drbanner

I highly doubt that a 9.4 will go for $4,000 within a year. There are far too many copies out there! I've gotta agree here - 9.6's and better might continue to go up, but once you get above $2k, the pool of collectors that can afford this book (with the census numbers out there) goes way down...

Too bad my turntable died many years ago. You didn't toss it did you!?!? Those things can go for bucks on this place called ebay...

Good call - 171 has a great, red cover featuring the Hulk about to be sandwiched between a hard-charging Rhino and the immovable Abomination!!! This book was reprinted with an accompanying audio record by Power Records, and yes, I still have my original copy from the 70's

Doubling or tripling your money is a lot easier when you're paying $2 each... Oh so true - any book is a good investment at the right price! As for the Hulks between 210-315, they're tough to find allright...cause they were pretty bad . As for investment/speculation in comic books based on the movie, I would look for the 1st Doc Samson, Abomination, and/or the Leader. These characters are all gamma-spawned, which entwines them in the Hulk mythos, and could easily be planted in this movie as minor characters to re-appear as major villains in Hulk 2 ('05). The antagonists for this film appear to be 1) himself (love it); 2) his hard-drinking/abusive father (hate it), 3) THE GAMMA-SPAWNED HULK DOGS FROM HELL (why, man, why ), and 4) Talbot/Ross (true, true). I heard initially that Crusher Creel was going to be in it, but that rumor died.

Hey, I didn't say the prices were better, but the selection sure is. Yes, there are better deals at shows - I walk out of the local quarterly shows with a couple nice books for my collection, and others I plan on flipping, but I do like to buy comics more than every 3 months!! Before ebay, I was lucky to save up a couple hundred bucks every few months to attend the local show and complete my Hulk collection. Shows, local shops, and mail order, were the only alternatives. Since ebay, I've been able to complete my pre-'65 Marvel Silver Age collection, build a nice golden age collection comprised of many books you don't even see at most cons, all the while having my addiction to comics support itself, which leaves my paycheck from my "real" job to support my family. No, I'll be on ebay for many moons to come, and I look forward to continuing the buying/selling relationships I've been fortunate enough to establish with many honest buyers and sellers over the last 5 years...thanks guys!

No. The fundamental benefit of ebay and the internet is that collectors can buy and sell with other collectors directly, cutting out the middleman. Regardless of whether the market is going up or down, if you're continually buying and selling you're way better off than in the pre-ebay, pre-internet days when you're only real option was to sell to dealers (at typically less than half guide). If you hit a big show and have the bucks, you can basically find most Silver and Bronze issues without the hassle of searching all night. No way! If you think the selection is better at big shows, I need to go to those shows b/c I've never been to a show with the selection of an average week or two of listings on ebay (multiple keys in varying grade, gold, silver, bronze, etc.,.). And yes, there are scammers on ebay, but after 5 years and over 2,000 succesful transactions, I've only been scammed once, and it was by a buyer (bad check - live and learn!). I know "ebay scammers" is one of your campaign themes and all, but there are way more good/honest sellers out there than there are liars, cheaters, and scammers. And yes, this includes CGC-sellers!

What's up Zonker? I'm hearin' ya on the argument that Adams/O'Neil team were the catalyst for the Bronze Age. Adams started working at DC in the middle of the Silver Age, and up until about late 1968 his work was constrained to fit the mold of the books of the time, but really, starting with his work on Strange Adventures, he began breaking the mold and doing his own, revolutionary thing. Both Deadman and Batman became what could be classified as anti-hero, darker characters that seem to be the concensus on this thread of what the Bronze Age was about. Neal Adams also changed the way the industry worked behind-the-scenes - both in advocating creators/artists rights and in the way the books were made (specifically, the printing/coloring process DC started using). He was a revolutionary at the start of the revolution. In addition, Adams' influence resulted in changing the popluar artistic style from cartoonish (Kirby, Ditko) to the more photo-realisistic/highly detailed style seen throughout the Bronze Age (Smith, Byrne, Perez...). I'm afraid though, that Detective 395 is too much of a stand-alone book to qualify. On the other hand, GL 76 is a recognized Key that was the beginning of a solid 2-year run by the Dynamic Duo. A DC book, GL 76, is also supported by the fact that DC starting putting out the anti-hero, darker, horror themed, non-superhero characters, monster-centered books a good year or two before Marvel FOLLOWED suit. In a nutshell, it looks like we're down to GL 76 (great choice), Conan 1 (solid choice), or Giant Size X-men 1 (whatever!!). Who's gonna start a new thread with a Poll?

Good idea, so when you see a couple NM Mile High gems on ebay with blue labels you'll fear my 5-year old's proficiency with a scissors!! Ya...what you don't know can't hurt me And hey, I don't see any of his constructive, positive contributions to the hobby on this thread

I don't have stubborn opinions, just opinions!!! I have a couple CGC (low-mid grade) books with small (1/8" or less) corner creases that they didn't bother to fold back over before sealing them! I can imagine their sealing process bending over the corners on some nice high grade books with slight cover overhang. Since I know you bid on his books, did you see this auction? He got two books back that CGC wouldn't seal as they were afraid to damage the overhanging covers. Mile Highs to boot!!

That you Greggy?!? For a minute I thought you were someone else

why do people leave corners folded like this when they scan their books Worse yet, why does CGC sometimes leave corners folded over when they encase the book!?!?

some people don't get your sense of humour (sarcasim) Somehow, I don't think he was trying to be funny, or sarcastic. From the Omnipotent One's point of view, either you're with him, or as he's said many times before and again in this thread, you're a insufficiently_thoughtful_person. While I doubt the target audience for CBG is New X-men fans, it's all about conspiracies to suppress the ignorant, comic-collecting masses.

It seems like Mr. Silver Age is bolstering his own argument for GS Xmen1 being the first bronze age book. A lot of people wrote in to agree with him, and those that didn't he pretty much shot down because it doesn't fit in with his own views. To just look back and say the X-Men were the most popular characters of the new age thus they must be the catalyst is probably the most ignorant argument I have heard to date and self-serving to only to the large number of New X-Men fans. Nail...meet head!! The consensus on this board is that the bronze age started somewhere in the 1969-1971 range (Conan 1), and I would bet you my left...big toe... that 9 out of 10 dealers would pick Conan 1 as the start of the Bronze Age if given the choice between it and GS X-men 1. I like CBG and think the editorials can be interesting, but after reading one that stated that the price spreads between G-F-NM should DECREASE(!?!?!?), well, I take what they say with two grains of salt.

Yes, the key point you left out in your initial post was that you offer an unconditional 7-day return policy on non-CGC items, including the return postage fees. This is as good as it gets on ebay (well, there may be a few sellers that will also return the initial postage), so anything you offer above that (the CGC guarantee) is beyond the norm. Sellers that ONLY offer the CGC-guarantee (where the buyer pays the slabbing fee) are the ones that stand to gain from the policy. As far as not accepting returns on CGC-graded books, it's become the norm on ebay. Sellers like it, buyers don't. When I sell, I like it, when I buy I don't...it's that simple. When CGC books first started showing up on ebay I was pretty shocked that so many sellers stated the no-return policy, but I guess that's what CGC is supposed to bring to the table - an impartial grading service that provides an independent, 3rd-party grade and most important, a restoration check. Finally, for those that don't know Bruce (and I've only bought one book from him myself), he's been in the business of buying/selling/auctioning books much longer than ebay and/or CGC has been around, so don't hesitate to bid!!

CBG also published an article stating that price spreads between G-F-NM should DECREASE!! I'm with CI on this one, and must say that the idea that Giant Size X-men 1 started the Bronze Age is new to me. The traditional candidates are Green Lantern 76, Conan 1, Weird War Tales 1, House of Secrets 92, MTU 1 and so forth... The 25-cent Giant theory is supported by the fact that they were published right between Marvel's jump from 15-cent covers to 20-cent covers, although there isn't really a single, age-defining book in the lot. I've always felt that 15-cent cover books were tweeners, but 20-cent books were undoubtedly Bronze Age. There may be no consensus #1 Bronze Age book, but just about every list I've seen of the "top 10" Bronze Age books is comprised of pre-1975 comics, except for Giant Size X-men 1 and X-men 94.