500Club

4 minutes ago, SquareChaos said:

If the seam isn't causing it (which would seem odd to me if it were), then perhaps it is a printing defect.

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.

5 hours ago, I like pie said:

I would estimate I have gone through 3,000-3500 of these in 10+ years. Out of those, I have found about 40-45 9.8 candidates. Out of those, I have gotten a total of 3 that passed 9.8 pre screen.

I do hope more come out now. I don't collect newstand books, so that's why I sold these. 

Another popped up(white cap UPC) on ebay right after I sold mine but that's the same ebay user ID that purchased my newstand one.

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

On ‎9‎/‎21‎/‎2017 at 6:16 PM, NoMan said:

I loved it. Think it was the pinnacle of comics. Bought em when I was a kid and it really started a life long love of comics/collecting. I know he wasn't the first to use paneling like film noir, but it was the first I saw (excluding The Master Race.  I read that one)

However, I'm really bored at work and would like to hear the other side of the fence. Why did you hate it?

I hated that it ended.

28 minutes ago, Jaydogrules said:

33 minutes ago, 500Club said:

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

From time to time ?  Yes.  To this extent?  No. 

True.  These prices certainly allow for a greater deal of manipulation.

14 minutes ago, kevhtx said:

This is ridiculous to pick out this series though to try and make this point. You can find this type of activity often. I see it a lot as an ebay seller. I see a lot of high priced books end with a 0 feed back buyer. Then, that same book seems to be posted again soon after. I see these types of bids on high priced books and others. Yes, it happens. Yes, its market manipulation. Yes, it sucks. But, it happens at times and especially to hot books and hot products (just watch when a console, phone or something else gets hot). It isn't just comics.

The market isn't perfect and to think that we have to have a crystal clear perfect system to value a book is insane. Just think of the manipulation going on behind the scenes in the physical comic corporate world with other things. Seems like there could be another places to debate those things and this one could just be to keep discussing books that are heating up on ebay like its supposed to be about.

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

23 minutes ago, Jaydogrules said:

36 minutes ago, 500Club said:

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.

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.

2 hours ago, kevhtx said:

You would have to look at all the hot series and look for it in all of the high priced books then. I am positive that these hot markets attract it. R&M is not the lone series that has attracted fraudulent bids because it got hot. Also, many of these books have gone in BIN or Best Offers anyways. I don't do auctions. I only do fixed price as well.

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.

5 hours ago, ygogolak said:

Doesn't have anything to do with being a fan. I'm saying know the market. These books will not hold these prices, especially when the trade comes out a week after the story is complete.

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.

5 hours ago, Mercury Man said:

Why the Marvel Cinematic Universe resembles nothing of their print Universe right now is plain stupidity.  It defies the logic of Marketing and Sales really.   Your movies are doing Billions of dollars.     A kid decides to check out a comic book store after he sees Captain America Civil War, and the comic books couldn't be farther from the movies in characters, tone, continuity etc.   Now granted they were not going to gain hundreds of thousands of new readers from the movies. But every little bit helps. 

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.

3 hours ago, 1Cool said:

Did any of Larry's picks turn out to be decent books in the long run?

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.

On April 21, 2017 at 5:03 PM, fastballspecial said:

I was happy to see it die. Very disturbing first issue, speculators flocked to it and took a bath.

I even liked Nemesis better then this.

 

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

My feeling is a little more nuanced...

 

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.

You should sell that before people realize that Catwoman #89 is the first appearance of the gotham city sirens.

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.

Sometimes, a cover will pop in people's eyes when they see other people appreciating it. That's not necessarily being a lemming. I've had the crowd go for covers I still didn't care for, and I've seen covers through new eyes when I've heard other people appreciate it.

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.

 

Not the best portrayal, I'll agree....but iconic none the less.

 

Didn't Larsen admit that he hated the character and hated having to involve him in his stint or something?

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.

Candletric: Thanks for the link to read C&D 50!

 

I don't usually get involved in comic arguments, but I do want to point out that on page 3 of C&D 50, Deadpool calls the symbiotes 'Venom look-a-likes'. That would mean that C&D 50 is not the 1st appearance of Venompool but is the 1st Deadpool covered in a symbiote that resembles Venom.

 

Correct?

 

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.

Meant to say "I" read the other thread. ..... You have a lot of good points I agree with. Especially about marvel

 

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...

Something I was not aware of is in Modern DC lore he has a different master trainer.

 

Green Arrow (vol. 4) #66 claims that an assassin known as Natas taught Deathstroke "almost everything he knows" (a retcon of his origin in The New Teen Titans: Judas Contract, where his future wife, Adeline Kane, trained him while he was in the military).

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.

No offense to anyone, but Squirrel Girl =

 

Patrick

Yeah, it's a

Not my cup'o'tea.

not so sure how this one is gonna do long term, there are still copies available everywhere

 

will it sell out anytime soon? who knows...

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.

Her first appearance is #1 though not 4.

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.

You are more likely...literally...to be hit by lightning than to find 9.9 copper books in the wild. Why?

 

1. CGC overprotects the 9.9 and 10 grades. This is most likely because they wanted to be taken seriously. Many, many books that deserve these grades are relegated to 9.8, and the 9.8 grade has possibly the single largest range of any grade on the scale. It is very, very difficult to get those grades, even when the books deserve them.

 

2. It takes less than a single slight stress or a slight bump to destroy a 9.9 potential. That means that, unless you find a collector who selected the best available copies when brand new and carefully stored them for decades ( ), you won't find any. Simply handling a book in a bag and a board is frequently enough to remove a book from 9.9 protential. Yes, that means CGC handling the books can and has knocked books out of 9.9 potential, as well as you simply packing the books up to send off.

 

When you combine those two, you'll find that finding "9.9s in the wild" is functionally impossible.

 

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'.

Interestingly, there's no ASM solicited for October (Marvel Now).

 

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.