Gatsby77

Um...yes. Both %-wise and in expectations. Studios both expect and need their tentpole films to be profitable to help balance the losses of other smaller films throughout the year. Hence why Superman Returns was considered a "failure" despite grossing $391 million worldwide vs. its $270 million production budget.

I don't get it. Where's the tophat and tails??

I was excited for this movie, particularly based on the latest trailer. Until yesterday. Multiple sources are now reporting that Trank was fired from his Star Wars movie because of his "erractic" and unreliable behavior on FF -- lack of leadership, inability to answer questions from the crew, coming to the set late and high on cocaine. So now they're noting that editing duties were essentially taken away from him in post-production _and_ reshoots were required in "late April," (i.e., within the last two weeks). There's really no way to spin that all positively.

I don't mind holding Batman comics, especially this arc. It will always sell and appreciate IMHO. Agreed. This is one of those "once a decade" runs that really matter in the long run. People won't forget these and they will likely always be in demand. So far Snyder has three of the "once a decade" arcs in the first 40 issues IMHO - Court/Night of Owls; Death of the Family; and this one. And don't forget Snyder's "Black Mirror" storyline in Detective Comics before that. Knocked it out of the park on his first at bat.

Yup. Because we all know Batman & the Joker will both stay dead. Although I don't think this will have quite the 10-day trajectory that Captain America 25 did. Folks who did 24-hour & 3-day auction were able to sell for $60 apiece. Folks that did 7- to 10-day auctions ended up selling for just $12-$15 per. It was amazing to watch -- a Superman 75 for the post-internet age.

So you're in the Eternal Warrior #5 crowd then, for Bloodshot? Solar #11 for EW? Pretty sure EW's on the cover of Solar 10.

If we're going with Wizard as a definitive source (I'm not saying that I do, but let's run with it for now), their top 10 books suggests that there was some inconsistency in what people were valuing more back in the day. Scans in the spoilers (because they're huge) are from issues 15, 16, 17, 2 from 18, and 2 from 19. This seems consistent to me. Wizard always called EW # 4 the first appearance of Bloodshot, & hyped Rai 0 more for its significance to the broader Valiant universe as well as the intro of the "new Rai" who would headline Rai & the Future Force. It does say once that the book "introduces Bloodshot" but that month still notes EW 4 as his "1st appearance."

Also, I don't have the issue number, but Wizard actually directly addressed this in an article back in the day -- ie, why EW 4 was considered the 1st Bloodshot by the market despite being a cameo vs. most other instances where more value's put on the 1st full appearance.

It seems that there are enough people shelling out money for both of these issues right now that there might be a situation where there's no clear winner in the long run. Keep in mind that they're both considered classic covers by Valiant fans. I find this recent EW4 vs Rai 0 to be hilarious. This debate was settled back in 1993. Last page cameo = EW4 1st full appearance and cover, and most important book in valiant history = rai 0 Hasn't changed in 22years, what would make it change now? I respectively disagree with this. Historically (primarily due to Wizard's advocacy) EW # 4 was always considered the first Bloodshot, even though was a cameo. Rai 0 was always more expensive because it was the more important _Valiant_ book, but EW 4 the more important Bloodshot book. Same as with Solar 10 as the first EW, even though that's a cameo, with his first full coming in 11. Because of that, for decades I've held EW 4 up as a counter-example to Hulk 180-181, where the market decided that the 1st cameo was more important than the 1st full in terms of the character. Either way, far far more collectors have Rai 0 than EW 4, if only because it was such a key *Valiant* book, regardless of the Bloodshot appearance.

Don't understand the EW 4 bump. Rai # 0 is the bloodshot to own, and a he's on the cover, which also is a valiant classic! Back in the day EW4 was to bloodshot what X-O 3 was to shadowman, secondary at best. EW 4 has a much lower print run, as everyone knew about Rai 0 ahead-of-time, and ordered accordingly (see the pre-sale ads by American Entertainment, et al.). In the years since, it's also come to light that EW 4 is far far harder to find in true 9.8 than Rai 0. This and Solar 3 are my picks for the movie hype, but the market will take awhile to catch up because the sales velocity is far far lower on each than Rai 0 & Harbinger 1, respectively -- due to relative rarity differences.

Yeah -- big difference between Gobbledygook 1-2 & the Marvel Age, Image previews, etc. It's one of scale. a) The print run on the Gobbledygooks was absurdly low; and b) the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were one of the most important things to happen to comics in the last 40 years (can't believe they're older than 30 now). I like the Youngbood "preview" (aka ad) in Megaton as well, but straight advertisements/previews in in-house comics don't do it for me -- not even if it's a preview of something like Chew in Walking Dead or the various Preacher previews prior to # 1. That's just me. That said, I could see someone surprising the market with a full CGC 9.8 run of Marvel Age or Dark Horse Insider a decade from now. _That_ would be hilarious & could make the market as a whole for these books.

Any chance that VEI has or will finish the last VH1 Ninjak story? It was cool, and then suddenly we never got issue 27.

Isn't that how Lucius shows Wayne that the material that makes the batsuit works in Batman Begins? IIRC, it wasn't soft until struck, but rather pliable until an electric current was applied.

Shooter did some good stuff with Valiant & Defiant. But you have to weigh that against two failed Valiant re-boots (Unity 2000 & the Dark Horse line) And, you know. New Universe.

Wait -- there was a Harbinger 0 pink?

Eh...maybe. a 9.8 Solar # 3 sold in last week's Comiclink featured auction for just $121. I passed on it at that price. But eBay's been curiously devoid of them lately.

Renewed for Season 2, y'all. http://mashable.com/2015/04/21/daredevil-renewed-netflix-marvel/

Or Spawn 1. Ours is not a logical hobby.

Given that we live in an era where 9.8 Spawn # 1s sell for $90 & 9.6 Spawn # 1s sell for $45, it could easily happen to even post-glut Valiants. Heck, Bloodshot 1's selling for more than $75 these days in 9.8. I can't count how many raw NM/M copies I passed on for $1 over the years.

I'd be more impressed if Harbinger 15 took off than if Harbinger 10 did. People at least liked HARD Corps, and it was a cool concept. Nobody liked Livewire & Stronghold.

FYI on recent Harbinger # 1 9.8s for those keeping score: +5 new 9.8's on the census from Mar. 10- Aug. 14, or ~ +1 a week since the movie investment announcement.

True -- and Constantine's already been cancelled. This will not be The Walking Dead.

Yeah Whet. There's no way you can say NM Annual 2's the market leader when there simply aren't enough Capt. Britain 8s on the market to make a decent comparison. Here's a question, though. Is X-Men 256 thus the most important book to come out of the Acts of Vengeance storyline? At the time it was clearly Cosmic Spidey, and in particular, ASM 328. But now? Is there any book from the run that's had more lasting influence?

I don't count additional digital sales because it's a level playing field. Most comic books are available digitally today as well, so saying "but but...digital!" is immaterial. When Princess Leia # 1 can sell more than a quarter million copies, Orphan Black can hit nearly half a million, and even a Thor Annual can sell well over 50k, under 10k in floppies doesn't look good.

Wow...my bad. Bloodshot Reborn's _18_ different covers. To reboot a title less than 3 years old. This is the type of thing that the old-school Valiant was specifically against. And it's not like there's huge customer demand, given that the title was selling less than 8,000 copies a month last year.