Off Panel

ASM 106 is my last big picture frame purchase for the year. I've been hunting this one for a long time. Stan forgot to say "No tag-backs" when he handed the Spidey writing chores to Roy Thomas with issue 101, and so he found himself penning another Spider Slayer arc in issues 105-107. While the other two books are relatively plentiful in 9.8 (107 has 47 copies and 105 reverses that to 74!), 106 is a real biddy to find in grade. Nothing earth-shattering transpires in the issue, but it's fun to hear Stan's voice again and of course there's that sweet Romita art. Also, as a bona fide child of the 70's, I'm not sure you can really put a price on dialogue like this:

Coincidence?

One of only 12 9.8's in existence and of course the highest graded! These books go into collections and don't resurface for years -- don't miss your chance to add the top-graded 2nd appearance of Morbius (or, according to the front cover, "Moribus") to your registry. Listed a couple of thousand less than the current 90-day average on GPA. That is all.

Here's a double shot of the first Spidey picture frame book, an issue I never expected to have two of. Amazing Spider-man 102 was the first real blocker I hit in my collecting. In the early 80s I spent literally years trying to connect two runs of Amazing Spider-man, one from 89-101 and one from 103-227. This was about the time that condition started mattering more to me, and I was looking for a really nice copy (which back then meant a VF+ or a NM-) which I absolutely could not find. It was the decade before Ebay, so I was hunting in every comic shop and antique market I could find -- not seeing many 102s and the few that I found had all been smacked around real good. After about four years of scouring the South, I finally found a VF- copy and said good enough. When it came time to add this issue to my run of 9.8 Spidey's, I flashed back to all those miserable years of unsuccessful searching. Also, knowing there are only 12 copies of the book in grade, I may have overcompensated a little in going after 102 aggressively. So now I'm the father of twins. It would be nice if I could combine these two copies into one super-book. The left copy has a much nicer wrap, but the right copy has brighter colors and white pages. I'm sure I'll sell one of them soon but today it's kind of fun having the pair. (Also, there's still a raw VF- in my collection, "so I got that goin for me which is nice.")

I was very surprised to see that ASM 107 go for $5K. I've been focusing on 100-120 in 9.8 lately, and I've been saving 107 for the end with the assumption it will be one of the easier/cheaper ones to pick up. They've always been in plentiful supply (with almost 50 9.8s in the census). Having said all that, the Heritage copy was particularly nice-looking.

Personally, I think if someone goes into the forum area trying to sell a picture of a book for $2,000, the boards are going to shut that **** down. I’m open to alternate viewpoints.

Maybe. Are they selling books or pictures of books?

I completely get the argument that this guy bought the book. It’s his. He’s well within his rights to turn it into a sketch canvas. Or cut it up for a cool collage. Or set it on fire. His money, his book, his choice. I get it. Having said that, I’m way more philosophically aligned with Rip. I want to preserve my books as well as I can for future generations. They are each pieces of history that should outlive me and be enjoyed by future collectors. If I let something happen to them, or worse MAKE something happen to them, then I have been a lousy steward of my books and future collectors will wish someone more responsible than I was had owned them.

Or your Uncle Ben!?!!

Obligatory note that the 181 9.8 with White pages finished at $86K in this week's ComicLink auction.

Wow! I missed that on my first look, too.

Hey, you got your #1! Congrats!

I finally got around to upgrading an early CGC purchase. ASM 112 9.6 Off-White to a 9.8 White copy. When Disney+ announces their new MCU police procedural, Spidey Cops Out!, I'll be really glad I've got two of these.

Burial at C++.

I’ll second that. I would caution sellers against believing that “all attention is good attention.” When I see shenanigans like this, the perpetrator goes into my “avoid forever” pile. I can’t tell if a seller who overvalues his books so egregiously is an insufficiently_thoughtful_person, a con artist, or just the kind of individual that rhymes with “glass bowl,” but I know I’m not going to try a transaction to find out which one.

Okay, I really like legacy numbering. What I hate is the need for legacy numbering. The legacy numbering should be the numbering. Publishers: please stop rebooting your books every time you get a new writer, or start a new story arc, or the year changes, or a butterfly flaps it’s wings in Tokyo. You may think it’s a great jumping-on point, but it’s just as good a jumping off point. How many here stopped collecting Amazing Spider-man with issue #441? Spider-woman has had as many “volumes” as some books have had issues. Ugh. I know that I’m howling into the void on this one, but man, it peeves me.

While I don’t feel quite as strongly as jimbo, I’m another one who doesn’t like to buy comics with writing or drawing on them, even if it’s the signature/work of someone I admire. I’ve made a few exceptions, but these were very special cases. I’ve been looking for an ASM 120 in 9.8 with white pages for a couple of years now. Three times I’ve seen one come up for auction and I get all excited before noticing it’s a Signature Series and immediately move on. The signature craze is actually a little worrisome to me when I think about how few copies of some high grade books have survived 50 or 60 or 70 years only to get Sharpie’d in 2021. R.I.P.

That’s the Irish movie review site, isn’t it?

To echo what Scrooge said, the post office often reports that they have delivered specific pieces of mail to us the day before they actually deliver it. I don’t know if it’s to make their metrics look better or what. I hope this is what has happened to you and you get a nice surprise tomorrow.

I can only speak for myself, but I’ve had a great experience buying from Doug. I bought multiple books in both the May and June Pedigree auctions and couldn’t be happier with the outcomes.

First 9.9 for this book.

I’m torn on this. I would think an experienced seller (and this appears to be an experienced seller) would have the same concerns about this book that we do. Having said that, this individual actually has the case in hand and may be able to absolutely rule out that the book has been cracked. Even if it is obvious that mistakes were made, what obligation does a seller have to caveat a case/grade that has not been tampered with? I don’t have the answer, but I would be livid if I bought this book (with the seller for “cheating” me and with myself for not paying enough attention to the photos).

Forget the spine ticks, forget the staple tear, forget the ragged edge at the bottom … there is a 1” color-breaking bend at the top left corner that would immediately disqualify this book no questions asked. This is not a case of “intelligent people can disagree.” You can’t convince me that this was the book CGC graded. It’s not even like the damages (with the exception of that staple) are candidates for shaken comic syndrome.