goldust40

I would bid on the Hits, but I hear that they are not absolutely pristine, and might cause disorder in my life should I own them.

If you're reading that into my comments you should cut down on your weekend alcohol intake. Affording isn't the issue. The principle is in choosing to not bid. Warm wishes, and good luck. . Defensive much? And warm wishes and good luck to you too. I'd just like to say, after careful consideration about not saying it, that I have nothing to say about any of this. Frankly - and you may not want to hear this, which I would fully understand - I wouldn't say anything even if I did have something to say, which I don't. Of course, not saying anything about something about which I do have something to say amounts to the same thing as having nothing to say, but I'm not saying that, and furthermore it's not what I'm saying. Even if it was, I wouldnt. Which is to say that I'm not saying anything. Or possibly not, but if not, not. I'm glad you didn't clear that up. This is no place for certainties.

If you're reading that into my comments you should cut down on your weekend alcohol intake. Affording isn't the issue. The principle is in choosing to not bid. Warm wishes, and good luck. . Defensive much? And warm wishes and good luck to you too.

So basically you want the Church Hits but you can't afford them.

High grade being a relative term in this seller's case. Does the E-bay grading scale look like this? High Grade!: Very Good/Fine to Gem Mint / CGC 5.0-10.0 Nice! Grade: Fair to Very Good + / CGC 1.0-4.5 Mid-Grade: Poor / CGC .5 On a good day.

High grade being a relative term in this seller's case.

Great pickup! Two things that always grabbed me about this cover; The scale of the demons compared to the man and the tree hands. Just wonderful stuff! Yeah. I wonder if ol' Matt Fox had a thing for shrooms...or acid! I think the colors of the sky are what puts this cover over the top for me. Many of Matt Fox's covers are genuinely bizarre - they remind me of illustrations you'd find in 19th century middle European books featuring cautionary tales.

Bravo Jon!

We should organize a poll re who is thinking about bidding on the Church Hits...

That's one reason to like the painting. Another would be that it's freakin awesome. That really is impressive and a cut above his already high standards.

Yup. Very interesting that we`re finally seeing some fresh Church runs hitting the market, after years and years of the same books being recycled over and over. It's spooky. Clearly the end is nigh. I predict that Verzyl will unload his Timelys this year all at once.

Junk

I prefer it when dealers assign grades as (especially if you know the dealer and how they grade) it saves time. And dealers getting upset with you for wanting to inspect the comic aren't exactly professional.

Agreed. Plus it's a very handy skill to have.

GI Combat 67 @ 20% off

Considering that the grade of a book is absolutely paramount in determining its value, the fact that many sellers aren't prepared to provide one is a wee bit lazy, and in certain cases an attempt to game the system. Many sellers also simply say "I'm no expert - check the pictures" without leaving any notes whatsoever. The reasoning behind this (the occasional picky, difficult buyer) becomes the get-out clause and allows for such passive-aggressive selling - "I can't be bothered to supply the grade or any notes about hidden defects, work it out for yourself, dammit". Some do come to the rescue by actually letting you know that there are defects not visible in the scans or photos, such as amateur restoration, or that the centerfold is missing - it does mean the potential buyer will move on, but at least a headache has been averted. And then there's the old canard about grading being subjective. If that is entirely the case, then why have a grading system at all, that has been honed and refined over the last several decades? If you're going to sell expensive books, and enter a developed marketplace that has given you the opportunity to sell stuff that you may not have realized was valuable, surely a week or two of research, asking questions on forums, and making some kind of an effort should be the minimum? Grading is not subjective. There are enough people on this forum and others like it, CGC and its competitors, dealers at cons, collectors etc. who understand the grading system which has developed consensus as to what grades mean. There are plenty of sellers in our marketplace who I deal with who generally get it right (there might be a half-grade disagreement, but rarely anything more than that), which is why I've thrown so much money away here. Learning to grade and what grades mean is not that hard. At the very least a passing conversance with it, enough to state "I think it is this grade" would be nice.

As was mentioned before, it's become part of wider pop culture due to the Misfits. I like the cover (although I don't rate it as an out and out classic) but prior to the book taking off I never thought it would get so pricey simply because of that connection. It's been actively -ahem- hoarded by a few guys. Like, big time multiples. The pump and dump in PCH? I look forward to them flooding the market.

As was mentioned before, it's become part of wider pop culture due to the Misfits. I like the cover (although I don't rate it as an out and out classic) but prior to the book taking off I never thought it would get so pricey simply because of that connection.

I admit I've generally overlooked this book (which for a PCH completist is a grave mistake) and I still assumed I'd have a good chance on it, but forgot just how much hotter most scarce pre-codes have become (even ones that predate the pre-code era), coupled with Heritage's Sunday auctions becoming bargain-free with the format-switch.

Namor is historically the more important character, so I'd go with FF 4.

Classic stuff there and three great pickups.