Off Panel

Mercury Man: The Man With the Golden Gun.

Hey, innocuous! I just wanted to let you know how much I like your ComicSeeker tool. I use it literally every week and I was very excited when you added new sites recently. I’m a user experience professional in my secret identity off the boards, and so I always tend to be thinking in terms of software roadmaps. If I were to try and lay out a software roadmap for ComicSeeker, this would be the high-level story: Point release enhancements: Continue to integrate new sites into the search engine Next killer feature: Add “Condition” as a search criteria! Utopian ideal: ComicSeeker returns a federated results page (I.e., the user searches for Daredevil #2 in 6.0 condition and ComicSeeker returns a single page of results listing the sites that have that book with links to each comic.) Note that none of the above is a critique of ComicSeeker’s current functionality, which is incredibly cool and a huge time-saver for me! It’s just fun to think about potential future iterations. (Also, as a user experience guy, I’m always trying to make life effortless for the end user by bringing pain to the poor developer. Sorry about that...) Thanks for providing this tool.

Yeah, I’m just kiddin’ around. I DID buy the first appearance of Spider-man’s arch-nemesis, The Kangaroo, though. So, still pretty impressive. oh wait. it’s the second appearance.

Thanks, man.

You guys must have had a whole lot more ‘perfectly centered’ comics growing up than I did. As a kid growing up in the South during the 70s, I feel that a book with no white strip running down the spine was the exception rather than the rule. As a result, a narrow white strip looks absolutely correct to me (unless, as some posters have noted, it isn’t parallel with the fold of the spine). I have comic book OCD for miles, but that white strip doesn’t trigger it at all. Spine ticks, on the other hand...

TRUTH!!

In my case, I'm just irresponsibly passing on a rumor that I have no way to substantiate. I don't know what is actually happening here, but it *feels* like outside groups are coming in with only a rudimentary grasp of our hobby, buying (and in some cases manufacturing) "keys" at crazy prices with the intent to somehow flip them for even crazier prices. My concern, perhaps founded and perhaps not, is that they will try to wring as much profit out of comics as they possibly can and would be absolutely fine with leaving behind a smoking crater once there is no more "easy" money to be had. I don't know if these people are "crypto dudes," hedge fund managers, Appalachian lottery winners, Q-Anon adherents, NXIVM cultists, or all of the above, but it definitely feels like current catalysts are occurring outside the hobby. As for my proof, I haven't got a shred. I'm all crazy hypotheses and tin foil hats at this point.

This is a perfect illustration of the dilemma. Congratulations on your foresight. You've probably turned a ~$50 investment into ~$50,000. My condolences that you won't be able to pursue a hobby that you would probably really enjoy.

Hmmm... Would I rather have my picture taken with William Shatner or an Amazing Fantasy 15? You know, you may be on to something here.

This. There are an awful lot of books that I am very interested in that most people just aren't thinking about right now. I think I'll probably try to pick up about one a month to keep myself entertained without siphoning much of my budget for the year. If sanity returns, I'd still like to be able to make a big move.

Congrats, man. That's awesome!

You have summed up my thinking perfectly. I'm a completist, and until now my plan has been to buy the keys as I can afford them and then go back and fill in the less expensive issues when my comic book budget is a little smaller. I'm starting to flip that -script and fill in gaps wherever I can find books in the condition I want that have stayed close to their 2020 GPA prices. Like you, I'll switch back into grail mode after the pump and dump speculators have had their way with our hobby. I do believe that this will be a passing fad for the "crypto dudes" and as long we don't follow their lead and dance to their tune these prices won't set and harden. (Now do I think everything will drop right back to 2019-2020 prices? Eh, not really.)

Make sure that new 9.8 White Pages Hulk 181 you just added to your site is part of the service and I'll think about it.

I'm of two minds when looking at the staggering run-up in prices over the past few months. On the one hand, I own some top keys (Bronze Age, anyway) and I'm thrilled to see them climbing to brain-bending heights right now. On the other hand, I have a lot more books to purchase before I'm done and the doubling and trebling of prices across the board seems like nothing less than mass insanity. I have built up a war chest that would make me feel flush in any other year, and normally I would be working on buying a big book right about now. However, after thinking about it over the past month. I'm putting myself on the sidelines. Even though I could still afford some of these big books at the going rate, I frankly don't want to do anything to "normalize" these prices. So, I'm going to climb out of the pool and do my small part to reduce the Demand side of the equation by at least one. Could I end up regretting it? Sure. If that Hulk 180 I was looking at goes from $10,000 in 2020 to $30,000 in 2121 to $60,000 in 2022, then I will have missed the boat. However, at that point, this will likely be a hobby I can no longer afford anyway, at least not the way I have enjoyed it in the past. So, what about the rest of you? Are you swimming with the sharks or eating popcorn on the sidelines?

I think you are absolutely right, and I'm seeing it on other big keys besides ASM 129. Want a Hulk 181 9.8 for $85,000? (Price is probably a little discounted, since it was graded by a CGC competitor...) https://www.ebay.com/itm/Incredible-Hulk-181-CBCS-9-8-not-CGC-1st-Full-Appearance-Wolverine-1974-WP/203310602497?hash=item2f56419901:g:sDAAAOSwX4xgVWME How about a Giant-Size X-Men #1 for $88,888.88? https://www.ebay.com/itm/Giant-Size-X-Men-1-CGC-9-8/284170051680?hash=item4229dae060:g:fqEAAOSw-C1gGUSf Better yet, why not bundle and get them both discounted at $134,999.99? https://www.ebay.com/itm/Incredible-Hulk-181-Giant-size-X-men-1-Cgc-9-8-WP-Perfect-Centering-Gems/233896505464?hash=item3675517078:g:kAcAAOSwvuhgKY6l The most recent Giant-Size X-Men sale on GPA is in January for $22,500, but sure, why not ask four times that? These are just stupid prices and no informed collector is going to fall for them. To your point, I think these sellers are laying these books out for the hedge fund gents who are stumbling over from the stock exchange.

Any of you fellas feelin' lucky? https://www.ebay.com/itm/Amazing-Spider-Man-129-PGX-9-8-like-GCG-1st-Punisher-Bronze-Age-Key-Mega-Key/184655261705?hash=item2afe4fb009:g:4TsAAOSw4a9gIRYJ I suppose there is a very tiny chance this could be an actual (non-color-touch) 9.8...

Beautiful book. You're in, Sam. Welcome aboard!

In my experience, the "1972" and "1973" stamps can be hard to tell apart. At first I thought I had the opposite -- a 1973 book stamped "1972" -- which would have been even weirder. Upon closer examination, I can see the stamp is 1973 with a little bit of smearing to keep us all guessing (72? 73? 78?) I was initially going to put forth the conspiracy theory that my book and Legion HQ's books might have been stamped by the same store(!) since the years look so similar. However, his MAR 28 has a very consistent baseline while my NOV 5 is all snuggle-toothed, so probably not. I've been collecting for over 40 years, and I believe this is my first date stamp. (To be fair, I avoided them when I was younger.) I got this book from Dale Roberts and the date stamp was part of the charm!

Good luck, man. When my wife and I were house hunting many years ago we found this 80 year-old bungalow that we absolutely loved. We immediately put an offer on it, only to find out that another buyer had beaten us by an hour. The seller accepted that offer and we saw the house slip through our fingers. Over the next couple of months, I kept dragging my wife out to look at other houses. Each time we finished touring a new place, I would ask her what she thought, and she would say, "I don't want that house; I want MY house." On the one hand, I found that answer a little aggravating. On the other hand, I actually felt exactly the same way. One day our realtor called us up and said, "Are you guys still interested in that first place? 'Cause the sale fell through and the seller will take your offer if you still want it." And that is the story of how an old bungalow got filled up with way too many comic books. (Also, it's the story of how sometimes you get another bite at the apple. Or in your case eight apples? Hang in there.)

Very cool that a smart hobby purchase is now going to help you and your wife buy a house! It’s why marriage-minded women always prefer comic book collectors (then doctors, then masseurs). What, you didn’t see that study? I own the twin to this book right now, or else I would be lining up for your sale. Having said that, let me know if you have any other similarly graded Spideys you want to sell. I’ve been trying to fill in ASM 101 - 120 lately, and it’s going about as well as your house hunting. Good luck with the sale and finding your new home!

Welcome aboard, man. Here is your information packet and Punisher Skull cuff links. The other members are smoking Cuban cigars in the library...

I bought a bunch of books from Wes which were: all high-grade as described shipped VERY quickly, and packaged to withstand an extinction-level event. Another satisfied customer. I’ll be watching for his next sale.

$2 each? Such a bahgain! I’ll take all the Dazzlers, all the Marvel Two-In-Ones, both the Marvel Universe handbooks, Howard the Duck #8, all the Defenders, Swamp-Thing #36, one Spectacular Spider-man #138, and — why not? — Saga of Crystar #6 ( because Nightcrawler). Feeling like a high roller today.

I know this is going to be a hard fight for you, but judging by your attitude and determination, I think it is one you will win. Thank you for sharing with us, and please bring us your updates if you want to and feel up to it. Fight like hell, John. We're pulling for you.

Niiiiiiiice!