GeeksAreMyPeeps

The difference is that the giveaways may be planned prior to the printing, so they would be printing with that in mind. If the quantities available for the sales aren't that large, that may be them liquidating ant overage to allow for damages, etc. Chuck illustrated a scenario where applying the ratio to the Comichron numbers results in less than the expected number to be necessary to fill orders for the incentives. If it's a relatively small number being sold, it's possible that the print run may not be all that more than what is needed to fulfill orders.

It seems to me that a greater proportion of Valiant fans than fans of other publishers seem to be "one of everything" collectors (perhaps because it might actually be doable). I wonder if the recent glossy prices are collectors trying to lock up that variant before the movie makes it unmanageable. Ultimately I'd like one of everything, but I don't see the necessity for print variations or errors.

I wasn't referring to the retailer summits, but the variant sales. Those are being sold in those quantities? I realize that there's nothing to prevent publishers from printing as many copies of a variant as they want, but it doesn't make financial sense to overprint a ton of copies that they're not going to sell or use as promotional material. With that in mind, after a year or two has passed and a variant isn't given away in large quantities in such a way, I think it's reasonable to use the Comichron numbers to get a sense of roughly how many copies might be available to the market. If, as a collector, I'm on the hunt for a variant I don't have, and I'm trying to establish a value that I'm willing to pay for the book, I want to factor in supply into the equation. For the record, I do think it's disingenuous or dishonest to promote those numbers as the print runs, if you're selling, because you don't know that that's the case. So, question for everyone: keeping in mind what's mentioned above, can anyone suggest a *better* method of making that determination. (And since RMA has made this comment before, I understand that it may be an method with inaccurate results, or even wildly inaccurate results, but do you have a *better* way to inform yourself as much as possible, using the knowledge available to the average collector?)

Yeah, but it's not smart enough to ignore only the argument

Can anyone verify the highest number of copies that have been available for a variant in any of these variant cover dumps?

I've had that happen a few times. Don't remember whether the conditions were affected (but then, how would you know for sure, unless everything was a 9.8?); I emailed them and they sent the supplies in the next shipment

Marvel Age isn't a comic either. It's a news magazine.

That's pretty much every bubble ever

I have a few of each, which I am happy to sell if they go high enough. Just making the point that it's not a "first appearance"

I'm surprised the last few issues of Marvel Fanfare don't seem to get the attention that some other covers get.

Question for those that accept that first appearances can be in previews: why does Marvel Age 97 seem to be the item to have, rather than Marvel Requirer 11, which came out the month before?

Yeah, but just wait for the Battletide movie.

Here's what you're missing in regards to Valiant. Comic movies, as far as I can tell, generally don't pull a lot of non-comic readers into the hobby. People may enjoy the movies, and look forward to new episodes in the movie franchise, but that doesn't seem to result in long-term spikes of sales, except if characters (such as Guardians of the Galaxy) weren't all that big in the first place, and then drew in more existing comic readers to want the books. I don't expect the Valiant movies to break that trend. What I *do* expect to see, if the Valiant movies are well made movies, is to see existing comic collectors check out the Valiant books. Valiant has fluctuated between .4% and 1% of the market for the last 6 months or so, depending on how many releases they have each month, and whether there's a #1. That's a *lot* of room for growth with *existing* comic collectors. And the average quality is pretty high, so I expect if enough readers check them out, a good number will stick around.

We're talking about the first full appearance for a franchise character set to appear in a movie portrayed by a big action star.

ASM 365 isn't the first appearance. It's a preview of the book. If you like to spend money on previews, knock yourself out.

There is much greater potential for growth in Valiant than in either of the big two. Greater risk, certainly, but much bigger potential returns

The Comic Book History of Comics: https://www.amazon.com/Comic-Book-History-Comics-Lente/dp/1613771975

That's a nice less-than-9.8 you've got there.

Considering about a quarter of the world's population is Muslim, I'd say there's room for more than one in any comic universe. The bottom line is whether some writer seems something to explore in a character. Deadpool was pretty generic as created; it took Joe Kelly adding some depth for him to be something interesting. What about the Guardians of the Galaxy? Around for decades, and not the slightest bit important until put in the right hands. The same goes for pretty much any character. It takes a writer wanting to explore a new angle.

I found your GEM MINT ASM 361 as well:

The Venom error is a result of the foil not being applied; it's a clear error of a part of the production process being skipped. What you have is not an error, but rather a variation (NOT a "variant") in the printing process. Most comics are printed using 4 inks: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. Sometimes colors run a little strong or a little weak, resulting in some color differences. Is it interesting? Maybe, if you're into that sort of thing. Is it valuable? Depends on how many people are willing to pay a premium for it. Generally that number is only significant when there is a serious "cool" factor to it (like missing foil). For more on print variations: https://www.cgccomics.com/boards/topic/443636-print-variations-not-variants/

Obviously a reference to Spider-man, but I wouldn't be able to identify the specific issue

Lighten up, San Francis. I think it's pretty clear to anyone employing some critical reasoning that the issue here isn't the locale, but rather the shady company located in that locale that seems to have links to some eBay sellers (plural; which is why the IDs aren't called out specifically) that operate out of the area. See a seller who is engaged in the practice of selling cracked cases? That's who's being called out. See someone who's selling practices reflect most other sellers? Probably not a problem.

Poorly-registered books are variants now? It's not even like it's far enough off that it's interesting.

Long enough that the formerly "GEM MINT" got dinged down to a 9.8