n2wdw's comic book room

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A Rare Valiant Collectible (?)

I was kind of bored with comics and my collection when Valiant arrived. I was busy with my new career and newly married, so going to cons to trudge through long boxes wasn't a big priority.

Then Valiant happened and I got caught up in it. Not just the stories, which were great, but collecting every issue. I managed to get every regular issue. Getting the golds and platinums back then was hard but since then I've been able to get most of them.

I was captivated by Valiant. It really re-energized my collecting energies. Then the main guys started leaving. Shooter, Layton, Barry .... It was like the Beatles breaking up ... or the cancellation of Star Trek The Next Generation. Why couldn't they just work it out, like Stan Lee and Kirby?

Anyway, that broke the magic for me. I never got into Acclaim or what happened after. To this day my Valiant collection is limited to the original Valiant comics. Fortunately, once I got the collecting bug again it never left. I'm as active in comic collecting as ever (spurred on in large part by my interest in CGC and its registry).

Back then of course the Comics Buyers Guide was running strong. There was an ad for the Valiant Index. I immediately sent off my check via snail mail (this was way before Internet ordering). Here it is:

I found out this was a limited edition of only 12. Seaborn Adamson was the editor. He stopped production at 12 copies at the request of Valiant. Below are 2 letters Seaborn sent me, where he explains what happened. A little bit of comics history.

Thanks for reading.

C-Link and C-Connect

Here are my thoughts on recent ComicLink and ComicConnect auctions.

ComicLink -- Boy, are the big spenders out or what?

ComicConnect - Boy, why so many CBCS books?

For both I haven't been involved, since I'm priced out of C-Link and uninterested in C-Connect (not interested in CBCS -- not sure what the point is). Although, I did manage to pick up a few inexpensive modern GGA books from recent auctions.

This last one is a nice bookend with this one I picked up a couple years ago:

Just catching up on your journal... nice acquisitions and congratulations on that FF48!

That looks really nice with the Green label.

CGC Turn-Around Times -- 2015 Report

In 2015 I submitted 12 invoices. This is a report on CGC's response times.

Two were fast track so I don't count those -- I can tell you though they were fast (under 2 months).

One I haven't received back yet (I mailed it on 11/27/2015). So the sample size for this report is 9 invoices. 6 were Modern, 1 Value, 1 Magazine and 1 Playboy (it wasn't a Playboy -- not that there's anything wrong with that -- but it was Playboy sized).

Bottom line, the average turn-around time for normal track was a little over 3 months. The fastest was a little under 2 months, the slowest a little over 4 months.

At the moment, I have 5 invoices pending totaling 27 books. With a projected turn-around time of 3 months, I'll get 1 in February, 2 in April and 2 in May. I'm sure it won't play out exactly that way. But I find it's fun to regularly submit invoices so I have them to look forward to. In fact, I've gotten over my fast-track and on-site urges except for, in some cases, sketch covers.

Anyway, here are a few from the Modern invoice I just got back. A couple Jae Lee covers, a Broomall and finally a Benitez.

More C-Link and C-Connect

Despite what I said above about how expensive C-Link is, I have managed to pick up a few affordable books the last couple of months. Here's something I won for only $21 -- the 1st issue of Starlog! Only 6.0 but it brings back memories so I couldn't pass it up. (Only worth 1 point in the registry though.)

I also got this comic to add to my Gwen Stacy collection:

I picked up a few comics over at C-Connect too (I guess people still offer some CGCs over there). Love this J. Scott Campbell Vampirella:

No SDCC For Me & Pics of My Comic Book Room

Got this email from the good folks at the San Diego Comic Con:

So tickets went on sale this past Saturday. I thought about trying for tickets. But even if I lucked out in that lottery, I'd then have to go through the hotel lottery. And I didn't win, I'd have to go through the parking lottery. On top of that I'd have to get a flight to San Diego (from the east coast where I live). And then I remembered the crowds, and overflowing panels, and over priced comics, etc. etc. Yeah, the big panels are exciting (Walking Dead, Game of Thrones). But they're all on youtube almost as soon as they happen live.

So no. No SDCC for me in 2016. I didn't even try for it. I'm not sure if I'll ever go to this con again.

So with that sad thought, to try to end on a happier note, here are some pictures of my comic book room. The first is the door into the room. You'll see I have a Star Trek transporter pad (which is really the rug of a ST shower set). So to get into my room you have to beam into it. To the left is a framed, signed and numbered print by the talented Jennifer Janesko.

The next one are my large Star Wars playsets. Boy these boxes are big. As I moved into my new comic room I worried if I'd have room for these large playsets. I managed to fit them in by stacking them on top of each other.

As I moved from my old comic room to my new one, I found some old vinyl records. I forgot I had them. I immediately got on Amazon and bought a portable record player. Since then I've picked up some 45s on this board and eBay. What a lot of fun!

Finally, I made sure I made space for my dog to hang out while I'm in my comic book room. Funny thing, my dog (and cat too) often hang out in the room even when I'm not in there. My kids do too. I get a kick out of that. Thanks for reading.

Good Burger / Some Golden Age GGA

Wife and I are wine tasting in Sonoma this weekend. On the drive up from SFO we stopped in Sausalito for lunch. We went to the Napa Valley Burger Co and shared this burger. Wife doesn't like eggs or avocado on burgers so I got all of both for my half. Loved it!

Back to comics, recently I won this Matt Baker cover on eBay. Baker's popularity is really up lately, and so are prices. I got a better than expected deal because the eBay listing didn't list the cover as by Baker.

I'm envious of people here when they display their high grade golden age comics. But, this is a good example of the condition of books I go after. I guess when it comes to golden age I'd rather have more "decent looking" books than just a few "really amazing looking" books.

Recently bought this from the marketplace here. I've always liked this Joe Doolin cover.

Nice Diary Secrets cover!

Thanks Brandon!

Displaying CGC Books

As we all know, it's a struggle to find room to display CGC books. In my comic room I've built shelves from 4" to 8" deep (depending on the location) where I can store stacks of CGC books. Periodically I rotate the stack to display different books at the front.

Lately I've started also using these plastic magazine holders. They're big enough to hold CGC books 3-4 deep. Again, I periodically rotate to display different books at the front. These are good in tight spaces where I can't fit a shelf. You can also attach them to the front of shelves, to take advantage of dead spaces.

Newly Graded Matt Baker

Last week I got my most recent Value invoice back from CGC. The turnaround time for normal track was just under 3 months.

I had a few Matt Baker's in this submission. It'd be nice to have a Baker registry set, if for no other reason that we'd then be able to leverage the expertise of the people on this board to identify and create a checklist of all the Baker covers in existence. If we ever have such a set, my goal would be to get a copy of each book rather than the top score since I'm a completist rather than a person going for high grades.

The last book below, Wartime Romances 15, is a good example of this. There's a chunk missing from the last 5 pages of the book. The CGC notation says "affects story" but it is possible to read the story so in my mind the book is complete. So while the book only got a 0.5 grade, the cover's in good shape and I got it cheap for $45. If only more "incomplete" books were offered on eBay.

Once again, n2wd, great books! I like your idea of a Baker registry set, not that I would be able to contribute, but to see such galleries from others!

OUTSTANDING!!

Great stuff buddy, that comic room must be hard to tear yourself away from.

Holy Cow! I Have This?!!

 

I've mentioned I'm reducing the herd. I've gone from about 45000 comics to 25000. Now, I'm going through the rejects to see if there are any I want before I sell them wholesale. I'm thinking about contacting Mile High or Lone Star, or perhaps sell via Craig's List. I don't expect to get much.

 

So today I was going through a Batman box of rejects. This box had my run of Batman Animated. I was flipping through the books when I found this, Batman Adventures 12 (1st Harley Quinn). Holy cow! I didn't think I had this issue! It's definitely going into my next CGC submission.

 

It's my birthday in a week, so this is a great early b-day present. Thanks for reading.

 

 

I got this comic back from CGC last week. 9.8! I cannot believe it (I thought the slight imperfections in the upper and lower left corners would keep it at 9.6 at best.) Now I'm wondering whether to sell it to catch the wave before it crashes. Although I really like the 1200 registry points.

A Couple Additions to the Gwen Stacy Collection

Here are a couple additions to my Gwen Stacy collection that I just got back from CGC. My Gwen collection includes GS key issues as well as covers featuring Gwen.

As I've mentioned before, of all Peter's girlfriends Gwen is my favorite. Probably because I was in my early teens when their romance was happening. I still remember reading ASM 121 when Gwen died (as they say, like it was yesterday). This was back before the internet so I had no warning.

Back then I delivered newspapers on my bike after school for comic book money. I just bought #121 off the rack at the convenience store and was reading it as I was cruising a smooth trail on my bike (this may sound dumb -- and it was dumb -- but it's the equivalent of texting while driving). When Gwen died I was so shocked I literally fell off the bike. So anyway, from my childhood, I kind of have the Peter / Gwen romance imprinted in my head.

The 2 latest additions are fun ones because they're kind of different. The first is the Italian edition of ASM 600 (funny enough, this Italian edition fits in the regular ASM 600 slot of the registry). The second is the NY Comicon program with a Spider-Gwen cover by Adam Hughes. Thanks for reading.

Another Addition to the Gwen Stacy Collection

Just got this from CGC this week (normal track magazine turnaround time was a little over 2 months). I got this via the mail from the SDCC -- it was promoting the 2012 con. Or maybe I got it at the con. I can't remember.

I wanted to submit my copy to CGC but I didn't think it would make 9.8. I bought a couple copies via eBay but they had more defects than my original copy. So I went ahead and submitted my original copy and crossed my fingers. And it got 9.8! (Although sometimes I wonder if CGC eases up its standards on promo pieces like this.)

I actually went to the 2012 SDCC. Below are some pictures.

One More Gwen

Speaking of Gwen Stacy, I recently got this commission from Richard Moore. The commission process (via these boards) was quick and painless (unlike so many other artists). The very helpful facilitator was James Meeley at Sequential Treasures.

The drawing was based on Moore's cover from his Boneyard comic:

Golden Age Romance

The raciness of Golden Age romance always amazes me. These 3 comics are from 1950-1952. I wonder how much of this would have made it through the Comics Code?

Jane Arden - Fiction House

The quest for Matt Baker comics brought me to St. John and I find myself buying more and more St. John comics including those without Baker art. Jane Arden was a short run, only 2 issues. From Wiki:

"Jane Arden was an internationally syndicated daily newspaper comic strip which ran from 1927 to 1968. The title character was the original "spunky girl reporter," actively seeking to infiltrate and expose criminal activity rather than just report on its consequences and served as a prototype for later characters such as Superman supporting character Lois Lane and fellow comic strip heroine, Brenda Starr. Jane Arden was only moderately successful in the United States, but it was highly popular in Canada and Australia. The strip was widely reprinted in comic books and was also adapted into both a film and a radio series."

I'm not a St. John expert but I know there's at least 1 more Jane Arden comic, Pageant of Comics #2 (#1 was Mopsy). Below's my copy. Thanks for reading.

Independent Key - 1st Appearance of William Tucci's Shi

I like collecting keys. I bought this one from a boardie, the 1st appearance of Shi. I bought it raw for a good price and then sent it off to CGC. It came back 9.4 which is about what I expected. It's somewhat tough to get really high grade (i.e., 9.8) for books like this and I didn't want to spend a lot. I'm happy to be able to check this one off my list.