mysterio

I once slabbed an Iron Fist 14 that had over a dozen ticks of varying sizes. 9.8. And you were expecting back a 9.2 right? They must love you. Definitely was not expecting a 9.8. Nor should you have been. That is terrible.

I've got a question for those of you that have been hunting these variants for a while. Does Action #695 have embossed and unembossed versions of the variant, or are the variants only unembossed? A friend I was boxdiving with this past weekend asked me, and while I suspect they are only the unembossed version I am also not 100% sure...

That's going to be a VERY tall order since the movie is doing so well. $424 million opening weekend isn't anything easy to beat. Harley's got this. The average non-comic fan isn't going to go see this because of Harley. They haven't ever heard of her. Batman v Supermsn had two pretty well established household names, putting it mildly. If the non-comic fan goes to this, the draw is probably either the Joker or Will Smith.

A buddy and I hit a bunch of the Vintage Stocks in the KC area yesterday to take advantage of the BOGO, and I managed to make a pretty good pickup out of the dollar boxes. Yes, it is a first print. Well bought, I'd almost feel guilty... Maybe, but how much did the person who sold it to Vintage Stock get for it?

A buddy and I hit a bunch of the Vintage Stocks in the KC area yesterday to take advantage of the BOGO, and I managed to make a pretty good pickup out of the dollar boxes. Yes, it is a first print.

They're also ignoring the good work being done on the TV side in favor of redoing everything for the movie side. I've said it before and I'll keep saying it, why they would recast the Flash and ignore the whole TV universe they've built in favor of a new actor/back story is simply beyond me. I'm guessing they'll waste the Supergirl they're building on TV as well, if they ever decide to bring her into the movie side. Its funny you mention the DCTV stuff, because their shows have be consistently excellent. Flash is unapologetic about bringing a very colorful, hopeful, generally upbeat version to life. It is an excellent example of applying Marvel lessons and creating a DC world (even better than most of the Marvel shows have done). The TV shows have not fallen hopelessly into grim and dirty worlds absent of humor. In general they do a great job of balancing funny moments and darker topics, and remain well written and most importantly fun. Exactly. Why they can't see that formula working on TV and think it might make sense to apply both the formula and their well-established TV characters to the cinematic side?

They're also ignoring the good work being done on the TV side in favor of redoing everything for the movie side. I've said it before and I'll keep saying it, why they would recast the Flash and ignore the whole TV universe they've built in favor of a new actor/back story is simply beyond me. I'm guessing they'll waste the Supergirl they're building on TV as well, if they ever decide to bring her into the movie side.

Looks like the sculptor is a Naomi Watts fan.

The show is supposed to be on Syfy which is owned by NBC / Comcast and given their track record with Revival, Sixth Gun and Clone I wouldn't bank too much on it actually happening. You'd think Bunn would have learned his lesson after SG and hung up the phone when the ComcastNBCUniversal execs called He may like cashing their checks too much.

Very true. But if you were lucky enough to find the sticker, I can't figure out why you would take it off one comic book and put the sticker on a different comic book. The thing I've wondered is whether nor not someone could figure out a way to make those stickers. Probably not likely since there's really not much demand for these DC Universe variants to warrant the trouble of trying to make exact replicas of these stickers (I've rarely seen anyone crazy enough to pay a huge premium for them except for me). Perhaps the CGC should use carbon dating to figure out the age of the sticker (just kidding!) Like any sort of "add on" to a book, if the book itself became valuable because of that add-on, the unscrupulous would certainly attempt to switch stickers from a more common book to a rare one. I would like to know why DC felt the need to sticker these books in the first place. Of course, the books were designed to be part of (discounted) packs, and they didn't want the same problem that occurred with the 70's 2- and 3-packs, whereby retailers were accidentally scanning the one book as the price for the whole pack, but since many of them seem to have been made *only* for the boxed packs, which had universally covered UPC areas, the sticker seems unnecessary. It would appear that there are very few known examples of stickered books for any of these examples. If these are the only four known books, with possibly single examples (or maybe two) of each known to collectors of these things, then it wouldn't be worthwhile to potentially damage the book or the sticker to try to manipulate anything. At best it would be a lateral move. I'd be much more concerned with potential counterfeits (because they are pretty simple designs and fairly rough printing quality) than removing legit stickers to place on other books. I am also curious about the rationale for the stickers. My guess is that they may have needed some additional books to round out some of the multi-packs, so rather than go back to print on covers with the DC Universe logo they may have simply taken some regular printings and placed stickers on them. I suspect that this could have been some form of inventory control, similar to printing "not for retail sale" on some things, to prevent retailers from buying discounted multipacks and then reselling the books inside at cover price. But that is pure speculation on my part. I think you have the right idea here. I don't believe any of the known stickered DCU's came from 20 packs. The last 20-pack was for issues dated Nov 1994 and the 4 known stickered DCU's were dated after Nov 1994. That leads me to believe they came from boxed sets or two packs. My stickered Superman 104 DCU actually came from a sealed boxed set (i.e., Superman's Greatest Foes) that I opened myself. I don't know why DC felt the need to place the sticker on the boxed copy since the sticker doesn't show through the box (and interestingly, it was the only stickered comic book among the 6 comic books in that boxed set). Maybe the stickers were placed on there because those comic books could be sold in either boxed sets or two packs (the UPC codes are visible in the two packs and would therefore need to be covered up) For whatever it is worth, the sticker on my Superman 104 covers a newsstand UPC. The sticker on my Detective 690 and SM MOS 42 covers a direct sales UPC. I don't know what possesses me to care about these things, but DC also produced stickers to cover some errors on newsstand bar codes. In case you didn't see my posting on that, you can see it in the following link: http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=9240642#Post9240642 If anything, I would suspect the stickers were for the carded 2- and 3-packs, which would make sense. But if they were also showing up in the box sets, like the one CptKirk found his in (example below), then the stickers weren't protecting any bar codes even if they were on the very top comic. Why go through the trouble of stickering books that couldn't possibly need a bar code covered to prevent a misprice at checkout? To test the theory we would need to know how the books were distributed, and if a particular issue would only see distribution in one way (i.e. in boxed sets or in shrinkwrapped 2-3 packs). If an issue could be distributed in either way, then a sticker may make sense. But if that Superman #104 was only ever available in a boxed set then the UPC couldn't possibly get scanned. It also doesn't explain his other examples of a DCU sticker over a direct sales box. Those latter examples would seem to fit better with the "preventing retailers from reselling" theory. I'll see if I can check my Green Lantern book to see what the sticker is covering up. EDIT: It is covering a barcode.

Very true. But if you were lucky enough to find the sticker, I can't figure out why you would take it off one comic book and put the sticker on a different comic book. The thing I've wondered is whether nor not someone could figure out a way to make those stickers. Probably not likely since there's really not much demand for these DC Universe variants to warrant the trouble of trying to make exact replicas of these stickers (I've rarely seen anyone crazy enough to pay a huge premium for them except for me). Perhaps the CGC should use carbon dating to figure out the age of the sticker (just kidding!) Like any sort of "add on" to a book, if the book itself became valuable because of that add-on, the unscrupulous would certainly attempt to switch stickers from a more common book to a rare one. I would like to know why DC felt the need to sticker these books in the first place. Of course, the books were designed to be part of (discounted) packs, and they didn't want the same problem that occurred with the 70's 2- and 3-packs, whereby retailers were accidentally scanning the one book as the price for the whole pack, but since many of them seem to have been made *only* for the boxed packs, which had universally covered UPC areas, the sticker seems unnecessary. It would appear that there are very few known examples of stickered books for any of these examples. If these are the only four known books, with possibly single examples (or maybe two) of each known to collectors of these things, then it wouldn't be worthwhile to potentially damage the book or the sticker to try to manipulate anything. At best it would be a lateral move. I'd be much more concerned with potential counterfeits (because they are pretty simple designs and fairly rough printing quality) than removing legit stickers to place on other books. I am also curious about the rationale for the stickers. My guess is that they may have needed some additional books to round out some of the multi-packs, so rather than go back to print on covers with the DC Universe logo they may have simply taken some regular printings and placed stickers on them. I suspect that this could have been some form of inventory control, similar to printing "not for retail sale" on some things, to prevent retailers from buying discounted multipacks and then reselling the books inside at cover price. But that is pure speculation on my part.

I had the same experience for the same book around the first of the year. Definitely a moment.

Awesome find on the MOS! I've got a Green Lantern book with a sticker. If you scan back through this thread there is a pic someplace. If I weren't on my phone I'd locate it.

Both #20 and #29 have always been favorites of mine. I could never understand why the Scorpion wasn't used again until #144 (I believe). Great villain with a great look, and some of the best SA Spidey stories.

CGC uses the dates as they appear in the books, and some reprints (like these) don't change the original dates. One might think a tad bit of research would be in order for a professional grading company. Let's not get lost in the weeds. Publication month/year is all that matters. Reprint dates aren't even generally made public (except in cases like Bone, interestingly enough), much less have any bearing on the original publication date. For a reprint to have a new date on the label, it would have to have that new date somewhere on the book, and would probably have to be substantively different from the original (like the EC reprints of the 1970's.) Was MOS #18 5th printed in 1994? Probably. The first "DC Universe" UPC logo books have a Jan 1994 (printed in Nov 1993) cover date. But it doesn't matter, because the cover date is still Dec 92, and that didn't change. Trying to figure out the "actual date" would be a task beyond the scope of CGC. RMA, not directly related but I've got a question for you....which I'm sure you know the answer to. I actually *remember* you breaking this down but I can't find where you posted it. What are the top 5 (or 10, if you want to go that far) toughest books to find, in the cumulative DOS & ROS storylines....as far as reprints and DCU logo reprintings are concerned. to find because the ROS DCU's were (exclusively or mainly) sold in prepacks. I know JLA 69 4th is fairly tough...Adv 497 3rd...MOS 19 3rd.... But I could have sworn you posting *somewhere* on this board, that Action 686 (DCU logo) was the hardest one and that even you have yet to come across a copy. Is my memory correct? The thread you seek lives in the modern forum. It's nice to have minions...

Six months away.

?? don't understand....... probably miSC, not miCS miscellaneous I'm sure he meant a box of 200 microphones. That has to be it.

Bought a TOS #75 from Matt, and it was shipped quickly and packaged very well for the trip. I wouldn't hesitate to buy from him again!

I find that happens a lot. Weird. It is always easier to find something after you already own it. In my experience the subsequent copies that show up are always much cheaper too.

For anyone shopping for books OAFCon would be the obvious choice from what I've heard about it. I'm sorry I'm probably going to be missing it yet again.

This new Cleveland date actually puts it closer to Columbus. They moved Columbus back to July and Pittsburgh to November to space those out. I guess moving Cleveland puts 3-4 months between that trio of shows.

Looks like new dates three weeks later.

I just noticed that this show is the same weekend as WW Tulsa.

Two months away.