n2wdw's comic book room 5 5

[sagii]

Your Baker collection is coming along just fine, among others. Before you know it, you'll be close to completion . Great set up in the room , love all the various display methods at play. 

[n2wdw]

16 hours ago, sagii68 said:

Your Baker collection is coming along just fine, among others. Before you know it, you'll be close to completion . Great set up in the room , love all the various display methods at play. 

Thanks Sagii68.  I think I've gotten all the easy ones, so now it gets hard.

[n2wdw]

Walking Into My Comic Room

Well, I'm still getting use to the New Look boards.  I think the beta skin is a big improvement because before the bright white on white hurt my eyes and made it hard to red.  Hopefully we'll be getting some additional skins to choose from.  Inserting pictures is way easier which I appreciate. 

 

I thought I'd post a few pictures of how it looks walking into my comic room.  This first picture is the hallway outside my room.  This is where I display some of my art.  To the right is Jack Vettriano's Beautiful Losers (signed Artist Proof, 29/30).  Next to it is a study by Olivia.  On the facing wall is a study by Jennifer Janesko.  The floor mat is, of course, a Star Trek transporter, to beam into my room (if you look carefully there's a beam me up Uhura on the shelf under the Olivia).  I have a shelf unit right next to the door, where I keep storage supplies (mylars and backing boards).  On the side I'm displaying Tomb Raider actions figures and Miss America Magazine #2 which has the first appearance of Patsy Walker.

 

This next picture shows what you see when you're in the doorway.  I've got a spinner rack in front of a TV.  The TV is connected to Roku and Apple TV.    Behind the TV is a sexy Supergirl, and behind Kara is my Lady Mechanika collection.  On the ceiling is my Star Trek and Star Wars action figure collection.  On the extreme right of the picture, in front of Miss America #2, are my convention tags.  I think I have every tag of every con I've ever been to (of course, little local cons don't give you a name tag).  I have a couple nails in the door frame and hang the lanyards there.  I'm a pack rat (aren't we all, as comic collectors?) so I have the programs of those cons too.  On the left side of the picture is a mask with orange flowers.  It belongs to my daughter; we got it on a family vacation to Venice and she asked me to hold it for her until she's older.  The mask is sitting on a Darth Vader that my oldest daughter gave me.  On the side she wrote "You Are My Father."

 

This next picture is a few steps inside the room.  On the left is my PowerPuff Girls cell.  I bought it at a SDCC years ago, because Professor Utonium is holding his 3 girls, and I have 3 daughters.  My girls weren't much older when I bought the cell (now 2 are in college and the 3rd is going to college next year; my son, a high school sophomore, has a few more years to go, then my wife and I will be empty nesters -- I sometimes wonder if I'll be going to more or less cons when I get to that point in my life).  Under the PPG cell is a Star Trek photo signed by all the Captains.  Beneath that is a Yoda ceramic that my middle daughter made me a few years ago.  Below that -- it's hard to see because of the Star Wars scanner -- is a copy of the Analog digest which had the original Ender's Game novella.  I remember on eBay many years ago, I had to buy the whole year of Analog to get that issue. There's stuff packed everyone.  It's organized chaos though, because I'm anal about it.  I purposely try to make the room feel like a packed comic book store.   You have to walk sideways to navigate the room, and that's how I want it. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this brief tour of my comic room.  Thanks for reading.

 

 

Edited February 13, 2017 by n2wdw

[jimjum12]

That room is TOO cool, brother...... just like some little out of the way shop with a mystical connection to all the right inventory  GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

[n2wdw]

On 2/12/2017 at 2:53 PM, jimjum12 said:

That room is TOO cool, brother...... just like some little out of the way shop with a mystical connection to all the right inventory  GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

 

Thanks Jimbo.  Some of that mystical energy came from you.    Always look forward to your sales.  Here're the ones I got from you the last 2 months.  (Also, while I'm still getting use to the new look boards, I definitely like how you can directly upload pictures, rather than having to go through Photobucket.)

 

 

Edited February 15, 2017 by n2wdw

[n2wdw]

Matt Baker Win and Loss

I bid on a couple Matt Baker auctions on eBay yesterday.  Both were low grade but complete and with covers that presented well.  I lost the first auction for Teenage Temptations 4.  My max bid was $175 and it ended at $178.  I always hate losing an auction when my max price is so close to the ending price.  I always think, if I just made my max bid $180 I would have won it.  But that's a fallacy of course.  Because the other bidder might have had a higher max bid too,

 

The next one I won, Teenage Temptations 6.  Again my max was $175, and this one closed at $108.  I'm not surprised the other one closed higher.  You don't see TT 4 at auction as much as TT 6.  In retrospect I'm relieved the TT6 closed at $108, as I think my max bid of $175 was too high for the book.

 

Here's an update on my goal to get a copy of every comic with a cover by Matt Baker.  On my list is 293 comics.  The one I just won, TT6, is my 100th Baker.  Of those 100 comics, 33 are graded.  So far I've spent a total of $11,346 on this collection, for an average of $113 per comic.  The most I've spent is $510 for Cinderella Love 15.  The least is $4 for Romantic Secrets (Charlton) #19.

 

 

 

Edited February 16, 2017 by n2wdw

[Yorick]

On 1/16/2017 at 8:45 AM, n2wdw said:

Junie Prom #5 and Kamen's All Top #8 (from Tomorrow's Treasures)

 

Here are a couple books I picked up on eBay lately. The first is Junie Prom #5. This cover has always reminded me a little of Cindy #37.

 

 

 

 

I also picked up this copy of All Top #8. Among defects, trimming is probably the one I dislike the most (along with missing pages and water damage). But I decided to go for it because the trimming was limited to the back of the top cover.

 

I bought the comic from Tomorrow's Treasures. His eBay instructions are interesting. He makes his listings BIN/Best Offer, but essentially says he's not going to even respond to what he considers to be unreasonable offers.

 

I can't tell you the number of times I've made what some might consider "lowball" offers on eBay, and they were immediately accepted. My approach has always been, I'm going to offer what I'm willing to pay, and if you counter or reject my offer that's fine. The internet is a big marketplace, I'll just move on to the next thing. Sometimes -- about 1 out of 50 times -- I get a rude response where the seller is offended by my offer (sometimes it happens here, sometimes on eBay). I don't get that. As a selller why would you not want to receive all offers? That gives you control to either accept, counter or reject. How is this not a good thing?

 

Anyway, back to TT. I've done business with him at cons. I've gotten some good books from him over the years. I'm sure he doesn't remember, but he once gave me a really good explanation on how to price out restored books. I've never bought anything from him on eBay, because of his instructions. He's inviting offers via BIN/BO, but he's sort of not too via his instructions. So I don't want to waste his time or mine. On this book his asking price was $300. Because of the defects I decided to go ahead and make an offer. My offer was $250 (a little under 20% off). I didn't expect him to respond (his instructions say he won't respond if he considers the offer unreasonable). But he did. Within a few hours he accepted my offer.

 

As I often do when I win something on eBay from somebody, I immediately browsed his other eBay offerings. I found a Phantom Lady with a Matt Baker. Like the All Top it has defects, but acceptable to me at the right price. His price on this one was higher, and what I was willing to pay was more like 35% off. I thought about making an offer, but in light of his instructions, I decided I didn't have the energy to deal with it.

 

 

Want to get that issue, but then I'll have to collect the rest of the series!

[Yorick]

On 1/28/2017 at 5:34 AM, n2wdw said:

Spawn 9 (Angela) and January C-Link (Matt Baker)

 

I have a small collection of Spawn. I have about the first 40 issues or so, and then I collect other issues with covers by Todd McFarlane when I come across them. The only graded issue I have is #9 with the first appearance by Angela. I wish it was 9.8; maybe someday I'll upgrade.

 

 

 

 

I also have the German embossed edition of Spawn 9. I've always found embossed editions to be really cool. This was graded by the EGS company in Europe. I didn't even know there was such a company until I saw this on ebay. Since it was graded 9.9, I guess it makes my average grade 9.8 so maybe it's not so bad that I have the other 9.6.

 

 

 

 

On to something completely different, there were tons of Baker comics on sale this month on the ComicLink auction. Most were too low grade for me to be interested in. I don't mind low grade, in fact I prefer it to keep the price down, but for me to be interested the cover still has to present well and these did not (IMHO).

 

There were a couple exceptions. Pictorial Romances 17 in CGC 6.5 sold for $1500. To me that's just madness. Yes, it's a giant size and those square spines are hard to find in higher grades. But the cover is only so-so (again IMHO). I just can't see spending that much when, for the same money, you could get a major SA or GA first appearance key. Here it is, so you can make your own decision about whether you think it's worth $1500. (Once again IMHO, there is only 1 Baker cover worth that kind of money, Giant Comics Edition 12.)

 

 

 

 

Here is my only win last night, Pictorial Romances 15. I wish it was CGC but what can you do. It's not high enough grade to make it worth the effort to resubmit to CGC. But I might still crack it out to read it. I won it for $245 which is much more my speed for these Bakers.

 

 

Pictorial 15 is a favorite Baker cover of mine.  Nice score!

[Yorick]

11 hours ago, n2wdw said:

Matt Baker Win and Loss

I bid on a couple Matt Baker auctions on eBay yesterday.  Both were low grade but complete and with covers that presented well.  I lost the first auction for Teenage Temptations 4.  My max bid was $175 and it ended at $178.  I always hate losing an auction when my max price is so close to the ending price.  I always think, if I just made my max bid $180 I would have won it.  But that's a fallacy of course.  Because the other bidder might have had a higher max bid too,

 

The next one I won, Teenage Temptations 6.  Again my max was $175, and this one closed at $108.  I'm not surprised the other one closed higher.  You don't see TT 4 at auction as much as TT 6.  In retrospect I'm relieved the TT6 closed at $108, as I think my max bid of $175 was too high for the book.

 

Here's an update on my goal to get a copy of every comic with a cover by Matt Baker.  On my list is 293 comics.  The one I just won, TT6, is my 100th Baker.  Of those 100 comics, 33 are graded.  So far I've spent a total of $11,346 on this collection, for an average of $113 per comic.  The most I've spent is $510 for Cinderella Love 15.  The least is $4 for Romantic Secrets (Charlton) #19.

 

 

 

That TAT4 is mine!!!  I am jealous about your recent TAR/DS wins.  Both of those looked pretty nice.

[jimjum12]

47 minutes ago, Yorick said:

Want to get that issue, but then I'll have to collect the rest of the series!

Mike, you probably already know this, but Richie has a website www.tomorrowstreasures.com and he is much more receptive to offers if you go through that avenue, especially if you are making multiple book purchases. He is automatically stripped of 10% or more on eBay, so is less likely to discount there. He also lists his schedule for his "private conventions", which are not too far away from you, at which a stack of cash can be very persuasive. GOD BLESS...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

[n2wdw]

On 2/16/2017 at 10:11 PM, jimjum12 said:

Mike, you probably already know this, but Richie has a website www.tomorrowstreasures.com and he is much more receptive to offers if you go through that avenue, especially if you are making multiple book purchases. He is automatically stripped of 10% or more on eBay, so is less likely to discount there. He also lists his schedule for his "private conventions", which are not too far away from you, at which a stack of cash can be very persuasive. GOD BLESS...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

Jimbo - Thanks.  I've always found Richie interesting to talk to and I've gotten good books from him, but mostly at cons.  I haven't transitioned really to buying from him online, but contacting him via his website is a good idea.

[n2wdw]

Valentine's Day Dinner and New Additions to the Herd (Biro, Baker and a Fiction House Grail)

My wife and I were in Atlanta over Valentine's day, to visit our daughter who's a freshman at Georgia Tech.  We went to a restaurant called Livingston.  My wife got lobster bisque and scallops. 

I got the cauliflower and asparagus appetizer, and the ribeye.  At restaurants I always take a lot of time studying the menu, but then usually order the steak.  I select (in order of preference) ribeye or porterhouse (tie), New York, then filet mignon or flank (tie).  I admit breaking the tie is often based on the size of the cut (but of course you have to be careful with bone-in cuts as the bone is counted in the size).  Also, at the moment I'm obsessed with chimichurri sauce; the variety of styles and flavors is really amazing. 

I try to balance out the red meat with a healthy appetizer.  Although, not sure the appetizer was really healthy with all the cheese and the dipping sauce.  Ah well ... red wine cancels out all the bad things we eat, right?

 

Now on to comics ... I continue to be fascinated by Charles Biro covers.  His Crime Does Not Pay covers are haunting.  The stories don't seem to match the intensity of the covers, but I admit I haven't had time to do more than skim.  What's great is his covers are relatively cheap.  This CDNP 58 CGC 7.0 was only $75 BIN.

 

I won this Matt Baker on eBay recently.  I thought it was a good buy, but when it arrived I found it had water damage.  It's not apparent unless you're holding the comic in your hand.  For example, you can't tell when it's in mylar.  The water damage wasn't disclosed.  The seller's description said "Cover wrap and centerfold attached at both staples. Pages cream. Inside covers have tanning. No tape for restoration on book. Cover presents well for grade, retaining significant gloss." 

 

Finally, recently I picked up Fight Comics 27 from a boardie.  This is a classic GGA cover and one of my grails.  The copy is not perfect but it's solid and presents well, so I'm really happy to have it.  Thanks for reading.

[n2wdw]

Adding Shelf Space To Display More Comics

Over President’s Day weekend I had some time for a project I’ve been wanting to get to.  Currently in my comic room, I store a big chunk of my DC and Marvel action figure collection on a high shelf close to the ceiling.  But, as you can see from this picture, for some reason I used a shelving board that was only about 8 inches deep.  You can tell this by how the boxes extend beyond the edge of the shelf.  This is not a good use of space as I can’t store anything in front of the boxes.

 

 

So this past weekend, I replaced that 8 inch board with 16 inch boards.  Here’s how it looked before putting back the action figure boxes.  The 1^st picture is the shelf, and the 2^nd picture the shelf after I also extended the 2x4s supporting beams.  By the way, I have a string of Christmas tree lights in the room for my comics-related Christmas ornament collection (which is 2 pieces at the moment).

 

Here’s how the shelf looks after I put back the action figure boxes.  The 2^nd picture shows how much space I gained in front of the boxes by making this change.

 

 

 

And finally, here’s a picture of the shelf with comics displayed in front of the action figure boxes.  Thanks for reading.

 

[Rune]

1 hour ago, n2wdw said:

 

Awesome books and great work 

I simply had to show your photos to my wife. My wife is very concerned that she'll outlive me and be left with tons of stuff to get rid of. Thus it was great to show her the photos and say: "Look, you really have no worries, my dear - but Mike's wife may have reasons to be worried, though"

- Sorry for the bad humor 

 

[n2wdw]

24 minutes ago, Rune said:

Awesome books and great work 

I simply had to show your photos to my wife. My wife is very concerned that she'll outlive me and be left with tons of stuff to get rid of. Thus it was great to show her the photos and say: "Look, you really have no worries, my dear - but Mike's wife may have reasons to be worried, though"

- Sorry for the bad humor 

 

I know you're joking, but I do think about this.  I actually think my collection (and yours too, probably) would be relatively painless to sell.  Auction off the CGC books on C-Link, and sell everything else to Mile High or Lone Star (or another big comic store).  Even if sold at a discount for a quick sale, it's pretty good money.  So if I go before my wife, then by all means she has my blessings to sell.  And if I make it to those golden years. I won't hesitate to sell if I need the money; by that time I'll probably be more interested in sitting on a cruise ship sipping those cocktails with the little umbrellas, than having comics with Matt Baker covers.

[Yorick]

That Teen-age Romances 31 has real nice centering.  My copies are all off-center so that the leftmost word balloon is partially cut off.

Really like your "man-cave".  Would be so much fun to dig around in there!

[n2wdw]

Local Northern Virginia Con -- Major Matt Baker Additions

Today I went to a local con in Tyson's Corner Va.  The big draw was an appearance by Neal Adams.  Each autograph was $30 and it seemed like there were lots of people getting Neal's signature.  It was kinda cool to have him appear locally.  I got close enough to get this picture.  He seemed to be enjoying himself and was taking time chatting with fans. 

The main reason I went to the con was to meet with a boardie who recently PM'd me about Bakers he had for sale.  We agreed to meet right before the con opening at 10am.  He gave me a list of the books he was bringing, but I didn't have any pictures, conditions or prices.  So I was cautiously optimistic but was prepared to go away empty handed.  Well, the boardie -- and he asked me not to reveal his secret identity -- had some good stuff.  He had 5 issues for sale, including 2 copies of 2 of them.  I ended up buying 4, including the best copies of the 2 duplicates.  This first one is probably the most common, Wartime Romances 4.  There's a lower grade copy on eBay right now for $175.  This one has creases along the spine but otherwise is pretty clean.

 

This next one, Teen-Age Romances 36, is one of my favorite Baker covers. It's certainly not high grade, but it presents well and easily satisfies my bar for condition. 

 

It was the next 2 comics that got me excited.  True Love Pictorial 2 and Diary Secrets 13.  I don't often see TLP 2 and certainly not in this condition.  And, I think this is the first DS 13 I've ever seen.  I was already way over my comic budget for the month, but -- as I'm sure we've all experienced -- I was faced with either pulling the trigger on these comics or maybe waiting a long time before seeing them again, especially the last 2 in these conditions.  We negotiated price for a few minutes, and he gave me a little off, but essentially I paid his asking price.  The boardie didn't even bother going into the con.  I spent a little over an hour in the con and ended up picking up another low grade Baker.  I'll write about that in my next post.  Thanks for reading.

[Hibou]

Very nice Baker additions and the fact that you were able to meet up and buy them from a boardie is a nice plus too!

[n2wdw]

 

3 hours ago, The Mekon said:

Very nice Baker additions and the fact that you were able to meet up and buy them from a boardie is a nice plus too!

Thanks Mekon.  Yes, I think the best comics I've gotten the last 2-3 years have been from boardies.

Edited February 28, 2017 by n2wdw

[n2wdw]

Local Northern Virginia Con Part 2 - Other GA GGA

Here are pictures of wall books at the local Tyson's Corner con this past Sunday.  The organizer, Shoff Promotions, also puts on the comic/card shows at the Annadale Firehouse I've posted about lately.  This con though was focused on comics so had more comic dealers and better selection.  These pictures are a collage of the walls books at the con.  Unfortunately I'm not organized enough to show them sorted by dealer.

As I've mentioned before, I'm finding it harder to dig through long boxes at cons as I've gotten older.  It's so much easier to surf through the internet to find the comics I need (the boardie I bought the Bakers from said the same thing to me). 

I used to be all over the dollar boxes to fill runs.  I think that's part of the problem for me.  I'm not a title collector anymore.  I've got the ones I want and I'm not keeping up with reboots.  For example, I consider my Avengers title complete even though I stopped at issue 403.  I'm also not collecting new titles.  I used to collect every Black Canary title for example.  I stopped a couple titles ago.  (I mention BC because I saw copies of her latest title at the con for $1 each; I was tempted to buy but then decided not to.  Being a title or character completist is a never ending game that I don't want to get back into.)  At this point in my life, if an interesting arc comes out, I'll just get the trade.

I have a few titles I'm still finishing off, and many are not expensive, but who brings stuff like Elfquest or Bone to cons?  Even a title you'd think would be there -- Amazing Spider-man vol. 2 for example -- is hard to find.  It's more expensive to buy on eBay (if only because of the shipping), but I think I'll just bite the bullet and finish these lingering titles in 2017.

Anyway, I did go through the golden age boxes and found a few gems.  First I found this Baker.  It's low grade but was only $20, and actually presents pretty well. 

Here are some humor GGA I picked up for a reasonable price.  The most expensive was Boots 8 for $40.

And finally, from the same dealer, I picked up Frontier Romances 1 (a minor grail for me) for $100.  Thanks for reading.

 

 

Edited February 28, 2017 by n2wdw