X-Men #12 & three others sent in for Stan Lee Signature Series grading!

[mentok1982-migration]

All about my trip to Baltimore Comic-Con where I got X-Men 12, 16, 28 and Savage She-Hulk #1 signed by Stan Lee.

 

For some background you can read my journal about acquiring my copy of X-Men #12.

http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=5889947#Post5889947

 

So when I bought my 4 Stan Lee signature tickets from Desert Wind comics on 8/15 for $55 each I noticed that they were no longer offering their $20 Fast Pass ticket which allows non-VIP ticket holders to get in the VIP line. I emailed them about it right away but they never responded to me until the day before the show which was 23 days after I emailed them about it. Thanks for the quick response Desert Wind!

 

Anyway they said that they were asked not sell the fast pass online by the convention staff, but that I could still buy one for $20 when I picked up my signature tickets.

 

I got to the show at around 8:20am (it opened at 10 for non VIPs and 9:30 for VIPs) and I waited in line to get it. I was about 200 people back in line. Once I was on the show floor I made a bee line to wear Desert Wind comics booth was SUPPOSED to be according the map that was on Baltimore Comic Con's website and the map in the brochure that everyone at the con received. What did I find when I got there? A booth for comiXology. Guess what? They did not have my tickets and they did not know exactly where Desert Wind's new booth was. They just pointed me in the direction of Stan Lee's signing area.

 

I ran over there, found Desert Winds table (right next to their CGC submission table) and got my tickets and my past pass. I put my tickets and fast pass in my wallet and I walked towards the end of the VIP signature line. On my way to the end of the line, one guy asked me where my VIP badge was and I told him I had purchased the fast pass ticket which allows me to get in the VIP line. HE LET ME THROUGH WITHOUT EVEN ASKING TO SEE IT! So bascially, I could have saved $20 and just lied to one guy.

 

What was really nice is that the end of the VIP signature line was next to some tables and chairs that were there for people who were eating food purchased from one of the convention food places. I claimed a chair and then asked the nice lady in front of me to hold my spot while I got some CGC forms. I got one form, went back to the line, sat down at the table and started filling out the form.

 

This was the first CGC form that I've ever filled out and even though I have good reading comprehension, I made a mistake. I had plenty of time since the line was not moving yet (Stan started signing at 10:35ish) so I went to get two more forms since I realised that they require seperate forms for separate pricing tiers and I need to use two tiers. Then I managed to screw both of those forms up as well! On one I had selected the Economy tier that requires you to send in at least 15 comics and I made some other mistake on the other form. So I got up one more time, got two more forms, sat back down and filled them out correctly! Woooooo!

 

Not long after I finished my forms the line started moving. It went really quickly and I had all four of my items signed by like 11:17am. Oh remember that fast pass? It is only good for one usage so it should have been taken from me either right before or right after I got my things signed. Did anyone ask me for it? Nope. So once again, if I was a more dishonest guy, I could have saved $20. In the end I asked a guy if I should give him my fast pass and he was all like 'Oh. Yeah.'

 

Now allow me to digress a little about this fast pass stuff. The $20 is not a big deal for me and I think it is really worth the money because I would rather pay $20 than wait in line at a convention where there are other things I want to do. What pisses me off is that their lax fast pass security makes the fast pass pretty much useless.

 

Now that my four comics were signed I got in the CGC line and started putting the comics back in their bags. While I was fumbling with my four comics and their boards I managed to get one of the pieces of tap on a bag stuck to the back of my X-Men #28! Instead of stopping to think about this, I started to pull the tape off very slowly and very gently. Most if it came off clean but near the end of the tape strip it did pull some paper off the back ad on the issue. I was absolutely livid with myself! I am surprised that I didn't Hulk out right there.

 

I managed to get my other 3 issues into their bags without a problem. Now is the part of my day where things started getting pretty awesome. I noticed the guy behind me in line had some really awesome comics in his hands. Comics like X-Men #1, Amazing Spider-Man #1, Avengers #1 and Avengers #4. He looked like he was having trouble with his forms (sound familar?) so I tried to help him out. One of his problems was that he didn't know how much his comics were worth which is important because for comics worth over $3,000 each CGC charges 3% of the comics fair market value and that 3% can fall between $150 and $3,000 (don't quote me on that).

 

To help him figure out the value of his comics I needed to get a close look at them. He handed me X-Men #1 and it looked fantastic. It must have been a 9 or better. His copy of Amazing Fantasty 15 was even better and it looked super bight! The Avenger's #1 was a VF at least and the Amazing Spider-Man #1 was in great physical condition, but the color was all washed out. For some reason he had put Avengers #4 in his bag earlier. I guess he decided not to grade that one. After I handed his comics back to him I started up an app on my phone that gives you comic book values (Zap-Kapow!) since I was not sure what the NM prices were for these issues. I knew they were high but not how high.

 

There prices listed in the app are:

X-Men #1 NM=$34,000 VF=$23,800

Avengers #1 NM=$25,000 VF=$17,500

Amazing Spider-Man #1 NM=$60,000 VF=$42,000 F=$18,000

Amazing Fantasy #1 NM=$65,000 VF=$45,500

 

I was blown away by those numbers. I couldn't believe I was just holding signed copies of all of those issues in my hands!

 

So we both eventually got up the table and we both got taken care of. His transaction took longer than mine of course. My total was a little over $200 and they made me use UPS instead of the insured USPS rate that was listed on the form. The lady assured me that my package would be insured for the full market value of my comics. One of the reasons I wanted to use the USPS is because they are going broke and I think they could use my business. Oh well.

 

So now I am just waiting to get me comics back and I am hoping that they will all get 9.8s. Hey a guy can dream can't he? You know what I wish? I wish I would have read those comics before I had them encased in plastic...

 

Look for my next Journal about the next portion of my Baltimore Comic-Con experience!

 

See more journals by mentok1982

[sirbestow]

Thanks for sharing. I did Stan Lee VIP last year. It was a double bonus because two children under 10 can enter free under the pass. Since I've managed to collect two children under 10, over the years, this was a bonus for them to get to meet him (I failed to mention how much trouble I got in by my oldest when I came home from NYCC, the year before, with a photo with him and didn't take her).

 

I totally hear you about the problems with DW. I will leave it at that. Also understand about line-o-con. We spent all day in the VIP lines for both the signings and Photo-op, last year, that we didn't get a chance to do anything else (and the same happened in Philly for CM Punk, bummer).

 

I particularly enjoined the staffer yelling at us (again last year) about taking photos of Stan. We had to put the cameras in our pockets or they will confiscate them and eject us from the convention, WHAT?!?! I spent how much on a VIP and I'm getting threatened with getting ejected because of snapping some lousy digital pictures? So I did what anyone would do. I switched the camera to video mode and made stills from the videos afterwards. Take that system!

 

 

 

I'm glad you had a great time and hopefully you got to see more than just the lines. Please update us when you get your books back...next year (just kidding)!

[surfer99]

"While I was fumbling with my four comics and their boards I managed to get one of the pieces of tap on a bag stuck to the back of my X-Men #28! Instead of stopping to think about this, I started to pull the tape off very slowly and very gently. Most if it came off clean but near the end of the tape strip it did pull some paper off the back ad on the issue."

 

I did that one time years ago with my VF+ copy of Silver Surfer 14...tape tore a chunk of color right off the cover. I was so mad! This became my reader copy and I eventually bought a CGC 9.0 copy for my collection. Ever since then I have sworn off tape on my bagged comics and switched to those little white circle stickers, like you would use for pricing items in your garage sale, and they work amazing. They stick and unstick very well from the comic bag and they don't stick to your comics.