n2wdw Posted April 9, 2018 Author Share Posted April 9, 2018 18 hours ago, szavisca said: Terrific pick ups, while these are still affordable. I don't really know how common some of these are in high grade or not, its really hard to say because they're still not valuable enough to slab for most of them, and who really knows with the whole file/warehouse copy thing. But I will say that the good ones, like you've been posting, seem to be getting increasingly scarce in VF or better. There used to be several online sites that had tons of them and most of the places I'd found them are starting to run dry. There's one eBay seller I've bought most of mine from, but his stock seems to have dried up (no listing at all on eBay at the moment). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted April 9, 2018 Author Share Posted April 9, 2018 Matt Baker Nos. 150 and 151 I managed to pick up a couple of Matt Baker comics recently. Lower grade Bakers -- like the ones I bought -- are still somewhat affordable, but still I had to spend more than I would have in the recent past. Just shows that a rising tide raising all boats. An advantage I have in the marketplace (or flaw, depending on how you look at it) is I don't mind restored copies. Especially here, with TAR #1, with a "small amount of color touch on cover." My reason is, I probably wouldn't be able to detect minor CT if I bought the comic raw at a con, so I'm willing to add a purple copy to my collection. One of my collecting goals is to get a copy of every comic with a cover by Baker. In my list there are 295 Baker covers. These 2 Bakers I recently got are #150 and #151 for me, so I'm a little more than halfway there. I'm not sure thought if I'll ever complete this collection. Even putting aside the rising cost, some Bakers are just incredibly rare and you never see them. Also recently I bought a qualified Pictorial Confessions 3. The centerfold is missing. I usually don't buy comics with missing pages. But I thought the cover was in good shape and the price was right. I actually also have a raw copy of this comic. I've thought about marrying the comics. But for now I'm keeping them as they are. Ricksneatstuff 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted April 14, 2018 Author Share Posted April 14, 2018 Matt Baker In Romantic Marriage Matt Baker has 2 covers in Romantic Marriage, #23 and 24. Last night on eBay I won a low grade 23. Hopefully some day I'll be able to get a better copy. But for now it'll do as a filler to allow me to complete this little Baker subset. I got the #23 last night for $114 and despite all its flaws I'm surprised to have won it. I got my #24 about 4 years ago (also on eBay) for $57. Oh for the good old days. Point Five 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sacentaur Posted April 14, 2018 Share Posted April 14, 2018 Two excellent covers! Congrat's on the reasonable ebay win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricksneatstuff Posted April 14, 2018 Share Posted April 14, 2018 Nice price on the Romantic Marriage 23 Mike! I was going to snipe it for 150 but forgot. I’m glad you picked it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sqeggs Posted April 15, 2018 Share Posted April 15, 2018 On 4/14/2018 at 7:32 AM, n2wdw said: Matt Baker In Romantic Marriage Matt Baker has 2 covers in Romantic Marriage, #23 and 24. Last night on eBay I won a low grade 23. Hopefully some day I'll be able to get a better copy. But for now it'll do as a filler to allow me to complete this little Baker subset. I got the #23 last night for $114 and despite all its flaws I'm surprised to have won it. I got my #24 about 4 years ago (also on eBay) for $57. Oh for the good old days. RM 23 is one of my favorite Bakers. Usually doesn't get a lot of love, though. Nice pickup! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted April 16, 2018 Author Share Posted April 16, 2018 Steel City Con Report Part 1 This weekend I went to Steel City con. I went for 2 reasons. First, because my son asked to go to a comic con with his 2 best friends. And second, because the con is in Pittsburgh where my oldest daughter goes to college. She's graduating this year so we wanted to see her. Also, her cosplay video from Katsucon was selected for the Pitt Film Festival so we of course wanted to be there for that. Here are the 3 boys moments after walking into the con. My son is on the left. Steel City is a pop culture con like Wizard World (and a lot of other cons nowadays). They have celebrities and comics ... what makes Steel City a bit unique is their emphasis on toys. They have the best selection of toys of any con I've ever been to. While many of the vendors had comics for sale, there was only about 6-8 dealers with most of their booths devoted to comics. Here are some wall pictures, but there wasn't much of interest. But, while there were no grails, I found a nice stack of comics for my collection. Prices are cheaper in the Pittsburgh area so I was able to fill some holes at good prices. Hot Flips had a good selection of comics at 75% off. Something I got was this Marvel Comics Index #5 (Thor). I bought the first issue (featuring Spider-Man) when I was a kid, via mail order. Since then I've been trying to complete the 12 issue series. Now I only need #2 (Conan). Sure, I know I could complete it in 5 minutes on eBay, but I want to do it on the cheap. I got the Thor issue for $5, which is a bargain. Where I really scored was with Star Trek and Star Wars toys, especially the large figures. I bought them for about $10 each. I remember when they were going for 3 and 4 times that. With these new acquisitions I'm getting close to completing my collection. Here are more toys and other stuff I thought were cool but didn't buy. STORMSHADOW_80 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted April 16, 2018 Author Share Posted April 16, 2018 (edited) Steel City Con Report Part 2 I got 3 shopping bags and a short box of stuff at Steel City. The best deal of the con were these vintage Star Trek The Motion Picture action figures. They are the rare alien figures, and the Q is even signed by actor. The cards and blisters are in great VF/NM+ condition. So I had a momentary ethical conundrum. These figures are rare and go for hundred of dollars. They were being offered for $5 each. Normally I would have no problem with just buying them, but the dealer told me this was a collection of a fan who recently passed away. The dealer was selling them for the wife. What would you do? Tell the dealer to raise the price, or sell them on eBay to have a better chance at getting FMV? In the end, I didn't say anything and bought them for the offered price. Honestly I don't feel guilty (well maybe a little). Anyone can check out the internet for FMV before going to a con. Also, the wife wasn't poor and didn't need the money for food -- the dealer told me the wife was selling the stuff to clean out the basement. I did buy a lot at the dealer's table to send some money over to the wife. Here's some other miscellaneous stuff I got at the con. Edited April 16, 2018 by n2wdw STORMSHADOW_80 and aardvark88 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted April 24, 2018 Author Share Posted April 24, 2018 Steel City Con Report Part 3 Just to finish off this report ... I got signatures of 2 celebrities, Tiffany (the pop star from my high school days) and Terry Farrell (Dax from ST Deep Space 9). My final impressions of the con are -- it was a fun time. I got a ton of stuff for my collection, especially Star Trek and Star Wars action figures. I went Friday and Saturday morning, and 1.5 days is the most you need to go to this con. In fact, 1 day is more than enough. But again, a fun time. I think I'll definitely go again. badback83 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted April 25, 2018 Author Share Posted April 25, 2018 New Fun Stuff For the Comic Book Room Isn't collecting fun? There's so much cool stuff out there. Even when I'm not chasing after a Matt Baker or a major first appearance, there's just so much cool things to buy. A big part of it too is the serendipity aspect of collecting. When you see something you've never seen before. Like these Baywatch comics. A boardie had these for sale in the mixed age thread. I only have casual interest in Baywatch, but what caught my eye is, these are photo comics (also called fumetti). For some reason I've always liked photo comics so I buy them whenever I see them, especially when they're cheap (I got the pair for $7). The same boardie was selling these Star Wars Galaxy Collector magazines. There are tons of magazines about Star Wars. But not many about collecting Star Wars. That's what these magazines are about, and they focus on collecting Star Wars toys and comics. These magazines are somewhat hard to find, especially inexpensively. I got these for $2 each. Recently I won an eBay auction for 5 Modesty Blaise books. Modesty Blaise is like a female James Bond, except better. If you like JB then I highly recommend that you check out Modesty Blaise. The prose novels are better than the graphic novels in my opinion. And, Peter O'Donnell only wrote about 10 novels. There have been numerous editions throughout the world. My collecting goal is to get a copy of every US edition of the prose novels. Of the 5 book lot I just won on eBay, I only needed 2, Night of Morningstar and Pieces of Modesty (Pieces is actually a short story collection). I'll probably give the other 3 away to our local lending library. Thanks for reading. STORMSHADOW_80 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted April 25, 2018 Share Posted April 25, 2018 Pamela Anderson now that's "a pair"... n2wdw 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post n2wdw Posted April 28, 2018 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 28, 2018 Mademoiselle Marie Mlle. Marie only appeared in Star Spangled War Stories 84-89 (she was actually in 90 and 91 too, but not on the covers). Her comics are tough to find, and very tough in high grade (probably because war comic were so well read). Here are the copies in my collection. I still need #87 to complete my run. Ricksneatstuff, badback83, kelholt and 6 others 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusterMark Posted April 28, 2018 Share Posted April 28, 2018 Great collection of Mademoiselle Marie! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Point Five Posted April 28, 2018 Share Posted April 28, 2018 31 minutes ago, MusterMark said: Great collection of Mademoiselle Marie! +1, those are great. Particularly love the #84, #88, #89 covers. I'd like to collect the set someday. 1950's war comics 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusterMark Posted April 28, 2018 Share Posted April 28, 2018 2 hours ago, Point Five said: +1, those are great. Particularly love the #84, #88, #89 covers. I'd like to collect the set someday. No, Monsieur Paratrooper, Marie shall NOT leave you. Love, love, love that cover. (and all the others too). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusterMark Posted April 28, 2018 Share Posted April 28, 2018 (edited) By the way, another awesome Marie cover is the one of her with Sgt. Rock: Our Army At War #115 (Feb 1962). (I’m having difficulty posting the image of the cover here) Edited April 28, 2018 by MusterMark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted April 29, 2018 Author Share Posted April 29, 2018 15 hours ago, MusterMark said: By the way, another awesome Marie cover is the one of her with Sgt. Rock: Our Army At War #115 (Feb 1962). (I’m having difficulty posting the image of the cover here) Thank you! I didn't know about that crossover. MusterMark 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post n2wdw Posted May 6, 2018 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 6, 2018 Back Home From Israel and Jordan I had to go to Tel Aviv for work. Israel and Jordan were on my wife's bucket list, so I brought her with me and we spent a few days after my work in Israel and Jordan. I have to admit I was scared to go to the Middle East. I thought there was a possibility that me or the wife might not make it back. I guess I've read too many Gabriel Allon novels. Our friends told us "take care, be safe" before we left. Usually people say "have a good time" when you go on vacation. But for the middle east, they said "take care, be safe." That kinda tells you all you need to know about the perception of Americans when going to the Middle East. But, as it turns out, there was no drama. And we went to some amazing places. Here's the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. This is inside the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Inside this building is the crypt where it is believed Jesus was born. You can see the long line to get in -- it actually wraps around and around, and takes about 4 hours to see this holy place. We visited so many incredible sights in Jordan. If you like Roman ruins, you need to go to Jordan. Also their deserts are incredible. This is a picture from Wadi Rum. If it looks like a foreign planet, then you won't be surprised that they filmed the Martian here. This is the Treasury in Petra. They filmed scenes here from Indiana Jones the Last Crusade. I'll show just one food picture, and say that I've never had better hummus in my entire life. comicjack, badback83, jimjum12 and 5 others 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post n2wdw Posted May 7, 2018 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 7, 2018 Major Grail - Clue Comics #2! I just got this back from CGC - Clue Comics #2! The classic (and disturbing) ironing cover. The villain has already ironed the backs of the 2 men. One 3 times, the other 2, and we can't see what he's done to their fronts, and perhaps even what he's done to the face of the passed out man (like Negan from Walking Dead?). Now his attention is drawn to the beautiful girl. So far she's untouched but he's clearly targeting her exposed back. But just in time the good guy arrives to save the day! Clue #2 is a major grail for me. It's one of those books that I was beginning to think I would never own. I saw it on eBay a few months ago. The listing strongly hinted that it had major problems. The listing said it was probably a rebuilt comic, with the cover of Clue #2 but stories from different comics. I took a chance and won the eBay auction. When I got the book, I compared it to a reprint. I started getting excited because it seemed to be a complete Clue #2. But I wasn't sure, because I didn't know how accurate the reprint was. That's when I submitted it to CGC. It came back restored, but that was no surprise to me. What I most cared about was, Number 1, is the comic complete? And Number 2, is there any marrying? CGC gave both of those a clean bill of health! I'm so happy to have this comic! comicnoir, Squeezy McSphincter , STORMSHADOW_80 and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comics181 Posted May 7, 2018 Share Posted May 7, 2018 Awesome cover! Glad to see you got one of your long sought after grails n2wdw 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
