Martin Sinescu

I'm hoping they have an end in sight on the Star Wars covers and don't feel pressured to perpetuate these variants. I've really enjoyed them and have each one so far, but they'll certainly dilute the concept's novelty and fun as they start heading toward the more obscure characters. The first 9 characters released in '78 have already been done and I think that's your real core (Luke, Han, Leia, Chewie, Ben, Vader, 3PO, R2, Stormtrooper). Boba was essential and, with Lando added, I don't think you have many more main characters outside of Yoda. That's a nice set that collectors will want to display on their wall. Once you start going beyond them, you'll have less and less people that consider these "must-haves" for a set. I'm struggling to imagine anyone posting on here about how geeked they are to pick up the Lobot action figure variant. I can see doing some of the more valuable characters like Yak Face or even the Droids Boba Fett (in the cartoon color scheme would be really great) maybe as ratioed incentives, but we certainly don't need General Madine, Teebo or Dengar (unless there's a bounty hunters mini). Gentle Giant has done the same thing with their 12-inch scale series and I think they have over 50 figures now. It just gets tiresome and I'm betting a number of the people collecting them still do it more out of the completist mentality than any actual enjoyment.

I ordered it from DCBS as well. First time using them, so

Hmm, the "spoon" left it open to interpretation on my first read and I had that kick directed somewhere else. Somewhere much more ruthless. It seems even if the Charlotte Charlatan doesn't come through with the cash on this sale, a second-chance offer is still an option for the seller to the second- or third-highest bidder who each had very high feedback. Would that be recorded by ebay and/or GPA? Also, without knowing the high-bidder's motivations, I wonder how much of it is just trying to block other people from getting a book they want versus just trying to drive the price up artificially.

Does anyone else feel like the OP just whacked a hornet's nest and ran away?

Anybody have any luck on GI Joe 214? My LCS only had the second print available, I'm guessing any first prints went in subscriber boxes. Didn't check any other shops in the area, but I ended up going to ebay for both 1st print covers as well as the 213 second print. I had most of them in my cart at Midtown on Tuesday night (along with Star Wars #6 action figure cover) and my cart was pretty much empty by noon Wednesday.

That's the 1:200 Sketch Variant, right?

Batman Newsstands Thanks for posting this great info. The Bats 457 2nd Print Newsstand is particularly awesome!!

This was my "grail" back when it came out. Finally picked one up last year. The comic shop I used to visit had one for $200 when it came out but no one ever saw it. Its a shame this book hasn't gone up much from that. I paid less for mine,.last year, than what it was going for in the mid/late 80s. Yeah, I picked up a stack of them, still sealed in their original boxes, 5 or 6 years ago. Couldn't move them at $250, couldn't move them at $200, sold a few between $150-$200 & then gave up. Recently I've been able to move them in the $300 range, but overall it's still cheaper than it was 25 years ago. I'm down to my last keeper copy, but would still like to see it make a price jump. I bought one maybe 6 or so years back that was still sealed in the original box for a pretty good price. I'm guessing I must've gotten it from you. I still have it and it's still sealed in the box (I guess I should've bought one to open as well). It had been one of those pieces I could only dream of owning when I was in high school and my LCS had it in their fancy "Can't Touch This" display case. Now part of me is really awed by the fact that any copies are still sealed, so I still can't touch it, I'm just hanging on to this box.

Bought a graded book from Jim. The price was well below current market and shipping was free! Book was nestled in plenty of bubble wrap and was on my doorstep 3 days after I paid! Really couldn't ask for more. Thanks, Jim!

Maybe, but Snyder's closing pages seem to be pretty clearly suggesting he's cooked and there won't be any outlandish bail-outs this time. I thought the whole story was fantastic and genuinely chilling at times. Hope things stick for a while as this arc deserves to stand tall in the Bat-canon and I'd hate to see it diminished by some ridiculous explanation. Speaking of Deus Ex Machina, if you haven't read TMNT 45, the Donatello plot twist at the end is worth checking out.

I messaged him a few days ago and got no response, but I got my confirmation email last night as well. I, too, was in a panic as I had no address showing in paypal and couldn't pull up an account in the store, but I must've entered my address in on the website (don't really remember because I went through it pretty quickly). I'm guessing it's just a matter of time before he gets around to everyone, so hopefully it works out okay for the rest of you that haven't gotten a notification yet. As he said, the demand was much higher than they anticipated, but I appreciate that they are working hard to handle it in a timely manner.

Most of the 9.8's still have at least some, if not a lot, of white showing from the spine. The CLink copy was one of the few I've seen come up in the last few months that didn't show any white, so I assumed the buyer was willing to pay a premium for that as I would have as well. With that being said, I was pretty shocked when I saw the final price. I'm curious how many are up for sale at Celebration this weekend and what people are asking/getting, especially since they debuted the new trailer yesterday. Don't doubt that there's still plenty of build-up to come in the next few months. Once we start heading into the holiday season, it will be nuts. I wouldn't pass judgement on any prices until next year when prices stabilize and we see where the bar will reset. $2k could be the new standard and anyone who keeps an eye on the vintage figures knows there is plenty of big money playing in the Star Wars sandbox.

Admittedly I've been out of the hobby for a few years, but is $310 an average price for this book? Batman 436 9.8 I wouldn't have thought this would be tough in high grade given that DC telegraphed the introduction of a new Robin waaayyy in advance and it was heavily ordered. Seems like this would be a pretty common/obvious Bat semi-key. The census shows less than 30 9.8's versus 120 for Bats 442, so maybe it's just been under-subbed at this point? Is there a Tim Drake-mania driving this about which I am unaware? Just when 428's were dropping down to affordable prices, now this!

Bought a huge pile of raw 70's-90's books from Brent. They were all shipped quickly in a double-boxed fortress with new bags and boards and were graded accurately. He definitely took great time and care in preparing things and I was very happy with the comics I received!

Added a beautiful Unity 0 Red to the collection at a great price thanks to Jay! Took only a few days from the minute I paid till I had it in my hands. Thanks!