Pat T
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Post by Pat T on Sept 22, 2021 20:47:41 GMT -5
That looks like a nice one, too. There are still big finds hidden away and forgotten. If you're lucky and persistent, you might unearth some.
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Pat T
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Posts: 102
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Post by Pat T on Sept 14, 2021 2:20:47 GMT -5
Avengers 130 was the first issue I owned, and I've bought the issue at least 3 different times when starting collecting again after periods of quitting comics for good. Nothing really special about this comic, but it made enough of an impression on me back in 1975 that I never forgot the story and some of the exact panels during my last 25 year break from comics. Avengers and Amazing Spider-Man have always been my two favorite comics (far above everything else), and during one of my early collecting forays, I was able to obtain issue 100 to around issue 190. I had a few stragglers under #100 (57, 73, 74), and my goal was to get them all the way from #1. I was in about the same boat with ASM, with the same goal, and then I just lost interest. Held onto them a few years, but when my first car needed rear tires (because I burned them off) I sold the comics I had left to pay for them. I've since completed both those goals. After a couple of brief collecting periods and a long break, I started back in 2010 with enough money to realistically do it. It took me 2 years to complete Avengers. I actually won my Avengers 1 from a grab bag on ebay.
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Pat T
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Posts: 102
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Post by Pat T on May 10, 2021 4:24:31 GMT -5
ASM 129 has gone through the roof, and it wasn't cheap to start with. I managed to acquire most of my most valuable books from 2010-2016, and I was able to be patient and wait for the right deal to come along. The last expensive key I purchased was FF 4 about 1 1/2 years ago from mycomicshop.com for around $1000. They graded it 4.0, and I don't think I could find it at that price anywhere now. I was able to use trade credit I had built up for that purchase, so it didn't sting at all. But all my keys have had huge gains recently.
I kind of wish I was ready to get out of the hobby, because I could pocket a lot of money selling mine. I just don't want to get rid of them, though.
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Pat T
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Posts: 102
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Post by Pat T on Dec 5, 2020 23:08:57 GMT -5
If there was a comic shop anywhere near me as a kid, I didn't know about it. But I was only about 10 years old, and it was the 1970's, so my knowledge of the world outside of my little world was very limited. The comics I bought new came mainly from drugstores or the grocery store. Whenever I accompanied Mom to the grocery store, I would sit at the magazine rack and read comics while she shopped. That's where I saw Wolverine for the first time in Hulk 180, and got so excited that I had to find Mom to show her this cool new character. She was not as impressed as me. Nobody ever said anything to me about reading there, but I did usually buy all the ones I read when Mom checked out. There was also a drugstore located in the middle of Mom's favorite mall that had a comic rack, and I got drug there a few times every year when I needed clothes. The worst thing about that mall to me was that it only contained clothing stores, where it always felt like we were there for hours. God, I hate Parisian to this day because of those awful memories of sitting there waiting forever. But discovering comics at the drugstore was my salvation. That way, after Mom had picked out my clothes and I had tried them on, she would release me to read comics at he drugstore. I had to buy them there first, but they didn't care if I made myself comfortable reading in that general area until Mom came to get me. That's where I discovered Giant Size X-Men #1. Those 2 places stand out to me because of all the time I spent reading there, but comics were at just about every drugstore and grocery store, and if I saw a rack, I always checked out what was there. Sometimes I would get lucky and find an issue a few months old that I had missed. It was several years later that I discovered there were dealers at the monthly flea market that had back issues for sale. But it was only 1 weekend a month. And of course, there were the old small ads in the comics, well before Mile High started their "comprehensive" catalog in the middle of every comic. You had to send these dealers a quarter or something for a catalog, which arrived in about a week. Everything in their catalogs had prices, and you had a choice of Mint, Fine, and Good condition. For every book you wanted, you also had to list up to 3 alternates in case they didn't have it. After totaling and adding shipping, you mailed the order form and a check back to them, and waited. 6-8 weeks later, the package would arrive. In my few transactions with a few of those dealers, at least half of the books I got were the alternates. But that's just how it was then. Hold the phone and back up a minute, brother...
You said Parisian. You also said you were 10 in the 1970's... and you mention a mall with a drugstore in the middle.
You didn't happen to grow up in the Birmingham area? Would the mall happen to be Eastwood Mall or Western Hills Mall? Those were the only two malls in the area that I know of that had both a drugstore and a Parisian. There was also Vestavia Shopping center and Five Points West Shopping center, but those weren't technically malls.
The reason I ask is that I grew up in the Birmingham area in the 1960's and 70's. I wasn't aware of any comic shops in the area at the time either... in fact, I don't remember anybody selling comics as a hobby medium until Homewood Hobby Shop started doing it around 1980.
It was the Vestavia Hills Mall. It was more of a strip mall, though. Brookwood Village was built in the 70's, and that was probably the first big mall "over the mountain". I don't think there was a drugstore in the whole thing, either.
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Pat T
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Posts: 102
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Post by Pat T on Dec 5, 2020 20:19:05 GMT -5
If there was a comic shop anywhere near me as a kid, I didn't know about it. But I was only about 10 years old, and it was the 1970's, so my knowledge of the world outside of my little world was very limited. The comics I bought new came mainly from drugstores or the grocery store. Whenever I accompanied Mom to the grocery store, I would sit at the magazine rack and read comics while she shopped. That's where I saw Wolverine for the first time in Hulk 180, and got so excited that I had to find Mom to show her this cool new character. She was not as impressed as me. Nobody ever said anything to me about reading there, but I did usually buy all the ones I read when Mom checked out. There was also a drugstore located in the middle of Mom's favorite mall that had a comic rack, and I got drug there a few times every year when I needed clothes. The worst thing about that mall to me was that it only contained clothing stores, where it always felt like we were there for hours. God, I hate Parisian to this day because of those awful memories of sitting there waiting forever. But discovering comics at the drugstore was my salvation. That way, after Mom had picked out my clothes and I had tried them on, she would release me to read comics at he drugstore. I had to buy them there first, but they didn't care if I made myself comfortable reading in that general area until Mom came to get me. That's where I discovered Giant Size X-Men #1. Those 2 places stand out to me because of all the time I spent reading there, but comics were at just about every drugstore and grocery store, and if I saw a rack, I always checked out what was there. Sometimes I would get lucky and find an issue a few months old that I had missed. It was several years later that I discovered there were dealers at the monthly flea market that had back issues for sale. But it was only 1 weekend a month. And of course, there were the old small ads in the comics, well before Mile High started their "comprehensive" catalog in the middle of every comic. You had to send these dealers a quarter or something for a catalog, which arrived in about a week. Everything in their catalogs had prices, and you had a choice of Mint, Fine, and Good condition. For every book you wanted, you also had to list up to 3 alternates in case they didn't have it. After totaling and adding shipping, you mailed the order form and a check back to them, and waited. 6-8 weeks later, the package would arrive. In my few transactions with a few of those dealers, at least half of the books I got were the alternates. But that's just how it was then.
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Pat T
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Posts: 102
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Post by Pat T on Nov 15, 2020 2:39:07 GMT -5
Don't think Spider-Man has been mentioned yet. He's lost or been stripped of his powers a number of times. I think the earliest instance was in Lee & Ditko's Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1, when he fought the Sinister Six. If memory serves this loss of powers was entirely psychosomatic though. Then he lost some of his powers, like being able to stick to walls, in that Lee/Ditko issue of ASM where he was unmasked by Doctor Octopus (I forget the issue number). I think that was because he had a cold...maybe?? Much later on, during the Spider-Mobile era in the early '70s, the Tinker concocted a gas that robbed Spidey of his ability to stick to walls. I'm sure there have been other instances as well, but those are the ones I recall off of the top of my head. In the 80's, Spidey got Captain Universe powers (during Acts Of Vengeance). I don't remember why, but he was left powerless after that for a few months.
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Pat T
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Posts: 102
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Post by Pat T on Nov 12, 2020 8:44:38 GMT -5
Well, I hadn't done ebay in 13 years, but I broke down and looked there to find DNAgents #24 this summer because I had exhausted all local avenues at that point. And I had positive experiences with a few sellers, so did a few more and now, I have fallen down the rabbit hole. I had been doing the Lonestar auctions, and I still do those too. When we get to a new normal and it's possible to safely do comic cons and for me to resume forays to local shops, used book stores, antique malls, flea markets, etc. I'll probably stop using ebay again, but for now, it's one of the few resources available to me. I've gone once a month to my lcs to pick up my pulls and occasionally root around a few longboxes, and once to the used book shop in the same village, but everything else I have purchased since the pandemic has been online, via Lonestar, ebay, or the small FB group put together by the organizer of Gem City Comic Con where members can do auctions or claim sales. If the pandemic hadn't closed things down, I never would have gone back to buying on ebay, but you adapt to the circumstances. If I had remained out of work, I wouldn't have been buying comics, but I did go back and at more hours per week (often overtime) than I was doing pre-pandemic, so I have a little more discretionary income at the moment, which also played a part. And the fact a lot of sellers now accept payments directly and not through paypal removes one of my biggest issues that led me to quit ebay a while ago (most of my complaints with ebay were as a seller not a buyer too, and I am not selling there, so that's a factor too). So yes, you read correctly I said I didn't do ebay (and that was true from mid-2007 to mid 2020), but that changed a few months back. I guess one of 2020s lessons is to never say never. -M Is there an advantage to buying from lonestar directly rather than through eBay ? One more note about this; Most (if not all) of the Lonestar ebay listings are consignments with their consignment fee already applied. When you buy consignments direct from the site, the fee is added at checkout. I think 4.95 is their standard economy shipping rate, regardless of how many comics you order from the website.
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Pat T
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Posts: 102
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Post by Pat T on Sept 13, 2020 23:26:42 GMT -5
I took the plunge. I bought 50 dividers but ran out after about 16 short boxes. I'm waiting for 100 more to be delivered. Buy a cheap Dymo label maker and some extra label cartridges. You can get off-brand labels on ebay cheap.
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Pat T
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Posts: 102
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Post by Pat T on Aug 18, 2020 4:18:05 GMT -5
Currently, I have most of the collection in alpha-numeric order by the title of the book. But there are exceptions that seemed logical when I started, and now it would be a major hassle to move them. My first box begins with titles that start with numbers (2001, 2099, 52, etc). If there are enough issues that I think they should have their own slot, I'll stick a divider with a nice label in front of the series. After the titles with their dividers, I make a divider for the misc titles. I pretty much do it that way all the way through, but.... For some reason, I had to have all my Avengers titles together, so every Avengers book that had more than a few issues is filed right there in my A's. For one shots and minis, there is a misc Avengers slot at the very end. Batman is similar to that, but every Batman title with it's own divider starts with the word "Batman". All of the main characters who have tons of different minis over the years each have a divider for "Misc" (Spidey, Cap, Iron Man, FF, Batman, etc), and there is a misc divider at the end of each letter of the alphabet. However, the Z's aren't the last comics. I have 8 longboxes of Superman titles from the Golden Age - 2011, and the way I have them arranged is unexplainable (but it makes me happy that I've made some sense out of a very confusing continuity). At the very end of the collection, I have my FCBD books, assorted previews, and lastly magazines & digests. Over 42,000 in all, in order, with easy access to any book, anytime.
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Pat T
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Post by Pat T on Aug 1, 2020 2:02:22 GMT -5
Reading this thread, you wouldn't know that the Korvac Saga is widely considered the high point of the most acclaimed era of Avengers. Hell, Shooter won an award for it. Maybe it doesn't hold up today, over 40 years later, but come on. Are some posters here being contrarian maybe?
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Pat T
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Posts: 102
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Post by Pat T on Jul 25, 2020 23:58:09 GMT -5
I tried to get into the Impact! line recently but I guess it failed to keep me interested after six Fly, eight Jaguar, and one Crusaders (although I might still pick up Crusaders #2-3 or 4 someday)... hoping the M2 line will fare better with me. Spider-Girl by itself should keep you occupied for awhile. It's really fun.
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Pat T
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Post by Pat T on Jul 22, 2020 4:36:44 GMT -5
I'm kind of proud of this pickup on eBay. I think this book flew under the radar for customers as I was the only bidder. It was 20 dollars for the first appearance of the Destroyer and it was in surprisingly nice shape for the price. I would say around a 5.0 How many issues do you still need?
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Pat T
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Post by Pat T on May 24, 2020 13:48:18 GMT -5
If you want a good example of the craziness surrounding this duo, this listing would be the best one. It's not so much the price, as the pure speculative nature of it: I find listings like this all over ebay, for all kinds of different items. This must be a way to somehow scam people, though I don't know who would actually fall for something like this. Apparently it's effective enough for sellers to keep doing it. It seems like ebay would delete crazy auctions like this one, but maybe they don't know about them unless somebody reports them.
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Pat T
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Posts: 102
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Post by Pat T on May 10, 2020 17:12:33 GMT -5
The only thing you're missing are horrible shipping times: - MCS: 25 days and it still hasn't even crossed the pond.
- MH: 20 days and it still hasn't even shipped.
I'm keeping to mainland Europe for the moment. I still do UK, but no more Silver Acre in a while, the last two orders took a full week to ship. Lone Star: ordered on March 29, still unknown, last update from 4 weeks ago located it still in the US. Mile High: took three weeks to ship, but since the 24th it has made nice progress and is already in the UK. Silver Acre: all three orders arrived, a fourth one has been placed to finish the shopping spree (30 American comics + 1 European comic + 2 comic supplies = 33 orders).
FYI, Lonestar was closed down the entire month of April. They just went back to regular operations on May 1, so you should get your books soon.
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Pat T
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Posts: 102
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Post by Pat T on Mar 27, 2020 13:40:57 GMT -5
These get me closer to complete runs of Dc comics presents and Deathstroke v.1 Do you have any doubles of the later issues of Deathstroke? I probably need 20 books, mostly near the back. I'm pretty sure I have trade bait you would like.
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