Michael Browning

Mike, what if every time a sketch or drawing you posted was called into question on a public forum - casting doubt on a piece that is absolutely the real deal - and that caused people to doubt what you are selling and caused those pieces not to sell? He could have gone to Frenz first and asked. He could also have gone to Ruben and asked him for the provenance. Soon, no one is going to be able to buy a commission or sketch without it being questioned and that hurts a piece’s value - no matter if, after the doubt is raised, it is determined to be 100% authentic or not. There will always be that lingering doubt and that could be stopped by simply asking the seller and the artist rather than posting a statement that read like he was accusing the piece of being a fake.

Yeah, I've had a few of these "ghosts", too. Didn't realize they were ghosts. Huh.

I greatly appreciate you, Malvin, for being a responsible voice of reason and for your comments on here. Everything you posted was right. What sucks is that a few months back I got a nasty message from a board member on here who greatly dislikes me -- all because of my tough stand on this very issue on the comicart-l Yahoo group. So, thank you.

This irresponsible allegation takes me back to my arguments against such actions (for which I received a bad reputation) on the Yahoo comicart-l group. Why wouldn't the OP ask Rueben or Ron Frenz first, rather than impugn a true cover prelim by starting an accusatory thread like this? I made a lot of people mad on the comicart-l group by standing firm on the fact that these types of questions are irresponsible and can injure the value of the art in question, but I continue to stand by what I've always said before: Please do your due diligence before making public accusations like the one that started this thread.

Actually, the Carnage Mind Bomb one-shot from 1996 has been selling for around $20 for years. Carnage It's A Wonderful Life, which came out later in 1996, has also been selling for upwards of $10 for years. They are very oddball books because they were very mature for a Marvel comic featuring a Spider-Man villain, but that was a time of transition for Marvel and they were trying different stuff so we got these two Carnage issues. Mind Bomb has gone up quite a bit. But, it's one of those 1990s comics that didn't have a big print run and they aren't that easy to find, so, it was due to go up, in my opinion. Cates made it a must-find comic for his fans and it exploded. I went looking for a copy in a bunch of comic shops down south this week and came up empty. Matter of fact, one shop clerk in Myrtle Beach said he had a copy at home and I asked if he'd sell it and he wouldn't even listen to an offer on it. I have looked for these for years because it's always a strong seller. I think I've had 10-12 copies over the years and all of them were found in shops where 1990s books had been stockpiled and shoved to the back room because everyone considered that stuff to be garbage. Now, I'm sure a lot of those people who said 1990s books were garbage are scouring those 1990s long boxes to see if they can find one.

Here’s a look at the very cool Kyle Hotz original art for that issue’s cover:

I’ve had six or seven copies over the years and I buy it whenever I find it cheap, but it definitely isn’t a very common Ultraverse comic.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/russ-heath-dead-comic-book-artist-was-91-1137353

Rune vs. Venom - the first appearance of winged Venom is selling pretty high all of a sudden.

It's one of the DC Universe UPC variants that were only sold in sets or in bricks of 20. There's a growing market for these because some are harder to find than others and it's part of a variant set that collectors want to complete.

Jealous much? I'm not sure how you don't understand because I've told you this time and time again. If you'd done the research and the interviews to find out all about these -- and got them listed in the Overstreet Price Guide and Comics Buyer's Guide like I did -- then I'd give you the credit for discovering them. However, you did not. Matter of fact, I don't know of anything you have contributed to these threads or to comic fandom and history. Jon McClure can be credited as discovering the 30/35 cent variants because he was the first to research them and their sales and he got that research listed in the Guide. So, I (and many other collectors) do consider him to be the person who "discovered" those variants. Here's an idea to help you better understand: You go to work for Overstreet like I did for 15 years and dig up stuff previously not listed or not known to exist and record the sales of those rarities and then get that information listed in the Guide. Or, contribute something of note to these threads. That's really all I'd like to see you do.

I DISCOVERED them by finding the first copies that were sold and had those sales recorded for the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide and Comics Buyer's Guide. Before that, no one knew, besides their owners, they even existed -- and most of them didn't have any idea what these were or that they were different/variants. My mistake on the Blind Justice. That's one thing you were correct on, it was 1989 and not 1992. I did the work on getting those listed in the Guide and I wrote the articles in Comics Buyer's Guide that told of their sale and existence. Same as I did the Miracleman Gold #1s and Blue #1s, the SoMuchFun! variants and the MPI cassette tape variants.

When I discovered the Man of Steel raffle edition and the 1992 Batman Blind Justice retailer giveaway, the first person I went to was Paul ... who told me that the books didn't exist and that DC had no record of it ever being printed. I had to do a lot of research on my own to find all the info on these. Paul is a GREAT source and a friend, but someone like Bob Rozakis might be the best person to go to. I'll see if I can get him to remember how these came about.

What is the comic inside the three-pack? It looks like a Marvel Adventures Spider-Man.

Where have you found them? I look for them all the time, thinking that, since they were sold through Family Dollar stores, they might be in longboxes that I go through in shops, but I have never found any in a store before these. I do find an occasional copy of the Iron Man, but never any of the Hulk 340s.

They came from the same shop and were in the same longbox.

And one more from earlier in the week (the photo doesn’t actually show the hologram’s true color - it is a dark blue and teal hologram. This is a different copy than the other one I posted earlier tonight):

More of my weekend finds:

It is actually the Hulk 340 Marvel Custom Comic that was sold only in three-packs in Family Dollar stores. This is the still-sealed three-pack. There's an Iron Man on the back and, I think, a Marvel Adventures Spider-Man comic in the middle. I never find these in the wild and they were sold through Family Dollar stores three or four years ago.

Found these in the wild:

Found these in the wild:

Tonight, I put up 10 of the best pieces from my collection with very fair prices (all at what I gave for them years ago). Please take a look and buy. In this group are covers by Erik Larsen, Tom Sutton and Tom Grindberg/Jackson Guice. These are great pieces at very affordable prices. Thanks for looking! http://www.comicartfans.com/galleryroom.asp?gsub=192411

Here are the ones I have: Action Comics 700 (2 copies), 724, 726 Adventures of Superman 511, 513, 514 Aquaman Time and Tide 1 Batman and Robin Adventures 7 Batman 508, 514, 527, 533 Catwoman 12 Batman Shadow of the Bat 48 Detective 672, 673, 674, 695, 702 Final Night 1, 2, 3 (2 copies each), 4 Green Lantern 51, 53, 65, 66 (2 copies), 67, 75 Green Arrow 110, 111 Justice League Task Force 23 Robin 7, 8 and Annual 5 Sovereign Seven 1 Steel 24 (2 copies), 28 and 29 Superboy 1 Superman 92 Superman The Man of Steel 58 Superman The Wedding Album (Byrne cover) Superman Toyman 1 Wonder Woman 96 I bought all of these for research purposes and because I found this thread and then started finding these in longboxes in shops near me. This is not a "for sale" post, but I did sell my Showcase '94 #7 (I saw it pop up on here a couple posts back) and I really don't collect these, so I'm willing to let them go to help fill holes in collections.

Are those the Mighty Marvel Must Haves?

I had this happen when I was trying to buy a Jenny Frison Red Sonja cover. I paid and was told the art would ship on a certain day, but it didn't. Cadence's owner kept saying he was sending the art the next day and, after several days of waiting, I asked for my money back. I was banned from his site by him and Jenny Frison,. which was a blessing, since I used the cash to buy art that is drawn on one board and not in two pieces. I am so glad that happened because I hate art that is penciled on one sheet and then copied and those copied pencils are inked on another.