lou_fine

Good question. I love all three and am happy to have them. 13 is my favorite of the three. I would like to know if anyone knows more about the history of the rise in price of 15. One great copy that set a high mark? A feature in overstreet? Well, according to Overstreet, issue #15 is the first appearance and origin of Tara. I guess this must mean something since Overstreet has always had this issue priced higher than all pf the other surrounding issues. As for any write-up, the only one I remember is for issue #14 which was featured in one of Sean Linkenback's columns in one of the very early CBM magazines as a book that was "as rare as hen's tooth" to find. I guess the CGC census sort of disputes that.

I believe they were going for around $7K on a price per point basis for unrestored copies earlier this year. Not sure if this price point will still hold considering the number of copies out there, albeit most of them are restored copies. Also need to add that it depends upon how your book actually presents. Unfortunately, there are some beautiful looking 3.5's and then there are some fugly looking 3.5's out there, as CGC is notoriously consistent for swinging between loose grading periods and tight grading periods.

Although it should be pointed out, however, that virtually all of the copies that are surfacing have pretty heavy restoration work on them, like this EP copy on the Pedigree Comics website. The only one that appears to be unrestored and in relatively half decent condition is the CGC 4.0 copy on CC's upcoming auction. Only problem is that this is most likely going to require digging deep into your pocket if you hope to have any chance of picking it up.

Another nice looking copy from your collection! Although my personal preference is for issue 8 with the bright red cover, I guess issue 7's demand is pushed a bit higher since it has the first cover appearance for the Blue Beetle.

Congrats that is a beauty That one was up for auction a few months ago, wasn't it? Just out of curiosity, why is it a 4.5? Looks absolutely amazing for the grade. Great pickup. Thanks comicjack and october. Not sure why it sits at 4.5. There might be a bit of a spine split, though it's hard to tell through this version of the plastic slab. Maybe I'll buy the grading notes, or just crack it out... +3 Definitely a beautiful book with bright colors and certainly looks much nicer than the assigned CGC grade. Any idea how much it costs for the Graders' Notes or is it possible to obtain this free of charge from the auction house? Does CGC always charge for their Graders's Notes or is the original submitter of the book entitled to free Graders' Notes?

I guess similar to how many collectors still consider Adventure 40 to be the "true" first appearance of the Sandman, even though the "real" first appearance is actually in NY World's Fair 1939.

As we all know, bob doesn't even list "cgc" prices in the guide and these cover centric cgc driven "classics" aren't likely to ever be broken out. 26,27 (V), 29 (hitler), 30 (flag), 33 (swastika), etc are all wonder raboy covers. Ask parker, it's a tough little run to put together. Many issues seem to rarely be sold or auctioned , especially in decent condition. If you could have only 2 books out of this classic run from Master 26 through 40, which two would the ones that you would be targeting for?

How tough are Master 26 through 40 as we hardly ever see any of the early Masters in grade for sale anywhere? Which issues are the hidden cover gems since the only ones to be broken out in the guide so far are #29 with the Hitler/Hirohito cover and the issue #40 flag cover? So many other great classic covers in there like the V for Victory, flag cover, swastika smashing cover, etc, and yet they are still lumped together in the guide with no individual breakouts yet.

Are we talking about a handful of keys, or is the demand being felt across entire runs? Are the buyers already involved in G.A., or are they buyers from other ages who are motivated by relatively low prices? Prices on books nowadays are too high for most collectors to go after the entire run. It's almost always about the keys and classic covers in today's marketplace. For a collector to buy a GA book, I believe they have to make a conscious and deliberate decision to buy a GA book, as opposed to being a BA or CA collector and simply attracted to the book by its low price. In other words, I believe they would already be into GA collecting or have the prior intention of sampling a GA book.

Any idea how many copies of AS 8 have been slabbed so far? Yes, all of the Wonder Woman related books were moribund with limited and tepid demand only a few short years ago, similar to how demand for the World's Finest title still is today. All of the current red-hot demand for AS 8 seems to stem from the crossover hype due to her anticipated movie appearances. So, who's to say what the demand for her titles will be in the long run after the movie comes out and the hype starts to die back down. Not so with the Pep 22 which has always had steady demand from the serious long-term collectors in this hobby. Probably due to its true rarity, this book hasn't really gone through any extended cold periods or extended red hot periods, possibly due to a lack of reinforcing sales. Just strong and steady price appreciation with no apparent end in sight yet. Doubt the pending Riverdale TV series will have the same price impact on Pep 22 that the highly anticipated WW related movies are having on AS 8. There are simply not the supply of Pep 22's out there to fuel a similar short-term price spiral. BTW: I am not aware of a Pep 22 auction listing that did not sell in a recent HA auction.

Ya i would agree with that Pep 22 is hard to find 25 to 1. Maybe 10-1, not 25-1 Unless there are a lot of private sales of Pep 22 which the general public is not aware of, I personally believe the correct ratio might actually be somewhere in between those 2 numbers. But most probably closer to 10+ as opposed to 25.

boom love that cover. 30 and 32 are both really cool non-bat covers in the run imo. One of Guardineer's classics! I love the stitching details on the green suit. Ah, so many books, not enough ______... I am a big fan of Guardineer's work on all the Pre Robins. 28 is my personal favorite, but I am probably in the minority here. No, you are not! If you are referring to only the pre-Robin non-Batman Detective covers, then it's also all about issue #28 for me. Of course, I could subconsciously be channeling the fact that this is the all-important 2nd appearance of the Batman, and possibly the toughest to find out of all of the pre-Robin Detectives.

Absolutely. And I still think it's a top book, but that all depends on how we define top 10. If it's just top copy then I'd expect the Church #22 to sell for a record number and beat out many of the top 10 GA books. If we are defining top 10 in terms of sale value then you have to compare apples to apples. So you would have to ask yourself if a 9.6 mile high pep 22 would realize a higher price vs a 9.6 mile high All-Star 8? And so forth Corvette vs lamborghini nope. Not if the contention is that pep 22 deserves to be in front of all star 8. Straight up , head to head...."car vs car" (or comic vs comic in this case) Pep 22 only has Archie going for it really thats all. 220mph AS 8 Wonder Woman DC 270mph IMO Dont get me wrong its a harder book to find and a great book to have just dont think its in the same class with AS 8 but not far behind. WW is hot last couple years and not really slowing down. only my thoughts To each their own! Archie is more than enough as it's one of the few characters that have been published continuously since his first appearance all the way back in 1941. I would also place it ahead of AS 8 based simply upon its relative supply and demand ratio. In other words, although the demand for AS 8 is higher than the demand for Pep 22, the supply of Pep 22 is most certainly only at a fraction of the supply of AS 8. It is conceivable to find some dealers with multiple copies of AS 8's for sale, while at the same time, you could walk the entire convention floor and not see a single Pep 22 for sale anywhere.

Stray thought: Given how WW II cover Peps have been soaring, I wonder whether Pep 22's value is now more from the cover than from being the first Archie? I doubt it Without a doubt from my point of view as these Church copies of the pre-Archie Pep books sold for only $25K to $35K a pop, and not in the $500K+ price range that the Church copy of Pep 22 would have sold for.

not even close. Batman 1 in 5.0 would be about 180-200k and tec 31 in 5.0 about 125... as an example. +1 I strongly doubt we'll ever see the day that the valuation on a 'Tec 31 passes Batman 1 when measured on an equivalent condition basis. Although 'Tec 31 does indeed have the classic Batman cover, it should be pointed out that Bats 1 also has an iconic cover on its own. Plus from a pure content point of view, it is probably the top GA book out there.

Thanks rainmaker. The front cover shows pretty well, apart from the one prominent tape stain. But that back cover is a bit of a mess; the tape residue looks like, well, blood. As if that knife on the front cover found its target. 'Tis pricey for all that... +1 Based upon what I am seeing being slabbed as 3.0 graded books nowadays, it's like the difference between night and day. Almost makes me think that CGC graded books should probably have an expiry date or Best Before Date in order to eliminate the sometimes blatant grading inconsistencies when CGC is swinging between loose grading and tight grading time periods. Yes, much more money for CGC , but much more money taken out of the pockets of collectors. I guess the best solution is to buy the book, instead of buying the label.

They say there are no friends in auctions. Everyone gets over not winning or over paying. Next... You're missing the boat drawer. Rick was kind enough after beating me out of a boards book, to offer to sell it to me for just what he paid even though I said I'd pay more. There are still a few gentlemen left in the comic biz... +1 Rick is awesome. He offered to sell me a book at cost, that he knew I wanted. I think Rick is one of the few good guys who is more interested in enjoying the hobby with other collectors, than he is in making an extra dollar. There are definitely some good guys on the boards here as I also had a similar experience with Ed (skybolt) who is also an active board member here. Lost out on a CL bid for the Church copy of Witches Tales 12 to skybolt back in 2009, as I was too slow on the draw. Contacted Ed through PM to express my sincere interest in the book as I simply loved the green spider cover a la Suspense 8. Due to my interest, Ed assured me that I could have the book at his cost when it came time for him to sell it. Fast forward a few years and noticed that Ed had mentioned on the boards here that he was in the process of selling off some of his books. Sent Ed a PM and although he had no plans to sell the Witched 12 at that time, he decided to pass it onto me at his purchase price plus postage & insurance, even though the book might have gone up in value during the interim. A truly stand up board member here who cares more about the books finding a good home, as opposed to squeezing the last dollar out of them. Needless to say, I still do have the book in my personal collection where it will be staying for many more years (decades hopefully) to come.

Not my favorite but maybe a strong #2! So, what's your definite #1 then?

Another indication of how cover-driven the hobby is these days. Really nothing at all wrong with the cover for Fantastic 11 which sold for only $597, although I guess it would have done a lot better with a female in bondage, as opposed to a male in bondage on top of a spiked bed of nails. Doubt the consignor is going to see much money for these last 3 Fantastic's after Heritage takes off their standard 30% juice. BTW: Congrats on your pickup of Fantastic 6 because that's definitely just a fantastic cover.

+1 Definitely a classic Bill Ward Torchy cover. Just checked the Mile High Catalog and noticed that there are no Torchy's listed in there. Wonder if this small run was snagged by Burrell Rowe as part of his payment for loaning Chuck the money to buy the Edgar Church collection in the first place? ...Chuck gave the Torchy run to an assistant who loved the title. GOD BLESS... -jimbo(a friend of jesus) That is certainly interesting to know. Any idea if any of these Torchy's have come back into the marketplace or are they still in the hands of this assistant here?

I saw those Foxes in the HA Sunday night auction. A little surprised that they weren't included in the signature auction, but the consignor still received strong prices. It is a very sharp looking copy and a nice pickup. +1 Yes, indeed, a real nice presenting book with a beautiful red cover to boot! Not so sure about the strong prices for the consignor though. Although this particular issue out of the four available did go for multiples of guide, it looks like Fantastic 9 sold at a discount to guide while issue #10 sold just barely at guide price. Especially since both of these issues were relatively high grade in the sense that they had only 1 higher graded copy. Not so sure the consignor would be happy with these prices on an overall basis, as I certainly would not be. Especially when raw low grade copies of Wonderworld's 11 & 12 were fetching close to 3K on eBay a few months ago while these relatively high grade Fantastic's only sold for $550 to $850 each. But a Fantastic steal of a deal (pun fully intended) for the buyer of these last 3 issues.

sold a 4.5 ep last year for 11+, so this seems like a good deal +1 thought the 38 went low (and it's a nice looking copy) I believe the EP restoration was a significant factor that brought the price down, as the market is just not that liquid for EP books. There also has been a lot of early pre-Robin 'Tec (including 'Tec 38) coming into the marketplace recently. So, the thinking may have been to pass over this EP copy and just wait for the next one in either better or unrestored condition to come along.

+1 Definitely a classic Bill Ward Torchy cover. Just checked the Mile High Catalog and noticed that there are no Torchy's listed in there. Wonder if this small run was snagged by Burrell Rowe as part of his payment for loaning Chuck the money to buy the Edgar Church collection in the first place?

Absolutely love this cover and I also feel that it's both highly underappreciated and still greatly undervalued relative to today's hot marketplace. Probably hasn't been mentioned since the superb si-fi detailed artwork is so good that it simply overwhelms the GGA aspect of this classic cover.

Actually, the interiors of the Torchy's with pages and pages of Bill Ward's GGA throughout are even better than some of their exterior covers. The only copies which I have are the Overstreet copies of Torchy 5 & 6 which I was able to snagged from the Diamond vault during their grand opening. Some beautiful artwork in there and these 2 classic GGA covers still seems to be greatly undervalued as compared to some of the other classic GGA books. Maybe they'll catch on one day similar to how Cindy 37 has now taken off after being relatively overlooked for decades.