Westy Steve

Hmmm…those might actually be TOO cold TBH. I like Jessica Jones because she’s still part of a larger universe. But each of those characters seem to be in their own separate universes. Y has no chance of bumping into Superman, but maybe Jessica will bump into the Hulk some day? Sorry if I’m moving the goal posts.

I’m more comfortable under $300 and it starts to hurt around $600. I really enjoy books under $200 because they’re easy

Hi guys, I started a thread not too long ago about how I was happy buying a “cold” key book. (Alias 1) It arrived today, and I gotta tell you, I’m super happy with it. Makes me wonder what other “ice cold” key books are out there. Got any recommendations for other books in deep slumber? I’m kind of tired of fighting the crowd for key books.

I get what you’re saying, but have you ever read a wiki on a comic book character and seen the impossibly long list of things that happened to just that one character? It makes sense as it unfolds but the bullet point summary is laughable.

This is exactly what is going on. We are competing with each other. When I first graduated from college and got a job as an engineer I probably (temporarily) made more money than most of my peers so I was able to buy some pretty great books on a young engineer salary. But now that I’m older my Salary has topped out, but there were guys who may be worked as a young banker or starving attorney making pennies back then who are making serious cash now and therefore they are buying the books that I used to buy. The problem is Us. Only those making top salaries or successful investors can have the very best books still available that are not locked into collections never to see the light of day. And this pattern won’t change until we die. Most of us talk about who to leave our comic books to. We have no plans to liquidate before we leave this earth.

The purple man story arc was freaking chilling. I know the purple man got his start in Daredevil #4. I would like to read his appearances also

The nice thing about ice cold former spec books is that sometimes they get oversold as people are in a race to offload them and you can find a deal on a raw or slabbed book. I hope this doesn’t take away from my point that I bought a cold book because I just wanted to own it and read it. But I do remember times when you almost couldn’t give away early Batman or early Spiderman because the movie hype was over.

A couple of things lead to this: I’ve been reading a lot of Early Miles Morales and really enjoying Bendis’ writing. Meanwhile, I’ve been binge watching some of the old Netflix Marvel shows, including Jessica Jones, that recently moved over to the Disney channel. I’ve been binge watching Jessica Jones, having enjoyed it many years ago. As I was watching it, I had my “eureka” moment, when I realized Alias was created by Bendis and Bendis himself was one of the producers. Made me realize I want to read the series. So I just pulled the trigger on a CGC 9.2 copy of Alias #1 for a bargain price (wanted to “own” the character) and a TPB that collects the first 9 issues. Looking forward to comparing the storyline to the television show. They are probably very different. So yeah, I went against the current trend of buying on speculation. Bought an interesting key book that kicked off a cool storyline. Ice cold and happy.

That’s where I’m at exactly. I’m gathering from reading some of the comments here that the main character has mental illness. But from my watching the show I got the impression that he has complete control of his faculties but he’s possessed. I don’t see this as an insult on those with mental illness unless they also are possessed.

In my humble opinion, the quality of that show was the highest we’ve seen out of Disney+. I liked it.

Great seller. I didn’t have all the cash needed to buy the book, but knew I would soon. We worked it out, I got my book, and life is good!

We know definitively that the picture in question is Miles in the Halloween costume?

That’s cool but I’m disappointed somebody didn’t draw on it in an attempt to make it look like the Watcher

That book will go a lot higher with a good press. If the wrinkle on the back can be satisfactorily smoothed out, I think you could get an 8.0 out of it. You're allowed one defect in VF on an otherwise NMish book. Worst case, 7.5. But as it sits, you've got a scattering of small defects, and that puts it in the 6.0 range.

I wanted to show the tick with a picture, but my computer is stupid. But it's just left of the girl's bracelet. There's another one just below the lower staple. Maybe what pulled the book down further is the rough edge of the paper on the lower right edge of the cover, but that would never pull an earlier book down as far. "Modern Lug" is appropriate.

It looks like there is a longish spine tick near the girls arm by the center of the book...It's light, but long, and I figured that would keep a bronze book out of 9.0 range, but the overall book looks great so it's an 8.5. But I was serious when I then deducted another point because it's a modern book. I think there is another spine tick that's even more subtle lower down on the spine.

Hey while we’re on the subject of his early keys, etc. can anyone tell me whether issues 2 through 28 of his first series were sold in poly bags like the number one issue was? I bought a number six like that. I’m wondering if they were all like that? or only some? or what? for what it’s worth, I do think initially the Jaden Smith announcement may have caused prices to stumble or hiccup for a bit, but they have resumed. With no further rumors, and even an unfounded counter rumor that he might be playing Static Shock, the book seems to be smoothing out it’s climb.

Equal time.

I think the interest of kids is ONE of the factors that affect price in most all expensive comics I feel more secure spending $1,000 on a comic if I know that there are young collectors who want it and may someday buy it. My litmus test is whether there are toys available for it at Walmart. You can find superman, Batman, TNMT, Spiderman, etc…all good first appearances. This is, coincidentally, why I think UF4 and Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1 will both surpass WD1 eventually…because WD1 isn’t appealing to kids, and it will eventually be like Lone Ranger comics, but Miles Morales may (I said may) stay in the limelight for multiple generations.

I don’t see how a modern print run could be pumped and shilled when there are thousands of collectors buying and selling it. Explain that. I agree WD1 is an important modern book that caught people off guard (low print runs)…even if almost all (or all?) of the original characters from the first issue are dead in the storyline. With the show ending, it’s a definite sell, IMHO. But I can see Miles Morales being relevant 20 years from now as Marvel caters to more diverse groups of consumers. The books values will eventually flip flop if we’re being honest about long term potential (market corrections not withstanding).

It will be interesting to see if that holds. If it does, was it the Jaden Smith rumor?

Heh, could be another thread topic, but I think we, as a group, take too much stock in the very last sale. The problem with that is it doesn’t consider liberal grades, bad wraps, or good things like perfect wraps and great color. I was watching a YouTube video by Reggie the other day and he was saying the whole market was collapsing and he cited 4 or 5 examples of popular books. What was interesting is he based it on drops in the 9.8 grade range even though every single example was rising in the VF range. I actually wrote a response to his video (which I never do) to point out that the two markets were somewhat different. It’s a different kind of person to pay double for extremely minute improvement. I will take a 9.6 when I can get it, and a 9.8 if the book is cheap, but IMHO, the health of the overall market for more expensive books should be gauged by 9.4. I have no idea how UF4 is doing in 9.4.

I want an EoSV2 also, but there are no good deals on first prints. I’ve been meaning to look up the print run on that one.

In 9.4, BA12 is more expensive, NYX3 is about the same, and overproduced NM98 is significantly less. This implies that UF4 is where it should be, except that Spider-Man is a flagship title. Which characters will be found in the Walmart toy aisle in 5 years?

I give you NM98. There were about 1 billion copies of those printed. I don’t think the other two characters have that much interest as lead characters. But those were decent examples. I will grant you that. I do think production run plays a big factor in pricing and I almost mentioned that in my previous post but elected not to.