lou_fine

+1 If you've been here long enough, the comic book market most definitely moves in cycles. What is hot one year can turn relatively cold for extended periods of time and the vice versa is also true. Take a look at how super red hot GA was back in the mid 90's and how they then proceeded to cool off in the latter part of the 90's. Similarly, SA was hot in the beginning of the 90's, but take a look at how stone cold dead they were for virtually all of the 80's. Right now, it's all about the keys and the classic covers. And yet the mid-runs and the non-keys are not seeing anywhere near the same kind of demand at all, especially in terms of some of the BA and CA books. Another example is movie and TV related books which are super hot right now such as the GA Wonder Woman keys which are red hot right now, but were relatively frigid cold for the longest while just a few short years ago. Yes, nothing seems to stay hot forever.

Until they eventually find out how much $$ they can get for it. With you gone, so is the book. That is usually the sad fact in life but one can still hope. Like the saying goes one man's dream is another man's dust!! Unfortunately, this is just so true. As a collector, nobody will love your books more than you. One you are gone, however, all everybody else will see are just the dollar $$ signs. Heck, even right now before you are even close to going, all they really see are the big fat dollar $$$ signs.

I think they hold up pretty well. They were reprinted in a TPB a few years ago. +1 Absolutely loved the written stories as they were actually the best part of the books once you got past the beautiful covers.

My focus, respective of the Church HITs, has been on two things, grade assigned and how that impacts prior graded books. I won't go into specifics here. As all of us already know here, CGC is sometimes guilty of swinging between loose grading and tight grading time periods when it comes to grading their books. Whether intentional or unintentional is another question though. Unfortunately, this means that there is probably just a slight bit of luck in terms of timing when it comes to submitting your books into them for grading. The other point is in terms of their unpublished grading standards. I personally believe that their grading standards have shifted over a period of time such that a particular defect(s) might have more or less importance in the determination of the final grade over time. Especially when you have different graders involved, and in particular, when there are changes to a head grader. After all, grading is still subjective and really a matter of opinion and not a matter of science. As for having your books regraded hoping for a higher grade based upon what you are seeing in the Hit's here. You never know, the new grading team that's in place might conceivably regrade them lower as they might now be putting a much heavier hammer to near invisible defects which you cannot see from just a scan. Maybe it's time that all CGC graded comics have a Best Before or expiry date attached to them in order to ensure more consistency for the books. Additional resub revenues for CGC. Of course, this would also cut down on the number of original submissions and certainly be a big help to the turnaround times.

If you was speaking in generality, then I would tend to agree with you. Since you are saying that each and every one of these issues without any exception at all, must be the best copy of that issue simply because they are the Church copy, then I would disagree with you. From my point of view, it's quite conceivable that another yet to be graded pedigree copy such as a San Francisco or a Pennsylvania or even a raw non-pedigree copy might just exist in better condition than the Church copy for a few of these Hit issues. This Church run of Hit's are definitely a beautiful set of books, but I guess it's just a case of never say never if you are talking about each and every single issue in this Church run.

Well, rinse and repeat. This time, it's again a handful of Star and Star Rangers, including some of the HTF early oversized issues in the upcoming CC Event Auction. This time though, the pages would appear to be much nicer as they are not Slightly Brittle like the last set in the CL auction.

Looks like we didn't have to wait for the actual sale to go through as the 9.2 graded copy has already been removed from the CGC census. Wonder if the consignor finally got around to turning in the old 9.2 label or if CGC just decided to do this based upon the info here and also from the prvious thread earlier this year.

Really can`t beat them, especially with both of them rumored to be in solo Hollywood blockbuster movies in the next 5 years. Didn't Spawn already have his own movie about 20 years ago? Didn't seem to have much impact on the prices of the Spawn comic books at the time.

Is it possible that the 9.6 is a press and resub of the 9.2 (cr-ow) that sold last year? Yep, it's the same copy. The 9.2 sold in June of 2014. The 9.6 was graded November 2015. Lots of tell-tale signs if you look at the scans side by side. It would be nice if CGC removed the 9.2 from the census for accuracy. I believe they would need the "old 9.2 label" to be submitted back to them, otherwise it's just guesswork on their part as they apparently do not work from prior scans.

Is it possible that the 9.6 is a press and resub of the 9.2 (cr-ow) that sold last year? Yep, it's the same copy. The 9.2 sold in June of 2014. The 9.6 was graded November 2015. Lots of tell-tale signs if you look at the scans side by side. Man I love this hobby! Yes indeed, it's really kind of sad that high end grading has now evolved devolved over time into a game of chasing after the near invisible additional revenue generating defects, as opposed to the fugly potential additional revenue inhibiting defects that were so much more of a factor in the days prior to CGC.

Beautiful copies. Loved that series as a kid, although, as I remember, the publishing schedule was erratic. +2 Absolutely loved the entire, but rather short-lived Total War / Mars Patrol comic series when it first came out. Was lucky enough to acquire file copies for issues #4 through #10 for a very reasonable price back in the day. Couldn't believe how minty fresh these copies look and even much nicer than the Curator copy of Total War #1 that I picked up later. With all of these si-fi related shows such as Colony, Travelers, and the likes being done on TV nowadays, I have always felt that this would be a good series to adapt for some independent TV network.

there were three of them last time I checked?...might push 7 figs again I think so. AF15 in 9.6 is a 1MM book. And I also clearly remember it was not that long ago that most board members here said that the previous $1.1M sale for an AF 15 about 5 years ago would have resulted in a big loss for the purchaser if they had tried to out it back in the market. It's amazing how fast the market for all of the keys and classic covers have gone up in just the past couple of years.

Someone did that a few months ago if you scroll back through the thread but with some of the recent sales it might be worth doing this exercise again. I believe Metro had a Buy Price Listing for AF 15's in the various grades from just this past summer or Spring. Can't remember what the prices were and also not sure if they would still be valid now?

Good grief there is a mountain of turds in this one Are we talking about the same auction here or are we talking about a mountain of sweet turds here?

Census tells us there are a total of 67 copies graded by CGC so far. Definitely more than I expected. This is made up of 33 Universal copies with the highest being 8.5; 29 Restored copies with 2 of them topping out at 9.2; 4 Qualified copies, and then 1 lonely Signature copy coming in at a grade of 1.5.

Most definitely a very beautiful copy that would look good in anybody's collection. Not sure about a potential upgrade to 9.4 with the new grading team that is in place at CGC. Especially since this copy here has quite a few color breaking spine ticks which is a definite no-no when it comes to defects in this shifting game of grading.

This is a unique cover to see in person! Yes indeed, is A-Man actually trying to pop or jump right out of that cover?

You know, that Hit 1 might actually be doable for the more budget minded conscious collector, since it's one of the lower graded Mile High Hit's at only a CGC 9.0 copy. Have personally always loved the beautifully rendered details on this particular issue and feel that it is one of the more underappreciated Lou Fine covers out there, relative to some of his other more widely acclaimed classic covers

interesting choice of words. maybe that goes towards something you've vetted. Well, since we are on the CGC boards here, I guess we should remember the old doctrine that we should be buying the label, as opposed to buying the book. Especially since we should be showing strong support to the new grading team which is now in place as they try to feret out and hammer those books with those nasty near invisible additional revenue generating defects, while giving a soft pass to the fugly ones with the potential additional revenue inhibiting defects.

Purple is certainly not a very common color when it comes to the comic books.

I see the Detective 35, but can't seem to find the 9.6 copy of Detective 32. Do you have a link for the Detective 32?

So, the wife lets you out to go to work during the day and then puts on the leather and cracks the whip while having you in bondage during the evening!!!

Yup. Very interesting that we`re finally seeing some fresh Church runs hitting the market, after years and years of the same books being recycled over and over. where are the Church Mystery Men Comics? JBComicbox? Yes, JB has pretty much the whole run I believe. Yes, brought from Overstreet and Geppi back in the mid 90's during the Diamond International Galleries big grand opening.

That's one of the ones I'm watching There's far too many beautiful covers here to just focus on one only. I've always love the covers for Hit 1, 6, and 11, but the ones for 4, 10, 13, 16, etc sure look stunning also. Heck, they are all fantastically gorgeous covers.

I seemed to have missed this one!! Very nice!! +1 And surprisingly, it's still the highest graded copy on the CGC census, even 12 long years after it was graded.