VintageComics

I've heard similar numbers. So you get an influx of 1/4 million new people for a week. Prices for hotel rooms range from about $300-$400 a room for exhibitors to $400-800+ a room if you can find one available. And yes, most local businesses are slammed around the clock including restaurants, hotels, airports, shipping, parking, rentals, taxis, bars, car and apartment rentals, etc. Tourist sites like the Zoo, La Jolla, Old Town and Coronado also have spill over It's quite an event.

My bad. I had simply assumed that the Lasry copy was the 8.5 but yes, that is why the 7.5 went early.

Gotcha. I'd agree. I've been saying that Hulk #1 has looked like a good buying opportunity since last summer and it is picking up steam. My main point though is that if the Hulk #1 copies auctioned off in that LAsry CC auction were stellar copies for the grade or upgradeable, fatigue wouldn't have been a factor on auction results (at least not to the same degree) as speculators would have pushed the price above average - just like someone did for the Hulk #1 8.5.

These are the prices for the seven Hulk 1 that were auctions in the last quarter auction at CC 2016. You mentioned in the H1 thread during that time the H1 7.5 went cheap and the H1 8.5 should have sold stronger in the north of 150K. The two BIG Marvel SA Keys are trending up again (especially AF15's). As I mention above before to Loufine: I think it's just timing and auction fatigue the last quarter of 2016. 8.5 White Pages 132000 7.5 Off-White Pages 37500 6.0 Cream/Off-White Pages 18411 5.5 Off-White Pages 16200 2.0 Off-white Pages 6211 1.5 Off-white Pages 4500 1.0 Off-white Pages 3106 I'm not sure the point you are trying to make other than agree with me. The only Hulk #1 that went reasonably strong was the 8.5, for obvious reasons (impossible book in higher grades). The rest were fairly weak results. Was auction fatigue a factor? I believe so. But I also believe that weak copies being auctioned (outside of the 8.5 copy) and ALSO having the 7.5 go first (rather than the 8.5) were also a factor in keeping prices low. Is the book trending up? I believe so. But sometimes it takes a little market research to understand what is really going on and not just auction results.

San Diego is a little more unique than most convention cities in that it is a destination city in and of itself. It's considered exotic by those of us who don't grow in in Southern California. Orlando will have the edge though. Cheaper, easier to get to and they have the 2nd largest convention center in the country. Yeah, not sure what's going on in SD with them losing sports teams. It's not like they don't have the money down there. They may just want to remain a laid back retirement town.

Oh, now I see, as you and Roy must be referring to the Lasry copy of Hulk 1 that sold on the first 2 days of the auction prior to their regular Winter Event Auction. Correct. The 7.5 copy (with tanning and COW pages) was the first Hulk #1 to auction. The Lasry 8.5 along with the other copies auctioned off the following day. 1st, the inferior 7.5 ending 1st doesn't help. 2nd (and my main point being), if it was a grouping of Hulk #1 copies being auctioned off that looked exceptional for the grade (not including the 8.5, which did set a record as it's truly tough in grade) and potentially improvable then those Hulk #1 books in grades lower than 8.5 would have set records too. All you have to do to see if this theory is correct is look at the AF #15 3.0 which did reasonably well but didn't follow the pattern of the much better looking books. It sold for right around where it should have. Why? Because there was no chance of improvement IMO. I know that the prevailing theory is that no MC is causing these dramatic price swings. I don't think that's the whole story.

I don't pretend to know the workings of the city of SD. But I do know it's been a much debated topic for a few years because the show is now so crowded the city has trouble handling it.

I would imagine that would depend on what goes on at the Convention Center the other 50 weeks a year. I can't imagine any facility expanding simply for a one week show. The SDCC is by far the largest event that happens at the SD convention center. IIRC it has double the population of any other event that happens at the con. If expanding the convention center means they won't lose the Comic Con to Anaheim I suspect that's enough motivation for them to expand it.

I remember a lot of those....

I don't take it as confrontational. I spent a lot of time looking at the 9.0 in person and felt it had a shot at a 9.2 upgrade. I even tried to get a partner in on the book. They didn't free strongly about it (but hadn't seen the book in hand and didn't want to roll the dice). Whenever I see a price that is well outside where I feel it should be AND the book looks very good for the grade I am going to assume that other bidders felt it was an upgrade candidate. I've been doing this for long enough to feel confident about my position. That is going to depend on the price point and how much risk the bidders are willing to take and how many people think it will upgrade. If there is strong chance of improvement or the book is well watched then bidders will push the price up making potential margin smaller. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying EVERY book is upgradeable. But the copies that I have followed are either upgradeable or books that are upgradeable create a frenzied atmosphere were other books that are not upgradeable get driven up in price. Another perfect example is Hulk #181. Last year Heritage auctioned off a CGC 9.6 copy. I looked at the book and thought had a shot at 9.8. I'm usually not around a computer on a Sunday night so I didn't bid. The book ended somewhere in the ball park of $8K. Sets a new GPA high and now all CGC 9.6 copies bump up. But I'd bet the house that someone was trying to buy that book to upgrade it but GPA and the market now feels that is the ballpark for a 9.6 copy. Because the Voldemart holder is still gaining confidence in the market and some people don't know how to grade. Final auction prices are all about CONFIDENCE. Confidence in the market, in the assigned grade, in the product. As I said in that discussion last year, I didn't think it was sorely overgraded as a Voldy 8.5 and if I'd been in the right place and right time I'd have bought the book as I thought it went too cheap. Apparently someone else had the same thought.

Incredible Hulk #181 CGC 9.0 OWW (back cover pic available - back cover is free of any markings or large visible defects, looks perfect in the scan). Asking $3200 MOVED.

Price includes 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. Consider all books pressed. All books with new CGC labels are in the latest, non-pressurized cases. I will accept returns if item is otherwise not as described.

What is clear is that copies with improvable qualities create the impression of a stronger market demand than if interior copies were being auctioned off. All it takes is a little time and research to see what's happening. As I said, many of the market surges that I remember for this book happened when an improvable copy lead the way. The CGC 3.0 didn't do poorly because of the signature. It did poorly because it had a chunk missing from the front cover. SupergirlDC19591 asked what is happening to Hulk #1. A little research shows what happened to that book as well. The Nov/Dec CC auction had a slew of Hulk #1 books in the auction, and almost all of them were inferior copies with tanning, COW pages, chipping, etc. Also, CC decided to auction a weaker copy first rather than the strongest CGC 8.5 go first. So an inferior CGC 7.0 or 7.5 tan, Cream pages copy led the way making a dismal auction price and then the CGC 8.5 copy (which really should have been the 1st copy to end) auctioned off the following day, setting a record price. By then it was too late. The fugly Hulk #1s hit GPA making the book look weak. Which it isn't. Anybody who has been selling Hulk #1's in mid and higher grades knows the book is moving. Same thing happened to DD #1 a few years ago. 3 copies of CGC 9.6 auctioned off at the same time. The weakest copy (tanning with OW pages) was the 1st to go. It went weak, scared off bidders in the other two auctions (or simply saturated the market) and it killed the CGC 9.6 DD #1 market. With DD #1 still strong in lower grades, the market will recover but nothing affects an auction more than just a little bit of fear. Or in the case of AF #15, some mania.

I don't know. They only list it as exhibit space. I would assume they would. EDIT: I see someone else answered. I was wrong. Good to know they're expanding. They'll overtake SDCC once they increase the size of the Javits. That's really going to light a fire under the SD organizers to expand the SD convention center. Anybody know if there's any movement on that front?

It's hard to project the price range on AF15s above 8.0. What used to the +-10k is now +-25k and climbing. Simply amazing indeed. My point still stands. If the market is moved by improvable copies (which many of these auction copies look to be) and creates a panic, and that spills over to unimprovable copies it's not indicative of the actual market. If the market is so hot for AF #15's, why did 3 x 6.5 copies, all with terrific eye appeal and no chipping sell in the neighborhood of $50K just in the last few months? I'm not trying to poo-poo AF #15's. It's a great book. I'm just trying to understand the price movement.

How could you possibly know that? As I said, the 9.0 had many improvable defects and they weren't improved.

I looked at the CC 9.0 copy extensively while in NYC. The book has an unpressed back cover crease and lots of back cover dirt. I even thought that it may not look out of place in a 'loose 9.2' holder. That alone might make the price strong for the sale. Again, probably not a good copy to use as a normal price point.

Not $30k yet but how about $27k and yes the sky is about to start falling Many price boosts that have happened over the last 5-6 years on AF #15 according to my observation by being preceded by what looks to be an upgradeable copy (or a stellar copy for the grade) raising the price point and then inferior books following suit. The current 4.5 on CC is most certainly upgrade-able based on what I see. Someone who saw the new price point on the CC copy probably panicked and fought to get into an inferior copy at Heritage, likely not realizing that the CC copy is going strong because it looks upgrade-able. Same thing happened a few years ago. AF #15 plateaued, then an upgrade-able 7.0 went for a record price (I knew the copy because I was offered it but missed out on the opportunity because I didn't act fast enough), and then the panic started and other 7.0 and comparable copies started going for record numbers. That's what I believe happened here. Yes it is likely going to be the new price point now, but it doesn't make any logical sense to me. Right now we're in a Helicopter economy and very little makes sense, though.

I keep thinking you're from Toronto, but there's no way you met that woman there... did you bring her home as a souvenir from Montreal? She's from England. I'm lucky. She's like one of the guys in many regards. But I also understand how many don't see comic spending that way. My 1st relationship wasn't at all like that.

BTW, I always said you can tell how good an artist is by the way they draw hands. Miller, Adams, Wrightson etc could all do amazing hands. Another two tells that I look for are how an artist draws water and smoke.

Miller took inspiration from many GA greats (as well as Anime if you can believe it - he had a fascination with Japanese culture) but you need to check out Will Eisner. Eisner was light years ahead of most when it came to picture story telling and sometimes when you're looking at his panel layouts you'd swear it was Miller. And I want to thank the GA crew for pointing this out to me as I did not realize it, being a GA noob at one time.

I think the change allows them to more accurately control how many people go, or at least estimate it better. If someone buys a pass for one day you can be pretty sure they are going but will someone go all 3/4 days or do they buy the pass for security and then only go thurs, sat and sunday for example. That's how I took it. Better control of the numbers.

Even regular cosplay can be unapproved of by some spouses. Comic collecting is one thing and besides the expenses, fairly harmless. Going to shows and people watching is an entirely different thing for some families. I know from previous experience.

Walt's recent GA collection find is killer.

Louise made a very valid point. More wives would approve of their husbands going to a show with no cosplay.