Randall Ries

9.8

9.4

7.0

I'm afraid it's a 9.0. Maybe even an 8.5 because of the tear in the upper left corner cover. It's minor but may be enough to hold it down a bit.
I have a 9.4 and I wish MINE had an arrival date stamp on it. Those things - if placed by a vendor and are correct - add to the provenance and the history of the book. I think you are fortunate to have a date stamp on your copy. Your book is a beauty overall!

I love this book and it is one that I could own multiple copies of. The very 1st mail order book I ordered as a kid from Howard Rogofsky.

I would leave it. It was bought this way. Honestly, some of you guys have more money than you know what to do with. I can't afford a book like that and I bet many other members can't either. Be happy with what you have and don't jigger the good thing you got going here. A lot - a LOT - of people here have serious grievances against CGC and CCS for wrecking their valuable books.

I wouldn't let them touch this weeks "TV Guide" at this point say nothing about an AF 15.

On 1/23/2022 at 10:34 PM, Jesse-Lee said:

Sorry, I don't get the reference?

It's ok. You would if you were him.

On 1/23/2022 at 9:50 PM, Grendel72 said:

That's interesting. Grendel like.  

Whatever Moore or Bolland's  intentions were, that last page is still drawing interest after all this time. The treachery of images. Maybe it also serves to reveal something about us i.e., those who believe one way or the other. 

Stories like that are supposed to leave something on the table, I think. It seems reasonable to assume DC Comics probably had to establish boundaries with Moore. Maybe Moore wanted to go hog wild but DC still had decades to go milking out the Joker character.

In fact at the time, it was considered a one shot. An imaginary story. An Elseworld tale. But the crippling of Barbara Gordon got written into the canon. I bought the thing the day of release on New Comics Day and read it. I thought it was "ok". Not what it had been ramped up to be. But what is? My biggest surprises were the unheralded stories. Like Moore's "American Gothic" in the "Saga Of The Swamp Thing".

I never got the impression Batman killed the Joker at the end of the story. They had their awkward laugh which everyone hated for being staged and phony. The sirens came. The Joker was loaded into a vehicle. The Joker was brought back to Arkham. Nothing at all gave me any other impression.

On 1/23/2022 at 9:32 PM, divad said:

You do know, don't you . . . ?

I am not sure. I may know him elsewhere.

On 1/23/2022 at 9:23 PM, Bird said:

yes I know, but we don't see that happen is my point

We see it inferred though. There are clues. The "E"'s are cop cars. Sirens. There's no big mystery there. Joker remembers his beginnings a different way every time he thinks about it leaving us full circle and no further ahead than we were. It was a fun tale and Barbara Gordon got shot and paralyzed. That was the big news.

On 1/23/2022 at 8:54 PM, Jesse-Lee said:

Definitely a ton to choose from! I was being a little facetious, because of my avatar - but yeah, this is the one for sure. I had a shirt with this print back in the early 90s, and then my wife got me the same shirt a few years ago for Father's Day (since the old one was long gone and would never have fit me again anyway!). But yeah, there's so much great art in that book!

Haha. Are you TheReverend?

On 1/23/2022 at 7:16 PM, ADAMANTIUM said:

I haven't read the book. Still the show seemed to sum it up as they were "agreeing to laugh and find some common ground." And corelllated it to walking a sun beam. That was my 

 

On 1/23/2022 at 7:16 PM, ADAMANTIUM said:

I haven't read the book. Still the show seemed to sum it up as they were "agreeing to laugh and find some common ground." And corelllated it to walking a sun beam. That was my 

 

I never go by the shows. I always go by the books. The shows are adulterated and watered down like the sucky movies are to attract an audience who don't understand what they are looking at. I remember the fan response to that terrible joke.

"THAT would NEVER happen. Batman capitulating to the Joker. As IF!" (This was 1988. People were soon to grow weary of saying "As IIFFF!")

Check the panels. AND. Batman would NEVER put his hand on Jokers shoulder in a pal-sie-wal-sie sort of way like that. Although I remember when I read it I didn't take it that way. I took it as he was having his ridiculous, impossible laugh while at the same time getting hold of Joker so he didn't try to run off.

 

On 1/23/2022 at 6:05 PM, Bird said:

But there is no evidence of a return to Arkham anymore than there is a killing. It ends midscene, so we try to find the meaning in the wordless final panels.

Well, that isn't accurate. Those "E"'s in the final panels are cop cars coming to take him away haha. Hoho. To the funny farm...

Batman isn't going to tear Jokers head off in front of them. Batman tried breaking his neck in DKR but stopped short of killing him. "Paralysis, really...."

On 1/21/2022 at 5:43 PM, Grendel72 said:

Think the lasting legacy of the  book is the fleshing out of the origin story of the Joker which serves as a counterpoint to Bruce Wayne's own journey to becoming the Batman. For me, the Killing Joke is all about the Joker, his motivations and psyche are all laid bare. One embraces the joke and wants everyone else to see the absurdity of it all, while the other is always fighting to.keep it at bay though deep down he probably knows the joke too. Im probably overeaching here but both of them sharing a laugh at the end before Joker dies is maybe Batman letting Joker know he understand the joke too. There is no turning  back for either of them. In the end one has to die. And this is explicitly concluded in DKR with no ambiguity. 

I guess I read a different version than everyone else. AFAIK, Joker didn't die at the end of The Killing Joke but was returned to Arkham Asylum. He DID "die" at the end of book 4 of DKR, however. Maybe that's what you were leading to, though.

The "joke" they shared at the end of the story - while a good joke - pissed everyone off at the time. In other words, Batman wouldn't have laughed at ANY joke the Joker told or shared a moment of catharsis with him.

Thirdly, it didn't really solidify Jokers "background". While Joker is explaining himself in The Killing Joke - raving, really - he says "I remember it so many different ways." Implying that not even the story we just finished reading is actually what happened. Just how the Joker remembered it at that particular time. So as the reader, we are back to square one.

I personally believe Joker is something supernatural inhabiting the body of some poor ba$*ard, perhaps for decades as Batman notes "Whatever was in him rustles as it leaves" during Jokers death scene.

On 1/22/2022 at 2:47 PM, MrBedrock said:

I never noticed until it was pointed out earlier in this thread. And only a couple of months apart...

 

 

This is great. I knew Bob Kane was a thief and grandstander but I always wondered how his artwork went from puerile to way above average within 2 panels. it was that obvious. Now, I know.

On 1/22/2022 at 3:19 PM, jjonahjameson11 said:

I get you, but based on your previous statement of "I believe I could buy any issue of Amazing Spiderman at any time. If I had the cash, I imagine I could have the complete series in a week", I am saying that statement holds true for any title run from the silver age to present and that's just a fact.

And I get YOU. I was referring to the EASE of it and nothing more. 10% of all submissions are Spider-Man related. That's a giant number. So, yes. I already acknowledged you are correct in that any title can be had. I doubt any other could with that sort of ease.

So, I am left wondering why? Such a glut of Spider-Man books constantly. They must have been published in huge numbers. Perhaps everyone is selling their because of the movie popularity. it's been this way for years. Page after page on every site and auction page. Nearly complete runs.

Oh well. Just an observation.

Andy Rooney voice:
"Hey, did you ever notice how a thread can start out nice and friendly and then people get snarky for no reason? Well, I have."

On 1/22/2022 at 12:15 PM, PiggyTTV said:

Spider-Man.

Yeah but you know who I'm talking about, right?

On 1/21/2022 at 10:31 PM, jjonahjameson11 said:

I believe you can do that with any issue of any silver age book.  Your point being what?

I don't believe so. My point being the ease of an instant Spiderman complete run in a very short period of time. In fact, probably multiple complete runs. And you know. I'm not knocking Spiderman. Valiantman confirmed my observation. Spiderman accounts for 10% of all CGC graded comics. That's a whole lot of Spiderman flying around.

On 1/21/2022 at 9:25 PM, 1950's war comics said:

AKA: "TURN OFF THAT HORRIBLE KING CRIMSON MUSIC!!!"

On 1/21/2022 at 8:41 PM, 1950's war comics said:

we in the neighborhood would call a woman like that  "Teacup" 

because with her standing up you could place a teacup on her butt and it wouldn't tip over !!

A teacup? You could stock a bar on that ash.

On 1/21/2022 at 3:39 PM, Yale Stewart said:

If only they weren't all also at staggeringly high prices...

I wouldn't think they would be so high given the amount of them available. Page after page of those things....Everywhere. At every vendor. In every auction. Every month.

On 1/21/2022 at 3:18 PM, jjonahjameson11 said:

How ironic.  I always think there aren’t enough Spiderman comics to go around, given demand is insatiable 

I believe I could buy any issue of Amazing Spiderman at any time. If I had the cash, I imagine I could have the complete series in a week.

On 1/21/2022 at 10:29 AM, valiantman said:

No, PGX and CBCS are not included. I'm running numbers from the CGC Census.

X-Men (X-titles) are about 6%.  You can check title percentages on the far right:  http://www.cgcdata.com/cgc/cgctitle/

Wow. No other title is even close. From 9.5% to 3.3%. Remarkable.