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I've been working toward this exact goal for 15 years now: collecting ASM 100-150 in 9.8 with white pages. At this point I have 31 of the 51 issues. I've got all the big keys, and was fortunate to front-load most of those, so they were expensive but not stupid-expensive. The hardest part has been picking up issues from the first part of the run where there are often 15 or fewer copies on the census (104, 106, 109, etc.), and of course all of those don't have white pages. I'm four books away from having the run from 100 to 130. I'm telling myself that 131 to 150 will be easier (but I only see 14 copies of 143 on the census, so we'll see...).

DISCLAIMER: I am not a flipper. Much to my wife's chagrin, no comic book coming into our house has ever left. Having said that, your statement is the best business argument for CGC to change their ways. If more grader's notes resulted in more re-submits, it would only make sense to include grader's notes on every book.

I'm curious about which you dislike: Neil Gaiman's writing or Mark Buckinghams' art?

Still trying to decide if I qualify. How many of those figures have to be to the left of the decimal point?

One aggravation of using the CGC Registry is when you buy a book from another member only to find that they haven't relinquished it in their registry yet. Usually CGC is able to track them down and get the okay to transfer within a few days, but sometimes it drags on. A week ago today I tried to add a book that I purchased in January and have had in my possession since February. The seller must be doing a really good job of dodging you guys, because I'm still blocked from adding the book. Here is my question: After a reasonable amount of time has gone by (let's say a week) without the seller responding to a transfer request, is there some back-up process for proving a new owner is the new owner? (E.g., a photo of the book on top of today's newspaper? A photo of the book with the new owner's driver's license? A video of the new owner with the book requesting the transfer?) (Back up question: Today, how long does CGC wait to hear from a seller before just giving up and transferring a book? A week? A month? Forever?)

Okay… 113. It had been so long since I read this issue that it was like reading it for the first time. There were some great fights between Spidey and Doc Ock. A more recent storyline (ASM 600) revealed that Doctor Octopus had suffered repetitive brain trauma thanks to his fights with super-heroes (but mostly Spidey) over the years. Even though Spider-man was sickly and weakened in this fight, and clearly the underdog, that story leapt to mind as Spidey finally got the upper hand. The second best reveal of this issue: First appearance of Hammerhead, the perennial C-list villain who will show up in almost every subsequent gangland story. (No, not Tombstone. The other one. No, not Silvermane…) (I'm sorry, but I will maintain that you haven't really made it if your man-servant is named "Waldo"...) Best reveal of this issue: The real reason Spider-man is so weak is because he has given himself an ulcer with all his fretting. Three issues in and Gerry Conway proves he knows how to write a Spider-man story.

Part of my ritual is to sit down with a beer and read a digital copy of each new book as I add it to my collection. In this case, I also read 112 (which I bought a few years ago) as the lead-in. I want to talk about that one for a minute. Issue 112 was only Gerry Conways’ second Amazing issue, and even though it was billed on the splash page as “an avalanche of offbeat action,” over half the story pages were: Peter fretting about Aunt May, who is missing Peter getting yelled at by J Jonah Jameson Peter fretting about JJJ freezing his salary until he coughs up pictures of Spider-man Peter having individual encounters with Harry, Betty and Ned, MJ and Anna Watson (who are all fretting about Aunt May) and Flash Thompson trying to make time with Gwen, who feels guilty about Aunt May leaving It made me realize just how much I enjoyed the soap opera elements of Spider-man, even as a little kid. Peter’s troubles were always as interesting as Spider-man’s. Often more so. I really, really enjoyed this issue where the big bad (Doc Ock) didn’t show up until the last page. I wish the modern Spider writers would devote more time to the supporting cast.

I’ve crossed another Amazing Spider-man picture frame off my list: I know ASM 113 is one of the controversial ones, but it’s easy to see John Romita having fun with the picture frame elements. The Daily Bugle photo takes the place of the conventional “framed’ art and the photo caption replaces the standard text underneath. Romita has said that he only signed his covers when he really liked them, so the big signature at the top of Spidey’s mask lets you know he was pleased with himself here. (I’m a believer, but I get it if anyone says, “I don’t accept 113 as a picture frame and you can’t make me.”)

EASE: Tonight I won the Captain America 146 from the ComicLink auction (9.8, White pages, and a picture frame to boot). I got it for less than half of what the last one sold for in 2021 ($401 vs $960.) NOT EASE: I also had my eye on an Incredible Hulk #151, which ended up going for over four times its last sale price in 2016. ($2,277 vs $510.) There are only four 9.8's, so that maybe isn't too surprising.

A Daredevil 316 on its own isn't worth much. Even graded at a 9.8, you'd be hard-pressed to recover your case cost. (Looks like the latest sale was for $23 in June of last year.) However, a double cover would definitely inflate the value and there would be keen interest from some. CGC graded at 9.8, I could see you getting $75, maybe $100 from the right collector. Good luck!

That makes sense to me.

The thing I find interesting about this is that with double covers, CGC usually grades both and then bases its overall grade on the better of the two (I don't feel 100% confident in that statement). If the cover is bound at the centerfold, looks like CGC mentions it but does not give it a grade. I would imagine that a cover bound at the centerfold might be preserved in fantastic condition.

Here's my ticket to the thread: Five years ago, I was looking for a high-grade ASM 101 to fill a gap in the PC. Just as my hunt moved into high gear, Sony announced that they were filming a Morbius movie (?!!?) and the price of that book shot into the stratosphere. Ugh. Knowing Sony, I was 99% sure that the movie would be terrible, so I decided to just wait it out and pick up a copy after the movie flopped and prices returned to earth. The movie was scheduled to come out in July of 2020. I could wait that long. It would no doubt be a dumpster fire and I'd buy my book at the end of 2020. Then COVID hit and the movie was rescheduled one, two, three, four, five, six, SEVEN TIMES (!), slipping from 2020 to 2021 to 2022. Each time the release pushed back, Sony blamed it on the pandemic (while somehow managing to release other movies despite the pandemic). It was becoming increasingly clear that even Sony knew what a stinker they had on their hands. However, as long as the movie remained unreleased, "influencers" could continue to pump the book up and the "comic boom" only made things worse. Finally, Sony ran out of excuses and had to show their hand. Morbius hit theatres on April Fool's Day 2022 (and then, bizarrely, again on June 3rd, 2022). It didn't do well either time. The movie is currently hovering around 16% on Rotten Tomatoes. Which means that I was finally able to get my copy, and a double-cover copy at that!

Double Cover / Mark Jewelers Insert book? That's like if a dragon had a baby with a unicorn!

Welcome, Carmen. Thomas was well-loved and respected around here.

Oh, no! I never met Thomas in person, but we had corresponded here over the years. He was a fellow Georgian and I always figured our paths would eventually cross in the real world. I admired Thomas' eye for finding raw high-grade books and turning them into high-grade slabs with Joey's help. I was also a little envious of his determination to make a go of it selling books; he definitely had the talent and grit for it. Thomas was one of the few people I followed on the boards. I am so sorry to read this news.

One other tidbit I stumbled across this week that I think this group would be interested in. This is a brief exchange between Jon B. Cooke and John Romita from an interview in TwoMorrows' Comic Book Artist #6. CBA: The cover designs of Marvel Comics in the early '70s conformed to the same rigid format. There suddenly was just a square for an illustration with the title of the story underneath, with a lot of verbiage around. Do you remember this really locked-in design when Gil did most of the covers? John: We did it for about a year, with a margin in it. They were looking to stand out from the rest of the crowd. I think Roy was involved. I think Gil might've designed it. I don't remember how much input I had on it; all I remember—that may have been when I was doing special projects.

I filled another hole in my Amazing Spider-man picture frame books: More wonderful art from John Romita, of course. I've always had a soft spot in my head heart for the Gibbon, but even I recognize that the Marvel hype machine was out of control on this one. I'm sure letterer John Costanza was on the phone as he started working on the cover. "Hey, Stan. It's John. This Spidey 110 cover -- What if, instead of 'super-star' we said 'guy'? 'INTRODUCING: THE NEWEST MARVEL GUY!' I mean, that just feels a little more accurate to me, Stan." Still, this was Stan's last issue on the book before he handed the keys to Marvel's Crown Jewels over to a 19-year-old kid, so I'm sure he wanted at least a little fanfare. I read issues 110 and 111 back to back this week, and I think Gerry Conway did a great job with the transition. I mean, you can sense a little teen angst in the writing, but I count that as a virtue in telling the story of Martin Blank and how he became the Gibbon. To Stan's credit, he gave Gerry a much gentler transition than when he tried to hand the book to Roy Thomas with issue 101: "Hey, Roy. I'm too busy to do Amazing anymore. You're going to have to take it. Oh yeah, Peter has six arms now. Excelsior!"

I hear what you're saying, but disagree on a couple of points. 1) I would be interested to know how many registries are topped by Saudi sheiks or Elon Musk types vs how many are led by guys who have slowly put together amazing collections over several decades. Or bought the best copies of keys that they could find in the 80s and 90s. These guys may have had more vision than money going for them. Maybe some of our chart toppers are comic book store owners who built their personal collections while building their businesses. LCS owners are awesome, but most of the ones I've met aren't exactly in the hedge fund manager tax brackets, if you know what I mean. 2) Why would a collector be discouraged from competing in the Registry? Because they can't take the top spot with their run of 35 high-grade Fantastic Four issues from the 90s? Maybe they just love those books and want to show them off. There are currently 735 sets in the Amazing Spider-man (Complete) set. Do all of those guys think, "Oh yeah, I'm definitely going to have the top set. Just biding my time for now..."? I can answer that question because I'm one of those dudes and I will never, ever have the top set. Colorado Comics doesn't need to lose a wink of sleep over me. Doesn't mean I'm gonna take my ball and go home. I don't think adopting a "quantity over quality" approach will make the registry better. I know I've said this before, but I think there is room for two top dogs: the Points winner (the person with the highest score based on books, whether that's a high grade run of lots of comics or a single Marvel Mystery Comics #1 in 9.8 with white pages) and the Best Set winner (the person who puts together the most compelling set with great photos, thoughtful commentary and a really cool point of view). It doesn't need to be either/or. We shouldn't try to lower the bar on the competition; we should just create other legitimate avenues for people to win.

That doesn't seem out of bounds to me. It would be an interesting exercise to poll the boardies and ask "Would you rather have Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 in 9.8 condition OR issues #2 through #62 in 9.8?" I know how I would answer.

I would argue that Nightcrawler could flip one of the most majestic birds ever delivered. None of those extra digits to dilute the message.

I completely agree. I listed 121 as the exception to my rule opinion that storyline keys are generally minor keys, and 122 is the second half of the story. And 50 hits two big buttons: first appearance of an A-list villain and classic cover.

Why, "influencers" of course! Just ask 'em... Also, first appearance of White Vision: MAJOR KEY! (Because he changed color? Or maybe because he lost his color? Oh wait, I remember: Because I have twelve of them to sell!!)

As many have said, there are no hard and fast rules for distinguishing major and minor keys. Having said that, here are my opinions: 1) First appearances are often considered keys and the status of the key is directly linked to the status of the character being introduced.* The first appearances of A-List heroes (Spider-man, Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, etc) and A-list villains (Doctor Octopus, the Green Goblin, Dr Doom, Kang) are usually considered major keys. The first appearances of B-List heroes (Daredevil, Star Lord, Captain Marvel, etc) and B-list villains (The Lizard, Electro, Sabretooth, Bullseye) may just be considered keys, without a "major" or "minor' descriptor. The first appearances of C-List heroes (Nova, Iron Fist, Shang-Chi, etc) and C-list villains (Molten Man, Shocker, Hammerhead, Gladiator) may be considered minor keys. Once you get to the D-List (Mindworm, Stegron, White Rabbit, Will o' the Wisp), it may be debatable as to whether these are keys at all (except on a speculator's YouTube channel). 2) Books famous for their storylines (Amazing Spider-man 96-98, Daredevil 181, X-Men 137, etc) tend to be minor keys, unless the story destroys your world (Amazing Spider-man 121). 3) Peripheral changes to a character (new name, new costume, etc) tend to be minor keys if they are keys at all. 4) Things that have more to do with creators than characters (first Frank Miller Daredevil, first McFarlane Spider-man, etc) tend to be minor keys if they are keys at all. 5) First appearances in cameo (choose your favorite term if you dislike that nomenclature) can be major keys, but usually not as major as the first full appearance. 6) Famous covers tend to be minor keys. Of course, books may have a confluence of factors. Amazing Spider-man 129 introduces an A-list villain (the Punisher) AND has a famous cover AND introduces a B-list, some would say C-list villain (the Jackal). The more things a book brings to the table, the more it moves toward being a major key. Also, things like scarcity and price can elevate a book beyond its humble origins. I would argue (don't hate me) that both Ghost Rider and Moon Knight are B-List heroes, but low census counts in high grade have helped push their books into the realm of major Bronze Age keys. *Note: I'm not throwing shade on any heroes or villains here. I love Daredevil and Nova and Bullseye and I treasure my first appearance of Mindworm in ASM 138, but there is a hierarchy to our heroes. You may disagree with where I slot people and that's okay. I welcome other opinions.