kimik

I am sure that I have seen some that have low scores that I liked, just like I have hated films with high scores. RT is the ultimate herd mentality measure - how many critics are willing to go against the consensus view on movies? Critics are like lemmings for the most part - once the first influential review comes out they tend to follow suit.

It depends on how well received the Empire Strikes Back retelling/redux does at the box office this winter......

Who owns RT? I don't know which is why I am asking. If you follow the money you can likely predict where the skip it/see it call will fall on blockbusters going forward...................

Big ticket wall books were slow, but we moved a ton of $1, $2 and $5 books which is great. Harley sold well for me, Deadpool was dead, but this year it may be the opposite. I am going to try to blow out what I have left for Star Wars at the show as well. If the trend from this fall holds up, then $5 - $10 Venom and Carnage books will be hot items at this show as well. The AB recession primarily hit big ticket items in Calgary last year and the one before. This year at the Expo the deep pocket spenders were back which was nice to see. Hopefully it continues into next year.

I prefer this Goblin page:

Ugh. I wish they would just lift the embargo early and let the chips fall where they may. Waiting that long is basically signalling the movie is weak, whether it actually is or not.

Hopefully this means they are taking the time to make sure the CGI and sped up action scenes flow more smoothly in this flick than they did in Civil War. That being said, I am really looking forward to seeing Thanos kick some azz in this film.

Looking forward to the second show this year. It is fun because it draws in a different crowd from the Calgary Expo, with a focus on smaller purchases of comics as gifts rather than collectors. The 2017 show went well and hopefully this year builds upon that. Are any other boardies planning on coming out?

That is the 1:50 for Venom Inc. #1. FOC to qualify for the 1:50 was today. The Stegman and Granov covers are very nice for this book as well.

How do you get in line for a commission piece?

My guess is neither book is difficult in HG, but at the prices prior to the recent movie related spike it was not really worth submitting them.

Very cool if they go forward with it. I would love to see them start at the beginning with the mythology/history of Middle Earth in the Silmarillion and go forward from there.

Sorry, I meant next year as in 2019. I thought that the Justice League Part 2 is scheduled for 2019 release?

They are already starting to post. It will do more than $600 million worldwide. My guess is that it hits someplace in the $800 - $900 million range. If this one does well at the box office I can see Part 2 making a run at the $1B mark next year.

At least a rehash of ESB is better than the alternative:

There is no way this has a shot at #1 box office all time. As much as I will likely enjoy the film, I don't think it will hit the $1B mark either. The Empire Strikes Back Redux, err......Last Jedi, will make sure of that. I doubt they would have hit that mark yet even with a different release date. If the movie is a hit I can see the second one challenging the $1B threshold. Realistically, there are only three hero franchises that likely can top the $1B mark at the present time - Avengers, Batman and Iron Man.

That is great news if the market is tanking on Voldy slabs. There should be a great arbitrage opportunity to buy accurately graded voldy slabs (there actually are some out there) at a significant discount then resub them to CGC to capture the difference in value.

So......another hero comedy?

Sorry to hear that. Did they disclose it? If not, return it for a refund. I have found over the years that there are a lot of great deals to be had on raw keys/hot books from their auctions if you are patient and take the time to review scans. It requires some effort, but the profit potential is there if you are willing to put the time in.

A collector friend snagged his from a garage sale a few years back. He pulled 4 books from a stack in the garage, AF #15 (4.0ish) and three 50s Westerns, asked the seller how much, the seller said what can you offer, and he paid him the $28 he had on him for the four books. I told him he made a huge mistake - there were three stacks in a box in the garage and he got nervous when he hit the AF #15 and stopped going through the rest of the first stack and the other two. My guess is that all of the other early Marvel #1s/SA keys were in it. I tease him that he passed on the Hulk #1 and FF #1 he needs in similar shape to the AF #15..........................

I wonder if all you need to do is note "newsstand edition" when you submit your order just like you have to with "Canadian Edition"? I am going to try that with my next modern submission.

While I agree that ASM 14 is the bigger key, I would not be surprised to see a 9.4 Batman #121 hit $80-100k currently with the way Batman keys and classic villain covers are trending right now. The book is extremely tough in high grade and unless one of the 9.2s or 9.0s on the census can be "upgraded", it would likely sit as the top census copy for a while. It is frustrating right now with Batman keys and classic villain covers - bidding 2X last GPA from earlier in the year does not guarantee an auction win on a lot of the books I have been chasing.

Just like anywhere, it can be hit and miss. Sometimes you win and the books come back higher, sometimes they are lower, but if you look at the scans carefully then you should be okay.

Batman kicked his azz yet again?

No, I ran into a common problem when developing a --script with a producing team, they wanted different things from the --script. I would write a draft that pleased one of them, get notes, then write a draft that pleased the other. In the end, I wrote a draft that pleased me. Todd loved it, Jon didn't, so we called it a day. Interestingly, a strikingly similar idea just sold to the CW last week as a TV series entitled "The End Of the World As We Know It". That sucks. Are either of those two involved in the new series?