MAY1979

I see the original Aparo 462 cover art is on CAF - WOW, I'm rather jelly

https://www.comicartfans.com/SearchResult.asp?PM=1&txtSearch=adventure+462

On 8/9/2021 at 10:17 PM, JTLarsen said:

Isn’t the actual death in 461?

No.

The actual death is Adventure #462 on page 13 (11th page of story)

Floating/Disembodied heads were very popular on 1970's Comic Covers both Marvel and DC and early-mid 1960's Topps League Leader type cards.  I've always found them to be a bit creepy and unsettling. Certainly no selling point for me. 

However, as DC mostly did in the early 1980's, if neck and or tops of torso are shown the unsettling aspect for me goes away.

Example:

Great topic!

Yep very difficult to believe a book this significant to Comics History + the Batman legend, and extremely condition sensitive is now overlooked in these days of all things 1st issue or 1st appearance only.

Picked up my first copy as child out of a 50 cent section at one of my earliest visits to a comic book shop.  It was like finding treasure albeit a sad one given the story content.  Cover dated April 1979, indicia dated March-April 1979, the comic was on-sale in Dec 1978. For DC at that time Superman was the top dawg, earlier that year the GA Superman received a Wedding issue, then a big budget motion picture, but the GA Batman was killed off fighting a super-natural based villain

My scans are crappy,  the condition of the book is not

Thanks to Vane for getting this comic my way!

Sorry this happened to you, similar happened to me twice before I completely changed my purchasing paradigm.

A saying that is now uttered to the point of cliche "Buy the Comic, not the Label"  is something for last 10 years I try to apply to all my purchases. Even if it means many times letting books elude me if I'm not 100% confident they are in the condition I want.  I may be wrong but I believe most speculators and the "social media #1 and 1st app crowd" simply buy the label?

On 7/19/2021 at 9:49 PM, grapeape said:

Peter L it’s easy to defend Alex Ross. The exercise is to find art artists whose work could go down in the future. Alex deserves consideration simply because he’s enjoyed a long run of selling art at a high value. All good things come to an end?

That includes sacred cows like Ross. The Kincade reference is ‘marketing’ only (not process) that is marketing price points arrived at by  IDK. There’s a Spider-Man painted cover on site right now for $25K. If I buy that is it $50K in ten years? $75K in twenty years? Or will I have to let it sit  with an inquire tag (and get lowball offers? A best offer tag? Or will it sell for less?

See I think buying a painting like that is like buying a boat. I may get much pleasure from it. Not everyone can buy a boat. But I probably won’t get my money back. Am I wrong?

I addressed Alex’s superb Marvels work and agree that will always be organically desired and paid up for.

What I’m suggesting for the sake of this discussion is will the bulk of  Alex’s painted work as a whole really maintain value let alone increase? If you take any of the paintings currently on the website for sale and put them up for auction would they consistently approach his asking prices? What about after many many more are painted over the years.

So Peter just so I’m not the only one hanging out here ( I like Alex by the way) who do you think will go down in value and why?

Ross is steady producer of expensive non-published art as with anything financial "supply and demand" will eventually reign.  The question is will demand always equal or exceed the supply?

On 7/19/2021 at 8:42 PM, pemart1966 said:

Anything by Frank Robbins...

Harsh! Some folk like their heroes to look like junkies in the throes of withdrawal. 

While there are few 70's covers of his I like, I'm amazed at the value of the Invaders pages he penciled.

This post has self-destructed

I've been in the comic hobby a long time and too never heard of "Gus Vasquez".  Deadpool featured panels are all from side or a distance.  Bottom panel jumps out at viewer but the character is unknown to me.

$200-$300 perhaps you get lucky with a BIN? I'd say at straight auction $125-$150 if Deadpool is ultra hot at the time.

There is Deadpool art by more well known artists that highlight the character more prominently (and or in action) which generally sells for $600-$800

On 8/5/2021 at 12:50 PM, cbmitch said:

On a related subject, anyone know the print run of Death: The High Cost of Living #1 Platinum Edition?  I believe it was given to retailers as a thank-you for the launching of the Vertigo line with Death #1 as the first comic.  My gut thought is that  the print run of this would be similar to Spider-Man #1 Platinum which was given as a thank-you also and that is around 10,000 copies (which should be a much more expensive book for that print run but another subject).  Anyhow, a 9.8 just sold on ebay for $500 which there are only 13 9.8's in the census.  That price seems reasonable to me...

Regarding "Cost of Living" Plat 1 , variant collectors are a sub-set of Comic Collectors and sadly DC Collecting, especially post Silver, also seems to be a subset as well.  I know many Marvel only collectors but no DC only collectors.  If those 9.8 #'s increase I really do not think demand will follow in tandem.

As for me i collect DC and Marvel but have no interest in variants even if a few have made their way into my collection over the years.  Close friends I have that also collect have no variant interest.  So IMHO Variant collecting is a sub-set and by sub-set I am not referring to a  much lower collected niche status.

-------------

In my opinion #8 will exceed #1 possibly by a lot going forward;  1/3 the 9.8 pop, 1/2 the 9.6 pop. More condition sensitive and by all accounts lower print run than #1. Also a more collector desirable character first appearance. For those that actually read the book (I know the social media speculator crowd ain't doin' that) it's a much more enjoyable issue as well.  Again its only my opinion but I think the market is already playing it out.

JR could bring it. RIP

I have self-submitted UN-pressed CGC 9.8's of 1 and 8 which I purchased raw, of course, from my local shop during my youth back in 1989.  Sorry don't have pics.

Over the years I recall reading that after issue 6 DC increased the press runs after seeing the earlier sales numbers. Then vastly increased again after 9.  It was mentioned that the lowest print runs were issues 2,3,4,5 with 4 being the lowest. #3 remains my favorite issue of the run. Anyone have #'s for the print runs ?

Interesting that for issues #4 and #8 both the individual 9.6 and 9.4 populations exceed the 9.8's. Given the era in which these were produced that says to me they are somewhat condition sensitive.

I think #4 should be added to this thread title that way THE 3 Keys to the run are covered. 

LMK when it extends to Heathcliff

On 8/2/2021 at 3:48 PM, Lazyboy said:

The clueless social media speculators are regularly getting eyefuls of newsstand hype. Where do you think the (relatively) recent price increases came from?

Did not know that. That does splain things. Thanks 4 schoolin' me. Guess I'm clueless about the clueless. 

On 8/2/2021 at 3:35 PM, Subby1938 said:

In 9.8 they are tough some are rare . Throw in price variant to boot and you can get some htf comics . 
 

GIJOE 21 Canadian variant 9.8 ghost 

Swamp Thing ( 1st Constantine Canadian ) zero in census in 9.8

I've sent a bunch of Canadian Newsstands the past 3 years and even though I filled our submissions 100% correct, they still came back without the proper designations on the label

I also have talked with several other collectors and have seen posts in the Canadian Newsstand topic who have said same thing - appears getting the correct label notation is a roll of the dice.

IMHO don't be a trustin' the CGC census on Canadian Newsstands

Here are the 3 for which I have scans, all  were submitted Nov 2019 - what kills me is not only were my submission forms 100% correct but on the Supergirl it clearly says Canadian right on the book itself!

P.S. While I'm not a Canadian Newsstand Collector at a Fall 2019 con I came across a very friendly dealer (name eludes me at moment - sorry man) who had near a kiloton of them raw. So I picked up a bunch I thought were really nice on a lark then started to sub them to CGC.  

P.S. While I'm not a Canadian Newsstand Collector at a Fall 2019 con I came across a very friendly deale (name eludes me at moment - sorry man) who had a near kiloton of them raw. So I picked up a bunch I thought were really nice on a lark then started to sent sub them to CGC.

On 8/2/2021 at 10:06 AM, Dmac538 said:

I don't believe newsstand have reached their zenith, i actually believe they are picking up steam. Key point, GPA is finally listing newsstand sales, and who knows maybe CGC will start labeling newsstand designation. There are a lot of comics that are hard to find newsstands, DC in fact are hard to find newsstand. Newsstand topics are starting to pick up even here on the CGC boards. So i don't see this dying down any time soon.

Time will tell. It will be interesting if breaks that way, given the social media 1st app and 1st issue speculators buy the label not the book crowd still won't care

BTW collectors of the newsstand might want to keep it quiet if they believe it's picking up steam in an effort to keep prices down while they buy stuff up.

On 11/14/2020 at 9:36 AM, electricprune said:

 

Great innovative and unique Hannigan cover design.  Love that "forced" angled perspective. Probably my favorite cover in the run.

Many eBay sellers and seemingly most auction houses rarely if ever make any mention of Newsstand thus sampling likley too tiny to be a valid mechanism for historical sales.

It's strictly eye of beholder type stuff.  I know of other collectors like myself who prefer a book the way they remember having it back in the day.  I'm willing to pay a small amount extra (roughly 10% max and only if Marvel - DC's pretty much look the same) if I had the newsstand back in the day but that's as far as it goes.  Conversely if I had a direct sale when I was young I want a direct sale now.

I wonder if pressing works the same on thick stock covers?  Is it even safe on them?

On 7/20/2021 at 10:32 AM, Wolverinex said:

Solar 10 is awesome

and the only Comic Book cover I can draw pencil and ink just as well as the original artist

Solar 10, like most Valiant,  there were a metric ton (edit: as was pointed out pre-Unity #1 , thus merely 1/2 a metric ton)  printed but look how few in percentage there are in CGC 9.8. Very, very difficult to score in 9.8 the only reason there are the 150 or so on the census is due to the overall quantity produced..  Even the tiniest of defects is glaring on the cover.

I got mine in my youth, I was an instant big Solar fan after scoring many Gold Keys in 4 for $1 bins circa 1990.  Sent my #10 in to CGC years back as I knew I had a shot at  9.8 but had been wrong about these type things before. It did grade at 9.8, glad I waited back in the day for the 2nd printing to read the book.

Solar 10 remains my favorite Valiant book, with Shadowman #1 second, Solar 1 third, then Magnus 1 and 12 forth and fifth,.  Harbinger never really did it for me same goes for X-O. The Boniface Shadowman being my favorite original Valiant character creation.

On 7/27/2021 at 1:28 PM, Greatwhite said:

Is this an older label? Can it be reslabbed as a 9.8 Blue?

Yes that is the oldest/first label

IMHO the "old school slab" both, original red and blue, carry a slight premium with some collectors. It's pretty much a guarantee that the book has not been pressed especially if it is was a comic with low value back then like the Moon Knight.

Of course the cert number woudl remain the same but still seeing that older label (aka Flip) as mentioned will entice certain collectors as they know not pressed.

I've some high grade Silver and Bronze Age in those circa 2000-2002 labelled slabs that I would never consider having re-holder-ed.  My opinion keep the old slab!

As for the all things first appearance or #1 issue modern day crowd who buy the holder (and label) not the book my guess is they want the newest and shiniest, newton rings not withstanding, they also will leave the hobby when something else catches their short attention span IMHO of course!

P.S. If my MK#1 in circa 2019 slab was a direct sale, I'd offer you a trade.

On 7/18/2021 at 2:41 PM, Heronext said:

I don't know much about him either, but I did note reading ASM 194 that the interior art is really cool.

From 1978-1981 he was for a time the regular penciller of  Amazing Spider-Man, Fantastic Four and Thor . The former 2 listed at the time were Marvel's flagships titles.  He also did bunch of covers for various books: https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Keith_Pollard/Cover_Artist

I'm big fan of his work from that era! Underrated IMHO for that time frame.  His later art was not my cup of team however.

self-deleted