500Club

Sounds like it isn't the seam. Once upon a time, X-Men 293 (or 294?) was a real bugger for slab run collectors to find in 9.8 due to seam impressions from the polybag. Pressing ended up as a work around.

With that screening experience, what are the common defects limiting grade? Or is it mostly driven by polybag seam issues?

I hated that it ended.

From time to time ? Yes. To this extent? No. True. These prices certainly allow for a greater deal of manipulation.

Exactly. And its not like we don't see it time and again on hot books.

This is not a trivial issue. Fake auctions create permanent fake data points that future buyers rely on to assess value and what to pay. Then those real buyers, acting in good faith, attempt to pay what they believe to be FMV for a book, thus creating a real data point. Don't ascribe any meaning to my post that I didn't write. Nowhere do I suggest it's a trivial issue. Hot books always attract the auction manipulators. It's easier for them to hide out of range prices achieved because the rate of change of prices paid allows for what look like frequent new highs. These are definitely buyer beware situations.

I agree with you. There's a large amount of true demand for this book, and there are the usual manipulators attracted to these hot books, that milk all they can from auction manipulation.

Short run, you're right. The ADHD modern market will move on to the next big thing. Long run... you might also be right. Depends on whether the concepts and character introduced becomes an integral part of future stories or not.

Yeah, I've got an issue with this as well. People love these characters and stories. However, if they tried a comic of the same title, they'd likely find a character that doesn't resemble what they expect at all, and they'd be confused as hell in the middle of a multi issue arc or crossover. The other problem is this: the newsstand venue for sales has pretty much disappeared. For the product to sell, it actually has to be seen.

I admit it. I'm to blame. I don't buy things I don't want.

In Larry's defense, most of his picks were made from his perspective. Ratchet and Clank wasn't meant to be bought and subbed. It was a store owner's pick of a book he could buy at a 50% Diamond discount, and sell to a clientele in store for a long time after.

Agree. How did this turd float back to the top of the modern threads bowl?

Likewise. I agree with your overall view about the rise of cover art interest correlating with slabbing. I think SOME of these books will be long term winners. People will need to pick carefully, though. There's only so much room for high dollar key books.

Thank you! With all the bluster that goes on in this thread from time to time, it's nice to see hard information like this.

This post gets two thumbs up. I remember Wizard, long ago, having a 'best 100 covers' article. I took note of, and looked looked for a few of them.

Yes. Larsen is on record as saying he hated the character, so he distorted the look as much as he could, a progression you can see from through ASMs 332,333,344-347. The original McFarlane look is my favourite.

Correct. It's not Venom. It's a symbiote that is part of the same collective as the Venom symbiote. If you (the 'in general' you) feel that's significant, C+D 50 is a book you probably want to get.

So much was going on over even a few years it makes sense to factor it all in as a transition period due to shifts in creative direction, themes and even market distribution. That's what makes it such a cool period in comic book history. Yup. Good times. I'm the same as above posters - despite overlapping time frames, I think of the whole NTT run as Copper, and the whole Byrne/Claremont X-Men run as running to the end of bronze. Transition.

Might be best to put Candletric on ignore until the issue is read...

There are some origins in the comic book lexicon that can be toyed with. Deathstroke's, in NTT 44, isn't one that needs any massaging.

Yeah, it's a Not my cup'o'tea.

It's a niche concept, as far as the comic market goes. It may have limited appeal, in the land of the cape. If a show gets made, that's when the book becomes a bigger deal. I really liked the first issue.

Cameos in 1 and also 2, I think, and then a full appearance in 4. This character is being collected the old school way, not the new era sportscard collector way.

Although - and this may be the exception that proves the rule - the legendary New Mutants 98 10.0 was found in the wild. Foolkiller pulled it out of a box at a show. Im fairly certain it was pressed though.... ? It was pressed that's correct. However, I also submitted five MOS 18s, and got 3 9.9s, those were unpressed, mostly because I thought they were 9.8s and pressing wouldn't have done anything more to improve them. You have more luck any anyone I know of You should keep a low profile around someone called 'Foolkiller'.

That is because it is going to be Spider-Man Renew Your Vows #1. The same Renew Your Vows as the mini that focused on the PP/MJ married period? That wouldn't be a replacement for a current ASM title.