FlyingDonut

Crime Suspenstories "15" is identical to #1. #15 is printed on the cover and blackened out on the inside front cover with Vol. 1, No.1 printed over it. Crime Suspenstories was going to take Vault of Horror's place, but "Evidently several of the No. 15 were printed before a decision was made not to drop the Vault of Horror and Haunt of Fear series. The print run was stopped on No. 15 and continued on No. 1. All of No. 15 were changed as described above." (courtesy Overstreet, p. 420)

But that Hardcover is a totally different comic and is actually worth significantly more, just from an aesthetic point of view.

The Batman we're talking about is just a standard comic, but with a "special edition" cover limited to 200 geeks who'll foot the dealer tab.

Why? Something is "worth" only what somebody will pay for it. The "limited" Dark Knight hardcover is exactly the same as both the hardcover trade edition and the soft cover trade edition, just with a different cover, had 4000 copies printed, and Overstreets for $250. (p 351). I think the much more cooler Dark Knight is the blue cover hardcover trade edition, which is tought to find in grade.

But on a different, and more meaningful discussion, Vince - please tell me what books are OK with you to buy? I like you, buddy, but every single book that is discussed on these boards you slam as being spec-fodder.

Perhaps, just perhaps, the Batman 608 RRP version is ("shudder") a legitimate book for investment? I don't know if its "worth" $600 - I don't know if it is "worth" $10. All I know is there has been a five month sales history with the price chart slowly and steadily moving upwards, there are only 200 copies of this book with this cover in existence, there are a zillion Batman collectors out there, and Jim Lee is the hottest artist on the planet. I don't know if I'd pay $500 for one, but I would (and have) paid $300 for one.

I disagree in that I don't think this is a "manufactured collectible". It is an incentive to get dealers to come to the summit, much like a stupid key ring you'd get at a trade show. What the dealer does with it is another thing entirely.

I would be VERY surprised if this book does not have legs, given that there are a very low supply of them and a broad base of Batman people who want them. The argument is enforced by the absolute dog sales of the third book given out at the RRP, the Global Frequency 1 cover variant, which has story by fanfave Warren Ellis. That book you can't give away.

The argument is also being reinforced because the number of these books that are being sold on eBay has steadily dropped - there were a bunch of them in January and February, but this is the first one I've seen in a while. They are going into BatPeople's private collections.

I don't know - I would imagine that most retailers have already flipped theirs once. I know that somebody at the RRP was trying to buy all of the copies up.

I didn't, but my local comic shop did (Blatant Plug: Phoenix Comics and Cards in Herndon, VA). I bought one from them and sold three others, and then decided that since I'd much rather have that supercool Crime Suspenstories 15/1 cover variant that popped up, I'd sell my 608.

Haters haters haters.

There are only 200 copies of this book - note that the cover for Batman 608 RRP has been used elsewhere (most notably for the French edition) and will all but positively be used for the trade paperback.

The Fables 6 book is also going upwards in price, and is, in my opinion, the better "investment". That cover has also been used elsewhere, for the trade:

I don't think this is a manufactured "collectible" - this is an incentive to get dealers to come to the meeting. DC has given out alternate cover books at RRPs in the past, notably a very cool alternative cover to All-Star 1 at the Baltimore RRP in 1999 (which I have a nice 9.0 version, but my POS scanner is not working right). I think this book will in fact hold its value, as there are only 200 of them. This is akin to the Star Wars 1 35 center, I think this book has legs. I'd love to have the four back that I've already sold.

Thread from the LAST time you haters talked about this book...

basically this is the RRP edition that was handed out ONLY at the DC retailer summit in Burbank. Only 200 of this, Fables 6 with a special cover and Global Frequency 1 with a special cover were printed.

ah, but I think you're missing the underlying gist of his argument. You started collecting books when you were a child and moved on to bigger and better things. The argument is, and I tend to agree with it, is that the base number of new comic book readers is dropping precipitously every year, and with the smaller number of readers, there will be a corresponding smaller number of comic book back issue buyers, and then an even smaller number of big spenders.

This is already happening for comics that are no longer in the "mainstream" - look at the number of Fawcett books that sit unsold, for example. Nobody in their prime buying age read either them or their more contemporary counterparts, so there is no nostalgia to get the originals.

FIBs = F*cking Illinois B*st*rds. And the Packers. Blech.

Please. She's from Wisconsin. Oconomiwoc, or something like that. Probably a PACKER fan too. I'm from Illinois. She called us "FIBs". I'll let her explain...

I was nutty into collecting from 1975-1990 or so. All of my books were boarded by 1980, definitely by college in 1982.

We all stacked our books back then in piles. I remember the first time we found out to keep them upright was from Overstreet 6, which I would imagine was the first one to get national distribution. I would imagine backing boards were fully out by 1977 or 1978.

And again, just a personal anecdote - I tried to order a back issue Hulk 181 from Richard Alf in 1976 and was told he couldn't keep them in stock.

The first show I ever did was the Chicago Comicon in 1977 - we bagged and boarded all of our books specifically for that show, and were in the definite minority at the time.

You're welcome to Mark and Cris' email addresses, if you'd like.

You're making a BIG assumption - that people who bought those books KNOW about CGC.

I have two friends who were giant comic collectors with me in high school and college but sort of drifted away from the hobby due to 1) jobs 2) kids 3) hideous product. Their collections both are very nice, high grade stuff (even then we were picky), with these books:

Cris:

Fantastic Four 1-250 (first 50 or so are your typical mid-grade Silver, rest is HG)

Amazing Spider-Man 1-200 (same)

Hulk 102-somewhere in the 1980s (the 181 is, if I remember correctly, gorgeous)

bunch of Iron Mans, bunch of other stuff

Mark:

Cerebus 1-200 or so (he may still be buying it, I don't know), all very very high grade

Captain America 100-240 or so

Tales of Suspense 63-99 in VERY high grade (he was picky)

and a bunch of other stuff.

The point is that these two guys have collections, and until I talked to them about their books, had no idea that CGC existed. They don't read comics anymore, etc. etc.

So yes, I'll be there are more collections out there. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that there is a motherload out there somewhere.

And on the Hulk 181, just a personal anecdote - I tried to buy one via mail order from Richard Alf in 1976. He said he was completely sold out and couldn't keep them in stock. So even then people knew about it.

Damn! I want to see those Penalty Box comments! Damn damn damn!

Happy New Year to everybody!

My posts have nothing to do with with this book plus I did not restore this book and this book really is not restored. How can you be sure that any work was done on this book as there is NO indication that ANY work was done. Just because CGC may think so does not meen that it is 100% accurate.

First, my apologies for the assumption. If you didn't have the book cleaned and pressed, it was my error for assuming you did.

But you're missing the entire point of CGC. Whether you think the book was or was not restored is irrelevant. CGC does. And they are the only "third-party" service that is accepted in the market. If they say it was cleaned and pressed, NO MATTER WHAT YOU THINK, the marketplace will agree with them.

You RESTORED a Rockford book??

No wonder you had all those trails about "cleaned comics is the way to go". I simply cannot believe you restored a Rockford book. That's just amazing. You just cost yourself five thousand dollars.

I've sold several early Golden Age books missing two or three "wraps" on eBay - a Flash Comics 2, a Superman 3, 5 and 13, a Batman 2. But the best of all was just the Green Lantern story from All American 17 (2nd Green Lantern story), autographed by Martin Nodell. Somebody had cut just that story out and sent it to Nodell. Bizarre.

BTW, I have a coverless Fantastic Four 1. Would love to find a cover!

if you're interested, i can get a Fair Daring Mystery Comics 2 (Gerber 8, probably the rarest of all Timelys). COMPLETELY UNRESTORED, missing a piece from the cover. PM me if you're interested.

I've got a Fast Willie Jackson 2 and 3 in mid-grade, if you're interested.

A GIRL! A GIRL! I thought this was the Official He-Man Woman Hater's Club! (except for Joanna, we like Joanna cuz she busts on Meth and CI...)

Welcome to the funhouse...you'll soon see who everybody is. ...

Not caring one way or another, but just providing background for everybody who went "huh" when the Skakel case came up:

From ABCNEWS.com

The judge deciding whether Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel will face life in prison rejected a request by defense attorneys' today for a new trial.

Skakel, the 41-year-old nephew of Robert F. Kennedy's widow, Ethel, was convicted of murder on June 7.

He faces a minimum of 10 years to life in prison and a maximum of 25 years to life for the bludgeoning death of his teenage neighbor, Martha Moxley, in 1975.

Norwalk Superior Court Judge John Kavanewsky Jr. today rejected the defense team's assertion that the prosecution withheld key evidence during the trial.

Skakel's lawyers argued prosecutors improperly withheld a police sketch that suggested someone else could have killed Moxley. The sketch, defense attorneys said in their motion, resembled former suspect in the case, Kenneth Littleton, the Skakels' live-in tutor.

"One of the defenses pursued at trial involved a claim that Kenneth Littleton may have been the killer," the defense motion says. "Disclosure of the composite drawing would have been the linchpin for such a defense, and in all likelihood would have resulted in a verdict of not guilty."

The defense motion also accused prosecutors of not disclosing reports by a state investigator detailing evidence against Littleton and Skakel's older brother, Thomas.

Prosecutors insisted the sketch and other evidence was available to the defense and would not have altered the outcome of the trial.

After rejecting the motion for a new trial, Kavanewsky continued today to review submissions from Skakel's family, who were asking for a lenient sentence. Skakel's lawyers filed more than 100 pages of documentation Tuesday, including a letter from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., claiming that Skakel was a sensitive child who had been abused by his alcoholic father.

Brought into the courtroom in handcuffs, Skakel received whispered words of encouragement from family members today. He waved briefly at family members during today's hearing after his restraints were removed.

Skakel has maintained his innocence, and his lawyers are appealing his conviction.

Old Sentencing Rules May Help Skakel

Whatever his sentence, Skakel's incarceration could be cut in half because Connecticut sentencing rules that were in effect at the time of Moxley's slaying allow time off for good behavior. Those same sentencing rules also make Skakel eligible for parole.

Both these guidelines have since been abolished in Connecticut.

Moxley's body was found in the early hours of Oct. 31, 1975, on her family's estate in an affluent neighborhood in Greenwich, Conn. Police said the 15-year-old was beaten to death with a golf club from the Skakel home, which was next door to the Moxley house.

Prosecutors convinced jurors in June that Skakel, who was also 15 at the time of the murder, had been competing with his older brother, Thomas, for Moxley's affections and that Michael clubbed the girl to death when she rejected his sexual advances.

Skakel's conviction surprised many courtroom observers because prosecutors did not have any physical evidence linking him to the killing and there were no eyewitnesses.

Because of the time that had passed since the slaying and the lack of physical evidence, prosecutors had to rely largely on circumstantial evidence. Over the course of 27 years, some evidence was not preserved, potential witnesses died and the memories of living witnesses were open for challenge.

Prosecutors: Skakel Convicted by His Mouth

During the trial, prosecutors said Skakel had confessed to Moxley's slaying on numerous occasions over the years to several different people. Prosecutors had to rely on the memories of Skakel's former classmates at the Elan School in Maine, a residential substance-abuse treatment center for teens.

Several testified that they remembered hearing a troubled Skakel confess to killing Moxley or say he thought he might have killed her. Sherman challenged the memories of these witnesses, questioning their motives and their reasons for waiting so long to come forward with information.

Skakel's conviction was also an emotional victory for the Moxley family, especially Martha's mother, Dorthy, who had long lobbied police to keep investigating her daughter's case.

Dorthy Moxley today asked Judge Kavanewsky to give Skakel a severe sentence.

"I'll never see my daughter again," she said. "He should go to jail for a very long time."

Meth - do you have the original auction listing somewhere? None of us can see it, and without being able to see it, this is just you and Supa yelling at each other.

now...

three years ago, notsomuch

the star wars 1 9.2 that didn't meet reserve at $3049 about three weeks ago? That was this one. I sold it for $1385