lou_fine

Dude, you are definitely costing me money now. Another one goes on the want list pile +1 Now, that's got to be an all-time classic L.B. Cole si-fi cover from my point of view! It really can't get any better than that, with all of the detailed artwork.

Very cool. This is a cover I never really noticed before. It looks like the original owner even signed your copy for you. +1 Absolutely love this cover, especially when it comes to the red and green colors which just pops off the page on a high grade copy!

Supposedly, so did Batman!

Is this where they came up with the idea for the micro skirts that young girls would come to wear in the future?

Congrats on the resolution and being able to pick up a nice looking copy at FMV+ after taking the obvious defect into account. I guess the seller found out the PO Manager was no dummy after all and knew what he was looking at.

the coolest SSpangled imo I've always liked the SS 8 myself ever since I saw the blood red cover for the first time. The book looked so fresh and the colors just popped as though the reds were just dripping off the cover after just coming off the printing press. Unfortunately, I decided not to take the book after Mark Wilson told me he had cleaned (aqueously) the cover. Maybe I should have picked it up anyways since it was just such an absolutely gorgeous red cover.

I would say it is much, much scarcer than sc 4. Still sells quickly when reasonably priced Surprised to hear that it is much scarcer than Showcase 4. Would Young Men 24 be the scarcest issue in the run because it appears to be the most valuable? Or is it's higher value coming from the fact that it is the first issue in the run and also retells the origin of the 3 main Timely heroes? Since these 3 runs are so short lived, is this an indication that they did not do too well from a sales point of view? If this is the case, would their final issues be the toughest to find as they would be winding down their operations by then? Does reasonably priced mean at guide prices or possibly even at a slight discount to guide?

Been meaning to ask you about the forgotten Atlas super-hero books that came out in the 1953 to 55 time period. These would be the short run of Human Torch, Subby, and Young Men titles which came out several years after the end of the Timely hero books and also several years before the start of the Marvel super-heroes. Are these books relatively tough to find or are they simply not in demand since you don't tend to see them in the marketplace as often as the more popular Timely hero books and the much more common early SA Marvel books?

lots of low grade high census fox books; that 5.5 puts this high census book to shame. I am starting to think that this perceived huge chasm between the supposedly large quantity of early Fox books as opposed to the almost non-existent quantity of later Fox books is probably not as wide in reality as we might think. In speaking with many long term collectors and quasi dealers, they all knew that early Fox books were tough to get and were worth a lot of money in any grade. When told about what was happening with the later Fox books, they all expressed surprise and said that they probably would not have considered slabbing a low grade later Fox book since they had not thought it to be a worthwhile process due to the perceived low valuation of these books. Obviously these were collectors and quasi dealers not in the know, but probably more of them out there than the ones in the know. I'm not a firm believer in the relative scarcity of the later books relative to the earlier. It's certainly true for some, but by no means all of them. I've had a number of the late number Fox books that now are reportedly scarce, but over my collecting lifetime have been relatively available. I've never felt compelled to pick them up because in all honesty I saw them more often than some of the earlier issues. Plus, no Lou Fine, etc. +1 Excellent observation! I also remember seeing lower grade copies of the later Fox books at comic conventions way back in the day, but would always pass on them as I was really more into the earlier Fox books with the better cover artwork. In addition, low grade copies were also priced relatively low in the guide (well under $100) and as a result, I thought why waste money when I could simply wait for nicer high grade copies to show up, which would also be a better fit in my collection. I still remembered speaking with Jon Berk at the Diamond Int'l Galleries Grand Opening back in '95 after he had just picked up the entire Church run of Mystery Men #1 to #31 (excluding #21 - #23 which was missing from the MH run). He told me that he was really interested only in MM 1 through MM 10, but Geppi and Overstreet had refused to break up the run. As a result, JB was forced to buy the entire run in order to get the books within the run that he really wanted. Looking back now, it appears that Steve and Bob did a big favor to Jon by forcing him to pick up the entire run which is now apparently in big demand. especially when the later books from #24 to #31 went for only $770 a pop, which was probably a big number back then.

lots of low grade high census fox books; that 5.5 puts this high census book to shame. I am starting to think that this perceived huge chasm between the supposedly large quantity of early Fox books as opposed to the almost non-existent quantity of later Fox books is probably not as wide in reality as we might think. In speaking with many long term collectors and quasi dealers, they all knew that early Fox books were tough to get and were worth a lot of money in any grade. When told about what was happening with the later Fox books, they all expressed surprise and said that they probably would not have considered slabbing a low grade later Fox book since they had not thought it to be a worthwhile process due to the perceived low valuation of these books. Obviously these were collectors and quasi dealers not in the know, but probably more of them out there than the ones in the know.

Well, if this is the only copy in the census, then I guess you could also say that it is the "Lowest Graded Copy" of Weird Comics #15.

Rick; With the mind-blowing record prices that some of the later Fox books in relatively low grade seems to be achieving recently, do you think the later Fox books are now in more demand than the earlier Fox books from 1939 and early 1940? Or is it that we simply haven't really seen many of the early Fox books in the marketplace, and they would also be at record highs if they do show up in the marketplace? Some examples of recent high prices for some of the later Fox books: 1) Raw VFish copy of Mystery Men 30 apparently selling for $7,500 at SD Con; 2) Raw VG copies of Wonderworld's 11 & 12 selling on eBay for around $2,700 each; 3) Raw Fair copy of Amazing Mystery Funnies Vol 2 #1 selling on eBay for $2K; and now a 4) CGC 4.0 graded copy of U.S. Jones 2 selling on eBay just this past weekend for $4,716. Seems like some of these later Fox books are starting to approach or possibly even surpass the valuations of their earlier counterparts, or are these just one-time lucky shots on behalf of the sellers?

I believe it's quite possible that CGC simply missed the trimming on the CF the second time around and that there was nothing nefarious done by the submittor of the book.

Saw that. The seller's going to have to change his name to comics4more! Well, since the condition guide price for this book is at only $258, I gues his name should really be comics4muchmuchmore! Seriously though, since this appears to have been a no reserved auction, I guess the final price is really all about the bidders, as opposed to the seller himself. As a seller, sometimes you just need to have a bit of luck and just hope there are 2 really hungry buyers out there for your book when you get around to listing it.

i think I had a couple of reports printed years ago but my "big" one that I detailed my "price per point" concept never made it Had put a lot of time and effort into it. Decided wouldn't do that again unless really needed Crafty old Bob probably thought too many readers would jump onto your "price per point" concept, making his standard spreads from Good to Fine seem even more irrelevant and decided to conveniently "misplace" your report.

Finally got around to reading some of the market reports in the new Overstreet guide. Any reason why you do not bother with doing up a market report for them since you are listed as one of the advisors? I know you had submitted one a few years ago that somehow never made it's way into the guide. Just asking since you could dance circles around some of these other boring and tedious reports which I am reading here.

Any idea as to the date of grading for the 3.5 copy that is currently up for auction? 07/13/2012 2012 was a loose grading year. This book is evident. Another perfect example of buy the book as opposed to buy the label for those in the know. Any bets that the CGC 3.0 copy would have graded out as a CGC 4.0 or possibly even as a CGC 4.5 copy back in 2012? Unfortunately, a large percentage of the bidders on these auctions tend to go only with the label because they don't pay as much attention as us and as a result, really have nothing else to go on.

Any idea as to the date of grading for the 3.5 copy that is currently up for auction?

Not even close the 3.0 way way way better to have. Any idea as to the time period when these 2 copies were graded? Just wondering if it is possible that the 3.5 copy was graded during one of CGC's loose grading periods while the 3.0 copy was graded during one of their tight grading periods? Tape on the 3.0? Not sure about the 3.0 copy since I can't find it on their site. The 'Tec 29 CGC 3.5 copy does have tape on the interior cover and centerfold, as clearly specified on both the CGC label and CC's auction listing description. Probably loosely graded as it looks like a pretty rough 3.5 graded book.

Highly unlikely that a book could have sustain that kind of damage while in transit if the exterior packaging did not have any damage at all. Looks like the book will be yours since I do not see the PO accepting this claim since there is no evidence that exterior packaging had any damage at all.

Not even close the 3.0 way way way better to have. Any idea as to the time period when these 2 copies were graded? Just wondering if it is possible that the 3.5 copy was graded during one of CGC's loose grading periods while the 3.0 copy was graded during one of their tight grading periods?

Not even close the 3.0 way way way better to have. The 29 3.0 has been removed. Having a 29 3.0 and a 29 3.5 in the same auction would not be a smart move. An obvious posting blunder by CC with respect to these 2 copies of 'Tec 29. If I was the consignor of the 3.5 copy that is remaining in the auction, I would not be thrilled at all as this mistake is most likely going to cost the consignor a lot of money.

How long ago was this and based upon the asking price, did it appear as if the store owner knew what he had? Most LCS's I know would definitely have books (actually photocopies only) like this on their wall behind their sales desk to keep the busy hands from lifting them out of the store.

How is there ANY WAY that was damaged in shipping? If I were selling someone a couple 4 figure books, I would package them so well, it would take them a week just to unwrap. Even with poor packaging, however, I am not sure how that damage could have occurred. Postal should deny claim (which would allow you to keep the book, which is still a great looking book, albeit with a FMV substantially less than what the seller originally bargained for). I hope this all works out for you, Rick. I know you were really looking forward to these treasures. +1 From the above picture, there is a zero percent chance that the damage at the bottom of the spine is due to shipping damage while in transit. Do you still have the mailing box the book was shipped in so that we can take a look at it to see if there is any damage to the exterior packaging? Certainly looks like an obvious oversight or grading error on the part of the seller from my point of view.

Looks like HA is gonna be competing with CC for early Detectives in their upcoming featured auction. Tec 28 2.0 Tec 31 6.5 Tec 33 1.5 Tec 34 6.0 ® Tec 35 3.5 ® Tec 38 6.5 ® Well, the bottom 3 should be less of a competition since they have been restored, which tends to scare off some of the potential purchasers.