kimik

Buying a few $5 books like you usually do will not really pick up much of the slack..........

Very nice books! 1st Appearance of the Original Alien big bad guy and the later knock-off.

What shape is your SC #22 in?

The Red & White show yesterday was okay. Lots of people but spending was light. Dave and Karl sold a GCS #1 variant for decent $$$ (9.8 potential), but that was the biggest single book sale the four of us had. In the end all of the small sales added up for a decent one-day show. I don't know if it would have made sense to travel from Vancouver/Victoria for it. Last weekend was better at the Edmonton Collector Con. The economy has not been hit as badly up here and it showed in the sales. Teardown was interesting yesterday as well. Someone found a couple of panhandlers in the parking lot to help take down their wall racks:

If you look at goal totals for Howe and Richard from Howe's rookie year (1946-47) until Richard's retirement (1959-60), Howe actually outscored him 446 to 430. Richard had a 50 goal season a bit earlier than that (which Howe never did), but he was not as consistent overall. From a total points (G+A) perspective, Howe had significantly more points than Richard during that period I used for total goals. It was not even close. I don't know if I would even have Richard in my top 10 hockey players of all time. He was very good to great for his era, but the overall level of play was so much weaker than the 70s or 80s (let alone today) that I personally discount it quite a bit. I would put Orr ahead of both Richard and Howe due to his outstanding play as an overall defender and his much greater impact on the game (he could fight as well, but did not have to do that very often). Looking at his stats will make you appreciate how brilliant he was. From 1969-70 through 1974-75 he scored more than 100 points per season (and won two Art Ross trophies). His skating, skill, and hockey sense revolutionized the way dmen played the game. That is why a lot of my older relatives will argue that he is the GOAT instead of Gretzky. Watching him change his pace while going end to end at will in highlights is as much fun as watching McDavid burn present day NHL dmen. It is too bad that Orr blew out his knee in a charity game - the records he would have set for dmen would likely have never been touched if he had a healthy 10 - 15 year career. In his last healthy season he hit 46G + 89A for 135 points. That was at 27 years old, which would have given him another 5 or so years of high level production (maybe more due to the way he skated).

Gordie Howe was not the best overall player. As I have seen old time writers have put it, hockey in the 50s is equivalent to Midget AAA (or a bit lower) today. It was much slower and less skilled than it was in the 70s, let alone 80s onward. Howe's greatest characteristic was his longevity. If you are looking at that type of player as the best overall, then I would argue that Messier was well ahead of Howe. Higher level of skill, faster, and just as brutally physical (or dirty) when he needed to be. I would put the list as Gretzky, Orr, Lemieux as top 3 in that order right now. Sure, the 80s had a ton of offense (thanks to the big jump in skilled play due to the European influence of the late 70s), but Gretzky was still a cut above anyone else due to his skill, vision and anticipation/hockey sense. His shot was sneaky and accurate as well. He scored 92 the one season, but he basically realized that he was more valuable setting up his teammates to score than potting the goals himself so he focused on that the rest of the way. He also did this with teams employing a shadow player (or two in some cases) that could clutch, grab, impede him all game (or until someone took care of them lol). As great as Lemieux was, he did not top 200 points. Gretzky did it Going forward, Connor McDavid has a shot at being the new best overall. He is a combination of Gretzky (vision, hands) and Orr (skating and agility), with decent size, good strength, and shutdown defender ability mixed in when he wants to. McDavid has the best stick I have seen defensively/offensively - watch the subtle little poke checks and stick lifts he does and when he does it. The way he positions players with his body is amazing to watch as well. McDavid needs to work on shooting in stride and if he masters that I can see him being a consistent 40+/year goal scorer. If the Oilers can provide him with a top end finisher I can also see him being able to top 150 points - he creates that many good to great scoring chances per game for his linemates.

Some recent returns from CGC (and a couple of Bronze books in the mix that are close enough to Copper cut off):

If I were Snyder I would wait and have the new trailer released with the Wonder Woman movie. No need to push it out early and mix things with the pre-movie WW promotion.

Beautiful copy!

Very nice copy!

So, I take it that the Inhumans TV show, which I thought was what Agents of SHIELD had basically covered off already, is a response to Fox moving forward with an X-Men TV show? They are both casting for the pilot at pretty much the same time.

I find that it is easier to pick out 9.6 and 9.8 books for slabbing than it is for 8.5 - 9.4. Grading is still a bit of an art, and since books in the 9.0 - 9.4 range have some number of minor dings it can depend on the grader's preference on a given day. That being said, I tend to be pleasantly surprised on every submission to CGC so they can keep up the good work!

Do the ratings really matter if the films are profitable? The Garfield Spideys were weak but still did great at the box office, hitting higher numbers than a lot of the other Marvel films............... That being said, at this point it is clear that the Zack Snyder vision for the DCCU is not resonating with fans like WB was hoping it would. He is on the way out at this point regardless of how the JL films do. I am curious to see who they give the keys to next.

I am surprised that the tree book sets are not sold out yet. Maybe the price hike will impact sales a bit?

Yes, I know that Silverstone already played her. My comment was not that it would be her first appearance on the screen, just "Batgirl should be a lock to appear sooner than later".

9.75...... ?

Nice stash. How many are 9.8? Almost every CDN newsstand copy I have come across has at list one tiny color breaking ding due to the black cover.

Looks like Reeves won the battle with the studio. My that he turns out more like Nolan than Snyder. This is great news regardless. Hopefully it is a sign that WB is going to get more serious with its handling of the DC Cinematic Universe. With the Nightwing announcement we will hopefully finally see the extended Bat-Family role out on the big screen as well. Batgirl should be a lock to appear sooner than later, and I would love to see Red Hood appear in a film that combines the Death in the Family and Under the Hood storylines.

It is about time that Nightwing showed up in the DCEU. With this news, I would imagine/hope that Batgirl will be arriving sometime soon as well. Personally, I think it would be great to see WB weave the Death in the Family storyline in at some point after the teaser in BvS. That would open the door to eventually bringing Jason Todd back as Red Hood, and it would combine two of the Batman story arcs in one or two films (Death in the Family and Under the Hood).

Sweet! I snagged a CDN newsstand 9.8 in the latest Clink auction for kicks just because it was going for a reasonable price.

The ASM #25 variant should sell out faster than Elektra. MJ, Spider-Gwen and Black Cat all in one cover.

I keep buying Spawn #175 for $3 - $4 apiece as soon as the LCSs restock their Spawn back issue bins. There are two stores that still seem to have healthy stacks of them someplace in the back. However, the homage covers, especially 221 and 227, are very tough to find now since most stores only ordered a shelf copy or two by that point. I lucked into a nice stack of the homage covers (with 5 - 6 each of 221 and 227) three years ago for $1 apiece from a LCS blowing out backstock during the Calgary Expo, but I believe I am totally out of them now.

Don't know if this is already spoken for as I am late to the part, but if it is not