Readcomix

Nah, staples good.

Of which there's maybe 3-5 that one might be inclined to pay $90 for!

Colors, gloss, structure, pages all pretty good but lots of color breaks on cover (looks like it got scrunched up once and that did it) kill it. So where do you net out?

I've got a couple of LaRocque's pages from PM/IF 73. Will try to shoot and post tonight. I was in high school when it came out and bought them from him at a local con. When it comes to nice creators, this guy is straight out of the Joe Sinnott camp -- one of the nicest, most engaging guys you will meet. Bought those and one of his Simonson-inked pages to What If 32, a twist on the Avengers Korvac saga, one of my all-time favorites.

Dr Crime and the Pygmies of Terror oughtta be a rock band! Seriously, I love GA Cap and had to pry this loose from the local dealer before someone else did! I realize one can't land everything of course, but somehow I kick myself harder if I miss out in my own backyard, as opposed to auctions etc.

I've been trying to get this guy to part with it for a few months I think. There's a father-son antiques center in my region and the son is also a collector-dealer of comics, though their main business is furniture. On one of their "buying runs" they came back with a handful of GA - we worked out a deal for Silver Streak 16, Pep 40, and National 24. A week or so later, I went back for Captain Midnight 5. But he did not even want to sell the Cap 12. Then he sunk four figures into a 2,000-book collection full of easy sellers he could not pass up (ASM 129, BA 12, Star Wars 1, MP15 etc). So I offered on the Cap as a way for him to quickly get some capital back in hand. Having not yet sold much from the big buy, he decided he was ready to sell.

Thx Jack!

Manhandling Mandrills to More monkey business

Agreed -- in the case of the Tampa listing, I am assuming his $15k # is a ploy to set the bar high. I would think he wants someone to pay far less than that but still far more than the pile is worth. I don't necessarily think he's looking for a dupe with $15K; I think the high ask is part of the set-up. As to the latter -- more than you think. There's an antique shop in Saratoga NY that, according to locals, paid an elderly couple $5000 for their AF15 and ASM 1-50. Yes the antiques shop graded them all but the eBay auction was heartbreaking to watch. The 15 was maybe a 2 or 3 but of course went for more than double the purchase price; the entire run was in the 8.0 range, give or take. You can approximate the retail math. Closer still, to the urban legend -- a guy in my area is given three comics by his old lady next door neighbor. She found them around the house, and he had little girls. Thought the kids might like them. Two bugs bunnies and an ASM 1. He didn't bother to tell her what she had given him, but he did take it to the LCS looking for the free appraisal, which is how I heard the tale. So the like does happen.

The casual collector cashing out is one thing, but how is overcharging someone (in a time when new, casual collectors are cropping up and overpaying for these collections) worse than the apocryphal story of someone paying an old widow $20 for an AF15? I'm being rhetorical; neither scenario is cool.

I like the free appraisal response, thanks. I've used a similar tack in buying books. I tell potential sellers I don't do bidding wars. For example, one guy (retiring flea market vendor) had six comics left to his name -- an ASM 4, a Hulk 181 and four really sharp ASM 300's. We discussed the books, I even gave him mylars and boards for them, but when he disclosed that he had a long-time customer who was a potential buyer too, I declined to give a firm offer. I told him instead I understood and appreciated his wanting to give his "best regular" a shot, especially as the person expressed interest and bought big ticket books from him in the past. I offered to exchange numbers and make an offer if they did not come to a deal he was happy with. It took almost a year for him to say that the guy would not be buying the books, but I did buy them at a reasonable price. The problem with CL is it's usually an email or text exchange off the bat, making it hard to do without human interaction. If CL people can't feel you out and get where you're coming from, they usually disregard and move on. So those who insist "make me an offer" are a bit frustrating. Not because they want to cash in but because they want an offer from a vague general,description (eg -- 77 Marvel superhero comics from the 1980s).

I've got those guys too!

Bodies in green to baddies being mean

Been working for a couple few months to get this guy to part with this...

And three

Three pick-ups today...one and two....

Quicksilver to Whizzer

Secret agent in New York to brawl atop a New York landmark

That did it...off to the kitchen!

Thx! Will post if I land it. (And while I love my family, I stayed single a long time so I fully understand that happiness!

Single, or at least empty nest? I remember when I was single (granted, adjust for 17 years ago) my weekly was about $35, and most of it was beer and cigars! What a great thread....I planned almost two hours ago to go downstairs and assemble a ridiculously esoteric sales thread (I cannot lie; trying to buy a GA cap tomorrow ) but this is worth holding off!

That's what I'm getting at...'til then, I think folks will continue to be surprised that books they think cannot have legs left will continue to climb.

Getting north of $250 anyway...kids....being people is getting pricey! I'm shocked myself on a weekly basis, and I do the shopping and am cheap, but somehow it adds up....with kids, I load up in the dairy aisle more than I would, and that's pricey, I guess. Lots of produce, but other than berries not much there that's expensive, generally. A little bit of cold cuts is $20-$25 (10%!) alone.

What a great thread; so many points kicked off by a great a first post! I can't recall every point I wanted to chip in on! In no particular order, with the eBay thing, fwiw I try to look at available vs sold listings at any given time when trying to decide about supply/demand of a book....its fluid, a snapshot in time, and today's available is tomorrow's sold.....some day, eventually.... As to the GA books, there is no guarantee that no one will want them when the 60-plus crowd sells, and there is nothing to say that six-figure buyers are not fans as well as investors. It's easy to think of oneself as a collector or flipper or speculator, but I suspect many of us exist as a hobbyist on a continuum....many folks on here (myself included) openly talk about selling to buy other books....I pick up books I know are a deal that are not in my collection sights if I feel I can turn it over again to improve my collection and acquire something else... But I'm getting away from the original point; sorry....I always assume when high census hot keys are referred to as plentiful that people really mean that if the book cools it will be that much more sensitive to sudden volatility. Makes sense, but taken to its logical conclusion the implication is the sweet spot is a character as popular as wolverine with a first appearance as uncommon as HOS 92, as popular as Spidey but as uncommon as TTA27....but not so uncommon that it slides into obscurity like cool but affordable GA books .... Then my head hurts and I just accept that most collectible markets are volatile and thinly capitalized. On a related note to VMan's initial post, with everyone saying lately of the Marvel Silver and other plentiful hot keys that the bubble has to burst, I'm not sure it bursts until the larger money-printing bubble bursts (then we have bigger problems, but that's another topic)....when I look at the cost of living, I think to myself if I sell some "overheated" $600 key (being arbitrary for the sake of discussion here) what am I going to buy with it? Two nights away, barely? Two weeks' groceries and s night of take-out? New brakes and rotors? Real expenses, to be sure, but hardly a lot of real world return on the sale of one's investment. In this context, the good stuff among comics (and I define it broadly) has room to run.

Seems low. Any clarity in the grading notes?