SOTIcollector

It's easy to predict the most valuable book 30 years from now. Action #1. It will always be the book that started the superhero craze and cemented comic books as one of the most successful publishing phenomena in history. It is the beginning of America's mythology. However, based on your suggestion to eliminate books that have already jumped in value, it sounds like you're looking for the book that is likely to have the highest percentage increase in the next 30 years. Something that is worth very little now, but will be highly treasured and sought-after in three decades. If history is any kind of guide at all, the things that won't increase dramatically over the next 30 years will be the limited-edition variant covers of any type. The real money will be in the things that collectors have an emotional attachment to. To figure that one out, you'll want to look at what "kids these days" are into, and predict which of those will have 30-year staying power. (My guess is that it won't be a comic book, but you asked specifically about comic books.) If you had predicted 50 years ago that Amazing Spider-man had staying power, you'd have done pretty well. If you had predicted 30 years ago that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had staying power, you might be sitting on some pretty valuable books. So if you can figure out what kids (and by that, I'm referring to anybody between the ages of six and 25, because when you're old you can get away with calling them all "kids") these days are into, then you're halfway there. Then if you can figure out what has staying power, you've got the answer. Since I'm clueless about what kids these days like, I'll ask you. What are kids these days into? What do you think has staying power? What will these kids be buying three decades from now when a number of them have become stockbrokers and neurosurgeons and, well, dentists?

The grail copy is no longer available. The inexpensive copy is still up for grabs. $100 tucked neatly in the repro dust jacket, or $75 naked.

Welcome to the CGC boards. This is a forum for collectors of CGC books, that is hosted by CGC. Although representatives of CGC do come here sometimes, it is not the ideal place to ask them a question directly. I would suggest calling CGC‘s customer service with your question.

REMOVED FROM SALE Here's a grail for somebody who wants the ultimate SOTI experience. Seduction of the Innocent by Dr. Fredric Wertham, first edition, first print, first state (with bibliography!) The dust jacket has has moderate wear and fading to the red text on the spine. The book has no interior markings. There's a tan stain or dust shadow at the top of the FC. Some splitting at the top of the inside FC, and all along the spine inside the rear free end paper. All 16 illustration pages are present. And more importantly, the bibliography page, pp. 399-400, is present. REMOVED FROM SALE. This is available for immediate shipment in the US. I may be able to make arrangements for shipping outside the US, but you should know that I use only shipping methods that will allow me to insure this for its full value, so shipping is likely to be expensive. If shipping outside the US still interests you, let's discuss. For an extra $25 if you wish, I'll include a reproduction dust jacket (which protects your dust jacket from extra fading). Cash is king, but I'll consider trades as well. My primary wants are slabbed SOTI books and anything else related to SOTI. I can sometimes be tempted with other GA books, art, and oddities, though. in thread trumps all. For more information about which edition of this book is which, check out my SOTI website. Seduction of the Innocent Editions (lostsoti.org)

Thanks for noticing that! I appreciate the help. I feel like misquoting Tom Waits, "the camera's been drinking, not me." I took a new photo and it's all nice and crisp now.

Seduction of the Innocent, by Dr. Fredric Wertham, the book that nearly killed the entire US comic book industry. First up is a low-grade second print of SOTI. Here's the lower of the two copies I have available. The first print of SOTI came out in April, 1954; the second print dates to either 1954 or 1955, but I have been unable to find an exact date for it. You can distinguish a second print by the absence of the "R" colophon on the publication page. This copy does not have the original bibliography, so I have included a photocopy of the bibliography for your reference. Originally, all first and second printings were printed with a bibliography page (pp. 399-400). However, the book's publisher (Rinehart) buckled to pressure from comic book publishers who demanded the removal of the bibliography. So the bibliography was physically sliced out of almost all copies prior to distribution. A few copies with the bibliography did make it out, but most are like this: there's a stub at p. 399 where the bibliography used to be. Condition: All typical pages are present, including all 16 of the illustration pages in the center of the book. That's the good news. But other than that, it's a pretty low grade copy. Tape on the spine, some soling but no interior writing. Some spine breakage, and a tear to the interior bc. See the photos for details. The dust jacket is a reproduction. If you don't want the repro dust jacket, just let me know and I'll knock $25 off the price (my cost for the repro). $100 shipped in the US. Payment via PayPal. US shipping only (included). Returns accepted within 10 days. No HOS or probationites. in the thread trumps any negotiations.

Yes, it's the ultimate SOTI book. It was the only book that Wertham seems to have mentioned every chance he got. It was in his 1948 Saturday Review of Literature article, the 1953 Ladies Home Journal article, and it had several mentions plus pictures in SOTI. The "injury to the eye" panel was pictured on the front cover of the stand-alone reprint of the 1953 Ladies Home Journal article, "What Parents Don't Know About Comic Books," and so on. Wertham's assertion was that comic books were dangerous for kids. If he had to pick a "most dangerous" comic book, it seems apparent he would have picked this one. I watched that ridiculously low price late in the auction and crossed my fingers. But I couldn't touch that final price. I'll have to remain satisfied with my lowly 7.0.

Hello, and welcome to the boards. First, the easy question. Would you be able to get A CGC signature series label for your books? The answer there is no. That label is only for comics that CGC has witnessed being signed. A comic with an unwitnessed signature is treated as a comic with writing on it. If the books are already low grade, only in fair condition, and have writing on the interior, it is unlikely that the writing would affect the grade. So you would most likely end up with a notation on a blue label that says something like “Stan Lee written on the first page in pen.“ As for the general question about whether you should get the books slabbed, that depends on what they are and your motivation for slabbing them. Are you hoping to sell them? Or do you just want a slab to protect them and make it easy to display them? Are they high dollar key issues, such as Amazing Fantasy #15 and Incredible Hulk #1? Or are they run-of-the-mill comics without a large collectible value in fair condition, such as Master of Kung Fu #32 or Marvel Triple Action #3? If they are expensive key issues and you want to sell, getting them graded would probably be wise. If you want to grade them just so you can handle them and display them without fear of damage, then by all means go for it. But if you provide more information about what they are and why you want to slab, this community could probably provide more information about whether it makes sense to slab them.

We have that in common. I don't consider myself to be the be-all and end-all of comic book purchasing, either. Like I said, I'm happy your approach works for you. Since this is a newbie forum, and you volunteered your approach to comics buying, I thought it might be helpful to a newbie if they were presented with a different approach, which some sellers might find less abrasive. I pointed out that I buy based on the price of the book, rather than on whether somebody is willing to drop their price. In fact, the approach that I prefer seems a lot like the second approach you said you use rather than the first approach you said you use My decision to purchase is based mostly* on the purchase price of the book, and never on whether somebody is willing to negotiate. [*Mostly= if it's a seller I really like, such as Ted from Superworld, I'm probably willing to pay a little more. If it's a seller I really can't stand in the least, like [xxxx censored XXX], then it had better be a real bargain or a book that I absolutely can't get elsewhere.]

That's an interesting strategy and I'm happy that it works for you. When selling, I've encountered buyers who assume everything is negotiable. That's not always the case, and sometimes it means they lose out. At shows, I've had buyers walk away because I wouldn't "deal" on an item with a fair but firm price, and seconds later the item sold for full price to somebody who recognized a good deal. When I'm buying a book, I determine what it's worth to me. If the seller will sell it for that much or less, I buy the book.

Not only is this not against eBay's rules, it would go against eBay's interest to stop fake sales. I understand that consumers find it frustrating. I understand that it can be used to manipulate GPA data. There's just zero reason for eBay to care about that. You could ask eBay to change their policy. That would be asking them to make less money, and spend time policing their auctions, just so that GPA could reflect slightly more realistic sales. This is a known limitation of GPA and every pricing tool (price guide, website, whatever) that has even been invented. Neither buyers nor sellers should treat any pricing tool as gospel. Only fool or novices buy or sell based exclusively on a single pricing tool.

I just did this search, and perhaps the complicating factor is the colon. To get an exact match, you'll need the correct spelling, spacing and punctuation in the census search. "Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows" Another option is to do a "contains" search. If you search for titles that contain "Amazing Spider-man", you'll get too many results to be useful. But if you search for titles that contain "Renew Your Vows", you'll go right to that series and it will be easy to find your book.

If a seller regularly puts up fake auctions, just to get the sale recorded on GPA, and then they cancel the sale and gets an eBay fee refund, eBay would notice them skipping out on fees and would put a stop to it. If the seller regularly puts up fake auctions, and then pays their eBay fees, there is no reason in the world eBay would want to stop them. Why lose the fees? Fake inflated GPA sales don’t hurt eBay, and in a small way they contribute to eBay‘s bottom line.

I prefer books without writing on them.

No. CGC signature series books are books that have signatures that were actually witnessed by representatives of CGC. CGC does not authenticate signatures they did not witness.

Welcome to the boards. It’s good to have you here. I’m sorry to disappoint, but the item you displayed is not Silver Surfer number three, and it is not in near mint condition. If you look at the top of the front cover, or if you look at the publication information at the bottom of the first page, you will see that this is actually Fantasy Masterpieces number three, not Silver Surfer number three. This is a cool book, but it is a reprint of (and worth much less than) Silver Surfer number three. There is an accumulation of defects visible in the photo that indicate it is not in near mint condition. I can see white stress lines on the spine, bends on the right side of the cover, a waviness in the cover that looks like moisture damage, and something that looks like a rip along the bottom edge. I recommend looking at eBay completed sales to see how much Fantasy Masterpieces number three typically sells for in a similar condition. Then you could offer this comic for sale on eBay, or any other online platform such as Instagram or Facebook. On eBay when I search completed sales, I see numerous sales of this comic for less than $10. Many of them are significantly less than that. Best of luck with the sale.

It would certainly benefit the hobby if somebody put some effort into fixing the errors in the Guide. If it were a democracy, I'd vote for you as Overstreet editor in a heartbeat. But alas, the Guide seems to be run by a dictator of some sort. I understand and appreciate the desire to see Overstreet thrive for the reasons you've stated. If they showed that historical information really matters to them, fixing longstanding errors, I might be swayed to your camp. My personal experience and that of others on this thread indicates that they simply don't seem to care about correcting errors. I'm all for supporting the restaurant down the street because I want to see the restaurant do well. But if the management of that restaurant doesn't bother to clean the tables or keep the roaches out of the food, then I won't bother trying to support a business that seems determined to undermine its own success.

My first Overstreet Guide was 1976, a Christmas present from my parents. Starting in 1978, I bought every new Guide as it came out. I eventually filled in the empty slots, picking up Overstreets #1-5 and 7. So now I have this 50+ year collection of Overstreets. It started out, for me, as an essential tool that gave at least a rough idea of what things were selling for. Plus, it was great to see the photos of old comics. Eventually, I found it a valuable resource for its information about comics. How long did this series run? Why did this series start with issue #102? What is historically significant about this issue? And then I discovered the market reports, that gave further information about what people were collecting and why. But after all these years, all of the things that kept me buying The Guide are no longer relevant. Pricing information? There are numerous online sources that are far more accurate. Information about the series? I'll take GCD, thank you very much. Market reports? There's plenty of information here on the CGC boards and elsewhere that makes the market reports obsolete. And of course there's that heavy grain of salt required when reading the market reports from dealers who have a vested interest in reporting that the things THEY have in stock happen to be ON FIRE. Plus, I've been collecting long enough to know about things that are just plain wrong in the Guide. I've sent in corrections, some of which were added to the Guide, but many of which were ignored. In fact, numerous attempts to contact them regarding errors have been met with radio silence. I only know about a very small slice of the collecting world, and I know of a number of errors and omissions. If they aren't interested in fixing errors and omissions, how can I trust them to be accurate? So I've come to the realization that the only reason I'm buying The Guide is because of this addiction called collecting. It's not because the guide provides anything useful at all these days. It's because I have them all, from #1 to present. I ask you, fellow boardies, how can I stop? When trying to become successful in something that is personally challenging, chances of success can be dramatically increased by announcing your intentions. Tell your friends, your family, event total strangers, what you intend to do. Want to lose 20 lbs? Announce it. Want to run a marathon? Announce it. Then do it. Science has shown that your chances of succeeding are greater if you announce your intentions. So I hereby announce my intentions to stop my addiction to Overstreet. When the new one comes out, I'm going to ignore it. Unless somebody here has a darned good reason why I should keep buying them. Anybody? Bueller?

Yes, that SOTI factor. Only three comic books were pictured with full covers in SOTI: Crime Detective #9, Reform School Girl, and Phantom Lady 17. Thanks to Dr. Wertham's efforts in SOTI, Ladies' Home Journal, the Saturday Review, and his work with the New York State Legislature and he US Senate investigation of juvenile delinquency, the entire American comic book industry nearly died in the mid 1950's. It was far more than just the death of EC Comics as we knew them. Dozens of companies closed, hundreds lost their jobs, and the entire industry was neutered for years to come. The books that shocked America in 1954, including PL17, are more than just comics. They are history.

I had the perfect plan to get the Promise books I want from this auction. All I'd have to do is liquidate my retirement accounts... Oh, yeah, and discuss it with my wife. My wife is incredibly supportive of of all my endeavors. She also happens to have an abundance of things called "sanity" and "reason", so I'm sure my plan would have been shot down. On to plan B. I now have a foolproof way that I'll be able to pick up every SOTI book and every Phantom Lady in the auction. And I'm not greedy. I just want ONE really nice Schomburg Timely war cover, and I'll leave the rest for somebody else. My plan can't miss.

Ok, I finally read through all 99 pages of this thread. What I didn't see confirmed was: are the heirs actually getting a cut of this auction? Has anybody been able to confirm that these aren't actually owned by somebody who already bought the entire collection outright from the heirs?

Does that mean this is a Promise copy (currently on eBay)?

You bought a comic book that was probably signed by Todd. Many collectors consider the store stamp to be sufficient proof of the signature’s authenticity. However, CGC signature series books are books for which CGC witnessed the signing. They did not witness the signing, so they would never put your book in a signature series slab. For grading purposes at CGC, it would be treated as a book with a stamp on it and writing on the cover.

If you want to be certain the signature is authentic, then buy CGC signature series. Other “signed” books will typically be cheaper than CGC signature series. Just keep in mind that signatures and so-called certificates of authenticity are both ridiculously easy to fake. You get what you pay for. So if you are OK with the price, knowing that it could possibly be a fake, then go for it. If authentic is important, then steer clear.