Jaydogrules

Nice! Was it a commission? -J.

Point taken. -J.

Damn those are nice. I may have to pre order a set. My wallet weeps. -J.

Damn that's nice. I may have to look for one of those. -J.

Sweet books! That fantastic four 3 is also a tough book and looks good with that hulk. -J.

Dat spine tho...for that price? I think I got a good deal on my book now for sure. Jerome Sometimes beggars can't be choosers. Who knows how long the buyer was waiting for a copy. Although I have seen a couple copies even worse whose spines were so bad it looked like a rat chewed on them. -J.

Very nice! I have done quite a bit more research on the 667 that has yielded more concrete answers to its unusual rarity. I will post those findings in the thread soon so everyone can then try to rip them apart. It also turns out a certain number of copies were also damaged during print/distribution, that's why so many of them have similar defects on the back cover and spine like the raw copy that just sold today on ebay for $2500. ASM 667 Club (Population 2) UNVERSAL Jaydogrules 9.8 Page 1 Lethal_Collector 9.8 Page 1 -J.

It's high time this cover artist have his own Appreciation Thread! I have been a big fan of Gabrielle Dell'Otto's work since he began working on ASM a few years back. He is quite simply an extremely gifted cover artist, and appears to work mostly in paint on canvas and/or chalk. His attention to detail in these mediums is unparalleled with much of his work being near museum quality. As fans, we are very fortunate to have an artist who so capably renders some of our favourite heroes and villains in the style of a true Renaissance master. Undoubtedly due to the time, detail and care Dell'otto devotes to his pieces, he is not prolific. As such most of his covers that have been used by both Marvel and DC (but mostly Marvel) look to be the more exclusive ones. Some of the rarest (and best) variants out there are Dell'otto covers, and many of them are very difficult to find on a day to day basis. So let's see your favourite Dell'otto covers guys! I'll start it off with a few of mine before they're sent off to catch some Florida sun. From left to right, ASM 682 (Part 1 Ends of the Earth) 1:15, ASM 667 (Part 1 Spider Island) 1:100, and ASM 3 1:25 From left to right, Uncanny X Men 1 1:50, X-23 1 1:50, and Cable and X Force 3 1:50 From left to right, Winter Soldier 1 (first in solo, ongoing title- good luck finding one of these! almost as hard to find as the ASM 667) 1:50 and Avengers Assemble 10 1:50 Obviously the ASM 667 is his best known and hardest to find piece. I've always liked its moody intensity, its simple yet striking layout, and of course Spidey in a classic pose. As an interesting side note, it was also just Dell'otto's second ASM cover and is one of only 3, 1:100's that he has done. Also, if you blinked, you missed this ebay listing that popped up late last night, and immediately sold just a few hours after going live: http://item.ebay.co.uk/331787648086?item_hash4=c5c2c701&LH_Complete=1&LH_BIN=1&LH_BO=1&_ipg=200&_pgn=1&rc=nt&rmvSB=true It was the first copy of any kind to hit ebay in six months. The Winter Soldier #1 cover is almost just as hard to find. It's probably also my #2 all time favourite by him. The composition of the painting, the lighting effects on the gun, what can I say. The man has talent. I will be updating the thread with a "club list" of boardies who own some of his best known books (i.e. the ASM 667 and X 23 1). If you posted your copy of the ASM 667 in the other thread please do so again here so I can update this new thread. Also, no haters please. This is an APPRECIATION THREAD. Thanks. -J.

What's "100x"? Most LCS charge only $15 for a 1:15, $25 for a 1:25, $50 for a 1:50. This helps offset the cost of "upping their orders" if that is in fact what they did to acquire the variant. If you are talking about a particular variant catching fire and going for "100x" on the secondary market, well again, that's just Capitalism. And that can happen with any book, regardless of whether or not its a variant. -J. No I am talking about the 1:100, or 1:250 or the most recent shenanigans with the DKR books or ASM700. I look at those books as boutique offerings by the publishers. Do I think a 1:5000 is ridiculous? Yes I do. But does that mean they should be wiped from the face of the earth because I think that? No, it doesn't. I just don't buy it. But that doesn't mean someone else should be deprived of the ability to buy one just because I don't want it. And again, you keep insisting that the "only" reason (very few) variants take off is because of rarity. That is just not the case. In fact, that is the exception and not the rule. -J.

No you didn't. You just keep blowing off sales as shilled with zero evidence. Are you the 'shiller' on Clink? I suggest you don't know what the heII you are talking about. You lost all credibility with this Epic fail thread ...and yet Star Wars 1 is back down to a $1000 book (and falling?) and both Marvel Preview 4 and 7 are at about one-third their peak, post-shill values as well. You seem like an angry and overly defensive fellow- particularly when it comes to Star Wars. Might I suggest taking a walk in the sunshine sometime? -J. Wrong, but why don't you actually pay for GPA and have some information and not just 'speculate'. I have GPA. I see that last sale of $1000 from Sunday, do you? Or is this an optical illusion? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Star-Wars-1-CGC-9-8-/322007502869?hash=item4af9249015:g:5t4AAOSwG-1Wv0W~ Do you see all those red arrows pointing down since the movie came out and the speculators and shillers bailed? Do you see all those expired listings on ebay for the book? No one is buying. That's why prices are plummeting. This has happened with every single book that I have observed with that kind of bizarre market activity. And unfortunately it won't be the last. -J. Are there sales lower than 1000 or can this be the outlier. No sales lower. Although listings have been sitting at $1200 and $1300, so $1000 might be right about where it's settling at for the time being at least. -J.

What's "100x"? Most LCS charge only $15 for a 1:15, $25 for a 1:25, $50 for a 1:50. This helps offset the cost of "upping their orders" if that is in fact what they did to acquire the variant. If you are talking about a particular variant catching fire and going for "100x" on the secondary market, well again, that's just Capitalism. And that can happen with any book, regardless of whether or not its a variant. -J.

No you didn't. You just keep blowing off sales as shilled with zero evidence. Are you the 'shiller' on Clink? I suggest you don't know what the heII you are talking about. You lost all credibility with this Epic fail thread ...and yet Star Wars 1 is back down to a $1000 book (and falling?) and both Marvel Preview 4 and 7 are at about one-third their peak, post-shill values as well. You seem like an angry and overly defensive fellow- particularly when it comes to Star Wars. Might I suggest taking a walk in the sunshine sometime? -J. Wrong, but why don't you actually pay for GPA and have some information and not just 'speculate'. I have GPA. I see that last sale of $1000 from Sunday, do you? Or is this an optical illusion? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Star-Wars-1-CGC-9-8-/322007502869?hash=item4af9249015:g:5t4AAOSwG-1Wv0W~ Do you see all those red arrows pointing down since the movie came out and the speculators and shillers bailed? Do you see all those expired listings on ebay for the book? No one is buying. That's why prices are plummeting. This has happened with every single book that I have observed with that kind of bizarre market activity. And unfortunately it won't be the last. -J.

And that is half the point. If the customer is given the choice to purchase new book #1 with cover art by: Neal Adams Rob Liefeld Frank Miller all 3 covers at cover price. Some will buy 1 cover cause they want to read it, some will buy 2 different covers because they don't like Neal or Rob or Frank. Others will buy all 3 because they like to have them all. If that is a choice down the road every one might chase the one done by Rob as it may be seen as a classic cover or his breakout cover or whatever the reason would be. Why "strongly" encourage both the retailer and the end customer to spend 100x cover price to get the art they like. Because that's business. Why buy a bottle of Dom Perignon when you can get a box of wine at the supermarket? Why buy a Picasso lithograph when you can buy a poster from Wal-Mart? Why buy a Mercedes when you can get a Toyota? Why buy a Rolex when you can buy a Casio? There are all kinds of more limited and exclusive examples of "stuff" that people can buy. No one is forcing any dealer to carry these items and no one is forcing any consumer to buy them. And yet, they still exist. Why? Because there is a market for them. There is a market for exclusivity in comics. If or when that day comes and there no longer appears to be a market for such, publishers will no doubt adjust. However if a dealer is willing to hit his numbers to get an exclusive variant that he knows he can sell, then he should have that option. If a buyer is willing to pay extra to acquire that variant, then he should have that option. You know what that's called? Capitalism. Not every buyer can afford to purchase every comic, regardless of whether it is a variant or the first appearance of Superman. -J.

No you didn't. You just keep blowing off sales as shilled with zero evidence. Are you the 'shiller' on Clink? I suggest you don't know what the heII you are talking about. You lost all credibility with this Epic fail thread ...and yet Star Wars 1 is back down to a $1000 book (and falling?) and both Marvel Preview 4 and 7 are at about one-third their peak, post-shill values as well. You seem like an angry and overly defensive fellow- particularly when it comes to Star Wars. Might I suggest taking a walk in the sunshine sometime? -J.

Apples to helmets. Can you show me some variants where the reason a variant cover took off that didn't have a ratio that took off for being a better cover and not based on "rarity" or some other determining factor? Huh, can you show me any comic that has done that? Not sure if my wording is off, or if you are confused as to my point. I can't think of a single 1:1 variant that took off (a book with multiple covers that 1 cover took off simply because it was better than the rest). The variants that do take off are associated with manufactured rarity. There are all kinds of books that take off that don't have rarity simply because of their cover art. Does it not really boil down to popularity/demand versus supply? Rarity alone does not dictate worth. Sometimes the demand for a variant comes from completionists wanting it for their collection regardless of how it looks. Or people who collect variants in general. Yes they are manufactured rarity but so is anything where demand outstrips supply. I was an ASM collector and pursued all variants until recently. It got to be cost prohibitive to continue so I sold all of my variants save for ASM 667 Dell otto and 678 Venom cover. So from my point of view Marvel killed it for me and made it impossible to collect what I wanted to collect. So I stopped. Of course. Popularity! That is often what causes a book to skyrocket. However as Chuck and Image have suggested, get away from this idea of forcing retailers to buy these other books in order to qualify for the "rare" books. Print copies that end up being used as giveaways because the store wants to keep their one local customer super happy and get in the 1:200 rare variant, which leaves the store with 125 copies of a book they won't sell. If the 667 variant was a 1:1 ratio with the other cover at the time you would have both right now, you would have 2 copies of 667 simply because you wanted both covers. Now you can't because you have been priced out of the market by a retailer incentive book Nonsense. Collectors get "priced" out of books for a multitude of reasons. Scarcity is only one potential factor. And like Wow said, scarcity alone does not automatically translate to "value". -J.

It's become evident that loose grading has led to significant discounts on their books. I know I refrain from buying them unless they are offered well below GPA prices. +1 The discount is real and it's widening. Regardless of how CGC copies performed in grade relative to GPA highs, Voldemort slabs performed significantly worse. -J.

Star Wars 1 was by no means the only shilled book last year. But it was one of the worst offenders. Going from $600 to $1800 almost literally overnight just because of a movie announcement was never real and almost certainly never going to be sustainable due to the massive amounts of available high grade copies as compared to other BA books and the blatantly inorganic apparent rise in price. I demonstrated multiple examples of shilling on this book scores of pages back and in two or three different time periods, with multiple examples. I could not even begin to dig through this thread for those posts (and the links would now be useless anyway since they went to ebay). Other shilled alternative media speculation books that I pointed out at the time that have also suffered massive and inordinate subsequent drops in value: marvel preview 4 and 7 and captain marvel 17 2nd print. Batman Adventures 12 is another one with multiple pricing anomalies noted similar to star wars 1, and I expect it to follow a similar pattern upon its alternate media release in August /September. And I'm pretty sure star wars is more popular than Harley Quinn. Also, keep an eye on New Mutants 87. See what's happening there ? Not all sales are a result of shill bidding and/or fake eBay Buy it Now's but those strategically timed sales do create a false perception of "value" that can then lead to real sales by unsuspecting or less savvy buyers , which in turn creates a beast that's similar to a snake eating its tail. If enough of those sales were real and not the result of rampant speculation and shilling then values would not collapse so utterly just because the movie came out. Collectors suddenly don't care about star wars 1 simply becaue we are now in between movies ? The last one is still out and in the top 10 nationally on its way to a billion dollar domestic haul. That isn't enough to keep "collectors " interested ? This was hardly the first star wars movie ever released. Why did the book appear to triple in value this time? If you look at completed eBay sales you will see that hardly any copies of star wars 1 are selling at all, regardless of grade or condition. Is that because collectors have suddenly decided to abandon the book- despite a hit movie- or because speculators did? These are rhetorical questions of course , but you get the idea. -J.

Good stuff. The writer took a condescending tone in the article with comments like readers and customers and trying to separate the 2 types of customers. Most of us happen to be both. Another comment that leads me to disregard any argument this guy would present in those with less discerning tastes. Really ? So he knows what you find enjoyable and worthy of reading ? Have him order your food, pick your car, and clothes in your wardrobe while he's at it. Do you think this was the writers opinion or his interpretation of ES? In other words, people who want good comics have lots of places to go, but the people who want “bad comics” (variants, gimmicks and the like) have to shop at the comic store. I ask because just as there are people who buy a comic for the story, there are people that buy a comic because of the artwork. There are a number of artists who ONLY do cover work now. Just like completionist's for a series, there are people who want all of an artists work. It seemed to me that his opinion was largely the same as ES. In my collection, its all about the stories and art. I don't have the RRP for East of West #1, even though its my favorite book. I'd rather read 100 new issues for than invest my money in a book for a cover. I'm even selling off my original art to certain books because it just isn't me. I'm a story and character driven collector. I feel and know even, that i don't speak for everybody on anybody else for that matter on what is good for them to spend their money on. The problem I have with the writer and ES is that they seem to think they know what we should be buying than we do. Choices are great. I'm sure many people at DC and Marvel thought we shouldn't be buying and reading Image books when they opened shop. They didn't get what we liked either imo. I like choice too, which is why I wish publishers would just move to the model where comic shops can order any of the variants they can sell. No incentives. I want to be able to buy the covers I like, but the publishers make it prohibitively expensive for me to do so. I could care less if a cover is a 1 of 10, 1 of 20, or 1 of 1000. I want to be able to buy the covers I like without paying through the nose for them. I want to be able to buy a Tec 27 without paying through the nose for one too. I would also like to buy a Picasso lithograph on the cheap. Or a bottle of Dom Perignon. But I can't. The overwhelming majority of variants that are released aren't worth much more than cover price regardless of they're initial ratio upon release. The ones that are become so due to the same market forces that determine "value" of every other collectible- supply and demand. -J.

Consignor will never see payment on this thrill bidding. Especially with 9.8 copies plummeting faster than a lead balloon and this BS result going way above realistic sales. I was thinking the same bidder may have bid on the IH181 9.6 for 7200 and the TMNT1 9.8 for 22k.......to name a few more stunners Except there is prior recent pricing support for those results, whereas you have this from just this last Sunday for Star Wars 1: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Star-Wars-1-CGC-9-8-/322007502869?hash=item4af9249015:g:5t4AAOSwG-1Wv0W~ That price on Comic Link is completely bogus. -J. I'm just thinking that if some nut job bids 2900 for SW1 with no intentions of paying for it, do they then take a conservative approach to thrill bidding within tha auction or do they pay over the top on a multitude of different books. 7200 is a lot for a 9.6 IH181. I'll take 6000 for mine right now. Its got white pages too A 9.4 just sold for a bit under $5k. A 9.0 just went for $3100. If you throw your 9.6 up on the marketplace for only $6k it probably wouldn't last the day. -J.

You keep saying this mess yet provide zero evidence. 80 sales last year with $1793 avg. Stop carrying on with these ridiculous claims "Zero evidence"? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Star-Wars-1-CGC-9-8-/322007502869?hash=item4af9249015:g:5t4AAOSwG-1Wv0W~ 2016 is another year. And it's looking like a $1000 book now. Hope it can settle thereabouts for a while. -J.

Consignor will never see payment on this thrill bidding. Especially with 9.8 copies plummeting faster than a lead balloon and this BS result going way above realistic sales. I was thinking the same bidder may have bid on the IH181 9.6 for 7200 and the TMNT1 9.8 for 22k.......to name a few more stunners Except there is prior recent pricing support for those results, whereas you have this from just this last Sunday for Star Wars 1: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Star-Wars-1-CGC-9-8-/322007502869?hash=item4af9249015:g:5t4AAOSwG-1Wv0W~ That price on Comic Link is completely bogus. -J. GPA avg on a 9.6 IH181 = $5300, so 1900 over GPA is right there with the Star Wars if you ask me Here is the lasy 9.6 sold via auction on ebay http://www.ebay.com/itm/Incredible-Hulk-181-Universal-CGC-9-6-First-Full-Wolverine-Appearance-1st-Logan-/111849889464?hash=item1a0ac5deb8:g:sLEAAOSwfZ1WYFk0 And to tell you the truth, I recall all kinds of 9.8 TMNT sales in the 12k - 16k range over the last couple years. 22k is nuts You're comparing A GPA low that happened more than two months ago and six days before Christmas to a sale that happened three days ago, of a movie hype book that was demonstrably shilled up until the day the movie came out? And you may have missed it but Comiclink had another 9.8 Turtles book sell for $22k+ a few months back. The unfortunate reality for Star Wars 1 is that normal market forces have re-asserted themselves and the mass of speculators and shillers have moved on. -J.

Consignor will never see payment on this thrill bidding. Especially with 9.8 copies plummeting faster than a lead balloon and this BS result going way above realistic sales. I was thinking the same bidder may have bid on the IH181 9.6 for 7200 and the TMNT1 9.8 for 22k.......to name a few more stunners Except there is prior recent pricing support for those results, whereas you have this from just this last Sunday for Star Wars 1: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Star-Wars-1-CGC-9-8-/322007502869?hash=item4af9249015:g:5t4AAOSwG-1Wv0W~ That price on Comic Link is completely bogus. -J.

This is the exact same price comic link realized on another 9.8 copy a few months back. Unfortunately neither of those sales will find their way to GPA.... -J.

+1 Hence the qualifier of "right now" that was also in my post, which Roy evidently missed. -J.

It's official....Hulk 1 has softened. Showcase 4 is the #2 SA book right now. I expect Hulk 1 will pick up again , however, once we start seeing trailers for Thor 3. -J. The jump H1 made the last year is unsustainable. I agree it's just a pause and will prices will pick up again. Showcase 4 is the #2 SA book. You only "worship" because you have all Top 3 SA books in ridiculous grades. -J. Buy you have more Keys...I like the signature line of yours. Psssh. Thanks ! But I can afford to buy more keys when it's only mid grade schlock. -J.