The Dark Alley Club - Sad, seedy loners welcome.

Gentlemancorpse said:
No shit! My girl and I are huge comic book nerds as well, though my collection is a lot smaller than yours lol. She worked for a local shop for years and I worked a booth at Boston Comic Con and C2E2 for a few years. The behind the scenes at those conventions is wild. I remember my first one the guy who hired me told me not to sell anything before the convention officially opened and I just was like, ya sure, whatever. Few minutes later other vendors were just walking through with rolls of cash trying to buy his inventory. And they all know each other and talk like the mafia... like eh, come on now buddy, I know Bobby, he'd be fine with it, just uh, sell me this crate of hash marked trades, I got a couple grand right here, he'll be cool with it.... growing up I thought comic book stores were owned by guys like the Simpsons character, and there's a few like that, but the ones that do the conventions arent at all... their straight up hustlers. Miss those days sometimes, until I remember I actually make money now...

Also none of my books are worth anything cause I'm an idiot who likes weird indy horror and Sci fi comics that no one else wants lol. Of course the one horror book thats worth anything is the Walking Dead and when it came out I was like, who the fuck wants to read a black and white zombie book? Turns out everybody...
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DUDE, you never know. I couldn’t GIVE AWAY New Mutants #98 in 2010 (First appearance of deadpool). I actually laughed at a friend who tried to sell me 100 of them at a dollar a piece. 2016 hits (and the movie) they’re 300.00+. I have some wild stories I could tell about after parties. As far as books I like. Man, I have Brandon Lee’s silhouette as the crow tattooed on my calf and Neil Gaiman’s Endless on my shin....
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That should tell you what I like in books. I was reading James O Barr long before it was cool. As well as Gaiman. Garth Ennis is another favorite (Preacher, Just a Pilgrim, etc) if you’ve never read the books and only saw the TV show (Preacher) you’re missing out. The show SUCKS compared to the books. It was such a let down.
Most of my collection is what we call (and I’m sure you’ve heard the term) “speculator” books. I would have been one of those dealers looking to buy you out of certain books that were hot and I had a ton of so when the con opened mine would sell and I could raise the price considerably since I’m the only one with them. It’s a OLD vendor trick.
 
primaledges said:
DUDE, you never know. I couldn’t GIVE AWAY New Mutants #98 in 2010 (First appearance of deadpool). I actually laughed at a friend who tried to sell me 100 of them at a dollar a piece. 2016 hits (and the movie) they’re 300.00+. I have some wild stories I could tell about after parties. As far as books I like. Man, I have Brandon Lee’s silhouette as the crow tattooed on my calf and Neil Gaiman’s Endless on my shin....
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That should tell you what I like in books. I was reading James O Barr long before it was cool. As well as Gaiman. Garth Ennis is another favorite (Preacher, Just a Pilgrim, etc) if you’ve never read the books and only saw the TV show (Preacher) you’re missing out. The show SUCKS compared to the books. It was such a let down.
Most of my collection is what we call (and I’m sure you’ve heard the term) “speculator” books. I would have been one of those dealers looking to buy you out of certain books that were hot and I had a ton of so when the con opened mine would sell and I could raise the price considerably since I’m the only one with them. It’s a OLD vendor trick.
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Yeah, for sure. Our big thing was we would get the trades that were returned to Barnes and Nobles and Borders because for whatever reason they couldn't resell them. The companies would put a black sharpie line across the top of the pages so we called them hash mark books. Somehow my employer was one of the only guys to get them. They'd come in these big crates, just all loose and we'd sort through them. He sold them for $5 each or 3/$12 and they'd sell like hotcakes....wed have hundreds of people in line digging through them. The other vendors couldn't get them direct so they'd always try to buy them from us before the show started so we weren't the only ones that had them. One year last morning of the con one of the vendors next to us got so fed up he had no customers and we had a line, he offered to buy the whole booth... everything, the high end books, the trades, the works. They worked out a deal and I got paid to wander around the con for a day... it was awesome!

And yeah, I've read Preacher and Just a Pilgrim. Love those books. I actually like the show too to be honest. My girl has a CGC 9.8 Preacher 0 (she, unlike me, has a lot of valuable books. Lots of first appearances of X Men and stuff). And I shouldn't say nothing I have is valuable, it's just rare. I have a couple things, The Goon #1, Saga #1, complete run of The Boys which the show obviously made more valuable. I just don't have any of those $1k+ books.

Love the ink too by the way. My girl is a huge Neil Gaimen fan as well.
 
Gentlemancorpse said:
Yeah, for sure. Our big thing was we would get the trades that were returned to Barnes and Nobles and Borders because for whatever reason they couldn't resell them. The companies would put a black sharpie line across the top of the pages so we called them hash mark books. Somehow my employer was one of the only guys to get them. They'd come in these big crates, just all loose and we'd sort through them. He sold them for $5 each or 3/$12 and they'd sell like hotcakes....wed have hundreds of people in line digging through them. The other vendors couldn't get them direct so they'd always try to buy them from us before the show started so we weren't the only ones that had them. One year last morning of the con one of the vendors next to us got so fed up he had no customers and we had a line, he offered to buy the whole booth... everything, the high end books, the trades, the works. They worked out a deal and I got paid to wander around the con for a day... it was awesome!

And yeah, I've read Preacher and Just a Pilgrim. Love those books. I actually like the show too to be honest. My girl has a CGC 9.8 Preacher 0 (she, unlike me, has a lot of valuable books. Lots of first appearances of X Men and stuff). And I shouldn't say nothing I have is valuable, it's just rare. I have a couple things, The Goon #1, Saga #1, complete run of The Boys which the show obviously made more valuable. I just don't have any of those $1k+ books.

Love the ink too by the way. My girl is a huge Neil Gaimen fan as well.
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For the longest time books a million sold spawn books in a bubble pack. The first 5 books for 10.00. This was right after #5 caused Walmart to pull spawn off its shelves ( I’ve met Mcfarlane, he’s an asshat.) Well at the time 1-5 was selling for 10-15 per book and were HOT. I had a manager of BaM pull all the bubble packs when they came in and I’d buy them all. We all have our tricks. But also realize most comic vendors are the biggest “used car salesman” you’ll ever meet.
 
Gentlemancorpse said:
Yeah, I don't have room for anymore toys lol. Plus for me it's tough to justify when this dude has a bunch of way nicer printers, lives 10 min away and feeds me beers while we hang out and he prints shit. He has a dope woodshop with a CNC router table too. So I can just ask him to make crap and not need to buy or maintain anything
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It's like a friend with a boat!
 
Gentlemancorpse said:
Yeah, for sure. Our big thing was we would get the trades that were returned to Barnes and Nobles and Borders because for whatever reason they couldn't resell them. The companies would put a black sharpie line across the top of the pages so we called them hash mark books. Somehow my employer was one of the only guys to get them. They'd come in these big crates, just all loose and we'd sort through them. He sold them for $5 each or 3/$12 and they'd sell like hotcakes....wed have hundreds of people in line digging through them. The other vendors couldn't get them direct so they'd always try to buy them from us before the show started so we weren't the only ones that had them. One year last morning of the con one of the vendors next to us got so fed up he had no customers and we had a line, he offered to buy the whole booth... everything, the high end books, the trades, the works. They worked out a deal and I got paid to wander around the con for a day... it was awesome!

And yeah, I've read Preacher and Just a Pilgrim. Love those books. I actually like the show too to be honest. My girl has a CGC 9.8 Preacher 0 (she, unlike me, has a lot of valuable books. Lots of first appearances of X Men and stuff). And I shouldn't say nothing I have is valuable, it's just rare. I have a couple things, The Goon #1, Saga #1, complete run of The Boys which the show obviously made more valuable. I just don't have any of those $1k+ books.

Love the ink too by the way. My girl is a huge Neil Gaimen fan as well.
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Not many know about JaP. You might like this.
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When I pass, My kids going through my house will be like being on a treasure hunt.
 
primaledges said:
Not many know about JaP. You might like this.
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When I pass, My kids going through my house will be like being on a treasure hunt.
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That is awesome! I loved JaP, most cowboy comics are awful but I love the idea, so to see an actual good spin on one was so refreshing...

And same here man. I always wonder if they'll appreciate any of this stuff when I'm gone... aside from the comics I have quite the record collection, a small but fairly valuable magic card collection and some very rare old books (I have a second printing of Darwin's Origin of Species that my parent got when my dad impulse bought an entire full bookshelf at an auction in the 80s). I should really sell some stuff but as with all collectors, I find it's hard to part with a lot of it...
 
primaledges said:
WAIT.... Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse??? IDW (Canadian) title??? That one???
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Until you said something I didn’t even register that. The ONLY reason I know the title is because when I bought those Astonishing X-men in 2009 I got 3 set of Wormwood sketch variants (dealer incentive) thrown into a bunch of IDW Transformer variants I bought. I sold all three for 25 per set. I never read it but I think it was about a worm that was a God right? He could control corpse?? I’m working on memory here. I had to research the title to sell it. But other than glancing through them I never read them.
 
Gentlemancorpse said:
That is awesome! I loved JaP, most cowboy comics are awful but I love the idea, so to see an actual good spin on one was so refreshing...

And same here man. I always wonder if they'll appreciate any of this stuff when I'm gone... aside from the comics I have quite the record collection, a small but fairly valuable magic card collection and some very rare old books (I have a second printing of Darwin's Origin of Species that my parent got when my dad impulse bought an entire full bookshelf at an auction in the 80s). I should really sell some stuff but as with all collectors, I find it's hard to part with a lot of it...
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MAGIC????? perk..... I made a good side living off that game for YEARS!!!! I have THOUSANDS of them laying around here. My kids took all my good stuff though. I had a COMPLETE beta set of Mox’s and 5 beta black lotus’s and my 12 YEAR OLD SON took them and sold them (so he could be like his daddy) and was proud of the 300.00 he got for them.... I told him they were tears of pride. I coulda strangled him but it was the WAY he told me. All I could do was tell him never to touch my stuff without permission again. I didn’t want to crush him so it wasn’t until he REALLY got into the game and found out what they were REALLY worth. He was crushed..... but I didn’t do it.
 
primaledges said:
Until you said something I didn’t even register that. The ONLY reason I know the title is because when I bought those Astonishing X-men in 2009 I got 3 set of Wormwood sketch variants (dealer incentive) thrown into a bunch of IDW Transformer variants I bought. I sold all three for 25 per set. I never read it but I think it was about a worm that was a God right? He could control corpse?? I’m working on memory here. I had to research the title to sell it. But other than glancing through them I never read them.
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Haha yeah, that's the gist of it. Dimension traveling demigod worm who can animate corpses by burrowing into their brains and uses his powers to protect the world from supernatural threats with the help of a secret organization of ninjas who disguise themselves as strippers
 
primaledges said:
MAGIC????? perk..... I made a good side living off that game for YEARS!!!! I have THOUSANDS of them laying around here. My kids took all my good stuff though. I had a COMPLETE beta set of Mox’s and 5 beta black lotus’s and my 12 YEAR OLD SON took them and sold them (so he could be like his daddy) and was proud of the 300.00 he got for them.... I told him they were tears of pride. I coulda strangled him but it was the WAY he told me. All I could do was tell him never to touch my stuff without permission again. I didn’t want to crush him so it wasn’t until he REALLY got into the game and found out what they were REALLY worth. He was crushed..... but I didn’t do it.
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Oh man, that is brutal. I don't suppose you saw how much the graded one went for a few days ago... we're approaching a million ?

Unfortunately I don't have anything in that range. Im assuming you've surmised that I'm a bit younger than you, I got into magic when I was like 8 during beta. I had one black lotus and I lost it under the floorboards of the old house I grew up in. I know the new owners so when I saw them going for hundreds of thousands I called them to tell them, but they had renovated that room completely and just threw out everything they found under the floor?
 
Gentlemancorpse said:
Haha yeah, that's the gist of it. Dimension traveling demigod worm who can animate corpses by burrowing into their brains and uses his powers to protect the world from supernatural threats with the help of a secret organization of ninjas who disguise themselves as strippers
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Wait?? Really??? Stripper Ninjas??? Okay I HAVE to read this now. Have you ever read Garth Ennis’s “The Professional”???
 
Gentlemancorpse said:
Oh man, that is brutal. I don't suppose you saw how much the graded one went for a few days ago... we're approaching a million ?

Unfortunately I don't have anything in that range. Im assuming you've surmised that I'm a bit younger than you, I got into magic when I was like 8 during beta. I had one black lotus and I lost it under the floorboards of the old house I grew up in. I know the new owners so when I saw them going for hundreds of thousands I called them to tell them, but they had renovated that room completely and just threw out everything they found under the floor?
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WHAT??? No, me and most the guys I played with had them. A million for 1 card??? They were about 500.00 for 9.4 mint back in 95-96 when I was big into the game. Really???
 
primaledges said:
Wait?? Really??? Stripper Ninjas??? Okay I HAVE to read this now. Have you ever read Garth Ennis’s “The Professional”???
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Haha yeah, it's really off the wall, which is why I love it. I'm also a big fan of Ben Templesmiths artwork. I know it's not for everyone but I love that style. I've been collecting his stuff ever since 30 Days of Night... I even have a couple of original pieces, one page from Welcome to Hoxford and a watercolor Lobo he painted

And I have not read The Professional but I'm definitely going to check it out now
 
Gentlemancorpse said:
Haha yeah, it's really off the wall, which is why I love it. I'm also a big fan of Ben Templesmiths artwork. I know it's not for everyone but I love that style. I've been collecting his stuff ever since 30 Days of Night... I even have a couple of original pieces, one page from Welcome to Hoxford and a watercolor Lobo he painted

And I have not read The Professional but I'm definitely going to check it out now
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The Professional is about a hooker that gets super powers. The fact Garth Ennis wrote it should tell you everything you need to know. Do you read Grimm Fairy tales?? By Xenoscope??
 
primaledges said:
WHAT??? No, me and most the guys I played with had them. A million for 1 card??? They were about 500.00 for 9.4 mint back in 95-96 when I was big into the game. Really???
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If you have any reserved list cards still right now dig em out... there's a huge run on them. Prices have tripled this year. Speculators are treating them like bonds at this point, and the whales are just buying everything. Old foils too. It's absolutely absurd.
 
primaledges said:
The Professional is about a hooker that gets super powers. The fact Garth Ennis wrote it should tell you everything you need to know. Do you read Grimm Fairy tales?? By Xenoscope??
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I haven't but I actually own a bunch from buying a long box off a guy years ago. Are they good? I mean, I'm a fan of the "art" but I never took them super seriously... kinda like Hack N Slash
 
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