Pat T
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Post by Pat T on Nov 17, 2019 7:29:48 GMT -5
After buying 2 more comics I already had, I decided that my record keeping has to be changed. Up til now, I've had a list of the actual, comics that I own. Ex: Thor 1-8, 11-13 This represents the books that I own. I am changing and retyping my want lists to be like : Thor 9, 14, 15 , 16 I have to do this because of all the duplicates I buy each year. That became a big problem for me a few years ago, so I bit the bullet and signed up for a paid account at comicspriceguide.com. It costs around $50/year and it has unlimited storage, and one of the things I can do is print a want list (which I always carry along when I'm going to dig through boxes. When I first signed up, I had around 10,000 comics, and it took a couple of weeks to get them entered. Since then, I won't put anything new in boxes until I've entered them , but it's no big deal to do that.
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Pat T
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Post by Pat T on Mar 1, 2019 10:01:24 GMT -5
I probably hold Marv Wolfman to an unfairly high standard because I rank his Tomb of Dracula up there with the very best of its era. But I don't think he ever reached the same level in anything else he did, although Night Force might have had a chance if it hadn't been cancelled so early. And I must admit that his superhero work in general never struck me as much more than competent and dependable - though I know a lot of fans disagree. Byrne, I loved as an artist in his early phase at Marvel in the late 70s on series like X-Men and Iron Fist, but I had already stopped reading Marvel/DC by the time he started writing the FF and Superman and things like that. I haven't liked what few scattered samples I've seen or read about online years after the fact. So yeah, I'd say Wolfman was miles ahead of him as a writer, but it's based on a limited data-set. Have you read the first 20 or so issues of Alpha Flight (Byrnes's run)? It really surprised me how much I enjoyed it. I also thought what I read of his Namor series from the 90's was really good. Both titles might surprise you.
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Pat T
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Post by Pat T on Mar 1, 2019 9:26:37 GMT -5
I've been dealing with a mental "block" of sorts in my comic reading for several years now. Either my mind starts wandering to other things and keeps me from getting fully immersed, or I become incredibly sleepy after 1 or 2 comics. It's frustrating already, and I've compounded it by never slowing down buying my new titles or working on complete runs of back issues. For my back issues, I prefer to read 1 title/character/team, chronologically until I get tired of it, and move to something different for awhile. Back when I was keeping pretty current, each week I would read my least favorite titles first, with my favorites sprinkled throughout my pile. Lately, both my old and brand new issues get added to the database at comicspriceguide.com and filed away until I get through this phase I'm stuck in. Whenever that happens, I have no idea where I'll even start, but I'll have a ton of complete runs, both old and new, to chose from. Makes me nervous to think about it, so I try to ignore the sense of being overwhelmed. I realize it's only a problem because I allow it to bother me, but it's not something I've been able to get over.
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Pat T
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Post by Pat T on Feb 22, 2019 20:06:27 GMT -5
I'm an outsider to all that, I've had problems sometimes with some comic centered websites loading (possibly some of the ads), especially 'bleeding cool', and CBR is one which works sometimes for me and doesn't others. I mostly use the fan wikia or comicvine for issue by issue info or to see cover art, so those and CCF are most of all I ever read, and JBF. I was picking up on recent comments of how the other sites appear to suddenly discover things after things have been posted about here and thought maybe this was an example. The only Mexican/Spanish Spider-Man comics I personally ever remember having were '60s Romita reprints with ads for similar '60s X-Men and Fantastic Four titles and b&w inside. Thanks to CBR and the sites they do credit we can see a lot more of the covers and interiors and these stories are definitely looking worth learning more about! FYI, CBR was once the best comic site on the internet. The boards were always very active, and there was good content. They restructured in 2014 and wiped out everybody's comment history, and took away some specialty forums (Classic Comics, for instance). At first, they were unwilling to budge on any changes they had made, so a couple of industrious posters created the Classic Comics Forum. Besides the people who left CBR for this site, there was a large exodus of members who never signed back up. Although their boards still have more activity than anywhere else, most of the threads are character appreciation. It took a little while, but CBR has become a shadow of what it was. I have to admit that people had gotten pretty vile toward each other before the reset. Now they ban anybody who stirs the pot at all.
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Pat T
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Posts: 102
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Post by Pat T on Oct 11, 2018 21:11:55 GMT -5
TDCs for November 2018 include:
1. Buy NM copy of NYX 3 (first X-23) vs...quite a number of other books, as this is several hundred dollars.
2. Sell a spare Advanced Reader Uncorrected Proof of Batman Damned to finance the above. (Cost me $99.95 the day Batman Damned was released). Have been offered $400 for it.
I don't really want to sell it as it's (1) very scarce (2) even scarcer in NM (3) I like having multiple copies of it.
Easy way out is to just dip into the comic book kitty, which I bankroll by flipping other books using a widely cussed strategy called "speculating"
Decisions....decisions.....
Watch out bringing up speculating. Most of the people here act like it's bad that people are willing to spend good money on them.
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Pat T
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Posts: 102
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Post by Pat T on Oct 11, 2018 20:14:41 GMT -5
I had to sell off most of my best books in 2013 for financial reasons, and afterward I felt terrible. It lasted for months, and really dampened my enthusiasm for the hobby in general. It took a few years, but I've replaced most of them a few at a time. Acquiring ASM 2-89 (among others) twice since 2010 is pretty tough. I'll never put myself in that position again. There are detailed instructions in my will for liquidating my collection if they are unwanted, and if my heirs don't feel like spending any time following them, they'll be knocking themselves out of about $150,000 minimum. But that's for them to worry about.
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Pat T
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Post by Pat T on Sept 25, 2018 10:03:44 GMT -5
I was introduced to the comics world through Marvel. Right around the time I started reading them, Avengers was in the thick of the Celestial Madonna saga and still dealing with the mystery of Mantis's past, dating back almost to her initial appearance. In the process, I learned about the early history between the Kree & Skrulls, the Kotati, and the original Human Torch. Whether you like this era or not, there is no denying that Englehart was telling a complicated, long form story, in a way a kid my age understood what was going on. It felt like a story an adult would appreciate (to me, at least). Over in Amazing Spider-Man, I learned through flashbacks that Spider-Man's first true love had been recently killed, and Peter was still adjusting to life without her. In a very realistic way, Peter and Mary Jane started to develop feelings for each other due to them spending more time together. Peter and Mary Jane share their first passionate kiss as Peter is boarding a flight to Paris. After some superheroing in Paris, we see Peter's thoughts regarding the change in his and MJ's relationship, his realization that he has developed deep feelings for her and his anticipation to see her when he gets home. Except when he arrives home, Aunt May and Mary Jane are both freaking out about something, which turns out to be Gwen Stacy in his apartment. This was the first time I ever heard of a clone, which we find out she is eventually, and she was created by one of Peter's professors. Turns out Professor Warren had a secret crush on Gwen, and held Spider-Man responsible for her death. As he drifted to insanity, he became a villain called the Jackal and hired the Punisher and a few other people to kill Spidey. He discovered Spidey's identity, and continued his charade of the kindly old professor that Peter trusted. He was also using blood samples to create his Gwen clone, and we find out later that he made a Peter clone too. There's a big fight, the Peter clone and Jackal "die", the new Gwen leaves, and Peter and MJ are left to pick up the pieces. This was more kid-friendly than the Avengers story, but the were twist and turns and things happened in a logical manner.
Curiosity (and maybe lack of anything else to read) led me to purchase a Superman comic from that same time period. I don't know what the exact title was, just that Superman was the featured character. Now, I was still pretty much a newbie comic reader, possibly 6 months along, and I was totally unprepared for the difference in the Marvel books I'd been reading and this one. The characters talked in a way that was aimed for very young kids. They didn't use any prepositions in their sentences. Superman kept yelling "Great Scott" which nobody with any self-respect would ever say. There was more than one story in that comic, but I couldn't tell you what happened in either of them. The Superman book, compared to the Marvel books I was used to reading, was amateurish in every way. There was a huge, noticeable difference between the books the publishers were putting out, and DC had a much inferior product at the time.
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Pat T
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Post by Pat T on Jun 12, 2018 17:36:00 GMT -5
I sold off most of what I used to have years ago, aside from a few things (Beanworld, Elfquest, Bone, Go Girl, not a lot else) I'd really lost interest in comic books, gotten heavily into '60s-'70s music, collecting and reading in that area, but now after someone gave me (well, my BF who passed them on to me) an Avengers #1 1/2 and X-Men: The Hidden years #1 from the same month in 1999, I started up trying to find what would come next after those. Sadly no more retro half issues but some of the Flashback series of minus issues circa 1997 were very cool. Of course I got every Hidden years and the preview in X-Men Vol. 2 #94, which let to trying other Alan Davis and sundry X titles of the same period. Plus the Supergirl tv series got me into checking out some of the comic revivals of that character I had missed out on from the protoplasmic Lex Luthor paired copy one of the mini-series and regular title after that to the 2005 series which sort of led to the Byrne Doom Patrol run and the JLA lead-in to that. Whew! Anyway... Classic purchases lately; a lot of mid to late '70s Marvels I either had or saw and wished I had. A lot of Amazing Spider-Man #181, 189-190, 194-195, 204-206, annuals #11-13, Astonishing Tales #29, Avengers #136-200, annuals #6-9, Black Panther #14-15, Champions #12-15, Creatures On the Loose (Man-Wolf) #30-37, Fantastic Four #196-221, annual #12-13, Incredible Hulk #213-213, annual #7-8, Iron Fist #14-15, Iron Man #195-139 plus annual #4, Logan's Run #6, Marvel Chillers (Tigra) #3-7, Marvel Premiere #25-26, 41-49, Marvel Presents (Guardians Of The Galaxy) #3-12, Marvel Team-Up #37, 53-98, annual #1, Marvel Two-In-One #48, 50, 51, 53, 56-66, annual #2, Ms. Marvel #1-23, Spider-Woman #1-12,25, Strange Tales (Warlock) #178-181, Supervillain Team-Up #14, Thor #271, 300, annual #6, Warlock #9-15, X-Men #101, 105, 107-109, 111-138 annual #3. Also various of the reprint titles of the same era. As you can imagine I am very very happy to have these again or for the first time! I think I did get some just before their prices rose because of movie news and such. I went through the process of rediscovery back in 2010, after 25 years away. That first 2 or 3 years of buying books I remembered from my youth, while simultaneously catching up on what had been happening in my absence, was the most I've enjoyed anything in a long time. It made a difference to have money to buy what I want, unlike when I was 14 years old. Enjoy the feeling while it lasts.
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Pat T
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Post by Pat T on May 26, 2018 20:09:17 GMT -5
Brubaker's first run was the first time a Captain America solo story really grabbed me. I didn't particularly even want to start reading it, and was surprised how quickly I got into it. I'd only read some issues here and there from his past runs up until that point, and none of them seemed very special to me, but now I've gone back and purchased everything from #100-up.
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Pat T
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Post by Pat T on May 22, 2018 20:46:48 GMT -5
The last paragraph in the above post is what I typed in. Sorry. Don't know how I managed that.
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Pat T
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Post by Pat T on May 22, 2018 20:44:58 GMT -5
I've been doing some dealing on side recently - comics, that is - and have picked up a few small collections recently. Nothing amazing in any of them, but I have been able to resell stuff and turn a small profit while keeping all the cool stuff for myself. Last week I bought a couple short boxes, around 300 comics plus 8-10 TPB and a random set of Carl Barks trading cards. Turns out the cards were worth more than I paid for the whole lot. After selling one comic (Silver Surfer #34) and the cards, I've already made a profit, and still have all the other comics to boot. Main reason I bought the collection was 15-20 issues of Archie at Riverdale High, which I am currently collecting, but it also has long, high grade runs of Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge from the early 90's, including a number of Don Rosa issues. And yesterday I stopped in a comic shop and they were having some kind of sale. There were two long boxes on the floor that had some low grade late bronze age stuff in them. I asked what the price was, and they said $20 per box! So I bought them both. Worked out to around 8 cents per comic. There's some cool stuff in here, even though most of them are pretty beat up - like 15 issues of Brave and the Bold, 15 issues of DC Comics presents, lots of issues of Defenders, New Teen Titans, ROM, House of Mystery, Ghosts, G.I. Joe, Star Wars, Wonder Woman, Justice League of America, Conan, Savage Sword of Conan, etc. I'm still sorting through everything but after taking out all the coolest stuff, I think I can sell all the leftovers on craigslist and hopefully make a hundred bucks or so. Having my cake and eating it too! Comics are fun Don't know if you've ever tried this, but I have all my excess comics entered into the database at mycomicshop.com where I sell them for trade credit. I check it every day to see if any of my books are on their want list, and when I have a decent order built up, I submit it for approval. The comics I have in there are mostly from buying long boxes of dollar bin books from my lcs for $30-50 after I pick out the stuff for my personal collection, and books I have upgraded on. In 2017, I traded in for $2764.00, and I'm at about $1200.00 this year. It's some work, but I've been able to get some great books and made all my money back in early 2017.
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Pat T
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Post by Pat T on May 7, 2018 21:13:09 GMT -5
So while browsing eBay and looking at the issues of Detective Comics from the 290s that I need, I came across a beat-up copy of Detective Comics #296. It's pretty beat up, but not nearly as beat up as the #295 I ordered recently, and it seemed like a STEAL at $9.99. So I ordered it. I should get it in a few days. I just need #297, #298 and #300 and I'll have every issue from #285 to the present. FYI, I've gotten some good deals on Silver Age Detective Comics and Batman from ebay vendor Comic-Warehouse. They do a lot of "Buy It Now" transactions, but they auction sometimes, too, and that's where I've hit a few with minimum bids. They are a pretty good source for Silver Age DC in general.
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Pat T
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Post by Pat T on Apr 24, 2018 18:42:17 GMT -5
Starlin has also had fallings out with DC over the course of his career. He's written some great stories, but he's a malcontent (a trait many artists seem to possess). I'm sure all the publishers know going in that at some point he will get upset about some perceived slight and leave on bad terms. I've worked with people like that. If they're good, you just ride that horse while they are productive, realizing that it won't last. Eventually he'll burn all his bridges with Marvel and DC, if he hasn't already. I'm sure all the publishers are aware of his antics, too,
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Pat T
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Post by Pat T on Jan 17, 2018 1:11:17 GMT -5
Cool thread. I have a few that maybe some of you haven't seen: I've got one called "Magazineland USA - World Color Press Day" from 1977. It's got Marvel & DC characters together on the cover, and I think it shows how comics are assembled. I have it framed and hanging since it's different and it was expensive. A couple of books I found in dollar bins: Hallie The Hooters Girl, a Rush Limbaugh comic, and several Nascar drivers and a Nolan Ryan comic.
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Pat T
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Post by Pat T on Jan 17, 2018 0:54:07 GMT -5
But what gives one generation of reader the right to enjoy the best version of a character during the character's prime over somebody who happens to be born later? The Spider-Man I like is the same guy a brand new reader can read about. He's the one that became the icon. Why should a new reader be forced to see him as an old man or wait for a new one?
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