One thing that I noticed right away joining this forum is PQ discussion. I certainly appreciate nice PQ as anyone would but it is not a deal breaker. Many of my own books have been thru all kind of bad storage conditions with wide fluctuations in degrees and humidity. Most of them were stored with cheap bags and boards that all turned yellow when I opened this bags. For 13 years(1992 to 2005) they were not properly stored and many still have pristine white pages today. At one point, that furnace room was flooded. Luckily I stacked most of my boxes above ground level. Only a few modern boxes were on the floor level and those had mildew and mold damages from the flood.
Prior to 1992 (1983 to 1992), all of my books were in the attic....well my room was the attic and it was hot as hell. Going back a little bit, my uncle sponsored us in 1980 but the 1982, he decided that he can longer take care of us and he needed to focus on getting his dental degree so he put us up for adoption or whatever place that can take the 3 of us. It was a difficult situation because we were too old really to find a foster home but he was at the end of his rope. In 1981 after we moved to the apartment at New Scotland Ave, I attended a community center for immigrants that summer to learn English. It was something to do for the summer. At that school, there was a young volunteer that helped teach English there. She was a Junior in college at this point but she befriended the 3 of us quickly since we were king of unique being in this country without our parents. Fast forward a year later as she learned of our plight and difficult situations, she approached us and asked us "I heard you 3 needs a home, come home with me". I remembered meeting her parents for the first time and they were like "what the hell did our daughter agreed to do?" They had 4 kids of their own so it was not something they even thought about. Anyhow, to cut it short, they did the proper paperworks needed to become our legal guardians and that is how we moved in. They weren't wealthy by any means...more blue collar since he was a retired NY state trooper and work a security job at GE at the time. I have no idea what was his pay but he was getting pay by the hours and he worked as much overtimes as he could whenever he got a chance. May props, love and appreciations for the Kellys for opening their home and hearts, yes as Irish as they can be. So my room at their house was the attic level....basically, half was the attic and my half is the room and it is sweltering hot in there. Often during the summer, I slept on a mattress in the basement because it was too hot in my room. The Kelly had their own rules for their kids but for me I was basically free to do whatever I wished as long as I kept getting my As in school. I came and go as I pleased for the most part since I worked 30 hours a week going thru high school during this time. I didn't have a car so they drove and picked me up at work daily....never complained once because they felt it was a good thing for me to be able to go to work to do whatever I wish with my life...big kudos to them for that.
I kept m books there all the way thru 1992. Before I went to grad school in 1992, I then went and picked up all of these books and consolidated them all in the furnace room so really nothing I bought and owned from 1981 to 2005 were in any "ideal" storage places.
I took this pic to show how even the cover stock sometimes can be made with such high quality pulp that it can service the harsh conditions while the interior didn't fair so well. This go back to my earlier statement that the quality of the pulp sometimes can trump many other factors 20 years later.
So what do I learn about PQ. I don't trust to judge PQ from looking at the covers only. As you can see, it is possible to get a bright and white cover with not so white interior. Does a cream or tanned cover immediately guarantee a bad PQ inside...not true either. I have seen badly tanned cover with very nice interiors...maybe not snow white but still nice.
Edited by etanick (07/15/1202:11 PM)
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If you keep your collection in the closet, you can't enjoy it, you can't touch it, you can't share it" a line I heard from the show Collection Intervention.
Speaking of the Kellys...when I got there in 1983, their oldest son was a Freshman in college. He got a scholarship to play basketball. He was a big man in high school but in college he couldn't cut it. He was benched and on the verge of dropping out of school. As he gotten to know us, he was inspired and decided to refocus his goals. He dropped out of the team and started to study hard. He got a 4.0 for the remaining 3 years. He always wanted to work for the FBI eventually so he applied and took the test when he graduated. He did very well on the test but couldn't get in so he went to law school and passed the NY bar exam on his first try. Right after that, the FBI called and he got in. They have been following his progress and now he got the skills they needed.
He was a good athlete in addition to be a hard worker and smart so it was not a surprise he was in the top 3 of his FBI class. While he was at the academy, they shot a little movie "Silence of the Lamb" and he was asked to be an extra in a scene. It is the boxing scene and he is in the background with the head gear so it is hard to see his face but that is him. He spoke about meeting Foster and she wasn't that hot in person and quite small. The top 3 of any classes get to choose the location of their assignments so he picked Hawaii and off he went. In 1992 before I went to grad school, I did visit him in Hawaii and I was close to join the FBI. While I was there, I learned that there is no Vietnamese FBI agent and they want me to be the first one. I got all the tools (maybe not physical) they were looking for. I thought about it but the idea of going deep cover to infiltrate the Vietnamese gangs/mafia that run the drugs from Southeast Asia thru Hawaii to California was not as sexy as it sounded so off to grad school I went. He loves Hawaii and have been there ever since.
If my stories inspire somebody to do something positive for himself or herself...great.
My roommate in college did get marry right after the trip so on the way back from Hawaii, I made a stop at the wedding as a groomsmen. Interesting twist of fate, his wife grew up in East Greenbush NY (the same town I first lived for 1 year when I first arrived here) so many of her high school friends were at the wedding.
As I was mingling at the wedding, a young man about my age approached me and asked "were you living in East Greenbush for a short time long ago?"..."oh yes, for one year, why do you ask?"
"you were the kid that was incredible with the violin, was that you? I remember you"...."you inspired me back then and you probably don't remember who I am but after that year, I focused on the violin and went to school to play the music...today, I play for the Albany Symphony today"
that little encounter warmed my heart and he was very saddened that I gave it all up. I told him, it is ok, there are many paths to happiness and I found my path and I am glad he found his however small my role was....he did it.
..blah blah blah..ok enough of the boring stories...on with some pics.
the first slab I bought when i joined this site is this book from Boozad. Still have it so it is a keeper.
oh, and this is the first book I bought off Foolkiller...I sold it long ago...low grade drek.
Edited by etanick (07/17/1203:22 PM)
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If you keep your collection in the closet, you can't enjoy it, you can't touch it, you can't share it" a line I heard from the show Collection Intervention.
glad you enjoyed SDCC. EC horror is cool. I purposely avoided those to stay focus...focus on what?
well DC horror of course one of the theme that I kept seeing over and over again was the "come here" theme and I thought that was funny.
Here is a lesser known book with that theme...not as famous as the HOM 174 but it is one tough book to find in high grade and it is all Neal Adams goodness
speaking of Neal Adams, here is one book that is likely tough for most to recognize it is Neal's work because it is not his typical style but it is gorgeous.
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If you keep your collection in the closet, you can't enjoy it, you can't touch it, you can't share it" a line I heard from the show Collection Intervention.
As I reemerged myself back in the hobby in 2009, I started to also focus on GA. I have always admired GA from a far but I really didn't have much interest outside of Batman, Superman or Wonder Woman....and that didn't change now that I decided to buy them. There are ton of great GA titles but I want to maintain focus. At the same time, I also had to get over my OCD with high grades or restored books. GA books outside of key books are fairly inexpensive...even if they are semi rare.
In honor of the Dark Knight movie that came out last week, I dug out a group shot of my early Batman run. I have since completed the run from to 11 but this pic was taken back when this was everything.
found some old pics with my son and those bat books. He was 3 in the pic. I am blessed with a great kid. He is so respectful of everything even at that age. I think every adult that met my son is astounded at his impulse controls. He can walk in my office with slabs and books everywhere within his reach and he would not touch anything...unlike his crazy friends...when they come over and play...I lock my office to keep the monkeys away. All I need to tell my son even at 3 is "don't touch that ok?" and that is done.
Anthony is checking the slab closely to see if the book is pressable to a higher grade
Anthony found his favorite I stared at this pic a million time, love it.
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If you keep your collection in the closet, you can't enjoy it, you can't touch it, you can't share it" a line I heard from the show Collection Intervention.
I can see why your son likes the black and blue covered Bats. Alpha male colors. Here's to hoping he gets the comic bug. Just think of all of the cool books you can buy together.
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Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
thanks...he is already a collector....can't throw/give away any of his old toys Even at 5, he is already a hoarder. No doubt he is a batman fan. He likes to watch those Batman cartoons and they are not all that "fun" for kids with the slower tempo but he seems to enjoy them and follow the story lines.
Funny story...I kept many of the Heritage old catalogues on our dining room table to read and a while ago when a friend came over for dinner and flipped thru one of them. Anthony pointed out to our guest when he was looking at a pic of the Action #1 and said "that is most important book", he then proceeded to flip a few pages to a pic of TEC 27 and said "this is the 2nd most important book" and then he flipped a few more pages to a pic of AF 15 and said "this is the 3rd most important". It was hilarious because I never said anything like that to him but he must have listened to me talk about those 3 books to my wife and friends over the past year enough time that he remembered it.
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If you keep your collection in the closet, you can't enjoy it, you can't touch it, you can't share it" a line I heard from the show Collection Intervention.
Well, I officially won nothing at the Heritage auctions this week...oh well. I only bid on 7 items but I was the underbidder on one of them and the rest, not even close.
I didn't try too hard. Why is that? what happened since my return in 2009? is the passion gone?
well by mid 2010, I was sitting here with 800 plus slabs....and I started to get annoy with slabs.
a) they took up too much space. Each slab is equal to 3 raw books or more. b) to me the books look better in Mylar c) I like to flip thru the pages sometimes to read the story. Say what? read? d) seriously, I like admire PQ by flipping thru the pages, not looking at the letter "WHITE" on the slab label.
I know silly right? yes to me there is a risk in handling raw books and I will be the first to admit I have ruined 2 books in my lifetime handling them raw. Both significance books....an X-men #8 with a tape pull and a Batman 359 (I bought from FoolKiller as an 8.5/8.0) that I splitted the spine by 1/3". That book went to 7.0/7.5 in a nano second so I fully realize the risk of raw books compared to slab.
The advantages of slabs to me: a) safety of handling b) graded by 3rd party to make it more liquid in time of sale.
Other than that, what the heck is it good for? easier to display? a cert# for the registry game? after much thoughts, I decided I like raw books much more than flipping a slab in my hand that I decided that slabs are not for me any longer. I will no longer slab books I want to keep.
On top of that, I didn't like where I was heading with the hobby. I felt somewhat burnt out after just 6 months of returning to he hobby. This was meant to be fun but being obsessed with auctions all the times wasn't healthy for me. I started to get frustrated when I didn't win a book or get mad when I bought a book and it wasn't in the condition I expected....or stay up till 1 am to try to catch a nice book from one of Foolkiller's sale thread? So once again, it is time to decide what to do? quit, leave and/or sell everything ? This is suppose to be fun and if it is not fun anymore, why bother?
the spine split is on the top left...ouch! decent copy..and a keeper until I find a nicer copy...
Edited by etanick (07/28/1212:19 PM)
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If you keep your collection in the closet, you can't enjoy it, you can't touch it, you can't share it" a line I heard from the show Collection Intervention.
one of the theme that I kept seeing over and over again was the "come here" theme and I thought that was funny.
Just think of all of the cool books you can buy together.
Even at 5, he is already a hoarder. No doubt he is a batman fan. He likes to watch those Batman cartoons and they are not all that "fun" for kids with the slower tempo but he seems to enjoy them and follow the story lines.
