Readcomix

23 minutes ago, comicjack said:

Hot book right now 

Yes, lucky timing...just couldn't pass them up given it was 1-8 all high grade, just sitting there.

First of eight posts, found in wild (antiques shop, definitely not dollar bins though)

1 hour ago, Patriot6 said:

What a beautiful set! I just completed my run last week when I found an acceptable #2, which then got bent in the mail :(.

They all look to be (without seeing the back convers) high grade. A few things: for some reason, may just be the picture, the lower staple on #8 is bothering me and spine tick, #7 the top right corner looks rounded, #6 are those small tears on the right side of the cover?, #5 light non colour breaking spine ticks, #4 light spine ticks some red missing to the left of Subby's lleft leg at top corner left, #3 top right corner looks rounded and the comics code box ...smudged?, #2 slight indentation under the name Triton?, #1 I see a crase bottom right corner.

I felt it would be easier to list the faults I saw, because there are so few. I would say they all are at least 8.5(depending on #s 6&3) while some exceed 9.0. 

For me, #6, #4, and #3 are the lowers and as mentioned above the lower staple on #8 bothers me. 

Wicked set, congrats! I love it.  

Thanks so much, Patriot6! Your observations are on the money, and a complete cataloging of the flaws. Live, I'd say the 5 and 4 look "worst," as the 6 has an impeccable spine. Tears aside, it looks awesome otherwise. All 8 are exceptionally flat and high gloss, and most have tick-free or 1-2 tick spines. 

Sad thing is, #1 aside, looks like the others need to hit about 9.4 to be safely worth grading from a price perspective today. That said, I will probably bite the bullet and do it at once. 

Stinks about your #2; But congrats on completing a great underrated set. 

I don't think any of these comes in below 8.5, assuming safe transit, but I'm not sure what the top end I can hope for is with late SA. I think some reaching 9.4 is reasonable. Every one of them has a flaw or two at least so I doubt any 9.8's, but maybe the best couple could hit 9.6 on the right day? But if I had to bet now, I'm thinking all eight come back between 8.5 and 9.4. 

9 hours ago, SquareChaos said:

The results of this behavior as I see them...

1. The majority of the copies available to collectors are usually the inferior, or at least less desirable, copies when speaking about a ratio or incentive variant
2. Often, the 'less desirable' cover is done by the series regular artist - this can create a problem in and of itself depending on the regularity of variant covers for the series in question
3. Loyal fans and collectors appear to eventually become fatigued with this behavior; they may want every issue printed of their favorite series, but most may wish to see a reduction in the frequency and ratios in use
   1. Intuitively, it would seem that for some percentage of collectors this practice will result in less money to spread around the hobby. Perhaps they decide not to experiment and take a chance on a new book due to the inflated cost associated with acquiring every issue of the books already on their pull list
4. Again, intuitively, due to this new revenue stream, creativity may suffer since the publishers can always simply commission another incentive variant and print more books
5. Shop owners need to deal directly with any ill will that may come out of this behavior - the publisher does not need to deal with the public every Wednesday or explain to a loyal fan that if they want every cover being released that month they need to purchase 1000 copies of the regular cover
   1. Compound the potential negative above with the potential positive of seeing increased numbers due to clients chasing high ratio variants
      1. Compound the potential positive above with the potential negative of customers growing fatigued and exacerbated with the publishers behavior and moving on from the hobby
6. Something about ratio variants appear to fan the flames of speculation - look at the modern forum and a large percentage of the posts there on a weekly basis are about variant covers, perhaps even as many or more than there are about stories and content. Some of the most active threads are associated with variant covers. Of course, this may simply be due to the changing nature of modern comics in general.

 

I could probably go on, but overall... I don't see how my list is healthy for the hobby in the long term. I'd be interested to read the take of someone that feels otherwise.

Well, I can't help you because I concur with you. While I sort of understand how point #6 happens (classic cover collecting has always been a popular niche) I think it's become a major part of collecting for the "this will be worth more someday" crowd because the odds of today's new books being scarce in High grade down the road are so much less. But it's hardly a foolproof long-term play, especially with so many options available. Plus, if I'm right that people think they are chasing the CSS22 of 30 years from now, the model is flawed. There are lots of awesome covers from all eras that don't necessarily command a significant premium despite their awesomeness. Still, speculation is usually part of a collector's make-up, and publishers' current business model plays on that.

Back of #1

PGM SA Sub-Mariner 1-8

Acquired these today after weeks of discussions. I know these aren't lacking in high grade on the census, but I was still shocked to find them together, uniformly nice in the wild. I'll post them sequentially. Will all eight get into the 9's?

Daughters of eternity to waiting an eternity

Green monster, damsel in yellow, Feldstein to green monster, damsel in yellow, Whitman

Green lizard-like to green lizard-like men

Steel Sterling and friends to Steel Sterling and different friends 

Silver Surfer 19?

Of course, the series ended on #18 but I'm wondering if there's any apocrypha out there about the unpublished #19? Is it sitting in a file somewhere; are the unpublished pages dispersed out there, etc? The ending of #18 (below) indicates a new direction in which the Surfer was to be a Namor-type rather than a gentle soul. I've always wondered about where this was to go, even if it was to be for an issue or two. Anyone ever hear or read anything on this?