VintageComics

But no one reads what you write…sooo… Not only that but there's either a new moderation feature at play or I have a heavy jinx. I just typed up a great post for this thread, hit reply...and it disappeared. That's why I wrote what I did to you just now. Fuuuuuuuudge!

I said it better than you did.

I probably would have gotten peanut butter on it, wiped it off with some toilet paper, kept it in a box next to my bed and ironed it on my mom's ironing board a few years later before double boarding it and placing it in a safer place than the shoe box next to my bed. Amirite?

Collecting is like a disease sometimes. Someone drops something in your ear like 'but, it doesn't have both quotations' and now you can't own a copy without them. It's a sickness, I tell ya! A sickness!

For me it's that the art reminds me of a more innocent time and place. No social media or cell phones, barren landscapes, lots of empty, open spaces, a more naive society. Many fewer worries that society had as a whole never to return again.

That summer date stamp on that book makes me wonder what it would have been like walking a hot, barren town in the late summer, walking up to a newsstand and seeing this book for the first time sitting there, waiting to introduce you to the Marvel universe. You buy your comic, a soda and maybe a candy bar and then you went off to read it somewhere...maybe a tree fort or your basement where it was a bit cooler. Then you'd put it aside and go play outside and tell your friends about it. And maybe that night after dinner, give it another read before bed.

It was around the late 2000s that AF #15 started to really pull away from FF #1 and the book has been cold for about a decade, I agree. In the beginning of the movie hype era (around the late 2000's) I just didn't understand how people thought FF #1 was more valuable than AF #15. I still think FF #1 is the better book but the investor market is fickle. It doesn't run on stuff like history. It's fueled by popularity and popularity is a fleeting thing.

Silver Age Marvels make my heart melt.

Fascinating. I had no idea. Hulk's soccer career also started around that time period (2009) but he had his nickname since childhood. Did she give any indication of why Hulk is so popular there? I have some Brazilian friends I'm going to ask.

OK, I'm Slavic but I've never heard of this. Please tell me you're pulling my leg (and I am NOT going to Google it) I can see "Wunderbar Woman" being a thing. It has a ring to it.

This is a cool article but some of it doesn't ring true to me. For example, why on earth would Canada and Australia care so much about Captain America? And why would Russia be enamoured by Wonder Woman? This is based on Google searches, right? So I wonder how many of the Google searches are corrupted data. For example, Canadians may search the words Captain and America but not actually be looking for the character. And I know Brasil has a soccer star named Hulk, which would account for a MASSIVE number of Google searches from Brazil, certainly WAY MORE searches than for an American comic book character. Now the WW things in Russia? I have no explanation for that. Anybody?

I paid $225 for a 'mint copy' of ASM #129 and Hulk #181 just 2 years prior. Which was the better investment?

I can say with certainty that if someone were bidding this much money on anything, it means they really want it. And if you really want it, you're going to make sure you're in the running. I'd be bidding by phone and not relying on the internet. I'd probably also have a max proxy with my contact in case my phone got disconnected. When you deal in these numbers you don't just 'wing it'. You make sure it happens.

ASM #19 was a huge find. Terry O'Neil had a stack of them and that submission got the 9.9 It's a bit of an anomaly. By 1965 though, there were storage finds showing up and many SA Marvels became common. I'm not sure if ASM #19 was one of them, though. Might be a bit early.

A good grader can do it without a microscope. I subbed 11 vintage books (not moderns, which are easier) expecting a 9.9 and got 5 that hit the grade. The others were either candidates or weak and I knew it beforehand. The ones I thought were strong candidates got the grade.

Unless you just made $500MIL in Bitcoin. In that case, I'd be at an Airbnb in Malibu @ $50K a day, drinking a pina colada in my tiger skin robe and I'd be telling some lackey to just win the damn thing at all costs and then ship it wrapped in palm leaves and accompanied by 16 Vestal Virgins asap (references to the classic "Whiter Shade of Pale" in A minor.)

Aren't you glad you consulted this comic book forum so that you learned about the Heritage Buyer's Premium before you thew away $3Million?

You mean the $750 eBay fee when it sold? That book was auctioned on eBay. Fees were negligible. But for auction houses that charge a 'buyer's premium' you add that price to the value because it's what the bidder factors in to win the book.

There are some issues where there seems to be better over all page quality. Hulk #1 is one of those books. I think JIM #83 is as well. There are a few others I can't remember right now. Might have to do with the paper supply they had at the time that it was superior to surrounding months.

Brah, if there hasn't been a 9.8 from an upgrade in the last 10 years it's not happening. It's going to have to be a fresh copy.

The main problem is that it's from 1962. Books from 1963 are easier in high grade and 1964 on, much easier still. For some reason those books from 1962 and earlier are tough as hen's teeth to find in 9.8 I think one of the reasons is that the paper and inks, at least on SA Marvels of that era were different. At some point around 1963 the inks changed, the paper became more glossy and so easier to preserve than the earlier books. Also, by 1963 you'd have had 2 years of fandom growing who started preserving new books you bought off the newsstand. Marvel was an established brand as can be evidenced by new titles continuing to come out. Also, culturally, 'pop culture' was starting to take off in general. Stan sensed this and just two years later jumped on the band wagon when Marvel did their "POP ART PRODUCTIONS" indicia on the front cover in 1965. So comics were already gaining a place in pop culture. I think that's the main reason all the 1962 Marvels are impossible in grades higher than 9.4/9.6

That logic is flawed because the number of buyers is finite and even a small increase in supply changes the ratio dramatically.

It’s a fools errand to play the “if only I held it until now” game. All you’ll do is get upset or angry or both. Did you sell it for a profit or a loss? That’s the only question worth answering. A few years ago, I sold my FF48 6.5. I sold it for double what I had paid for it. I was happy at the time. That’s a great return. I could beat myself up over not holding onto it until now (as it’s significantly more expensive than when I sold it), but what’s the use? The book is gone. I made a good profit on it. End of story. Actually, the way to look at it is 'what did I do with that money?' If you bought another cool comic it's a wash. If you spent it on yourself or someone you love, it's more than worth it. Whatever you did, you multiplied that profit and invested it in something else. I kinda get turned off by all the 'if only I held onto it' stories because it's so unproductive and maybe even unrealistic in some cases. If I had my dad's old Cadillac it'd be worth a zillion now but what sort of cost and effort would it cost me to carry that car for 40 or 50 years for it to finally be worth something? It would have drained me of resources and other opportunities. That's how I look at it. And quite honestly, if everyone held onto everything, none of it would be worth anything because everyone would have one now.

Tanning. The book looked like a 9.8 in the 9.4 holder structurally but already had OW pages and so CGC was probably tough on the book for tanning then and it has too much to go to 9.8 This is just educated speculation but that seems to be the case.