Jaydogrules

I don't know if I would say values are "dropping". Costas set a really high bar with $2500 for a 9.6, though $1850 is also a very strong price. There's more copies of the book in that grade than any other grade (and almost twice as many as there are 9.8's, though still just 92 total on the census), so it is not surprising to see a few of them on the market and changing hands. (thumbs u -J.

Very nice. And the sig line grows! -J.

No to the first half, and yes to the second. But I personally would still take a pause if I was looking at an early/mid 70's book (in particular) with a star stamp but no insert. -J.

The more I see the more I'm also starting to question the wisdom of even wasting the Joker character in this silly looking cr@p, and in a movie without Batman.... -J.

Looks like he still has the "damaged" tattoo on his forehead. What I think I'm seeing is some hipster impression of the joker. Frankly, I think it sucks. -J.

Very nice. That's a big time book right there. (thumbs u -J.

I would say that, literally, yes you are correct and I agree with you for the most part. However I have to say for me personally, if I ever came across a book with a star stamp on the cover for example, and from the appropriate time period, but with no insert I would likely decline to purchase that book, knowing what I know. -J.

Damn, very nice. I think you once mentioned you bought them both off the shelf too. -J.

Well yes, 5% or less of certain books were printed with the inserts, but they were still printed "with" the inserts- stapled in at the centerfold as you can see from divad's picture above, they are part of the comic. If there was some definitive and consistent way of knowing when the insert isn't there when it is supposed to be, I have no doubt CGC would indicate on a label if/when it was missing. Probably even give the book a qualified grade if it was missing. But since it is nearly impossible to tell that, they don't. Or as put as a hypothetical- if you happened to find a book with an insert at an LCS and took up to the front to pay for it, and the cashier pulled out the insert (that pesky advertisement) right in front of you, would you still be interested in buying that comic? Even if the book was otherwise completely un-damaged, would you still purchase that comic, or want to pay the same asking price ? Probably not. -J.

Yes that one would definitely get a green label. -J.

Pretty cool. And no, as of now CGC would not grade a comic missing the insert as "incomplete" even if they could tell one was once there. Although, IMO, if one was once there and it no longer is, that is an incomplete comic. -J.

It can't be jump ace's. That copy was graded in 2013. (thumbs u Meanwhile Greg "Mr. Pawn Star" Reece's 9.6 copy is at $1800+ with under a day to go. -J.

Back on topic... Looks like there's a new 9.6 to the party: http://www.ebay.com/itm/AMAZING-SPIDER-MAN-678-CGC-9-6-WHITE-PAGES-VENOM-VARIANT-COVER-/281695552404?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item41965d0394 -J.

Wow. $5750 for that 4.5 may not have been too far off the mark after all. -J.

Congrats! It is great to own a copy in any grade. Congratulations, and yes it certainly is. (thumbs u -J.

On the book and I 100% share your perspective. As a mainly DC collector, this is an unfortunate truth of the hobby. I always pay over GPA on nicely presenting DC mega keys (can safely make the same statement when I am selling them as well). :shrug: As do pal, as do I! I once bought 4 copies of BB28 at once from Charlie (mylars) -- and those that know him know there is NO negotiation, . have since sold all four, but Charlie's probably upset he didn't still hold them...... Joey that 9.0 is outrageous. -J.

And here I would have pegged you for a DC guy based on your (impressive) sig line. -J.

Actually I am not a dealer and do not sell comics so I have no opinion either way. -J.

"GIMME GIMME GIMME". Is this what RMA meant ? If so, then we probably deserve a crash. Anyone who suddenly wants this book simply because the concept of a potential movie was announced and pays "$700+" will probably lose money, as hundreds and hundreds (thousands?) of copies are now being boxed and readied for CGC as I type this. Although I do still find RMA's comments hypocritical, considering he will be an active particpant in the "madness". I don't think anybody who pays $700 for this book would ever (or have any right) to go back to the dealer who sold them the book six months later and blame them for their nonsensical impulse buy. And I don't think that is anything RMA (or any other dealer) worries about. It really is a "GIMME GIMME GIMME" on both sides then, isn't it RMA. By the way, the books to own are (still) X-men 1, Hulk 181, NM 87 and 98. Those no-name D-lister mutants in MGN 4 will not be what carry any movie (assuming the movie even happens). The general public has gone to see every x-men movie thus far essentially for wolverine. The comic fan boys want to see Deadpool and Cable now. The real X-men would undoubtedly appear in any "New Mutants" movie as well. And Oops, what if the potential title literally means what it says and FOX actually creates "new mutants" that never appeared in any comic. Quite the possibility, since, lets face it, the "new mutants" that appeared in the comics really are quite lame. -J. Wow, JDR, you may want to dial back your condescension. You're not the self-appointed say-all for fandom. I love The New Mutants, and I can guarantee you that many others have a strong affection for them too, particularly those of us who grew up in the 80s. And we think they are far from lame. I'm not as big a fan of the mutant characters created in the 90s and after, including Cable and Deadpool, but there's plenty of fans who do like them (under-statement) and consider them cooler characters than anything that came before. For that matter, I'm not much a fan of Wolverine either to be honest. Never have been. Give me heroes who shoot beams from their eyes, or turn their bodies into steel or ice or fire (though not so much stone....sorry, Stone Boy), or have wings or are really really fast. Your "what I like rocks and what you like sucks" attitude is ridiculous. Now, regarding your proclamations of MGN 4, you really have no idea what you are talking about, it's laughable frankly. This book has sold for $300-500 in 9.8 1st print for years, and is already highly collectible. There just are not that many copies in this kind of high grade. Hell, you could make a strong argument that this book in HG has been undervalued for years. 33 years has taken its toll, and the black cover (especially the back!) is a to find without scratches and ticks. You guys know more about pressing than I do, but I don't think pressing would help this book so much. So no, to think "hundreds and hundreds or even thousands" are being boxed right now to send to CGC is a gross exaggeration. Obviously, the census will go up now that NM has the spotlight focused on it (census numbers are shockingly low for such a key book, which contributes to its high price), but if anyone is waiting for hundreds and hundreds or even thousands of copies to hit the census before buying, especially if they're waiting for 9.8s to flood the market, then they'll be waiting for quite a while. As for the movies, the general public has gone to see every X-Men film thus far essentially because it has the Marvel brand and the X-Men brand attached. I don't recall Wolverine being in Iron Man, Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, etc, and the general public seemed to turn out in ok numbers for those movies. The New Mutants will do as well as any X-Men movie because A) Marvel and B) mutants. Do I hope it's the original New Mutants? Hell yeah! If Cable's involved though, it'll probably be the Liefeld mutants. . But I'll still definitely see it. And no, there is zero possibility that these will be original new mutants that have never appeared in comics. To say that that is "quite the possibility" is ludicrous. Come on, man. Why risk a franchise and bother trying to create new characters when you already have a built-in audience for long-established characters? And your whole argument about the bubble and a crash overlooks a potential key factor to this current speculation age. I think you're severely underestimating collectors' understanding of the market these days. I don't believe people are blindly speculating and expecting every book will keep going up in value like impulse speculators did in the 90s. I think a very large portion of the hobby understands the volatile nature of these investments, BUT they feel it is worth the risk so as not to miss the next Walking Dead 1. I also think current speculators (I'm tired of that word, I'm going to start calling them hobbyists) have been listening for decades to the so-called experts in this hobby (myself included) poo-poo'ing all the "drek" of the 80s and 90s and claiming that nothing from these eras will ever amount to anything because they were printed in the quadrababillions and every collector bagged and boarded each copy. Well, time has proven a different story. Hobbyists from those eras still neglected their collections, threw them out, allowed 20-30+ years of time to creep into their pages, read them over and over, stored them incorrectly, gave them to their kids to read, sold them off long ago and want them back, and many other factors that over-simplified the "large print run drek" theory that has been laughed about from the moment those books were printed. Do I think all of these books are valuable or will retain these "bubble" prices? No. But the hobby is now creating a new generation of key books from by-gone eras that will likely stand the test of time going forward as they seep into the hobby's, and the public's, consciousness. I would urge people to be selective though on what they might invest in. MGN 4 -- definitely. X-Force 18 -- maybe not so much. BA 12 -- yep. TMNT 44 -- buyer beware. None of us can continue speculating on every single hot book that pops up month to month. Well, most of us can't anyway. Ok, I'm off my soapbox. Carry on. Nothing to see here. I love this post. You would. (thumbs u -J.

Thank you ! If you only look at labels, my book is a 7.5 . However, if you look at the book, it is a very fresh looking copy with White Pages. Very clean. You have a beauty there Bob Indeed. Bob's entire collection is comprised of books like this. He has a very discriminating collecting pallette. -J.

"GIMME GIMME GIMME". Is this what RMA meant ? If so, then we probably deserve a crash. Anyone who suddenly wants this book simply because the concept of a potential movie was announced and pays "$700+" will probably lose money, as hundreds and hundreds (thousands?) of copies are now being boxed and readied for CGC as I type this. Although I do still find RMA's comments hypocritical, considering he will be an active particpant in the "madness". I don't think anybody who pays $700 for this book would ever (or have any right) to go back to the dealer who sold them the book six months later and blame them for their nonsensical impulse buy. And I don't think that is anything RMA (or any other dealer) worries about. It really is a "GIMME GIMME GIMME" on both sides then, isn't it RMA. By the way, the books to own are (still) X-men 1, Hulk 181, NM 87 and 98. Those no-name D-lister mutants in MGN 4 will not be what carry any movie (assuming the movie even happens). The general public has gone to see every x-men movie thus far essentially for wolverine. The comic fan boys want to see Deadpool and Cable now. The real X-men would undoubtedly appear in any "New Mutants" movie as well. And Oops, what if the potential title literally means what it says and FOX actually creates "new mutants" that never appeared in any comic. Quite the possibility, since, lets face it, the "new mutants" that appeared in the comics really are quite lame. -J. Wow, JDR, you may want to dial back your condescension. You're not the self-appointed say-all for fandom. I love The New Mutants, and I can guarantee you that many others have a strong affection for them too, particularly those of us who grew up in the 80s. And we think they are far from lame. I'm not as big a fan of the mutant characters created in the 90s and after, including Cable and Deadpool, but there's plenty of fans who do like them (under-statement) and consider them cooler characters than anything that came before. For that matter, I'm not much a fan of Wolverine either to be honest. Never have been. Give me heroes who shoot beams from their eyes, or turn their bodies into steel or ice or fire (though not so much stone....sorry, Stone Boy), or have wings or are really really fast. Your "what I like rocks and what you like sucks" attitude is ridiculous. Now, regarding your proclamations of MGN 4, you really have no idea what you are talking about, it's laughable frankly. This book has sold for $300-500 in 9.8 1st print for years, and is already highly collectible. There just are not that many copies in this kind of high grade. Hell, you could make a strong argument that this book in HG has been undervalued for years. 33 years has taken its toll, and the black cover (especially the back!) is a to find without scratches and ticks. You guys know more about pressing than I do, but I don't think pressing would help this book so much. So no, to think "hundreds and hundreds or even thousands" are being boxed right now to send to CGC is a gross exaggeration. Obviously, the census will go up now that NM has the spotlight focused on it (census numbers are shockingly low for such a key book, which contributes to its high price), but if anyone is waiting for hundreds and hundreds or even thousands of copies to hit the census before buying, especially if they're waiting for 9.8s to flood the market, then they'll be waiting for quite a while. As for the movies, the general public has gone to see every X-Men film thus far essentially because it has the Marvel brand and the X-Men brand attached. I don't recall Wolverine being in Iron Man, Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, etc, and the general public seemed to turn out in ok numbers for those movies. The New Mutants will do as well as any X-Men movie because A) Marvel and B) mutants. Do I hope it's the original New Mutants? Hell yeah! If Cable's involved though, it'll probably be the Liefeld mutants. . But I'll still definitely see it. And no, there is zero possibility that these will be original new mutants that have never appeared in comics. To say that that is "quite the possibility" is ludicrous. Come on, man. Why risk a franchise and bother trying to create new characters when you already have a built-in audience for long-established characters? And your whole argument about the bubble and a crash overlooks a potential key factor to this current speculation age. I think you're severely underestimating collectors' understanding of the market these days. I don't believe people are blindly speculating and expecting every book will keep going up in value like impulse speculators did in the 90s. I think a very large portion of the hobby understands the volatile nature of these investments, BUT they feel it is worth the risk so as not to miss the next Walking Dead 1. I also think current speculators (I'm tired of that word, I'm going to start calling them hobbyists) have been listening for decades to the so-called experts in this hobby (myself included) poo-poo'ing all the "drek" of the 80s and 90s and claiming that nothing from these eras will ever amount to anything because they were printed in the quadrababillions and every collector bagged and boarded each copy. Well, time has proven a different story. Hobbyists from those eras still neglected their collections, threw them out, allowed 20-30+ years of time to creep into their pages, read them over and over, stored them incorrectly, gave them to their kids to read, sold them off long ago and want them back, and many other factors that over-simplified the "large print run drek" theory that has been laughed about from the moment those books were printed. Do I think all of these books are valuable or will retain these "bubble" prices? No. But the hobby is now creating a new generation of key books from by-gone eras that will likely stand the test of time going forward as they seep into the hobby's, and the public's, consciousness. I would urge people to be selective though on what they might invest in. MGN 4 -- definitely. X-Force 18 -- maybe not so much. BA 12 -- yep. TMNT 44 -- buyer beware. None of us can continue speculating on every single hot book that pops up month to month. Well, most of us can't anyway. Ok, I'm off my soapbox. Carry on. Nothing to see here. With all due respect, I think you may have missed the ironic nature of my posts regarding any impending "bubble" or "crash". It should be readily apparent that my statements on that topic should be taken in context with what RMA has said on it. Further, I have never said or implied "what I collect is great and what you collect sucks" so I don't know where you are getting that from. I collect everything including stuff I know is cr@p. The difference is I don't get bothered when someone calls it cr@p. With regards to the "value" of MGN 4- I have not stated anything incorrect about what it has sold for most recently. The two most recent sales were significantly down from the $500 figure that it realized for a moment in time and indicated a downward price trend. I appreciate your passion for this series and these characters, but I notice that said passion was conspicuously absent (at least publicly) prior to this movie announcement. Such is the nature of the current comic collecting beast I suppose when it comes to movie hype these days. Movies create "key comics" as opposed to "key comics" creating movies. Speaking of movies, that kind of reminds me of "Wag the Dog". As a last note, I do think it is potential folly to be over-paying for a book based solely on the announcement of a (possible) movie title and nothing more. I do agree with you on the likelihood that we will be seeing the Liefeld "new mutants" in the movie (if it is actually made). -J.

Yes and with the most recent sales being $450 in October and then $361 in December. -J. I don't want to get drawn into anything here, just supporting Broke's statement that 9.8 books sold in the $500 range last year. You are correct as well. I only point it out as a means of establishing what the book was trading for (on a downward trend) immediately before the announcement of a (possible) movie featuring (unannounced) characters that may or may not first appear in MGN 4 (and definitely do not appear first in NM 1). So we now have a baseline and can safely say that whatever happens from here forward is a result of the movie hype speculation and artificial price inflation that RMA decries, yet concurrently participates in, capitalizes on and fuels (not that there's anything wrong with that, but let's at least call a duck a duck). (thumbs u -J.

Yes and with the most recent sales being $450 in October and then $361 in December. -J.

"GIMME GIMME GIMME". Is this what RMA meant ? If so, then we probably deserve a crash. Anyone who suddenly wants this book simply because the concept of a potential movie was announced and pays "$700+" will probably lose money, as hundreds and hundreds (thousands?) of copies are now being boxed and readied for CGC as I type this. Although I do still find RMA's comments hypocritical, considering he will be an active particpant in the "madness". I don't think anybody who pays $700 for this book would ever (or have any right) to go back to the dealer who sold them the book six months later and blame them for their nonsensical impulse buy. And I don't think that is anything RMA (or any other dealer) worries about. It really is a "GIMME GIMME GIMME" on both sides then, isn't it RMA. By the way, the books to own are (still) X-men 1, Hulk 181, NM 87 and 98. Those no-name D-lister mutants in MGN 4 will not be what carry any movie (assuming the movie even happens). The general public has gone to see every x-men movie thus far essentially for wolverine. The comic fan boys want to see Deadpool and Cable now. The real X-men would undoubtedly appear in any "New Mutants" movie as well. And Oops, what if the potential title literally means what it says and FOX actually creates "new mutants" that never appeared in any comic. Quite the possibility, since, lets face it, the "new mutants" that appeared in the comics really are quite lame. -J. The demand is there, that's all that matters. Besides this book was once at $500 for a 9.8 a few years ago before dropping slightly, so now with a movie inflation it's not that surprising to see it rising to these levels again. Will be interesting to check the census in a few months and see how many 9.8 first prints come out of hiding. Last sale I'm seeing is in December for $361. -J.

Optimistic, considering this just happened: http://www.ebay.com/itm/WOLVERINE-1-RETAILER-INCENTIVE-J-SCOTT-CAMPBELL-DEADPOOL-VARIANT-CGC-9-6-/321742638594?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ae95b0e02 -J.