GeeksAreMyPeeps

When you're dealing with Exclusives, a lot of the early sales are going to be completists or speculators. Consistent sales well after release indicates heat. I imagine a lot of the buyers here hadn't heard of this particular variant, and are grabbing it up "just in case"

Considering that first appearance was hyped before anyone knew what the content of the book was, certainly initially popularity was speculator-driven. Probably too early in the game to tell whether the character will also be a fan favorite. Slott seems legitimately excited about the story he has to tell, and it never hurts when a creative team is producing what they want to, rather than something driven by editorial and marketing, to get characters from where they are now, to some point they want them to be at, for the next big crossover, media tie-in, etc. I think what will be more important is whatever happens to the character when Slott is done with the story he wants to tell.

Regarding "the dots"; when you're doing 4/C printing, the inks being used are cyan, magenta, yellow, and black, as noted. To get the full range of color you see printed, all colors are some percentage of those four inks. A vibrant red might be 0 cyan, 100 magenta, 100 yellow, and 0 black. A vibrant green might be 100 cyan, 0 magenta, 100 yellow, and 0 black. But when we're talking about lighter colors, they're not the full 100% of those inks. But the ink isn't diluted, so to show the lower percentage of the color, solid dots of varying sizes (depending on the percentage) are used to create all of the colors you see. For example, this is a square with three cyan columns at 25%, 50%, and 75%, and four magenta rows at 0%, 25%, 50%, and 75%. When it's reproduced in the typical 4/C printing process, it's going to be broken down into solid cyan or magenta, but using dots at varying sizes to replicate the percentage, like this: And when you mix in percentages of yellow, you get a much wider possibility of colors:

Since it's unsold, that would suggest it's not worth as much as $1600. And this would suggest someone would buy it for at least $500. Not sure how much demand there is for Warlord stuff, or niche books like minis. If I were selling it and looking to maximize profit, I would run as an auction with a high minimum bid (probably somewhere north of 500, but not as high as 1600), and gradually decrease the minimum bid, if it doesn't sell initially, until it does sell.

I've purchased some lots from that seller than indicated the condition was "AVG 9.8" and without even taking books out of the bags you could see multiple color-breaking spine tics on a bunch of books in a random batch selected. I've only continued to win lots because I adjusted my top bid way down and managed to win some lots for an average of a dollar and change per book. If the buyer here is expecting a lot of 9.8s, they're probably going to be disappointed. (But who knows, they might get lucky and be buying a lot re-sold from a collector that was the OO and took really good care of their books.)

but then all you need to hear is that one of them is going to be in a movie, and the book will explode

I actually had something similar, but a little different, happen recently. A package was shipped with UPS, and I checked the tracking for the estimated delivery date. The date comes and the tracking indicates it's been delivered. I check the lobby of my building, where the mailboxes are, and no package. Looked all over; other side of the building, where the mailboxes for the other side are; the vestibule, in case they couldn't get in/couldn't be bothered to try to get in. No luck. I check the tracking again and it indicates a different address that it's been delivered to, and it turns out that was a US post office. UPS handed off the package to USPS for the final couple miles, and I got it the next day. But I wonder what happens in those cases if something goes wrong; who covers problems with delivery?

Just picked up a few original color guides at auction.

Probably the bets way to go about it is from the barcode. Each variant has a different number, so 1 should be "A," 2 "B," etc.

If there's one in there, there's a chance that the others have been tampered with as well, but just haven't been identified as such.

Morph was a character in the X-Men animated series from the 1990s. I never watched that, but the fandom wiki on the character indicates that Morph was non-binary: https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Morph_(Earth-92131) Morph's powers are similar to an earlier character called Changeling who was around a bit in the 1960s. They couldn't use that name for the animated series, since DC held the trademark for that name. Not sure whether it's fair to say the character is the same (certainly, their default, non-impersonating forms are very different). But either way, shape-shifters are great characters to explore themes of identity with, as they can present in any way they want.

"RARE in this (VG) condition! $150 OBO"

This is the case. A common complaint at the time was whenever they did these special covers, the book always cost more because of the enhancement. So Marvel started printing non-enhanced versions as well. On this particular issue, it may have been a mistake to not offer the non-enhanced version at a cheaper price, but for sure the lack of foil is not an error.

For this particular seller, I learned after my first purchase to adjust my top bid way down. I still ended up winning some lots for something like a dollar a book, most of which I'll eventually re-sell. I did consider sending them back or leaving neutral feedback.

Buyer is going to be disappointed with the condition, if they're expecting 9.8s as the listing indicates. I've purchased lots from that seller before that indicated "AVG 9.8" and without even opening the bags I could see multiple color-breaking spine tics on many books. (And it's not like there were a ton of bookshelf format books where there might be a bunch of 9.9s or 10s to bring the average back up).