value of slabbing non-key modern age books like these; on the other hand, what better way to maintain book condition than to slab via CGC, or even PGX? It has always been my aspiration, to one day hand over my ever growing collection of slabbed and unslabbed books, TPB's and hardcovers to my son, and give him the freedom to either keep/ enjoy/ build on this, or sell the same so that other people may find enjoyment in reading and collecting the books which had managed to so enrich my life all these years. I guess I'd always hoped for a nice premium when a time comes when I, or someone else from my family, decides to sell bulk/ all of my collection. On the other hand, my fanboy side always tells me to not think too much about this, and just enjoy the ride. As the Thais always say, "Mai Pen Lai", which loosely translated means "Don't worry too much, what will be will be" Happy collecting!

What a blast! Well, 2009 sure went by quickly, in terms of my CGC collecting journey. While I've been reading and collecting over the last 30+ years, I'd just gotten into CGC a year or so ago, and ramped up collecting 2H of 2009 after I attended my first SDCC (and crossed it out of my bucket list!). Managed to breach the top 500 CGC Collector Society set mark a few days ago, thrilling stuff! Its has been challenging to do this from overseas (am based in Asia), as I find myself contending with increased shipping costs and lengthy wait times. Can't afford to have each and every item immediately shipped to me here, so I usually end up accumulating items (slabbed orders/sets from CGC, online slabbed book purchases, etc) in a friend's house in the US, upon which it gets shipped to my home in bulk, flat rate big box. The added complication, is that I am actually working away from home, only visiting once or twice a year - which means it can take as long as 6-12 months before I physically see some of the items I'd purchased! Pain from anticipation aside, it IS worth it, whenever I come home, open up a huge sealed box, and sort thru my CGC's. 2010 resolution - unless I win the lottery or something, plan to ratchet down and curb spending, focus on completing and/or highgrading key sets (gotten over the initial "euphoria" of CGC collecting I think). 2010 wish - CGC costs go down and turnaround times shorten (else CGC risks alienating maintsream collectors, and opens up opportunities for PGX to get itself better organized/set up its own registry etc which actually might be a good thing for the consumers). CGC rejigs their registry, so one can immediately key in/ register books and select corresponding competitive sets by book and not the other way around (wouldn't that be fun). Adios for now, and happy collecting!

The long wait is over...kinda... Glad to see my 3 pending batch submissions, for silver/bronze age Turok Son of Stone comics, finally hitting "graded" status. 1st batch sent in early September, last batch mid October. Exceptionally pleased with how grade ratings for books I'd acquired over the years, through reputable dealers like Metropolis, neatstuffcollectibles and Mile High, turned out - definitely reliable sellers with obviously fair and objective unslabbed grading systems, from whom I will continue to purchase and highly recommend to anyone. Also quite happy with grading results for a batch I'd sent to CGC which was significantly damaged during shipping. Initially expecting mid-grade results prior to hearing about the damage from CGC, expected terrible grades, but finally got grades which werent too bad in my view, given the circumstances. On the other hand, I'm extremely disappointed with a handful of recent key issue purchases I'd made via Ebay from a particular seller, which upon CGC's professional scrutiny turned out as being restored books. I'd asked the seller about this specifically during the listing, did not get a response, thought nothing of it (not the first time it happened) and decided to push through with bidding. Cant really complain, no? But caveat emptor, hard lesson learned, never again! Nevertheless, all in all a pretty satisfying 1st time experience for me with CGC submission grading....so far.... Now wondering how long it will take CGC to ship these out.

Painful, but worth it! Just read Tnerb's journal on CGC Collecting, inspired me to write this down (Thanks Tnerb!) Got into the hobby at an early age, reading through my dad's rather extensive hardbound and unbound Gold Key collection. Fascinated by the art, particularly the Turok, Tarzan, Korak, Lost In Space and Mighty Samson painted covers, to the point where I was tracing over them, reading over and over again and actually doodling on the pages/ cutting them up etc - regretting to this day hehehe. But then, I was 8 yrs old okay? Began serious reading and collecting years later, starting off with Marvel and DC reprints, then moving to the more expensive original imported comics from the US soon thereafter. Only began bagging and boarding, or "Mylarizing", issues about 10 years ago. Most of my collection still complete. As my work has made me live overseas for the last 5 years, I ended up storing my short boxes in 20 plastic airtight boxes -containing 2 short boxes each- kept at my home country. Why the airtight plastic boxes? Well, when I first got posted abroad and came back home for the holidays a year later, noted some termite damage to some of my bagged/ boarded books (uggghh!) which fortunately was limited to only a dozen or so issues. Fully rectified when I transferred all to the plastic containers. My comic book reading and collecting journey continues to this day (obviously!). Once I purchase "critical mass", I'd end up shipping boxes back home (actually dread the day I return home for good and am forced to deal with how to store about half a roomful of books!). Buying less and less single issues nowadays (simply cannot afford increasing costs as well as international shipping!), limited only to key fave books from Geoff Johns, Brian Bendis, Robert Kirkman and the like, as well as the occassional TPB and/or HC purchase. CGC's pretty new to me; ordered my first CGC book from Mile High about 3 years ago (just out of curiosity, after hearing about this), then purchased about a dozen in the July 2009 SDCC Comic con (my first SDCC, now ticked off in my bucket list!). My SDCC experience got me hyped up and somewhat addicted at first, ended up buying slabs from Ebay and other online dealers (filling up nearly 3 boxes now) for the next month or so. Now ratcheting this down a bit, attempting to focus funds and efforts on key sets. Also submitted my first batch of books for CGC grading early September, eagerly awaiting for them to be sent back. Been a fascinating 30+ years journey for me. Not to mention a fantastic stress reliever from work. I can only hope to continue reading and collecting until, well, I can. I also look forward to seeing continued and renewed growth and popularity of comics and slabbing, which would hopefully expand this niche market enough so we can all begin seeing lower slabbing costs and hence more affordable prices. What happens years down the road, not too sure. My two young sons appear to be developing a similar habit/ interest at this stage, but who can tell. An aspiration of mine, is to one day pass on my collection to the next generation of readers (hopefully get something out of it too hehehe), who'll get their lives enriched with the wonderful world of comics, as much as mine has been throughout these years.