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Haha, well, I'm sure there are lots of buyers out there that give ridiculous offers, but I do feel when I make an offer, I try to justify why it's fair, other than a non-sensical "it's too much", or "I can't afford that much", or "I think it's a fair price". For slabs, it'll typically be pointing to recent Ebay sales for same grade/page quality, and then trying to find a reasonable middle-ground (usually, if there's a slab with BIN and Offer available, they've usually priced the BIN at above recent sales given they expect some negotiation with the offer). With raws, I'll usually point to what graded sales for an estimated grade go for, and then factor in grading costs / risks to what a reasonable price should be. That being said, I don't begrudge sellers who would rather hold at their price point. Sellers have different motivations - some have a ton of books that they want to offload more quickly (and thus, are ok selling at FMV or even slightly below FMV), and some are in no hurry to sell and would only want to if they can get a "fulsome" price.

There are 4 covers (non-incentive open order variants), and a 1:100 virgin cover of the main Ross Cover A. I have ASM on my pull list, and picked up an extra copy of the Young Guns cover (which I liked the best), but I didn't go crazy - given what I imagine is a big print run given anticipation for this 1st appearance, don't think this will hold that much value unless the Red Goblin becomes a big villain going forward. Guess we'll see what happens in 799 / 800 - some speculation that Red Goblin kills MJ in #800, so I guess there's always a chance Marvel keeps Red Goblin around...

Haha, I'm actually glad to hear that. As a buyer, I try to write a "real" note when giving an offer (usually around why I think it's fair based on past Ebay sales, etc.) - but more than that, just writing a reasonable note that doesn't make me seem like "a crazy". I often wondered if that helped my hit rate on offers - I assume the main reason is that I offer a reasonable fair price, but I like to think the note does add "some" value

Agreed. This is a very liquid book on Ebay - have been 4 sales of 9.6 (assume that's the GPA book you're referring to) since Mar 29, and they were in order of recency: $450 (Newsstand), $450, $472.50 (Newsstand), $435. Highly doubt this will drop before Deadpool 2 movie releases. What happens after the movie is anyone's guess, though unless it's a huge flop, I see it probably staying flattish.

I agree with some of your points (eg. how a character should be intro'd properly), though I think this part is incorrect. I didn't following WMD story line when it came out, but after the fact, what I read online was that most people who read it enjoyed it, and it was that popularity that made Weapon H get his own book (to be written by Greg Pak the same writer), I never saw anywhere that the solo title was always planned from the start? Also, again I haven't read it myself yet (though I did buy it on Comixology during the big sale 2 weeks ago), the articles / reviews I saw was that it was actually well-written and interesting, hence the reason it got its own solo title. Obviously I don't disagree that you found it boring (we all like what we like), I just don't feel that you can necessarily generalize that to "most people", when it seemed like that wasn't the case.

Lol, I dunno if OP understands all the sarcasm here... but some (real) thoughts: - I pull ASM from my LCS, so I have all the issues (and I've picked up a second copy off the rack from 795 - 797, and will probably do so for 798-800). That being said, the spec on Red Goblin is no secret, and it's now well past the tipping point - I think the print run on 798-800 is going to be huge (rough guess is 90-100k for 798/799 and 150k for 800). The fact that Marvel confirmed publicly that 798 was 1st app, and then pushed back release of 798 so stores could up their orders speaks volumes. I don't think these will be worth anything substantial in 1yr+, so I personally am not going to get more than 2 copies of each - Donny Cates' Thanos has been a great run, but it's officially coming to an end after next week's Issue 18. The only reason 13/14/15 has been hot is because of 1st app and origin of Cosmic Ghost Rider (now getting its own book), and that it had very low print runs given no one cared - don't think any of these other issues will be worth speculating on

Great idea and really unfortunate to hear about the accident. Have met Brittany at a con before, and have certainly heard about her through the forums - her energy and enthusiasm for comics was obvious, and she was super helpful to me and an ideal representative of CGC (and the comics industry as a whole)

As only having bought on Ebay, it's really sad that buyers do this. It ruins it for everyone, as a few of these dishonest bad apples try to do everything they can to "game the system", which makes it so that when the true legitimate buyer receives a broken case, that much harder to get it solved in a fair way. Makes me appreciate the value of developing good relationships with local dealers. When trust goes both ways, both parties can benefit. When distrust goes both ways, both parties' experiences are worsened.

I picked up a copy yesterday at my LCS to read. During the big Comixology sale on Marvel TPBs last week, I picked up the whole Weapons of Mutant Destruction TPB for $0.99, so plan to read the whole arc and then read Weapon H 1.

Really interesting discussion here. As someone in my mid-30s, I am 100% reliving my childhood (as I grew up buying / reading / collecting comics in the late 80s / 90s), and have been picking up slabbed keys of characters that I grew up with. I am the epitome of the "rule of 20/25" as I recapture the joys of my childhood now that I have more disposable income. While there will be a steady stream of people like me in my age group picking up books, agree that this will likely be lost in the next generation as current kids don't seem to have the same interest in comics as my generation did. That being said, who knows what else might happen 20-30 years from now?

Yes agree... unfortunately the 2 are kind of intermingled, as the value for TT12 went up, people started indicating "1st app BWL" more frequently to get more views...

Yep, I hear you - your clarification on "1st full appearance" is what I was getting at, eg. just because DNM2 is first in reading order, it still might be thought of as a "cameo" and that TT12 is first full appearance. Was just noting that those are somewhat 2 different (though related) points, and just because Snyder said DNM2 is first, doesn't necessarily mean it's the true 1st app, as some others had been implying

Not to mention the fact that just because Snyder said DNM2 was first in reading order, that's not exactly the same as him saying DNM2 is the 1st appearance of BWL. Bottom line, we need CGC to take a view! I'm a little surprised at their answer of why they haven't yet - CGC takes a view all the time on which is 1st app vs not, without confirmation?

This was posted on previous threads awhile ago (I think the Moderns Heating Up thread), but just in case people hadn't seen it, CBI had an article back in December discussing the potential books for 1st app. Whatever your opinion on CBI, just posting for reference https://comicbookinvest.com/2017/12/06/the-batman-who-laughs/

Playing the spec game can be a slippery slope. Over the last few years, I've primarily gone after keys that I would want in my PC for the long-run, and been very aware of trying to buy before any movie hype (or after) and not during - I've only spec'd on a couple books and gotten doubles of: BA12 (anticipating another upswing after Suicide Squad 2, Gotham City Sirens, and the boatload of other Harley movies that have been soft-announced but not started) and NM87 (will probably look to unload this as Deadpool 2 movie gets closer to release). I've tried to stay disciplined and not go trigger happy on speculation though - it's a dangerous game, agree with others that you win on some, but often lose on many more.

Thought it was fine - it reminds me a little bit of HBO's the Leftovers, which I was a fan of. Normally with creator-owned books, I try and buy the single issue floppies instead of trade-waiting to support the creators (and I'm always concerned that if everyone trade-waits, then the book will get cancelled), but with this one, I'm also thinking of waiting until the 1st trade. In the letters pages in issue 1, Kirkman said they've already finished 12 or 13 issues, so they're well ahead of schedule and given his pull and his name, highly likely this book will get a full shot

Think the cap is on the coupon (20%), not the book price (100%). ie. You get 20% up to $500 book price

I've always thought that the view of "let the market decide" gets a bit hazy given the market price is so determined by supply, and TT12 had such a lower print run than DNM2. Usually that view makes sense when there isn't such a discrepancy (eg. IH180/IH181), but here, I feel it's a bit tougher to say TT12 is worth much more, so it's the first app.

My views:

I've been looking for an X-Men 101 CGC 9.6 for awhile - a couple have come up for auction which I followed and bid on, but price got too high for my comfort. While this is a key issue, I think this will come down after the movie, and so my plan for a Personal Collection book is to wait until post-movie hype. Separately, I'm a little surprised that X-Men 134 (1st Dark Phoenix, CGC notes "Phoenix becomes Dark Phoenix") didn't move much given the movie is called X-Men: Dark Phoenix (I had from many years ago), but also happy to keep that for the PC.

There were plenty at my LCS, but I typically go in Wed mornings before work...

I picked one up to read today from the LCS. Doubt it will really rise in value given the news mentioned above that they're going to print a LOT to ensure no 2nd printings... This one isn't taking anyone by surprise, but hopefully it's a good story!

No they never did. And although Marvel announced a little while ago (after the release) that the Lenticulars would become open order, there was so much backlash from the shops that did up their orders to get them, Marvel went back on it within a day or two... https://www.bleedingcool.com/2018/01/09/marvel-comics-withdraws-legacy-lenticular-variant-cover-sale/ And yes on BWL, believe it was mentioned somewhere that CGC was going to wait for the market to decide 1st app (and market has spoken it’s TT12) before noting on their slabs. But still haven’t. And with that, back to regularly scheduled Copper programming...

Re: Thanos 13, I've been a bit surprised how much less the Legacy Lenticular cover is going for vs. the regular cover (obviously the 1:25 Albuquerque significantly more). Given the whole hoopla around ordering restrictions for the Legacy Lenticulars, I would've thought there'd be less of those out in the wild, but lenticular has only really been selling for $10-15 (a few closer to $7!) whereas normal cover hitting $50-70 as you mentioned.

This is sad... so soon after Legacy too, although with a new EIC, I could see why CB Cebulski might be more open to scrapping what was his predecessor's idea... I've already drastically cut my Marvel single issue buys (dropped X-Men Gold and Blue after the last arcs, only keeping up with Astonishing X-Men, and Garth Ennis' Punisher Platoon mini-series that just finished, though that was on their MAX imprint). I basically just buy floppies on Weds for indies / creator-owned titles to support them (right now, Monstress, Redneck, Babyteeth, Slots and a few coming up) and DC books (Batman, Mister Miracle). I've had a Marvel Unlimited account for the last year, and I'm fine using that to catch up 6mos late on most storylines (just getting to the end of reading Secret Empire now, haha)