GeeksAreMyPeeps

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

Sometimes, I walk into Red Lobster and make sure everyone knows that I don't like seafood, and then I go somewhere else for a burger.

2. This is just plain nonsense. Just look at (shared universe) comics history and you'll see it's a string of new versions of popular characters. Even when it's ostensibly the same characters, things are constantly being revamped, and taken as a whole, it doesn't work as a believable story. It's a string of different characters with the same name, as new creators give their spin on the character. As a whole, would it be more believable to tell those stories with new characters? Sure. But they might not sell as well, because it's not a recognized brand, and we're dealing with products from corporations that are all about branding. Want original characters? Try a book from a new company, or something creator-owned. 5. The 50s would like a word with you.

INVEST IN CHICK TRACTS!!!

I agree with a lot of this, but I think there are a lot of artists that don't take advantage of the artform. A lot of comics feel just like storyboards.

That would be fine with me, as I have 2 9.6s and 4 9.8s, and a bunch more ungraded

I don't know anyone who cares all that much about Scooby Doo comics. That would explain there being so few on the census.

List updated with more titles. Here's an interesting one: The Adventures of Captain America appears to have both a UPC and a non-UPC (Fantastic 4 30th Anniversary logo) for issue #4 only. Most of the listings I found on eBay are the UPC version, with only a couple of the FF logo. It seems unlikely that there would have been a ton of the these books distributed to newsstands, and a much smaller percentage to comic stores. There has to be something else going on there.

No worries

Yes. It's the silhouette of the Punisher from the Marvel Handbook.

I was about to point this book out as a reason why it's not exactly a Hulk 180/181 situation. Since EW 5 is the continuation of the story that features the last page cameo, it is more analogous to Hulk 181 (except that Rai #0 was published between them). Since Rai 0 is a bit of an oddball book, covering lots of little bits of history, there might be room for EW 5 to get a lot more respect further down the road.

I added a bunch more books, and realized there are a good number of titles to check in the Epic imprint and other Marvel imprints. I know that a lot of Epic titles were Direct-only, so I assume there will be a good number of books in there, but not all Epic titles were Direct-only.

I was going to suggest 4th World when I saw the mention of LI. When I lived on LI that was one of the shops I went to regularly. Picked up a nice copy of the Spectacular Spider-man magazine there for 50 cents. I think I got my Demon #1 from there too. My other favorite shops (Flashpoint and Port Comics and Cards) are long gone now. St. Mark's Place ain't what it used to be. My sister lived there in the '90s, when it was cool and still somewhat sketchy. It's a shadow of its former self.