fantastic_four

That's assuming he was told they were unrestored. The majority of collectors didn't think about it before the late 90s, and very few dealers volunteered that info back then. I think it was this ignorance that has led to the market for restored comics to fall through the floor. Once the ignorance is gone, restored comic prices should recover a bit. Somebody's gotta educate those that thirst for knowledge first...

The fact that those books are largely restored should be only minorly disappointing to current Metropolis customers and shouldn't be a huge surprise. The history of comics prior to the late 1990s was that a LOT of large, knowledgable national dealers would restore comics themselves and sell them without disclosing the work. More than a few of the current most well-known dealers around used to do this. I hear that it was never widely considered ethical, but there were a lot of well-known people doing it and a lot of people knew it went on. It didn't become widely known issue of contention until the mid to late 1990s. CGC has cemented undisclosed restoration as a cardinal sin and has forced most of those dealers to stop touching up books. With one notable exception in a seller of key comics. Cage bought his collection back when even a lot of the top collectors weren't thinking much about restoration when they bought books. In today's market, I think a seller could be convicted of fraud for knowingly selling comics with undisclosed restoration. However, is that true of the early 1990s and before market? I'm not sure that many people knew slight restoration went on as much as it did, so I'm not sure whether it affected prices much. I've heard that the dealers doing the work wouldn't pay much for books where they spotted other people's work, but I'm not sure that collectors in general thought much about it.

I can't remember where I heard he was selling his cars, but I do distinctly remember hearing it. Looking for the source now.

Yea, I've gotta agree, Cage should make a LARGE amount of money, even with all the restored comics. Would I be pissed if I were him? Yep. But not about the money. More about the trust factor. It's the lack of disclosure and "f--- you" attitude of the guys who do all that slight restoration that has killed the prices on restored comics to begin with. Once restoration detection becomes a skill that is widely available to collectors who wish to possess it, the market for restored comics should recover quite a bit. Bob Storms tells me that just a few years ago, a restorer was offering a class in restoration detection for like $2000; I think he said they would probably still teach for that amount. I could see paying this amount--or more--for performing restoration itself, but not restoration detection. Detection needs to be a common skill. I've talked this over with restorers Matt Nelson and Tracey Heft, and I think they both agree. I'm encouraged them to write about detection in detail about it in the upcoming Overstreet Grading Guide, and I'm hoping they did. If Cage decides to sell ALL the books now, restored and unrestored, then the best long-term investment will probably be the restored books. This is the absolute WORST time in the history of comics to sell restored comics, and I'm betting that it will probably be looked back upon in the future that way as well. I'm not sure how much of this story is true since Cage is also selling his car collection. I'm sure it played a part in his decision, but it sounds like he's got a lot more on his mind than feeling deceived by Metropolis.

Action Comics 1 introduced superheroes to the world, and Superman is still popular today. Showcase 4 revamped the superhero concept, and Flash is still popular today. I don't get the people who say Conan started the Bronze age. How did Conan influence other comics? There weren't any other popular prehistoric barbarian characters besides Conan, and he's also been cancelled for a long time now. Green Lantern 76 or Giant-Size X-Men 1 are the most likely candidates. Giant-Size X-Men 1 has had the biggest impact on comics ever since it came out, so I'd have to pick it over GL 76. Of course, I'd pick Fantastic Four 1 over Showcase 4, also, based upon the greater impact it and Lee/Kirby have had.