Off Panel

Huh. You’ve got a good eye. I hadn’t noticed that. I’m guessing the penciler was lazy and just photocopied the same art but the hard-working inker dutifully finished both panels.

What if the photos were “tasteful”?

That is exactly what happened. I toggled the “Signed” filter and the book showed up. Put this one down to “user error.” (By the way, I really like the filter options since I don’t have much interest in signed, restored, or qualified books. I just need to remember not to filter when I do a broader analysis.)

Thanks for filling in the gaps. I knew there were a couple of big sales I was missing, but I’m surprised the $66K Heritage sale isn’t in the GPA data. I think of Heritage as sharing all their data with GPA. (Is that indicative of a sale that may have been walked back, or just a longer than usual lag in reporting?) It sounds like all the big sales ($50K+) are still clustered in June with the price eroding ever since. GSX #1 is a great book and it was probably undervalued when it was selling in the teens, but those sales at $60k and $70k + were real head scratchers for all the reasons you listed.

That may be a factor, but it seems the plunge started back in the summer. Here are the last six sales from GPA: Jun-17: $72,000 (peak GSM) Jul-25: $49,200 (down $22,800) Sep-04: $45,000 (down another $4,200) Nov-18: $43,200 (down another $1,800) Nov-19: $38,400 (down another $4,800) Dec-18: $37,000 (down another $1,400) The December to February slump may be influencing prices, in which case we could have another two months of decline in front of us. If it were to follow the same trajectory, we’d be looking at GSM 1 in 9.8 selling around $29,000 at the end of February, which would be a respectable $9,000 lift above where it was this time last year. Not too shabby. Or it might be that the Bitcoin kiddies have exited the comic book market to go disrupt the next shiny thing. (Video games? NFTs? NFTs of video games?)

The last five sales on GPA for this book in 9.8 have been a steady trend line going down, with the last two realized prices being $38,400 (November 19) and $37,000 (December 18th). I was in the market for this book earlier in the year, but when the irrational exuberance hit, I noped right out and made different plans. It definitely seems to be coming back down to earth now.

This may not be the most intellectual take, but I like this cover just because I get to see Ben Grimm call Annihilus "dingbat."

I should be clear that although I'm a lifelong Marvel fan, it doesn't mean I don't like DC. I still consider the Watchmen to be the pinnacle of what can be achieved with the superhero format. DC did it and I don't really think Marvel will ever match it. I've also picked up a few DC series over the years that I have really enjoyed, including Alan Moore's Swamp Thing and Neil Gaiman's Sandman books. I read the Teen Titans book back in the eighties and while I didn't find them as compelling as the X-Men, I thought they were better than a lot of other Marvel books I was reading at the time. I've always thought Batman was a cool character and there have been a few other DC books and characters that have tempted me over the years. Really, the only reason I don't collect DC is that I would definitely be biting off more than I could chew. I'm not good at doing anything halfway and I know myself well enough to confirm I couldn't get into DC books "just a little." I already have way more Marvel goals than I can possibly achieve in this lifetime (but I maintain a very upbeat denial on that front), so the idea of picking up a new set of books with issues going back to the 1930s would be disastrous. It's really a "know your limits" situation.

You may be right. Both you and Ryan correctly point out that Golden Age books aren't part of this trend (which makes me happy). Also, with very few exceptions, I've never really collected DC books, so I may be generalizing my Marvel experiences across the entire hobby. On the other hand, your DC observations may help to prove my point. The market seems to have decided that the DC movies "aren't very good*" and so the DC books aren't seeing the crazy run-ups we're getting over here in Marvel land. In this new Hollywood-centric world, Great Movies = Super Valuable Comics and Stinker Movies = Comic Value Stagnation. (In both cases, the price is less about the quality of the source material and more about whether the movie or TV show was good/popular.) *Personally, I enjoyed the first Wonder Woman and the latest Suicide Squad, but in general I would probably agree with that assessment.

Amazing books, Cosmic_Shel!

What a weird choice on Marvel’s part. The Punisher’s skull logo is so iconic. This is like Nike retiring its Swoosh.

I love this. I had not thought of it this way, but I’m going to think of it this way going forward.

Yeah — me, too. I don’t want to come across as someone who doesn’t like the movies. I have really, really enjoyed them. Beyond the big stories, it has been absolutely exhilarating to watch Marvel just nail the little things like the way Cap throws his shield or Thor swings his hammer. My issue is that valuing every comic book primarily on the criteria of Has it been a movie? Will it be a movie? And Could it be a movie? feels like the tail wagging the dog.

You make an excellent point. I love that about Golden Age books.

I may occasionally be guilty of hyperbole. Could you get behind the statement that the number one factor for influencing comic book values today is movies/television?

I agree with this. (I’ve always liked Taskmaster.) BUT… when people thought Taskmaster MIGHT BE IN A MOVIE the price of Avengers 196 suddenly shot up from around $1,000 to around $3,000! Then when people decided that movie Taskmaster was lame, the book sank like a stone to around $900. I kind of think my point still stands.

<rant> When I started collecting comic books there were a number of factors that could drive up the value of a particular issue, including but not limited to: The first appearance of a popular character (e.g., Werewolf by Night 32) A character’s origin story (e.g., Captain Marvel 18) The first appearance of a hot new writer on a book (e.g., Swamp Thing 20) The first appearance of a hot new artist on a book (e.g., Amazing Spider-man 298) A classic story (e.g., Amazing Spider-man 121) An iconic cover (e.g., Batman 232) These were all great reasons to value a specific issue of a title. More importantly, they were “comic book” reasons. The things that made us covet these books were grounded in our art form’s unique marriage of compelling stories and fantastic artwork. Today, the factors that give a book its “value” are all external. They are all judged through the lens of the television and motion picture industries. Looking for new keys? How about: She-Hulk 1 (She’s coming to Disney+!!!) Avengers 195 (First appearance of Taskmaster. Don’t miss this one, kids! He’s a lock for the Black Widow movie!!) Marvel Spotlight 4 (First appearance of the Darkhold book, seen in the background of both the Runaways TV show and WandaVision!! Heavens!!) No one cares about artwork. (There’s no artwork in the movies, except CGI.) No one cares about the comic book story. (They’ll just rewrite it for the television pilot.) Origins? Only if there’s an origin movie. Covers? Please. And if the television show flops? Or Taskmaster turns out to be a weird automaton woman? Well, I guess those comic books weren’t as good as we thought they were. I miss the days when key comics stood on their own merits and didn’t need a TV show or movie to tell us what was good. Frankly, I find it insulting that the worth of our art form — comics — is totally determined by a different (should we assume better?) art form — movies — and that collectors seem to believe that the entertainment industry’s verdict is all that matters. Does this rub anyone else the wrong way? </rant>

Hey, j9v. I’m so sorry to hear that happened to you and I really hope you are able to recover your books. Were the books taken as part of a bigger haul (I.e., crooks taking anything and everything that might have value) or did it seem like they were targeted (I.e., the thieves came for the books and they mostly took the books)? The reason I ask is that it may speak to the sophistication of the thieves and point you in some different directions for tracking them down. If the books were taken along with laptops, jewelry, etc., I’d be checking regional Craigslist and pawn shops as part of my canvas. If the books were targeted, I would be sharing not only the cert numbers, but also photos and identifying characteristics of the books (in case they get de-slabbed) on the boards and with your LCSs. Good luck with this. I’m hoping for a happy ending to this story.

This issue hit the stands two months before Barton’s cool 111. I have very vague memories of reading this story as a kid and thinking it was just all right, but I was probably ten years old and I’m sure all the Vietnam stuff went waaaaay over my head. The last step in my convoluted 25-step OCD process whenever I acquire a new (old) book is always to sit down with a beer and read the digital version in the Marvel app. I’m actually really looking forward to re-reading this one, since John Romita has said he believes issues 108 and 109 were the best books he ever drew. However, I’m forcing myself to wait until I can acquire a suitable 108 and then I’ll read them both back to back. Although I have said many times that a little “landing strip” on the spine of a book doesn’t bother me at all, I do appreciate how nicely this one is centered.

It feels like CGC is going down the list of things that have been broken for a long time and is systematically starting to set things right (professional moderation, graders’ notes with subscription, etc.). Yes, there is more to be done, but this is real progress and I appreciate it.

I've always loved everything about this cover: The bold perspective as we look up to see Spidey falling toward us. A glimpse into our villain's personalities: Tarantula will put his back into throwing Spider-man off the bridge, but the slimy Jackal has to get in one last dirty kick. Gwen's clone standing passively on the bridge where she died, holding her coat closed against the wind. That gorgeous blue gradient that made this cover stand out from all the books around it. I'm sure there were better covers in the Bronze Age, but this is my favorite.

It seems to me that there are a lot of very cool posters on the fronts of comic books today. I like cool posters. I like 'em on my wall and at the movie theatre. I even like 'em in the subway. I don't particularly like 'em on the front of my comic books. A poster and a comic book cover are not interchangeable. The qualities that make a poster successful may overlap with the qualities that make a comic cover successful, but they aren't the same. A poster is successful when: It is cool and interesting to look at It makes you feel some kinda way A comic book cover is successful when: It is cool and interesting to look at It gets you excited about the story you could be reading It makes you need to know what happens next It makes you want to buy that comic book rather than the comic next to it Here are two comic books from 2016, same series and same artist. One has a poster and one has a comic book cover. (And yeah, Alex Ross' art may lend itself more to posters than comic book covers, but I'm trying to compare apples to apples here as best I can.)

I'm just another fifty-something-year-old dude on the boards, but in addition to all my well-loved Silver, Bronze, and Copper books, I do actually still read current comics. (I never got around to making my FDQ exit from reading new books, despite all the indignities we longtime comic book guys have suffered over the years. ) To my peers who swore off new comics because Marvel restarted Amazing Spider-man's numbering after issue 441 or DC retconned out a ton of history with The New 52 or Jane Foster got to be Thor for a while, I'm going to give it to you straight: you're missing out. While there's still plenty of drek to be found in Modern Age comics (just as there was in the Golden, Silver, Bronze and Copper ages), there are also some extraordinarily well written and drawn comics out there. Even if you're just a low-brow Marvel zombie like me. I've found Al Ewing's Immortal Hulk to be completely riveting -- creepy, mysterious, gross, horrifying, and surprisingly FUN! Ewing explains all the splintered Hulk incarnations over the years in a way that not only makes sense, but makes the character way more interesting. Joe Bennett's artwork on the book is so beautifully ugly it sometimes makes my skin crawl. I rolled my eyes when I read that Jane Foster was going to be Thor. Not because "a girl can't be Thor," but because the Supporting-Character-Is-The-New-Hero trope has just been done to death. But guess what? Those Jane Foster stories were some of the best Thor comics I've ever read. Jason Aaron gets Thor in a way that 90% of writers just don't, and his stories are HUGE (like, Nine Realms huge), but with genuine humor and great character moments. Jonathan Hickman's writing is the closest thing I've experienced to Stan and Jack's universe-building creativity. Read his simultaneous runs on Avengers and New Avengers (2013-2015) for an incredibly big and cool story. (New Avengers #23 is one of the best Marvel comics I have ever read, but you'll need to read it within the context of the run to truly appreciate it.) He has now turned his talents to completely reimagining the X-men in a way that is respectful of their history while changing every aspect of their existence. I don't see this book ever returning to the old status quo; I believe this is what the X-men will be from now on. And it's really good. A lot of people really love Donny Cates' writing as well. I find him to be a little bit gimmicky, but his books are never dull and they do have a lot of "Whoa -- that was cool!" moments. Other great artists to check out: Stuart Immonen, Paulo Siqueira, Patrick Gleason. Anyway, I'm going to side with the whipper-snappers on this one. I have LOTS of complaints with a whole laundry list of modern comic book practices (because I'm old and my primary pastimes are collecting comics and complaining), but if you can't find any good writing and art in modern comics, you just aren't looking. NEXT POST: I'll actually address the topic (Missing covers with substance). Yeah, I actually agree with that...

Great looking book, Barton! I saw your 9.6 for sale and thought you might’ve upgraded. There aren’t too many copies as nice as this with that tough black cover.

I’m going to tell you two things in utter sincerity: 1) I hope you win it, and 2) I hope you win it at a very, very, very low price.