Martin Sinescu

Hahaha, I literally NEVER even noticed that and I love the cover to 50. Guess I always focused on SS's dynamic posing to the absolute exclusion of the lower-right corner. Agree definitely that 72 is probably the best of the FF Surfer covers. While I like 75 as well, I kind of find the red a little too dominant on that one whereas on 72 it's mitigated by the darkness which thrusts the pure white/silver of SS to the forefront. It's just a stunning cover.

I'm with Jaydog on this one, so count my list as one of them. I'm forcing myself to try to enjoy FF 49's cover because people lately seem to be falling all over their tongues about it, but I find it too cluttered compared with 48's simple, dramatic feel. 49 is maybe "cool", but 48 has been iconic for as long as I've been into comics (um, 30 years now) and I simply can't see 49 as being better in any way except "there's more colors".

I've got a copy or two, but never read it (got them with a large collection). I'm definitely going to have to dive in after the praise it's received here, but do I need to read any other issues first for context or is it good as a stand-alone?

Thanks for the input, guys! Interesting that the consensus here is lower than what he and I thought. I was planning on picking it up from him, but we couldn't agree on a price, so I'm going to send it off to Joey for him to see how well a clean/press will help the presentation. Thanks again, I'll update once it makes the trip through Florida.

What a fun thread! I'll take these!

Before I put them all in the recycle bin, I clipped out a few memorable pages from my old Toy Shop magazines including the first ad I remember Tom of Cloud City posting. It was a two-page spread of prices he was paying for various rare Star Wars items including a list of all the Canadian Special Offers. Freaking blew my mind 'cause I never knew things like a Special Offer AT-AT even existed. It made me realize how small-time I was in the SW pond even though I thought I had a pretty lusty collection at the time.

Here's a Hulk 181 that just turned up from an original owner collection. My friend owns it and we're both in roughly the same place on the grade which is 6.0, maybe 6.5. He's thinking of a clean and press, but I don't know if it's going to help the actual grade (although it will get rid of a number of small wrinkles). The main flaws I see are a 1/4-3/8" small tear on the right edge (near Hulk's elbow), several color-breaking tics along the spine (as well as some spine curl), a small stain in the upper-right corner near the Comics Code seal, and tanning to the interior pages. There is an obvious bit of dirt on the "H" in "Hulk" that we're both wondering whether it would come off with a clean or not. I'm also thinking page quality is no better than Off-White. Just curious what others think on the grade and does this have a shot at a higher grade with the tear on the edge (doesn't go through to the interior) and cbc's along the spine? Thanks!

If it were me, I'd keep the guy's money and ship the item. Keep it simple, don't try to teach anyone a lesson or boost your self-image by saying you're acting on principle. Ultimately, you got what you wanted: You sold the item and a small pile of cash appeared in its place. I've said this before, feedback counts for so little these days and if you're going to refuse to take someone's money over something like this... well, I think you're just letting your pride govern your actions. No need to prolong the drama and, by your own admission, you didn't ship the item in the amount of time your listing stated, so you're not totally absolved, a little bit of this falls on you. Again, just keep the money and move forward with your life. Avoid people that try to suck you into conflict.

Offer accepted, check another Bat-key off the list!

Put my offer in....

Now that you mention it, I'm starting to think McSpidey #1 should be on there, maybe the Platinum or Gold w/ UPC if it needs to be "big bucks" to make the list, but that, X-Force 1 and X-Men 1 were so huge upon release and certainly were the genesis for the Image break-away for all 3 creators. McSpidey was the first, though. I'd drop Suicide Squad #1 to make room.

I think for an entire generation, Jackman IS Wolverine.

That list is looking pretty good. Nice to see GI Joe 21, SS 34 and Punisher Limited #1 on there.

It really depends on how the OP intended "original" to be taken -- does it mean "unique", as in a character concept that hadn't been used before, or simply a character that was created in the SA and wasn't a rehash of a previous generation (such as Flash and Green Lantern)? Since the OP said "most significant" and not "most original", I took it to mean the character DC created in the SA that wasn't a revamp of a previous character from the GA and has had the greatest impact in the DCU, thus I still think Supergirl and Batgirl are the two most significant. Although it was pointed out that they are basically re-dos of concepts that had already been tried, even their first incarnations were created in the SA, so still original concepts for that era. Yeah, I get that both are female copies of DC's biggest super-heroes, but what can you do? They at least evolved and have taken on a life of their own since their creation.

I was specifically addressing the Joker's new direction rather than Batman as a whole. Whether it's 232 or 251 as the apex is debatable. 251 is a standalone issue that tells a complete story while 232 is part of a larger story that's spread out across many issues, so I have a harder time calling that one issue the apex. Again, it's debatable, both are superb, I think I just kind of lean towards 251 for the purposes of having "a" single issue to call the pinnacle of the era. In terms of individual issues of the Ra's story, I think I actually like 'Tec 411, Bats 242 and 243 better than 232, but that's me. As far as the cover, although I think the board mantra that people only care about covers in the CGC era is dismissive of both collectors and the impact a well-executed cover can have, I won't fault anyone for buying or trumpeting the book because of its cover -- it's a classic and I see it sold as wall-art in non-comic outlets, so it has a broad appeal and reach outside our hobby. Really, though, I stated my case for this book's significance on a number of levels in the "Is Batman 227 the key Neal Adams book?" thread with the cover absolutely being one of those reasons. As was said earlier here, I would put 232 and 251 as the top 2 Neal/O'Neil books, and I would consider 'Tec 400 third most important for the era (although it was scripted by Robbins). I think each issue is extraordinary in terms of cover, story, art, and character development. Agreed. It was an odd comparison which was doomed to fail from the outset. Maybe it seems like a po-tay-to vs. po-tah-to, but my point was that you lose the significance of his major reinterpretation by focusing on the detail of his specific action. Whether he kills anyone or not in this issue is totally irrelevant; It's still a very hard break with his previous iteration. While the cover is an awesome stand-alone image, sure, to me the title splash on page 1 is where the creators declare the TV era Joker dead and buried (there's the real murder in this issue): It's impact is so immediate, so visceral, and it perfectly paints a rather frightening portrait of a deranged maniac -- and he hasn't even killed anyone yet.... he's just driving! Compare it with one of his later Silver appearances: It's a massive shift away from that goofy "hyuk-hyuk" SA guy. That is what is important in this character's legacy! Again, even if he hadn't killed a couple of nobodies in this issue, the character as a whole is completely changed and that impact still guides the character 45 years later! Does murder illustrate the point that he's now playing by a different set of rules? Yes, Is the fact that he murders in and of itself as significant as that shift? No.

I agree that the emphasis on that one event is misplaced, but I would argue that the significance should be on Adams/O'Neil steering the Joker toward a darker interpretation -- they reset the standard for the character and pretty much set the path for all cannon interpretations of his personality for 45 years. The murdering is just an example of this change, but is not in and of itself as significant. The Adams interiors and iconic cover are nearly as important, but I think the new direction for how the Joker's character is handled trumps those.

This tends two b comonly, true. -Sieve

Yes and yes. You're Ur welcome.

Agreed. Spawn figures were game-changers. Good times.

Runner-up came within $7 of my max bid

Also..... wow

To your original point, I agree it was undervalued in the past relative to other fairly significant books and I feel the correction is justified. I sold my first 9.4 about 6 years ago just before the blow up and hated to do it. Paid close to double to replace it a few years ago, but it's an upgrade presentation-wise, so ultimately I'm happy to have a copy as it's one of my favorite single issues of Batman (also my birth month/year book). Beyond my personal feelings, it is a significant book on numerous levels, some of which have already been covered. That said, I think IH 181 and AF 15 have few, if any, comps in terms of their recent mega-key recognition and the corresponding surge in prices over the last year or two. They've become two of the absolute must-have cornerstones of the hobby and many collectors left out are desperate to buy in. I don't believe Bats 251 really is comparable at all in that regard if you were looking for a legit side-by-side showdown. If you were just pointing out that prices have jumped... yes, they have and, again, I think it's deserved, but prices have jumped for a lot of books over the last few years.