Things I Like and Don’t Like for the Week of April 24th, 2019

It’s that time again, where I tell you what’s really grinding my gears for the week of April 24th, 2019.

Some weeks it’s mostly likes, other weeks it’s dislikes.

So what’s grinding my gears this week?

Spider-Man City At War – One To Watch

I’ve finally made a small amount of time to start playing Spider-Man on the PS4 in the past few weeks and I must admit, it’s really fun.

Here’s something I’m looking forward to. It is a villain who’s been around for quite sometime and made his first appearance way back in Champions #14 from 1977.

This villain just made an appearance in Spider-Man: City at War #2 that hit stands last week in which they plan to introduce into the game, maybe. Who’s this villain they plan to introduce into the game? It’s Swarm and he’s got an updated costume from his original.

Swarm was referenced in the game by one of Jameson’s podcasts as “a Nazi made of bees” and this new design could be what’s in store for the game eventually in upcoming sequel games.

I’ll admit the design is quite cool and I’d love to see more of this villain not only in the game but perhaps the regular titles outside of the game universe.

Swarm design image courtesy of GameInformer where I also first read this news as I have yet to read Spider-Man: City at War #2 as of yet.

Jane Foster is….

Why can’t they just make Jane Foster….  Jane Foster? Have you heard that she’s going to be the next Valkyrie? The first and original Valkyrie first appeared in The Avengers #83.

What’s next, is she going to become Captain Marvel? Making her first appearance in Journey into Mystery #84, which was Thor’s second appearance, becoming Thor’s love interest from the early days. She then went on to become Thor as well in Thor: God of Thunder #25 only to die then to get revived, still having cancer.

She’s now going to have another first as Valkyrie this coming July. This might be a good read as I do like Aaron’s writing but this new title would be way more exciting if it seemed more original, with a new character rather than regurgitate Jane Foster as another hero.

I do admit though, I would not oppose Natalie Portman to become a Valkyrie in the MCU.

420

You know what’s better than selling Weed Magic #1? Selling your copy on 4/20.

This was a copy I got at NYCC a couple years back and dug out of a my longbox to sell.

Issue #3 is hitting stands this Wednesday and I’m really digging the homage cover from GNR.

The only other thing I can say that really grinds my gears isn’t comic related but it’s terrorists who target innocent people attending church. Sri Lanka, we stand with you and hope the cowards who bombed your churches killing innocent people are brought to justice.

That’s all I got this week.

30 thoughts on “Things I Like and Don’t Like for the Week of April 24th, 2019”

  1. Why not Jane Foster as valkyrie? In comics, super heroes are more commercially marketable than ordinary people. For example, spider Gwen. Besides, the real Thor must return to his rightful place and there can be multiple valkyries since the power is transferable.

      1. my sister was killed by cancer. Where could she have gotten some of that asgardian treatment so she could have been a norse god and them after she would have beaten cancer she would have become another norse god? I thought when cancer was introduced into the story-line they were going to treat it respectfully. My sister lost weight. from 160 to around 100. then she died. there was no miracle asgardian cure such as emaciated jane had. I’m just saying, if you introduce a real life sorrowful situation, stay grounded in reality or you risk making people miserable. Now, after 45 years of collecting, there is a fictional character that generates hate inside of me…Thank you Jane Foster. New idea, the next massacre we experience in America, where no one survives, have a fictional girl survive the death and carnage and become a superhero. see how that goes over with the families of other victims

        1. With that said and speaking of cancer, my MARVELous Monday that will go up today touches on that subject and a storyline that I think really hits home for those that have lost loved ones due to Cancer or have battled it themselves.

          I’m with BJ about Jane Foster becoming Valkyrie, kind of cheapens it all.

        2. Yeah, my mom died of cancer a little over a year ago and I feel your pain. Whenever there’s some magic cure or I hear a story of someone miraculously recovering it hurts and I just ask why my mom couldn’t get the magic cure too.

        3. Agreed. I haven’t really followed Jane foster, but when I heard she was going to die from cancer then “poof” all better, add me think shame on marvel for such a non-relevant story on something that really hits home with so many people.

          Much prefer how the disease was portrayed with Captain Mar-Vel.

  3. I was hoping for a longer more drawn out and realistic battle with cancer either as her end or as an inspirational cancer survivor story. To toss her right back in as yet another superhero that already has/had two active people switching back and forth in their own team book feels like it’s cheapening the whole cancer thing and missing a great long term source of education and/or inspiration. I thought at one time she was going to be this generations Gwen Stacey. Now it’s looking more like she’s this generations Screaming Mimi. Not interest in the new series at all other than the obligatory one copy going to the shelf.

  5. I will say this and be done with it. Marvel for whatever reason has really cheapened itself as a whole since their movies have become successful. Sure there are bright spots here and there but even their last few films have been mega money grabs imo. I know it’s all about the money at the end of the day but I am not attached to their comic book characters anymore. Gimmick after gimmick after new “big” storyline. It’s a shame because I really liked reading marvel at one point

    1. They are making the big event books a little less eventful. Instead of having 1 or 2 per year, they should be spread out to 1 big event title book every couple of years.

    2. “If money is all that you love, than thats what you’ll receive.

      “I wonder if he really cares about anything…or anybody…”

      1. I only like money because society forces me to have and use money to do fun things.. so do I love money? No, I just like doing fun things! 🙂

  6. Here’s what’s grinding my gears today:

    I’m looking to send in an order to cgc. Does anyone here use their own fed ex account, and if so why? And what do you do about insurance?

    What’s grinding my gears is the lack of information on CGC and Fed Ex websites about insuring packages with collectibles. It sounds like you’re only covered for $100 unless fed ex employees package the contents. And if you want more than you need to either have them package it (which I don’t think cgc would allow) or have it covered under a separate insurance policy for collectibles (eg homeowners or another private carrier).

    Anyone ship from cgc using their own fed ex account?

    1. I’m not familiar with fedex insurance policies but in order to cover the costs with USPS, you need a receipt or bill of sale to prove the value in the package. Just claiming it’s worth 1k bucks and then putting in a claim it’s lost, I could see USPS and Fedex losing a lot of money on fraudulent claims where people load up packages with rocks to make easy payday..

      1. No doubt you need proof. That’s not a problem when you have access to the grade after it’s shipped, tracking info and contents. That’s just paperwork. Im wondering what is the cheapest route and how much I’m covered for.

        But from the looks of it cgc does not add insurance to fed ex shipping and fed ex only covers $100.

        Let me give my scenario:

        I have 8 comics. 5 I want to fast pass (sell while they’re hot) , the other three I don’t need to (for the PC). No pressing on any. Declared value of $1100.

        Its $40 return shipping if I want them all shipped back fed ex in one shipment. I’ll also have to fast pass all of them @ $9 ea. I’m only covered for $100 total insured.

        It pay $12 more in return shipping to break out the three I don’t need fast passed, but I save $27 in fast pass fees. I also now get $200 total covered insured ($100 per shipment).

        I forget what it is to ship usps insured…but it was a lot.

        So my last option is to use my own fed ex account and insurance, I think I still Lille would pay $40-$50 but it’d be insured in full. That’s what I want. Not enough info on the cgc website or fed ex to determine if I’m covered by fed ex or I have to purchase private insurance….

        I did contact cgc and they’re sending me a form to fill out which may answer some of my questions. But I’m thinking a lot of people out there have a lot more than $1000 invested in their return shipments so they must be doing something with their own fed ex account.

        I can also waive signature requirements if I have use my own account or reroute. They never seem to show up when anyone is home.

        1. I don’t think the grade provides the value to USPS or FedEx, along with other carriers to my knowledge of how they will pay out insurance. They want to see a receipt that someone paid for the item being shipped with attached value. A grade is subject to perceived value. Now if you bought a graded comic at $1100 and the person you bought it from added the insurance and then it’s lost, that would be covered since you purchased the book at X dollars and it was lost or damaged during transit from the purchase.

          Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s sort of the explanation I got from USPS once when I was asking about what’s covered, who’s covered, etc.

          1. Yes, that’s pretty much the deal .. a value must be demonstrated .. as with any form of insurance ..

            1. Yeah.. Say I bought a comic for $100. Graded copies at say 9.8 grade are selling for $1000, which can change daily. But the only proof of value based on receipt is my $100, that’s what USPS, FedEx or other carriers will only cover if I insured it when shipping. USPS doesn’t assume your graded slab is $1000 just because others have sold for that much on eBay or elsewhere, you have to prove it’s worth that much either by sales receipt or had it appraised in hand to my knowledge.

              That’s my understanding of how it all works. Probably best option is to get insurance on the comic through other means, not rely on the carriers insurance they cover only during transit when they possess the item(s).

              1. imwasmundernthe assumption that if the item is worth $1000 as a collectible then it should be insured for that much in case it’s a total loss (e.g. lost in transit). I would think proof of the grade an a fair number of representative recent sales would be sufficient proof to usps of the claim value. But maybe I’m wrong.

                The only claim I’ve had to make involved a damaged cgc casing….I put in a claim for the cost to regrade and shipment expenses and got it all…I knew the book was not damaged, though, so didn’t go after any reduction. Just ended up getting the slab reholdered in the end anyway…kind of surprised cgc let it go through seeing as the damage was such that I could remove the label (and potentially switch it out).

    2. I’ve sent roughly 4,000 comics to CGC over the years, though lately nothing like what I was doing back when I was playing the 9.8 expedited prescreen game in the early 2000s. In recent years I probably don’t slab more than 200 books a year.

      The only shipping method I will use to send books to CGC is Registered Mail. It’s a pain in the ass the first time you do it, because there are a lot of restrictions in how the item must be packaged (plain cardboard, address directly written on box not a label stuck on, water activated tape, etc). But after you have done it a couple times it’s not that big a deal. It’s the same shipping method that every major jewelry dealer in the country uses. People who ship literally multi-million dollar diamonds use it. Your package is never touched by random postal monkeys. They have specific personnel that deal with Registered Mail shipments and only those personnel do. The insurance for a Registered Mail shipment is substantially cheaper than for regular Priority Mail (because they know they have fewer losses and fewer claims). USPS takes Registered Mail shipments very, very seriously.

      When I ship at least 40 books at a time, it works out to around $2.10 per book to ship them including the cost of boxes, water activated tape, bubble mailers inside the boxes, and obviously the postal cost itself. I have received a half dozen 10s and a couple dozen 9.9s over the years and never had a book sustain even the slightest damage in shipping. When you’re playing the slabbing game you need the occasional unexpected jackpot to help defray your costs and the last thing you want is to have a book that could have been 9.9 wind up a 9.6 because it got a little too much force on a corner in transit.

      If there is interest, I might do a blog post complete with step by step pics of how I pack. But regardless, Registered Mail is the only shipping method I would ever use.

  8. Here’s what’s grinding my gears today:

    I’m sending some comics in to cgc….one is Avengers 684 which I believe to be a 9.8. CGC now has special marvel superhero labels, one being an Avengers. They advertised it as $5 extra, but when you select it for a comic it puts you in a their separate from your other comics in the order that would normally be the same tier….which means they ship separately and you get charged $12 more. So it’s not $5, it’s $17.

    So I’m like “fine, if you’re going to do that I’ll just add a few more comics to have marvel labels to defer the cost…”. But when I picked an Iron Man label it also out the iron man in a different tier than avengers label…so it’s ANOTHER $12!

    Seriously….a different printed character logo requires my books to be shipped separately?

    That is not disclosed anywhere on the site or in the announcements when they unveiled the new logos….advertised as “Only $5!!!”

    Going to call them today….maybe it’s just a glitch or they will credit me if they ship together.

    1. Sounds like you’re paying for a label and not a graded comic. It’s all just marketing gimmicks to squeeze out every dollar you have when the only thing that matters is A) the comic is verified legit and B) they slap their opinion of a grade on it. Everything else I hope no one cares about when buying a slab. If you find yourself buying the slab and not the comic inside, the industry is facing a real problem I think.

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