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Nearly thirty years of procrastination pays off big time.
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Started by shadroch,

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shadroch

shadroch

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For about thirty years, I have had two short boxes that were taped up and labeled " decent, unbagged show stock".  I've been meaning to open them and bag the stuff up but I've always had something better to do.

A little background.

In the late 80s, I owned and ran a small comic shop called The Millenium Parachute. It was mildly successful but I could have made more money doing other things. In addition to the store, I did two conventions on Long Island each month and tried to fit in a third in NY or NJ.  It was fairly time consuming and when my landlord told me he was going to raise my rent when my lease expired I decided to close the store and just do shows and mail order. 

At that point I had about sixty long boxes of back issues. I was living in a small apartment with a room mate  so bringing the stock home wasn't an option. 

I called around to some store owners and dealers and managed to liquidate about half my stock.   My Mom offered to let me put the stuff in her garage but I explained it needed a better climate so she reluctantly let me bring to her house and store it in my old bedroom. So many boxes were stacked five feet high around my room and pretty much forgotten about while I pursued other things for a few years, including a spell in Puerto Rico where I managed the only comic shop on the Island while training to be a professional wrestler. 

Jump forward ten years or so , and I am living in Queens and finally get the books out of my Moms house. By then, I've picked up quite a bit more boxes as stores were dropping like flies.   But I digress.

When I was moving to Las Vegas about five years ago, I liquidated quite a bit but there were two short boxes ,heavily taped that said "unbagged decent  show stock" that I brought with me. As I never got around to bagging them, they sat sealed until I finally opened them this week. One box was Marvel, the other was half DC and half 80s Indies. My first observation was many of the pages were off. 

One of the first books I come across is a GI Joe 2, but its a reprint. I pull a couple of later issues of Secret Wars and then I find two Moon Knight 1s. A bunch of early Star Wars, and then a Star Wars 1, I'd call it a 4.0.  A couple of Marvel Spotlight 1s, bunch of drek and then 12 more Moon Knight 1s.

The Marvel box gave me 23 Moon Knight 1s, 3 She Hulk 1s, A Marvel Team-Up 1 and 141, 2 Spiderwoman #1s, about 25 early Star Wars including a VG #1, a dozen 1st print Joes, 3 Nova #1s, a half dozen Spidey 275s, some Spidey 289s, a single Spidey 298, and a couple dozen X-Men in the 140-175 range.

The DC box had a dozen Crisis #1s, 8 Watchmen 1s, and 27 other Watchmens, 3 Dark Knight #2s, 5 New Teen Titans 44, 2 Flash #1s and a couple of Killing Jokes, 2 Omega Men #3 and a bunch of Super Powers from various series

From the Indies, I pulled a bunch of Twisted Tales, a Usagi Yojimbo #1 that got me very excited only to find out it wasn't an original, and 10 Archie Mutant Turtles #1 from the mini-series and five from the regular series. A bunch of American Flaggs and Jon Sables, and eight copies of Miami Mice #1.

With the exception of the Star Wars 1, everything is in the VF/VF+ range.

Had I opened them earlier, i'd have sold the Moon Knights and Turtles for $5 each if I was lucky.

And some people say procrastination is a bad thing.

 

 

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Hollywood1892

Hollywood1892

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1 hour ago, shadroch said:

For about thirty years, I have had two short boxes that were taped up and labeled " decent, unbagged show stock".  I've been meaning to open them and bag the stuff up but I've always had something better to do.

A little background.

In the late 80s, I owned and ran a small comic shop called The Millenium Parachute. It was mildly successful but I could have made more money doing other things. In addition to the store, I did two conventions on Long Island each month and tried to fit in a third in NY or NJ.  It was fairly time consuming and when my landlord told me he was going to raise my rent when my lease expired I decided to close the store and just do shows and mail order. 

At that point I had about sixty long boxes of back issues. I was living in a small apartment with a room mate  so bringing the stock home wasn't an option. 

I called around to some store owners and dealers and managed to liquidate about half my stock.   My Mom offered to let me put the stuff in her garage but I explained it needed a better climate so she reluctantly let me bring to her house and store it in my old bedroom. So many boxes were stacked five feet high around my room and pretty much forgotten about while I pursued other things for a few years, including a spell in Puerto Rico where I managed the only comic shop on the Island while training to be a professional wrestler. 

Jump forward ten years or so , and I am living in Queens and finally get the books out of my Moms house. By then, I've picked up quite a bit more boxes as stores were dropping like flies.   But I digress.

When I was moving to Las Vegas about five years ago, I liquidated quite a bit but there were two short boxes ,heavily taped that said "unbagged decent  show stock" that I brought with me. As I never got around to bagging them, they sat sealed until I finally opened them this week. One box was Marvel, the other was half DC and half 80s Indies. My first observation was many of the pages were off. 

One of the first books I come across is a GI Joe 2, but its a reprint. I pull a couple of later issues of Secret Wars and then I find two Moon Knight 1s. A bunch of early Star Wars, and then a Star Wars 1, I'd call it a 4.0.  A couple of Marvel Spotlight 1s, bunch of drek and then 12 more Moon Knight 1s.

The Marvel box gave me 23 Moon Knight 1s, 3 She Hulk 1s, A Marvel Team-Up 1 and 141, 2 Spiderwoman #1s, about 25 early Star Wars including a VG #1, a dozen 1st print Joes, 3 Nova #1s, a half dozen Spidey 275s, some Spidey 289s, a single Spidey 298, and a couple dozen X-Men in the 140-175 range.

The DC box had a dozen Crisis #1s, 8 Watchmen 1s, and 27 other Watchmens, 3 Dark Knight #2s, 5 New Teen Titans 44, 2 Flash #1s and a couple of Killing Jokes, 2 Omega Men #3 and a bunch of Super Powers from various series

From the Indies, I pulled a bunch of Twisted Tales, a Usagi Yojimbo #1 that got me very excited only to find out it wasn't an original, and 10 Archie Mutant Turtles #1 from the mini-series and five from the regular series. A bunch of American Flaggs and Jon Sables, and eight copies of Miami Mice #1.

With the exception of the Star Wars 1, everything is in the VF/VF+ range.

Had I opened them earlier, i'd have sold the Moon Knights and Turtles for $5 each if I was lucky.

And some people say procrastination is a bad thing.

 

 

Congrats!

This must've reignited your desires in the hobby?

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shadroch

shadroch

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1 hour ago, chrisco37 said:

I thought this was going to be about the case of ASM 300’s.  
(Am I recalling that correctly?)

They are gone. In that case, I knew what I had and was holding it for the right moment, but these were true mystery boxes. The 300s went towards my Tesla, so I jokingly say I paid $300 for it.  I try not to look back, but I wish I had either of them now. 

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shadroch

shadroch

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1 hour ago, KCOComics said:

 

Congrats on the boxes, but can I hear more about professional wrestling in PR? 

Sounds like you've led an exciting and adventures life! 

Saving that for the book. 

There's really not much to it. I took a few lessons with Johnny Rodz and then some more with a local named Mark Tendler.  I was working as a bouncer and had some co-workers who wrestled.  When I went to PR, I tried to pursue it but PR wrestling was very different than what little I had learned.  A lot more blading and blood and just plain craziness. The big stars there were Bruiser Brody and Abdullah the Butcher and the fans loved blood. In any event, I fractured my hip when I missed a move in practice and came to the realization I wasn't crazy enough to do it. 

About a week after I broke my hip, the booker called and asked if I was interested in a show in the Dominican in a week or so. I explained I'd broken my hip and he said okay, I'll call you back in two weeks and see if you are up for some work.

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KCOComics

KCOComics

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36 minutes ago, shadroch said:

Saving that for the book. 

There's really not much to it. I took a few lessons with Johnny Rodz and then some more with a local named Mark Tendler.  I was working as a bouncer and had some co-workers who wrestled.  When I went to PR, I tried to pursue it but PR wrestling was very different than what little I had learned.  A lot more blading and blood and just plain craziness. The big stars there were Bruiser Brody and Abdullah the Butcher and the fans loved blood. In any event, I fractured my hip when I missed a move in practice and came to the realization I wasn't crazy enough to do it. 

About a week after I broke my hip, the booker called and asked if I was interested in a show in the Dominican in a week or so. I explained I'd broken my hip and he said okay, I'll call you back in two weeks and see if you are up for some work.

I remember how things went for Bruiser Brody down there. Scary stuff. 

Thanks for sharing! That's a really cool story. Glad you got back in one piece... Besides that broken hip thing. 

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BrntWS6

BrntWS6

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Same here, left my stuff alone for about 25 years, never looked at any of it till 2018.  So far I am estimating in the 30k range after everything of worth is graded.  Nothing too crazy but I will take it.

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the blob

the blob

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On 4/3/2021 at 1:49 PM, shadroch said:

For about thirty years, I have had two short boxes that were taped up and labeled " decent, unbagged show stock".  I've been meaning to open them and bag the stuff up but I've always had something better to do.

A little background.

In the late 80s, I owned and ran a small comic shop called The Millenium Parachute. It was mildly successful but I could have made more money doing other things. In addition to the store, I did two conventions on Long Island each month and tried to fit in a third in NY or NJ.  It was fairly time consuming and when my landlord told me he was going to raise my rent when my lease expired I decided to close the store and just do shows and mail order. 

At that point I had about sixty long boxes of back issues. I was living in a small apartment with a room mate  so bringing the stock home wasn't an option. 

I called around to some store owners and dealers and managed to liquidate about half my stock.   My Mom offered to let me put the stuff in her garage but I explained it needed a better climate so she reluctantly let me bring to her house and store it in my old bedroom. So many boxes were stacked five feet high around my room and pretty much forgotten about while I pursued other things for a few years, including a spell in Puerto Rico where I managed the only comic shop on the Island while training to be a professional wrestler. 

Jump forward ten years or so , and I am living in Queens and finally get the books out of my Moms house. By then, I've picked up quite a bit more boxes as stores were dropping like flies.   But I digress.

When I was moving to Las Vegas about five years ago, I liquidated quite a bit but there were two short boxes ,heavily taped that said "unbagged decent  show stock" that I brought with me. As I never got around to bagging them, they sat sealed until I finally opened them this week. One box was Marvel, the other was half DC and half 80s Indies. My first observation was many of the pages were off. 

One of the first books I come across is a GI Joe 2, but its a reprint. I pull a couple of later issues of Secret Wars and then I find two Moon Knight 1s. A bunch of early Star Wars, and then a Star Wars 1, I'd call it a 4.0.  A couple of Marvel Spotlight 1s, bunch of drek and then 12 more Moon Knight 1s.

The Marvel box gave me 23 Moon Knight 1s, 3 She Hulk 1s, A Marvel Team-Up 1 and 141, 2 Spiderwoman #1s, about 25 early Star Wars including a VG #1, a dozen 1st print Joes, 3 Nova #1s, a half dozen Spidey 275s, some Spidey 289s, a single Spidey 298, and a couple dozen X-Men in the 140-175 range.

The DC box had a dozen Crisis #1s, 8 Watchmen 1s, and 27 other Watchmens, 3 Dark Knight #2s, 5 New Teen Titans 44, 2 Flash #1s and a couple of Killing Jokes, 2 Omega Men #3 and a bunch of Super Powers from various series

From the Indies, I pulled a bunch of Twisted Tales, a Usagi Yojimbo #1 that got me very excited only to find out it wasn't an original, and 10 Archie Mutant Turtles #1 from the mini-series and five from the regular series. A bunch of American Flaggs and Jon Sables, and eight copies of Miami Mice #1.

With the exception of the Star Wars 1, everything is in the VF/VF+ range.

Had I opened them earlier, i'd have sold the Moon Knights and Turtles for $5 each if I was lucky.

And some people say procrastination is a bad thing.

 

 

procrastination on most of this stuff is a good thing. occasionally you miss the boat on something, true, and it doesn't bounce back so well. if you've got a bunch of V for Vendetta or Vampire Lestat comics in there, maybe not

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