Arkham

How come the second and third print are so hot when the first print is so readily available in huge numbers?

I am not a huge YouTuber - but will check these suggestions out - thanks all for sharing them. I'm also interested in Podcast suggestions - does anyone have any?

Thanks mate. It’s good to be back after the hiatus! Yeah - my old man got me into the Phantom as it was what he enjoyed when he was young. Full steam ahead on that Bats 189! I’ll send you some candidate pics as I get closer.

As my old man would say - we learn something new every day. I picked up a pack of 30 or so 1950 “Australian” prints of funny books (Casper, Baby Huey etc) on Gumtree for $40. Sold them all individually between $10 and $50. OP, I figure that you (read: a person) can’t really judge what things sell for in this hobby. You don’t know the keys of unfamiliar titles and there’s no putting a price tag on what any individual book might mean to a collector. We crazy. 🤪

This is hugely helpful. Thank you.

I can't find a legal-sized scanner anywhere near where I am, or that has reasonable shipping rates (I'm in a regional part of Australia). I have a Cannon MG5765 here (A4 scan size) and I can easily take an unbroken scan of the comic, then scan the top of the slab and stitch the two together seamlessly on the bit of the slab that separates the label and the comic... buuuuut, the scanner seems to scan the outer shell of the slab, leaving the comic inside blurry. Has anyone discovered a fix for this using software?

Actually, I found them down for some books and similar for others. I didn’t find examples of inflation. Overall, GoCollect values my portfolio of books several thousand less than GPA. FWIW, GoCollect can’t determine FMV on an SS book - which I have a few of, which will also account for some value problems. While I like GoCollect, I finished my month with less confidence in their data than GPA. Is that biased by overall portfolio valuation? I’d like to think not, but maybe a little. That said, I do think there is a closer correlation between GPA pricing and what people are asking on different marketplaces. They seem to be missing a lot of data and I read a thread here yesterday where people were citing specific sales that were not showing.

Good Lord! 11K books catalogued by hand?! Epic work. Yes - the CLZ suite of products supports import of a .csv file. Steps: https://www.collectorz.com/comic/clz-comics/manual/ios/2.0/en/topic/import-from-text-csv I am a massive fan of their products. They’re excellent. But even more than that, I am a massive fan of their customer support. If you run into troubles, they will undoubtedly have your back. Good luck! Edit: I forgot to add my $0.02 on pricing tools. I recently did a month with GoCollect and there is a lot to love about their service. Although I didn't necessarily agree with the layout and UX design, I liked the features that were available. My one gripe from a user perspective was that there wasn't a lot of historic data for many books. Also, I honestly think they give too many features away for free... At the end of the month, I couldn't see enough value from their pricing tools and historic data vs the free account features to warrant an ongoing subscription. However, I have maintained my subscription with GPA. For me, GPA's pricing data seemed more accurate, I had access to more live listings from more sources, my collection/portfolio management interface and values were simple and effective. So, for me there is a lot to like about GoCollect, and I will maintain a free account there for several features... but for market value and research, GPA was the clear winner for my needs. (FWIW, my CLZ subscription provides me with GoCollect pricing data within the app anyway).

There needs to be a post "reaction" for "love" for those moments something is so much more than "like"!

In my first journal post, I wrote what I collect and why... Today's post is all about the latest mail call: Teen Titans (vol 6) #12 - the first full appearance of the Batman Who Laughs. While this is not even close to being the first Bat villain book in my collection (like I said, that set needs a lot of love), it's the first one that I've purchased since really embracing my primary focus. (The image looks a little "weird" - I took it on an angle and then flattened it using Genius Scan to try to work around case reflections) The market pricing for this book puzzles me... unless there is some DC cinematic universe rumour that I don't know about... but, at the time of writing, a 9.6 is selling around $190 and a 9.8 is selling around $780. I can literally buy a mid-grade, nicely presenting, Batman #189 for that price gap... so I couldn't justify outlaying for the 9.8 when there are beautiful 9.6's available! (Big thanks to @Wall-Crawler for providing awesome advice and being a sounding board through that decision!) Don't get me wrong, I freaking love this character concept. While it's not my favourite arc from that creative team, I love the idea of a villain who embodies a merge of my favourite good guy and my favourite baddie and I am stoked to be able to add this first full appearance to my collection. (I'll look to pick up the Metal #2 cameo later as a lower priority, as I already have a raw copy of Dark Days: The Casting) I kind of gave it away above, but my next target is Batman #189. I'll write more about what I love about the Scarecrow when I have that book in my grubby paws.

In terms of collecting focuses, I guess mine are probably fairly common. 1. I'm just setting off on the journey to build a high-grade competitive registry set for The Joker (1975), called "Eat Your Hearts Out!". Even though this run has only a fist-full of books in it, I expect that it will take some time (and even more luck) to complete in high grade. The census numbers for 9.8's across the set are both dauntingly, and excitingly, low. 2. For fun, I am collecting The Joker vol 2 (2021) run raw (I also have the 1975 run raw and enjoy flicking through these in my spare time). I also like collecting classic Joker, Scarecrow and Batman covers, Batman-related homage / cover swipes and whenever I see those hounds (Batman #395, Dynamic Classics #, Batman #227 (and most Tec 31 swipes), I have to have them! I mostly pick these books up raw.. but when there is a deadset classic in the mix, like Batman #227 or Batman #251 - then I have to go graded! Which leads me to... 3. My primary focus - 1st appearances of Batman villains. But, given I am average Joe, this will usually mean I'm looking for things like 1st Silver Age or 1st Modern appearances over the Golden Age. Honestly, I'll probably make my own rules a little here and there and bend some others... for example, the likelihood of me owning Batman #1 for the 1st app of the Joker is somewhere in the vicinity of zero. But, maybe I'll be able to pick up a (very low grade) Detective Comics #168 and fill that slot with his origin and I might keep that seat warm with a Joker #1 in the meantime... etc etc... 😬 To be frank, it's taken me a really long time to really settle in on this theme as a primary focus. I got lost in the weeds chasing any Bronze Age 1st app for awhile and, while this was fun and also allowed me to flip some great books to help my family when I needed to, it feels good to hone in on a primary focus and make sure I spend my meagre comics budget in the right way. Growing up I loved lots of books but my top three were Batman, The Phantom and Wolverine. Obviously Wolvie is a deadset weapon, but the thing I loved about The Phantom and Batman was that they were just men. Men who had motive, means, morals and a vigilante streak. I could relate more to a normal man than I could a mutant or an alien... even if I didn't have the "means" part of the equation. Over time I was more attracted to Batman's tech and the awesome villains he had to face down and the Phantom fell by the wayside to become a fond memory, while I just followed Batman. So, while I've read a bunch of Marvel, Image, Dark Horse, Golden Key etc.. I feel like I've always been a DC guy at heart. I was a little surprised that I couldn't find a competitive set for a Batman villains theme (although that could just be PEBKAC) so I created a custom set, called "The Rogues Gallery". It needs a LOT of work/love/sweat/tears/dollars to make it what I envision it to be... both in terms of the hunt but also in how it will eventually be presented. But, I'm excited about it and this journal is a way to capture some of my thoughts and experiences as I go.

I picked up The Witcher omnibus (paperback) and have been loving it so far... Don’t really have much background on the characters or lore but it’s a fun read.

Buy the slab. Not the label.

Hardly bumbling. Not living up to your name.

A mate thought it appropriate to give me a copy of Batman: Europa to read while in lockdown. Aaaand it felt kinda weird watching the first episode or two of The Stand on Amazon Prime But those lols aside, I’ve not got anything of value to contribute to this thread.

That Kallax looks great! I don’t have many trades or omni’s but I’ve found that the Billy bookshelves work a treat too:

TEC #73 is a great suggestion, @William-James88! I’d love to have the funds to chase a low grade TEC #168

I was bidding on this book, but I didn’t end up winning. With such an awesome display, I’m surprised you let it go! Hope all is well.

Not sure it is an “over-payment” but I really don’t understand the EPIC price hike between a 9.6 and a 9.8 for Teen Titans #12 (2017), 1st full Batman Who Laughs.... According to GPA earlier this week, a last sale of a 9.6 was $195 and last sale of 9.8 $750 (both sales January 2021). Even more static venues, such as BINS at MyComicShop.com have a 9.6 around $350 and a 9.8 around $795... No idea what I’m missing... BWL is a freaking cool character, but very modern and no impending cinematic arrival that I am aware of...

As a Batfan, my all-time favourite cover is (unsurprising) Tec #31. @october, I am both supremely jealous and in awe of your beautiful copy. But, to go a little left field from my usual Bat-family favourites, I have to show some love for Black Cat Mystery #37:

I am currently in my 30 day trial... so I can see everything and, frankly, I really like what I can see. The main limitation is the lack of historic data beyond recent history. I haven’t looked into this deeply, but it seems to relate to the volume of sales. If you’re looking at a book that has a lot of recent sales, you’ll see those. If it last sold three years ago, you’ll see that. So there is some limitation on the historic data... possibly due to the limitations of the data made available to them via the selling house, such as eBay. When you are on a free account, you can still see an amazing range of data - such as fair market value for a book and that there have been X number of sales recently... but you can’t see the individual sales data that determined the FMV calculation. You can also still drill down to see things like % change in FMV, live listings on eBay, hottest comics data etc etc... To be honest, and at the risk of mentioning something that I hope GoCollect don’t change, I think GoCollect could entice more people to subscribe if more data and features were hidden behind the subscription. GoCollect really is an excellent service. While the detailed sales data is very desirable, frankly I think the biggest benefit of subscription is that it helps support the company and keep them here as a resource for collectors.

Awesome. Thanks very much @kimik! I stopped reading every issue around the time of rebirth and have been slowly catching up on some different story arcs - and I will add this one into the list.

Hey all, I took a little break from the hobby after my first child was born and returned a few months ago... I realised I’d missed a bunch of Bat events - like Metal, the Dark Knights, Punchline etc... but I still haven’t quite gotten on top of news and what is coming. Are there any “bat events” coming up that I should be keeping an eye out for? I heard there is a four part with Fox’s son as Batman... but not aware of much else. Any tips or comments would be appreciated.

Just in case someone came here actually hoping to see a pristine 9.4: