precodekeith

Yup, I see FAC 20 change hands (or attempt to) much more frequently than LSS 11 (which DOES come around once in awhile.) The CDNP 24 - geez, I can't even recall the last time I saw one.....tough book!

Agreed. That is crazy money for a VG! One of my pet peeves.... some bozo gets a low grade slabbed and decides the slab makes it "worth more." BTW the Crime Suspenstories ought to be on EVERY horror collector's hit list, IMO. I don't actively pursue the EC's, but the notoriety alone of this issue being brought out on the senate floor and used as a focal point ought to count for something, dontcha think?

Thanks for clearing that up, Shivs!!!

Oh yeah, Jay! I agree! Warehouse or not, arround $10 is a good deal on that "Haunt." Speaking of warehouse - Shivs - it would not surprise me if Koch had hundreds of that GHOSTS digest packed away somewhere...... BUT I have seen NO warehouse ones up for sale, compared to the "Haunt" that Jay and myself picked up..... Man, I'm just waiting! Hope they go for under $10 as well !!!

Jayman - I got one about two months, too. It's also unread. This past August a dealer was trying to sell me another "unread" copy at a local show for $30. I got mine on eBay for approx. $9 including postage. I read somewhere that these were a "warehouse" find. Can't remember where I read that for the life of me.... hell, it coulda been here! This thread has gotten longer than my memory! Still, VERY nice books, just not hard to come by I guess due to this "find."

I AGREE!!!

Yup. That is one book that would have been worth the money. One of the few at that show worth asking price.....

Hey gang! Got back from the Mid-Ohio Con, and there were plenty of good horror books there this year. One dealer even had 5 long boxes of mostly BA and some modern horror all at 25% off tag. I completed my BA HoM run by getting a decent 243 for a whopping $2.50 I picked up 9 issues of GHOSTS that I needed, 7 of which were are now the nicest BA books in my collection. They are so nice that I am tempted to slab them , you HG guys might be rubbing off on me a little too much! I could have picked up a lot more, but my girlfriend stopped me from buying any further BA as she told me I have several Witching Hours, Unexpecteds, and Ghosts awaiting me under this years Yule Tree. She didn't want me to duplicate! A couple dealers were "onto" HG BA horror, and had high prices on unslabbed books. Most dealers were priced to move, thankfully. I actually didn't notice any slabbed horror to mention, sorry fellas... In a related genre, pre-code horror was out in droves. Longboxes of the stuff! Sadly, only 1% of this stuff was priced sanely. I only picked up 2 books from that era, even though I had mucho $ to spend for once. Dealers really need to go back and adjust their asking prices here, as these can be had on eBay for 1/3rd or even less of what they were asking.

Fantastic Fears 5 was probably the "rarest" of the batch. Not to say it had low print run or anything, but as you probably know it IS out there, just changes hands mighty infrequently. The Weird Mysteries 5 was the book I was potentially going to pony up $295 for. I couldn't tell if had restoration or even what exactly the grade was (appeared f- from my distance) because it was on the wall of the dealer who couldn't be bothered to even look away from his magazine. Man, that must have been a great story he was reading! Believe it or not I had not even noticed the book until the 2nd time our little gang came up to his table. My attitude at that point (even though I was mulling a purchase over heavily) was that since this guy couldn't even acknowledge us with eye contact when we were verbally expressing interest in his material, I wasn't going to even initiate a "excuse me, can I look at book X" line. His loss, not mine. There will be other WM 5's that come along....

There were some NICE books there! Fantastic Fears #5, Weird Mysteries #5, Beware #10, and the much maligned AIU #1 were all present, to name a select few. Decent looking books, I just wasn't in the mood to spend approx. $600 a pop! As far as "rare," I didn't see anything TOO obscure. There were some "common" horror books that I had NOT seen in 11 years of pre-code collecting, but that alone does not make them rare. Maybe I would have picked a few of them up if they weren't tagged out at $60 - $90 for G condition! SIDE NOTE: I had also developed a bad attitude, as one dealer with some pretty cool material couldn't even bother his LAZY @Zz to say "need help?" or "hi" as my cousin, his girlfriend, her daughter, my girlfriend, and myself all verbally poured over some cool books he had. He DID have at LEAST one book I was going to buy , if ONLY he could have managed to peel his eyes from his magazine he was reading! (we stopped at his booth 3 times, folks!!!) Guess he wanted me to hand him $295, and turn his page for him while he sat there like a concrete birdbath???

300th post!!! Here's my Mid-Ohio Con 2004 report: one day admission: $20 !!! OUCH! (at least I got to meet some cool people (artists, etc.), which is all that cons are coming to these days .... see following...) Pre-code horror selection: AWESOME!!! MULTIPLE LONG BOXES of the stuff!!! Prices: CRAZY!!! VG- F "commons" priced as high as $200 - $300 !!! HEY DEALERS: The "boom" went bust about 5 years ago! get off your LAZY behinds and change your price tags!!!! I went to the show packed to the gills with THOUSANDS of dollars to blow (the most I've taken to a show in a LONG time!). My girlfriend wanted to kill me! How much did I drop on pre-code? ZERO! I wasn't about to be RAPED by these people! My girlfriend actually spent $40 on two pre-codes for me, because the dealer was cool and had realistic prices on his books (he cut us $10 off sticker), and I think she felt bad for me. Instead, I only snatched up about $40 of HG BA horror. Yeah, I actually bought HG! They were priced RIGHT and they were NICE as a bonus! You know, had these dealers priced their pre-code right, it would have moved! I would have BOUGHT IT ALL (if I could)! But their unrealistic knowledge of their buyer-base put their prices out of reach. Instead, I'll just watch eBay, be patient, and get my books at FMV there. I guess these dealers just didn't want to change any books to cash, and they must really like hauling all those full boxes all over the country.

From my experience, some of the small time dealers are the best folks to buy from! I'm not speaking of Joe Schmo who has a few VG books at a flea market all marked at NM price, but the "lil guys" at the comic-oriented events. Those guys are more apt to make trades and discounts because they ARE hobbyists. They may be willing to move book "X" if you are interested in it, to make money so that they can run over to another dealer table and snatch up something THEY were interested in. Certainly I agree though, that some of these dudes just don't "get it."

I don't think these guys are moving their mid-low stocks in comparison to eBay, personally. Many if not most of these people have unrealistic prices and expectations on this material. There is a market for these books certainly, but as you mentioned it doesn't take a savvy buyer to know that better deals can be made online when compared to convention prices. Why don't these guys just adjust their prices lower? The stuff would move if they did. Being "dealers" they should be aware of their market, but they are not. Dealers are a weird bunch. I remember in the early 90's I would just walk right up to a dealer at a show and ask "Got any pre-code horror?" MOST didn't even know what that meant, haha! One dealer said, " Oh yeah! I've a whole long box of horror, but I don't bring it cuz it never sells!" Well, there I was asking for it, wasn't I? Eventually he did bring the box, and I was less than thrilled to see that books other dealers were moving at $15 -$25 at the time were tagged out at $45-$90!!! NO WONDER THEY NEVER SOLD! Now, I had brought big $$$ to that show in expectations of this box, but I wasn't about to be ripped off! I asked the guy if he would consider giving me a discount on the stuff (MOST dealers then would!), and even was prepared to BUY HIS WHOLE BOX if he made the price right. His response: "NAH! This stuff is hard to come by."

Doiby - I second that opinion! Show dealers really need to get a clue! In fact, most of the LCS owners around here need to do the same as well. I pretty much gave up on cons for several years because of the overpriced mid and low grade books, now I go to one very now and then just to roll the dice.

Oh, yeah! The spines are incredibly hard to keep nice! Still, HG is not my cup of tea like some you guys out there, so I'd settle for Vg or less as long as it was complete, ya know! I just rarely have the urge to spend that kind of money on one "fix" when I can still get several "fixes" for the same cost. Anyway, yeah Voodoo annual does seem to trade hands often for a reportedly "scarce" book.......

Yeah, I've seen a few Voodoo annuals pass hands in the last couple years especially. I didn't jump at any, though. Pretty rough stuff. Besides, I guess I'm what you call a "traditional" horror-head: If I have $300 to drop on comics, I'd rather use it to get 15-20 or so low/mids for reading rather than just one book.

Marvel and their horror - in - tights! JK!

Yep, you are onto something there. That copy you have is the only one I have seen in 11 years of pre-code collecting! Tough book! There was a change of hands I believe between 2 and 3, which probably more than not is directly related to the scarcity of the book.

This "weak" market has been subject to conversation around here every now and again. Frankly, I'm glad to see it. Overstreet has been just so stubborn about dropping lower grade prices in this genre for the past couple years it is frustrating. Basic recap (again): The over-inflated mid- low grade prices of the mid/late 90's pre-code horror boom drove many, many horror collectors to the more affordable pastures, most notably bronze age horror. These days, if an online seller starts his opening bid at a reasonable price on a mid-low book, you are very likely to find it going for less than Overstreet. Bottom line is that Overstreet needs to adjust, although I doubt they will. If the book is not HG or a key cover, it probably won't reach guide.

Paul - Horrific 2 is the toughest find of the first three issues. I still need one, myself. Nice pick-up!

Bravo, Jayman! Jones is my comic writer hero, and his art (while heavily Williamson inspired) ain't too shabby, neither! BTW - I had no idea these existed! Sweet!

Geez, I'm surprised you did not notice Sterling, but guess who else got a letter "mentioned" in this issue..... none other than Todd McFarlane .... ever heard of him? Of course, if any of you had picked up and read issue # 4 of my fanzine, HCR, you would have known this & other DC BA horror titles that Todd fanishly sent letters to. (SHAMELESS PLUG!!!)

Yeah, LD was really one of the greats who epitomized "BA DC horror", and I don't care what anyone has to say to the contrary (if anyone should be so bold!). There's one cover in particular that he did; that if the original art should ever come up for sale I would hawk my '57 Chevy Bel Air just to finance the purchase of said (unnamed) cover....

HG has drove up the price in the past, which is what the original post was basically refering to for the most part. I would hate to see those days happen again, ya know. Once bitten, twice shy they say.... Yes, currently the non HG market is SLOWLY falling back to the more common - sense prices of pre-boom days, but I don't think OS has done their part on lowering corrections to date. Let's hope prices keep falling! Sadly, this drop is really only realized for the most part on auction sites like eBay, when the seller starts at a reasonable opening bid. Often at cons the sticker price still goes back to the gold-rush style pricing of the "boom" days, with dealers who aren't so quick to take $20 - $35 for a book they have marked at say $45- $55.

Sfilosa, hope you don't take the entire post at face value. It is what it is: an intoxicated rant (although a funny one, IMO) stating some of my perceptions, be they skewed or not. I want to clarify to all on this thread that it is not a shot at anyone in particular, as I enjoy most all of your posts. Now one thing you and I CAN disagree on, is that I think HG sales DO have impact on lower grade copies. Specifically in my post I was making reference to the pre-code horror "boom" of the mid/late 90's. OSPG might not be using a "sliding scale" NOW, but you must admit they were using one THEN. As stated, reading copies eventually got so ridiculously priced that many pre-code collectors moved on to more affordable pastures. I think the mistake OS is making now is that they are NOT correcting the market prices on lower grade horror books. I actually do agree- there is nothing wrong with collecting HG horror books. At some point, for the sake of history alone, a NM copy of MM # 12 (or myriad other books) needs to be slabbed. Yup. As above, my problem comes in when the old "trickle down" syndrome effects non HG copies. And I DO have a problem with these goofy clowns who find it necessarry to slab 4.5 copies (when there are HG slabs out there) and ask x2 guide because of the friggin plastic. WTF? When will these people get outta Dodge?! If no one buys the VG copies at high prices we can HOPE the cost eventually comes down, Sfilosa. That is not guaranteed though, sadly. How many people out there have bought books and will sit on them until they die unless they can make big multiples on them?