n2wdw Posted October 22, 2016 Author Share Posted October 22, 2016 Fiction House and Collecting Covers When I first started collecting, I was a completist. I collected titles and, in some cases, every issue of some companies. Like, for example, I've almost got complete runs of every Marvel title I've ever wanted (missing just FF 1 and 5 and ASM 2). I have near complete runs of the entire output of Continuity, ABC, Defiant, and the original Valiants. I have a complete run of Cerebus and every Stranger in Paradise comic. I have a long box dedicated to Overstreet's price guide magazines (I'm missing a few). I'm about 3 issues short of having every Dennis the Menace comic ever published. But, there's a limit to being a completist -- because really you can't collect everything. When I was younger -- in my 20s -- I wanted to get complete runs of DC titles like Action and Detective. Well, not only has that become financially impossible, as I've gotten older I've lost interest in collecting such long runs. Now in my 50s, my collecting interests have changed. In some ways I'm still a completist, but not so much based on titles. For example, I'm focused on my Dave Steven Covers registry set, and also getting a copy (graded or raw) of every comic with a Matt Baker cover. Over the last couple three years I've dabbled in Fiction House. Not for a moment have I been tempted to collect complete runs -- more evidence that completist bug inside me has been toned way down. Instead I collect Fiction house by cover as part of my GGA collection. Here are a few I've picked up the last couple months. Thanks for reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagii Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 Fiction House and Collecting Covers When I first started collecting, I was a completist. I collected titles and, in some cases, every issue of some companies. Like, for example, I've almost got complete runs of every Marvel title I've ever wanted (missing just FF 1 and 5 and ASM 2). I have near complete runs of the entire output of Continuity, ABC, Defiant, and the original Valiants. I have a complete run of Cerebus and every Stranger in Paradise comic. I have a long box dedicated to Overstreet's price guide magazines (I'm missing a few). I'm about 3 issues short of having every Dennis the Menace comic ever published. But, there's a limit to being a completist -- because really you can't collect everything. When I was younger -- in my 20s -- I wanted to get complete runs of DC titles like Action and Detective. Well, not only has that become financially impossible, as I've gotten older I've lost interest in collecting such long runs. Now in my 50s, my collecting interests have changed. In some ways I'm still a completist, but not so much based on titles. For example, I'm focused on my Dave Steven Covers registry set, and also getting a copy (graded or raw) of every comic with a Matt Baker cover. Over the last couple three years I've dabbled in Fiction House. Not for a moment have I been tempted to collect complete runs -- more evidence that completist bug inside me has been toned way down. Instead I collect Fiction house by cover as part of my GGA collection. Here are a few I've picked up the last couple months. Thanks for reading. Eclectic collection sir Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted October 23, 2016 Author Share Posted October 23, 2016 Eclectic collection sir Thanks Sagii! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted October 24, 2016 Author Share Posted October 24, 2016 Selling the Dreks of My Collection I've mentioned how, last October, I pared down my collection from almost 50,000 comics to about 25,000 comics, and also reduced other parts of my collection like my comic-related books and Star Trek / Star Wars collections (action figures and books). I had to do this to fit my collection into my new comic room, which is about a third the size of my old room. (The new comic room is at our little place at the beach where my wife and I plan to retire in 7-10 years.) This house cleaning has been more liberating than painful. It's let me focus more on collecting the things I really want, rather than the stuff I'm been collecting more out of habit than enjoyment. (see http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=7287580&fpart=31) At the same time I don't want to get rid of things I really want. So for the past year I've been sifting through these long boxes of comics and toys and deciding whether I want to keep things. I've probably moved about 750 comics from the "Get Rid Of" to "Keep It" pile, most notably Batman Adventures #12 that I found in my "Batman - Misc" box. (I submitted it to CGC and it came back a 9.8 Blue -- it would've been a disaster if I let it go on the cheap!) So now it's down to the dregs and I'm ready to sell. This stuff is crowding my basement so I've got to get rid of it. I contacted Mile High and they showed little interest (I guess they already have too much drek). I thought about calling Lone Star but their buying rules seem too complicated. I sold some stuff via eBay and I found a buyer via eBay interested in alot of my DCs -- I sold him 5 long boxes for about 50 cents a comic, all my unwanted superhero action figures at a few bucks each, and my DC Archives collection -- but having to ship such big heavy boxes is a major pain. What I want to do is sell everything as 1 big lot. So I finally listed the comics on Craigslist. Here's the listing: I have been collecting comics for 30+ years. I am selling a big part of my collection, over 22,000 comics. As this is from my collection there is little duplication. So this is a great way to start a comic collection. This is also great convention stock for $1, $2 and $5 boxes. There are NO keys or high value comics in this offering (unless I missed something). Lots of Marvels, DCs and independents. My price is $5500. I will consider offers. Local pickup only. You are welcome to come view the comics. Serious inquiries only please. It took only 1 week to sell. I sold it for half my asking price, $2750, about 12 cents per comic. Maybe I could have gotten more if I waited, but I wanted them gone. They sold to 2 guys who buy collections like mine; they keep what they want and sell the rest. Here're some pics of the comics in my basement: Next I turned to my Star Wars and Star Trek toys. Again I sold a few things on eBay. Big playsets went fast, like the Millennium Falcon. I was new to selling though and lost some money on shipping. Also it was a pain to find (or make) boxes big enough to ship this stuff. So again I turned to Craigslist. Here's my listing: I am selling off my Star Wars toy collection. Most are in unopened boxes, some loose. See pictures. $500 OBO Local pickup only. Interested buyers are welcome to review my collection. Series inquiries only. Here are some pictures: To my surprise, I got alot of responses, way more interest than the comics. But most were just fishing. Like, one guy emailed me "What's your bottom line?" Another guy said "How about $300?" I didn't even respond -- I wasn't going to negotiate against myself. There was a local guy -- who lives about 5 miles from me -- who was persistent in contacting me. We set up a time for him to view the toys. Turns out, he's a major Star Wars and Star Trek toy collector and has devoted his entire garage to his collection. He looked at my collection and immediately offered my $400 cash. I took it. Since then, I've sold the rest of my "Get Rid Of" ST & SW toys and books to him for $300. So, from selling this stuff, I've cleared alot of room in my basement and made $3450. In a future post I'll tell you want I bought from this. Thanks for reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hhwolfman Posted October 24, 2016 Share Posted October 24, 2016 (edited) Very interesting thread of the life of comic collecting. You are the only person besides myself I have seen, with a Stuffed Cerebus. I mostly collect silver and gold and just a few after 1980s. Cerebus is one. Here is mine. I also have another rare Cerebus Item, I wI'll post when I find it. Great thread. Edited October 24, 2016 by HHwolfman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted October 24, 2016 Author Share Posted October 24, 2016 Yeah, I bought it via mail order years ago. I also joined the Cerebus fan club and got some cool stuff via that. But you still have the black vest. I lost mine somewhere along the way years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hhwolfman Posted October 24, 2016 Share Posted October 24, 2016 I bought mine at my LCS in 1986 I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doxbane Posted October 24, 2016 Share Posted October 24, 2016 Living in Kitchener, I too had that Cerebus plush. I sold it on eBay last year to finance some original art, to someone in Sweden (?) or similar. Good times. I decided to keep the Diamondback deck though fun journal, thanks for sharing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted October 24, 2016 Author Share Posted October 24, 2016 Oh yeah, the Diamondback Deck. I have one of those too. Someday I'll have to learn how to play the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted October 25, 2016 Author Share Posted October 25, 2016 Classic Covers -- Spirit, Airboy & Bruce Gentry Isn't it something to own a classic comic? Comics with covers you often see reprinted in magazines and books. Here are 3 in the GGA genre. Somewhat surprisingly, Spirit and Airboy have some of the best GGA covers. I recently picked these up, from eBay and also from boardies here. Honestly I probably overpaid for the Spirit -- I have to remember to temper my excitement at seeing an offering on these boards and do some comparison shopping before pulling the trigger. The Bruce Gentry I got on the cheap on eBay; it has a flaw inside, I think a coupon cut out (I can't remember). For all 3 though, I can check them off my list. None are high grade, but with rare exceptions I typically don't try to upgrade. There are too many comics that I want, so once I've got a copy I typically don't look back and think about upgrading. Instead I move on towards checking the next one off the list. When I'm shopping, if I don't like a comic to the point of saying to myself "If I buy this I'll need to upgrade," then I don't buy it. That's just how I'm wired; I know others are different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted October 29, 2016 Author Share Posted October 29, 2016 Waking Up and Realizing You Won (C-Link Auction) This morning I was cleaning out my inbox and saw emails from ComicLink. I won some auctions last night! I've been traveling for work this week so forgot about these bids. Earlier in the week I was paying more attention because there were 2 I really wanted. But the ones from last night were lower priority so I forgot all about them. I ended up winning 3. Here's the first, Before Watchmen 5 with a great Darwyn Cooke cover. I got it for $22. Next I won this Mazie, which I've recently begun selectively collecting. I got this one for $21. Finally I won this special edition of the Overstreet Price Guide #35. It's signed by Overstreet and numbered 15/100. I love limited edition oddities like this. I won it for $30. What's even better is I don't have to pay much more for shipping because of the comics I won earlier this week. Thanks for reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted October 31, 2016 Author Share Posted October 31, 2016 Modesty Blaise Collection - Last Day In Limbo Something else I collect is Modesty Blaise. I collect the comics and books, although books are more interesting to me. I got interested in Modesty from the reviews from Don Thompson years ago in the Comic Buyers Guide. At the time, Bud Plant was selling the hardcover books from Mysterious Press so those were my earliest acquisitions. There are only 13 books so I quickly got all of them. They're fun reads. If you're not familiar with Modesty Blaise, she's like a female James Bond. Along the way, over the last 15 years or so, I decided to collect every cover of every English version book. So, for example, if a particular book has 10 editions but just 3 different covers, I try to buy 1 book of each cover irrespective of edition. It used to be hard to build this collection. I remember in the early 2000s, going to the San Diego Comic Con and hoping to find 1 Modesty book. Most times there were none; I remember seeing a book one time and it was priced over $100 -- I passed. Collecting is a lot easier now because of eBay. But that's only happened in the last couple of years. Before, the pickings were slim. Now, the supply is out there, it just depends on how much money you want to spend. Recently I got lucky. A seller on eBay offered a lot of almost a dozen Modesty Blaise books at a reasonable price. Even better, only a couple were duplicates, and both duplicates were upgrades for me. Here are the copies I have of Last Day In Limbo. I also collect other Modesty paraphernalia. Below is a Film Heritage magazine that has an article about the Modesty Blaise movie (in the movie Modesty is blonde, but in the books and comics she's a brunette; to me that's a fundamental flaw with the movie; it's like there's a fan movie out there with Gwen Stacy, where the actress is a brunette ---- WTF???!!!!!!). Thanks for reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted October 31, 2016 Author Share Posted October 31, 2016 Disney World and the Presidential Election My family has a tradition. We go to Walt Disney World in Orlando for the Presidential election. We've done this for the past 2 elections. The first couple of times just happened to fall on election Tuesday (actually, we went because the kids get off from school on election day so we could take a long weekend and they would only miss 1 day of school). So now it's a family tradition. We'll be at Animal Kingdom on Tuesday, then I'll be sipping a bourbon later in our hotel room (Disney's Boardwalk hotel where we have our time share -- Disney calls it their Vacation Club) while watching the election results. This all means I had to vote before the election, so I voted today. It's been a crazy election season. Seems fitting we'll be in Mickey Mouse land. Thanks for reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted November 1, 2016 Author Share Posted November 1, 2016 BLT Steak (Atlanta) and The Palm (Tysons Corner VA) / Modesty Blaise Silver Mistress Recently I've had 2 great steaks at restaurants. The first was a couple weeks ago at BLT Steak in Atlanta, when my wife and I were visiting our daughter who's a freshman at Georgia Tech. BLT Steak is in the Westin hotel where we were staying so it was an easy choice for dinner. I got the ribeye with a side of mushrooms. They were delicious. Even better though was the Palm in Tyson's Corner VA, down the road from where we live. My wife and I went there for dinner after walking around the Tyson's Corner mall last Saturday. I got the prime rib of beef. This is essentially one bone of a rib roast and, as you can tell from the picture, it was huge. I couldn't eat it all. I took the leftovers home and ate the rest for lunch the next day, then gave the bone to my dog (she was very happy). I also got their chimichurri sauce and it was delicious too. To tie this post to comics, here's a collage of my Modesty Blaise Silver Mistress books: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted November 4, 2016 Author Share Posted November 4, 2016 What I Got - Part 1 (Original Marvels Collection - I Need Just 1 More) I mentioned a few days ago how I sold about 22,000 comics and a bunch of Star Wars toys from my collection. The buyer of the comics showed up this past Sunday with a big van to pick up the comics. It was easy to sell the comics -- they were comics I no longer wanted -- but I'll admit it was hard to see the long boxes go away. Those comics have been part of my life for many years, practically decades. It wasn't terribly sad, but kind of sad. Anyway, here's where I wrote about the sale: http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=7287580&fpart=65 I immediately went on a shopping spree; it took me about a week to spend the money (about $3500). Since I bought so fast I was a prisoner of what was being offered right now on eBay and C-Link (and a few other vendors). I know I could have gotten better deals if I waited. But if I waited, I probably would have used the money on other things. I didn't want that to happen, as I wanted to have some special comics to commemorate those comics and toys I no longer wanted, but still was sad to see go. I'll write about what I bought in a few posts. First, here are my 3 big acquisitions: Spider-man #2 (first Mysterio), Spider-man #3 (first Doctor Octopus), and Fantastic Four #5 (first Doctor Doom). Three major keys! These books were harder to buy than I expected. The supply is out there, but GPA prices are all over the place. And, eBay prices (either BIN or opening bid prices) tend to be way higher than the high end of GPA. I got ASM 3 from an eBay seller; we started on eBay but then completed the sale off eBay. I won ASM 2 last week on C-Link. I bought FF #5 from a boardie here. Of the 3, the best deal for me was the ASM 2 I won on C-Link. I'll talk about this more in another post, but C-Link closing prices seemed to be down this month. I bought ASM 3 and FF 5 towards the high end of GPA; but after doing market research I think GPA is low for both comics (in fact, for all 3 books). I spent the most on FF 5; ultimately I decided to pull the trigger because of Stan's signature. I don't put a lot of financial value on his sig, because it's become so common. But still, it makes the comic special so it made it easier for me to spend the money. On top of getting these 3 major keys, I'm now only 1 comic from completing my Original Marvels Collection. With these 3 comics, I have complete runs of ASM, Avengers, Cap, DD, Incredible Hulk, and Iron Man. Now I only need Fantastic Four 1 to complete that title. Thanks for reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted November 9, 2016 Author Share Posted November 9, 2016 Walt Disney World on Election Day As I mentioned before, my family's tradition is to be in Disney World on election day. This is the third election in a row we've been here. We arrived very late Friday and we'll be leaving tomorrow. The voters in my family (me, my wife and my 2 oldest daughters who are in college) voted early. I can't do a Disney trip report without showing Cinderella's castle. And the Magic Kingdom is already decked out for Christmas, 3 weeks before Thanksgiving! Saturday night, after watching Fantasmic at Hollywood Studios (one of our favorite shows, we never miss it when we're here), we rushed back to the Boardwalk and ate dinner at Flying Fish. My family is into traditions, and we always eat at FF when we visit Disney but this might be our last time. They have a new menu and it's ungodly expensive. It's delicious though. For my appetizer I got the Kurobuta Pork Belly that's served with a shank croquette, apple slaw, bing cherry jelly drops and quail egg. Here's more food. Disney is expensive but they have some bargains. Like, the turkey leg which is under $15 and a meal by itself. And also the fish and chips at the Great Britain pavilion in Epcot -- it has 2 huge fillets and lots of fries. It's delicious and cheap at $10.49. Another good and delicious deal is the brat at the Germany pavilion in Epcot. The brat is only $9.49. Here's what I got last night, with a frosty beer: Right now is Epcot's food and wine festival. Epcot also used to have my favorite all-time Disney ride, the Norway ride (and you always have to stay and watch the short movie). BUT, they replaced the Norway ride with a very lame Frozen ride. Still, the food and wine festival is fun to graze at for dinner. Last night I got the brat and turkey leg plus beer and wine for my meal. I was also going to have a Peking Duck steamed bun, but my daughter ate it. Finally here are my 4 kids in Magic Kingdom. Our vacation this time was kind of melancholy because my two oldest -- the 2 girls in the middle -- had to leave early to get back to college (one left on Saturday, the other on Sunday). But, as your kids get older, you learn to cherish any time they can spend with you. Thanks for reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted November 9, 2016 Author Share Posted November 9, 2016 Recent Acquisitions (Nyoka, LB Cole, Berthet, Bettie Page, Gwen Stacy & Lauren Cohan) Here are a few recent inexpensive eBay pickups. It takes time to find these cheap gems among all the thousands of books offered on eBay, but it's a lot of fun too (I guess that's why they call it a hobby). It's both fun and satisfying to get cool things for the collection that cost little money. First, a couple of ladies in peril. I got the Nyoka for $9 and the Terrors of the Jungle (with an LB Cole cover) for $22. Next up is this small print by Philippe Berthet. I started collected Berthet a few years back because many of his characters are based on Betty Page (as with Dave Stevens). I got this from an eBay seller in France. I think this was actually a giveaway at a gallery or wine tasting. I won it for $3. Speaking of Betty Page (I guess the actual spelling is Bettie), I have a small collection of stuff devoted to her. I keep the stuff in Mylar sheets that are 3 hole punched (I get the sheets from E. Gerber). There are 2 sizes, comic-size and mag-size. The sheets go in extra thick binders, and right now my Bettie Page collection is up to 3 very full binders. This new acquisition though is too big for the binders. It's the issue of the old Comic Buyer's Guide where Don Thompson wrote about finding Bettie Page, and urging people to pay her if they use her likeness in their publications. I subscribed to CBG for over 20 years but never kept the issues (other than the few where they published my letters, and a few special issues, like the sideways Cerebus issue). It's nice having a copy of this again. I won it on eBay for $9. Here's a cool addition to my Gwen Stacy collection, the Danish version of ASM 121 (I got it for $9): Finally, to commemorate the new season of Walking Dead, I got this signed autograph of Lauren Cohan. She plays Maggie in the TV show. I won it for $21. Thanks for reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted November 11, 2016 Author Share Posted November 11, 2016 Cheapest Win Ever on ComicLink I logged into C-Link this morning to pay for last month's auction wins when I realized I won this. Early on in the auction I entered a low tracking bid and then forgot all about it. How much was my winning bid? One dollar. Well short of my $2 max bid. If only I could be so lucky with Matt Baker covers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted November 12, 2016 Author Share Posted November 12, 2016 Completing Runs After Focusing My Collection It's hard to explain, but after selling off half my collection, I'm more into collecting now than ever. I'm more focused now. And collecting is more fun, because I'm concentrating on what I really like, as opposed to a lot of other stuff I was collecting more out of habit than any real interest. Lately I've been trying to finish off runs. Most of my collection was built off of dollar boxes at cons, but I haven't gone to many cons the last few years so I rely on eBay and a few online stores. I used to buy from Mile High but they are just too expensive -- ridiculously expensive (others here have written about this, but I just do not understand how they stay in business, or who are the poor misguided souls who buy from them when you can get the same comics elsewhere for a lot less). My favorite online comic store is Lone Star (mycomicshop.com). They have a good selection for fair prices. Sometimes when I need a particular comic I'll go to Atomic Avenue, but they have high shipping costs. When I'm close to completing a title, I'm willing to pay more (just to get the dang thing finished!). So, rather than try to wait for a good buy at a buck, I'll spend $2 or $3 per comic, even more. I know I'm probably paying more than the comic is worth, but the completist in me really feels good when I finish off a title. Anyway, here are comics I've recently bought from Lone Star. Thanks for reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rune Posted November 12, 2016 Share Posted November 12, 2016 Here's a cool addition to my Gwen Stacy collection, the Danish version of ASM 121 (I got it for $9): It's fun to see that you've got that book, congrats Actually it's a reprint (published in 1990) of the original Danish book containing the Spidey #121 story. In the 1960s to 1980s we weren't far behind over here, so in June 1973 (I think) the American Spidey #121 was published, and the Danish Spidey book containing #121 was already published in March 1974 - here it is (unfortunately with an big ugly sticker on the cover): And thanks for all your great photos - especially the one of your kids, hope some of them appreciate the effort you've put into your collections I do like to read about your bargains - great value doesn't always have to be expensive! In these CGC forums the most expensive items get a lot of attention, but the constant effort chasing expensive and rare books and/or art can be exhausting - and may consume way too much time and money. It's all about balance, and it looks like you've found a great one! Best, Rune Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
