Yorick Posted September 6, 2017 Share Posted September 6, 2017 That Stray Bullets is a steal. I paid $10 for mine nearly 10 years ago! And that Sim letter....! VERY cool. n2wdw 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted September 7, 2017 Author Share Posted September 7, 2017 We Met At Mickey Dees About the KKK Okay, not really. Recently I bought Shock Suspenstories 6 from @chrisco37. Turns out we live close to each other so we met at McDonalds. It was fun chatting with another comic collector. He told me about his Spidey and FF collections. I talked about my current collecting pursuits (keys and GA GGA). He's going to Baltimore. I'm thinking about going for a day -- I want to go -- but I'm trying to save money for New York. Anyway, it was a fun 15 minutes. Here's the SS 6. I'm probably going to send it in to CGC.. When I get it back from CGC, it'll go next to this reprint. chrisco37, Readcomix, Ricksneatstuff and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisco37 Posted September 8, 2017 Share Posted September 8, 2017 It was great meeting you too, Mike. And thanks again for the purchase. Unfortunately, I don't think it will grade out as high as the reprint. n2wdw 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted September 9, 2017 Author Share Posted September 9, 2017 (edited) The Gallery and Dave Stevens Outside the comic room is a hallway that I call the Gallery, where I display art. Recently I picked up this signed and numbered Vampirella by Dave Stevens. Here's it displayed on the right side of Gallery 1. I got it for a good price because it was personalized. But unfortunately, the prior owner's first name wasn't Mike. After much thinking about it, I decided to cover up the name. First I tried white out but that didn't work. So then I turned to white tape. I'm not real happy with the results so I might play around with it more. I'm also thinking about moving this s/n print into the comic room, and displaying something else in the gallery. This is, though, one of my favorite Steven's covers. I've got it in 9.6 and also a signed raw copy. And, I have this statue too. Edited September 9, 2017 by n2wdw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted September 11, 2017 Author Share Posted September 11, 2017 (edited) Frames To Store CGC Comics Recently I bought comic frames from @Turtle. I took all he had left (10) and he gave me a good price. These frames are very cool. Made of wood and solid construction, and they look sharp. As shown below, you pull up the top, slide the CGC comic in, and then re-attach the top. The only issue is, the frames don't fit the new CGC slabs, or any older slab that's thicker than normal. That's okay with me though because I have many CGCs that fit in these frames. I had a specific project in mind for the frames. I have space next to my desk that I've wanted to display a few comics. Right now, I've rigged it to display 2 books (see below). But I wanted to display more to use up all the space, and also this is a high traffic area so I wanted something more sturdy to display comics. These frames were the perfect solution. I mounted 6 on a piece of ply wood. Here's how it looks. And here's how it looks with comics, in my comic room. As I was picking the comics to display, I realized this board with the frames would be a great way to showcase my collection to guests. I could carry the board out to the family room where there's more room and explain the significance of the comics, as the first part of a tour of my comic room. So I picked the first appearances of Marvel characters they would know -- Iron Man, Spider-man, FF, Thor, Avengers and DD (I don't have a copy of AF 15 so ASM 1 will have to do as Spidey's first appearance). Also, because of the particular comics I have, I can explain what the grades mean, blues versus purples versus yellow, etc. I also have 4 more frames, and I plan to use them in the hallway outside the comic room. Edited September 11, 2017 by n2wdw STORMSHADOW_80 and jimjum12 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post n2wdw Posted September 13, 2017 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 13, 2017 Big C-Link Win Last Night - Dastardly GGA Bondage! Last night I went all in on lots closing in the C-Link auction. I went to bed before it closed and actually dreamed about the auction. I woke up early and checked my bids. I won it! Here it is. There's something about torture wheel comics that I really like. comicnoir, Enucleator, piper and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricksneatstuff Posted September 13, 2017 Share Posted September 13, 2017 Big congrats Mike!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sqeggs Posted September 13, 2017 Share Posted September 13, 2017 On 9/6/2017 at 10:07 AM, n2wdw said: Usually I think of a bibliography as a formal table of resources, with enough information (citations) to help you find those resources to further explore the subject. The bibliography in SOTI is really a listing of publishers mentioned in the book. But I'm still happy to have it. I've never seen an explanation of how the comic publishers prevailed on Wertham's publisher to remove the bibliography. I think the reason that copies with the intact bibliography page are desirable is that they are relatively scarce. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted September 13, 2017 Author Share Posted September 13, 2017 1 hour ago, Sqeggs said: I've never seen an explanation of how the comic publishers prevailed on Wertham's publisher to remove the bibliography. I think the reason that copies with the intact bibliography page are desirable is that they are relatively scarce. That makes sense, thanks for the input. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted September 14, 2017 Author Share Posted September 14, 2017 More Examples of Taking Pictures of CGC Comics with the Photobox Here are a couple more examples of taking pictures of CGC comics using the HP legal scanner versus my iPhone using the photobox. First is Underworld Crime 7 I recently got from @Ricksneatstuff (aka "where all my money goes"). This picture is from the HP scanner. The good: No glare, straight on picture without having to angle. The bad: the colors look washed out, especially the reds of the title and the girl's shirt. Also, there's a line going down the right side of the cover that's not in the comic. Now here's the iPhone picture using the photobox. This picture is a much truer representation of the comic. All the colors are more vibrant. Especially the reds, but the others too. Also, no artifacts like that line running up the right side. But, to avoid glare, I had to angle the picture a bit. Still, this one is much better. The second example is a modern Spider-Man with a cover by J. Scott Campbell. The scanner picture is first, followed by the iPhone/photobox picture. Once again, the iPhone picture has much more vibrant colors. Also, the scanner picture has some glare just below the label, whereas with the iPhone/photobox I was able to avoid glare (at the expense of having to angle the picture, and yes there is some glare on the label itself). At the end of the day, the lower picture quality of the scanner may be due to the scanner being old (my iPhone is just one version old, the newest being the one that came out yesterday). I'd love to get a new legal sized scanner. If anyone knows of one that's under $500, please let me know. Thanks for reading. Ricksneatstuff 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricksneatstuff Posted September 14, 2017 Share Posted September 14, 2017 (edited) I bought one of those boxes. I don't have it down yet. My pictures have too much glare from the lights. Edited September 14, 2017 by Ricksneatstuff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted September 14, 2017 Author Share Posted September 14, 2017 Dastardly GGA Bondage -- Torture Wheels I'm still giddy after winning Dark Mysteries #19 this week in the C-Link auction. I missed out on all my other C-Link bids last night, and also struck out in the C-Connect auction, but with DM19 it's still a winning week for me. Here's C-Link's description of DM#19. Quote Dark Mysteries #19 is the most sought-after issue of this Pre-Code Horror run, and in recent years has risen to become one of the most popular books of the entire genre. The Classic bondage/torture wheel/skeleton cover has long been on the 'A-List' of must-have books for horror collectors, and it's not often offered in any grade for that very reason - collectors are very unwilling to part with it. This is a solid middle grade CGC 4.5 example. I'm fascinated with torture wheel covers. What is the beautiful girl being wheeled into? Water (pretty tame)? Sharp knives? Snakes? Acid? Or just being held to be tortured? They make the "dastardly GGA bondage" list in my book. Here are some others: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sqeggs Posted September 14, 2017 Share Posted September 14, 2017 17 hours ago, n2wdw said: More Examples of Taking Pictures of CGC Comics with the Photobox Here are a couple more examples of taking pictures of CGC comics using the HP legal scanner versus my iPhone using the photobox. First is Underworld Crime 7 I recently got from @Ricksneatstuff (aka "where all my money goes"). This picture is from the HP scanner. The good: No glare, straight on picture without having to angle. The bad: the colors look washed out, especially the reds of the title and the girl's shirt. Also, there's a line going down the right side of the cover that's not in the comic. The second example is a modern Spider-Man with a cover by J. Scott Campbell. The scanner picture is first, followed by the iPhone/photobox picture. Once again, the iPhone picture has much more vibrant colors. Also, the scanner picture has some glare just below the label, whereas with the iPhone/photobox I was able to avoid glare (at the expense of having to angle the picture, and yes there is some glare on the label itself). At the end of the day, the lower picture quality of the scanner may be due to the scanner being old (my iPhone is just one version old, the newest being the one that came out yesterday). I'd love to get a new legal sized scanner. If anyone knows of one that's under $500, please let me know. Thanks for reading. Is your scanner an HP 8300 (or related version)? I've had better success with that one than you seem to be having. Have you tried using VueScan to tweak the settings? There was a recent thread in CG where someone suggested some VueScan settings that have improved my scans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Point Five Posted September 14, 2017 Share Posted September 14, 2017 Monster pickup on the Dark Mysteries #19, Mike. Still looking for my copy! 1950's war comics 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted September 14, 2017 Share Posted September 14, 2017 On 9/9/2017 at 3:15 PM, n2wdw said: The Gallery and Dave Stevens Outside the comic room is a hallway that I call the Gallery, where I display art. Recently I picked up this signed and numbered Vampirella by Dave Stevens. Here's it displayed on the right side of Gallery 1. I got it for a good price because it was personalized. But unfortunately, the prior owner's first name wasn't Mike. After much thinking about it, I decided to cover up the name. First I tried white out but that didn't work. So then I turned to white tape. I'm not real happy with the results so I might play around with it more. I'm also thinking about moving this s/n print into the comic room, and displaying something else in the gallery. This is, though, one of my favorite Steven's covers. I've got it in 9.6 and also a signed raw copy. And, I have this statue too. I would carefully take the tape off and leave it the way it is. That looks funky. I really miss Dave Stevens. He was a local boy. I remember going to a few parties at his house. A real "arty" crowd and a lot of fun. He had a great sense of humor and a real down to earth guy! Mayor006 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted September 14, 2017 Share Posted September 14, 2017 2 hours ago, n2wdw said: Dastardly GGA Bondage -- Torture Wheels I'm still giddy after winning Dark Mysteries #19 this week in the C-Link auction. I missed out on all my other C-Link bids last night, and also struck out in the C-Connect auction, but with DM19 it's still a winning week for me. Here's C-Link's description of DM#19. I'm fascinated with torture wheel covers. What is the beautiful girl being wheeled into? Water (pretty tame)? Sharp knives? Snakes? Acid? Or just being held to be tortured? They make the "dastardly GGA bondage" list in my book. Here are some others: My wife likes to roll her eyes and tell her friends. My husband loves to collect any comic "with a chick tied to a wheel". She's an antique dealer and has found me a lot of old comics and pulps. She's a keeper! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted September 14, 2017 Author Share Posted September 14, 2017 29 minutes ago, Robot Man said: My wife likes to roll her eyes and tell her friends. My husband loves to collect any comic "with a chick tied to a wheel". She's an antique dealer and has found me a lot of old comics and pulps. She's a keeper! Yep, no doubt. My wife doesn't get me comics, but she leaves me alone with my comics (even though many have pretty girls on the covers), so she's a keeper too! So has this ever happened to you? I posted that Rangers 25 CGC 1.8 but I swore I had bought a better copy. Was I dreaming? Or did I buy it and never get it? For about an hour I had a major panic attack! But then I found it. Whew! Talk about almost ruining your day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorick Posted September 14, 2017 Share Posted September 14, 2017 19 hours ago, Ricksneatstuff said: I bought one of those boxes. I don't have it down yet. My pictures have too much glare from the lights. Don't shine the lights directly into the box. The side-walls should be semi-translucent to allow diffused light into the photograph area. You could also buy a screen to put up in front of your lights or use a white board to bounce light off of. You can see in n2wdw's example photos the wall texture of the photo box because the light is hitting the object directly. Soft lighting is key, and also shooting during the daytime when there's a lot of ambient background light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted September 14, 2017 Author Share Posted September 14, 2017 22 minutes ago, Yorick said: Don't shine the lights directly into the box. The side-walls should be semi-translucent to allow diffused light into the photograph area. You could also buy a screen to put up in front of your lights or use a white board to bounce light off of. You can see in n2wdw's example photos the wall texture of the photo box because the light is hitting the object directly. Soft lighting is key, and also shooting during the daytime when there's a lot of ambient background light. The kit comes with lights in the top of the box. But they are bright. There's a white sheet you can put over the lights that help. You're right about trying to find the right background light, to try to reduce glare and reflections. I'm still playing around with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted September 14, 2017 Share Posted September 14, 2017 3 hours ago, n2wdw said: Yep, no doubt. My wife doesn't get me comics, but she leaves me alone with my comics (even though many have pretty girls on the covers), so she's a keeper too! So has this ever happened to you? I posted that Rangers 25 CGC 1.8 but I swore I had bought a better copy. Was I dreaming? Or did I buy it and never get it? For about an hour I had a major panic attack! But then I found it. Whew! Talk about almost ruining your day! My wife also gives me old "girly" and pin up mags as well as vintage nudie photos when she runs into them! Yeah, I've bought books twice without knowing as well as misfiling books. Now is this horror? crime? GA? oh, and it's a Canada copy. Never a problem having two copies of a cool Rangers like that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
