Brock

It could be both...

Wordy? Yeah... wordy. His? Right - Bendis. Wordy. All his stories? They can. Can't they? Sometimes... All the time. Yeah.

There's a 10 cent bin at my store... maybe 500 comics? But they've been there for at least 10 years... still, if Valiant needs some more foil or chromium for future Quantum & Woody covers, I can hook them up.

"What is on eBay may be an accurate representation of what is for sale, but it is not an accurate representation of what exists." This seems to be self-contradicting... it is arguing that while it is impossible to derive positive data from ebay, it is OK to derive negative data. Basic logic lets us know this is nonsense. What is on eBay may be an accurate representation of what is for sale, AND it may be an accurate representation of what exists. To proclaim that it is definitively NOT an accurate representation is to pretend to omnipotent knowledge. This is the beginner's mistake of trying to prove a negative... In any event, move along... these are not the droids we're looking for.

I think this was part of a set produced around 1982 (?) by les Editions Heritage that included both Archie and Marvel books. Les Éditions normally published in French, but this group was in English. I have a Hulk édition reprinting Hulk 181, and I remember others being available at the same time. These are magazine size issues, though, rather than treasuries, IIRC.

For me, it’s about a 4.0... but because it’s an inexact term, it can be used to hide a lot of sins.

I was going to suggest Scooby Doo... putting together those runs as they weave their way through various publishers would be a fun challenge. However, you wanted something with great art and l'm not sure it would qualify. i think there's something to be said for the Gold Key/Turok approach outlined above... such books are often in the bins, and (mostly) won't break the bank, but do require effort and patience. i might suggest the Flash Gordon books... some amazing painted covers, but also some solid artwork by guys like Williamson, IIRC.

A recent dollar dive find... some obscure books!

I think you've been hacked. or, you have kids the same age as mine...

Zatanna 16

Be patient, and you can get a much better deal.

If it wasn't worth it the first time you posted this, it won't be worth it the second time around...

One should never talking about riding anything beneath an image of a Zenescope comic.

And here's a (more or less) contemporary image of what Guy Fawkes looked like:

It's a traditional English design... here's a photo of an antique one: I think Lloyd just drew a simplified version of it, and the masks were later mass-produced after the movie came out. I've heard that Warner Brothers actually holds the rights to the popular version of the mask we see on TV, so - intentionally or not - those who wear it are supporting a multinational corporation!

I think it's definitely the comic/movie having the influence rather than Guy Fawkes himself... Not even Moore was really going for Fawkes' pro-Catholic/anti-monarchist brand of extremism, and even if he was, most Americans have never heard of Guy Fawkes. I think it was more that he liked the idea of co-opting a vaguely anti-authoritarian image by adding a layer of creepiness to what was otherwise a childhood party prop. In this context, it's probably important to remember that V for vendetta was published first in Warrior, and intended primarily for a British audience. It was only later that it came to international attention with its reprinting by DC. It's kind of like how Jason in the Friday 13th movies wears a hockey mask... the creepiness or unease comes from the hidden anonymity of the mask's wearer, rather than from trying to evoke a feeling of hockey players.

It's definitely a Guy Fawkes mask. I think it has had an impact, but I can't help but wonder if the movie didn't play a larger role than the original comic. Clearly, the movie took the image form the comic, but it was only after the movie had "popularized" the image of the mask as an anti-authoritarian symbol that it began to pop up other places. I think the current application of the image was cemented through its use by the hacker collective Anonymous, and it later migrated to things like Occupy Wall Street, and more recently the "Resist" movement. I think, though, there's a long history of comic imagery being adopted (or co-opted) for political purposes. Hitler-bashing as has been pointed out, but more directly things like the use of the Punisher logo by members of the US military, the use of Pepe the Frog by members of the hard right, the use of Charlie Hebdo cartoons by both free speech activists and radical Islamists, or the use of "Canadian" characters like Superman by Canada Post as an expression of Canadian nationalism. Perhaps one of the most influential was the role of Superman (largely through its radio show) in diminishing the influence of the KKK in the 1940s. In some instances (like Alan Moore and V for Vendetta), the political use seems to align with the intent of the creator, but in others (such as Matt Furie and Pepe the Frog) it can run counter to the creator's political views. Which (IMHO) just means that popular images and characters are fertile ground for piggybacking other messages to a broad audience, whether intended or not.

Hi Mollie - I have a set expansion request for the "DC Whitman Variants" set. Could you please add Justice League of America #158 (DC Comics, 9/78; see, for example, certification #1208792009) Thanks very much!

Morrison/Quitely Gaiman/JH Williams III

Aaaaand I just looked at the MCS listing, which says they were published by Modern, which was doing Chralton reprint pre-packs at the time, as well as a reprint of Marvel's Battlestar Galactica treasury.

This is idle speculation on my part, but between about 1975 and 1980, the Quebec-based publisher Editions Heritage was producing some English language squarebound books, including Archie's. Could this be one of their products? They weren't distributed in LCS's or on newsstands - more through discount retailers. They were also binding remainders at that time... I recently came across a number of their French-language books (Batman, etc.) that had been bound this way.

It's not one buyer... it's this week's news: https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/08/14/dark-nights-metal-1-watchmen-final-page-spoilers/

Rob Granito

This is one of my latest obsessions... The next TMNT #1 or Bone #1 could be published on Kickstarter tomorrow, or could have been published a year ago. When a title catches on, or a movie spin-off makes a billion dollars, that small print run of a first appearance could make huge price jumps, the sort of thing that might dwarf what a TMNT #1 goes for. And - for better or worse - very, very few collectors (of our sort) will ever have heard of it, let alone have a stash of copies to flip. If I were a true speculator, Kickstarter would seem to offer the largest potential returns. In terms of the original questions about the "next Marvel", the Kickstarter model (externally-funded rounds of financing that can grow with each iteration) is also infinitely better positioned to make a new company or innovator more rapidly scaleable than a model based on Diamond distribution (expensive and slow) to LCSs (self-limiting marketplace with limited consumer numbers and high risk aversion).

From one perspective, this is already happening - though it may be hard to see for us, the "insiders" of the hobby. My kids love comics, but have almost zero interest in floppies or superheroes or shared universes. But they're the key demographic that have made names like Raina Telgemeier superstars... Any comic Telgemeier puts out sells a million copies almost instantly, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a comic shop that carries them. I love comics, like almost everyone on these boards. But if we're realistic, we have to admit that we are part and parcel of the industry system dedicated to "churning out pretty lame stuff (as a whole)" rather than the audience for "fresh stories and fresh characters". I say this with no malice... but as they guys who obsess over whether a spine tick will make than book a 9.4 or a 9.2, we have to recognize that we are not the ones that will lead the revolution...