Interview with Optibotimus on Getting into Comics and Building a Collection

Hey guys! Raphael here at the Teenage Mutant

Ninja Turtles! Did you say podcast? Dudes! Dudes!

You're listening to a podcast on the Gatecast

Radio Network! Oh my gosh! This is so great!

Welcome to... Join TFG1 Mike as he grills this

week's guest on just how they cut into reading

comics and more. So sit back, relax, and enjoy

The Pullback. Hello and welcome to the pull bag.

This is yet again another origins episode This

is the first origins episode of the new year

2015. Happy new year everybody last week we had

Jeremy fine and I talking about Dark Horse comics

series Tomb Raider written by Gail Simone Spoiler

alert. We did not give it that great of a review

And next week uh... which i should probably say

this at the end of the show but next week at

s baron will return with me to talk more masters

of the universe we're gonna wrap up the twenty

thirteenth team on public uh... are you done

okay shut up uh... we're gonna wrap up the twenty

thirteen ongoing coverage uh... for dc comics

uh... series met him in message universe with

issues thirteen to nineteen 13 to 18 of that

is the Blood of Grayskull storyline, and then

19, which is so funny because we were talking

about this just before we started this recording.

Issue 19 of Masters of the Universe, He -Man

and the Masters of the Universe 2013, is basically

what if He -Man was Simba, Randor was Mufasa,

and Keldor was Scar. I swear to God, issue 19

of the 2013 ongoing for He -Man and the Masters

of the Universe is... what if the lion king was

set on a tourney uh... so as you can hear in

the background uh... i have someone with me that

uh... normally hates does not want to do them

comes kicking in screaming he he's the worst

podcasting diva i have ever encountered uh...

that's right uh... we have mister of the bottom

of the cells are reading since uh... patients

yes uh... gone with the uh... the peter nicole

i am the goal or somehow i am off the bottom

of this is something like that but uh... people

would be like well what is up to bottom is doing

on a comic podcast all uh... the strength so

so for those of you who don't know uh... the

origins of the solar basically me it's basically

me getting together with friends of mine or people

that i'd find interesting that i want to talk

to and find out how they either got into reading

or out of reading comic books uh... or uh...

have general opinions or thoughts on the comic

industry or are just getting into it to collect

the old stuff that they miss which is kind of

where you fall in So is there I start off every

episode with this question Was there is there

a person in your life as a child? your mom Grandparent

whatever was there somebody that said here kid.

Here's a comic go away You bother me was there

somebody that really introduced you to reading

comics as a child Not really. My mom was a very

big reader. The problem, though, is there are

books that you would not want a kid to read.

Like Stephen King. No, no, no, no, no, no. Like

Harlequin Romance. Oh, jeez. Books. Affectionately

dubbed by me, my sister, my wife, and everybody

else as female porn. It's... It's it's smut.

It is I don't want I don't want to offend because

of a very good friend of ours Bob Gilmer his

wife I'm killing I'm killing tfg on Mike over

there So I don't want I don't want to offend

or anything, but that's what that's what she

does and So it wasn't anything that it was here

read this it was just reading was something that

was Pretty important to do and to this day. It

still is kids should read obviously nowadays

are reading things on their tablets and Smartphones

and devices and not so much books anymore, but

they're still reading but the biggest influence

for me came in the fact that my parents had a

restaurant in a town and it was two or three

blocks from the from the restaurant was a hobby

shop and My sister and I when we would be in

the restaurant would be bored out of her mind

So we would walk down to this hobby shop and

check it out and that was that was in the early

90s and going in there we saw a whole bunch of

stuff I remember the place it was like a big

like model train thing he had like a butt ton

of that kind of stuff in there but he also had

comics and it's funny because I can very clearly

close my eyes and I can picture exactly how the

store looked and it was a giant cluster Inside

there. It's like there was hardly any room to

walk there were narrow Isles that you had to

kind of squeeze through to get anywhere And he

had a bunch of like just boxes full of comic

books some on a newsstand kind of thing and That's

where I got my first Taste of comic books was

going to this Hobby shop and I I know the name

of it I'm not gonna say it because I don't want

anybody to look it up and I don't want anybody

to find out roughly where I lived as a kid. But

I still remember the name of the place. I still

remember the guy. He used to have like this old

dog that was in the shop all the time. And it

was just, it was a quaint little place. I mean,

the town that I grew up in was really small,

but it wasn't the town that I, well, the town

that I grew up in was really small, but this

was the town next doors to it. And that was actually

a little bit bigger. This was the place our town

had nothing. in there like if i mean like literally

nothing our how or our town was like radiator

springs we had one traffic light that just blinked

all the time. And so the town next to us is where

you wanted to go. That's the place that had the

Kmart. They had all the fast food places like

McDonald's and Burger King. So if you wanted

anything, you had to drive six miles to go to

a Burger King or go to Kmart or something like

that. But when we went on a trip, that's where

we went. We went to this town. And that was my

first kind of experience with comic books and

collectibles, I should say. All right since you

mentioned that all as I can really think of now

is You and you and your wife are Riggs and Riggs

and Lorna and Bob and Candice are Murtaugh and

Trish because all as I'm flashing to you right

now is the scene on the beach where Where Lorna

says check out this page number, you know, you

know and Riggs is like How do you read this smut?

Anyway. Hey! Hey! I'm not going to knock it.

It's popular amongst the kids. It's the only

thing I can flash to it. I'm not mocking it either.

I think it's hilarious. Alright, so. As a child,

what... What were you reading? Were you reading

Marvel? Were you reading DC? Did you gravitate

towards certain heroes certain villains? How

did that go? Well the first Again, it was it

was the same comic shop and I remember going

in there and it was I want to say I know I know

it was 1992 but I want to say that it was like

the fall Cause I remember it being fairly coldish,

but it was around, well maybe, well no, it was

like summer of 92, towards the end of summer

of 92, and there was a lot of, he had advertisements

in his shop about Superman dying. Oh yeah, Superman

75. Oh yeah, that was the big thing, and up until

then I don't remember buying much stuff, I just

kind of lurked in his store, but. That was when

I was like and and that's when they started doing

the pull bag thing You know where you would the

comic book shop would pull certain issues if

you signed up for it And then they would put

them in a box for you and then you'd go in and

you buy them all at one time or whatever so I

signed up for that To get the Superman ones and

that was that was my first And that's kind of

a Bad one to start off with, because it kind

of, like, demoralizes you for the future of comic

books, I guess. It's morbid. It's basically what

if, it's kind of similar to the whole phenomenon,

Michael Bay has ruined our childhood. It's like,

if you start reading by, if you start as a 14

year old kid reading Superman is Dead, then it

can only go up from here. It really really jacks

you up, but I am that was the first Pull for

me and the the death of Superman really and to

this day I still have them in a box here in my

closet and There there there there original ones.

I never got like the the special one or anything

I think my Superman 75 is the third printing

so it's nothing spectacular or anything like

that, but Back then, I wasn't doing this to collect

these. I was just reading them. I kept them.

Obviously, they're bagged and boarded, but they're

probably nothing to this day that I would want

to send out to get graded because it would probably

disappoint me. The death of Superman, that was

it. So that's that's DC and that's really what

kind of grabbed me and then I want to say you

know and then that that spanned over a whole

Year, it seemed or half a year where there was

the death of Superman then right after that there

was a funeral for a friend and then after that

was the reign of Superman where they introduced

four new characters as Well, not all new, but

they introduced four people as the replacements

for Superman and That went on for a while, but

that whole thing that it was just a huge media

event with the death of Superman it was gigantic,

I mean, I remember the things on the news and

You know comic book sales went through the roof

at that point in time, but you know that last

other than other than Batman Tim Burton's Batman

coming out in 89. Yeah That's really like other

than that huge news the only thing like in today's

terms of geek stuff or geek stuff actually getting

on You know actual news broadcast death of Superman

is the the one thing I can think of besides Batman

89 of actually making waves and and then reporting

this and whatever else right and You know, the

89 Batman has always been one of my favorite

versions of Batman, but it never really dragged

me into the comic book world. Obviously, I knew

about Batman at that point in time, but I didn't

read the books or anything. But around the time

where Superman came back to life, that's a whole

other snafu. Around that time was when Batman

decided to have their big thing and that was

the Nightfall series where Batman had his back

broken by Bane So that was another one that dragged

me in and I'm I'm so When it comes to it, so

I'm trying to remember your original question,

which I do badly Marvel DC It started out really

as DC. Those were the big headliners at the time,

but then around the same time uh... around ninety

three or something like that that's when the

better the x -men animated series was on and

several key issues of x -men came out with uh...

it was a little attractions where Wolverine had

his adamantium pulled out, Magneto had his brain

wiped out and put into a coma by Professor X.

So it was one of those... So then after Batman,

I was like, the next big thing was Marvel. It's

like Marvel had to come up with something because

DC was hitting all these home runs. So Marvel

comes out with this big shocker that Wolverine's

gonna have his adamantium ripped out by Magneto.

And I'm like, ooh, what's going on there? So

I went over, started reading that stuff. So there

was never a, it started with DC, but there was

never a real preference. It was, and to this

day, it's still like this with any movies and

anything like that. It's, are the stories good?

I don't care if it's Superman, I don't care if

it's Batman or if it's X -Men, whatever. Are

the stories good? Can I can I be entertained

by what they're telling me in it? And so I've

never been a hardcore DC all the way, man, or,

you know, marvels it for me. It's never been

like that with me. It's it's working like I be

entertained the most. And that was that was that

was the beginning of the end. So. As you're growing

up, did you fall out of reading comics at some

point? Well, I mean, I... What was... I'm trying

to... If I go back over to my box, I can show

you where I was... What my last comics that I

collected were probably around the time of Age

of Apocalypse. So now, then that came out...

When was that? I don't even know what year that

was. Yeah, that was 95 96 so Through that span

you had so I started probably collecting my my

collecting life For comics you can really narrow

it down to from like 92 to 96. It's only crap

I mean you can it's not very long. It really

isn't but in that time there was a lot of huge

moments in the comic book. I mean, we joked about,

you know, the snafu about bringing Superman back

to life. And it's now basically become a joke

that, you know, if you die in comics, you're

not going to be dead for long. And one of the

biggest, I remember as more of an adult reading

that a lot of people didn't like was Superman

wasn't even dead for like a half a year. I mean,

he came back pretty quick and a lot of people

felt ripped off because, you know, that it was

just a publicity stunt. Same kind of thing with

Batman, you know, he had his back broke and You

know, I mean obviously that's not as catastrophic

as dying, but I mean he came back and it was

fine Yeah, but when it's been breaking your back,

that's pretty catastrophic it is you know, I

mean there was It was it was a I mean that that

that storyline might be one of my favorites,

honestly Because it was a very psychological

Kind of thriller sort of thing that I really

did enjoy but but yeah age of apocalypse happened

around 90 95 96 and That was when I was going

into my senior year of high school. So I at that

time just didn't really Care that much actually,

you know what I'm trying to think there's another

there's another Saga saga. What the hell is this?

That's not one of the comics Let's see zero hour.

There it is. Oh, no. Yeah, that was 94. So yeah

and then 90 in 1994 right before the age of apocalypse

DC had their zero hour crisis in time series,

which was a basically It was all being screwed

up by Hal Jordan, where the universe was deleting

itself. And everybody was disappearing and dying.

I mean, it was all kind of crazy. He went nuts

because of the destruction of Coast City in the

reign of Superman. So it was all kind of interconnected

and everything. But the Age of Apocalypse was

about the end. For me so very very ironic that

the end of my Comic collecting is with something

called apocalypse But but in between that time

and outside of Marvel and DC you were also reading

About the the fab four shell heads weren't you?

Oh, yeah, I mean the ninja That was well, honestly,

I really During that time, the Eastman and Laird

comics were in the 80s, and I didn't get into

comic books then. I honestly didn't even know

about them as comic books at that time. I thought

they were a cartoon. That's what I always thought.

I just thought they were a cartoon, so I never

looked for Ninja Turtle comics. It wasn't until

I was older that I kind of dabbled. and found

out about the Ninja Turtles and I never really

went back and read them. I learned some of the

history about like the Eastman and Layard stuff

and then subsequently the Archie comics that

came around that were based on the cartoon, but

those I honestly never even really read. That

didn't happen until I was much older in my 20s.

And that was, I mean, I wouldn't even say that

that was... because I didn't buy the books. I

didn't read any of the comics from that or anything.

It was just learning the history more of it and

learning how it was then. It wasn't until, I

don't know, a couple years ago, honestly, that

I sat down and actually bought the hardcover

Collections of the original Eastman and Laird

comics that I sat down and read them all the

way through And now it's a gigantic mess for

me So nowadays you've gotten into the point of

actually collecting Comics again to to you know

have a collection and have like double. Yeah

Yeah, and and and and as a display piece and

whatever else what made you want to start doing

that again? I am if you had my wife here. She

would probably tell you it's just because I'm

impulsive and There's probably a great deal of

truth in that um I I had read the like I said

I had read the hard covers I loved them and everything.

It's a completely different story than what I

grew up with with Ninja Turtles. It has a lot

of similarities to the 2003 animated series.

There's a lot of similarities in what Eastman

and Laird were doing with those comics and what

they did with that cartoon show. It's it's weird

because honestly, I don't care too much for that

or that cartoon series, which is really strange

It's it's I've said this before and I'll say

it again It's not as god -awful as everyone assumes.

It is it is really cool. It does give a lot of

homages to the the Eastman and Laird stuff You

know recently Actually over the holidays in 2014

the Nick Nickelodeon the Nick toon channel was

actually rerunning the series for the first time

in god knows how long since it's been on the

air when it was a fox right and i i'd set there

i had to set up a dvr thing and i'm like look

i need to watch this again i haven't seven sure

i've gone on youtube and i've seen it but i even

believe now that they have it on their website

where you can watch a majority or at least a

selection of the episodes i might i might sit

down because it's now been i mean i remember

watching the first couple episodes uh... when

it first debuted Just you know, so I mean that's

that's now like 12 years ago We're getting old

Mike. Um So yeah, I'll be I'll be as of this

recording in about About four weeks. I'll be

35 years old. Yeah You're you're in you're in

the same I turned 37 at the end of this year

No, but it's seven in a row nothing So I might

go back and rewatch it I don't know they might

be I don't think they're on Netflix. I'm gonna

have to know they're not on Netflix I think it's

exclusive to the Nickelodeon website I'll I'll

find it for you. I'll probably sit down and watch

some of it but I mean, I do know that it paid

closer attention to those original comics, because

the original cartoons from the 80s were disgustingly

different from the comic books. The new Nick

series is a little bit closer as well, but still

kid -friendly, I suppose. But with the comics,

I never got into them, so as I got older here,

obviously I started collecting things more, and

it was, you know, I mean, Ninja Turtles have

always been a huge part of my life growing up.

I say this even probably more than Transformers

were, in the fact that Transformers were a little

bit more expensive of toys to buy when I was

a kid. Ninja Turtles weren't I mean now now granted

you're talking the difference between you know,

like eight dollars and four dollars, but You

know my parents didn't have a shit ton of money.

So It wasn't anything that I I couldn't a lot

of my Transformers were hand -me -downs or I

found a garage sales or flea markets and things

like that So my my newest toys were always Ninja

Turtle figures. So you know, I mean Ninja Turtles

was absolutely huge as I was growing up and Now

as an adult I was like, you know, I wouldn't

mind having some of those old comics Even though

I never read them. I never had them. It'd be

nice to have them as part of a collection I mean,

I have so much other stuff that's you know collectible

Might as well have those. I I mean, I've already

read them. So one day I went online and I started

looking and I have a friend of mine that's local

here that was a heavy comic dealer in the in

the 90s and he has connections all over the place

I mean he's got some of the comics in his collection

make me sick there I mean I honestly wouldn't

be surprised if he's got like an action comics

somewhere hiding action comics number one somewhere

I wouldn't be surprised Or an amazing fantasy

15 The ones the ones that I were I mean it's

like he's got the first appearance of Wolverine

and you know I mean all these you know really

heavy -duty expensive comics I mean he's got

him and he's got connections so he gets them

for good deals and I was talking to him like

you know what I want to get some of these I don't

want to get a lot. I'm like I want to get like

the first five issues Of the old Eastman and

Laird stuff Why the first five I don't I don't

know why I picked the first five the first four

are because I they're Back it back in the day.

They had like two colors and that was it and

or for the cult for the covers and then So it's

like issue number one has red and black issue

number two is blue and white and black I guess

three I Don't remember what three is And I don't

remember what four is. But they couldn't afford

colors. That's why the comics are black and white

themselves. So Eastman and Laird did this from

their little apartment. So they couldn't afford

to do this. The original run of Ninja Turtle,

issue number one, they only made 3 ,000 copies.

And that was done because they borrowed money

from... I don't remember which one it was. It

was either Eastman or Laird's uncle. They borrowed

money from them to get them printed. And those

sold out. Second run, they did like 9 ,000 or

something like that. And they were making money,

but it wasn't a heck of a lot. So they couldn't

put the color in the covers. And I wanted to

get issue number five, because that was the first

full color. Cover that they were able to afford

the I mean the inside was still black and white

but the colors were all now in color from that

point on and So that's why I decided to go the

first five and then within those first five or

the first year whatever they also did the the

micro series where it was one shots of Raphael

Donatello Michelangelo Leonardo and they were

stories specific to those characters and I mean

so that's those are the ones that I decided to

get so it's like nine of those and that's it

and now and those are the only ones that I collected

and I got those graded because I'm also one of

those people that when I buy my toys I like them

being as new and as perfect as possible so I

don't like buying a lot of vintage Figures like

transformers or anything because they've been

played with they're loose. They're floppy So

in order to get them I have to buy ones that

are mint and sealed box never been opened and

if you have if you ever try buying a mint and

sealed box Never been open Optimus Prime. It's

not cheap So I'm personally I'm perfectly content

with buying an encore or a reissue or whatever

the case may be It's the same figure. It's the

same mold. Usually there's some kind of improvements

and it's a tight Brand -new figure I'm perfectly

fine with that but with the Ninja Turtle ones

and I know IDW recently released all those like

one shots and things like that, but they're not

the originals and No, they're not the originals.

But for someone that may you know, you said it

yourself as a kid You were on you know, your

family was on a tight budget Someone that is

on a tight budget, you know having the uh...

you know great that i mean those are those are

great ways for people to get those and even to

this day you can walk into toys of ross and playmates

have made Like comic looking turtles that I reviewed

them and they the figures suck but There are

some that come with comics that are reprints

from the IDW series of the one -shots of the

The very first time that Raphael met Casey Jones

You can buy that issue from IDW and get the same

exact comic essentially that I paid $80 for You

know, I mean Yeah. So that's that. And now with,

and honestly, I can tell you that I've already

started looking. And here's the other thing.

I was talking to my friend who lives locally.

He was like, let's do this. We'll get him for

you. You just got to be patient. And that's like,

no, that's not going to work for me. Patience

is not a thing for me. So I went out and I just

started looking. And I got all the deals that

I could. on all the books that I could for the

Ninja Turtle ones. The last one that I recently

got was a second printing. It's not even the

first printing. But the first printing can run

for about $15 ,000. And that's, yeah, that's

gonna be a little bit nuts. Especially if you

get it, you know, I mean, I wanna collect the

comic books that are graded like 9 .6 to 9 .8,

are even more expensive. If I wanted to get a

five, you know, graded number one of Ninja Turtles,

It's considerably less, but if I want to get

something that's Display worthy and I'm gonna

yeah, I'm gonna have it. I have them up on my

wall So I want it to look good. So I settled

currently I'll say currently because there's

I at some point in time hope to get a issue number

one first printing but I settled for a second

printing of issue number one, that's a like a

9 .6 grade or something but He and he just laughs

at me because he knows that and I did that in

less than a month He's like you need to wait

a while. He's like these things come up every

you know So often you'll get a good deal, but

you gotta wait you had to be patient and that

doesn't work for me Something I want it right

now and you know, that's unfortunately a huge

Achilles heel of mine and right now I'm getting

it because I just got the Maddie collector unleashed

doomsday and I'm playing with that and I'm playing

with my Superman figure and I'm setting this

stuff up to do reviews for and I'm like I wonder

how much those cost I know I have them all but

I also know that I read them and they're not

in good shape I mean I'd be I'd be absolutely

shocked if I sent one of my books in and if it

came back with a grade of an eight I mean, I'd

be I crap myself if it was that good, but but

you have to pay to have a great right you do

um, yeah, let's Yeah, it's I mean, but the thing

is once you grade it. It's locked in it's it's

put in a slab It's put in a plastic cut case

It's protected. It's it's an investment at that

point in time and when you get it graded There's

never any doubt anymore. And that's how much

it's worth for the rest of your life. So yes,

it does. And it's not that much. The biggest

thing with me, again, I'm not patient. So to

send out, I sent out issue number two of the

Ninja Turtles. I bought that ungraded, but it

was a, I got really lucky with it. It was a $200

book that I bought that was not graded and The

guy that I bought it from told me that it was

found in a factory with a stack of other ones.

And I'm like, it's a factory find. So it probably

didn't even get into circulation. So I'm like,

that's got to be good shape. So I had him send

me a bunch of pictures. And I'm looking. I'm

like, this thing looks incredible. But the thing

that worried me was he wanted to do the deal

outside of eBay. He wanted to do it with me sending

him a money order. And I'm like, ugh. Like I

don't want to send you the money order because

I don't know if I'll ever get the book then So

it's like I don't have any protection, but it

ended up working out perfectly fine. He sent

me the book I sent it out to get graded and To

get it express graded and then express back.

It ended up costing me like an extra 150 bucks

See oh stop. Yeah, you spent 350 dollars total

correct to get TM at Mirage TMNT number two graded

correct, but the the hindsight is that book is

probably now worth because it's graded easily

450 to 500 bucks Okay, so I mean it worked out

it worked out for me now I was only wanting to

make sure that I got my initial investment back

The biggest thing that I was concerned about

if I got the book I would think so would know

I know I mean if I got the bat book graded back

and it was worth at least 200 bucks I would be

happy with that, but it graded out pretty good.

It ended up grading at a at a 9 .8, which blew

my mind. Absolutely blew my mind, just because

there are factory defects on some of the pages.

I mean, because it's a comic book, a lot of times,

and a lot of comics have this. And my friend

was like, that's not going to affect the grade.

But I was worried that it would. When it's on

a printing reel, there are little claw things

that grab the paper and move it along the printing

press. and sometimes those little claw things

dig in and make indents on the paper and there's

like nine pages on that book that have those

little indents and they're like cut through they're

actually like little cuts through the paper and

I was like this is gonna screw up the grade I

was all upset I was depressed came back it's

not even it's not even listed on there. It's

not even something that they looked at or cared

about. It didn't affect the grading one bit,

so I'm like, yes, score! You know, but yeah,

so now it came back, and like I said, now I'm

looking at the Doomsday, and that was the one

that, that was the series comics that I really

kind of got into, and now I'm looking at collecting

those ones to, and those are actually considerably

cheaper because that was also a huge Thing with

comics up until that point It was you know, they

didn't do a lot of third or second printings

and third printings and fourth printings and

fifth printings I mean it just I mean the Superman

series with him dying They just kept printing.

So it's it's not all that valuable number 75

first printing of him I'm watching an auction

right now for like 68 bucks. That's Graded nine

point eight. I mean it they're not that valuable

But yeah, I mean when it when it comes to Superman,

especially something like that. Yeah where DC

Really pushed the envelope because it was such

a huge deal They wanted everybody in the friggin

world. Absolutely to have this like this isn't

like Action Comics number one. This isn't like

Amazing fantasy number 15 that you know, this

isn't like Batman number. This is something ridiculously

mass -produced Right, right, right. So, I mean

they're not that valuable now. There are some

variants That are a little bit more valuable

There's one that it came with a black plastic

sleeve That it's been removed. I mean and that

even if that's removed It doesn't affect the

grading because that actually can if you left

that on the comic it can damage the comic on

the inside So it's almost better to have that

plastic sleeve not on it. But when you would

remove it It was a tombstone with Superman's

name on it and I want to say that it also came

with like a Like collector cards. It came with

a black armband with the Superman Logo on there.

There's people out there cutting grass. They're

really annoying me now I Don't know if you can

hear him, but I can yeah, sorry But you know

so there's some versions of the comic that are

a little bit more expensive and more valuable

But that's you know those are also a lot more

limited Yeah, that's that's where DC and other

publishers marvel and that that's really where

they come in and get the money nowadays is when

they do variant covers because you know a variant

could depend um trying to think there was a variant

cover and all as it was and it was new i mean

this isn't an old issue this is like spider -man

this is superior suppose a couple years ago superior

spider -man number four or something the variant

the variant cover for it was just a white background

with the superior spider -man swinging you know

towards the camera towards towards the reader

and it was like a hundred bucks for the variant

and my comic shop because they probably got charged

two three what what you know i mean i don't know

what it was but you know variant covers nowadays

are really where the publishers make up there

and in some publishers like idw will throw in

a subscription cover And it'll, like with IDW

specifically, most of the time they're either

the same price as the regular comic, $3 .99,

$2 .99, whatever it is, or they may be $2, $3,

$4 more, you know, but... Well, comics nowadays,

and this is, I don't collect comics now. So my

collecting stopped. You know, I don't read them.

There's a few that I bought I mean I bought the

the Ninja Turtle Ghostbuster crossover I still

haven't even read it. It's it's sitting in my

on my desk over here I mean, I haven't read that

yet. I got the the autographed wing blade series

from you I've yeah, and that's like a four issue

miniseries. I've only read the first two. It's

just I I don't have that drive to sit down and

read comics. I make the excuse that, you know,

I don't have time to do it. I have time to do

it. I just, I don't have the drive to do, to

read them nowadays. Not that the stories are

bad. I mean, a lot of people rave about like

the, the new ongoing transformer stuff. And I

mean, now that they're bringing in Lot of now

they're not that they're making connections with

the like the comics and making toys based off

of that like the whole combiner war stuff We're

getting some of the greatest toys, you know in

terms of the generation line in a while, you

know We're getting a superior on we're getting

a menace or we're getting all these combiners

that are really great figures and They're coming

from being put back into the comics. So I'm not

saying that the stories aren't good I just I

don't have that pull to read them. It's Mean

I might my catchphrase is I don't have time and

and then that's just that's not that I don't

have time It's just I I hate saying it but it's

it's like I can't be bothered to read a comic

book right now So it's unfortunate it really

is and that's why I don't mind collecting these

old ones because I don't have to read them I've

already read them so they just go on a you know

I have special mounts on my for my wall that

I just put them on there and I display them but

They're great. I mean, and a lot of people really

love them. I just can't get into them. But you

have to realize that nowadays, comics really

are not selling like they used to. The advent

of digital media have really hurt paper publications.

I mean, and that's true of newspapers. That's

true of magazines. That's true of comic books.

It's really a changing landscape in terms of

reading. So, If these publishers want to kind

of keep interest in it, they got to do something

different. And that's come up with variant covers.

Come up with something different that can, you

know, pull people in and make them want to collect

them. And the prices are going to be a little

bit higher because they're not making nearly

as many books, period. And when you do a limited

edition kind of thing, that's even fewer books.

Yeah, so most of the most of the variant covers

that I see doesn't matter what publisher it is

But you know most of them are 1 in 10 or 1 in

25 or like 1 in 25 is kind of rare actually Yeah,

but like 1 in 10 is usually the the standard

But, you know, it's one of those things. I mean,

for me, reading comics, because I obviously do

a podcast about comics, you know, be here, you

know, I have slowly, gradually moved to digital

because it just it's easier for me. Well, that,

you know, it's just a space saver. You really

got to look at it that way. Well, I mean, comic

books, I have two large I don't even know how

big they are. Maybe three feet, like three foot

long boxes. And I have two of them. And they're

in my closet. And they sit there. And they take

up a lot of space. So if you are lucky and you

want to collect, or if you're lucky and you have

the space that you can have them, great. But

a lot of us aren't. So keeping them on a digital

kind of media, you know, a tablet or iPhone or

whatever the case may be. It's a big space saver.

You're protected in that. Well, kinda sorta.

You don't have to worry about space too much.

They're not valuable if you keep them on a digital

media. There's no value to it. No, but what I'm

saying is, yes, you are kinda protected, but

at the same time, you're kinda not. Unless...

the publisher has has allowed comixology last

year comixology dot com uh... struck up a deal

with several publishers where they would allow

uh... pdf or cbc backups because what if comixology

dot com servers go down well and this has happened

to several people that actually listen to the

show uh... uh... our buddy uh... scanner fifty

one at scanner fifty one on twitter had told

me that uh... he lost about four hundred dollars

worth of comics he got most of the back but purchasing

four dollars for the digital comics over time

he lost a lot of his comics because something

happened to comics ology servers so that's the

thing is that's true of it that's true of anything

but i mean yeah yeah i mean the money that he

lost is the money that he paid Well true, it's

not it's not there's there's not an increase

in value You know, I mean if you had if I handed

you I I mean it wouldn't it wouldn't ever happen

but say back to 1992 They had a digital version

of the death of Superman and a print version

of the death of Superman The digital version

is probably not I would almost guarantee you

not going to fluctuate in value Oh, no, no, no,

no, no. So that's what I'm saying. So if you

lose your comic collection on that, you're only

out the money that you paid. Right. But I mean,

the man is still out those. Sure. Oh, absolutely.

Absolutely. For me, I always like, I'll sit here

and I'll buy a certain series or I'll buy a couple

of trade paperbacks on Comixology. But I might

not get to them as far as reviewing them here

in the pull bag until. to three four six months

down the road but at the time when they come

out of my okay well i have the money to get this

let me go ahead and get it is just kinda nice

now and i wish dc and marvel would jump on the

span like it because it has it makes no matter

to them honestly that they're already getting

their money it makes no matter to them the person

that that bought the thing has a backup of it

i mean you already paid them so yeah You know,

with the digital, one of the reasons, and I think

I've said this on the show before, I could be

wrong, I don't know, I have a horrible memory

almost being 35 years old. Old man -itis, that's

what it is, old man -itis. But I switched to

digital because I found myself, even though I

really enjoyed reading print comics, Myself after

going to the comic shop coming home. I'm sitting

here reading You know every week three or four

different single -issue comics and but but by

the third issue whatever it is that doesn't matter

what is okay, I'm holding this here and I'm either

my head's falling back on the chair or it's I'm

almost tipping over for like there was When we

did our first annual Punisher month and it was

only because of the heft of the book. I had bought

Was it Punisher Max? God, what was it? It was

not. It was Welcome Back Frank. And Welcome Back

Frank, the trade paperback that I bought, was

like all 12 issues in one giant book. It was

a... you know and I'm sitting here holding this

like oh my god after six of these issues I'm

getting carpal tunnel from holding this thing

and then even though I'm reading the story as

I'm going along and really enjoying what I'm

reading at the same time at one point I literally

tipped over the book fell out of my hand I almost

fell asleep because I'm so tired of just sitting

there so one of the reasons why I love digital

comics specifically again comixology .com is

because they have a technology there called guided

view so it's basically like reading a comic book

in storyboard form and it draws your eye i'll

have to show it to you off air but it draws your

eye to whatever panel it is and it gets to zoom

in on a panel and zoom out on panels and everything

else and it's just it's so cool Yeah, for me,

I've said this before, people have heard Joe

Reed and I do X number, I don't even know how

many IDW TMNT coverages we've done now, but we're

up to current storyline at this point. The IDW

Turtles was my first experience with Turtles

in comics. Like you, I thought, oh, 87. It started

as a cartoon. And then later I found out about,

you know, The Mirage and all this and all that.

And it's not that I don't want to go back and

read The Mirage comics. I may eventually do that.

I don't know. But I just know that there are

only certain things I like in black and white.

You know, Three Stooges, the Thin Man movies,

you know, stuff like that. Uh, you know, and

I, I remember being so skeptical of the current

IDW ongoing when I opened the book and I see,

Oh no, all four turtles are no, no, no, no. All

four turtles are wearing red bandanas. No. no

no no but joe assured me and you know really

you know it came true where you know he's like

it's all right don't worry about it it's for

a reason it really was and i gotta say what tom

waltz and i said this before this podcast with

tom waltz bobby kernau and kevin eastman are

doing tom waltz is the main writer kernau is

the editor but he also has a couple of story

credits here and there and obviously eastman

is eastman but waltz is the main writer the idw

series pays So much homage to every aspect of

TMNT. It is just so damn good. Every issue I

read leaves me with a smile on my face after

I read it. It really really does. It's just so

so good. Alright, is there anything else you

would like to bring up about your comic experience?

I don't know. If anybody has Death of Superman

comics and wants to sell them to me on the cheap,

I'll buy them from you. That's about it. This

unsolicited solicitation from Optimus. Alright

folks, where can the people find you online if

they would like to interact with you sir or watch

your videos? Best place to get me would probably

be... social media, so Twitter, Twitter .com

slash Optibotamus or Facebook at Facebook .com

slash Team Botamus. There's obviously my YouTube

channel, but I get a billion messages there,

so I'm probably not going to be able to interact

with anybody there. But there's YouTube .com

slash Optibotamus. And there's also OptibotamusReviews

.com. And that website. Yeah, I always forget

that I have a website. Yeah, OptibotamusReviews

.com. Yeah, all right folks as I said at the

beginning of this episode next time around you're

gonna hear a death Baron and I talk about Masters

that he made the Masters universe issues 13 to

19 so Stop it So that's what's gonna go on there

make your greatest game in the comics and we

will catch you next time Batman's head on a lance?

You've just heard the latest episode of The Pull

Bag, the GCRN's comic review and discussion podcast.

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