Off Panel

When I was younger I didn't really appreciate Jesse Marsh's work. As I have gotten older the lack of appreciation has only gotten stronger. 

Just added a new picture frame book, and it's a minor key.
Like a really, really, really minor key.
More minor key than a Gregorian chant. 
West Coast Avengers 45 looks at this book and says, "Dang, that's a deep cut..."
Jerno (who famously maintains every comic ever printed is a key) looked at this one and said, "I dunno, dude..."
 

 
Anyway, here's my Monsters on the Prowl 16 -- first comics appearance of Thulsa Doom. (You know, James Earl Jones from the 1982 Conan movie. If I were classier, I'd say, "You know, from Delcardes' Cat, the Robert E. Howard story.")
I haven't read much King Kull, so tonight I'll crack a beer and see what that's all about. (Reading the digital version of course -- a beer is all I'll be cracking.)
The one other interesting thing about the book (to me, at least) is that it's from the Fantast collection. I've got some pedigrees, but I've never had a "collection" book before. My wife says she'll watch the Selling Superman documentary with me when it comes out, but from the little I know about the story, that seems like maybe a bad idea...
 
 

Just added a new picture frame book, and it's a minor key.
Like a really, really, really minor key.
More minor key than a Gregorian chant. 
West Coast Avengers 45 looks at this book and says, "Dang, that's a deep cut..."
Jerno (who famously maintains every comic ever printed is a key) looked at this one and said, "I dunno, dude..."
 

 
Anyway, here's my Monsters on the Prowl 16 -- first comics appearance of Thulsa Doom. (You know, James Earl Jones from the 1982 Conan movie. If I were classier, I'd say, "You know, from Delcardes' Cat, the Robert E. Howard story.")
I haven't read much King Kull, so tonight I'll crack a beer and see what that's all about. (Reading the digital version of course -- a beer is all I'll be cracking.)
The one other interesting thing about the book (to me, at least) is that it's from the Fantast collection. I've got some pedigrees, but I've never had a "collection" book before. My wife says she'll watch the Selling Superman documentary with me when it comes out, but from the little I know about the story, that seems like maybe a bad idea...
 
 

Just added a new picture frame book, and it's a minor key.
Like a really, really, really minor key.
More minor key than a Gregorian chant. 
West Coast Avengers 45 looks at this book and says, "Dang, that's a deep cut..."
Jerno (who famously maintains every comic ever printed is a key) looked at this one and said, "I dunno, dude..."
 

 
Anyway, here's my Monsters on the Prowl 16 -- first comics appearance of Thulsa Doom. (You know, James Earl Jones from the 1982 Conan movie. If I were classier, I'd say, "You know, from Delcardes' Cat, the Robert E. Howard story.")
I haven't read much King Kull, so tonight I'll crack a beer and see what that's all about. (Reading the digital version of course -- a beer is all I'll be cracking.)
The one other interesting thing about the book (to me, at least) is that it's from the Fantast collection. I've got some pedigrees, but I've never had a "collection" book before. My wife says she'll watch the Selling Superman documentary with me when it comes out, but from the little I know about the story, that seems like maybe a bad idea...
 
 

Just added a new picture frame book, and it's a minor key.
Like a really, really, really minor key.
More minor key than a Gregorian chant. 
West Coast Avengers 45 looks at this book and says, "Dang, that's a deep cut..."
Jerno (who famously maintains every comic ever printed is a key) looked at this one and said, "I dunno, dude..."
 

 
Anyway, here's my Monsters on the Prowl 16 -- first comics appearance of Thulsa Doom. (You know, James Earl Jones from the 1982 Conan movie. If I were classier, I'd say, "You know, from Delcardes' Cat, the Robert E. Howard story.")
I haven't read much King Kull, so tonight I'll crack a beer and see what that's all about. (Reading the digital version of course -- a beer is all I'll be cracking.)
The one other interesting thing about the book (to me, at least) is that it's from the Fantast collection. I've got some pedigrees, but I've never had a "collection" book before. My wife says she'll watch the Selling Superman documentary with me when it comes out, but from the little I know about the story, that seems like maybe a bad idea...
 
 

I'm a big Picture Frame Marvel Fan. I'm a big Gil Kane fan. I'm a big fan of black Picture Frame books. I'm a big fan of 9.8 Picture Frame books. 
I think it's a beautiful book even with the less than stellar Kane cover.  Still, my bid didn't even come close.

Just added a new picture frame book, and it's a minor key.
Like a really, really, really minor key.
More minor key than a Gregorian chant. 
West Coast Avengers 45 looks at this book and says, "Dang, that's a deep cut..."
Jerno (who famously maintains every comic ever printed is a key) looked at this one and said, "I dunno, dude..."
 

 
Anyway, here's my Monsters on the Prowl 16 -- first comics appearance of Thulsa Doom. (You know, James Earl Jones from the 1982 Conan movie. If I were classier, I'd say, "You know, from Delcardes' Cat, the Robert E. Howard story.")
I haven't read much King Kull, so tonight I'll crack a beer and see what that's all about. (Reading the digital version of course -- a beer is all I'll be cracking.)
The one other interesting thing about the book (to me, at least) is that it's from the Fantast collection. I've got some pedigrees, but I've never had a "collection" book before. My wife says she'll watch the Selling Superman documentary with me when it comes out, but from the little I know about the story, that seems like maybe a bad idea...
 
 

Just added a new picture frame book, and it's a minor key.
Like a really, really, really minor key.
More minor key than a Gregorian chant. 
West Coast Avengers 45 looks at this book and says, "Dang, that's a deep cut..."
Jerno (who famously maintains every comic ever printed is a key) looked at this one and said, "I dunno, dude..."
 

 
Anyway, here's my Monsters on the Prowl 16 -- first comics appearance of Thulsa Doom. (You know, James Earl Jones from the 1982 Conan movie. If I were classier, I'd say, "You know, from Delcardes' Cat, the Robert E. Howard story.")
I haven't read much King Kull, so tonight I'll crack a beer and see what that's all about. (Reading the digital version of course -- a beer is all I'll be cracking.)
The one other interesting thing about the book (to me, at least) is that it's from the Fantast collection. I've got some pedigrees, but I've never had a "collection" book before. My wife says she'll watch the Selling Superman documentary with me when it comes out, but from the little I know about the story, that seems like maybe a bad idea...
 
 

My November, 1971 set of unslabbed picture frames - unabashed plug: it's been listed on the marketplace tonight.
    
  
  
    
    

There is a Book on her that reprints all the TROTS strips.
There was a lot of good Comic/Strip stuff published in the Nat Lamp!

It's weird how nostalgia and talking about different things can make you remember something that is completely forgotten...
Tin Tin was something I didn't read until much later... probably the mid-90's, but it reminded me of something that I couldn't quite... put together that I read in the mid-70's. I didn't have the research tools in the mid-90's that I do now of course, so someone mentioning it, made me do some searching and...
Does anyone remember Trots and Bonnie from National Lampoon?
Wow...  I went and did some research on this and... man, was it controversial.... yet relatively unknown! It's probably what influenced my interest in alternative/independant comics of the 90's (I also didn't get into Crumb and the others until then). Some of it is probably offensive by today's standard's, but as 12-13 year old kid in the 70's, my eyes were wide open. No way it would've been printed in a regular comic at the time...
Spoilered.... to keep from 'offending' anyone...
 

For Mad Magazine in the 60's:
1961: 1,209,918
1962: 1,293,705
1963: 1,429,080
1964: 1,424,628
1965: 1,532,926
1966: 1,635,612
1967: 1,789,555
1968: 1,831,648
1969: 1,884,502
and then per John Jackson Miller at Comichron.com:
"(MAD Magazine) The title reached its peak circulation in 1974, the culminating year for Watergate, with average sales per issue of 2,132,655 copies...."

We would need a breakdown of people buying comics for themselves or for others.  
English Leather sells better to people looking for a cheap gift than it does to people wanting a cologne.  I suspect Archie and Richie Rich benefited from that. 
Back then, my dentist and doctor's offices always had a few Archies and Richie Rich-type books.  25,000 medical offices buying a few copies a month adds up quickly.

What always amazes me when I see the data organized in this way is how overwhelming the presence of Superman (or Superboy or Supergirl) is in DC's top sellers.  The only DC books in the top 20 are tied to Superman, and this in the waning days of Weisinger's editorship, not a high point in creativity for the Superman line.  Sure, the George Reeves 1950s show was still running in syndication, and Superman did have his own Saturday morning cartoon, but it is still surprising that enthusiasm would extend to something like Lois Lane as a monthly comics purchase.  
Looking at the Top 20, it suggests to me that as of 1971, sales still were dominated not by hobbyists or fans, but perhaps by moms or dads buying known, safe quantities to entertain their kids.  If you exclude Marvel's Spidey & FF, the remaining Top 20 titles are all Archie, Superman, Richie Rich or Dennis the Menace! 

 

Here's a couple that I'm glad are NOT heating up  Now I finally have nice ones. GOD BLESS ...
-jimbo(a friend of jesus)
 

*hugs his copy a little tighter*

I meant to add these to: This Week in Your Bronze Age Collection!! Apparently, I'm having a "Bad Day at Black Rock"
 
I purchased these a few weeks ago, and was able to "rush" scan them yesterday.
Lousy scans; I have to scan them again.

I can finally say I'm a member of the Cameo Club!
I hear you guys party hard!
 

It is an even smaller wonder when using math and stuff instead of conspiracies. Here is a quick rundown:
From the point that CGC opened its doors up until now CGC had never awarded a 9.9 for a GSX 1, so this is the first. Through that entire time only 239 managed to get to 9.8. 
Mega dealers are the ones who submit the largest volume of high value books. 
So up until now, and just like anyone else, these massive dealers like Metropolis/Comic Connect etc had 9.8s for the best copies without a single 9.9. 
Since these big dealers submit the most books of this type (i.e., the highest grade of GSX) the probability is that one of the dealers will hit 9.9 first. To put it another way, if these folks submit 90% of the copies that are at least a 9.8 they are 90% likely to be the first to hit 9.9. 
So nothing even remotely "off" is happening here, at least so far. 
Conspiracy theories make my head hurt, especially when Occam's Razor applies. 

I think I had mentioned in my write-up on the show that took place in New Orleans in January that the graded books I looked at seemed to be all priced really high -- and that was even for allowing a "premium" for dealers needing to cover what I imagine was some pretty high-priced tables/booths.  That said, the two slabs I ended up snagging from the show -- a CGC 8.5 JIM #83 and a CGC 9.2 Sub-Mariner #1 -- the dealer who had the books didn't even have them displayed, saying that he hadn't thought anyone at the show had "big" money to spend.  I ended up getting a good deal from him and left happy.  I had looked at an FF #5 that I thought was WAY overpriced, and the dealer wouldn't budge a penny, saying that the price was essentially what he was into the book, and he didn't want to take a loss on it.
There's a multitude of reasons why prices are high -- though there's a huge difference between "high, but someone might pay it" and "so high that only someone who has no info and a limitless pocketbook will pay it". 

That also depends on the book and how rare or common it is.
Hulk #1 vs ASM #300 is a different conversation. 
However if the book was common either the buyer was uneducated on the market value, trusted the dealer since they are a repeat customer, or couldn't be bothered checking because they have the money to burn.
Most dealers with common CGC books from 1965-now priced well over GPA have a bad show and then complain the show sucked. 
(I am not talking about a little over, I am talking well over)

Okay, I know I’ve been throwing a few stones here at sellers who I find particularly egregious. Let me balance that with some praise for a dealer who I see making a positive change.
Someone who is consigning a Sub-Mariner #1 just dropped their price 45% from $15,800 to $8,750.

That is way more aligned with current fmv in 2024. 
 

Better still, I know I can go directly to mycomicshop.com and pick up this exact copy for $600 less, or $8,150.
Thank you, unknown comic book consignor, for adjusting your pricing to show an awareness of the market. (I mean, $8,150 is still a poop-ton of money, but it’s reasonable for the book given the surrounding sales.)
I hope your book sells quickly.
 

You all are good people I apologize to Bob and everyone, I'll try to be more mindful when talking about shops I don't know about and try not to treat every company like it's a Wal-Mart or Amazon, everyone have a good day.

The funny thing is  I have to move a  piano today ( for the 2nd time in a week 😖),  I'm going to want a bullet afterwards for the back pain.😃