Its been ten years since we lost Nik!!! 4 4

[Iceman399]

7 hours ago, Guardian Comics said:

12 hours ago, Flee-Marquette said:

More 2008

I'm shocked...both Roy and I have a drink in our hands...so unusual for Chicago LMAO

I'm pretty sure that is still your I'm going out shirt you still wear to this day.

[Foolkiller]

Nik was a great guy and one of the true innovators on the boards in terms of selling.  His threads attracted a lot of attention because he knew how to grade and he wasn't afraid to give deals to forumites.  I wasn't super tight with him but I did consider him a friend.  He once came all the way to a show he wasn't planning on attending in NYC because I wanted a book and he offered to hand deliver.  That's the kind of guy he was.  I hung out with him at dinners and lunches and thought he was a heck of a guy.  I really don't know anyone who had a bad word to say about him

When I say I miss the old days, this is what I'm talking about.  We were a real community back then.  We valued getting together in person.  The forum sales area wasn't to squeeze every last dollar out of every book, and it seemed a lot more fun.  Nik was one of the guys who lived that philosophy.  

Nik was an inspiration for all of my sales threads.  He and flaming telepath were the first of the regular feeding frenzies.  

[skypinkblu]

3 minutes ago, Foolkiller said:

Nik was a great guy and one of the true innovators on the boards in terms of selling.  His threads attracted a lot of attention because he knew how to grade and he wasn't afraid to give deals to forumites.  I wasn't super tight with him but I did consider him a friend.  He once came all the way to a show he wasn't planning on attending in NYC because I wanted a book and he offered to hand deliver.  That's the kind of guy he was.  I hung out with him at dinners and lunches and thought he was a heck of a guy.  I really don't know anyone who had a bad word to say about him

When I say I miss the old days, this is what I'm talking about.  We were a real community back then.  We valued getting together in person.  The forum sales area wasn't to squeeze every last dollar out of every book, and it seemed a lot more fun.  Nik was one of the guys who lived that philosophy.  

Nik was an inspiration for all of my sales threads.  He and flaming telepath were the first of the regular feeding frenzies.  

Well no one sane had a bad word to say about him;) There was the B, lady;) 

[joeypost]

9 hours ago, Guardian Comics said:

I'm shocked...both Roy and I have a drink in our hands...so unusual for Chicago LMAO

Tim has two. That was the night I fell asleep with my socks on, and Tim posted a picture of it on the boards. 

I miss my friend. 

[oakman29]

On 7/24/2019 at 6:19 PM, Azkaban said:

really wish I could have got to know him, RIP Nik

Nik was a little brash at times, but he told it like it was.

You would have liked him.

[joecgcmaniac]

13 hours ago, THE_BEYONDER said:

Still have my Nike style Nik shirt in storage.  Who else got one?

[Transplant]

I have my Nik/Nike shirt still. 

I don’t have lots of Nik stories to tell. We knew each other via a large group PM. Lots of laughs that way. We did some deals. We PMd each other. We met briefly. The next year he was gone. What I did know better was the hole in people’s lives that he left behind. My friends grieved longer and harder than I could given their history together. What I hate are people who tell lies about their interactions with Nik. But I refuse to turn this into a thread about someone other than Nik. 

His death, for better or worse, brought this board together. It was the first boardie passing that I knew since I joined in 2007.  More than that, it was someone everyone seemed to hold in high esteem. But what I took away was the overwhelming support of the boards. I will always have the daredevil statue that used to belong to Nik. When people talk about the good old days of the boards, they mean the camaraderie of people like Nik, the people who grieved him, the people who celebrated him and the people who continue to remember him.  

Edited July 26, 2019 by Transplant
Dates.

[Domo Arigato]

@Guardian Comics

Does anyone still have contact information for Nik's family? 

I'm thinking they might like to read this thread since it shows that, even after 10 years, Nik is still in the thoughts of many people on this forum.

[greggy]

19 minutes ago, Domo Arigato said:

@Guardian Comics

Does anyone still have contact information for Nik's family? 

I'm thinking they might like to read this thread since it shows that, even after 10 years, Nik is still in the thoughts of many people on this forum.

@arexcrooke

[arexcrooke]

9 minutes ago, greggy said:

@arexcrooke

Sad to say I’ve lost contact with a Tracy. @GACollectibles is probably the best one to reach out to Tracy, Jonny, and Celia

[THE_BEYONDER]

33 minutes ago, Domo Arigato said:

@Guardian Comics

Does anyone still have contact information for Nik's family? 

I'm thinking they might like to read this thread since it shows that, even after 10 years, Nik is still in the thoughts of many people on this forum.

Not sure they need to see the dickwad seller thread.

[arexcrooke]

27 minutes ago, THE_BEYONDER said:

Not sure they need to see the dickwad seller thread.

Sure they do!  

[arexcrooke]

I still think about Nik regularly and remember the day we found out he was gone. It was crushing and heartbreaking to have lost someone I felt I was close with. Nik was just a good dude. Honest, intelligent, gracious (after all he let me and Watson stay at his house ) and just hilarious. The F bomb was probably his second favorite word Quick story: Me, Watson, Allan, and Andy are riding with Nik somewhere near his house on an interstate. He sees a sign that says "Fine Indian Cuisine" and he just goes on about a 10 minute rant about there being no such F-ing thing as Fine F-ing Indian Cuisine. Probably 4591 F bombs were dropped during that time. And we are all laughing uncontrollably.

Nik came to America from Greece around early in life. I want to say between 5-8 years old. He could not read, write, or speak English. So, he learned. By watching cartoons and reading comics. So Comics were not just something that he collected but were an integral part of his life he told me. 

My first memory of Nik was from the first Baltimore Con I went to. It was probably 14 or so years ago. We were at Stephen Ritters booth and someone asked "when is Nik going to get here" and lo and behold he pops up from under a table box diving for Bronze that Ritter had on the floor From the first moment he treated me like we had known each other forever. We went to the Forum Dinner that night and he and I, BronzeBruce, Schmell, (and I think Blazing Bob) sat at a table together. I was just mesmerized.

It was the beginning of our friendship. Nik, Danny, and myself went to Chicago-Con and there we met Roy, Jim, Drew, Joey, Miles, Greggy and some others. If I mangle names and dates or mix up cons oops Been a while 

Nik was always happy and cheerful on the boards. I saw him get into it with people just a couple of times. One was linked earlier. The other was when him and BellaDonna got into it. OMG that was hilarious!

His grading contests were amazing! The time and energy (and expense) to have the books graded and then to do the work needed to post a book, wade through countless PMs, keep track etc was astounding. And he did it just so the board could do something enjoyable. When you would send your grade in he would always, always respond with a cryptic or or or or or any other graemlin we had at the time. And we had more than now lol. You never knew what it meant but it was always worth a laugh.
His sales threads were must watch (and participate) events! When he started a sales thread you found a way to stop what you were doing. People would have multiple browsers open, would cut and paste a title, and hit the in the other thread. Prices were always fair and grades always spot on. 

The man loved Pedigree books! And high grade. The collection he had was just amazing. I am lucky that his wife gave me one of his most treasured books and it is a book that I just will not get rid of. And those of you who know how I collect know that long term holds aren't in my vocabulary Its a Thor 168 9.4 Oakland. Its not going anywhere. Because its my favorite Thor but mostly because it reminds me of my friend who got taken too early.

All in all Nik was one of the people in my life I enjoyed being around the most. I miss him.

Edited July 27, 2019 by arexcrooke

[arexcrooke]

On ‎7‎/‎24‎/‎2019 at 11:54 AM, namisgr said:

Amen.  It was the first time that Board members united in selfless, generous fund-raising for a beloved member of the collecting community.  I was and remain proud to have contributed toward the Board's lending a financial helping hand to Nik's family.  I remember it was Jim/Guardian Comics who stepped up big to pay generously for the comic I donated for the fundraiser.

Like many others, I got the chance to do some internet commerce and chatting with Nik.  We met in person, conducted a trade, and broke bread at what I believe was the first (or was it the second?) Baltimore Comic Con at the Convention Center.  Nik was an enjoyable, easygoing person to be around, and man he loved comics and the hobby, especially late Silver and Bronze age Marvels.  His life ended too soon, but it was very well lived.

 

Bob is absolutely right. The outpouring of love and generosity that was shown was stunning. Just stunning.

With any online community there are people who get on, people who don't, and some who just cant abide each other. None of that mattered during the auctions for Nik's family. None of it. People were generous like I have never experienced before. I want to say that over $80k was raised in his memory. 

[arexcrooke]

On ‎7‎/‎24‎/‎2019 at 8:55 AM, joeypost said:

One of my most cherished moments at any comic convention was that last breakfast a few of us had with Nik. He had been complaining about headaches and talked about going to the doctor. That morning is more cherished to me than the first Greek town dinner at WWC  

Jim mentioned earlier in this thread about all the good times we had as a group, but things have never truly been the same since his passing. 

That was a great morning Joey. It was in the restaurant of the hotel Nik was staying in. It was a very good breakfast too! 

[arexcrooke]

On ‎7‎/‎24‎/‎2019 at 10:17 AM, THE_BEYONDER said:

He really was the voice of reason around here.

Yeah he was wasn't he Chris! And at that time this place needed some reasonable voices  

[arexcrooke]

On ‎7‎/‎24‎/‎2019 at 1:03 PM, TheWatcher said:

My favorite Nik memory was WW Chicago '08. Nik, Arex, and Danny arrived together for that con. Nik and Arex were like a comedy team. They made me laugh that entire show, usually by ripping on Danny 

 

[arexcrooke]

On ‎7‎/‎24‎/‎2019 at 2:10 PM, Guardian Comics said:

Arex would call Danny "Elf" all the time, because of his Nightcrawler avatar, even though Danny was about three feet taller than Arex. 

Nik and Danny taught me a lot about grading high end books at that show. Nik was always so free with what he knew. Danny was hilarious as well. 

[arexcrooke]

On ‎7‎/‎24‎/‎2019 at 2:14 PM, greggy said:

I was there too and I spilled some water on the table and tripped on the decrepit streets unfortunately missing Roy.

That's our greggy  

[arexcrooke]

On ‎7‎/‎25‎/‎2019 at 4:34 AM, chromium said:

Jebus 10 years...:(

In 2009 Nik invited me to his place in Boston, he still had a European soul and we had always gotten along well on the boards, so in July 2009 I finally flew to the US, had a BBQ with his wife and kids and a bunch of  boardies that were from the area but also Doc Watson and Arex that drove for 8 hours to get there. The next day we all spent geeking out over books in Nik's basement, where he had something that looked like a stripper pole installed, I still don't know what it was and I seem to remember someone walking into it, which had Nik laughing so hard

I remember he drove like a madman when he took us all down-town for Oysters, scared the bejeebus out of me,  I only have this very badly lit pic of that restaurant...all boardies, I'm not naming names, you all know who you are.

So many great things happened that weekend, I met boardies I had known for years (online) for the first time and most of them became very good friends. I'll always remember Nik with a smile and remember a lot of his stories, he would get so animated while telling them and then after he got it all out he was the sweetest guy you could imagine. I got back to Belgium around the 20th and received a PM that Nik had been hospitalised a day or so after I came back...and alas he passed away a few days later. 

Rest in peace buddy, You were quite the character, the world is a poorer place without you.

 

I lost all of the pictures from Nik's on my phone when I went to back it up and the backup crashed. I cried. Literally cried.

I dont know when I was more afraid  

Nik driving...just in general or...

When SpoonPontoon was driving us down the turnpike in his KGB Mercedes at about 80 in a violent rainstorm and the windshield wiper comes off. and on that model of KBG-Cruiser there was only one. I nearly soiled myself