kimik

It depends on when you started collecting. For anyone that started reading from 1975 onwards, then the FF and Hulk are not as important as the X-Men. I can remember buying my first copy of FF off the rack in 1987 due to the "Greatest Comic book" tagline and wondering why it sucked so badly compared to X-Men, ASM, Batman, GI Joe, Transformers, to name a few titles. Thor was a bit better than FF, but not much.

IH 1 pricing was always driven by the perceived scarcity in grade due to the dark cover, not the popularity of the character. Just a short while back when it was the hot book it was approaching AF 15 levels in low to mid grade, which made zero sense since Spidey>>>>>>>>>>>>>Hulk in popularity and importance. Even with the Avengers movies, the Hulk has been in a bit of a plateau/pull back in value since the spec money has moved off of it. Hulk is a supporting character, not a lead like ASM. The X-Men franchise >>>>>>>>>>>>> Hulk in popularity and importance as well since the mid to late 70s. As a result, it is not a stretch if we eventually see X-Men 1 being worth as much or more that Hulk 1 due to demand. While Hulk 1 is perceived to be harder to find in mid to high grade, all you need for both books in pretty much any grade is a deep enough wallet to pick up a copy 24/7/365 nowadays. I don't see how either one is scarce.

X-Men #1 is still running. It costs $10K+ now to join the 4.0+ club, and 3.5s are likely at that mark now as well. Heck, $5K will only get you a 1.5 now - just two years ago that was enough to land a 4.0. Most of the early issues are still popping, which makes sense since they have been priced so low until the past year. I am glad I bought as many auction lots/singles as I did the past two years. X-Men 14 has been running up especially fast, which is awesome IMHO as that was the first back issue copy of X-Men that I bought as a 13 year old collector starting out. It a VFish copy in 1988 from a local seller at the first comic show I went to, and I wish I had kept it as it had the best color and gloss of any copy I have owned since then.

That is an awesome cover variant.

It is about time that FF #6 started to jump. I sold my old label CGC 8.5 in the August 2019 Clink auction for $3505, which was higher than the top GPA price for 2020. FF #4 has not really taken off like I thought it might after selling my 5.5 ($4055 July 2019 Clink auction) and 7.0 ($6788 in July 2020 Clink auction) relative to the most recent GPA prices of $3750 for 5.5 and $5640 for 7.0. Or, maybe the more accurate statement is that Clink gets higher prices for SA and BA Marvels than other venues?

If history has shown us anything, all this needs is a bit more time to take off...........

I sold my other three right away back then for $60 - $80 apiece as it was still a hot today and replaced by another variant in two weeks market. That covered the cost of all of the regular issues I bought. Now, the smart play is to keep the ratio variant and latest printing of the 1st appearance and dump the regular covers to pay for the purchase.

After selling most of my initial spec stack over the past few years, I decided to straight sub my last four copies last summer due to near instantaneous turnaround times (relative to today at least). I should have sent more in. That being said, thankfully I resisted the urge to sell as soon as they got back (if only I had been so patient with the 9.8 ASM 361s in the same batch )

Same here. I know I am in the minority on this, but I have not watched Spidey movies since the first two Rami films. They were great.

Very cool. Hopefully one of these replaces the Sskeer 1:25 by Walker........unless Sskeer turns to the Dark Side in this issue and starts its path to becoming a Sith Lord........

Yeah, this is a quick flip play just like that one was.

The fact is CBCS shot themselves in the foot at the beginning and are now viewed as somewhere in between PGX and CGC, but closer to the PGX end. When they first started up I had hopes they would be a viable alternative since competition = better service and turnaround times in every other industry. As I posted above, at the beginning Steve's reputation carried sway and collectors were paying just as much or more for CBCS slabs. Then they started to see the differences in grading, and that was it. It is still the same issue now. Every so often I will buy a CBCS slab or two that looks like it can at least hit the same grade with a resub to CGC, which would result in a nice quick profit due to the discount. Out of the last 15 I have done this with, one came back higher, 5 came back the same grade, and 9 came back lower. Now I do not even bother. The one thing I will use CBCS for is books that were signed pre: signature series. Since CGC does not authenticate signatures (even though they should consider it as an new source of revenue), they are the only game in town.

No. It is general business practices everywhere. No company is going to feature a competitor's product or service on their own website. Why should CGC be any different? These are their message boards, not ours.

The first few issues of HR and HR Advs should have 1st appearances. Make sure to order them all.

I agree that there is inconsistency with grading by all companies, but GCG is the most consistent of the bunch. CBCS slabs sell for less because they had grading from the start and that established there reputation re: loose. It is funny - during the first month or two of operations there were people paying more for CBCS books due to Steve's rep. However, as time went on and more books CBCS books hit the market, their weaker grading became more apparent and collectors voted with their $$$$. Even if they tightened up now, which CBCS has not based on what I am still seeing on books I am interested in, they would still sell at a discount due to the reputation they established from the start. The broader market decides which grading company is viewed as the most credible based on where they put their money, and the market finds CBCS lacking.

I buy the book, and CBCS tends to grade more loosely than CGC. It is as plain and simple as that. If they did not, then CBCS would not sell for a discount.

The lowball offer is due to the Voldy slab, unfortunately.

Or, is HR Advs 1 just a 1st cameo of Marchion Ro?

Makes sense that HRA will be the slower seller right now as most will view it as a kids book.

I am glad I decided to chase the HR 2 1:25 variant and upped my normal bulk pre-order before FOC. That will cover the cost of all of the regular copies I have to sit on now. I will not hit my file LCS until after work tonight. Can anyone else comment on what the stacks at stores look like between HR 2 and HRAdvs 1?

It has a number of 1st apps. That is why I hope it was ordered lower due to being a kids book. I have another large order in on it regardless as I think it will be a great D+ animated show - Yoda and the Younglings.

I am curious to see the difference in stacks on the shelf for HR 2 and HR Advs 1 at stores tomorrow. My file LCS owner told me that he had a lot of new orders of HR 2 for files. He asked most of his HR file holders if they wanted HR Advs 1 as well, and less than half said yes. My that holds true across the board.

Oops. HR 1 B and E (Hans). I was just texting a LCS owner friend to get case label numbers for HR Advs 1. He is already at home and will let me know tomorrow.

FWIW, looks like stores have clued in for issue 2. The label on boxes shipped from Diamond Platts were 198 cases for HR 1 cover A, and 235 cases for HR 2. I do not know what the numbers were for HR 1 B (Anandito) or E (Hans), but they were not shipped to my file LCS in labeled cases of their own even though they ordered enough for a couple of each.

At least a couple hundred.