MAR1979

Fair enough although I'd mince it down a bit further: Shadowman #1 is the first appearance of Shadowman and 1st full Jack Boniface . X-O #4 is 1st unnamed cameo of Jack Boniface (who later becomes Shadowman) X-O #4 was actually the first Valiant back issue I ever purchased. Got it at small monthly show in July 1992 for $2. Sent it in this past spring in a nearly all non-Marvel, non-DC submission. One of only 4 book's in my purchase records I actually listed as "Mint". CGC felt it was a 9.8. It's one of the strongest 9.8's I've ever seen. When preparing my submission I even looked at the edges under 10x magnification . Really thought I had a plausible 9.9 candidate...

See it happen with Sports Cards as well. Many assume they have Gem Mint 10 cards (usually from the Junk Wax era) when is reality they are usually 6's or 7's at absolute best. What I find totally messed up is when many of these novices find that they have a comic in a "bag" or in a "bag with a board" or a card "in a holder" then believes the book or card must be near perfect condition as a result. Ofttimes they even make a big deal out of the comic being in the bag - as if it means something. I now cringe whenever I see a post to the effect of; I've returned or am new to the hobby and I have an Amazing Spider-Man 361 that is a plastic bag with board, how much is it worth? Should I send it into CGC? Can I retire on the gazillion I will make from it? P.S. Over past few months I've posted a small amount of scans of books I purchased raw when new then had graded (not pressed!) the last few years usually receiving a 9.8. It's not an easy thing to get a 9.8 as some newbies think. Even as child I noticed most comic buyers at my LCS would simply grab the top copy of a book - something I never ever did. I would go through the entire pile and pick out what i thought was in nicest condition. Because I was very careful and courteous my main LCS shop owner tolerated it most but not all of the time. If a book did not adhere to my criteria I would bicycle then later drive to another shop and see if a copy there met my OCD-ish needs. By the time I was in my 20's, after work many times I would have to go to 3 shops the night of release day seeking "mint" copies. It did wear on me as the years progressed. So much so that when I pretty much stopped collecting new books having moved to Original Comic Art it was a major relief getting out of that seemingly endless grind. So when someone figures they have 80's-90's gold having picked up some books when they were younger, I think unless they did similar to what I and other true collectors did they almost certainly have boxes of junk During a bubble some of the keys may command coin in mid-grade but that is fleeting.

How about the 50th for the 50th

Modern (25 books). Submitted under old Modern tier and previous price structure. Delivered 04/22/21 Received 06/14/21 Scheduled For Grading 06/14/21 Grading/Encapsulation/Imaging 09/17/21 Grading/Quality Control 12/09/21 Shipped 12/13/21 While it will be nice to finally get them back after 9 months, it's Highly Aggravating that according to the certlookup's the books were graded on 9/24 although not posted until 12/11. 23 of 25 I felt were "strong" 9.8 and I was correct. 2 were borderline 9.8's , 1 ended up 9.8 the other 9.6 . 22/25 were books I picked up when they were new between 1984-1990.

while I'm a big fan, Groo hovers just above niche. As flippers and speculators exit hobby expect a decent drop in 2022

Chuck knows that cover is from well within the Copper Age

Agreed those books along with HOM 92 defined the start of bronze age. In my mind there is no 1 and 0 type delineation from Silver to Bronze (nor Bronze to Copper) more of a book by book basis.

9.2 close to a border line 9.4. There are over 8000 copies of this book in 9.8 and and 75 in even higher grade. No other single issue has even half those number of 9.8's. Even the slightest drop in demand and those 9.8's crash in value possibly down to $40-$50 again. IMHO, unless the specific copy you showed us holds memories for you it simply is not a book worth grading unless it's a 9.9 candidate

You may be right. Will be interesting to see final hammer price.

The "Promise Collection' was nothing more than promise they would squeeze a buyer for every last cent by hook or by crook. Blatantly apparent but yet did not seem to bother most. In the State the auction will be held, it appears any and all fraud perpetrated by an auction house is legal. Thus no expectation the item will be pulled, even if they do its likley book will sold privately to some rube with deep pockets.

Rather common in art. Meaningless to an original art-collector. Those who collect OCA are generally far less fussy than Comic Collectors. With One-of-kind Items the paradigms of stuff like condition is nearly always overlooked. On the rare occasion I've have art signed, I always say please do not add a date. My wild guess on the #21 cover is $60K-$80K

I've moved most of my 401K into S&P 500 and Large Cap index's in Oct 2008 and increased my contributions to ensure max employer match at same time. I've kept all my comics, but as collector that's what we do. The point I guess is like any investment buy at a low. For comic's 2022 shows signs of dips and drops across the board - outliers and hot books of the day, of course always not withstanding. IMHO if you do not understand a market like Comics then find something else to invest in. Relying on others for advice especially with collectibles does not seem prudent.

I never read the first 30 pages of this topic I really just wanted to vent against X-0 #4. BTW I do own both books in 9.8 they are my original raw copies purchased when I was young, but it sort of diminishes Shadowman #1. I'll end my Off-topic stuff now...

Until you get into higher amounts. Only "drug dealers" walk around with 25K+ in cash. Wire transfers are generally monitored for AML so once the algorithms pick up on regular inbound high number transfers it will be reported Dealers, Flippers and Speculators for decades have committed what is tantamount to felony tax evasion (via non-reporting). Now at least some of that won't occur and those folks are Whining and Crying that they can not continue to steal as much as they had before...Amazing!

No Thanos Copter, No Sale.

Like X-O 4 somehow being attributed as the first Shadowman. Seriously 1 panel of a dude playing the saxophone. Never mentioned by name and over the years has supplanted Shadowman #1 as first app - WTF!!

Not easy to banish those type of "OCD-ish" demons, I know this from personal experience. Now that I pretty much have collecting is so much more fun.

Found another while continuing my slab scanning "project". These $1.00 Superman Family's have a fun look to them although seems like they were expensive in their day.

Some may call this a miswrap, I say a white spine makes it easier to obtain a 9.8 than black spine. When I saw this book I thought it looked great. One of my few internet slab purchases of 2021. Glad comics are not like stupid sports cards where every tiny manufacturing "defect" lowers the grade.

That one may soften a bit in 9.2 and below but it won't suffer same downward spiral in those grades as Eternals #1 or Secret Wars 8 or ASM 361 for example. There may even be some "dead-cat" bounces on those huge census pop in high grade books, but a year from now the going rate landscape on those likley will very very different than today and not in a way those who sell those items want.

Same with me on the '"run" books I have dozens that even I paid more for in 2001-2008 than they commanded even in 2020-2021. A speculator or flipper would who had done the same have moved on to other things rather than comics but I'm a collector.

Its just the start of correction, time will tell. As with most corrections not everything will be affected the same way and likley the way it does will not match predictions. Do remember after the last large scale bust it really took some sectors of the hobby between 1-2 decades to recover - new book sales have never recovered and never will. My guess is as the Social Media Crowd folks exit this hobby due to losses comics may become very "uncool" to them and little of that "new" money will remain. I believe it was those mostly uninformed* folks who were propping up high census pop copper/modern books. There will always be hot books and hot characters that go against a bear-ish market - consider those outliers. I know many who confuse outliers with trends, but eventually supply and demand always reigns supreme. * = the Social Media folks jumping on the bandwagon were being told things from speculators like only buy #1's , only buy 9.8's, and only buy "hot books" they were pushing.... Of course the real money to be made by speculating is purchasing quantities of 8.0's-9.4's cheap and sell them off for multiple of original cost as they ride the 9.8's coattails. This was done with ASM300, ASM361, Eternals #1, probably Star Wars 1 & 42, Avengers 196, WWBN32, and in Sports Cards think 1986/1987/1988 PSA5,6,7,8,9 Michael Jordan Fleer as prime examples.

At the very, very, very start CGC did not note PQ. I've heard that was only the first couple of months? I don't sell comics but guessing this may offend the sensibilities of a WP snob like Herr Storms https://www.cgccomics.com/certlookup/0000043015/

Not the first time across the board prices have dropped and won't be the last. On Blue Chips or true keys the effect is usually tempered. Except for stuff I may not see again in condition i seek, I've avoided buying since the latest bubble started to grow large. Now that it's receding there are items I will be going after. Expect the effect of a bubble burst/correction to impact lower grades of books of which High Grades Populations are large the most. Example in the coming year I see ASM361 and Secret Wars 8 in 9.6 and lower "sink like a stone that's been thrown in the ocean". ASM 300 Direct Sale in 9.4 (or 9.2 and lower) will become very very frosty. Spawn 1 with 8,109 copies in 9.8 or HIGHER copies will be crashing down even in 9.8 . Many other books fit this bill, be especially wary of 1990-1993 glut era stuff. My opinion the higher the population in 9.6 and above the more values will drop and drop (outliers and hot book de jour not withstanding). In effect what the market was from CGC inception until the past few years. All depends on how many dump their non loner shiny stuff and exit the hobby (hobby to us - for them merely potential quick bucks via flips)

Due to lack of supply, a reasonable guess is any 9.9 and 10.0 of any semi in demand book will always be a market outlier. BTW while I personally prefer old school slabs based on my experience many do not. Thus the newer slab with the gold 9.9 might have had folks more willing to go after it? The real indicator of market is to see how much books like that have already dropped in 9.8,9.6,9,4,9.2