mysterio

Picked these babies up at WW Chicago out of various boxes. The WW #87 is tough, and was an upgrade for me from a serious beater, and most of these were new books for me.

2016 is going well, 2017 is 364 days away!

I posted a scan of my #94 somewhere in this thread. It should still be there.

Catwoman #4 Action Comics yellow cover, #693 I think?

I'm not sure 100 people actively collect these, or at least not that we can sample on this board. I'd be happy starting with 8 if that is what we had. Especially if all 8 are die-hard and know the market. Some I own are definitely tough, and I know this because I sought them out specifically. Others I lucked into early but have never seen again, so I didn't know they were tough when I found them but I do now. So simply owning a book doesn't mean it is easy. I posted my honest want list in an effort to contribute to the rarity project in at least an anecdotal way from a collection amassed in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado and a few from Illinois (and eBay). You may take it with a grain of salt, but it is one snapshot. I could also speak with some weight of experience on the DC Bullet books, which are even scarcer than DCUs. I'm down to needing only two of them.

I'm at the Saturday dinner, but we'll probably be hovering around the same dealer's tables this weekend, so drop me a PM and I'm sure we can track each other down. As for being a BSD, while I hope to secure a few of those, they really aren't our focus either. Basically, anyone who has ever taken $500-$1,000 to a show looking for quality items and reluctantly brought most if not all of that money home with them is our primary target group for Elitecon. Will we have key items for the $5k, $10k+ and up crowd? Absolutely. But we think our bread and butter customer is most comfortable around the $500-$1k price point, and wants a varied selection of items to choose from before they commit to a purchase. We'll be successful if the feedback from our attendees is that there was too much quality merchandise available. Thanks everyone for the feedback too. Every time the idea gets a positive reception, it reaffirms in my mind that it's something that needs to be explored. The more you post, the better this sounds! Hopefully I'll catch you in Chicago.

I'll leave the fairly common ones behind, like I've stopped buying Superboy #4-5 unless they're 9.8 candidates, but the others I'll get as sale/trade potential or just in case they're upgrades for my PC. Most are only $2-3 books, so this is not a money maker, but I'd rather save them from the indignity of the dollar box to put them into the hands of people who appreciate them. It's tied up a fair bit of capital though. I need to do another sales thread to move them out. I think the benefit of grabbing them (even if they're common), is that you might be able to trade them with other collectors for ones you might need (since they're all more or less in the same value realm). There's not too much consensus on these, so some which might seem common to some people might be less common to others. Although quite obviously, nobody need to be rolling ten deep for any of these issues in midgrade, barring Flash 92. I've always been happy to trade 2-3 for one I need when I have traded. It seems the fair thing to do since I value the books I need higher than the ones I have been able to find multiples of. It's possible that availability may be regionally influenced to a degree, but I have no real data to back this up. Roughing out a rarity scale would help with establishing value, even in a broad sense.

I'll leave the fairly common ones behind, like I've stopped buying Superboy #4-5 unless they're 9.8 candidates, but the others I'll get as sale/trade potential or just in case they're upgrades for my PC. Most are only $2-3 books, so this is not a money maker, but I'd rather save them from the indignity of the dollar box to put them into the hands of people who appreciate them. It's tied up a fair bit of capital though. I need to do another sales thread to move them out.

Yeah, there has been no shortage of Action #700 or the slightly less common but still abundant Tec. The non-premium Action is more difficult but still not in the realm of the tough, let alone scarce DCUs in my experience. If you're serious about dollar box diving you can often find a lot of these. I've got a full short box of dupes and undercopies from box diving. If I find a DCU it's very difficult to leave it behind, even if I have multiples of that issue already!

With the trends being what they are in the major shows (SDCC, NYCC, Wizard, Fan Expo) I can definitely see shows like this as being the future of the serious comic collectors' marketplace. I'm gearing up to head to WW Chicago to spend the major money of my collecting year, and it intrigues me to think about a concentration of dealers catering to my sort of interests without all the collateral chaff that a Wizard show would bring. I'll be in Chicago too. Love the show. Will be planting the seeds with dealers and fellow collectors for our show as the week progresses. When I explain the concept in its entirety, most people react very favorably. I had an interaction with a toy dealer friend of mine at TBCC. I've spent good money with him in the past for boxed G1 Transformers stuff. When I asked him if he had any new quality items, he said he did, but didnt bring them to the show because "no one here wants to spend that kind of money". Personally, I believe he was wrong, but I understand as a dealer with hundreds of dollars invested into a booth, he needs to focus and maximize that space to cater to his average toy buyer at the show, not the rare guy who can spend $500-$1,000 on a single piece. There are also, of course, the concerns of security, with a rash of thefts at major shows this year, why even risk bringing expensive pieces that could get damaged or stolen if you aren't even sure you can find a buyer for them. It is what it is, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. I'd certainly be open to hearing more about it. I'm definitely far from a BSD as a buyer, but I do bring money to spend on higher end stuff and enjoy saving a chunk of my collecting budget to buy some bigger books in Chicago. If a similar shopping experience could be created outside of the Wizard model I'd be open to hearing more. Hopefully I'll get a chance to meet you at the show. I'm only there Thur-Fri but will be joining the sushi dinner.

With the trends being what they are in the major shows (SDCC, NYCC, Wizard, Fan Expo) I can definitely see shows like this as being the future of the serious comic collectors' marketplace. I'm gearing up to head to WW Chicago to spend the major money of my collecting year, and it intrigues me to think about a concentration of dealers catering to my sort of interests without all the collateral chaff that a Wizard show would bring.

Your experience sounds similar to my 2015 trip. It's a solid show, but you really only need one day to shop the room pretty thoroughly. I'm hoping that next year they move the dates back to early August, so I'll have a better shot at making it for a day.

It has been a week since payment, did you get the book yet? According to tracking I should either get the comic tomorrow or the day after tomorrow

This sounds brilliant, I wish I was close enough to participate. Best of luck!

After about 19 months of very serious looking this is the remaining want list I have: Action #686 (2nd), 696, 697, 704, 705, 706?, 707, 708, 710, 712, 713, 714, 715, 723, 724. Adv. of Superman #517, 518, 520, 522, 526, 527, 530?, 531, 532, 538, 540, Annual 8. Animaniacs: #4, 18. Aquaman: #5, 9, 24. Azrael #22. Batman #504, 515, 516, 517, 518, 524, 527, 531 dlx, Annual 20. Batman Adventures #18, 33, 35, 36. Batman & Robin Adventures #1, 4. Batman SOTB #30, 38, 53, 54, 55, 57. Catwoman #5, 31. DC vs. Marvel #1, 4. Detective #671, 680, 681, 682 orange, 683, 684, 685, 686, 691, 699, 700, 701, 703, 704. Annual 9. Flash #92, 109, 110, 114. Green Lantern #56, 58, 61, 63, 66, 67, 68, 70. Impulse #3, 10?. Justice League America #93, 98. Justice League Task Force #17, 19, 22, 23, 32. Looney Tunes #8, 12, 14. Nightwing #2. Power of Shazam #1, 3, 4, 12, 17. Robin #3, 4, 11, 15, 17, 20, 21, 22, 25, Annual 4, 5. Showcase '94 #2, 3. Steel #23, 28, 31. Superboy #2, 9, 12, 14, 16, 23, 24, 32, Annual 3. Superboy & Ravers #1. Superman #77 (3rd), 86, 94, 95?, 96, 98, 100, 101, 103, 104, 105, 106, 109, 117, Ann 8. Superman Doomsday: Hunter/Prey #1. Superman MOS #38, 41, 42?, 49?, 59. Where in the World is Carmen San Diego #1. Wonder Woman #90, 92, 95, 97, 98, 101, 106. Note that the Animaniacs #18 and Flash #92 are readily available on eBay; I just haven't bothered with the first one, and haven't wanted to pony up the money for the second. I got lucky with stumbling across super low grade copies of Adventures of Superman #498-499 and Justice League #86, and I bought a MOS #20 DCU when I was buying up those later printings before I started specifically looking for DCUs. Others I've only seen a single copy of (which I now own): Batman Annual #13 (thanks to Revat), Looney Tunes #15, Flash #94 (and any above #104), MOS #48, Catwoman #36, Sovereign Seven #1, Detective Annual #8. Save for MOS Annual #3, which I have found 3-4 copies of, the Annuals seem difficult in general. Anyway, from my perspective I would definitely agree with Kirk's list (who wouldn't?) and add these that have eluded me thus far as a "fairly difficult" tier. Books I see pretty commonly in my hunts: Adv of Superman #508, Superboy #1, 4-5, Steel #1, Batman #509, Action #700. These don't quite grow on trees, but I see them pretty frequently.

Found that I had one of these from some random dollar box pulls. FYI, the indicia specifically says first print. Now I've got something else to look for...

Any photos/reports from lucky attendees?

It has been a week since payment, did you get the book yet?

Did you check to see if the driver signed for it themself? That is a frequently abused loophole.

Not sure if I'll make it this year or not. It's looking improbable, but Friday may work. I'm a bit underwhelmed by the guest list this year.

That's a slightly odd perspective. I'm not sure that is any more odd than other perspectives on this or other comic films that have been expressed on the boards.

10 months away!

"Bland, boring, and sometimes borderline incoherent, Suicide Squad is a disappointing disaster."

Sell the rights to Marvel already!!! Not sure where all the doom and gloom is coming from. In socal people are loving the movie and loving Leto's Joker who was a good majority of the movie. Several of the reviews have said that the Joker barely appears in the movie, especially considering the hype that he has gotten for this role.

The Vanity Fair review looks awful.