serling1978

I don't see most of those as flippable books (except for the 3 others have already mentioned) . Generally for low dollar books it's not worth the effort to flip when you're going to be close to breaking even or make a small profit. Does the seller know you plan to flip them? Just curious. I don't see most sellers agreeing on a low enough price for you to make profit when they could just sell for full value themselves.

That's a hard question. I'm a completist so I always wanted both the "little" books for the run and the grails. So I did both . Just having only grails to me wouldn't mean as much without the runs to accompany them. That's something I realized early on, so like others have said you just need to decide what's will make you happiest with your collection. Pat makes a good point about flipping. The overwhelming majority of my collection came from flipping. I never spent than $20-$30 bucks here and there out of my paycheck for comics. Having said that, I'm way too lazy these days to put in the effort flip. At first it was a lot of fun for 5-6 years but then it got to be too much. If you want to go the flip route, it's a commitment, but it can pay off big.

Personally I'm not a fan of any artist sketching, doodling, or whatever on a cover (not including modern blank covers in that. I know nothing of modern books) . Hulk 181 seems to be a book that happens to more often than others. If I was wanting an artist sketch I would rather just have it on a piece of paper, a napkin, my butt...

I don't have a ton of pence, but I do have a couple Hulk related books that I'm very fond of.

Haha fair enough. I'm not that far away. 7 more years

I can only speak for myself, but I haven't considered Facebook to be a relevant thing in a very long time. My elderly mother in law still uses it quite a bit though. But I don't think she collects comics. Unless she's been holding out on me all this time... Note to self. Look into that. Anyway, I get not wanting to get hooked and I feel the same. Take care.

Exactly. Luckily I just got my time machine out of the shop though and went years into the future to see what's hot. I am now the proud owner of 500 9.8 copies of Kickers Inc. Can't believe they made a movie about that...

Dude. What's your issue? Seriously. Please don't start this cliche message board nitpicking of words stuff. I was just making a simple statement. And what I was saying was a couple years ago based on what the issue was going for at the time I passed in it and now it goes for more. The end. Yes, hindsight is 2020

interesting data . I m not surprised comparing last year (when the hardcore spec started) to 2 months into this year. I'm talking longer term. But I wasn't excluding last year from the big price spike. A couple years ago I regularly passed on tod 10 for a third of what it goes for currently.

TOD 10 is def unfortunate that it's starting to skyrocket (I am looking at upgrading mine) , but I do think Blade is a legitimate enough character that I'm not annoyed by it. It's insane to think just about 3 years ago I bought the full TOD run for only $400, including #10.

Ugh, good one. Forgot about that. And that reminds me of the ridiculous spike for Avengers 223 just because a scene in a movie kind of resembled the cover of that book. I think that one has definitely crashed back down to earth.

Well done.

Kinkos edition?

Comic related movies and tv shows making books nobody gave two poops about into sudden "keys" for a brief time has unnecessarily annoyed me for a while. One current example is ASM Annual 16. Just because a character is in Wandavision now everyone has to own an issue that was regularly passed over at half price books not that long ago for the asking price of 50 cents. Personally one that I find extra annoying is the first appearance of Harley Quinn. Maybe it's because it's a kids cartoony book and I don't remember anyone caring about it at all prior to the terrible Suicide Squad movie. I'm sure there is a core of DC collectors who legitimately valued that book before the movie blew it up, but it feels like a huge bandwagon book to me. Just my irrational opinion. What movie based keys get you all riled up?

Superman is way too powerful. Seriously, how could he ever struggle with anyone? Yeah yeah kryptonite sure. But that feels forced and how often would that really come into play. It's not like it's just laying around. He basically has every power including invincibility. If superman existed in the real world no other super hero would ever be needed. I'm not a DC guy so I've never read a superman comic entirely, but I cant imagine how they came up with enough material to keep writing monthly issues for over 80 years for this guy.

Every copy of X-Force #1 on earth. Then I would fill a vault with them and swim in it like Uncle Scrooge in his money pit.

All I know is I'm glad I got my X-men #1 a year ago for fractions if what it's worth in today's crazy world

In the past when I was buying a lot in ebay I would just keep it simple and ask if the cover or centerfold were detached and if there was restoration. That info and the pics normally gave me all I needed to know. Even if it was a scam, which definitely happens, I was still always covered and never lost a dime. And I ran into many fraud or misrepresentation attempts.

Interesting. I know that based on the definition of the word variant they are variants because they deviate from the norm, but I personally don't like the term being applied. I suppose it's based on my own issues with the modern comic industry and the forced attempts to still make comics collectable by purposefully creating limited variant covers. To me once an item is recognized as being collectable then it has jumped the shark for all future production of said item. Sorry, didn't mean to go on a rambling nonsensical side rant there...

Is the accepted stance these days that they are variants? I know that CGC goes with "UK Edition" right? Personally I don't like the term varient or UK edition. I would like to see CGC simply put "Pence Price" or something on the label. To me a variant is a deliberate act to change the cover for asthetic reasons. The pence price on the cover was purely functional though. But maybe my definition of variation is too narrow...

Seems strange someone broke into a storage unit, stole what they could find including some comic books and immediately had the knowledge to list them on comiclink. If it was ebay or Craigslist I would get it, but is comiclink well known outside of the collecting community? Sure maybe the thief just googled "sell comics" and randomly went with comiclink but seems odd. Maybe I shouldn't admit this for fear of judgment, but I've been collecting for over 25 years and I've never once sold on comiclink. This thief knows more than I do

Agreed. The logic on these being rookie cards or first appearances is baffling. That image of the cover of Hulk 181 must have been printed on countless objects over time like t-shirts, stickers, those metal sign looking things people hang on walls, etc. Why would the picture being on a card VS any other random object have any sort of significance whatsoever? Sports trading cards are printed at the time the player is a rookie and that's the only true medium to collect the "first appearance" of a human beings sports career. The equivalent of the Hulk card would be if Fleer or whoever printed a card with a picture of Michael Jordan's rookie card on it 16 years after Jordan's actual rookie card came out. Would any person in their right mind pay money for that?

I can't even begin to understand this. I wouldn't pay more than a couple bucks for a 1990s card with a picture of the cover of Hulk 181 on it. And since when did non sports figures have "rookie" cards?? Did I step into some kind of bizarro world? Maybe I should unload those Topps Rambo cards I have from the 1980s. One of them must be Rambo as a rookie right? Or better yet, I have a VHS tape of First Blood. I can see the sale on ebay now... @WOW!!!LOOK!!! 1980 VHS tape!!!! FIRST appearance and origin of Rambo!!!! NEVER WATCHED!!!! Unrestored!!!! $10,000 Buy it Now!!!!

I don't get the mindset that US priced books are "more original" than UK priced books. That's not directed at you specifically, I know a lot of people feel that same way, but we know now that that's just simply not true. To me the negative stigma for pence copies is rooted in decades old confusion about the originality of the books and if they were reprints, not part of the original print run, etc. Sure today we know that's not the case, but ideology like that is slow to change. That's just human nature. The idea has overtly or subliminally been passed down to collectors over decades and has become ingrained as truth for many. I do think it will change over time, but slowly. As the older generation of collectors die off (at age 43 I'm no spring chicken myself) the negative stigma could fade and be reframed for future collectors in decades to come.

I was under the impression that the OP was marrying the centerfold, but looking back I may have misinterpreted the post? If the other centerfold is just slipped in there with no attempt to reattach it then I believe it would be qualified with a green label. Hopefully someone here who has submitted a book that way can confirm.