sfcityduck

Fewer and fewer from the early days. A lot folks were interviewed over the years thankfully. And it is fun to read stories like yours. For guys like Wigransky who died young all we got is second hand info. You ever going to reveal which of the people on that list of winners you are? No pressure but it is nice to put a name to stories just for sake of preserving a bit of oral history.

Did you like it? I've rewatched the funeral scene starting with the gong on through maybe ten times. It's brilliant writing (so few words!) and brilliant acting (so much emoting in virtual silence). Award worthy and getting that recognition.

So my guess was right in the end, even though that was not the original plan of the guys running this deal.

Marty that revelation by you was one the cooler moments on the thread!

Carol Tilley has been doing good research on comics, especially the Wertham area for at least 10 years. Here is a link to my favorite article by her: https://library.osu.edu/site/cartoons/2016/02/23/guest-post-found-in-the-collection-the-uncanny-adventures-of-i-hate-dr-wertham//

I was getting Star Wars fatigue ... and then Andor came out. Great storytelling is possible outside of the limits of what has come before. Plenty of room to freshen up the old tropes.

Here's the relevant numbers: * 9.4 sold for $2.2M in Jan. 2021 through Heritage. * Goldin bought 8.0 for $1.4M in Sept. 2021. * Initial offering amount was $1.8M for 8.0 in Nov. 2022. This is a guess as to what happened here: * Goldin bought for 8.0 $1.4M; * Goldin allows Rally to list 8.0 for $1.8 with Goldin retaining a sizable chunk of the value (probably @ 50% $900K); * Small investors by the remaining chunk (probably @ 50% $900K); * With $2M selling price Goldin ends up making a total net profit of $300K (21%) off a $1.4M cash outlay (could be less if there are fees and costs); * Investors make $100K (11%) off of a $900K cash outlay (could be less if there are fees and costs); and * The buyer of the book gets an 8.0 for $2M when $2.2M bought the 9.4 just two years ago.

Russ is still your friend?

I've finally got my grail in hand. The book is about as thick as Gone With the Wind and runs almost 600 pages of small type. I'm going to read this thing if it kills me. It is filled with Dave Wigransky's art. The Wolverton influence is obvious. Wigransky could have been an undergound comic artist. A few examples: And the illustrations reflect his love of Jolson and Brando discussed up thread. His taste in music was definitely mainstream pop, but I know from his ads in record zines he did have some early rock and roll, and Elvis makes his list of teen idols: But what touches me the most is the back cover of the book. It contains some hype blurbs that would have been written by Wigransky because this thing was self-published. And the biggest boldest font of all is given to something which I think really is a reflection of his debate with Wertham:

Are you from Portland? As a guy from Eugene, now I want one of those! But I would not pay a big premium for it.

That the profit a big-time dealer like Metro made off one of its biggest-time sales, $3.5M, may well be under $100K puts a different perspective on who really makes the biggest money in the comic market. The answer is clearly OOs, early back issue collectors, and Heritage and other auction houses not selling their own purchased inventory. It's not flippers.

My take: * 1/22 - Heritage sales the book for $3.18M including buyer's premium. Heritage is a big winner making hundreds of thousands in buyers and sellers premiums. OO is a huge winner making millions. Who was the buyer? My guess: Goldin. * 9/22 - Goldin "arranged the private sale in conjunction with Metropolis Comics of New York" according to a press release for $3.4M. What does that mean? It means the buyer from Heritage at most makes $220K. That's a fine payday over a nine month period on a $3.18M investment (roughly a bit less than 7%). So the seller is a winner -- if the seller is not paying fees to Goldin or Metro. My guess: The seller was Goldin who make their 7% and the buyer is Metro at $3.4M. * 1/23 - Metro sells the book for $3.5M. What does that mean? It means the seller made at most $100K - if the seller is not paying fees to Metro. That's a fine payday over a four month period of 2.85%. My guess is that Metro sold to a customer, pocketed the $100K and feels good about the publicity. Metro has figured out how to get paid for obtaining free ads. My hat's off to them. But, their likely hard dollar profit was less than $100K. They either had to service a loan on the $3.4M paid or lost the use of that money. That's a cost. How big? If it was a loan it could have cut into their 2.8% profit by a third. So maybe they only made $70K. Still worth it, but not nearly as impressive as saying "$3.5M sale" and getting the publicity. Hot potato? Well, if Goldin and Metro were the buyers, it was not just a "hot potato" but an example of laddering up the price, in small increments, mainly for the advertising value and therefore not a true reflection of the value of that book to collectors. Any losers? Only time will tell, but the buyer in 1/23 paid $320K more than he could have a year ago. And $100K more than he could have four months ago. Will he hold or will he try to sell off the comic too early. Given the diminishing returns on each transaction, another quick sell could turn this book into another "MC 1 Pay Copy" situation. Especially since its definitely not a "legendary book."

Since when is the “Rocket Copy” a legendary copy? That blog article must have been written by Vinnie. it is a badly defaced copy that should sell below other copies in grade. It has no significant history, is not a pedigree, and has been a hot potato. It has been around a short time. The MH is a legendary copy, this is the opposite. The Pay Copies may be defaced but it is with history not a child’s stamp. I hate that kind of B.S. hype. It erodes market credibility. My guess the real story here is either (1) there is a new entrant into the deep end of the pool who is willing to throw money around to satisfy nostalgia or (2) at the height of economic uncertainty about tech stocks, NFTs, blockchain coins, and real estate, someone decided a comic was a safer (and maybe more fun investment). Both of those stories would tell us more about the comic market than the “it is a legendary comic” misguided hype.

I've got all three, GSX1 and 94. My favorite of those?: GSX1.

Goes to the thread title (Key "First" Books).

They are cool things to collect. So are posters, radio premiums, toys, and lots of character related material. They just aren't first appearances. I don't think they are a "first appearance" or even a "preview" in the real sense of those terms. DC Comics Presents was a "preview" of New Teen Titans that qualifies as a first appearance. The hard cases are when the house ads have so much detail that they look more like a story than a house ad, so much so that they begin to resemble a "preview" like DC Comics Presents 26. Some of those sell for 1/10th or less of the price of the first appearance, but they have a much stronger case to being a first appearance than a picture in a fanzine.

The classic example is this: But it is still nothing more than a bit of preview ad art -- just not a house ad like the Action 1 preview ads, instead an ad released to fan or industry publications to hype an upcoming product attendant to an interview or other form of promotion. Not a true 'first appearance" in the sense people concerned about comics as stories use. Otherwise, since the 1980s, just about every "first appearance" has probably occurred in a fan or industry publication.

Foom 2 was not Wolverine.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2022/12/19/best-tv-shows-2022/10865316002/ Interesting USAToday list of best tv shows.

I really appreciate that you young kids can help rectify my memory holes ... NOW GET OFF OF MY LAWN!

Steven doesn't know anything about anti-Communist comics, Canadian whites, ECs, comic censorship, or the Comics Code. Move along, nothing to see here. LoL! But if you insist on pursuing this Quixotic quest, you might try sending him a personal message by clicking on the graphic under his name (a Triumph Comic 1 - worthless Canadian junk! (unless you are a fan of first nations women superheros)), and then clicking on the word "message." It has worked for me in the past.

Which I agree is evidence of speculation, not love - but Lang is on the cover, right?

As a completest, I wanted every X-Men appearance no matter how small. I guess my OCD is just worse than yours.

Nah, the comic industry was around for 36 or so years before I was born. Fortunately, I have my dad's collection from when he was a kid and it taught me a lot about an era of the GA that I love.

And yet, I just said it. And others do too. Here's a good example for you to contemplate: What is worth more in today's CGC driven market: (1) The second appearance of the very first superhero or (2) the second cover appearance of the very first superhero? And it is worth mentioning that the cover of the second appearance of the very first superhero is great art by one of the greatest cover artists of DC's early GA.