the blob

Mile High has actually been good too. It can be a challenge finding something not 4X FMV there, but I have been happy with the grades.

On 5/4/2021 at 7:23 PM, shadroch said:

I bought an Avengers 1 from MCS they graded a 2.0.  CGC called it a 4.0.

A TTA they called 3.5 came back a CGC 6.0

My recent purchases the 3.0 looked like a 3.0, but the 5.0 really could be a 7.0-9.0 in a slab. I am not sending it in, but it looks the same as a 7.0, which frankly looks better than the 8.5 I have....

i can't believe anyone would have paid extra for a charlton!

Book 10: Spawn #1. Anticipated 9.2-9.4. Another one I am curious to see if higher happens and one that I may sell if it hits this grade or better as I do have a regular Spawn #1 and for me, the sale could go towards some much better stuff!

---

Is this a newsstand? Slabbing a regular 9.2 may not make economic sense.

OK, so you're not going to buy new monthlies, but fishing a story line from 6 months ago out of the discount box is not out of the question? I get it, I can't remember the last off the rack comic I bought just to read for myself. I've bought my kids some, sure. But everything else has been the occasion #1, a couple of store autograph editions, something I knew was hot on ebay, or some cover that just knocked my socks off ... and sometimes when the big companies do $1 comics...like they did a few years ago with some round of #1s...I figure if they do a $1 release I should buy it. i'll read my cheap-o box buys, sure. not all of them. i don't have the time.

On 3/3/2021 at 10:34 PM, Etreiw said:

Ah Earth 2 (DC)  man there was so much potential with that series but sadly the storyline went kaput and it ended...forever logged into one of my comic book boxes.......

3 issues from the series are now expensive. i hate breaking up my set, but now is the time.

1 hour ago, Comics4All said:

You are doing yourself a favor!

The best move I made was stopping my pull list to buy Ultimate Xmen and various Drek at $3 and up!

I channeled that $ in buying SA & BA which is my passion for comics, & 95% of the new stuff is Drek anyway!

When your finances are better maybe you will revisit the LCS again,,, but for now, you ain't missing much! 

A lot of BA and SA is drek, as in it sux. Mainly the DC books, many of which are objectively terrible. But we collect them anyway! The Marvel stuff is usually readable today. DC, not so much, outside of war, horror, and a few others (ok, guys like denny o'neil were writing readabke stuff, but he was more in the BA). What makes the new stuff drek? Drek as in badly drawn/written, or you think it is too common? Most recent books are probably no more common than many BA books. 

12 hours ago, Etreiw said:

Exactly!  The thing is, we who bought print are getting old, when I went to a small comic convention, did I see any young kids going through the $2.00 comic boxes? No I did't, so down the road when the seller is trying to unload those $ 6 dollar comics, they gonna have to drop the price just to get those 70 year old comic book readers..........

I see kids going through cheap boxes. those are the boxes they can afford. Part of the problem is many conventions are so dang expensive it keeps some kids out.

Mine did. He had some titles he wanted to read from 1 up like Howard the Duck (2000 version) and Earth 2. I was a little annoyed he got them out of a $2 box (as some probably could have been found for $1), but I bought them anyway as I didn't want to discourage his desire to read them, Anyway, once read he gave them back to me and i will be getting my money back and then some on two issues of Earth 2.

On 2/28/2021 at 7:00 PM, Etreiw said:

Having seen some DC comic previews for March, April and May, I know there's some pretty interesting storylines coming out but I can't walk back into a comicbook store cause the temptation would be to great.  If I want to keep a roof over my head and able to buy some food....comics are the one that have to go.  Ebay? I have never bought anything comic related from Ebay and I sure in hell won't start now.   Gonna be tough for the next couple of weeks though. 

My reference is the book that is $35 or $40 on ebay that you see on the rack for $3.99. Yes, you might not be buying it to read it, just immediately sell it. I agree, if you have no capacity or interest in ever selling anything, buying new comics is a problem.

I agree, I am not trying to get involved with stories. Thankfully I am really bad about that. I usually loose interest in a few issues (which lost me a lot of money on Walking Dead when I stopped reading it in the late 60s). The last few years I have probably bought 5-8 new comics a year (it was TWO in 2020), mainly covers that caught my eye, some #1 I thought might be a big deal, whatever. It's more a matter of never say never. 

The fact that 98% of what is $4-6 now will be a $2 or less back issue later does create a big disincentive. I wonder if comic companies allowed some returnability of books, thus severely limiting the amount of overstock out there, if that would actually raise sales. Of course, we have decades of back issues that need to get unloaded, so maybe it is too late. 

Don't be silly. Something will catch your eye. I bought the Ross Hulk/Thing diner cover just because I really liked it. I bought the something is killing the children virgin cover at cover price because I thought it looked cool. I didn't even know it was hot. And I wasn't about to pass on an ASM 55 at cover price -- At the very least you may find yourself staring at a book on the rack that is currently $35 on ebay and say "I might as well" unless you pledge to never go into a comic shop again.

1 hour ago, ft88 said:

Back in March 2021 the world seemed to be coming to an end.  If you recall, some real high end books were sold on the boards.  A Marvel Comics coverless for $10k I remember.  Was shocked that quality books didn't even see a blip down in prices.  Some sold but others didn't so there you go.  

Hey, I have the website, they can have the Facebook.  I've tried selling there and had zero luck, but I didn't try real hard either.  

But you're not spending a ton of money maintain a buying advertisement, i hope? I guess it is something you need to have a huge inventory and a lot of high end stuff to be effective with? 

Is you website the xcollectibles in your profile? I don't see anything for sale, just an ad to buy comics? That seems like pretty expensive at $500/mo. How are you ever going to become blazing bob and retire from your day job if you don't list stuff there? also, it looks like someone else got that name on facebook and other places?

On 3/21/2020 at 6:55 PM, ft88 said:

Collection in today. Maybe not the best time to buy high end books but I don’t come across books like this too often. 
 

It seems that if you dilly dallied in selling them you might have done really well, just not flipping them in april. 

you're the one who asked about pressing. it is insane for a neophyte presser to work on expensive books. i think you understand that. you press junk ones to get practice.

On 1/3/2021 at 9:04 PM, comicginger1789 said:

I am hesitant to dive into pressing...is it that easy to do? I have stacks of "junk" books for practicing cleaning, which I started doing. Pressing though would be the next level and I don't know if I am there yet. My fear would be that if I went to try and press some key issue, I would destroy it and never find a way to replace it. For example, my ASM #300 is probably a 9.4 as is and mayyybee a press makes it a 9.6 but since I would just be selling raw some day anyway, I don't think pressing is needed for me. 

Don't even think about pressing an expensive book on your own. No harm in practicing on junk books. Heck, I have turned $1 books into $2 books simply by putting them under 2 or 3 heavy magazine boxes for a couple of years!

What do you pay for flats nowaday? (Which I assume is one side of a cardboard sandwhich). i cut my own as we order a lot of boxes, but I I dread doing it as I do it out on my porch and it is cold right now.

On ‎3‎/‎21‎/‎2020 at 6:55 PM, ft88 said:

Collection in today. Maybe not the best time to buy high end books but I don’t come across books like this too often. 
 

Seems like a great time to buy books like these...just not at January 2020 prices?

I actually have a bunch of original Archie OA from this era too. Funny stuff I wanted to frame, but gave up on that idea when I realized how much it would cost to frame entire 5-6 page stories. Ok, a little later, but I have the tarzan story from this one:.... Am I allowed to comment like this in a journal?

Not to be a grumpster, but where on earth are you finding these 10 cent archies for $1? I haven't for years. I've been having to spend like $4-6 a pop lately. It's killing me! Anyway, I have to say, I have a very similar affinity for these goofy comics and pick them up when they don't break the bank. And I'm not even doing it under some sort of long term convoluted speculation play like most of my purchases, I just enjoy them for their corniness.

RMA, are there other, unannounced, second prints out there? Did it really go all the way from Superman 1 to SW 1/Micronauts 1/Shogun Warriors 1 (am I wrong about the last 2? I feel like I've seen "reprint" on them?)

1 hour ago, Point Five said:

Awesome, RMA. I remember so many of these sellout books from the 80s and 90s. Nice to see the connective narrative.

Back in 1986, I somehow had the good fortune to buy extra copies of The 'Nam #1 and #2 right as those books started exploding and sold out everywhere. 14-year-old me took two copies of each to my local LCS and enjoyed strutting around like a big shot for an hour while the shop owner tried to offer me a rather outlandish number of SA/BA issues in trade. I turned down his offer, and quite appropriately the 'Nam issues cooled off immediately and I felt like a fool.

 

That is crazy. I see so many copies of Nam 1 sitting in cheap-o boxes now. Once upon a time there was so much room for this sort of arbitrage. Too bad at 14 I had gotten out of comics, I think 8th grade was the last time I had an interest. I had so little interest I didn't even try to get free comics from our classmate DS, whose older brother worked at Marvel and could get all the freebies he wanted. Didn't pick it up again until I was 21.

$324 BIN in November. No "JUN X" date stamp.

"JUN X" date stamps are incredibly rare