jimbo_7071

I stopped investing in my 401K a few years ago in order to pay down the credit cards I had run up with comic book purchases after returning to the hobby with a little too much zeal, but that's because I'm sort of addicted, not because I've ever thought comic books in general were a good investment (although I never doubted that the mega-keys were relatively safe).

I agree with Mitch that a downturn is on the way, but I don't think it will be that bad for mainstream GA titles and classic covers. I do think mid-to-late SA and BA will get hammered.

I usually put a lot of thought into my purchases, but this Catman no. 26 comes to mind. I was lukewarm about it because the grade was lower than what I would have liked, but it has grown on me, and the cover has become one of my favorites. (I'd still upgrade if I had the chance, but only if I found a high-grade copy with equally fresh pages and vivid colors.)

As someone who collects based mostly on cover art, I'd have to say that I like both well enough but like 41 a little better. Still, I wouldn't consider either book important. I doubt I'd buy either one at current prices unless I were attempting to build a run. Robin appearing solo doesn't mean much, and the Joker story being the first one in Detective Comics doesn't mean much either since there had already been Joker stories in Batman. Both of those facts seem like trivia to me--part of the trend of trying to make every other book a key.

What other techniques are you thinking of? Some people have mentioned that the extra humidity present in a book immediately after a press makes the pages feel more supple temporarily, so books that are graded within days of being pressed often get a page quality bump.

It will probably go higher, but maybe when books hit that level, people start to actually look at the book instead of just the label. Some bidders do, anyway. It reminds me of the Vancouver Namora no. 1 that sold through Heritage years ago. It was a beautiful book, but there was no rational way to justify its 9.8 grade. It should not have graded higher than 9.4. Someone bought the label the first time it sold, but the he (or maybe somone he sold it to) took a beating a few years later when bidders actually bothered to look at the book.

Kaptain said:"Solid inner well looks like there is a wall surrounding the book. Soft inner well loops like the book is just suspended in a comic sleeve/bag. There is no wall for the book to bang into. The book pictured above has a solid inner well." Thanks; that does make it clear. Even most of my Gen 1 slabs appear to have a solid inner well. This book is the only one I found that doesn't (grade date 7/18/2000):

Maybe it can be colored very subtly, with watercolors or colored pencils, without obscuring the details. Or maybe he could color selected foreground elements on the page and leave the mid ground and background elements B&W. I don't know why hand coloring by the original artist would hurt the resale value; for me it would enhance it.

This book used to be a 9.2 (before I owned it). The tearing at the staple was caused by movement of the book within the inner well. It was in a Gen 1 holder. I'm not sure I know how to identify a solid inner well. Could someone clear that up? I'm wondering whether any of my other GA books are at risk due to being in the wrong kind of inner wells.

Catman Comics no. 13 is a Gerber no show.

I agree that a page should not be colored by anyone other than the original artist. (I probably wouldn't even want a page that had been pencilled and inked by different artists.) If I owned a modern B&W page, however, I'd consider hiring the original artist to hand color it. Some of the Heritage auctions have featured some Krazy Kat strips that were hand colored at some point. I don't know whether they were colored by Herriman, but they're gorgeous either way. (If anyone owns one of those strips and is thinking about throwing it away because it has been colored, I'll be happy to take it as a freebie.)

The second image is the back of New Funnies no. 72.

No. 47 is close to being a minor key because of the origin story, but I probably wouldn't refer to any of those issues as a key. All three books are easy to find. I'd be most likely to buy a no. 4 because I like the cover the best of the three, but it isn't an important issue.

It looks like the Gen 2 label was rolled out in early August, 2003. (There may have been some changes to the inner well even before the label changed, but I'm not sure.) http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/231273/site_id/1#import

Fantastic collection, Walter! It includes quite a few covers that I never even realized featured Hitler.