HarrisonJohn

Kids are not interested in comic books, but most kids today are fans of the characters. And I see vintage comic book covers and artwork everywhere. On posters, t-shirts, toys, etc. So there is awareness of the source material. Will this generation of kids stay fans of these characters and want to own some key comics one day? Will it be trendy? IMO that's what it will come down to.

I've owned a dozen reprints of GS X-Men 1 across various formats since the 80s, but never owned an original. Flipping through the facsimile edition in a comic store a few weeks ago, I was surprised to see it included reprints of 60's X-Men material in the back. Never had any idea they were there, since they are (understandably) never reprinted with it.

On ‎8‎/‎6‎/‎2019 at 9:57 PM, nightcrawl47 said:

Sorry for so many questions, I think I am getting it a little bit. So like the GSX 1, 2 and so on are one adventure of mostly new mutant team, but the X-Men #94 is the same team but a more expansion on their adventures?

X-Men 1-66 is the original X-Men team from the 60's. Was one of Marvels poorest selling titles. Towards the end they put some good artists on it, but not in time to save the book.

X-Men 67-93 is reprints of past X-Men issues. Marvel realized the title had improved in sales towards the end and decided to keep it going as a reprint title.

Giant Size X-Men 1 is a re-launch where a new international team is introduced (Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler, etc). This is the start of the book that went on to be a huge success.. Giant Size was a format Marvel was throwing around at the time, similar to an annual. The story continues in the X-Men title, which was still on the stands as a reprint title, with issue 94. So any reprinting of the bronze age X-Men begins with GS #1 followed by X-Men 94, 95 etc...

Classic X-Men launched in the late 80's and was a unique reprint title in that corrections and additions were made to the stories, and new short stories were added. Plus lots of great new Arthur Adams covers. At some point in the run, sales were falling and it became a strictly reprint title with no added material.

Generally, when Marvel reprints X-Men in any format, 60's X-Men and "New" X-Men (aka Uncanny X-Men) are separate.

A lot of his covers have random people standing there for no reason with nothing to do. Snake Eyes, character that can be colored in all black, may be the best book to put him on.

21 hours ago, electricprune said:

Issue 22. Here is where @KingOfRulers makes his first appearance. This book was on that had zero 9.8s when I started. It showed up in one of KoR's sales threads, but I didn't see it until several days after it was posted. I was surprised it was still there being the only copy graded and he had a fair price on it as well. I actually made him an offer and he discounted it a little bit. There are only 3 copies at 9.8 currently.

I love looking at entire runs laid out like this. This cover stands out as my favorite. So creepy!

Chris Claremont didn't want Wolverine to have his own series, he thought he was a less is more type of character and was better suited for mini series. Marvel let Chris have his way with the x-universe for many years, and didn't start stepping on his toes until the return of Jean Grey (1986). Had it not been for Claremont I think the Mini would have been the start of an ongoing.

Dazzler was probably Marvel's attempt to try to get some female readers. They always seemed to have one or two titles going, with bad art and writing, trying to accomplish that.

I remember in the mid 80's when I first became aware of the title (probably around the time of the Paul Smith run) the X-Men were the be all end all of comics at my LCS, but nobody outside of comic book collectors had ever heard of them. The book may have been really uneven in awareness and sales at comic stores vs. supermarkets and newsstands.

1 hour ago, GeeksAreMyPeeps said:

They could have left the box blank, but they could not have left it off. Generally the cyan, magenta, and yellow plates would have been identical for all covers, direct and newsstand. The black plate was changed for the two editions, which is why you still have the box there in later direct editions, just with some artwork instead of a crossed out barcode. The plates probably weren't a huge cost on a print run like this, but being able to run all of the three colors for every book at the same time likely saved a good amount of press time, and that likely would have been the important cost here.

Interesting. Marvel would occasionally publish direct editions with no box at all, seemingly for no particular reason to do with the cover artwork or anything  (like Uncanny X-Men 214)- have always been curious what made those books different.

The annoying thing is they could have just left the box off for the direct editions. If that's how it had happened, I wonder what the direct/ newsstand desirability ratio would be today. Even in cases where they are rarer, I think that would have completely killed newsstands. As for the line through the bar code, even as a child I could tell they were printed like that.

On ‎5‎/‎19‎/‎2019 at 2:47 PM, Chuck Gower said:

I keep seeing this discussed here and there over the years and occasionally I'll state WHY, but then still see it discussed. There is a very legitimate reason why Hulk #181 is more valuable than #180...

IH #180 is the first appearance of Wolverine (last panel cameo). But it's not as valuable on the open market as the first FULL appearance of Wolverine, which is #181. 

People always seemed to be more attracted to #181 and that was the issue they sought out. And it has to do with how much different the hobby was in 1974 through 1986 than it is now. For one thing, no one even considered an advertisement as a first appearance, and there wasn’t a Previews to go through...

So let’s say you picked up a copy of IH #180 and #181 in July of 1974. Both issues came out in the same month on the newsstand, so publication numbers should have been about the same. That’s not a FACT, but if anything influenced the unscientific reasoning behind publishers print totals of the day - the time of year - was one of those things. And both of these issues came out in the same month - July.

Now, let’s say you lent the copy to your cousin who lives an hour and a half down the highway. That’s a MILLION miles away to a 13 year old. So you’ve lost them forever. But man, you thought that Wolverine character was kinda cool.

The following spring (April of 1975) you pick up Giant Size X-Men #1  off the newsstand and you see Wolverine. Wow! He’s a part of the new X-Men team! Cool!

Now keep in mind - there is no trade paperback you can get for Hulk #180-181 at this time. If you missed (or in this case, lost) those issues - there was no way to read it. No reprint was available. It would not be reprinted for the first time in any form - that I’m aware of - until 1986 (#180 and #181 were reprinted for the first time in 1986 as a stand alone comic) - 12 years after they were first published!

There was no internet - at least not for general use - and the idea of a ‘digital’ file sounded like something out of a spy movie. The concept didn’t exist for comics.

BUT you start reading the new X-Men series and you think… I WANT to go back and read about when this character first appeared - it was different then - collectors were READERS - you wanted to READ about Wolverine’s first appearance… so which issue would you buy?

You’d buy #181. Because that’s the actual STORY of his first appearance.

In 1974-1986 (and longer) the majority of comic book ‘collectors’ were readers, first and foremost. It isn’t like today where the majority of comic book ‘collectors’ are sellers. Collectors READ and kept their books. The regular collection of reprints and trade paperback was still 25+ years away.

THIS is why, #181 is more popular than #180. It grew out of a natural collecting process built around readership. Not speculation.

There’s no shortage of #180. There’s more #181’s on the census because it’s a more valuable book to get graded. There was no real speculation at the time compared to today. DEALERS at some point figured it out, I’m sure (if they were good), but they almost certainly went by DEMAND, and that demand was from ‘collectors’ who were - READERS - and they chose #181.

 

Note: There were hoarders and speculators out there even in 1974, 1975 - but they were much, much, fewer and farther between. Today... it seems the majority of anyone collecting is a hoarder and speculator...

I agree. I said in another thread where this came up, if pre-internet a kid went into a store and asked for the first appearance of Wolverine, it would be mean to sell him 180 as the kid most likely wants to read Wolverine's first story, not "omg I must own the first time Wolverine appears on a page be it an ad or a one panel introduction because I collect these random things". Something else I remember from reading back then, is that if you liked a character, their first appearance was often referenced in editor's notes (where there was an * telling you what issue was being referenced) which, of course, would make you want to read that issue.

Now that these stories and character information are easily accessible in trades, or even Wikipedia, these seems to be confusion about why these issues are sought after, and why it is not about the LITERAL first appearance in the form of an ad or shadow.

She-Hulk 1 $400 with 4 days to go

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Savage-She-Hulk-1-CGC-9-8-White-Pages/143215596741

Ran from 80-82, I guess for some collectors it is teetering, artwork has bronze age feel IMO

1 hour ago, 1Cool said:

Ugh - I remember selling that book for $200 in 2017

I bough an $89 BIN 9.8 in 2010 which I remember was on the more expensive BIN side but I liked how it presented. Seller added a raw NM/Mint copy which seemed like a nice bonus, not like he was giving away $$. Bought a Stan Lee SS 9.8 in 2014 for $400.

I'm shocked to see Savage She-Hulk #1 9.8's hitting $400-500 now. There are only a few BINs on ebay and all asking $500-600.

9 hours ago, ADAMANTIUM said:

This one I bought for the book and then subbed it to CGC, but kinda for the label because I wanted to see blue universal with the correct notation.... not so much the grade though.... if that is the point of the thread

Canadian Mark Jeweler's

That's interesting, the Captain America head next to the price box. Is this issue NOT approved by the comics code authority?

On ‎3‎/‎26‎/‎2019 at 12:23 AM, Broke as a Joke said:

X-Men 50 and Avengers 96 should be recognized more as time goes on.  Classic logo designs that have become the definitive version for their respected books.

It's an odd name for a newspaper. I guess Grime and Blah were already taken.

Google 'Grit family newspaper', looks like it was a general news newspaper.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/GRIT-AMERICAS-FAMILY-NEWSPAPER-FEBRUARY-9-1975-/262711509848

Hulk 179 makes a vague guest star reference

I think I got a notice like this from them a year or two ago. Must be a very slow rollout.

The letter suggests there was an announcement a while back, maybe there was more info if we can find the issue. If it's any clue, the only issues of the Len Wein run not penciled by the long time regulars (Trimpe/ Buscema) were 222 (Starlin) and the Doc Sampson stand alone 218.

3 hours ago, Blastaar said:

Cracked open the issue....check out those looooooong legs!!!!!

 

What is happening with the leg the kid is grabbing?? Whenever Rob draws blond guys, they always look like him.

Is the black object protruding from directly between Cap's legs.... a dress shoe? A rare foot sighting??

An art book of his work with him explaining what he was thinking could be an interesting read. On this particular piece, I would be interested to know why he spent time making their cheeks so gaunt.