MAY1979

A melancholy expression-ed Batman and Superman say goodbye to the Silver and Bronze age

Yep in cuffs. Salicrup is a genius

My guess is it's sort of both or sort of neither. An amalgam of the 2 but with touches neither had. As you mentioned on the cover red hair, red hair on back cover too. On the now iconic Thanos Copter splash hair is reddish brown with red highlights same with the 2 pages that follow it. Then it varies by panel between darker hair and reddish. "These comics are easy to read" even if many of the story's are unintelligible

removed due to link rot

Found the Kirby/Romita #20 Cover and the #20 splash in different gallery's. Spidey looks like all Romita on that great cover.

"Top to bottom, left to right, that reading stuff is outta sight"

Reprint but my first exposure to the 68 series and J Buscema's great Namor art.

dupe again -having issues

dupe post

I'm real fan of the #20 Kirby FF cover which was years before my time. Don't have scan of my book at moment. Fun series. Love those Electric Company Characters like EZ Reader and Jenna.

The whole thing is a dream sequence

$800-900 above current going rate and in my opinion it greatly lacks eye appeal. The off-centering causes some of the right side of cover to be chopped off right threw the blue "collectors item" circle as well as the comics code stamp/seal and the M in "TM". There are many nicer looking copies out there, at least to my eyes, that go for hundreds less. Is it the pedigree or in general folks love to fork over an extra $800 or so to comiclink ?

It does make sense #1 has hit the $2000 plateau even though the population of the book in CGC 9.8 compared to other books is on the high side. - #1 and #2 (low distribution compared to previous and next issues) are books that were pretty much HOT from the very day they went on-sale. Other issues in the run of course too were very hot during the 1980's but not from Day 1 - #1 and #2 are books that all kids collecting comics in 1982-end of decade had or wanted badly. - #1 is one of the most remembered (classic) books and covers of the 1980's. - It can be argued the TV Show and GI Joe #1 are Pop Culture symbols of a generation and the demand for #1 far outstrips supply Speaking of Issue #2, I recall as child getting it at an unplanned and unexpected visit to a comic book shop. Issue #3 was already out and no issue #2 appeared and my local newsstand racks. For many reasons including the story it remains my favorite issue of the run. I still read it once a year.

In general if I had the newsstand as a child I seek the newsstand now. Same too goes for direct sale. From what I've noticed the last few years, I'm no expert just my own observation, is 1979-1985 (inside the era I collect most) newsstand copies sometimes command higher prices than direct sales. Seems to me the effect is more pronounced on Marvel than DC. As for myself it's more of a deal with Marvel as the direct sales covers are different from my memories if I had the newsstand back in the day. With DC only the UPC area is differs and at least as of now I do not usually seek out DC newsstand copies even if I had those as a child - DC Presents 26, Fury of Firestorm #1 and Batman and the Outsiders #1 being my only personal exceptions as those 3 only seemed off to me without the UPC code and I've really no idea why...

Here are two Digests that were not from Vane's collection. Ed Hannigan created many interesting original cover designs in the early 80's, Best of DC #36 is an excellent example. Classic Kubert!

Bidding/Snipping Services have been around a while. Last 16 years I have used eSnipe for any item I am serious about or when I know being able to place a bid will be an issue. Their charges are reasonable and they are kind with what in effect is overdraft protection. It's not for everyone, but for Dimez it might have been a perfect answer. Be aware some services are "sketchy" so best to do research or get recommendations from those who you know to be honest.

Giving kudos to his integrity and honesty was wrong? Is your concern is that it will scare off dealers or collectors who lack what Burkey has displayed? I've dealt with Mike for 20 years, Heritage "scandal", which I've lack of knowledge to the details, aside, he honors his word. Several times I purchased from him (via his site) and minutes or so later others offered him significant amounts more for the items if he voids the sale and deals it to them . In all cases he honored the original sale commitment to me. I participate in several hobbies and few dealers/sellers/collectors do the same in similar cases nor have his integrity. Not sure I want this to be a forum that does not value that trait.

As US Taxpayer I'm truly happy to see you admitted the cash sale in writing on a public forum. Kudos! The taxes on that will be a nice chunk of change (from my perspective, but of course nothing in overall scheme of things) for the IRS to collect and deposit into the US treasury.

Economics 101 Supply and Demand. Given the vast graded supply when demand dips or drops the going rate will follow Luckily got mine for $5 'round turn of the century.

Thought I bring out another for the season of holidays. Apologies in repeating yet again my thanks to Vane as without him I woudl not be the current caretaker of this festive on sale Dec 1981 high grade digest. Contains the unpublished (used in Cancelled Comic Cavalcade) Sandman #8 by Kirby.

For those (if any?) who wondered where this not classic cover was: https://www.newsfromme.com/2020/12/02/a-brief-cover-story/ Chan drew many cool covers, Superman Family 181 in my opinion was not one of them, although Lois is nicely drawn.

Please ask for an in use pic as well at thickness 1mil or 2mil If they are custom and fit nicely, more folk like me may have interest

No mention of Mylar size and a magazine is not shown. Unless the seller is having custom made mylar sleeves manufactured nothing from egerber, cole or bcw is closer than the egerber 1114M2 I use 1114M2 but they have too much excess even on thicker CGC magazine slabs. I do wish there was better fitting alternative.

I've also seen a video where the person gave a glowing review of the CGC graded cards, then a case opened (came apart on it's own) and the card fell out. Sure of course that could have been faked, but the guy even after that occurred was playing up CGC like he was a stakeholder IMHO it's an auspicious start and one that may put CGC in no win situations in the court of public perception. Seems like with proper Quality Assurance/Control and testing this could have been avoided. As I recall and have read for comics CGC conducted extensive testing that took a year or more pre-2000. Was that done with cards? If yes then how was all this missed or did something change on the Production front at last moment. If that did occur then why was that not QA tested? If it occurred without their knowledge that just as great of a concern. As mentioned a no-win situation that this occurred. While I'm not a big fan of Beckett, nor an avid supported of either SGC or PSA in the realm of buyer opinion based on eBay and auction house sales, PSA remains on solid ground (for better or worse). CGC will be grading Sports Cards soon -- I mean no offense but if I am sending Sports cards in, even if wait is longer, from a purely fiscal perspective at this point in time it is foolish not to use PSA (or SGC for pre-war non-mainstream cards as they are better at detecting restoration and counterfeits on ancient obscure stuff) I do still have great hope, CGC will be in Cards what they are to Comics. Sadly now it appears PSA's reign and Stockholm Syndrome type hold among collectors (including myself?) will persist for the foreseeable future. P.S. here is the "How to spot TAMPERED CGC Trading Cards Cases"

Had searched for a high grade copy for a decade before this popped up on eBay in 2006! IMHO the new cover was not only Ditko's first but overall best efforts of his brief late 70's return to Marvel