How did I get here?

[etanick]

One thing that I noticed right away joining this forum is PQ discussion. I certainly appreciate nice PQ as anyone would but it is not a deal breaker. Many of my own books have been thru all kind of bad storage conditions with wide fluctuations in degrees and humidity. Most of them were stored with cheap bags and boards that all turned yellow when I opened this bags. For 13 years(1992 to 2005) they were not properly stored and many still have pristine white pages today. At one point, that furnace room was flooded. Luckily I stacked most of my boxes above ground level. Only a few modern boxes were on the floor level and those had mildew and mold damages from the flood.

 

Prior to 1992 (1983 to 1992), all of my books were in the attic....well my room was the attic and it was hot as hell. Going back a little bit, my uncle sponsored us in 1980 but the 1982, he decided that he can longer take care of us and he needed to focus on getting his dental degree so he put us up for adoption or whatever place that can take the 3 of us. It was a difficult situation because we were too old really to find a foster home but he was at the end of his rope. In 1981 after we moved to the apartment at New Scotland Ave, I attended a community center for immigrants that summer to learn English. It was something to do for the summer. At that school, there was a young volunteer that helped teach English there. She was a Junior in college at this point but she befriended the 3 of us quickly since we were king of unique being in this country without our parents. Fast forward a year later as she learned of our plight and difficult situations, she approached us and asked us "I heard you 3 needs a home, come home with me". I remembered meeting her parents for the first time and they were like "what the hell did our daughter agreed to do?" They had 4 kids of their own so it was not something they even thought about. Anyhow, to cut it short, they did the proper paperworks needed to become our legal guardians and that is how we moved in. They weren't wealthy by any means...more blue collar since he was a retired NY state trooper and work a security job at GE at the time. I have no idea what was his pay but he was getting pay by the hours and he worked as much overtimes as he could whenever he got a chance. May props, love and appreciations for the Kellys for opening their home and hearts, yes as Irish as they can be. So my room at their house was the attic level....basically, half was the attic and my half is the room and it is sweltering hot in there. Often during the summer, I slept on a mattress in the basement because it was too hot in my room. The Kelly had their own rules for their kids but for me I was basically free to do whatever I wished as long as I kept getting my As in school. I came and go as I pleased for the most part since I worked 30 hours a week going thru high school during this time. I didn't have a car so they drove and picked me up at work daily....never complained once because they felt it was a good thing for me to be able to go to work to do whatever I wish with my life...big kudos to them for that.

 

I kept m books there all the way thru 1992. Before I went to grad school in 1992, I then went and picked up all of these books and consolidated them all in the furnace room so really nothing I bought and owned from 1981 to 2005 were in any "ideal" storage places.

 

I took this pic to show how even the cover stock sometimes can be made with such high quality pulp that it can service the harsh conditions while the interior didn't fair so well. This go back to my earlier statement that the quality of the pulp sometimes can trump many other factors 20 years later.

 

So what do I learn about PQ. I don't trust to judge PQ from looking at the covers only. As you can see, it is possible to get a bright and white cover with not so white interior. Does a cream or tanned cover immediately guarantee a bad PQ inside...not true either. I have seen badly tanned cover with very nice interiors...maybe not snow white but still nice.

 

[etanick]

Speaking of the Kellys...when I got there in 1983, their oldest son was a Freshman in college. He got a scholarship to play basketball. He was a big man in high school but in college he couldn't cut it. He was benched and on the verge of dropping out of school. As he gotten to know us, he was inspired and decided to refocus his goals. He dropped out of the team and started to study hard. He got a 4.0 for the remaining 3 years. He always wanted to work for the FBI eventually so he applied and took the test when he graduated. He did very well on the test but couldn't get in so he went to law school and passed the NY bar exam on his first try. Right after that, the FBI called and he got in. They have been following his progress and now he got the skills they needed.

 

He was a good athlete in addition to be a hard worker and smart so it was not a surprise he was in the top 3 of his FBI class. While he was at the academy, they shot a little movie "Silence of the Lamb" and he was asked to be an extra in a scene. It is the boxing scene and he is in the background with the head gear so it is hard to see his face but that is him. He spoke about meeting Foster and she wasn't that hot in person and quite small. The top 3 of any classes get to choose the location of their assignments so he picked Hawaii and off he went. In 1992 before I went to grad school, I did visit him in Hawaii and I was close to join the FBI. While I was there, I learned that there is no Vietnamese FBI agent and they want me to be the first one. I got all the tools (maybe not physical) they were looking for. I thought about it but the idea of going deep cover to infiltrate the Vietnamese gangs/mafia that run the drugs from Southeast Asia thru Hawaii to California was not as sexy as it sounded so off to grad school I went. He loves Hawaii and have been there ever since.

 

If my stories inspire somebody to do something positive for himself or herself...great.

 

My roommate in college did get marry right after the trip so on the way back from Hawaii, I made a stop at the wedding as a groomsmen. Interesting twist of fate, his wife grew up in East Greenbush NY (the same town I first lived for 1 year when I first arrived here) so many of her high school friends were at the wedding.

 

As I was mingling at the wedding, a young man about my age approached me and asked "were you living in East Greenbush for a short time long ago?"..."oh yes, for one year, why do you ask?"

 

"you were the kid that was incredible with the violin, was that you? I remember you"...."you inspired me back then and you probably don't remember who I am but after that year, I focused on the violin and went to school to play the music...today, I play for the Albany Symphony today"

 

that little encounter warmed my heart and he was very saddened that I gave it all up. I told him, it is ok, there are many paths to happiness and I found my path and I am glad he found his however small my role was....he did it.

 

..blah blah blah..ok enough of the boring stories...on with some pics.

 

the first slab I bought when i joined this site is this book from Boozad. Still have it so it is a keeper.

 

oh, and this is the first book I bought off Foolkiller...I sold it long ago...low grade drek.

 

 

 

[Awax]

What up nick,

 

SDCC was cool.. And I got the EC bug there. Bought a couple from Dale Robets. Not really high grade.. But it's a start.

 

Keep you story coming.. I enjoy this thread.

[etanick]

glad you enjoyed SDCC. EC horror is cool. I purposely avoided those to stay focus...focus on what?

 

well DC horror of course one of the theme that I kept seeing over and over again was the "come here" theme and I thought that was funny.

 

Here is a lesser known book with that theme...not as famous as the HOM 174 but it is one tough book to find in high grade and it is all Neal Adams goodness

 

speaking of Neal Adams, here is one book that is likely tough for most to recognize it is Neal's work because it is not his typical style but it is gorgeous.

 

[etanick]

As I reemerged myself back in the hobby in 2009, I started to also focus on GA. I have always admired GA from a far but I really didn't have much interest outside of Batman, Superman or Wonder Woman....and that didn't change now that I decided to buy them. There are ton of great GA titles but I want to maintain focus. At the same time, I also had to get over my OCD with high grades or restored books. GA books outside of key books are fairly inexpensive...even if they are semi rare.

 

In honor of the Dark Knight movie that came out last week, I dug out a group shot of my early Batman run. I have since completed the run from to 11 but this pic was taken back when this was everything.

 

 

found some old pics with my son and those bat books. He was 3 in the pic. I am blessed with a great kid. He is so respectful of everything even at that age. I think every adult that met my son is astounded at his impulse controls. He can walk in my office with slabs and books everywhere within his reach and he would not touch anything...unlike his crazy friends...when they come over and play...I lock my office to keep the monkeys away. All I need to tell my son even at 3 is "don't touch that ok?" and that is done.

 

Anthony is checking the slab closely to see if the book is pressable to a higher grade

 

Anthony found his favorite I stared at this pic a million time, love it.

 

 

[scooter99]

One word.......WOW! (worship)

 

I can see why your son likes the black and blue covered Bats. Alpha male colors. Here's to hoping he gets the comic bug. Just think of all of the cool books you can buy together.

[etanick]

thanks...he is already a collector....can't throw/give away any of his old toys Even at 5, he is already a hoarder. No doubt he is a batman fan. He likes to watch those Batman cartoons and they are not all that "fun" for kids with the slower tempo but he seems to enjoy them and follow the story lines.

 

Funny story...I kept many of the Heritage old catalogues on our dining room table to read and a while ago when a friend came over for dinner and flipped thru one of them. Anthony pointed out to our guest when he was looking at a pic of the Action #1 and said "that is most important book", he then proceeded to flip a few pages to a pic of TEC 27 and said "this is the 2nd most important book" and then he flipped a few more pages to a pic of AF 15 and said "this is the 3rd most important". It was hilarious because I never said anything like that to him but he must have listened to me talk about those 3 books to my wife and friends over the past year enough time that he remembered it.

[Logan510]

Great pics Nick

[TheLiamSturgess]

Amazing!

[etanick]

thanks guys.

 

Well, I officially won nothing at the Heritage auctions this week...oh well. I only bid on 7 items but I was the underbidder on one of them and the rest, not even close.

 

I didn't try too hard. Why is that? what happened since my return in 2009? is the passion gone?

 

well by mid 2010, I was sitting here with 800 plus slabs....and I started to get annoy with slabs.

 

a) they took up too much space. Each slab is equal to 3 raw books or more.

b) to me the books look better in Mylar

c) I like to flip thru the pages sometimes to read the story. Say what? read?

d) seriously, I like admire PQ by flipping thru the pages, not looking at the letter "WHITE" on the slab label.

 

I know silly right? yes to me there is a risk in handling raw books and I will be the first to admit I have ruined 2 books in my lifetime handling them raw. Both significance books....an X-men #8 with a tape pull and a Batman 359 (I bought from FoolKiller as an 8.5/8.0) that I splitted the spine by 1/3". That book went to 7.0/7.5 in a nano second so I fully realize the risk of raw books compared to slab.

 

The advantages of slabs to me:

a) safety of handling

b) graded by 3rd party to make it more liquid in time of sale.

 

Other than that, what the heck is it good for? easier to display? a cert# for the registry game? after much thoughts, I decided I like raw books much more than flipping a slab in my hand that I decided that slabs are not for me any longer. I will no longer slab books I want to keep.

 

On top of that, I didn't like where I was heading with the hobby. I felt somewhat burnt out after just 6 months of returning to he hobby. This was meant to be fun but being obsessed with auctions all the times wasn't healthy for me. I started to get frustrated when I didn't win a book or get mad when I bought a book and it wasn't in the condition I expected....or stay up till 1 am to try to catch a nice book from one of Foolkiller's sale thread? So once again, it is time to decide what to do? quit, leave and/or sell everything ? This is suppose to be fun and if it is not fun anymore, why bother?

 

the spine split is on the top left...ouch! decent copy..and a keeper until I find a nicer copy...

[etanick]

well, first off, I ruled out quitting for good or walk away like I did back in 2003 or 1993 because I decided that this is a life long love that mean a lot for me thru the decades. So it is time to figure out how to make it fun for the LONG TERM instead of the short term and instant gratification, or chasing books to be in the "clubs"..who care? I am blessed to be able to afford a lot of books and I certainly went crazy buying up many SA keys as well as GA keys but what the hell for?

 

For sure, I am much more comfortable with my money in my investment portfolio. I rather take my chances there for capital appreciations than pouring money in funny books and hope to make a profit 10 or 20 years down the road. I like the "liquidity" of the stock market. So I decided to route my fun money into the market as well. For me playing the stock market is more fun than funny books...say what?

 

No doubt, I still love comic books but I need to narrow my focus on books that I really enjoy as well as books that I don't worry much about the value (whether they are worthless to many or will likely worth a ton more down the road).

 

For sure my run of X-men means dearly to me so they are not going anywhere. My Golden age collection will likely stay for the most part and I don't have many so it isn't hard to keep them. Neal Adams's cover is the only other focus that I want to keep...love him as much today as I did 30 years ago. I do wish to meet him soon at a convention. The other stuff like DC horrors and square bounded books are keepers because they aren't worth/cost a lot now and likely not worth much later but they are fun for me. They fit in the criteria of unconditional love worthless dreks. I still have quite a few books on my wish list and if they are in any auctions, I will throw a few bids but it won't be anything crazy. Last but not least, I rather have high grade (at least 9.2). Unless it is a hard to get GA books, I am a high grade snob...be gone readers!

 

Quite frankly, I don't regret selling the majority of my books...I finally cleared up my office/man cave that I am starting to buy furnitures to decorate the place. Until 7 months ago, it was my desk and boxes and boxes of slabs and books with a tv in a corner. Hopefully I can finish my man cave by Christmas and post some pics.

 

The best part about narrowing my focus is the end of the obsession of watching and participating in all the auctions monthly. I don't miss that none sense one bit....I put in a few bids and if I get notices of them getting outbid..oh well...next time. No need to hurry logging in to put on a new bid...just because i can afford it, I don't need to win it.

 

Speaking of Neal Adams. I would love to take a pic with him but other than that I am likely to not need his sig. I am not a fan of sigs on books but I found a happy medium.

these things...printer's proof that Neal signed.

 

my nice raw book companion

 

 

[greggy]

Did you put in a lot of Sriracha and Hoisin sauce?

Is there anything to put in?

 

Had Pho twice last week while on work in the Seattle area. Disappointed in the the size and quality of the tendon. Too small and hard.

[etanick]

I have been to a few Pho restaurant in Seattle and I was never impressed...some were outright terrible. I lived in Portland Oregon for 7 years and made many trip to Seattle and Vancouver and each and every time, I look for a decent Pho restaurant but overall, Portland has a better place. I can't recall the name but if you are ever in Portland for work, let me know and I will lead you to the best Pho restaurant there. I went there weekly for 7 years to get my fix.

[etanick]

As I narrowed down my overall focus in 2010, I actually expanded with DC. Up until 2009, I only had a handful of Neal Adams' DC covers but I started to expand into Silver and Golden Age DC....mostly with Batman and TEC. I did buy showcase #22 but quickly sold it because I had no desire to chase every DC silver age keys....just Batman and TEC are more than enough.

 

My favorite Batman's Silver age keys are 121 and 181. I have never own 181...the right copy just hasn't shown itself yet. 121 is tough as hell to get in mid grade...I don't even bother looking for high grade. I have a lowly drek 121 with decent front cover but the back has enough issues to keep it around 4.0

 

 

 

[scooter99]

Love me some Bats 121, Quit hiding one of the two 9.2's.

[etanick]

hehe...wish I have one of those 9.2

 

I peaked in CG this morning and see the thread about cracking out slabs.

 

Is it silly to crack out books to enjoy? not really...in the end if the owner of a slab wants to crack out a book to enjoy it and then have to spend his or her own money again to reslab it to sell later then the cost of reslabbing is the cost of ENJOYMENT of flipping thru the pages.

 

I cracked out many books, some for pressing and resub but most for pure enjoyment. The book I cracked out to enjoy won't be for sale for years if not decades. Some might not be worth the cost of reslabbing :roflmao:down the road.

 

I absolutely appreciate CGC from the restoration checking angle but there are many things that I don't agree with their business handling. Heck I interviewed there to be a grader so I would love to come in there and change/improve things.

 

The forum already debated to death on all the issues with CGC and the time and cost of grading so there isn't a need to reshash it here.

 

I submitted over 800 books(I sold many of those) from 2009 thru 2010 but I scaled back significantly and didn't submit much in the past 2 years. On top of that I am close to finish selling everything I wanted to sell so the need to slab the keepers are really not needed. Why waste money slabbing books i have no plan to sell? for protection? to prove that a book is a certain grade?

 

The issues with CGC reminds me of professional athletes...long ago I used to had season tickets for the Portland Trailblazers..good times to see Clyde Drexler vs. the other superstars but as I got annoyed with the high crazy salaries of the players, I realized as long as I keep paying up for the tickets yearly, why blame them? they just want a fair share of the pie...so that was it, I sold my season tickets and forever done with wasting my money there. Sure it is a one man thing but for those that like to complain about CGC long waiting time, the only thing ONE can do is stop sending in books...say what? No I am not boycotting CGC, I am just saying as long as thousands of books are piling thru the door at CGC on a weekly basis because slabbing is more addicting than cracks, it is what it is. Just like Professional Basketball, what I do means nothing since most can't help themselves spending $75 for a ticket and $5 for hot dog...pay the players. Players are spoiled but we all contribute(d) to what they feel is entitled to them.

 

 

Over the past year, I only send one batch of book for a grading contest and for my own learning skills since many of them have "issues" with stains, tears, etc...things I am not quite sure about and I was pleased that I was close and undergraded the problems more than CGC did.

 

http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=5883864&fpart=1

 

I am shocked at the results of the 2 GA superman books...outright shocking since everyone, moi included undergraded those 2 books by the widest margins. The rest of the books in that contest for me were fairly close to my own estimations so overall, a good learning experience.

[etanick]

I finally went to see the Dark Knight Rises last weekend. As in many movies, plenty of flaws or holes for those that want to gripe about those kind of things...overall I enjoyed the film. It evokes emotions and in the end, I measure that more than anything else.

 

I don't like to rank films because to me, it is literally impossible to rank what is my favorite...I can't do it. I will say what I enjoyed more than others..

 

I like these 2 more than the other movies in their trilogies.

Spiderman 2

Dark Knight Rises

 

There are movies that are great(throw in just about all the superheroes movies...seriously, I doubt I will sit thru the Avengers ever again unless it is about watching with my son when he is old enough to watch) in my mind that I don't care to see twice and then there are great/good movies(Shawshank, Silence of the Lamb are 2 examples) that I can see a hundred times because it evokes emotions every time I saw it. Much like comic books, some books bring special sentimental values and it is unique per collector. Iron Man 150 holds a special spot in my heart but for 99.9999% of collectors out there, it is not all that special...and that was the dilemma when I first joined this board...for a short while, it was an all out assault to be in all the clubs (TOS 39, AF 15, Showcase 22, etc...)...for what?

 

Why do I give a rat azz about those books now when 20 or 15 years ago, they didn't cross my mind once. Because I can afford them? as I decided to narrow down my focus...I decided to sell them all because I didn't care for them 20 years ago and I didn't care for them today. I don't rule out owing another AF 15 someday if I have everything else that I wanted but lets focus on what I want instead of focus on what I think the rest think is cool to own. I was never the person to compete with the Jones so why start now?

 

No doubt for me, outside of a few books that have some big sentimental values, the rest falls in a few categories

 

 

a) since I love Neal Adams' arts, no brainer on buying his books.

b) I enjoy the historical part of the hobby so even back 20 years ago, when I didn't have money, I thought about Action #1, TEC #27, PreRobin TECS, Wonder Woman, etc...No doubt AF 15 and FF 1 or other early Silver Age marvels have their important places in history also, just not important enough for me to own right now. I rather keep my powders dry and use it when the right copy of Action #1 or TEC #27 show up....maybe never but hey that is the fun part of the chase. Heck yes, I bid on this http://www.comicsalliance.com/2012/04/17/superman-check-sells-at-auction/

but I didn't win it. Mitch (the King) went nut on how stupid this check is but dang I really want it....and too bad to many other people wanted it also. I wish at least 2 other bidders listened to Mitch and backed off that auction

 

 

c) lastly, buy what I enjoy and not worry about values down the road. Since I return to the hobby in 2009, no doubt the horror genre has been the one that I enjoyed the most...no doubt part of it is the chase. Being a high grade snob, it is crazy hard to find many of the books in this genre in high grades. I really don't know the reasons why they are rarer to find in ultra high grades, or even if they are as rare as I think they are...regardless that is part of the fun/chase.

 

 

Oh...for the most part when I talk about the horror genre, it is DC but Marvel has some decent horror stuff that I also chase. Perhaps one of the tougher book to find in ultra high grade is this one...what not to love about this one...squared bound and black cover? the PQ on this one isn't that great but I gladly bought it for the razor sharp edges and corners.

 

[etanick]

speaking of GA focus, I personal love Batman above all other characters...more so than Wolverine so it was an easy decision to focus on early Batman and Pre-Robin TECS. Heck just trying to complete a run of Batman 1 to 11 was tough enough. Outside of Batman 1, I think the rest is really not that expensive if we are talking about mid or low grades. Heck you can buy #2 to #11 in 5.0 or lower and it will likely cost less than a run of ASM from 2 to #11 in 8.5 so they are not hard to find for those that want to buy them.

 

I don't know how long it will take to complete a run of Pre-Robin TECS from 27 to 37...perhaps never but it is good to have goals.

 

As far as Superman, outside of the historical significance of Action #1...I can't say I am a fan. Really not much into any of his villains unlike Batman's villains. So trying to get a run of Action #1 to #10 is there but way down the line...so is Superman #1 to 10.

 

I rather buy Captain America Comics #1 before Superman #1 any given days of the week. I don't own any Captain America Comics ....and that is not for the lack of trying.

 

In my opinions, Captain America Comics from 1 to 10 are the best 10 covers hands down over Batman 1 - 10, Superman 1 - 10, or Action 1 - 10, TECS 27 - 37.

 

None of these are mine but I am using Heritage scans...all the covers are full of actions and the colors are popping...If I have times, I might line all the covers up for all 4 titles above here and we can all compare and contrast.

 

[etanick]

ah....I see the topic du jour in the CG is more "unhappiness"...more like topic "Tous les jours"

 

I only skimmed thru "that" thread and thanks Brian for putting that list together and quite frankly I bought/sold to just about everyone on that list in the past 3 years. Mostly good transactions but I got my fair shares of bad transactions with some of the dealers on the top 10.

 

How each one of us deal with a "bad" transaction is about as unique as how each one of us buy a book or post the latest book in our collection. I don't read minds so who knows why one person wants to buy a certain book? hopefully it is something he or she really wanted and kudos for getting it finally after how many years. Why some like to post books they just bought/won? show off? bragging? sharing? hey I can mannup on all of you? who knows...but who cares?

 

I have a few stories to share of "bad" transactions with a few on the top 10. I did complain privately but I never started a thread on any of these events. While a few boardies asked me to go public with these stories at the time, I decided life is too short, move on.

 

a) Won some books in Jan, didn't ship...won some books in Feb, didn't ship...finally won some books in March and after multiple phone calls, I received shipment for all the books I won for all 3 months. On one of my last phone call, I got this answer "the shipping person is not here today so your box is not going out today"..seriously? after 3 months? spending thousands and this was the "effort"?

 

b) Won a big book...sent cashier check with a signature requirement. I called to alert that the check required signature. Check got there, no one there to sign. I called to ask "what happened?" and was told "not sure but we will be here tomorrow to sign"....SAME THING happened the next day. I called the shipper this time as well to know what happened and I was told the check can still be pick up in person but 3 attempts will be all they will do. I called the auction house to see if they can send someone to pick up the check since there are plenty of time to do it that afternoon. I was told "we are all going out to see Thor right now...see ya"

 

I sent an email to express my disappointment and got this reply "next time, wire the money and this problem won't happen". To top it off, the book was sent to the wrong address so as I sat here and waited for it and follow FEDEX tracking info, I was stunned to see "attempted delivery....wrong address" showed up on my screen. I was furious but luckily I know the FEDex delivery lady very well so I called the local office and ask for permission to intercept her route and get the package..and I did.

 

Like I said, all of us have had our shares of bad experiences...at the end of the day, how we chose to deal with us is entirely something "unique".

 

The squeaky wheel gets the grease..yes I get it but I am the kind of person that normally will just toss the squeaky wheel in the trash and move on to a new wheel....but that is just me

[etanick]

Speaking of Golden Age collecting, the first big hurdle I had to overcome was the love of ultra high grade(9.2 and above) condition. Regardless of the size of anyone's wallet, there is a real scarcity of high grade books in the 8.5 or higher so I had to readjust what I want in my collection but it really wasn't that hard to buy low or mid grade books because

 

a) unlike Silver age and bronze books, it is kind of cool to hold a book that must have been read a ton of times...unlike many bronze books that are unread. I developed an appreciation for well loved books.

b) because of the scarcity of higher grade, as affordable as GA books are, the high grade stuff still go for crazy money so it is very affordable at time to buy 3.0 to 5.0 GA books...uh...unless you are talking about Pre-Robin TECS books then even 2.0 will take 5 figures.

 

 

Speaking of a lack of ultra high grades, I guess we can throw in Silver age and Bronze age DC also. Unlike Marvel in the same decades, there are so few high gradesDC RELATIVE to Marvel. Why is that? I don't know but you can pick just about any DC keys prior to 1975 and it will be tough to find any of them in abundance in ultra high grades. HOS 92 is a good example...try to find them in 9.2 or better...not easy...or HOM 179 where 9.8 doesn't exist YET.

 

Here is my copy..love it and I am content with it

 

 

 

Now scarcity is one thing but demand is another thing. No doubt as much love as the horror genre is getting, it dwarfs the demands for superhero titles...thus the prices of these books are that UNaffordable...out of the ultra high grade range, most mid grade DC horror books are very affordable and collectable for those that aren't all hung up on capital appreciations with regard to dumping money into this genre.