Gatsby77

compostable_fertilizer. I was _there_, RMA. I have the Pre-Unities--bought at the prices I stated, and I have the additional ComicFest '93 swag (like 3 copies of Defiant Genesis in the original sleeves and a double-signed Platinum Batman 492) to prove it. Depending on which dealer table you went to, and what time during the show (ie, whether it was Friday evening vs. Sunday afternoon), the deals were there to be had. _Everybody_ had Valiants in depth, and while certain books (like Harbinger 0) were still white hot and were selling at their peak, others were being dumped. And yeah--Turok # 1 was _already_ selling for between $.25-$1, just weeks after release. Rai 6-8. Magnus 9-11, 13-14 were available in bulk for $1 each. Meanwhile, the three premiere Ultraverse # 1s (Prime, Strangers, and Hardcase) were selling for $5-8, with # 2s going for more. Those books were actually _selling_ at those prices, whereas the Valiants sat (unless _heavily_ discounted). Anyone else who attended ComicFest '93 in Philly care to chime in?

Hah...half-right. That 1993 show I picked up Magnus 6 (x 4), Magnus 9 (x 3), Magnus 10, Magnus 13, Magnus 14 (x 4) and Shadowman 3 from the dollar boxes, as well as a Solar 10 (1st) for $4. So...aside from Solar 10, they weren't actually _good_ pre-Unities, but they were there. This was post Rai 9 and Turok 1, and everybody wanted Ultraverse, not Valiant. I was such a sucker for the hype that a month later I traded my buddy 5 Byrne X-Men for his 40 book Ultraverse collection, for fear I'd miss the boat. Live and learn...

Comicfest '93 in Philly was the week that Ultraverse books were the hottest ones on the planet. My buddy paid $12 for Prime # 2--the super hot one, despite my telling him to buy Bone # 1 for $50. I passed on the Bone 1 to buy All-Star Western 10 for $45. I spent most of the convention picking pre-Unity Valiants out of the dollar boxes because I couldn't (then) afford the Ultraverse books, particularly the hologram and special covers. Also, signed version were _everywhere_ because nearly all the creators were attending. The odd thing about that show was the disparity between newsstand and direct sale versions of the early Ultraverse books--the only time I've ever seen such a thing. The direct sale # 1s were going for $4-8 each, as were some of the # 2s, but the newsstand versions of those same books could be add in bulk for $.50 to $1. Sign of a bubble: by the time Marvel bought them a year or two later the books were _all_ $.50 fodder. I picked up 30 copies of Hardcase # 1 for $.50 from an LCS in Manhattan in 1995. Coolest Ultraverse item I own is the Firearm issue (# 0 maybe?) that came with the videotape that had a live-action short of Firearm.

My Stridex reprints (including X-Men 60 and Captain America 241) were earlier than 1994. Believe 1992-1993. They're in storage. Anyone confirm?

Somebody needs to sell me some NEC newsletters. Still missing from my (better than good) Tick collection.

Is there a current market for Image newsstand variants? Or even a complete list? I have a WildCATS # 2 newsstand (no foil) and a Supreme # 1 (no foil), but does anyone care about these? And this reaches into Modern, but how about a complete list of all of the $.25 Marvel comics that also had full-price $2.99 newsstand versions (like Daredevil vol. 2 # 41)? Did every Marvel title have a $.25 promo book? The only ones I can recall right now are Daredevil, Hulk, and Fantastic Four.

Hah--the mention of Ultraverse golds inspired me to look up the Dark Horse "Comics Greatest Worlds" incentives--I have a mess of the monthly trade paperbacks somewhere. And they're on Ebay for as little as $1.80 (plus shipping) each! Dang!

I'd also posit (without having checked the CGC census) that valiants dominate the slabbed comics from 1991-1992, ie, more Valiants have been slabbed from that 16 month period than virtually any other book. Thus, will be _easier_ to find today in (slabbed) high grade than comparable books from the time period. Keep in mind that Valiant's low print runs for the time = mid-line Marvel print run today.

Well put. I will never finish my Valiant comics set (missing fewer than 20 books) precisely because I will never find a Platinum Bloodshot 0 at a price I'm willing to pay. I've quit that goal. It's like collecting a series (even modern) in CGC 9.9 or 10.0, or say--9.8 double signature series.Might be possible, but for most people either prohibitively expensive and/or not near worth the time and effort required.

And yet--this is RMA's own topic and it's on pure rarity rather than investability. Here, he's specifically asking for the rarest, which is not at all the same as "where do you put your money." He started even started it off with two books with under 20 known copies each.

I haven't seen any of those Spawn trades in person since 1993. Not that I've looked that hard, either. But seems to be rarer and have a much larger fan base than say, the Predator v. Magnus trade.

Here's an example of an error book. http://cgi.ebay.com/TUROK-1-VALIANT-NO-CHROME-MANUFACTURING-ERROR-CGC-9-8-/120164210833?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0#ht_1515wt_745 Interesting that this got a GLOD while Venom (black) does not, but I think that's just marketing. Or was Venom Black intentionally done, with a defined print run? I'd much rather here reports from the ground that "Sonic the Hedgehog # 52 is impossible to find" or "Batman the Animated Series vol. 2 # 46 is evil." If you're going for "rarity" let's hear about mainstream collectible books and runs that people will be trying (and failing) to complete in 9.6/9.8 15 years from now, much like folks have discussed Star Comics.

Why would anyone care about random printer mistakes, like the Venom 1 (white) or Vengeance of Vampirella 1 (white)? Those types of mistakes happen as statistical anomalies, across a wide swath of books, just as double covers do. There are probably "white" variants of every foil cover book produced, but (other than Venom Black), who cares? I'd be impressed if someone took the time to collect a whole set of say--Deathmate without foil, but you might as well be looking for "90s double (or triple)" covers if you're including random (or reported) printing errors.

Bloodshot 0 (platinum). Believe it's got 7-11 copies known. And it was an intentional variant, not a misprint.

Uncanny X-Men #297, 303, 307, X-Men #11 Pressman variants. What are these? I've got Uncanny # 297 and 303 gold, but thought they were just second prints. I've also got the X-Men # 11 silver (that came with the board game). Are these different?

Greg--I can't speak to the numbering but I suspect it was simply signed by Breeding after the fact. He did a _lot_ of signings as part of the promotion (I attended two in the Philly area alone in '93) so at least in the Philly area, you can still find all sorts of Supes 75 issues signed by Jurgens, Breeding, etc.

I would have passed too. I think it's a cool item and probably the rarest Superman comic of the last 40 years, but as a one-off giveaway, I'd rate it up their with those assorted Crest and Radio Shack comics starring superheroes. I'd be far more interested in interviewing the family to see how he went about ordering the commission, what it cost, how the kid received the comic, etc. Ultimately, it's so obscure that I just can't see it being easily movable even 10-15 years down the road. $200? yes. $350 or more for a 6.5? Someone else's game.

Anybody know the print run on Thorn: Tales From the Lantern? A friend of mine has one and was looking for info on it. All I could find is that it apparently was published in September, 1983 and going rate seemed like the $500-$700 range, if you could find it. It also begs the question--if it reprints Smith's Bone strip from college, is there collector value to actual school newspapers that would have carried the strip originally, similar to the NEC Newsletters with The Tick?

My understanding (from both Wikipedia and the Ebay description of the one that sold last month) is the Superman Bradman was limited to 25 copies, not 100. Not that I doubt Ian Levine's estimate of 100, as he said he bought his copy from the kid featured in the comic itself. Levine also states that--contrary to the listing in Overstreet's, Wikipedia, etc. it was _not_ actually produced for the kid's birthday. I'm most curious about how much the comic cost to produce, as apparently the guy simply commissioned it from DC--a genuine Superman book with Curt Swan art featuring likenesses of his whole family. Anyone know?

Thirded. I thought I was good when I finally found an uncut # 2. Then I remembered about these. Didn't he appear in three issues of the newsletter? And I'm the guy who finished his Tick 1-8 first print set in 1990 by heading up to Boston and going to New England Comics itself. Didn't even think to ask about the Newsletters.

A CGC 8.0 Bradman Superman comic (1988) sold on Ebay about two weeks ago for $2,000.

New Superman collector here. Outside of 1-20, what are the hardest books to find? Not necessarily high-grade, but overall. Would they be 40-60? 80-100? 101-120? Gerber's not much help, as it lists all as 4 or 5. GPA shows now sales of 101 in the last 3 years, but I've seen 3 for sale in just the last month...

Yeah--I thought it was widely-known for the last 20 years that there were a whole slew of Bronze horror and romance books (like WBN 32‚) that were harder to find in super-high grade than mid-late 60s Marvels. Suprises me not in the least that there are 9.8 (and even a 10.0) SA Thor, yet only one 9.8 WBN 32 so far.

Action # 1 aside, I wonder what his "2000 comics worth $20,000" would be worth today.

Nice!!