spreads

It looks closer to a pickle, or that creature from Dragonball Z. Piccolo was always a fav of mine Naw not piccolo, this guy:

It looks closer to a pickle, or that creature from Dragonball Z.

Cloak & Dagger have SUCH tremendous potential.... Especially if it's adult-themed like that cover (we all see cloak eye-ing her ).

April Fools You paid the guy only $20?

I have started doing the opposite - keep the keys, make money back from commons at the spring or fall con season (depending on when you buy the books) and then selling the remainder to LCSs. My goal is to get funds back within 6 months while retaining the best books/keys as they continue to increase in value. I used to take the sell the keys and try to max out profits from the rest approach, but since keys/high demand books outpace other books in value growth it does not make sense. This works well with auction lots from Heritage, Clink or other venues also. I have tried to take this approach as a collector because I agree that sitting on keys is much better than sitting on long boxes of drek. If I had more access and time to hunt down collections, I would look more towards turnover. I know two people that do this locally, one who's willing to sell the commons really cheap (25/cents a book in lots), the other continually selling books for $1/piece. I think the latter doesn't move much because he refreshes his kijiji ads every other day.

Well I just bought a set two weeks ago for less than $100 shipped (granted #1 was a third print). Which sale do we exclude, this one, or mine? Was your set from ebay? Yessir. But I didn't think CFD was ever a cheap comic (aside from when it first came out).

Well I just bought a set two weeks ago for less than $100 shipped (granted #1 was a third print). Which sale do we exclude, this one, or mine?

$4300 was the final price, looks like the seller took about a 1k bath on it. Considering TMNT#1 first print in upper/mid grade is going for around that price, $4300 doesn't seem that bad.

Should I be embarrassed that I'm the high bidder? you're the lead shill bidder, per CBT. Congrats I was planning on going through with the purchase...maybe that's why I was fired from my job as a pump-and-dumper in pink sheets.

Should I be embarrassed that I'm the high bidder?

Jezz, is CGC just giving out 9.8s these days? I think the book is ugly as well, and would never purchase it. However, and I cannot beleive I am defending a book with those defects, in a holder with that grade.... but here we go. CGC looks at entire runs of each paticular book, and if it is determined that there were defects caused by the printer such as bindery tears it wont really affect the grade until you are talking 9.9 and 10's. Apparently, CGC feels the defect is common enough in high grade to let it pass. What really bothers me about this book is the Color breaking staple stress at the bottom stable. I can understand this, however I see two problems with this: 1) it creates a disparity between different books of the same grade (a 9.8 that doesn't have any flaws compared with a 9.8 that does), and 2) are the earliest-graded books disadvantaged in that they don't receive the same leniencies of later-graded books once the common defects have been factored into the grading.

Jezz, is CGC just giving out 9.8s these days?

Is that really heating up? I see a bunch of sets in the $25-30 range; it would cost me that to get them from my subs at the LCS.

I grabbed one for a buck today also, along with a bunch of ASM, Valiant Preunities/late issues.

10-4! (thumbs u

I think if you're going to call someone a 'Thief' for that then the item/value shouldn't make a difference. The argument is based on the buyer taking advantage of the seller's lack of knowledge. By that logic you can make the case that 90% of the finds in this thread fall into that category. At what dollar value does it make it okay? A 1$ book for sale worth $40, $100, $1000? Seems arbitrary. Not pointing fingers at anyone here, just seems like a subjective double-edge sword.

The ValiantFans definitely! I think a lot of those ultra-rare books would be selling for $5-10 instead of $100 and up.

Well, if you have extra books for sale then you should always lock in some profits. I sold off 2 #1s, a number 1, 1a, and have a number of others still available (some for sale, some I'm holding onto). I was lucky to find a big stash of these books right when prices were near their peak, and turned them over within 24 hrs. I like to sell quick too, lock in the gains!

If you only have 1 copy of those it doesn't hurt to hold onto them.

While that is a part of it, over the past couple of years I have seen way more early 20s collectors enter the market and for them the Copper Age keys are the big books tied to their youth. They have jobs now with decent disposable incomes to chase the funny books that are key to them, and it is not BA or SA. If they follow the trend, they will eventually migrate to BA, SA and GA books, but right now CA is what they are most familiar with and that is what they are chasing. It happened with SA back in the day, then BA, so it only makes sense that demographics are impacting the CA market now as well. I think you mean people in their 30s, but I see your point. No, the new early 20s types I see at shows are buying the CA keys, as the people in their 30s (me included) chase the BA/SA/GA keys. They did not grow up reading the books, but when they started reading comics, characters like Deadpool, Venom, Carnage, Harley, etc. were big deals so this is where they initially gravitate towards regarding keys. As those are checked off the list they will follow the same progression that the rest of us did in either going BA to SA to GA or SA to GA as they can afford bigger books. Well I'm 34, and I'm definitely not chasing anything older than copper (90% of my focus is modern, or 90s-current).

While that is a part of it, over the past couple of years I have seen way more early 20s collectors enter the market and for them the Copper Age keys are the big books tied to their youth. They have jobs now with decent disposable incomes to chase the funny books that are key to them, and it is not BA or SA. If they follow the trend, they will eventually migrate to BA, SA and GA books, but right now CA is what they are most familiar with and that is what they are chasing. It happened with SA back in the day, then BA, so it only makes sense that demographics are impacting the CA market now as well. I think you mean people in their 30s, but I see your point.

They're putting MASSIVE amounts of money behind promoting this show. The book is a proven hit, already has a fan base, 9.8's will sell for crazy money closer to the shows release IMHO. I just sent in quite a few #1 variants for grading. Would you guys grab #2s for cover, or any other books other than the first issue for cover? I see the print run for the first series dwindles steadily after #1 (issue 2 around 7k).

It actually has never bottomed out at that range. The only sales under $300 occurred during the infancy of CGC, and long before the demand for Harbinger shot the price up to $2500. The past year or so the book has oscillated around $300-350, ending closer to $350. From what I understand, the books he lists are based on the # of bids, not the price. FWIW, the suckers were the ones that bought Harbinger #1 at the highs. There were plenty of HG copies to go around and it was only a matter of time for more to surface. Just like any BA/CA/Modern #1 or key, there will be more highest graded copies on the census over time and that will bring prices back to reality. Actually that particular post had to do with the number of watchers, not the price. I think you are a little strong with your characterization of the supply of high grade Harbinger 1s. Given a book that sold from $2500 down to $350, there are still only about 100 9.8s on the census which has grown very very slowly for a 90's "big money" book. Compare to Batman Adventures 12. Certainly there was little support for a 2500 price given even a slowly growing census count, but it still is a legitimately tough book to grade out at 9.8. It is tougher than other books from that period, but at an estimated 48,000 print run there are plenty of potential 9.8s out there in long boxes and store stock that have not come out to play yet. The question is how many people are willing to pay the $250-$350 for it if the current series fails and there are no movie/tv prospects to inflate prices? When I look at the number of so-so Image books being optioned, I keep wondering if Valiant will ever get something on the big or small screen. Harbinger 1 doesn't have a TON of downside in CGC 9.8 in that price range. It's a relatively tough 9.8, has a very low print run for its era, is a classic book that a lot of people have some nostalgia for, and the characters are back in print for now. Even if the current series died, it's already renewed some interest in the book. Certainly. You don't need to be a Valiant collector to want a H1 9.8 in your collection. It is a legit modern era key book. I would put it in the top 10, and I can't see it out of the top 20 in any serious list. I think the Valiant book that should be on people's top 10 modern lists is VH1 X-O Manowar 1. The title outsold Harbinger back in the day (X-O Manowar was published for over a year after the original Harbinger title folded), it was one of the few titles revived by Acclaim (Harbinger did not make the cut), and is the top selling Valiant title for VEI. Harbinger is a wannabe X-Men and will always be compared to that title. X-O Manowar is a unique character and is Valiant's flagship character and title. IMHO, of course. It's pathetic that VH1 X-O Manowar 1 in 9.8 CGC sells for $75 - $100. There are VEI X-O Manowar variants that sell for more and that's just wrong. As for moderns that are heating up, did anyone else notice the inexpensive (under $15) copies of House of Mystery Halloween Annual 1s disappeared on E-Bay this weekend after the iZombie news? That book has less than 12,000 copies. Not a huge print run. I don't think it's fair to say the variants are selling for more is right or wrong, the 1:50s are getting ridiculously hard to find. If I only have $50 or $100 to spend on a book, do I choose a high grade copy of a book I already own multiples of, or 1 or 2 variants that are extremely limited, just playing devil's advocate....I would also like to add that I think X-O and Harby VE1 is a lot better than their VH1 counterparts. Harbinger in particular, is an amazing book, so for people questioning the quality of these books I really wonder what they're reading (I assume they're not).

Why's Harbinger so high all of a sudden? That is NOT a high price for Harbinger. If fact it would be considered a very low price if that book sold there. I don't know why Whetton is putting Valiants selling 'below average' as 'heating up'. He's been on the VF boards long enough to know what the price of that book is.... The attention surrounding the book has definitely increased. I see more watchers than ever before. That might not translate into dollars but it does translate into interest and that's all I'm reporting on. Well the VF board has a dedicated thread to it now, with participants keeping it refreshed with each copy coming to market. That would account for a lot of the attention.

It actually has never bottomed out at that range. The only sales under $300 occurred during the infancy of CGC, and long before the demand for Harbinger shot the price up to $2500. The past year or so the book has oscillated around $300-350, ending closer to $350.