VintageComics

Doms notified.

CC has been selective about reports results to GPA for a long time, as have other dealers. I got absolutely lambasted on the boards at one point over a decade ago for suggesting we might be able to selectively submit sales from the CGC boards because the boards were starting to carry some significant books but it seems everyone is doing it now. My butt is still sore from the ribbing I got.

I forgot you owned that book. What a killer copy it was.

Pretty sure GAtor had two in his booth (or was it Bedrock's booth) about 15 years ago. One was an October copy. I think (but am not sure) that one or both may have been owned by Brent @ Quality Comix at the time. I'd have killed for that October copy but there was no way I could afford it back then. I did manage to buy a copy shortly after that with a recreated back cover and owned it for a while before having to sell it to start my business. The last one I saw was about 5 years ago. It was raw, unrestored highish grade copy being shopped around and it eventually was sold and resold. My favorite book for about 40 years now. Love it.

Fair point but I disagree with it at this point, nearly 20 years after re-entering the hobby. I can understand why Borock would have graded it this way 20 years ago and even agreed with it back then, when grading was in it's infancy (as were rules as to what constitutes Pedigrees) but now that writing has been made acceptable under certain criteria this book's markings hold a very different perception. To me, qualifying how much is considered extensive is a very subjective way of allowing something and up to all sorts of interpretation. Whether it says 'Recil Macon' throughout the book, or Larson or Church on the cover or it's a Pay Copy to me the writing should not be qualified at all if (as someone said previously) it's on the book before it was offered to the public...and I'd qualify that as writing being on the book for a good reason. Meaning, pedigree collector's markings and publisher markings would be considered a good reason. A store owner's kid scribbling all over the cover before putting it on the newsstand wouldn't. Grading has changed over time for many things and IMO for this book it's one of those things. Anyway, just my 2 cents.

Why would you treat the writing differently on the Pay copy than on a Ped copy?

I talked to Borock at length about how much grief he got for grading that book a 9.0 This is my favorite book of all time and I think the writing should never have affected the grade. It's no different than Dennis, Church or Larson writing their names on Pedigree copies as far as I'm concerned. I remember when that book kept coming up for auction and I just couldn't believe nobody wanted to hang onto it. That's a lifer copy.

I was shopping around a 3.5 for roughly that price about a month ago and nobody thought it was in the ballpark.

Of course, nobody EVER knows what the future holds. If everyone believed so much in the future appreciation, nobody would sell anything. The flip side is that IF everyone believed in future appreciation, it probably wouldn't appreciate. Because that's how markets work.

I've known Harley for about 20 years now and while he has a razor sharp business mind and has a memory like a steel trap, the thing that's impressed me most about Harley is that he has always been a straight shooter with me. Whenever I ask him a straight question he gives me a straight answer. 100% of the time. Happy Birthday, Harley! I still remember the 1st book I ever bought from him. It was an X-men #10 CGC 9.2 at a Toronto comic book show nearly 20 years ago.

I have yet to understand why anyone wouldn't want to crack their slabs. Even if I didn't do it out of fear, I'd still be tempted to do it. Most of us grew up reading comics and love of comics came from holding them, smelling them, flipping the pages, moving back in time....there was NO fun leaving our comics in comic bags and boards. The fun came from pulling them out and handling them. Some people are OK with reprints or low grade copies, but many of us want high grade copies. I personally have always been a high grade collector and nothing beats holding the original in your hand.

I think THE_BEYONDER is the reason I ever even noticed miswraps. Damn him for it.

I just didn't want to have to pay for the regrading cost of any BIG books and wanted to keep them liquid in case of an emergency, otherwise I'd have cracked them all,

Yes. Almost all of them except the most expensive ones were always cracked out. And I actually would open them up and flip through them.

Sorry, I should have been more clear. AF #15 didn't start popping until the latter part of the year. I remember because I sold a few around the middle of the year at pretty stable prices and I remember talking to other dealers and wondering why AF #15 wasn't moving like the rest of the market around mid summer. It must have been the $3.6MIL sale that pulled up all the lower grades after it.

Do people still get scammed this way? Amazing that 20 years into the digital age there are people who still don't recognize a scam when they see it.

To me the most amazing thing about AF #15 prices was that they hardly moved last year while everything else was popping.

Wow. Great lot!

I remember saying that when someone wanted $500 for a coverless copy on a wall in the summer of 1989. It was unheard of at the time.

Are you sure about that? There HAS to be someone, somewhere that said it.

You should always post a pic with a question like this.

I can't tell how much hair it had on is back as I'm embarrassed.

Maybe it's just a different set of expectations. I'm much more visual than I am a reader. I was 18 and absolutely mesmerized by how cartoony the movie looked. . I was also on a hot 1st date. I came an hour late and we walked in just as he was taking Basinger into the Batcave for the 1st time. I had to go to the theater a 2nd time to see the beginning of the move about a week later.

Also, you are correct. The movie moved the needle in Batman comics like no other move until the last 10-15 years have done. Detective 27 overtook all other books as the most valuable book in the OSPG that year because of it and I think everything Batman doubled or tripled.

The problem is that people look at it through 2020 eyes and compare it to Nolan's move. As a comic book movie, it really stands up well and all of the camp and humor that we see in today's successful superhero movies are based off of that movie. Burton nailed it as far as comic feel...he always did. That's his gift.