VintageComics

So you've handpicked a bunch of examples that aren't miswrapped from the Silver Age. I've bought and sold dozens of AF #15 in all grade ranges and many are miswrapped. I know because I had a customer looking for a copy that was perfectly centered and I never did find him a copy in his grade range.

Correct.

We've been through this so many times and for someone who keeps harping at me about the folly of alternative medicine and how scientific facts should dictate decision making, you seem to throw these examples out wrongly a lot. Incorrectly pressed books may have defects introduced into them but incorrectly pressed books are not the norm. I get it. You sold a bunch of SA Marvels years ago and the majority pressed up by someone else. Some even ended up on the Costanza parade. Nobody would even have noticed it if it wasn't for that extreme example because nobody had ever talked about it before. You're just spreading a myth and stigmatizing something unnecessarily when in fact every single one of these traits happens in unpressed books too. Covers and interiors change size naturally. It's a fact based on the lignin / pulp used in newsprint. Most SA book show pages peeking out to one degree or another and the storage conditions determine how a book ages. Spine rolls happen due to staple placement and storage conditions. Impacted staples are generally a part of the printing process because they happen on specific issues consistently and pressing (or any handling will weaken them) Fuzzy paper around the staple? I have no idea how pressing a book can create that. It's simply a product of wear over time. So no, any of these traits is NOT evidence that a book has been pressed because unpressed books exhibit these traits any more than someone carrying a gun is not evidence that they are a murderer.

Agreed. Romita took the focus off of the villains, which eventually became just backdrops to Peter Parker's personal life. I'd never made the connection to the romance work Romita did until someone mentioned it in this thread but it makes perfect sense as to why Spider-man took the direction he did once Romita took over.

I actually loved Sinnott's work on those early Byrne pencils. Sinnott made art look like classic, superhero comics no matter who he was inking. What I didn't like is how Byrne changed his style in #232 onward. Everyone had big heads and the bodies of teenagers and it drove me crazy when the issues came out. I was a big fan of his work on X-men but honestly, I really forced myself to look past things I didn't like about his new style in his 2nd tenure on the FF. I think Byrne changed his art style to look more contemporary because Frank Miller was starting to make a big impact at Marvel around this time (1981) and everyone's styles were changing in an effort to either mimic Miller or push the envelope and compete with him (my opinion). Austin's inks are great but Byrne's new style pencils really kind of ruined it for me.

You need to adjust the zoom back a little on your telescope. The sky isn't falling unless you're a corporate boardroom and you're looking for a massive increase every year. People are starting to lose perspective. NOTHING can sustain massive increases year after year. Just 4 years ago this book went for under $30K and about 6 years ago it wasn't even a $20K book. If anything, the book is on exactly the rising trajectory it would have been on if we didn't see the sudden increases we saw 3 years ago when a few copies that were improvable set outlier records.

He's right, Roy. False advertising, Roy. Sorry guys, I copy / paste from a template and I edited the thread title.

More scans to follow.

X-men #101 CGC 9.8 White (1st app Origin Phoenix) Asking $3500

Invaders #1 CGC 9.8 White Asking $400 SOLD!

All prices include shipping. This is a list of what will be listed. Feel free to message me with any questions or concerns. Scans to be posted shortly. Amazing Spider-man #119 CGC 9.8 White - Asking $1200 (Spider-man and Hulk battle) Amazing Spider-man #194 CGC 9.8 OWW - Asking $1750 (1st Black Cat) Batman #251 CGC 9.4 OWW - Asking $1700 (Classic Neal Adams Joker cover) Beware #1 CGC 9.8 White - Asking $1100 (Tough book in grade) Eternals #1 CGC 9.8 White - Asking $1100 Incredible Hulk #122 CGC 9.8 OWW - Asking $1100 (Hulk and Thing battle) Invaders #1 CGC 9.8 White - Asking $400 Iron Man #50 CGC 9.6 OWW - Asking $150 (tough black picture frame) What If? #10 CGC 9.8 White - Asking $650 (1st Jane Foster Thor) X-men #101 CGC 9.8 White - Asking $3500 (1st app Origin Phoenix)

Spot reserved.

Shipping: Certified books, shipping is included FREE within North America, ROW we split it. Raw books, include $10 for shipping within North America. ROW I will split with interested parties.  Who wins: Time stamp seals the deal as to who wins regardless of the form of communication (including PM, in the thread, text or phone conversation). A negotiation is not a deal until both sides have agreed on terms. If there is an unconditional posted (or communicated) it will trump all negotiations unless we have already both agreed to terms before the was posted. In that case, the will have been in vain. Except that it will give you street cred and look cool to passers by. No House Of Shame or Probationary members or any others of ill repute. Returns: I am considered a very good grader among my peers ( Here is a link to my kudos thread ) but since even CGC is inconsistent I will not guarantee a CGC grade. I will guarantee to be within one grade increment in either direction - so if I am calling the book a 9.4 it could go 9.2 or 9.6. If it falls outside of those parameters (and it does happen that they go in both directions), I will offer a refund. But I don't expect anyone to complain if I undergraded it. I will accept returns if item is otherwise not as described. Consider all books pressed. Pricing: I try to price books close to fair market value. I am open to offers but it's not very likely I'm going to be accepting offers at 30% off fair market value.

Yes.

It's one of the things I liked best about his earliest Thor renditions as well. In JIM #83 he looked so lithe and fluid until Kirby's art took a much bulkier turn shortly after. Joe Sinnot's inks really seemed to bring out this fluidity in everything he inked, especially Kirby's Thor. I assume Heck's and Colleta's and Stone's inks later in the book changed the look.

I would absolutely assume the book was pressed. You'd have to ask John to be sure (although I believe it did go through CCS I can't say for sure).

I'm sure it was pressed before slabbing but I doubt that's why the pages are sticking out like that. Correct. I don't know why people keep saying this. I saw the book when the collection was raw and in the process of being purchased and the pages looked exactly the same. It's a known fact that covers and interior pages change size over time as the paper dries and ages. And depending on how a book is stored shrinkage will vary. This is the main reason interior pages protrude from the covers on most SA books.

Steve Borock told me he used to hang out in Hell's Kitchen quite a bit. Borock bumped into him in bar one night. Not that it helps you, but still a cool story bro!

Kirby just couldn't give Spidey the fluidity that he (or Daredevil) needed. It was fine for bulky characters but for some reason he couldn't make Spidey or DD look agile

Yeah, he was just terrible at drawing Spider-Man... I shouldn't have said never because he did nail that one cover image (although didn't Ditko ink that cover?) But he NEVER got Spider-man right in stories again IMO.

We are both talking about the US based account. It's based in Georgia (or North Carolina - I can't remember which as it used to be both). I've held this account for probably 15 years but when the US started tightening anti money laundering laws a few years ago they sent out a notice and forced all people doing 'business' to cease doing so and move to a proper business account or expect their accounts to be shut down without notice. If you didn't receive the notice, it was only because you weren't moving enough funds to move the radar for them. But it is just a personal account. When I looked into business accounts, they wanted (at the time - I believe it has changed since) to have $100K in the account at all times. Ridiculous.

DC's move to the West Coast was a major shift that forbode this possible closure. That was a drastic change that may have been a last ditch effort to keep the company afloat. The fact that they are putting out movies inferior to Marvel just sped up the decline. They tried to play 'catch up' to Marvel by creating shortcuts once they realized Marvel had a winning formula but it might be too little, too late now (the movie machine moves very slowly, relatively speaking) The problem with readership is rooted in society changing as a whole. We are less patient, want quicker gratification and more pressured with each passing decade, all changed brought on my digital media. It takes patience to read something but most people have a hard time reading a page or watching a movie for a half hour without checking devices. My young daughter was a voracious reader until her early teens when she got a phone, then the reading stopped. What will change the course of society again is if society manages to reel in control of the digital world, rather than it controlling us.

We live in a society where the general public does NOT want to pay for quality. We constantly choose quantity in one way or another by always looking for the lowest price. I've said this for years on here. And so capitalism is in a constant struggle between cutting costs to what people are willing to pay for and putting out just enough of a product that people are willing to pay for it, with both sides pulling in opposite directions...one side trying to save money, the other trying to make money. If the general public were able to live in their means and willing to pay for quality, we'd get more quality. It's really that simple. Corporate greed is also responsible in the opposite direction. Companies could make a little less money and put out a better product but no company is willing to do that. That's what I believe.

I heard @chromium (who is in Belgium) talk about Revolut but have not heard of anyone else mention it from Canada. Venmo? Google Pay? Do these work in Canada? Any others?

If you're talking about the RBC USA personal account, they will crack down on you if you are using it for large transaction which they consider business transactions. It's only meant for personal banking. They expect you to open a proper business account for stuff like buying and selling stuff, even if you are not a registered business.