Gatsby77

I think it's a legit key now, and will continue to be. On the one hand, it was hyped upon release because of the Luke Cage sex scene; on the other, it cooled off within a few months & then lay dormant for a full decade --- so not a lot of people had these prior to the show announcement. There will be a _lot_ more collectors/speculators/investors, etc. looking for this book now that the show's actually turned out to be good.

I have a page original art from this issue, which was a cool Christmas gift from my parents in the late 90s. Never read the actual book, but it's my first page of original art!

Doubt it. I predict Disney pulls a fast one on us & has Tony Stark be assassinated instead.

Even IMDB's now listing Liman as the director. My interest level just spiked.

On Millar books for spec: Ditto with Wanted. I had a few sets prior to the release of that movie & I think I barely recouped cover price when I put them on eBay. But...I think the Civil War mini has a long way to go in the next month. It's been confirmed that a trailer for the film will debut with Star Wars, so I expect a big late-December bump with these books. Yes, they are common as dirt, but I foresee even the regular issues climbing steadily between now & April.

Does this count? It's still sealed.

Wow -- those pages sold via Heritage for less than $2,200 three years ago. And, IIRC, had been on eBay (via BIN) for awhile prior to then.

Interesting thoughts on GI Joe & Transformers. I don't see Transformers declining in importance, though. The premise is that much of today's back issue market surrounds first appearances tied to forthcoming movie appearances. That certainly is driving speculative demand for books like Warlock, Black Adam & even Suicide Squad (and esp., Star Wars books). So why wouldn't it also drive medium to long-term demand for Transformers 1, which is confirmed to have three more movies in the pipeline, with each of those likely to do $1 billion plus in box office? Put another way, Suicide may be a huge blockbuster and spawn a sequel or two. Transformers already has, with 4 movies that each individually grossed over $700 million. One's an unknown, the other's a sure bet.

Just saying, if I were Fox, I'd gladly consider losing $80 million (which will be offset some by DVD/streaming, etc.) every 6-7 years if would help keep Disney (or any other rival) from potentially making $600 million off that same IP.

It make sense for Fox to hold on to the rights even if they end up not pursuing a sequel, to prevent any potential profit from the franchise accruing to Disney. Keep in mind, that was essentially why the first (Corman) FF film was made.

I was underwhelmed by the trailer as well. I'd be really surprised if it lasts more than two seasons. Then again, having read the first three trades, I never *got* Preacher or why it was so popular to begin with. Guess I just thought Ennis's work on Hellblazer & Punisher was far stronger.

Yeah -- I'm close to complete on the Acclaim run but never managed to find the 3rd or 4th Quantum & Woody trades. It was a good series. Acclaim gets hate from the Valiant purists but they knocked it out of the park with Shadowman vol. 2 + 3, Bloodshot, and Q+W.

That's awesome. Personally, I'd rather have a 9.8 Solar 10 than a Harbinger 1. Just such a cool book...

Love me some Shane Black. He sold the Lethal Weapon -script when he was just 24 years old, and the man was _in_ Predator.

Good stuff! And Argh...my Acclaim run is more than solid, but I'm still missing the Shadowman vol. 3 # 2 Good/Bad/Ugly & a few others. Anybody out there actually attempt a complete VEI set?

So...is Megaton Explosion _not_ the first appearance of Youngblood then? It's been about 20 years, but my memory of the book is their appearance is just the centerfold, and at best it's only a few members of the "away" team who later reappeared in the b-story of Youngblood 1. Static centerfold image = not necessarily first "sequential" appearance.

I know there's a whole thread on this, but is X-Men Annual 14 now the first appearance of Gambit even if, as we all now know, that was just due to a publishing delay and story-wise, it clearly takes place after 266? The Wikipedia entry for him is surprisingly accurate, noting the annual as first appearance (cameo) vs. 266 as "first full" and correctly listing Jim Lee as co-creator.

Awesome! What are the other 13 books (if you don't mind sharing!)? Other 'specials' like Golds, etc? I found Bloodshot: Last Stand at a con in a "3 for $10" box at a show in 2000. I honestly had never even heard of it but saw it was Zeck and figured it was worth a read, only to find out a few years later that it was one of the 'rare late issues'. There are a ton of funny stories about the line b/c if it's really in the "if you weren't there, you didn't know." I saw a dealer just last year explaining to a younger reader why Solar #10 was just on his wall books! Here's what I'm still missing. A+A 0 Gold Unity Trade (Diamond) # 1 Unity Trade (Diamond) # 2 Bloodshot 0 (Gold) Bloodshot 0 (Platinum) Bloodshot 6 (VVSS) Chaos Effect Alpha Deathmate Epilogue (Gold) Eternal Warrior # 27 (VVSS) Shadowman 0 (Gold) Shadowman 0 (VVSS) Turok 1 (VVSS) X-0 0 (Ivory) X-O 1/2 (Gold) I'm good with Bloodshot: Last Stand. I got a copy somewhere along the way. And this:

Ditto Goobledygook # 1. I'm not opposed to ads having significance (Megaton Explosion is so cool because the characters didn't get an actual book for another 5 years) but I'm in the "must have sequential art/story" camp for a 1st appearance. So TMNT # 1 is the (true) 1st appearance of TMNT; New Mutants 87 is the (true) 1st appearance of Cable (vs. the thumbnail ad on the last page of 86), Youngblood 1 (if anyone cared), Man of Steel 18 (even though all those previews had the pounding fist, but in mere cameos), etc.

Posted before but... Despite my active & passive Valiant collecting (and occasional hoarding) over the last 20+ years, I remain 14 books short of a full VH1 set. One of those books I was never able to get was Chaos Effect Alpha (Red). I can, however, console myself with this:

Like many, I didn't collect Valiant until Unity 0. Even though, ironically, my first ever issue of Previews listed Magnus 1 as a "Gem of the Month" _and_ when it came out, my LCS flagged Magnus 1 as their "favorite book of the month." I flipped through it & put it back -- I liked superhero, and this was sci-fi, more akin to Buck Rogers or Star Trek. Fast forward to Unity 0 & insanity. I went away to summer camp for 6 weeks and when I came back had to pay $8 for Unity 1 (regular). Fast forward a few years to 1997, I'm a freshman in college & Shadowman (vol. 2) # 1 is my favorite book of the year. Why? Garth Ennis. Zero, a stonecold psychopath, walks into a bar, tells the bartender "bear" & the bartender pours him his usual drink & brings out the teddy bear he keeps at the bar. WTF? The point -- Valiant was a large part of my comic collecting childhood, and even some of the later Acclaim stuff (Shadowman Vol. 2-3, Quantum & Woody, even later Troublemakers) was really good, even as it remains ignored by speculators. Happy to see the pre-Unity stuff get their due again. In all those years, I've yet to see Harbinger 1 in a $1 box. But I'm proud to have scored Magnus 1 & 12 from the $1 box, and found Unity 0 (red) for $4.

Interesting. I hadn't heard of those before. I guess I'll have to be content with my double-signed copy from the 1993 Deathmate Tour. At least the comic shop's still in business. But my favorite from that day was a double-signed Armorines 0 Gold -- never uploaded a photo, but that's my only "pure" gold issue -- I won it for answering a trivia question from Bernard Chang -- name 6 members of HARD Corps.

Yup. But the point is a year ago, multiple copies were sitting unsold for $325. Since the (supposed) movie announcement the price has nearly tripled. Then again, we live in an age where Damage Control is spiking due to TV/movie rumors so yeeesh... Personally, I never liked Harbinger. Other than Zephyr, the characters were pale derivatives of the X-Men, and Byrne took the concept of outcast mutants & outdid Harbinger at every turn with Next Men. But as Valiant's first original property Harbinger paved the way for much better original titles like X-O, Rai & Shadowman.

Harbinger 1's up to 152 copies in 9.8. + 17 copies in the last 6 months.