Jaydogrules

again, All a matter of preference. -J.

Sorry Jay. If I'd have a copy I'd sell it and buy something good. I'll leave you fan boys to go nuts over it. There's some awesome stuff in all ages of comics. (But you must have been a friggin psychic loading up on all those GA Tecs when you did! ) -J.

what part of "3-4 years from now" did you not understand ? Too many people will have (and probably have already ) bought in at much higher than $1500 for that to be likely. The book has transcended speculation a long time ago. One of the few books that got an alternative media bump to do so. It's legitimately mainstream now. When the show eventually does end there will be additional spin-offs, theatrical releases, reboots, syndication, etc. Kirkman has also said that the comic will continue on long after the show ends. Speaking of the actual comic- it is a bona fide "run title" as well now (no pun intended). Collectors will not be selling the #1 out of their sets very lightly. I don't claim to predict what a book will or won't be worth in four years because external factors having nothing to do with the show or the title can impact that. But as a comic, a franchise, and a piece of pop culture, with crossover appeal Walking Dead is as about as rock solid of a success story as you're going to get in this hobby. Period, exclamation point. (so if you don't already have one, get one, especially if you're a fan) -J.

Dried up on eBay and approaching $3k..... -J. Oh really !? http://highgradecomics.com/article.php?dynamic=book_details&id=106776 Been sitting there for a while ... ( and let's not forget Robert allows for the usual 10% off ) EBay gets way more eyeballs than Bob's site. -J. ebay also has more low-ballers. I would gather that the majority of buyers going to Bob's site are not looking for copies of the Walking Dead. The books doesn't sell great on these Boards either. That really doesn't mean much (or anything). Walking Dead has always been a strong and consistent eBay seller though. With a total dearth of CGC 9.8's copies there now, even a PGX copy sold for $2200. Walking Dead isn't going anywhere. It's thoroughly franchised at this point. -J.

Dried up on eBay and approaching $3k..... -J. Oh really !? http://highgradecomics.com/article.php?dynamic=book_details&id=106776 Been sitting there for a while ... ( and let's not forget Robert allows for the usual 10% off ) EBay gets way more eyeballs than Bob's site. (and 9.8's have dried up on eBay, there are a few copies in other grades available). -J.

Dried up on eBay and approaching $3k..... -J.

There's none on ebay. Depends on how bad you want it. -J.

Try and talk them down to the $1500 range. -J.

-J.

Exactly !! OP created this thread. It's his thread, his rules. One of the harsh realities of message board life is that, once a thread is posted, no matter who posts it, it no longer belongs to the OP...it belongs to the world, and anyone and everyone can....and should be able to...post their own opinions in response, even if that isn't the direction the OP intended. In other words...once released into the wild, nobody owns any thread. -1 Can't agree with that. If this were the case, then there would be no need for sub-forums/topics as it wouldn't matter what anyone said, it'd just be a mess, devoid of centered discussion and likely wither and die on the vine. Gotta stay on topic, granted can't always be 100% of the time, but as much as possible. Jerome Unfortunately, staying on topic would mean talking about the most valuable modern variants. But that is not exactly what this list is. By the stated criteria that applies to most variants, it most certainly is. Oh, and that raw copy of that Vader down book got re-listed (again): http://www.ebay.com/itm/Marvel-Star-Wars-Vader-Down-1-Variant-Edition-Incentive-Cover-1-4999-Zdarsky-NM-/121969609199?hash=item1c65f489ef:g:qMIAAOSwiYFXIRD0 (this is part of the reason why I made being at least three years old part of the criteria) -J.

Doesn't look like a legit sale as the same book has been relisted for the same price by the same seller for quite some time now (and that's the only sale over $300 that there has been for that book so far)... -J.

Exactly !! OP created this thread. It's his thread, his rules. One of the harsh realities of message board life is that, once a thread is posted, no matter who posts it, it no longer belongs to the OP...it belongs to the world, and anyone and everyone can....and should be able to...post their own opinions in response, even if that isn't the direction the OP intended. In other words...once released into the wild, nobody owns any thread. -1 Can't agree with that. If this were the case, then there would be no need for sub-forums/topics as it wouldn't matter what anyone said, it'd just be a mess, devoid of centered discussion and likely wither and die on the vine. Gotta stay on topic, granted can't always be 100% of the time, but as much as possible. Jerome FWIW I don't think the thread has veered wildly off topic at any point, people talking about other valuable variants (even if not yet valuable enough to crack the Dirty Dozen) isn't a surprise, and I fully expected boardies to question my methodology when categorizing the Top 12 (which is why I took such great pains to clarify it in advance ). -J.

Exactly !! OP created this thread. It's his thread, his rules. Yes and no. I posted the list expecting and inviting feedback and knew it would change over time. But like I said a ways back, I had to find a "sweet spot" of criteria that could reasonably be applied uniformly to "most" variants in order for a list to even be possible or mean anything. When you start talking about things like ashcans, 1:1's that were auctioned off for charity, reprints, error books, blanks/ with elaborate OA, etc, you are no longer in the sweet spot that applies to "most" variants. There are tons of books that fall into the sweet spot, but very few that do have any significant or sustained value. That's part of what makes the Dirty Dozen special. Hence, the point of the thread. -J.

No, because it was never about that. Jerome I know you may have trouble understanding this, but books selling for lots of money due to manufactured rarity doesn't make them grails (the most overused word on this message board). Heh, my spellchecker doesn't like the word "grails" for some reason. You're right, it isn't the "manufactured rarity" or the fact that they sell for lots of money that makes them "grails".... The fact that they are "earnestly pursued and/or sought after" by many, many collectors does. And the term "key" is what is thrown around the boards far too often, not "grail". A grail can be anything to anyone by its very definition. -J. Then everything is a grail, which makes the word completely meaningless. You still haven't come up with a reasonable explanation for why the Batman/Superman 4 isn't on your list. Foreign REPRINT. The criteria as laid out in the first post states that reprints were not considered. No, the criteria says that subsequent printings of issues are excluded ("First prints only"). The book is question is a first print Batman/Superman 4 from Panini. If CGC 9.8s are the only things that matter, please make a video where you burn most of your sig line. TIA. While I can appreciate a slick linguistic two-step as much as the next guy, it's still a (foreign) reprint, regardless of who the publisher is. A different publisher reprinting previously released material is nothing new in this hobby. And never once has anyone ever called or considered it to be "new material". And, uh, yeah, in the modern market, 9.8's, right or wrong, are the expected standard (again, is this also, suddenly a novel concept ? ) . As such, it was stated in the original post that the most weight was given to historical 9.8 sales whenever available. -J.

No, because it was never about that. Jerome I know you may have trouble understanding this, but books selling for lots of money due to manufactured rarity doesn't make them grails (the most overused word on this message board). Heh, my spellchecker doesn't like the word "grails" for some reason. You're right, it isn't the "manufactured rarity" or the fact that they sell for lots of money that makes them "grails".... The fact that they are "earnestly pursued and/or sought after" by many, many collectors does. And the term "key" is what is thrown around the boards far too often, not "grail". A grail can be anything to anyone by its very definition. -J. Then everything is a grail, which makes the word completely meaningless. You still haven't come up with a reasonable explanation for why the Batman/Superman 4 isn't on your list. Foreign REPRINT. The criteria as laid out in the first post states that reprints were not considered. And as pleasing as the cover image is to the eye, even it is reprinted from an interior page from the English version. Also, even if it were not a reprint and was considered, it has not consistently sold for enough in a 9.8 to qualify at this time anyway. The fact that it is also a foreign book may help it or it may hurt it. No one knows. But it is a variable not present with any of the other books, so it is not considered. -J.

No, because it was never about that. Jerome I know you may have trouble understanding this, but books selling for lots of money due to manufactured rarity doesn't make them grails (the most overused word on this message board). Heh, my spellchecker doesn't like the word "grails" for some reason. You're right, it isn't the "manufactured rarity" or the fact that they sell for lots of money that makes them "grails".... The fact that they are "earnestly pursued and/or sought after" by many, many collectors does. And the term "key" is what is thrown around the boards far too often, not "grail". A grail can be anything to anyone by its very definition. -J.

You're missing one with an NDS insert.... -J.

Hello gents , these are some pretty cool books, that I honestly have never heard of. Checked out past and recent sales and we're around $200 for both the X-Men legacy, and the Deadpool book. Not chump change, but not expensive enough yet. To crack the Dirty Dozen, figure the book is going to have to sell for at least $1500 on at least a couple of occasions in a 9.8 to make it in. -J.

Normally I would put an estimate in the 1500 range, but I seem to recall it was an unannounced variant, or swapped in for another one at the last minute, so it could be a lot less than that. -J.

Sounds like you already know all there is to know about it. -J.

Actually, decent looking raw copies of the top 7 have sold for $1000+ on a regular basis. (The Jim Lee Master Race book is a series of OA on blanks that just came out a few months ago, for both reasons it wasn't considered for the list.) -J.

If your book isn't "heating up" per se, it seems to be selling well at whatever price you have set. You gave full disclosure that you are involved with this book, and were understandably shameless in your plugging and proud that it has caught on. So congratulations on a successful launch. If there was less jaundiced cynicism on these boards , more people would have told you the same thing. -J.

Nothing you have pointed out is a "discrepancy". You just mentioned additional information I did not. I chose to write the little blurbs about each book as I saw fit and nothing I did write is factually incorrect. Also, simply Re-reading the stated criteria in the original post will answer a lot of questions and any quibbles you may have regarding how I elected to rank the books. **Edit-- I modified the narrative in the description for the ASM 700 Ditko to clear things up for you. I kept watching your response change from edits but fell asleep. No, none of your criteria clarifies the spin doctoring of your write ups...now let's do an exercise: Reread the above two responses, as you'll see I never referred to the two write ups as containing "discrepancies" I said they were "very misleading" specifically for the reasons I documented - they still are. I have no doubt you wrote them as you "saw fit" because that is precisely why many take issue with the things you post. I could point out a hundred instances where you have posted with a clear intent to influence the market when it comes to this handful of books that you continually promote on these boards. Clearly it's easier for you to promote these books by choosing data points that will convey the message you want, I just think a tighter list with accurate data would reduce the noise or friction you are getting from others, including me earlier in this thread when pointing out how estimated print runs were being presented in a biased way. It's just plain tacky to sit back and heckle from the peanut gallery after someone else has already done all the work. The presumptions of your above post are far-flung and borderline offensive, as once again your myopic opinions cloud what is actually going on. So let me clear things up for you one last time: I DO NOT OWN MOST OF THE BOOKS THAT ARE ON THIS LIST. I DO NOT SELL COMIC BOOKS. I HAVE NEVER SOLD A COMIC BOOK. I AM ONLY A COLLECTOR AND A FAN. Also, since you apparently have not been paying attention, the majority of the feedback from this thread has been positive, the only "noise or friction", as you call it, being largely "why not this book", or "why not that book", which I explicitly invited at the end of my first post. Guess you missed that too. There is absolutely nothing "inaccurate" about any of the data that I presented or any of the top sales on any of the books (again, most of which I do not own) summarized in the blurbs. That is just, once again , the noise in your own head clouding what you are seeing. But I will take it as a compliment that you (and a couple of others) believed that I either own all of these books, or that they are my "personal favourites". I deliberately wanted to convey a positive and enthusiastic tone about all of these books, because, at the end of the day, I'm a fan of comic books. Back on point... Paul, I thought the Saga RRP was a first print, but HarveySwick and others have shown that it is not. I know it sells for good money, trust me, I looked it up, but as a reprint it would be on another list, as I said earlier, a list could probably be made of the "most valuable variant reprints". The variant reprint market is an emerging sub-niche. All the other books on the list are first prints. In the interest of uniformity and having a level playing field by which to apply the criteria, later printings of books (and other books that fell into sub-niche categories) were not considered. As I said in an earlier post, in order for a list of the Dirty Dozen to even be possible, I had to find the sweet spot that applied to "most" books and the go from there. Now I just need to decide if I have the stomach to put the next 13 out there. -J.

Nothing wrong with that copy either. And for the price ? Can't beat it! -J.

Ugh. You've got to be kidding. It's like defending a Master's thesis just for the Top 12. Realistically I think I can do a follow up "Lucky 13" to get it to 25. After that, the field is just way too wide open. -J.