Gatsby77

Initial reactions: This is a truly odd assortment of choices, even by James Gunn standards. Weirdly, I picked up Authority 1-15 from the $1 bin at the last true comic con I went to, 5 years ago. Even under the new leadership, I'd still bet 1/3 of these projects never see the light of day.

1) What Bosco said. 2) Yes - Shang-Chi was the highest grossing film released in September 2021, on Fridays that fall on the 3rd day of the month, too. 3) For worldwide box office, it's not even top 6 for the year (note that Bosco's chart above omits No Way Home which (again!) made $550 million domestically in just its first two weeks of release).

Is this parody? Shang-Chi was the 5th-lowest grossing MCU theatrical release. To put that in perspective, even the first Thor movie had a higher worldwide gross, and it came out fully 10 years earlier. And - no it was and is not the biggest domestic box office release of 2021. That would be Spider-Man: No Way Home, which had a domestic box office greater than 2.5x that of Shang-Chi ($557.5 milion vs. Shang-Chi's $224.5 million). And yes - that counts *just* 2021 -- Spider-Man: No Way Home made that $550+ million in just its first two weeks of release (i.e., December 2021). That number doesn't even count the film's 2022 take, which was ultimately more than $800 million domestically. Shang-Chi led to an adjustment in No Time to Die's release schedule? 100% false. No Time to Die's Oct. 8 release date was announced on Jan. 21 - months before Shang-Chi's release. See here: https://www.looper.com/317598/no-time-to-die-gets-yet-another-new-release-date/ And, as discussed before, Fast 9 was far more responsible for "saving movie theaters" than was Shang-Chi. Why? While it didn't do as well domestically as Shang-Chi, it showed summer movie staying power - and ultimately did >$725 million worldwide. (Or did you forget that the pandemic was global - and worse in places like China and Italy than it was here in the U.S.?) Oh - and you know what - Fast 9 getting's a sequel. Shang-Chi? No so much.

I mean, re. # 2 - you’re not wrong. My memory of him from the ‘80s Avengers books was that he kept being thwarted not by the actions of the heroes themselves but more by his own actions…because he was a dumb-a** In the comics he was like Marvel’s equivalent of the Ferengi.

When the Infinity Gauntlet came out, Iron Man 55 was out-of-reach for me. But I was hooked on Warlock and bought nearly all of his pre-1993 appearances. This is a good summary. I never felt the need to buy FF 66-67 -- I mean, I bought them as *FF* books, but not as Warlock books. Thought the cocoon was stupid as an intro and his Him appearances might as well as have been prototypes. For me, the key book to have was Marvel Premiere 1 - for the reasons you mentioned -- new costume, new name, soul gem - the iconic source of his powers. PLUS the black cover made it really hard-to-find in grade - I eventually picked up CGC copies in 7.0, 9.0 and 9.6. I think the overall story arc of MP 1-2, Warlock 1-8, Strange Tales 178-181 & Warlock 9-15 is one of the best of the Bronze Age.

This is one I'm actually okay with. If I recall correctly, the Doomsday "appearances" in the 5 weeks leading up to Man of Steel 18 simply showed his fist or arms punching on the last page. Put another way, I'm not sure we actually knew what he looked like until MoS 18. We certainly didn't in MoS 17. That's not in the same league as say, Hulk 180, where Wolverine is referenced throughout the story, shows up - in full - in the last page, and talks. If anything, claiming MoS 17 is Doomsday's first appearance is like saying Web of Spider-Man 18 is Venom's first appearance.

With last week's Heritage auction, I finally secured the last piece of the puzzle: Magnus # 37, in CGC 9.4. I've been looking for the book for 7 years now, and with it - I've (finally!) completed the entire Gold Key Magnus run (# 1-46) n CGC 9.4 or higher (with an average of 9.6). And the cherry on top? Scored an upgrade to one of the other top 5 hardest Magnus issues to find in high-grade: # 33 (9.6). For those of you who may be wondering, the hardest issues to find in 9.0 or higher are: 29, 37, 33, 4, 3, 46, 43 (in that order). It's telling that, since so few folks care about the reprints (# 29-46), decades later, they're (far) harder to find in high grade than all but a handful of the first 10 issues. I guess it's analogous to trying to find super-high-grade copies of X-Men # 67-93.

But no - it likely didn't make a profit theatrically. Point is, it's relative - pandemic or no, the film definitely underperformed expectations. But hey - if you think it was successful, that's cool. I look forward to the sequel.

It was # 2 domestically - Doesn't mean it was successful. Or, more specifically, profitable. It did $432 million worldwide against a reported $150-$200 million budget. And consensus industry reports noted it was still not yet profitable when it hit $400 million. By comparison, Dr. Strange 2 and Black Panther 2 did better than $400 million just domestically. Hell - even Love and Thunder did better than $700 million worldwide - and I've not met anyone who actually liked that film.

FWIW, I think the best superhero film of the last three years was Everything, Everywhere All at Once. It deserves the Oscar nomination love it's gotten so far... And it says something that it was easily a better multiverse film than either No Way Home or Multiverse of Madness.

Storytelling - duh. Shang-Chi, Eternals, Morbius and Black Adam didn't bomb because of "superhero fatigue." They bombed because they sucked. More specifically, they didn't offer audiences anything they hadn't seen (and done far better) before.

IIRC, McFarlane only did cover work for # 330 and 340-346 -- although there was a whole thread here a few years back arguing that, contrary to the credits and CGC notation, McFarlane also had a hand in the cover to # 333. I disagree, and don't believe the cover was McFarlane at all. The argument basically boiled down to folks saying "the cover's too sweet to have been by McLeod.:" And yes - no McFarlane whatsoever in # 335, although that issue does have a HTF So Much Fun variant.

It was *so amazing* to watch Cameron (rightfully) lose Best Picture for the original Avatar to his ex-wife.

Agreed! # 30 is a top 5 issue for me - the last page was devastating.

Great pick-ups! I won three of the other Magnus books in this auction: # 29 - 9.0 # 33 - 9.6 # 37 - 9.4 # 29 was an intentional undercopy pick-up because it's one of the hardest Magnus books to find in grade. But # 37 was the must-win. I'm the # 1 Magnus Registry holder on the Census - and I completed the run of 1-46 in CGC 9.0 in January 2016. This week, with the # 37 purchase, I've now completed 1-46 in solid 9.4+ (with an average of 9.6). Really excited!

I know this has been litigated ad nauseum, but you're not wrong. The entire plot of Hulk 180 revolves around Weapon X, Wolverine appears (in full, not shadow) and talks (to the Hulk). Literally the only reason it's not considered the "first appearance" value-wise is he isn't on the cover. Fact: If Wolverine were on the cover of Hulk 180, the relative values of 180 vs. 181 would be reversed.

This. As some have noted, X-Men 94 for years was more expensive than GS # 1 because it was harder to find in high grade (9.0+). IIRC, a 9.8 didn't even exist until ~10 years ago. But it's *also* key because it restarts the run. If it didn't exist, GS # 1 would just be a one-off - like the first appearance of the Great Lakes Avengers - or maybe The Champions. Still key as the 2nd full Wolverine? Sure. But X-Men 94 - and the 50 issues that followed *made* GS # 1 important. And as someone who once owned - and read - X-Men 94-304, virtually the only ones I care about are 94-143. The late '80s/early '90s run hold some sentimental value, since that's when I was buying the mutant titles off the shelves - but 94-143 were also reprinted in the 80s by Classic X-Men, thus introducing my generation to the Cockrum/Claremont/Byrne runs.

Right. Exactly like how...Wolverine and Sabretooth first meet (in comics) in X-Men # 211 or 212. But a few years later we learn they "first met" in Wolverine # 10. And a few years after that we actually learn they knew other as kids, in Origin # 1. I haven't been keeping up on the last 20 years of Wolverine, so maybe there's since been an issue showing they *actually* first met as toddlers that's supplanted those.

I can see the "chronological story" argument or "origin" (as in, where Peter first *finds* the black costume in Secret Wars 8), but no - it's not the first black costume. That's definitively ASM 252. But I'll raise you New Mutants 98 vs. X-Force 11. I bought New Mutants 98 off the shelf. The reason it jumped to an $8 book almost instantly was it was the first appearance of Domino - not Deadpool. Domino - new character, part of X-Force, yay. Deadpool was cool but didn't really take off until a few years later - with the writing in his ongoing book. I stopped reading X-Force after # 8, so I wasn't even aware that Nicieza apparently retconned her with issues 11 (then 15) - and that Copycat was the one from New Mutants 98 through the first year of X-Force. Even if he planned it all along, I refuse to consider X-Force 11 the "first Domino." Other pet peeve? Characters who don't actually appear in books. Key examples are Werewolf by Night # 37 - Moon Knight's on the cover, but he's not in the book. Ditto Hulk # 359. Wolverine's on the cover, but he's not in the book.

I stand corrected. Note that I was pulling from the memory of seeing this book in person, more than 15 years ago. I did not pull the grader's notes. Nevertheless, I still adamantly disagree with the contention that CGC should not downgrade more for true interior damage than it does for less severe - but visible - cover damage like foxing. It's the difference between grading the book and simply grading the front and back covers. A book that's ugly due to foxing is still structurally sound in a way that a book missing a coupon or separated at the staple simply is not.

Edit - I found a photo of the Black Terror # 1, 3.0 Blue with missing wraps. It belongs to Telerites, the CGC Census leader for the Black Terror title, with the complete run. https://comics.www.collectors-society.com/WCM/ComicView.aspx?PeopleSetComicID=123198 Note: It looks closer to a 4.0 without the defect but if you see on the label it clearly denotes the missing wraps - major incomplete book still with a clean Blue label.

I disagree. Again - the thesis here is that, when a book has a particular defect that drags it down (like pieces missing or parts detached) but would otherwise grade much higher, CGC gives a choice between choosing that higher grade in a Green label, or the true grade (including the defect) in Blue. That's always been my understanding. I did a quick image search and couldn't find the 3.0 Black Terror # 1 to which I was referring (but I saw it close up when I bid on it live in the room back in 2007). I did, however, find several more examples: Greg Reece has a thumbnail of a (since sold) copy of Black Terror # 8, CGC 3.0 blue - with the notation "Incomplete" on the label. Then there are these two, from a Hakes Auction: a Black Terror # 8, CGC 2.0 blue - with the notation "Centerfold Detached" and an Exciting Comics # 37, CGC 2.0 blue, with the notation "Cover Detached." Note: both comics are beaten up enough that those may be the grades anyway despite the defects. https://www.hakes.com/Auction/ItemDetail/232075/BLACK-TERROR-8-EXCITING-COMICS-37-CGC-20-GOOD-PAIR These Black Terror comics came to mind because I was heavily invested in completing the run for more than a decade - and tracked nearly every copy that came up.

I disagree. Grading is holistic - taking in the totality of damage to the book. If the damage happens to be a missing piece - or page - detached cover, that's fine. It's still damage. Harbinger # 1 is another fairly common example. There are 185 qualified copies on the census, due to the many that had the coupon cut out. I fundamentally believe you should be able to choose between say...9.6 green and 3.0 blue for that book. The coupon missing is damage, and should be treated as damage. Pretending it's a higher grade *if only* the coupon were still there, is just...dumb. Other key books likely with this split: Hulk 181 (Marvel Value Stamp missing) Batman 181 (centerfold poster missing)