Red_Hood

Great person to deal with. Excellent communication and fast payment. You don't have to worry when dealing with Tony!

Agreed, but in today's market place Marvel is not doing itself any favors with the quality they are producing with many readers quickly dropping titles as the big publishers try to constantly reinvent themselves with annual gimmick events. Compared to whom? DC and Marvel stand alone at the top. I see people saying they are getting sick of the reboots, but that's not what the sales say. 4 of the top 100 in Dec. 2016 were non-Big 2. Four Compared to themselves... look at distribution numbers of the big titles during the 70's and 80's. Today's numbers aren't even close to those levels. In most cases it's 10% or less of the old distributions for the big title characters. DC & Marvel need to reinvent themselves big-time to adjust to the changing world and that doesn't just mean to increase cover price.

It will also be interesting to see how some of these collectors now chasing variants change and perhaps mature as they stay with the hobby longer. I wonder if some of the popularity of variants is linked to newer collectors that either can't afford, don't have the knowledge, or currently don't have the desire to chase older key books. I was talking to my LCS owner today, and he just picked up a large (and amazing) GA collection. I mentioned that my own interest in GA and SA has been growing in the last year or so. He came back with the whole GA market seems to be exploding right now, and demand is way up. Is this a results of younger collectors changing focus? If so, does this mean artificial collectibles will eventually take a hit as people start collecting other types of books? Part of the equation is also not true collectors but people trying to diversify investment portfolios with the big GA keys. There are still many undervalued books in the bronze age that don't even have 1 CGC 9.8 yet and people are spending $9,000 on a modern that has double digit 9.8 copies

My only problem with this is that those Valiant books had massive print runs and the high end variants of today do not. In fact the valiant books that continue to do well from that era are their own gold/ platinum variants and that is because they have much lower print runs. My issue with today's variants-substance. Most just have cool covers but for me to invest in a pricey book means that the content has to be just as good as the cover. That rarely happens. At least a lot of the early Valiant stuff was well written! Yes, I do agree print runs, but back then the internet did not play such a prevalent role in the comic industry and no one cared about print runs, it was the "next shiny object" syndrome. Dealers were actually trading away quality gold, silver and bronze age material to obtain Valiant inventory and it backfired big-time!!

Yes, similar, however these are mostly Marvel variants however. Valiant failed completely as a company and has never had a Spider-Man, Batman, etc... Agreed, but in today's market place Marvel is not doing itself any favors with the quality they are producing with many readers quickly dropping titles as the big publishers try to constantly reinvent themselves with annual gimmick events.

All this modern variant cover explosion reminds me of the 90's Valiant books that were selling for triple digits within weeks of release and then crashed so hard that it made Russian toilet paper look more appealing. Sure, some Valiant stuff rose in price again recently due to speculation with Sony possibly making Valiant related movies but, boy oh boy.... Will history repeat itself? It's very likely because you need mass awareness & wanting to drive continued demand and niche markets rarely, if ever, do that.

Blocked. No kidding... who needs to deal with m_orons like this. A creaky case Unfortunately becoming the norm rather than the exception. You'd be shocked how many have told me the CGC case needs to be perfect, no scratch, scuff, Newton rings etc. I've had requests to angle the book in various ways in the light to see defects. I nicely tell then to GFTS and that they should go elsewhere. Talk about OCD nation. I know all about it. I can't believe the amount of people that have used the CGC case as an excuse to return a book. It happened so often in 2016 that I finally wrote about it in my next Overstreet Market Report.

Blocked. No kidding... who needs to deal with m_orons like this. A creaky case

That might be "Weird War Tales #9" when I think about the cover. One of my favorite covers during the 70's.

Congratulations to the seller/consignor! If the new owner did buy it hoping to upgrade it. He/She will receive the same grade judging from those spine ticks and lower corner. I really hope it was a collector who bought it to enjoy. It's a great looking book.

You would make more money panhandling for change on a street corner with less effort. You have been on a road to failure for many...many miles now.

$2100.00

plain and simple,

Well, I guess that's the trick.....it's all about being the first to market with these almost common as dirt books. Just make sure you are not the first to buy though, when it comes to these types of books. It should become another case of another on-line auction house unable to collect payment for the consignor. It's not logical that someone is that stupid to pay that much for a non-key garbage book.

I did, immediately regret not buying the virgin as it will be sick! It's still available on sad lemon's site as a 3 set, B&W, Color and Virgin set.

It's a factory miscut, not a trim. The seller was just using slang, as in 'bad trim' = bad cut, just like when it's cut with back cover mis-wrapped around with white stripe, for e.g. Thus, blue label. The label itself has the trimmed notation. I have a feeling that it might be a poor manufacturing cut but with the notes using "trimmed" instead of saying "miscut" it is causing confusion as the word "trimmed" has a negative stigma in the hobby. I would imagine that is why it received an 8.5 grade for the glaring flaw.

Did CGC change it's designation on trimmed books? Here's a link to an Iron Man #55 that a board member has in a sales thread and note says "top edge trimmed" but it has a Blue Universal label. In the past, didn't this type of scenario receive a purple label with the notation "trimmed" next to the grade? Iron Man #55 sales thread

Stop. Please. I kinda agree with him. Star Wars did have only one good movie. It was "Return of the Jedi." But, it did have three great movies (Episodes IV,V & VII,) two so-so ones and one turkey. My point exactly. The three "great ones" all told the identical story. -J. Walking Dead doesn't? Walk, kill a zombie, hide, repeat. Walk, kill a zombie, hide from the scary humans, wring hands, repeat. I was thinking about how many more violent antagonists are they going to encounter myself. No kidding... In 7 years they still live in the stone age after this catastrophe. Even though they are industrialized and modern they can't get beyond acting likes apes. 1diots could have mobilized better than this after 7 years. The show is beyond stale and doesn't do the comic any favors. On another note, I hear the Gold Key Star Trek comic is flying off the shelves because it's the 50th anniversary of the T.V series.

If I don't hear something in the next 5 days about the order being shipped and tracking provided by sadlemoncomics I'll be doing a charge back with Visa for my order.

Because people want to know if someone is dumb enough to get stuck with a hot potato. I refer you to "Page 1" of this thread to be reminded what the other wrong people have said before you. (And to see how well the guy who paid $1000 for one four years ago would have done today if he kept his copy.) -J. Totally agree - that was a 'ground floor' or 'close' discussion. This isn't that discussion any longer. Really ? Because the conversation looks very similar to me , with some people crying about that sales price even then (kind of like how they cried about the Bats 608RRP 12 years ago). Except now, the book is nearly five years old and famous, having been homaged at least three times , reprinted and turned into a poster. It also doesn't hurt that Venom is a hot character (again) right now, and the book itself was a rare 1:50 when ASM was in a low sales period. Oh and that dark brown cover only yielding 29, 9.8's (just 21 blue) out of 123 submissions is probably a factor too. Now that I think about it, $7500 might be a bargain. -J. The bolded part will be a likely factor to help this issue lose steam as many collectors are satisfied with just that. Pump it all you like because you may be vested in it but I wouldn't want to be part of the small group of like-minded people as yourself who will grow bored passing it around to each and move onto the next shiny object, scrambling for a chair once the music stops. Actually , that probably only helps stoke demand as many, if not most collectors like to have the original or first print of something. Those reprints and homages are merely a reflection of the book's fame not a replacement for it. And I don't care what the book is "worth", I have one copy that I acquired many years ago and I have never sold or traded any comic book in my life. But this is essentially an appreciation thread for the book, so if you don't like the book or what it sells for, or talking about it, no one is forcing you to read the thread or to participate. Have to show two sides of the coin. Not a fan of the "pumping for profits" mentality this place takes on. Anyways, I'm done... I hope people do have common sense when it comes to "investing" in comics.

Because people want to know if someone is dumb enough to get stuck with a hot potato. I refer you to "Page 1" of this thread to be reminded what the other wrong people have said before you. (And to see how well the guy who paid $1000 for one four years ago would have done today if he kept his copy.) -J. Totally agree - that was a 'ground floor' or 'close' discussion. This isn't that discussion any longer. Really ? Because the conversation looks very similar to me , with some people crying about that sales price even then (kind of like how they cried about the Bats 608RRP 12 years ago). Except now, the book is nearly five years old and famous, having been homaged at least three times , reprinted and turned into a poster. It also doesn't hurt that Venom is a hot character (again) right now, and the book itself was a rare 1:50 when ASM was in a low sales period. Oh and that dark brown cover only yielding 29, 9.8's (just 21 blue) out of 123 submissions is probably a factor too. Now that I think about it, $7500 might be a bargain. -J. The bolded part will be a likely factor to help this issue lose steam as many collectors are satisfied with just that. Pump it all you like because you may be vested in it but I wouldn't want to be part of the small group of like-minded people as yourself who will grow bored passing it around to each and move onto the next shiny object, scrambling for a chair once the music stops.

Because people want to know if someone is dumb enough to get stuck with a hot potato. I refer you to "Page 1" of this thread to be reminded what the other wrong people have said before you. (And to see how well the guy who paid $1000 for one four years ago would have done today if he kept his copy.) -J. What goes up... ( and in this case ) will go down. Maybe not tomorrow or the next year but gimmicky variants fade as there isn't a large enough pool of interested buyers to sustain this. The only ones left clinging to these unrealistic values will be the people left holding the hot potato that place unrealistic asking prices on them because they mistakenly invested money into it. These books are not long term blue chip. They are flash in the pan.

Because people want to know if someone is dumb enough to get stuck with a hot potato.

I'm sure he was aware long before. When you're a turd it's not difficult to be smeared.

This wannabe dealer did the same thing to me on a Captain Marvel #17 2nd Print that I sold on this forum a few months ago. Through PM he asked if I would take $225.00 and to let him know if that is acceptable and he would pay right away. I responded back that I would accept the deal and asked for his PayPal info, he read the PM and then just walked away. I didn't make a big deal about it as I didn't like him from his posts and reputation on this forum and it sold to another client. It looks like this is habitual with this dork. These types don't last long in the business.