Comic Book Men s03e15 Episode Script
Certified Guaranty
Hey, did you ever see the war of the worlds movie? Yeah, I dig it a lot.
Yet another great movie ruined by a crappy ending.
What? - Crappy ending? - Yeah.
What are you talking about? That's the original ending.
That's what happened in the war of the worlds.
Read the book.
What's wrong with the ending? The aliens all got cold.
Then they died.
That was terrible.
Only you could take one of the most classic endings of all time and go, "stupid.
I hate this.
" It was stupid.
How can you not appreciate this? The smallest, most insignificant thing on the planet just took down the greatest threat the earth has ever seen.
- What's that supposed to mean? - He can't even take down Mike and become number two.
He's not taking down the planet.
Hello, and welcome back to another episode of Comic Book Men.
The only show that knows that navigating through hyperspace ain't like dusting crops, boy.
I'm your host, Kevin Smith.
- Bryan Johnson.
- Walt Flanagan.
- Mike Zapcic.
- Ming Chen.
All right, go right to the chase.
What's the biggest items coming in the door this week? We had a young kid come in.
He brought in four short boxes chock-full of gold.
Modern age, silver age, golden age - Silver.
- Really? - How you doing? - Good.
- I got some Comic Books.
- Okay.
Oh, you got a lot, huh? Yeah, about 300 of them.
All right.
Let's take a look and see.
You must love this, huh? - Oh, yeah, man.
- Not knowing what's in there? It's like going on a treasure hunt.
Wow, this is some old stuff, man.
Amazing Spider-Man 32.
Amazing Spider-Man 34.
Some great stuff in here.
This is some really vintage oh, my God.
The first green goblin.
It's like you're just pulling up gem after gem.
- Ooh! - That's right.
Look at that one.
First appearance of the Punisher.
Oh, my goodness.
Captain America 100.
Look how vibrant the colors are.
Oh, wow.
A hulk 102, man.
- Where'd you get these? - My dad's collected them for, like, 30 years.
He started collecting back in high school.
He's trying to help me pay for college, so, he gave me a bunch of Comic Books to sell.
What are you looking to get? I'm not really into comics.
So, I mean, I'm not really quite sure what they're all worth, but I'd like to get top dollar.
Comic Books, you know, almost 90% of where the price comes from - is in the condition.
- Yeah.
If I could offer you a little something, you know, that you may not learn in college - Street smarts a bit right now? - Street smarts, let's hear it.
If I were you and I had a collection of this magnitude, - there's a service called the CGC.
- Yes they slab it, which means they put it in plastic, and they give it a number grade.
That means the book is guaranteed to be in that condition as it goes from owner to owner as it's, you know, being sold - Yeah.
- From show to show or online to collector.
For your college career, this is the way to go.
The funny thing about Comic Books is they're a commodity.
In order to make clerks, I sold off my comic book collection.
So, naturally I was tied to it emotionally, but in a world where there is some dollar figures attached to collecting comics, it's important to have somebody on the block who's like, "we can tell you the grade of this book," and then seal it to make sure this book is in mint condition.
It's thoroughly inspected by three separate people.
It gets an initial grade of 10.
Every time they find a defect, it goes down.
Can you imagine being that scrutinized, like, three guys come over - and just start, like, picking us apart like that? - Oh! Like, we're gonna start you at a ten Quickly take off 9 1/2.
Let's just say, you know, this book is worth $200 - as is right now.
- Yeah.
- Could be worth $600 graded.
- Really? - Yeah.
- That's awesome.
I mean, you're gonna have to invest in it - 'cause it's not free.
- Really? That's why I would suggest, you know, maybe just taking some of the ones that are really key.
I'm a little clueless about this stuff.
I don't even know which books to pull out of here to send to the CDC.
Or whatever it is.
- CGC? - CGC.
Cdc, GGC.
- You sure college is in the plans for you? - Yeah, college isn't for all of us, man.
That's right, that's right.
We'll give it a shot, the old college try.
Yeah, you know what? I actually know somebody that works for GGC.
I could see if he's got a couple of minutes to come down, maybe earmark which ones he would send in to get the CGC process.
I'll give him a call, see if he can come down.
- All right, cool.
- Class dismissed.
Trying to get rid of this talking Turboman.
Was I in a coma? I don't recall this.
It was the one, like, Christmas gift that everyone wanted that year.
All right, man, - have a great day.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
- You too.
- How's it going? - How you doing? - Good.
- What can I do for you? I'm trying to get rid of this talking Turboman.
Talking Turboman.
From the movie jingle all the way with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sinbad.
- Where'd you get it? - My parents gave it to me.
After I mentioned once that I liked the movie, they went out and bought me the toy.
So and Arnold was Turboman? No, Arnold and Sinbad both wanted to get Turboman.
It was the one, like, Christmas gift that everyone wanted that year.
What year did this movie come out? - I think '96? - Was I in a coma? I don't recall this movie.
Join 99% of America.
It did that poorly? This is not a t2.
This is not a true lies.
Oh.
Well, that would explain why I don't recognize it.
So it wasn't, like, the high point of Arnold's career, but let's be fair.
This Turboman figure was the center of this movie.
Basically, it would have been, like, a big Arnold Schwarzenegger commercial for this toy you could actually go out and buy.
So, they manufactured the Turboman doll.
Problem was nobody saw jingle all the way.
Nobody knows who Turboman is.
When I can look back, I mean, I don't think there was an Arnold movie that I missed, you know, in the '80s.
I mean, for me he could do no wrong, just a great entertainer.
Not a great actor, - entertainer though.
- Yeah.
And I think that's more important.
- True.
- You know? Keep your shakespearean school actors.
- Yeah.
- Give me somebody who's fun and exciting.
- This movie, however, did suck, but - Okay.
So, yeah.
The '90s I had to say - Arnold didn't pick the best projects.
- No.
For a guy who takes a lot of hits for his acting chops, he's able to do comedy, action.
I mean, to me he was truly a renaissance actor.
You I had no idea you're a secret Arn-nut.
Just You love Arnold so much.
I do.
I really do.
- I mean, what's your favorite Arnold movie, all-time? - Terminator 2.
I liked when he was the good Terminator.
I mean, I loved him as the Terminator, you know, "are you Sarah Connor?" But, I liked when they flipped the switch and suddenly he was protecting John Connor.
And then that movie also had all the C.
G.
Effects going for it with the t-1000.
So, that's my all-time favorite Arnold.
That's where America fell in love with Arnold.
That's where America was like, "we'll elect this guy governor.
" I could see in here that, um, it's been opened.
I did.
I took it out.
- You took it out, huh? - I did.
- It's like being a virgin.
- I know.
Once you take it out and put it in, can't put it back again.
- Turboman took your cherry, son.
- He did.
Once you open up the box, you can never say it's unsealed.
Should I take it out and take a look at it? - Go for it, yeah.
- Go ahead.
I'll let you do it.
I don't want to touch your box after you, you know? Sounds like you only had him for five minutes.
Sloppy made in heaven.
He looks like Adam strange.
- Right? - Mm-hmm.
Or the Flash, right? You know, running away? Okay, well, what are you looking to get for it? - I was thinking, like, $150.
- $150 I've seen them mint in box for, like, $300 online.
- Why? - Because they only made a limited number of these.
Okay, so legitimately this is rare though.
- Mm-hmm.
- Okay.
Would you do I can't.
- No? - No.
Really? Where else you think you're gonna get more than $50 for it? I saw them online.
They're selling for, like, over $160, and that's just with a damaged box.
I mean, it's nice, but it's been opened.
You have to put that into the negotiation factor here.
Not to mention nobody cares about it.
I think that is the biggest elephant in the room.
Um, can we go to 90 bucks? No, not a chance.
I mean, the bottom be-all end-all price today, and I'm only doing that because it's an Arnold product.
Fair enough.
- $75? - Let's go.
For Arnold.
- 75 bucks.
- Thanks, sir - all right.
- Thanks, man.
- Thank you.
- All right, have a great day.
You too.
I just broke my number one rule, though.
Don't buy anything that's open, and you don't know what it is.
That's the power Arnold has over me, man.
And, now I know, you know, current events, so people would be like, "pff.
He's not in no more.
And you know, he was a republican.
" He's not my movie dad.
I have some interesting items that I brought with me.
- Let's see them.
- Let's check it out.
Oh, yeah, look at that.
Now, this is nice.
I want it all.
What comic book universe would you choose to live in if you had to choose one? I'd choose do universe, hands down.
The chance to be walking through Gotham city and see the shadow of the bat cross the moon.
Yeah, but I mean, you're also taking a chance.
You drink the water, you might have a joker's grin the next morning.
It's worth it to live in a big city.
You know me, the Archie universe.
It's the comic book universe I'd go into.
Well, number one it's the safest.
Right , there's no stress.
What's coming down the pike, you know? A civil war, a secret invasion Biggest issue you're dealing with is, like, Betty or Veronica? That's it.
- What about you? - I'd probably go to the Marvel universe.
I get protected by The Avengers, you know, The Hulk and Iron Man and Captain America are watching over me.
They can't be everywhere.
- Uh, they can try.
- What about you, Mike? What universe would you choose to live in? I'd do do universe, but the Kamandi Universe Kamandi, the last boy on earth and Mike Zapcic.
And the last middle aged man.
- What about you, Bry? - I think I'd live in the Archie universe too just so I could ruin it for you.
- How you doing? - Good.
I have some interesting items that I brought with me.
Wayne Gretzky.
You brought some Gretzky stuff with you? Absolutely.
I have plates, and his big figurines, the little figurines All right, well, let's see it.
Let's check it out.
- Did you ever see him play live? - No, I don't think I did.
He was superhuman, man.
I mean, I wouldn't be going out on a limb in saying that he may have been the world's first mutant.
Now we're talking about a real superhero, kids.
Never mind these capes and superpowers, one of the truest, closest thing to a living, breathing superhero this earth has ever seen Wayne Douglas Gretzky.
I 100% agree, and we're talking about a guy who was not a physical specimen.
We're talking about a guy who looked like Bruce Banner, but played like The Hulk.
I mean, we'll never see his like again.
No, and I collect Gretzky figurines and plates and everything in a big, bad way.
That's why when this gentleman came in with all this Gretzky figurines, I was like, "Kev would want this stuff.
" You know? You were you were right.
- Here's a plate.
- Oh, yeah.
- The cert - C.
O.
A.
Oh, yeah, man.
In here.
- Plate.
- Wayne Gretzky.
- The great one.
- And this is the best plate because this one is when he broke the record with Gordie Howe.
This one looks very similar to the last plate.
Yeah, but this one's got Gordie on it, man.
That makes the plate worth 20, 30 times more.
What's that? The fact that Gordie Howe's on - Oh, oh, okay.
- I don't know about that.
He's definitely worth a dollar.
What else we got? All right, staying with the great one, we have his small figurine - Oh, yeah, look at that.
- With the stick.
Now this is nice.
This is the big figurine of Wayne Gretzky holding a stick and signed.
- Look at that, man.
- That's perfect.
All original boxes, all original shipping stuff, - all mint.
- All mint.
Now, Richard, you're looking to sell this whole collection today? Yeah, if I could get a fair price for everything, you know, tell me what you think they're worth.
I could tell, Richard, there's no way that you don't know how much you want.
I do have a price in mind.
- Well, let's hear it.
- For all of this, I'd like about $2,500.
Wow.
All those plates are numbered.
They're limited edition.
They're all in the original packing cases with the numbers on there.
They're perfect.
I want it all.
Hit me with a number.
Sometimes somebody brings something in that plays with my head a little bit.
I start negotiating with my heart rather than my head.
Hmm.
I mean, that's when I know I'm in big trouble because cold, calculating Walt sees what this particular customer brought in, and I'm like, "no way is this stuff worth what this guy's asking for," you know? But, then, um, fuzzy Walt, - which who's.
- Who's this? I've known you 30 years.
I've never met fuzzy Walt.
- I wanted to get you something.
- That's really sweet, man.
What'd you pay for this respectively, ballpark.
- I paid over 500.
- $500.
Would you take 800 for all of it? Nah.
- No? - Nah.
Where are you gonna go to get better than 800? None of your business! Just give me the money.
- Can you go 1,500? - Uh Come oup a little.
- I can't, Richard.
- Come on up.
Just come up a little.
That's only because I know my boss would love these, but he would fire me though, if I was like, "Kev, I paid 2,000 for these.
" - I already brought it down.
- I mean, come on, man.
- 850's no good? - No.
1,000, that's it.
You're right there.
You're right there.
I came down from a lot.
You can have these forever, and they're not gonna se their value.
- Come on, rich.
- It's been a lot of fun.
900.
This stuff is pristine, mint.
You got you saw the case.
You got the certs.
You got everything you want in a purchase is in this purchase.
All right, all right, 900.
- Shake on it.
All right.
- It's only because he likes you.
God bless you.
You see this nose? It's gonna be a little brown in a couple days.
It's only tan right now.
That nose is gonna turn mahogany.
- $900.
- Oh, my God.
Perfect.
- You're making out like a bandit, Richard.
- And so are you.
- Uh - Take it easy, guys.
Thanks, rich.
It's a pleasure.
See you later.
It was gonna be a gift, but I really overpaid, and I was I'm gonna give you a good price on it.
I'll buy it.
I've never seen this piece, man.
This is nice, and I'm a Gretzky guy.
I do collecting.
Oh, my lord, 701.
Dude, this is really, really sweet, man.
And it's got a signature right here.
That's awesome.
Thank you, man.
How much you pay for it? Am I allowed to ask? Um, let's just keep talking about Gretzky.
Right? All right, Rick, after going through all these books, I can give to you an initial assessment.
Now this one here in particular is a CGC 9.
4.
This online sells for anywhere between $20,000 and $25,000.
- Wow.
Booyah, Rick.
- Booyah is right.
With all the tools, you know, that this new social media brings to the table, what's the most efficient way to contact Batman 'cause I don't think it's the bat signal anymore.
Well, here's the thing.
What if he's waiting for his bat-text, but he doesn't have service? He's got no bat bars.
Yeah, 'cause he's in the bat cave, so No way he's ever gonna be, you know, too far underneath the ground to not receive a text or a twit from commissioner Gordon.
Like, "oh, Riddler's attacking Gotham, Batman.
Hurry up.
" Yeah, but then people can retweets it.
That's the thing.
That's maybe you're onto something.
- Somebody retweets - I'm not happy about it.
Somebody retweets sure you are.
Somebody retweets it and then they retweets it, so, like, exponentially lots of people are finding out very quickly.
Don't you think the Riddler's also, you know, he's gonna be on the Twitter thing too, right? Well, no, he can block Riddler, so Riddler won't know.
- Yeah, but the Riddler could - He's got.
.
He could make a fake account, can't he? - Sure.
- He's a super villain.
What, you think he's gonna follow the rules of Twitter? That's why I'm not a super villain 'cause I didn't think of that.
CGC is based out of Florida, but as luck would have it a representative was in town, and I asked him to come down and take a look at this collection to maybe steer this young guy to which books are CGC worthy.
So, you, like fannie mae or Freddie Mac, you're gonna finance this kid's education, but you're gonna do it with comics.
College education doesn't always begin in college.
He got a little bit of education at the stash.
Oh, I thought you were gonna say, "it begins in grade school.
" All right, Rick, after going through all these books, I pulled six comics based on desirability.
So, what we can do here, I can give to you an initial assessment.
Now, but of course, once it comes back to the offices, it still has to be looked at by a restoration professional, and a minimum of two other professionals.
- Okay.
- So, going through your collection, I noticed one of the books here looked familiar.
Ff four, Silver Age, sub-mariner.
And I brought a couple of samples.
One just happened to be a fantastic four 4 as well.
Now this one here in particular is a CGC 9.
4.
This online sells for anywhere between $20,000 and $25,000.
Booyah, Rick.
- Booyah is right.
- Right? Yeah.
People are willing to pay that extra money for a certified book because they know what they're getting is what they're getting.
- A guarantee.
- Yep.
Unfortunately this one's not a 9.
4.
Now, one of the things I look for here right off the bat is the spine.
- You'll see a few little divots.
- Yeah.
Those are what we call stress lines.
That significantly takes down from the grade of the book, and along up here by human torch's word balloon, you see a piece missing out of the front cover.
Do you feel like he's chipping away at your soul when he values this? It does.
It does feel like that.
Based on this initial assessment, I'd say this book would probably be in the range of a 3.
5.
So, a book like this uncertified, raw, we call it I've seen at conventions being sold for maybe $150.
And this book certified, you're probably looking at $450, $500.
- So far, so good.
- We're on our way.
So, we got hulk 102.
Raw, I've seen it go for 100 bucks.
Certified, $350, $400.
- Oh, wow.
- Come on, baby.
Fantastic four 48, first appearance of Galactus.
Grade-wise would be a 5.
0.
- Yes.
- Okay.
- So, $600 to $700.
- Nice.
Fantastic four 5.
First doctor doom.
$500 to $600.
Nice! - There we go.
- Booyah, Rick.
- There we go.
- So, we have your cap 100.
The CGC's7.
5.
- Yeah.
- Probably $600 to $750.
That's some textbooks.
And the last book, Amazing Spider-Man 129.
This is the first appearance the Punisher.
Let's see.
Structurally, this book is beautiful.
- Hmm - Grade-wise I'd probably go Do you feel the tension, Rick? - There is a tension.
- It's like yeah.
- 8.
5 to a 9.
0.
- Nice.
That's awesome.
And, this book certified we've had reported sales of about $700 to $800.
- Really? - We're off to college.
All right, so going through these total, if you were to sell these raw, you'd probably be looking at most $1,000.
If these were certified, probably looking at a resale value of between $4,000 to $5,000.
- Ah.
- Whoa.
- Wow.
- Oh, nice, huh? So, what do you think, Rick? You gonna go the CGC route? - Let's make this happen.
- All right.
Sounds good to me, man.
All right, sounds good.
I'll take them back to Florida.
We'll get 'em graded.
All right, cool.
- Nice call, man.
- Yeah, I thought so.
I mean, we taught him a little thing or two.
Do some homework.
Do some investigation before you go out and sell these items.
Or don't, and let you guys do it for 'em.
Just like a cake that's been in the oven half an hour, we are done.
For Comic Book Men, I'm Kevin Smith.
- Bryan Johnson.
- Walt Flanagan.
- Mike Zapcic.
- Ming Chen.
"Get your ass to Mars.
" Good night.
Yet another great movie ruined by a crappy ending.
What? - Crappy ending? - Yeah.
What are you talking about? That's the original ending.
That's what happened in the war of the worlds.
Read the book.
What's wrong with the ending? The aliens all got cold.
Then they died.
That was terrible.
Only you could take one of the most classic endings of all time and go, "stupid.
I hate this.
" It was stupid.
How can you not appreciate this? The smallest, most insignificant thing on the planet just took down the greatest threat the earth has ever seen.
- What's that supposed to mean? - He can't even take down Mike and become number two.
He's not taking down the planet.
Hello, and welcome back to another episode of Comic Book Men.
The only show that knows that navigating through hyperspace ain't like dusting crops, boy.
I'm your host, Kevin Smith.
- Bryan Johnson.
- Walt Flanagan.
- Mike Zapcic.
- Ming Chen.
All right, go right to the chase.
What's the biggest items coming in the door this week? We had a young kid come in.
He brought in four short boxes chock-full of gold.
Modern age, silver age, golden age - Silver.
- Really? - How you doing? - Good.
- I got some Comic Books.
- Okay.
Oh, you got a lot, huh? Yeah, about 300 of them.
All right.
Let's take a look and see.
You must love this, huh? - Oh, yeah, man.
- Not knowing what's in there? It's like going on a treasure hunt.
Wow, this is some old stuff, man.
Amazing Spider-Man 32.
Amazing Spider-Man 34.
Some great stuff in here.
This is some really vintage oh, my God.
The first green goblin.
It's like you're just pulling up gem after gem.
- Ooh! - That's right.
Look at that one.
First appearance of the Punisher.
Oh, my goodness.
Captain America 100.
Look how vibrant the colors are.
Oh, wow.
A hulk 102, man.
- Where'd you get these? - My dad's collected them for, like, 30 years.
He started collecting back in high school.
He's trying to help me pay for college, so, he gave me a bunch of Comic Books to sell.
What are you looking to get? I'm not really into comics.
So, I mean, I'm not really quite sure what they're all worth, but I'd like to get top dollar.
Comic Books, you know, almost 90% of where the price comes from - is in the condition.
- Yeah.
If I could offer you a little something, you know, that you may not learn in college - Street smarts a bit right now? - Street smarts, let's hear it.
If I were you and I had a collection of this magnitude, - there's a service called the CGC.
- Yes they slab it, which means they put it in plastic, and they give it a number grade.
That means the book is guaranteed to be in that condition as it goes from owner to owner as it's, you know, being sold - Yeah.
- From show to show or online to collector.
For your college career, this is the way to go.
The funny thing about Comic Books is they're a commodity.
In order to make clerks, I sold off my comic book collection.
So, naturally I was tied to it emotionally, but in a world where there is some dollar figures attached to collecting comics, it's important to have somebody on the block who's like, "we can tell you the grade of this book," and then seal it to make sure this book is in mint condition.
It's thoroughly inspected by three separate people.
It gets an initial grade of 10.
Every time they find a defect, it goes down.
Can you imagine being that scrutinized, like, three guys come over - and just start, like, picking us apart like that? - Oh! Like, we're gonna start you at a ten Quickly take off 9 1/2.
Let's just say, you know, this book is worth $200 - as is right now.
- Yeah.
- Could be worth $600 graded.
- Really? - Yeah.
- That's awesome.
I mean, you're gonna have to invest in it - 'cause it's not free.
- Really? That's why I would suggest, you know, maybe just taking some of the ones that are really key.
I'm a little clueless about this stuff.
I don't even know which books to pull out of here to send to the CDC.
Or whatever it is.
- CGC? - CGC.
Cdc, GGC.
- You sure college is in the plans for you? - Yeah, college isn't for all of us, man.
That's right, that's right.
We'll give it a shot, the old college try.
Yeah, you know what? I actually know somebody that works for GGC.
I could see if he's got a couple of minutes to come down, maybe earmark which ones he would send in to get the CGC process.
I'll give him a call, see if he can come down.
- All right, cool.
- Class dismissed.
Trying to get rid of this talking Turboman.
Was I in a coma? I don't recall this.
It was the one, like, Christmas gift that everyone wanted that year.
All right, man, - have a great day.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
- You too.
- How's it going? - How you doing? - Good.
- What can I do for you? I'm trying to get rid of this talking Turboman.
Talking Turboman.
From the movie jingle all the way with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sinbad.
- Where'd you get it? - My parents gave it to me.
After I mentioned once that I liked the movie, they went out and bought me the toy.
So and Arnold was Turboman? No, Arnold and Sinbad both wanted to get Turboman.
It was the one, like, Christmas gift that everyone wanted that year.
What year did this movie come out? - I think '96? - Was I in a coma? I don't recall this movie.
Join 99% of America.
It did that poorly? This is not a t2.
This is not a true lies.
Oh.
Well, that would explain why I don't recognize it.
So it wasn't, like, the high point of Arnold's career, but let's be fair.
This Turboman figure was the center of this movie.
Basically, it would have been, like, a big Arnold Schwarzenegger commercial for this toy you could actually go out and buy.
So, they manufactured the Turboman doll.
Problem was nobody saw jingle all the way.
Nobody knows who Turboman is.
When I can look back, I mean, I don't think there was an Arnold movie that I missed, you know, in the '80s.
I mean, for me he could do no wrong, just a great entertainer.
Not a great actor, - entertainer though.
- Yeah.
And I think that's more important.
- True.
- You know? Keep your shakespearean school actors.
- Yeah.
- Give me somebody who's fun and exciting.
- This movie, however, did suck, but - Okay.
So, yeah.
The '90s I had to say - Arnold didn't pick the best projects.
- No.
For a guy who takes a lot of hits for his acting chops, he's able to do comedy, action.
I mean, to me he was truly a renaissance actor.
You I had no idea you're a secret Arn-nut.
Just You love Arnold so much.
I do.
I really do.
- I mean, what's your favorite Arnold movie, all-time? - Terminator 2.
I liked when he was the good Terminator.
I mean, I loved him as the Terminator, you know, "are you Sarah Connor?" But, I liked when they flipped the switch and suddenly he was protecting John Connor.
And then that movie also had all the C.
G.
Effects going for it with the t-1000.
So, that's my all-time favorite Arnold.
That's where America fell in love with Arnold.
That's where America was like, "we'll elect this guy governor.
" I could see in here that, um, it's been opened.
I did.
I took it out.
- You took it out, huh? - I did.
- It's like being a virgin.
- I know.
Once you take it out and put it in, can't put it back again.
- Turboman took your cherry, son.
- He did.
Once you open up the box, you can never say it's unsealed.
Should I take it out and take a look at it? - Go for it, yeah.
- Go ahead.
I'll let you do it.
I don't want to touch your box after you, you know? Sounds like you only had him for five minutes.
Sloppy made in heaven.
He looks like Adam strange.
- Right? - Mm-hmm.
Or the Flash, right? You know, running away? Okay, well, what are you looking to get for it? - I was thinking, like, $150.
- $150 I've seen them mint in box for, like, $300 online.
- Why? - Because they only made a limited number of these.
Okay, so legitimately this is rare though.
- Mm-hmm.
- Okay.
Would you do I can't.
- No? - No.
Really? Where else you think you're gonna get more than $50 for it? I saw them online.
They're selling for, like, over $160, and that's just with a damaged box.
I mean, it's nice, but it's been opened.
You have to put that into the negotiation factor here.
Not to mention nobody cares about it.
I think that is the biggest elephant in the room.
Um, can we go to 90 bucks? No, not a chance.
I mean, the bottom be-all end-all price today, and I'm only doing that because it's an Arnold product.
Fair enough.
- $75? - Let's go.
For Arnold.
- 75 bucks.
- Thanks, sir - all right.
- Thanks, man.
- Thank you.
- All right, have a great day.
You too.
I just broke my number one rule, though.
Don't buy anything that's open, and you don't know what it is.
That's the power Arnold has over me, man.
And, now I know, you know, current events, so people would be like, "pff.
He's not in no more.
And you know, he was a republican.
" He's not my movie dad.
I have some interesting items that I brought with me.
- Let's see them.
- Let's check it out.
Oh, yeah, look at that.
Now, this is nice.
I want it all.
What comic book universe would you choose to live in if you had to choose one? I'd choose do universe, hands down.
The chance to be walking through Gotham city and see the shadow of the bat cross the moon.
Yeah, but I mean, you're also taking a chance.
You drink the water, you might have a joker's grin the next morning.
It's worth it to live in a big city.
You know me, the Archie universe.
It's the comic book universe I'd go into.
Well, number one it's the safest.
Right , there's no stress.
What's coming down the pike, you know? A civil war, a secret invasion Biggest issue you're dealing with is, like, Betty or Veronica? That's it.
- What about you? - I'd probably go to the Marvel universe.
I get protected by The Avengers, you know, The Hulk and Iron Man and Captain America are watching over me.
They can't be everywhere.
- Uh, they can try.
- What about you, Mike? What universe would you choose to live in? I'd do do universe, but the Kamandi Universe Kamandi, the last boy on earth and Mike Zapcic.
And the last middle aged man.
- What about you, Bry? - I think I'd live in the Archie universe too just so I could ruin it for you.
- How you doing? - Good.
I have some interesting items that I brought with me.
Wayne Gretzky.
You brought some Gretzky stuff with you? Absolutely.
I have plates, and his big figurines, the little figurines All right, well, let's see it.
Let's check it out.
- Did you ever see him play live? - No, I don't think I did.
He was superhuman, man.
I mean, I wouldn't be going out on a limb in saying that he may have been the world's first mutant.
Now we're talking about a real superhero, kids.
Never mind these capes and superpowers, one of the truest, closest thing to a living, breathing superhero this earth has ever seen Wayne Douglas Gretzky.
I 100% agree, and we're talking about a guy who was not a physical specimen.
We're talking about a guy who looked like Bruce Banner, but played like The Hulk.
I mean, we'll never see his like again.
No, and I collect Gretzky figurines and plates and everything in a big, bad way.
That's why when this gentleman came in with all this Gretzky figurines, I was like, "Kev would want this stuff.
" You know? You were you were right.
- Here's a plate.
- Oh, yeah.
- The cert - C.
O.
A.
Oh, yeah, man.
In here.
- Plate.
- Wayne Gretzky.
- The great one.
- And this is the best plate because this one is when he broke the record with Gordie Howe.
This one looks very similar to the last plate.
Yeah, but this one's got Gordie on it, man.
That makes the plate worth 20, 30 times more.
What's that? The fact that Gordie Howe's on - Oh, oh, okay.
- I don't know about that.
He's definitely worth a dollar.
What else we got? All right, staying with the great one, we have his small figurine - Oh, yeah, look at that.
- With the stick.
Now this is nice.
This is the big figurine of Wayne Gretzky holding a stick and signed.
- Look at that, man.
- That's perfect.
All original boxes, all original shipping stuff, - all mint.
- All mint.
Now, Richard, you're looking to sell this whole collection today? Yeah, if I could get a fair price for everything, you know, tell me what you think they're worth.
I could tell, Richard, there's no way that you don't know how much you want.
I do have a price in mind.
- Well, let's hear it.
- For all of this, I'd like about $2,500.
Wow.
All those plates are numbered.
They're limited edition.
They're all in the original packing cases with the numbers on there.
They're perfect.
I want it all.
Hit me with a number.
Sometimes somebody brings something in that plays with my head a little bit.
I start negotiating with my heart rather than my head.
Hmm.
I mean, that's when I know I'm in big trouble because cold, calculating Walt sees what this particular customer brought in, and I'm like, "no way is this stuff worth what this guy's asking for," you know? But, then, um, fuzzy Walt, - which who's.
- Who's this? I've known you 30 years.
I've never met fuzzy Walt.
- I wanted to get you something.
- That's really sweet, man.
What'd you pay for this respectively, ballpark.
- I paid over 500.
- $500.
Would you take 800 for all of it? Nah.
- No? - Nah.
Where are you gonna go to get better than 800? None of your business! Just give me the money.
- Can you go 1,500? - Uh Come oup a little.
- I can't, Richard.
- Come on up.
Just come up a little.
That's only because I know my boss would love these, but he would fire me though, if I was like, "Kev, I paid 2,000 for these.
" - I already brought it down.
- I mean, come on, man.
- 850's no good? - No.
1,000, that's it.
You're right there.
You're right there.
I came down from a lot.
You can have these forever, and they're not gonna se their value.
- Come on, rich.
- It's been a lot of fun.
900.
This stuff is pristine, mint.
You got you saw the case.
You got the certs.
You got everything you want in a purchase is in this purchase.
All right, all right, 900.
- Shake on it.
All right.
- It's only because he likes you.
God bless you.
You see this nose? It's gonna be a little brown in a couple days.
It's only tan right now.
That nose is gonna turn mahogany.
- $900.
- Oh, my God.
Perfect.
- You're making out like a bandit, Richard.
- And so are you.
- Uh - Take it easy, guys.
Thanks, rich.
It's a pleasure.
See you later.
It was gonna be a gift, but I really overpaid, and I was I'm gonna give you a good price on it.
I'll buy it.
I've never seen this piece, man.
This is nice, and I'm a Gretzky guy.
I do collecting.
Oh, my lord, 701.
Dude, this is really, really sweet, man.
And it's got a signature right here.
That's awesome.
Thank you, man.
How much you pay for it? Am I allowed to ask? Um, let's just keep talking about Gretzky.
Right? All right, Rick, after going through all these books, I can give to you an initial assessment.
Now this one here in particular is a CGC 9.
4.
This online sells for anywhere between $20,000 and $25,000.
- Wow.
Booyah, Rick.
- Booyah is right.
With all the tools, you know, that this new social media brings to the table, what's the most efficient way to contact Batman 'cause I don't think it's the bat signal anymore.
Well, here's the thing.
What if he's waiting for his bat-text, but he doesn't have service? He's got no bat bars.
Yeah, 'cause he's in the bat cave, so No way he's ever gonna be, you know, too far underneath the ground to not receive a text or a twit from commissioner Gordon.
Like, "oh, Riddler's attacking Gotham, Batman.
Hurry up.
" Yeah, but then people can retweets it.
That's the thing.
That's maybe you're onto something.
- Somebody retweets - I'm not happy about it.
Somebody retweets sure you are.
Somebody retweets it and then they retweets it, so, like, exponentially lots of people are finding out very quickly.
Don't you think the Riddler's also, you know, he's gonna be on the Twitter thing too, right? Well, no, he can block Riddler, so Riddler won't know.
- Yeah, but the Riddler could - He's got.
.
He could make a fake account, can't he? - Sure.
- He's a super villain.
What, you think he's gonna follow the rules of Twitter? That's why I'm not a super villain 'cause I didn't think of that.
CGC is based out of Florida, but as luck would have it a representative was in town, and I asked him to come down and take a look at this collection to maybe steer this young guy to which books are CGC worthy.
So, you, like fannie mae or Freddie Mac, you're gonna finance this kid's education, but you're gonna do it with comics.
College education doesn't always begin in college.
He got a little bit of education at the stash.
Oh, I thought you were gonna say, "it begins in grade school.
" All right, Rick, after going through all these books, I pulled six comics based on desirability.
So, what we can do here, I can give to you an initial assessment.
Now, but of course, once it comes back to the offices, it still has to be looked at by a restoration professional, and a minimum of two other professionals.
- Okay.
- So, going through your collection, I noticed one of the books here looked familiar.
Ff four, Silver Age, sub-mariner.
And I brought a couple of samples.
One just happened to be a fantastic four 4 as well.
Now this one here in particular is a CGC 9.
4.
This online sells for anywhere between $20,000 and $25,000.
Booyah, Rick.
- Booyah is right.
- Right? Yeah.
People are willing to pay that extra money for a certified book because they know what they're getting is what they're getting.
- A guarantee.
- Yep.
Unfortunately this one's not a 9.
4.
Now, one of the things I look for here right off the bat is the spine.
- You'll see a few little divots.
- Yeah.
Those are what we call stress lines.
That significantly takes down from the grade of the book, and along up here by human torch's word balloon, you see a piece missing out of the front cover.
Do you feel like he's chipping away at your soul when he values this? It does.
It does feel like that.
Based on this initial assessment, I'd say this book would probably be in the range of a 3.
5.
So, a book like this uncertified, raw, we call it I've seen at conventions being sold for maybe $150.
And this book certified, you're probably looking at $450, $500.
- So far, so good.
- We're on our way.
So, we got hulk 102.
Raw, I've seen it go for 100 bucks.
Certified, $350, $400.
- Oh, wow.
- Come on, baby.
Fantastic four 48, first appearance of Galactus.
Grade-wise would be a 5.
0.
- Yes.
- Okay.
- So, $600 to $700.
- Nice.
Fantastic four 5.
First doctor doom.
$500 to $600.
Nice! - There we go.
- Booyah, Rick.
- There we go.
- So, we have your cap 100.
The CGC's7.
5.
- Yeah.
- Probably $600 to $750.
That's some textbooks.
And the last book, Amazing Spider-Man 129.
This is the first appearance the Punisher.
Let's see.
Structurally, this book is beautiful.
- Hmm - Grade-wise I'd probably go Do you feel the tension, Rick? - There is a tension.
- It's like yeah.
- 8.
5 to a 9.
0.
- Nice.
That's awesome.
And, this book certified we've had reported sales of about $700 to $800.
- Really? - We're off to college.
All right, so going through these total, if you were to sell these raw, you'd probably be looking at most $1,000.
If these were certified, probably looking at a resale value of between $4,000 to $5,000.
- Ah.
- Whoa.
- Wow.
- Oh, nice, huh? So, what do you think, Rick? You gonna go the CGC route? - Let's make this happen.
- All right.
Sounds good to me, man.
All right, sounds good.
I'll take them back to Florida.
We'll get 'em graded.
All right, cool.
- Nice call, man.
- Yeah, I thought so.
I mean, we taught him a little thing or two.
Do some homework.
Do some investigation before you go out and sell these items.
Or don't, and let you guys do it for 'em.
Just like a cake that's been in the oven half an hour, we are done.
For Comic Book Men, I'm Kevin Smith.
- Bryan Johnson.
- Walt Flanagan.
- Mike Zapcic.
- Ming Chen.
"Get your ass to Mars.
" Good night.