David Swan1

Here is what I got... The certification number you specified was not found in our cert database. This comic is already in the admin queue. I tried adding Captain Marvel Adventures #60. These two errors seem to be contradictory. I do not yet have this comic in my greedy little hands but my final payment is going in in a few days so I figured I'd add it since I should receive it very soon. Any idea what is going on? To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Difficulties of Certification Number Tracking I noticed that a reply to one of my journals gently scolded me for mentioning member clarkkentdds in the same journal discussing fraud. In my defense I did write in my journal, "I do not believe clarkkentdds is a fraud". Let me reiterate that I fully believe clarkkentdds's collection is 100% legit and actually wrote a journal awhile back where I declared it, "possibly [...] the most staggering comic collection I have seen". Sadly it's now obscured but it really is a sight to behold. I have never seen so many highest grade comics from one of the staple Golden Age collections in one collection. The thing is it's like the girl with the ridiculously out of proportion top. The more amazing the more you start to consider that maybe everything isn't as it seems. I would say it's more of a compliment to clarkkentdds that his collection is so amazing it seems impossible but kudos to clark kent. I happen to be a big fan of focused collections and this one is 100% Adventures of Superman. If only it were not obscured. In fact I'd love to know what museum the collection is featured in. But that isn't really the point of my posting. The CGC registry serves a lot of cool purposes. First, it somewhat tracks where the graded comics are and who has them. Also, they've added a little bit of fun competition including yearly bragging awards. Of course it only works as much as people are accurately entering certification numbers. It's pretty clear that most certification numbers are not being entered so it's possible that the best collections are unknown. It's also becoming increasingly clear that as often as people neglect to add certification numbers to their registry people also don't tend to remove certification numbers when they no longer own a comic. If you look at the highest grade early issue of Captain Marvel Adventures very few are accounted for on the registry. Starman221 has now won Best in Set 5 years straight including the enviable Best Golden Age set of 2009 but very few of his early comics are even close to the highest grade so it seems like there is an awesome Captain Marvel Adventures collection hiding in the shadows. So in perusing the internet for buying opportunities I noticed one of the comics from Starman221's collection up for sale. I knew it was the exact comic based on the registry number. Then I noticed another, and another and whole pile. Not just one website but all over the place. It's possible that all these comics are consignments and he actually does still own them but I think there is a very good chance that many of the comics in Starman221's collection have already been sold and like many registry members doesn't bother to remove them unless someone else claims them. Likewise I noticed that NewForceComics has issues for sale. So at this point two of the collectors above me in registry points may well not have all the registry points assigned to them. Daily Star is currently in second place and I can't tell what he has since his collection is obscured but given the closeness in registry points between his collection and Starman221 there seems to me a decent chance that Daily Star might have been the true 2011 Best in Set winner. So what have I learned? I guess that trying to be number 1 in a particular set may be a fools errand since it's possible you're competing against a collection that doesn't actually exist. To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Been Found to be Cheating? There is a set by a collector named clarkkentdds that is SO spectacular that it seems to stretch credibility. This collector is currently ranked 39th on the strength of just ONE set, Superman #1-#423. The set is now obscured but it used to be available and I can tell you that this person has somehow amassed nearly every highest grade early issue of Superman in existence. The thought had crossed my mind that it was a fraud. It is certainly possible to discover online the registry number of high grade issues and simply plug them in whether you own it or not. If no one has the comic registered then it appears in the database as yours. Now, let me add that I do not believe clarkentdds is a fraud. The set has been up there for awhile and although I wish it weren't obscured I do believe that at this point CGC would have caught on. Now let me confess to something. When I purchase a comic online I just can't WAIT to add it to my CGC set and I will plug in the number after the comic is bought and paid for but before I physically own it. However I can imagine someone just going out and plugging in numbers and giving the appearance of an awesome set. Ok, confession two. I have put in numbers for comics that I don't own at all. The reason I do this is to get the CGC census which for some reason I can't seem to access unless I'm shown as owning the comic. I immediately delete the comic but it shows how easy it is to pull a scam. mycomicshop.com also contains a census but it's often months behind. I remember putting in a number for a Western Comics graded 9.6 that I didn't own because mycomicshop.com didn't show any 9.6 in existence. In fact even the CGC census didn't show one existing but it took my number and filled it in as a 9.6. I deleted the comic after looking at the census but did eventually purchase it. It was indeed legit. To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

For Collectors of Golden and Silver Age Comics I was looking for some information on comic Pedigrees and came across a very interesting website, http://www.comicpedigrees.com/. Besides featuring information on dozens of pedigrees it also keeps a database of images of pedigree comics, mostly CGC graded. In many ways it acts as sort of a companion to CGC's own website. One nice thing was that I was able to find scans of five comics that I actually own. The scans were superior to my own images so I swapped them out and improved the presentation of my set without having to do my own scanning. Most of my pedigree comics are not in their database but once I get around to doing my own scanning I'll be sure to submit them. To collectors of golden and silver age comics, if you want to add images to your sets but don't feel like doing the scanning yourself this is an alternative. 14 of the 21 Captain Marvel Adventures I own are Crowley pedigree which pretty much got a ** and shoulder shrug (I never intentionally targeted Crowley pedigree comics). But I learned that William Crowley was the editor at Fawcett comics and kept two of most of the issues published by the company. All of a sudden the comics had a greater significance. I own the very comics handled by the editor of Fawcett which is very cool and makes me feel is if I'm now participating in comic history. My comics are famous enough that they are stored, for display, in a very professional looking website, available to the public at large. After reading through the website I discovered that the crown jewels of CMA are Mile High Comics which are often priced double and triple guide. Personally I'd rather pay guide and get a Crowley with an actual tie to Fawcett. Also, the Mile High comics seem to be mostly early issues and I was none below $1000 which is not in my current budget. To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Funny Seller Taglines Sellers generally try and play up the product they're trying to sell. You'd want to mention if it's a pedigree comic or if it's the highest CGC grade. But sometimes things can get a little silly. One of my favorites is the tagline I've often seen attached to World's Finest #26. In it the acrobatic Robin the Boy Wonder awkwardly rides a unicycle while Batman and Superman hold up their arms to catch him lest he fall. It's a very simple, innocent image very reminiscent of the Golden Age covers. The line for the comic says, "considered by experts as the ultimate unicycle cover". Experts? Comic experts or unicycle experts? I seriously hope that was put up there as a joke. My favorite one, however, is a recent issue of Captain Marvel Adventures #118 posted on EBAY, a nondescript issue in a series that's currently somewhat cold. Let's say you send in your comic to CGC grading and it comes back a disappointing 6.0. What to do? Give it away? Nope. The verbiage proclaims, "only 1 in 6.0". That's right. This issue isn't a dud, it's exclusive. Personally I have a 9.2 of that issue, the highest grade that exists but there are TWO graded 9.2. There is only ONE 6.0. And the seller has priced it based on its exclusivity. The sellers "Buy it Now: price is $199, a price more fitting for an 8.5 and that's IF people were buying CMA at guide price... and they aren't. The starting bid is $50 and I highly doubt anyone will bite even at that price.

. I begin to wonder what makes a comic collectable and I want to fall back on Western Comics as just an example. By and large when they are available for sale online they don't sell. It seems like I can take all the time in the world waiting to buy a high graded comic with no fear of losing it. Having said that I would note that if you look at a super hot collectable like Amazing Spiderman at least half don't sell when auctioned on Amazon. But why would a golden age comic with some pretty high grade issues have such disinterest? The obvious answer is because it's a western comic and nobody gives a mess about western comics. These comics are filled with obscure characters, there is very little in the way of first appearances or "important issues" and there are no heroes in tights. Are these the reasons for the disinterest? Probably. But there may be more. I had originally intended to collect All Star Western comics but currently own precisely zero. They are nearly impossible to find and the only ones I did find were middle to low grade and massively overpriced. I didn't collect because I couldn't. Western Comics is more available but at 104 total issues graded the comic can only support a handful of collectors. Completionists would only find this comic frustrating. There is no sense of community among Western Comics collectors because there is nothing to support a community. There is the old supply and demand maxim but I have to wonder if there isn't a certain threshold where supply is SO low that it dries up demand. I would imagine this would be the same even for superhero comics. I think it's entirely possible that Western Comics could actually BENEFIT in value by having more comics available. Will the western genre ever heat up as a collectible? I wouldn't bet money on it but I still take pride in the uniqueness of my collection. To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Modern vs Golden Age I've noticed the battle going on for first place among two New Mutants collectors and it's interesting how collecting can differ depending on what you collect. For a modern era collector perfection could be all 9.8+ comics. Even that won't suffice with signature series comics commanding an even higher premium. For me it's a whole different world. As a golden age collector, signature series comics are almost out of the question given the fact that most of the creators are long since dead. I'll allude to Western Comics but many golden age comics would have the same problems with going for perfection. Even if money were no object it would be near impossible to create a collection of the highest grade Western Comics issues. New Mutants #1 has two hundred forty six universal graded 9.8's, ten signature series 9.8, four 9.9's and two 10's. By contract Western Comics has 104 CGC graded comics TOTAL for the entire series. I own 8 which means I personally own over 7% of all CGC graded copies of Western Comics. Western Comics #1 has seven CGC graded comics, the highest grade being a 9.4. There are at least six New Mutants #1 CGC 9.8 on EBAY right now along with a 9.8 signature series issue. I will say that the highest graded copies of Western Comics #1 and #2 are currently available for sale online but they are out of my budget. But putting money aside after issue #2 it gets darn near impossible. Issue #3 has only one CGC copy, a 9.4, currently owned by the leading Western Comics collector on CGC. This same collector also has the highest grade copies of issue #4, 5, 6, 15 and 18. I have the highest grade copies of #14, 24 and 25. Most of the highest grade copies are unaccounted for and unavailable for sale currently as far as I can see. To be able to collect all the highest grades would mean one of us would have to sell to the other and then the other high grade issues would have to materialize on the market. If a collector like myself simply sits on a highest grade issue it just won't be available to anyone else rendering a full collection of the highest grades utterly impossible. Add to that the fact that 33 issues have 0 CGC graded copies and as best as I can tell high grade copies of many later issues simply do not exist. For me I prefer the grab what you can style of golden age collecting rather than the quest for perfection but I can certainly admire the beauty of a seamless parade of 9.8's and 9.9's. I just like to have something no one else does and I would rather have my Western Comics #14 CGC 9.6 than a pile of modern age 9.8's owned by hundreds of other people. I also know myself and the perfection route would be much more likely to move me into obsession rather than collecting pleasure. Having a very limited selection keeps me grounded and saves me money. To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Silly Mandatory Teaser *tease tease tease* Although I've enjoyed comics since the 70's, last year was the first year I really got into collecting professionally graded and sealed comics. The reason I initially got into CGC collecting was because I wanted to get some of the cool Golden Age Superman comics because I enjoyed their covers. Instead I ended up collecting Captain Marvel Adventures (because I love Cap and found them much more affordable), All American Men of War (because I wanted a war comic) and Western Comics (because I wanted a western comic). My goal has now focused on creating the best possible experience for someone who stumbles upon my collection. From my experience most collections included here seem to be for the express purpose of showing off ownership and they're pretty dull to peruse. My collections have had very little traffic because they are so obscure but if you visit you'll find some actual effort put in. My goal going forward is to continue to focus on these three sets which means I'll likely (hopefully) spend a lot less money in this next year than in 2011 since quite frankly I've bought up a majority of the available, decently priced comics. I initially started collecting Western Comics because of the surprising amount of high grade, low priced issues available but I've almost completely tapped that well. There are still a handful of comics I'm eyeing from my three chosen sets but I think this year will be much more about waiting for opportunities to arise rather than grabbing up available stock. Western Comics in particular will be increasingly hard to finish off. There are in fact only 104 CGC graded issues total last I counted and I own 8 which means I'm closing in on 10% of ALL CGC graded issues. My biggest goal is to resist branching off into new sets. All American Men of War continues to be stubbornly overpriced (and you can see by the EBAY completed sales that buyers aren't biting) but every so often a great deal pops up. If you stop by my sets please enjoy, otherwise no worries. They're not going anywhere anytime soon. To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Whose idea was it to make teasers mandatory??? I basically spent my allotment for the month and then some but I saw a very reasonably prices All American Men of War on Comic Link (very rare). I decided to make a low offer just to get the negotiations going. Then on second thought I dropped my offer another $20. Less than half guide price. And *boom* the seller agrees. This is the second time in a few weeks this has happened. Previously I got a super deal on a copy of World's Finest #21. I CANNOT bid again for at LEAST a month maybe two even if I never expect the offer to be accepted. The one nice thing is it bumped me into 3rd place among the AAMofW sets. So come see the latest addition to my set. Also, I completed my essay on AAMofW you case you want to know about all I know about the set. Also, why do people keep thinking war comics are hot? They sit on auction sites unloved and unwanted. Dealers seem convinced that they can get above guide and it never works (except that inexplicable one that sold for $780). Also, if you're trying to gain registry points AAMofW is just about the worst set to do it. My new comic has a guide listing of $374, it's the second highest graded copy of the issue and it gained me a measly 140 registry points. More evidence that the demand for war comics is very low. To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

A Feather in AAMoW's Cap How many comics transcend the comic book industry? I mean REALLY transcend to the point where they become monumental. Action Comics #1 is famous outside comic circles but it's famous for its place in comic history and I guess its colossal value. What I'm talking about is something beyond comics. Let me introduce "All American Men of War" issue 89, perhaps the most famous comic most comic collectors have never heard of. If you saw it in a comic shop would you give it a second glance? This issue is the inspiration for not one but TWO Roy Lichtenstein paintings. Lichtenstein used the bottom right frame of the cover for his painting 'Jet Pilot'. This cover was drawn by Jerry Grandenetti. Lichtenstein also used an interior frame by Russ Heath to produce arguably his most famous painting 'Whaam!' In a looking around I couldn't find a single copy of issue 89 for sale in any condition CGC graded or not but I found a completed sale from 2009 selling a CGC graded 9.2 copy for $250.00. I would pay that in a heartbeat. There are in fact only two CGC graded copies of issue 89 both 9.2. I don't know that value of Whaam! but given it's fame it wouldn't surprise me at all if it exceeded the cost of Action Comics #1 CGC 9.0.

Listing my Goals Here are my early CGC goals for 2012 1. I think I can make it into second place for All American Men of War this coming year. First place is completely out of the question but I see a handful of reasonably priced issues available and I'm already in fourth. 2. Write up an essay on All American Men of War similar to what I did for Western Comics and Captain Marvel Adventures. I'm about half way done with my essay at this point. 3. Move up to the fourth spot in Captain Marvel Adventures. The top three spots are way out of reach at this point. If I spent the money it would take to move into those rarified air positions I'd be a real heel. 4. Maintain my second place position in Western Comics. I see several high grade issues available and I intend to get them unless someone else grabs them first. As with All American Men of War first place is a more lofty goal than I can accomplish this coming year if for nothing else than I just don't see enough available comics to get me the CGC points. I would also like to get some non CGC graded issues. Almost half the Western Comics issues have no CGC graded copies and I'd like to get some that I might later have graded. 5. Get one more nice Golden Age World's Finest comic. 6. Improve the images and descriptions of my comics. I've somewhat cheated in that most of the images I use are taken from the website where I purchased my comics. Some of my comics have no images at all. I'd like to make my own scans to make my images consistent and reach 100% in images and descriptions. I guess at the end of the year I'll see how many goals I met.

There Must be a Million Stories Out There Saw an interesting auction yesterday on EBAY. There was a 9.0 CGC graded copy of All American Men of War available that I had some interest in. Sometimes you can get a real nice bargain on an EBAY auction and I was going to bid up to $100.00 (It's guide priced at $190). I thought things were looking decent for me and I even went a few bucks over $100 in the last few seconds when all of a sudden to my shock the auction completed with a winning bid of $780.00. WHAT!?!?! My first thought was that someone in their haste completely put in the wrong number but actually someone had put in a max bid of $770.00 and then in the last moment another person exceeded it by $10. I have never seen an issue go for so much over guide price. An 8.0 CGC graded copy of issue 31 went for a much more reasonable $272.67 (close to guide price) at the same time. The seller must have been partying last night after that bid came in. I was looking on Comic Connect and came across an issue of World's Finest Comics #6 non CGC graded VF+ (8.5) for $75 and #10 non CGC graded VF (8.0) for $100. Those prices are amazing, unbelievable... completely unbelievable. Then I noticed an 'fc' tag. I hovered my cursor over it and saw that fc means 'front cover' i.e. you GET the front cover. Oh and the Superman story is there also, it's just not attached. How in the world could someone label a front cover as VF+ Does Comic Connect have no quality control? I have to wonder if at some point someone will be duped into buying that junk. To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Followup to Yesterday's Journal Entry It was just yesterday that I offered up my comic "Holy Grail" that included an early issue of Superman and one of World's Finest. These two comics were something I would have liked to acquire someday in the future perhaps the distant future perhaps never. Generally I only look at comics graded at least VF (8.0) but I lean towards 8.5, 9.0 and up even in the case of Golden Age comics. So I was perusing Comic Link yesterday and on a whim expanded my search to include FN/VF (7.0) and up and low and behold there was one of my Holy Grail's. World's Finest #21 graded CGC 7.0 and well below the guide price $700. In fact it was well below the asking price of other World's Finest comics from the same general time period in the same general condition. So after some internal debate I decided to put in an offer that was 33% less than that asking price. This was just sort of my initial jab to feel out the seller. It can sometimes take me months of back and forth before I settle. But to my shock it was accepted. My first thought was that something was wrong. The comic had been available since July and no one had made an offer. Was this some kind of reprint that I was unaware of? No, I plugged in the CGC number and it's for real. Was there some problem with the comic itself? Actually it looks quite nice. The only issue I see is that the cover is somewhat translucent but I've seen much higher graded comics with this issue. The spine is a little wrinkly but that's common with squared off spines on thicker comics. Did I accidentally bid on a restored comic? Nope, it's Universal. My final cost was well below half guide price and I couldn't be more thrilled. It doesn't really satisfy as a "Holy Grail" since a 7.0 is on the low end of acceptable grade for me but this should keep me happy for several months. To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

My Two All Time Favorite Covers Someone the other day asked about our personal comic "Holy Grail". The obvious choice would be a high grade Action Comics #1 or Detective Comics #27 and if I could have any comic on sheer value I'd choose one of them. But putting aside price I would love to own a comic with a Jack Burnley cover. For those who don't know Jack Burnley he was a DC artist who died about 5 years ago. He only worked for DC Comics for about a decade but his covers are my all time favorite. Jack used a very minimalist approach with little to no backgrounds. All the emphasis was on the figures and in that he was about as perfect as I've ever seen. For me these covers are more than iconic, they are transcendent. They are, in many ways, the archetype of a Golden Age cover. In my opinion his best work was on Superman and World's Finest and strangely enough my two favorites are both the same issue; Superman #21 and World's Finest #21. Superman #21 was powerful enough that it was used as the cover art for the spectacular "75 years of DC Comics: The Art of Modern Mythmaking" by Paul Levitz which was released last year. It's just an amazing cover and to own a nice copy would be the jewel in my collection. World's Finest #21 is a wonderful piece by Burnley with Superman and Batman going up for a tip off. Burnley's clean lines and character flow are just gorgeous. I love how Burnley so often has the Superhero's doing everyday things like skiing, biking, riding on a fire truck or in this case playing basketball. It's rare that his covers had anything to do with the interior story. Just about any Jack Burnley cover is amazing but these two are my favorites.

Getting More From Saved Searches As someone who is a big fan of EBAY I will confess that for a person who is targeting their searches towards comics it is not nearly as user friendly as other sites like Comic Connect, Comic Link or Heritage but it is possible to fake it and make your life much easier. Let's say you have a list of Silver Age Superman comics you want and you don't want anything graded less than 8.0 (VF). You could do a search like this, "Superman VF #168" in order to get Superman issue 168 in Very Fine condition and then you have to sift through the results. The problem is you get issues of Superman Family and Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen and Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane and on and on. And you also need more searches for Near Mint and a search for 8.0. If you save your searches and have them produce emails you'll be getting a flood. Here is a stored search I currently use.... Superman (vf,nm,8.0,8.5,9.0,"very fine") (122,127,133,134,137,143,154,164,168,171,174,176,178,180,182,198) -olsen -finest -lane -superboy -family -pal -FN -F/ What this search does is get any Superman comic for these 16 issues. The list of grade types will match on any within the brackets. I minus out any with olsen, finest, lane etc. as well as grade FN and F/. This does a very good job of focusing my search and allowing me to get just one email. There is other fine tuning I can do and with free form text some comics will always slip though the gaps. For instance if someone misspells Superman but for searching on EBAY it makes my life much easier. For World's Finest Comics I had to start my search with ("world's finest", "worlds finest") to capture with and without an apostrophe. It's actually kind of fun putting together a search to really drill down. To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Why are we forced to include a teaser? The three collections I am solely focused on right now include Western Comics, All-American Men of War and Captain Marvel Adventures. In fact it?s been tough to resist buying outside of those three series. So obviously I?m a big fan of western and war comics, right? Actually, no. I?ve always been a fan of the superhero comics and ignored the western and war comics like Jonah Hex and Sgt. Rock while I was growing up. So why in the world would I collect series that I care nothing about? If I had my way I?d be collecting early issues of Superman and Action Comics. I?m also a big fan of All-Star Comics, All-American Comics and comics from that era. The problem is that collecting high grade issues of those comics would be prohibitively expensive on my budget. The top collections are way beyond my reach. What I want to do is collect historically relevant comics that fit within my budget where I have the possibility of being one of the top collectors out there. I collect these comics more for comic fans as a way to present something useful and fun. That?s why I try to include images and descriptions for almost every comic in my collections as well as an essay on the history of the series. Finally, I will only collect comics that I believe will at least maintain their value over time. I do collect Superman and Action Comics with covers that I particularly enjoy or ones I consider historically relevant but I don?t tend to buy them CGC graded in order to get them at a lower price. Those are comics I want because of a personal desire. The other comics I get more for the social benefit to comic fans. I?m perfectly aware that the CGC comics I?m collecting are not extremely desirable but that only means I?m able to afford them. One of the gems of my collection is Action Comics #96 supposedly VF+. It has an awesome cover of Superman playing chess underwater but since it?s not CGC graded I can?t include it. Most of the Superman/Action Comics I?ve read thanks to the Showcase books DC has been releasing but I?ve honestly never even read a single issue of Western Comics or All-American Men of War. So is this a very weird way to go about comic collecting?

In Which I Overpay for a Comic I finally added a THIRD comic to my All-American Men of War collection. This is one hard collection to get. Let me clarify that statement. It?s actually not difficult to find CGC graded All-American Men of War comics but it?s damn near impossible to find ones reasonably priced. In fact while writing this entry I discovered that I screwed up my pricing and overpaid for issue 107. Dang. I?m usually much more careful. There are 13 CGC graded issues of All-American Men of War on EBAY and they are all way overpriced including one which is well over triple guide price and I can assure you these will not sell. I just picked up issue 107 CGC graded 8.5 for $70 and if I had it to do all over again I wouldn?t have bought it because that?s at least $14 too much. Probably explains why I was the only bidder. I honesty can?t figure out some sellers. I?ve seen comics sitting on auction literally for years and yet when I offer a reasonable price I get a ?pfffft, no thanks?. On the other hand I?ve gotten fantastic bargains on high grade 1940?s issues of Western Comics. There are just certain series where it seems like the dealers specifically price them to assure that they will never be sold. BTW: I really have put together a fairly neat collection of early Western Comics and it?s gotten so few visitors. If you want to stop by I have lots of images and a short essay on the history of DC western comics.

Outbid again I was delighted last week to see five issues of All American Western and All Star Western available on EBAY for auction all CGC graded. They were decently high grade ranging from 7.0 to 8.5 and I intended on getting as many as I could if not all of them. Like the sneaky I am I waited waited waited until the last few moments and pounced on the two All American Western comics managing to get the high bid. In the end it was not meant to be. Whoever my competition was he/she managed to regain both in the last few seconds. My only contribution was to cause this person to pay a little more than he or she would have otherwise. Both comics were acquired at a very nice bargain. Some could call it sour grapes but in the end I?m glad I lost. My decision awhile back had been to focus my efforts on ?Western Comics? and money spent on these other titles would have drained my disposable funds and there are still a handful of 9.0 ?Western Comics? I?m looking to get. The All Star Western auction completes tomorrow but I?m not going to even try for them. I want to focus on one western title rather than break up my efforts. It would have been cool in the sense that I would have instantly had the number one All American Western and All Star Western collections since there are zero All American Western collections currently and only one All Star Western collection with a measly 50 registry points. Still, I think it?s more fun for people to look at one impressive collection rather than a handful of small collections so in the end I really am glad I didn?t win the auction. It also helped ease my sorrow being that the shipping was a very high $16 per issue given that they were being sold from the UK. On the other hand I won a nice issue of Captain Marvel Adventures (issue 33) at a huge bargain price based on the guide value. Oddly enough the registry points are will under ? the guide price so it didn?t do much to move me towards 4th place among Captain Marvel Adventure collections.

Added a new issue to my Captain Marvel Adventure collection I?ve added another top grade issue of Captain Marvel Adventures to my collection. That makes 13 issues that are either tied or stand alone as the highest known grade. My opinion has always been that if you?re going to present your collection make it worth while to the viewer. If someone has an amazing collection worth thousands or hundreds of thousands but it has no Set Description, Images or Issue Descriptions I wonder what the point is. I?d much rather see a more modest collection that someone actually spent time presenting well. I?ll confess that the images I used are pretty lazy in that most of them were ripped off the internet when I purchased the comics. Any images I photographed myself are done in the crummy tilted angle to avoid the reflection of the flash. At some point I intend to scan all the comics to make the images uniform. What I did do was write a lengthy essay on Captain Marvel Adventures in my set description focusing on CGC relevant info. This essay will be a work in progress. Please check out my CMA collection and I?ve also been spending time on my very modest but slowly improving collection of Western Comics.

On Sales of Marvel vs DC I?m an unashamed DC cheerleader and maybe in a future journal I?ll explain why but suffice it to say in the battle between DC and Marvel I?ve taken a side. Even though I haven?t bought a new comic in decades I do follow the sales war and I?ve noticed that Marvel wins 100% of the time. Even in months where DC manages to lock up almost all the top 10 spots and the rare occasions where DC DOES get all top ten Marvel still manages to exceed in market share. As far back as I look and I can look years back I have never seen DC win. On the other hand DC positively dominates on sales of trade paperbacks and hardcover graphic novels on Amazon and has done so for years. In the top 12 sellers FF, vol 1, coming in at number 12, is the first recognizable Marvel book while DC has 8 in the top 10. The next recognizable Marvel book is New Avengers, Vol 2 coming in at number 28 followed by a few more Marvel titles. So why does DC dominate on Amazon and Marvel in comic sales. For one thing DC perpetually locks up some of the top spots with what I consider the greatest era in DC comics history; the mid to late 80?s. Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns, Batman: Year One and Batman: The Killing Joke are entrenched at the top. It?s possible that DC fans are just more patient and prefer getting collected comics rather than individual comics or perhaps DC fans are more budget conscious. One assumption I tend to have is that DC fans trend older but I having nothing to back that up with. IGN.com recently did a poll of which company, DC or Marvel, produced the best comics, video games, movies etc. Marvel dominated but it?s possible that if Marvel has a younger demographic they may be more likely to visit and vote on IGN. My suspicion is that Marvel truly does have more fans. Having seen the tastes of CGC collectors I now have a new theory on why Marvel perpetually beats DC in comic sales but DC seems to win in collected books. For better or for worse Marvel comics are perceived as collectable and DC are not. All you have to do is compare the numbers of recent comics being CGC graded and it?s not ever close. DC fans, like me, buy the TPB and hardcover books because we want to read them not collect them. Personally I?ve been very disappointed in DC?s recent efforts. I skipped Brightest Day and Flashpoint and I really feel no excitement over the reboot. I do feel like as time goes on my interest in new comics is waning down to nonexistent but I?ll keep look for exciting stuff. I?ve heard the Scott Snyder was producing some excellent Batman stories and Bryan Q. Miller?s been getting some buzz but besides that I might just take a break.

Best Practices that work for me Over the years I?ve learned a few tricks of the trade or I suppose best practices that have worked for me and I thought I would share them. These are the practices I try to remember while I?m engaging in comic collecting. 1. Patience ? If you think that you have only one chance to get a coveted item the chances are you?re wrong and another opportunity is right around the corner. The internet has more comic deals than you could ever spend your money on. There?s almost never a reason to overpay. 2. Don?t get desperate ? I had the goal of acquiring as many of the highest graded issues of Captain Marvel Adventures as possible and I?m pleased that I?ve managed to purchase a dozen getting me close to 10% of all the highest CGC graded issues in existence. Believe me I never would have thought it possible. The funny thing is that there are two more available right now in EBAY, both 9.4 and both sitting alone as the highest grade. But I won?t buy them. They?re way overpriced and nobody is willing to pay the asking price. I don?t know how long they?ve been up for auction but I?ve seen them there for well over half a year. They are not priced to sell and I?m not going to be the sucker that bites even if it would get me closer to my goal. 3. Completionists vs Scavengers ? When I look at collections on the CGC website I find myself magnetically drawn to the collections of completionists. It?s so neat to see so many issues from a set together in one place particularly if they include images. Tnerb?s New Mutants collection is meticulously put together and a joy to view. The one problem with being a completionist is it tends to cause desperation and over paying. I lean towards being a scavenger mostly because the collections I?m working on would be prohibitively expensive to complete. Unless you truly don?t care if you lose money on building your collection, if you?re a completionist patience is imperative. 4. EBAY is my choice. I will buy from other places but I love EBAY. The difference between EBAY and a site like Comic Connect or Comic Link is transparency. EBAY sellers bend over backwards to please the customer while sellers on Comic Connect and Comic Link are completely shielded. I wrote an email to Comic Connect complaining that the auctions on Comic Connect always favor the seller and how a seller might wait weeks or longer after an auction is completed before sending the item because customer satisfaction is irrelevant. The reply from Comic Connect said that they were attempting to send the items faster but the speed is only a symptom. Shielding the seller is the cause of the problem. 5. Haggle ? Even if a seller on EBAY does not have the ?or Best Offer? option available I still suggest contacting them and asking for a lower price. Some dealers will suggest dealing with them directly cutting out the EBAY fee. I have to laugh at some dealers that don?t haggle. I friend of mine used to manage a comic store and he always said with the product you need to ?turn ?em and burn ?em?. A comic that sits there does the dealer no good and it?s surprising how many dealers are willing to lock up their money to squeeze out a few dollars more. There were some really neat golden age Superman comics but their prices were way over guide. I asked the dealer to lower the price but was rebuffed. Eight months later the comics still sit on EBAY and I have no idea how long they?d been there before I looked. 6. I always put together a matrix of comics I?m looking at purchasing. I have a hard limit on what I?m willing to spend on an individual issue regardless of how much I may want it. Of the comics that are in my price range I lean heavily towards any comic that is the highest known grade. Bonus points if it sits alone at the top spot. My second criteria, and this one is a deal breaker, it must be at or less than the guide price unless the dealer is willing to negotiate down. As I said before there are too many great deals to be overpaying. I also like to see lots of registry points for my dollar amount but that one is really low priority. I just got a comic guide priced at $800 worth 1100 registry points for $300. I actually was caught by surprise when my offer was accepted. 7. Please ignore this one if the value of your collection is immaterial to the pleasure of collecting. Read no further if this is the case. You have been warned. Collecting ?hot? items or items everyone else is collecting will almost guarantee you a loss. I know people don?t want to hear that but it?s a fact. Suppliers are more than ready to feed a hot market but once it cools down supply exceeds demand and the prices plummet. The counterintuitive fact is that the more popular a character the less likely the comics are to be valuable except in the case of early issues. Popular characters have more issues printed, more comics preserved and a supply so plentiful that long term they are about as collectible as a lovely seashell found on the beach. The same brand of collector that is drawn to hot items will also lose interest once the newest hot item comes out and the money dries up.

In Which I Continue to Make Friends and Influence People ?For whatever reason, its what they decided to collect and they don't care what you have to say about it. It's their money and they are going to spend it as they see fit.? As a supplier it?s certainly in your best interest to see things continue as they are and I don?t begrudge you. CGC has given dealers the alchemists stone to turn lead into gold and who could resist. My journals were in no way intended to tell people how to spend their money. If people want to grab handfuls of cash and toss them out their car window s as they drive down the highway that?s their business. My concern was with the viability of the hobby itself and as a fellow hobbyist I want to impart my own experience on people who might think twice about their decisions if they know the possible outcome. If we have now reached a stage where a new product, mass produced and marketed as collectable can maintain its value over time than surely we have reached a new territory in the history of collectibles. I assume most dealers know this but as you said, ?If you wanted to collect rocks, then I would have a bag full waiting for you? and that?s the beauty of the free market system. As to flooding the market with golden and silver age ?All Star Western? that would be quite a trick. The point is it would literally be impossible and that?s why comics like ASW are far more likely to maintain or increase in value. If I had my choice I?d be collecting All Star Comics and All American Comics but like ASW these are incredibly scarce but unlike ASW prohibitively expensive. I just watched on EBAY a CGC graded 9.0 issue of All Star Comics i#43 sell for $920 with a guide listen price of over $2000. Those numbers are just not in my current budget. Like myself most collectors probably don?t have the cash to start collecting premium golden age sets but that doesn?t mean I?m going to shovel out 20 fold cash for a comic still cooling from the printing press. My message wasn?t to dealers and you?ll note I never mention or in any way criticized dealers at all in my two journal entries. I come from experience as someone who was burned by an overheated market. I collected sports cards in the 90?s when it was sizzling hot and then the market bottomed out and now I have a ton of worthless cards and small amount of modestly priced cards that I could probably sell at 25% of their listed price. Dealers take advantage of an overheated market and that?s the way the world works until everything crashes in a heap and then they move on. The Beanie Baby sellers of the 90?s just switch to a new product. I just think collectors should be aware that as they gaze upon their high grade copper or modern age collections that they are very likely witnessing the peak of their value and if the intrinsic pleasure of owning these sealed comics is enough to bring happiness and their future value is of no consequence then have at it and godspeed. Rest assured that SOMEONE is making money.

In which David Swan Once Again Reaches for the Pot of Boiling Water I?m not trying to attack anyone or their choice in collectables. I?m a life long comic fan. Comic fans are my people. I dream of someday going to the San Diego Comic Con but I?ve been around long enough to see when a collectable market is way out of kilter and something is not right here. Perhaps my favorite comic growing up was Judge Dredd but I didn?t express my love for the series by collecting sealed issues and storing them away. I have them all in a box and I occasionally pull them out to read them. I?m quite sure that the Marvel ?true believers? who buy recent issues CGC graded are not doing this as an alternative to the stock market but I think it would be na?ve to think that most collectors aren?t under the belief that their collections will at the very least maintain their value. Let?s say you?re one of the 246 registered collectors of Ultimate Spiderman and you just finished collecting all 211 (or some odd) issues all graded 9.8 or better with every annual and cover variant. Happy Days. A job well done. So what do you have for your efforts? For starters less money than you would have had if you had not engaged in this task but that?s true of almost any collection. You also have 5+ long boxes of comics and plastic just for Ultimate Spiderman alone. You probably also have the issues in raw form which means at least one more long box. You could encase a wall 8.7 feet high and 18 feet wide in CGC Ulitmate Spideman comics so unless you have an UNBELIEVABLY accepting spouse or you?re single, displaying the set is likely out of the question. The most probable place they will exist is in a closet or attic. At some point you?re likely to find that your significant other starts to complain about the volume of storage spaced used by your collection and my God if you move to a new house or *shudder* move to a new city. Ultimate Spiderman has now become something in your life that must be factored into many major decisions; the amount of storage space your house has and maybe even the distance you might move. The likely end result is someday you will decide, with sadness, that you must part with your collection of Ultimate Spiderman and now discover that because a zillion collectors encased them or protected them in mylar sleeves and collectors have lost interest in Ultimate Spiderman having moved on to other latest and greatest comics Ultimate Spiderman has supply that now greatly exceeds demand and you can?t even give away the 200 (or whatever) pounds of comic and plastic you?ve labored to attain. The final result may very well be that the comic series which you loved so much becomes a gnawing sore spot. Something you?d prefer to forget. If I decided to get rid of my Judge Dredd comics (God no) it would be no big deal. I spent cover price for them and they are probably worth less now than what I paid but what I got was enjoyment. I don?t expect people to collect the comics I collect and if a ton of people did I?d collect something else. My belief in CGC is as a means of preserving comics that are historically significant and I don?t think CGC will ever go out of business because of a lack of those. What Tnerb did with New Mutants was an amazing service to collectors. He did far more than gather most of the highest quality issues in one place he posted wonderful images and included detailed comments for each one so that other fans can enjoy. I applaud him. But it?s an achievement like juggling flaming scimitars. It?s amazing if one or two people does it but when everyone in town is juggling flaming scimitars it?s just ridiculous.

?in which David Swan becomes the least liked person on the CGC registry There has been a lot of talk about the slowness of CGC to grade comics so the question is who?s to blame. CGC, partially, but mostly it?s the comic book fans. I?m a child of the 70?s and 80?s but if there?s one thing I learned after years of collecting it?s that the comics of my youth will never be worth anything. Unlike the comics of the golden and silver ages these were perceived as collectibles and thus preserved in sleeves killing the supply and demand model. Too much supply. But comic collectors are a stubborn lot a vowed to imbue these comics with value using sheer force of will and with the help of CGC the magic happened. And now I shall unfairly pick on Spiderman. There are currently 239 CGC collectors of Amazing Spider-Man #201-#300. This range started in February 1980. Issue 201 has been CGC graded 174 times.202 is CGC graded 80 times. 203 is graded a mere 40 times. So maybe the number of gradings goes down over the years. Jump forward to 1984 and issue 251 has been CGC graded 253 times. Issue 252 (which I used to own and features the black spiderman costume) has been graded 2741 (not a misprint) times. Issue 300 from 1998 has been CGC graded *gasp* 5930 times. I?m willing to bet that the total number of a CGC graded comics from a golden/silver age series like ?All Star Western? doesn?t even come close to that number. Issue 353 from 1991 has 127 CGC graded issues and a near mint copy (non CGC graded) sells for $1.10 on mycomicshop.com. Issue 402 from 1995 has 59 CGC graded copies and sells for $2.00 near mint. I have three amazing looking non CGC graded ?All American Men of War? from the mid-1960?s. They were sold to me as 8.5?s but MAN they look good for 8.5. There are 3 CGC graded copies of issue 108 in existence, issue 106 has been CGC graded 4 times and issue 115 has been CGC graded 6 times. How many Amazing Spiderman?s from the 90?s would I be queued up behind before mine were graded? And what?s the point. I love CGC because it preserves comics that deserve to be preserved. Preserving issue 300 of Amazing Spiderman is silly because it?s been preserved beyond all sanity and it was specifically created to be collectable and that?s the worst kind of collectable. So let?s say you just LOVE Spiderman and it would mean a great deal to own spectacular copies of the issues of your youth. So you buy them up at heavily inflated prices and what are you left with. A collection of issues that are unreadable and now have a volume that I would estimate to be at least 5 times the size of an unslabbed comic. You can?t even display them because there are too damn many. You could literally encase an entire room in the 100 issues of Spiderman #201-#300. When I was a kid I got rid of most of my collection because it occupied too much space. I can?t imagine if each comic was 5 times the volume and I?m sure an even greater factor more in weight. Instead you could simply buy the collection in raw comics, store them in sleeves and they would be sufficiently preserved. I have 30 year old comics that I stored unsleeved in a box and they look like they just came off the rack. And you could even get crazy and occasionally wash your hands, open the sleeve and carefully read them and there?s a good chance they won?t disintegrate into dust in your hands. In my opinion CGC should put a limit on how many copied of bronze age and forward comics they?ll grade for a specific issue. They certainly make a lot more money from a high ticket golden or silver age comic then they do from a dozen comics from the 90?s and they?ll increase customer satisfaction (except for those who want there very recent comics graded). BTW: Spiderman 601*ahem*A from 2009 has been CGC graded 111 times. That?s what you call a canary in a mine shaft.

How Does CGC Calculate Registry Points??? I?d formulated a theory on how CGC calculates registry points. My theory was that CGC?s registry points for a Universal graded comic were approximately the price guide average value. Hence a comic valued at around $300 would have around 300 registry points. My theory was based on nothing more than observing the registry points for ?Captain Marvel Adventure? comics versus their prices on comicpriceguide.com. Now that I?ve bought a couple of CGC graded issues of ?All American Men of War? my theory is thrown out the window. I purchased issue 6 CGC graded 7.0 with a listed guide price of $430. I won?t say how much I paid but it was considerably less than the guide price but it was considerably more than the measly 137 registry points the issue is worth. A copy of issue 88 CGC graded 9.2 is guide priced at $241 but netted me just 188 registry points. It?s been apparent from the beginning that I am in the minority as a DC comic collector so I wanted to see how some non-descript Marvel comics fared. I grabbed these completely at random. Incredible Hulk 148 is guide prices at $21 for a CGC graded 9.0 but nets you a healthy 30 registry points. It?s not much of a struggle to get either since there are no less than 32 issues of 148 graded 9.0 and better. There are only 8 CGC graded copies of ?All American Men of War? #6 total and mine is the third highest in existence. So CGC is biased towards Marvel. Oh wait, Amazing Spider Man issue 197 (grabbed at random) is guide priced at $21.84 for a 9.0 copy but gets you just 13 registry points. ARGGGHHH, my whole argument just blew up in my face. Or maybe it?s because there are 220 CGC graded copies of this non-descript issue. Thank God this poorly drawn cover of The Kingpin preparing to squash Spiderman with a couch will be preserved through the ages. Fantastic Four issue 203 (and you seriously have to see the image of Sue Richards) is guide priced at $5.04 for CGC graded 9.0 but you get you a nice 8 registry points. Uncanny X-Men #198 guide priced at $3.36 will garner you an awesome 10 registry points for a CGC graded 9.0 issue although seriously who would slab? SWEET FANCY JESUS this issue?s been SLABBED 178 times!!!! I actually expected Spiderman to be the most lopsided in favor of more registry points because it seems like everyone and their cousin collects it but based on my statistical sample of one my prediction fell flat. So what the heck? How in the world is CGC coming up with these registry points? It certainly can?t be based on difficulty to obtain and if it?s based on price I?m not sure where they get their prices from. I?m sure if someone did a careful analysis of the registry points they could probably accumulate quite a few on not much money. Hey, if you come across a 9.8 version of X-Men #198 guide priced at $16 you get a sweat 80 registry points and it?s not that hard since there are literally six 9.8?s available on EBAY at this very moment. In all fairness the lowest ?Buy it Now? price is $35 so maybe comicpriceguide.com is out of date or perhaps the sellers are all dreaming.