lou_fine

Well, that's another one of those really HTF Allentown pedigree books that rarely ever comes to market. I remember seeing both this one and its companion, the Allentown Wonderworld 13 at a Seattle convention back in the latter part of the 90's. Too bad Harley was able to convince me to pick up only one of them instead of both of them at the time, as I finally decided on the WW 13 at something like 1.75X guide or thereabouts. Probably would have picked up both of them except that I am El Cheapo and never like paying over guide for anything, let alone almost double in this case. But it was an Allentown pedigree though. Also doesn't really help when I generally go to a con without much money in order to hopefully avoid wasting money on comics. Keeps my wife happy though. Strategy doesn't really work actually since big convention dealers, like Harley in this particular case, will almost always without exception try to convince you to take the book home anyways and simply pay them back afterwards. The Allentown WW 13 worked out for me in the end since I decided to include it as part of my first and so far only sample testing of CGC's then new grading system a few years later. The book ended up being slabbed as a CGC 9.6 and managed to fetch an astounding (to me at least) almost 7X top of guide in the Greg Manning auction that year. The book would probably pass this same dollar value 15 years later in this current hot market environment, but probably not by much.

Well, I guess some things change while others just stay the same! Nowadays, although every third house probably still has a stack of unwanted comics, the owners now want 10 dollars on the dollar for them.

Probably because the collection was too small and did not have enough of the numero uno keys which a similar small pedigree like the Allentown Collection had. Still, the nicest copies of Action 10 and Action 13, probably amongst others, to come to market after all these years. Personally, I thought it should have been been given a pedigree designation, but then what do I know.

I thought that name rung a bell. Atlantic City was a high grade collection found a few years ago by Metro which featured several HG copies of the early Action books. I remember they put them up for auction on their CC website and got some really nice prices for some of these books. For example, I still remember HG copies of Action 10 going for over a quarter million dollars and Action 13 for almost $200K, when these books were still guiding for around only $65K and $30K respectively. Never mind, just found the following Google link to the collection: http://www.cgccomics.com/news/viewarticle.aspx?NewsletterNewsArticleID=1366

Yes, that was the first thing I noticed right off the bat from the first episode onwards. The entire show has this 1930's pre-Batman noir look and feel to it, and the cell phones just seem so out of place whenever they use them on the show.

Definitely the route that I would start with as opposed to throwing a lot of cash on real in-your hands GA books on just a trial and error basis.

I believe you can get all of the recent TV shows from the major channels free through Video on Demand. The good thing is that virtually all of the ads are deleted as it runs for only 45 or 46 minutes versus the standard 1 hour time frame with all of the ads.

Are you sure about that? I was just on Netflix and it came back stating that "The Flash is Unavailable to Stream" when I did a search for it. its on netflix i see it everytime in the "recently add section" Well, maybe it's available only in the US at this point in time, as I am in Canada.

Well, if Iron Fist already has his own show coming out and there are ongoing rumours about Luke Cage, how about Shang Chi, the Master of King Fu? Always loved this comic book series over the other two, but of course, that could also be due in large part to the stylistic artwork of Gulacy and the likes. I am sure that Marvel should be able to do up a decent movie version of Shang Chi, if the following fan-made movie trailer is any indication: Very dark and almost Bruce Lee like. (thumbs u

Are you sure about that? I was just on Netflix and it came back stating that "The Flash is Unavailable to Stream" when I did a search for it.

Robert Crestohl was just as bad as Ripofsky Overpriced books that were also over graded I remember in 1988 I had my mom call Gerry Ross/ Robert Crestohl because they cashed my check and never sent me my books Finally after my mom called, they sent me the books in grades. Not the Near Mint I had ordered. Was happy to just get something I remember at the time. Weren't Gerry Ross and Crestohl also notorious for pawning off restored books as unrestored copies?

+1 Yes, just love to read these stories about the early days of comic collecting from some of the pioneer collectors that were out there at the time.

WOW!!! Larson? Backstory? Yes.......do tell! Absolutely love the colours on this book.

To All You Turtle Aficionados; Amazing thread you guys got going on the turtles here. (thumbs u Learning a lot, but it will take forever to go through everything here. Anyways, I noticed that quite a few of the advisors in this year's edition of the OS guide are indicating a strong resurgence in the Turtles related books. Sounds as though the multi-media attention which they are getting along with the popularity of their ongoing IDW series is really bringing back interest in terms of their back issues. Since we all know that Overstreet tends to be behind when it comes to pricing updates, I was wondering if the current prices in the OS guide are at least somewhere within the ballpark of what is going on in the marketplace? Or is he out completely to lunch on some of the hidden gems as virtually everything outside of the first few early issues are simply priced out in terms of runs, without any breakouts of significant issues at all? This is usually an indication that he is not up-to-date on the pricing for a particular title. Either that or he is pretty well bang-on as there is little interest in the books, which is definitely not the case with the Turtles. Just curious, so any opinions would be welcome! (thumbs u

I think you get a green label specifying what the grade WOULD be without said defect. However, if you request a blue label when shipping to the CGC you get the grade that you'd get WITH the defect. SAY WHA Never heard of this That's a great little loophole. What part do you see as being the loophole here? Actually, I always thought that a book with a coupon out would always be labelled as Incomplete and get only a 0.5 grade if it was in a blue slab. Maybe it's only if the missing coupon affected the story which it did not in this particular case.

Hey Jon; Do you have any copies of the Centaurs with the Black Americana or racial theme covers which you can post here for us? These 2 are quite esoteric and supposedly rather hard to find and for what it's worth, they are both listed as being "rare" in the OS guide. I believe they are Star Comics #3 and Funny Picture Stories #7.

Really? I'm seeing lower prices on most mid-lower grade books. What are you seeing heating up since the spring? The keys/1st apps/hot covers are up, most commons are flat or down. Just like most other years, I guess. The thing is the "key" pool is ever expanding... Yes, this would appear to be the case if you read the market reports in the latest OS guide. Keys for all of the various ages are selling for high prices in all grades, with the key pool expanding by leaps and bounds as more and more characters are being rumored in upcoming movies. Definitely a healthier sign and a nice change from all the talk on CGC highest graded copies, which was much more of the focus the previous few years. (thumbs u i'm curious why this is healthier? are the "collectors" who rushed out to buy Avengers #55 in any grade at any price in 2013 when Ultron was announced better off now that prices have come down by 2/3's? this will not be an isolated occurrence. these so-called " first appearance keys" will continue to implode when the movies either a)dispense w/ the characters b)suck c)fade into oblivion. +1. Yes, one of the negative signs of a healthier and more robust market is that you will always get the "speculators" out there who will chase after all of the hot books as they see an opportunity to find a even bigger fool out there. Long-term collectors have seen this exact same scenario play out time and again, and are generally astute enough not to fall victim to this irrational exuberance and be the ones picking up the hot potato at the top of the market. The healthier marketplace which I am referring to is that more books are in demand with more collectors out there looking for them. It is healthier to have books such as Marvel Preview 4, Batman Adventures 12, New Mutants 98, etc. and yes, even Avengers 55 selling for decent money in all grades (both slabbed and raw), as opposed to sitting in dollar boxes untouched and unwanted by anybody. Yes, definitely a sign of healthier marketplace when books such as BB 28, ASM 129, More Fun 73, etc. can sell for healthy premiums to guide in all condition grades across the board, as opposed to selling at record prices only when they are the CGC highest graded copy and all other copies can only sell at a discount to guide. So yes, a healthier marketplace is when books are in demand and being sought after with rising prices being paid for them, as opposed to when nobody is looking for them and they can sit untouched in dollar boxes for year after year.

It may be an interesting week for all stocks in general! Well, unfortunately, my prediction is starting out true to form so far!

Yes, either a shill or an over enthusiastic poster who never got the grades he was hoping for.

Yes, definitely a problem with keeping it current once they introduced the CGC angle to it. They really should have just stuck with the history and background of each pedigree and left out the CGC related charts and populations related statistics which indeed are outdated even before the book comes to print.

Really? I'm seeing lower prices on most mid-lower grade books. What are you seeing heating up since the spring? The keys/1st apps/hot covers are up, most commons are flat or down. Just like most other years, I guess. The thing is the "key" pool is ever expanding... Yes, this would appear to be the case if you read the market reports in the latest OS guide. Keys for all of the various ages are selling for high prices in all grades, with the key pool expanding by leaps and bounds as more and more characters are being rumored in upcoming movies. Definitely a healthier sign and a nice change from all the talk on CGC highest graded copies, which was much more of the focus the previous few years. (thumbs u

Someone sold one of these for like $8 on eBay about a year ago. I saw it in completed listings For sellers in the know, what the going rate for a copy of this HTF book?

It may be an interesting week for all stocks in general!

So, are you saying they are easy to find in VF or better, as your comment appears to be a bit contradictory?

Sounds as though the comic store owner must have overpaid Kubert by a lot for the books if he was unable to recoup his costs to the point that he ended up in financial troubles. Either that or the market must have taken a dive on him after he had purchased the collection from Kubert.