Von Cichlid

For sale I have a raw mid-grade Hulk 181.  I would say that it is a 6.0.  

The only major flaws are the fact that the back cover extends slightly beyond the front cover and that there is a small moisture stain at the top right corner of the interior of the book.  I included plenty of pictures.

Overall this is a nice book and it really pops in a mylite2 w/ fullback.

My asking price is $1500 firm.  I will ship overnight to any US address with insurance, tracking, and signature confirmation, with the shipping included in the price.  I will accept a return within 7 days of it being delivered, but please study the pictures carefully as that is a hassle I would rather not deal with.  

Payment will have to be with paypal and the first "I'll take it" gets the book.

Please no Hall of Shame'rs.

Thanks for looking!

Edit:  A question was asked about potential restoration.  My answer was:  "I know that I did not trim the book in the 20 years that I have had it and I did take it to a dealer and he agreed as well that there was no trimming.  To the best of my knowledge it is just that the back cover extends beyond the front cover.  It also extends beyond the interior pages as well." 

Hello-

I've got a Hulk 181 that I would like to sell but I am not allowed to start a thread in the selling forum.  Can anyone tell me what I would have to do to make it possible?

Edit:  Nevermind.  I didn't notice that there was an arrow to click on.  Pleas delete thread!

5 hours ago, Chillax23 said:

You have to figure top three marvel villains are some combo of:

Dr. Doom

Magneto

Thanos

probably in that order - although for me Doom and Magneto are real close  

It is an awesome book that WAS on my list - but not at current prices. 

I would include the Kingpin in that list as well.  

5 hours ago, IntoAnother said:

“Very tiny tear halfway down the cover -- unnoticeable”.  

?

 

Well, it does blend in well with the rest of the wear and soil on that book.

On 5/14/2018 at 10:20 PM, Larryw7 said:

What issue is that from?

2 hours ago, chrisco37 said:

Alan Davis is criminally under-rated.  

I agree.  Uncanny X-Men 213 and Annual 11 were some of my favorites as a kid.  I am also a big fan of his Detective Comics work.  I never could get into Excalibur, though I do appreciate the art.  

7 hours ago, chrisco37 said:

Ron Lim, IMO, doesn’t get the credit he deserves.  He was a really good artist and was more than up to the task finishing IG for Perez.  Although, the OA market has been turning for him in the past year or so.

I just made that remark at my LCS when I picked up two Conan issues he worked on.  His smooth line was great for those Silver Surfer issues.  My favorite from him was always the Streets of Poison story arc from Captain America.  Come to think of it, he was able to churn out a lot of work in the late eighties and early nineties.

For me, it would have to be the Barry Smith Conan's.  Outside Claremont's X-Men run and MIller's Daredevil run, I think those are the best that the bronze age has to offer.  Those first 24 issues just have a unique aura about them. 

I badly want a number 13.  That is really tough to find in decent condition at what I think should be a reasonable price.  It has a double whammy in that the black stripe down the side shows creases badly and the white portion of the cover always seems to be tanned.  That one and number 4 are my two favorites. 

On 4/10/2018 at 6:57 PM, bluehorseshoe said:

UXM 205, 210-212, 256-258, 267-283

DD 241

ASM 331, 332, 333

GI Joe 26, 27 all prints

IH 367, 368

CA 285, 286

Ghost Rider 1, 2, 5, 5 gold 2nd print, 6, 15 gold 2nd print

New Mutants 89-99

Wolvie 17, 25, 41, 41 gold, 42, 42 gold

 

Why no UXM 213?

To me, the book would be worth every penny of $1000.  

On 4/6/2018 at 8:53 AM, mysterio said:

How do we let the best thread in the SA room fall to the second page? I blame myself.

Here are my latest pickups. Some may think they are too early for this thread, but as early issues of one of the Big Four pre-hero titles I think they count. I have been making some strides in my JIM collection this year and am really enjoying it.

It says 1975 on the number 17.  Should it have been 57 or something?

My major no's are rusty staple areas, writing that defaces the book, water damage, major tape pulls, insect / rodent damage, and excessively tanned cover stock. 

A tragic example of writing that defaces an otherwise awesome book is the following:  

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Thor-1st-Series-Journey-Into-Mystery-87-1962-CGC-4-5-1173853006/362263819245?hash=item54589b33ed:g:aFsAAOSwrBxaoUdU

I would jump on a 4.5 CGC graded version of this book at that price pretty quickly, but in this case this book is just ruined in my eyes.  

8 minutes ago, Aweandlorder said:

Yes that is correct IH181 was 50$ in 88 and 250$ the next year. I remember it went drastically higher within a year or 2 just didn't remember by how much. 

 

Wow, look at the prices on those McFarlane Hulks.  My LCS has all of those VF+ for at or below $10.00, not including the 340 of course.

2 hours ago, Lazyboy said:

What do you think was being speculated on in the late 90s... other than how many (or, more accurately, few) years the industry had left before it died?

The speculators left with the crash and came back recently when the money and attention returned to the hobby. When the market shows signs of weakness, they'll once again abandon ship and hasten the downfall.

I kind of figured the late 90's to be a huge timeout for everyone involved.  I don't guess there were many speculators, but there probably weren't too many readers either.

I was in the Army at the time and the only thing I read was the Marvel Knights Punisher stuff.  Out of all the guys in my company, only me and a buddy read anything at all.  I remember getting a 5.0 129 for around $70 and a 7.5 181 for $200 at a shop in Greensboro, NC at the time.  I also remember buying for about 100 bucks the entire 82 Wolverine miniseries, all the Liefield New Mutants, and all the McFarlane Hulks from a guy at a flea market in Fayetteville.  There was also a coin shop that sold comics near Fort Bragg as well.  It was there I got my 300 and my 180.  

I just bought because being single in the Army meant I had a ton of disposable income and I remember thinking then how cheap the books were compared to the late 80's early 90's when I was reading the first time.  I would say about 2/3 of my collection was acquired during that time.  The latter 1/3 I've picked up in the last couple of years.  Luckily, I never sold my old comic collection like I did my Magic cards

I  remember getting back from Kosovo with all that deployment money saved up and buying that 181 and 129, and then buying a brand new laptop computer for $1500 from the PX.  Now, the $270 worth of comics are worth around $2700, and a new much more highly powered laptop I could get for $270.

6 hours ago, FSF said:

I think it's obvious that Boomers are selling, some while they're still alive and others when their heirs disburse the assets.  Either way, I don't think that is really all that big of an issue. The question really comes down to whether current, and more importantly, future generations will continue to pick up the slack.  This is very debatable.  Personally, I'm a firm believer that collectors who collect generally migrate to what they did in their youth in an effort to buy back their childhoods.  Because of that philosophy, I do believe that comics have a shelf life that will eventually kill it and kill it for good.  I don't see that happening for at lease a decade or more but I do firmly believe that day is coming.  When I consider the low print runs for the past couple of decades, and the fact that most of that was even bought by adults, I don't see an influx of "I collected when I was a kid and am finding the hobby again" crowd, which I consider to be the most indispensable element of the collectors market.  

I believe that 1991, just before the X-Men 1 / X- Force-1 / Death of Superman era was the last time that actual readers outnumbered the speculators and flippers.  I can fully attest to the fact that me reentering the hobby a couple of years ago is an effort to recapture some of my childhood.  While I have learned an immense amount and my tastes have broadened far beyond what I had when I was 11-12 yrs old, I can safely say that if I had not been bitten by the bug at that time I would not be here today.

With that being said, I will probably check out at age 75 or so, hopefully, so that keeps me and others from my era buying books for another 35 years or so.  

 "Because of that philosophy, I do believe that comics have a shelf life that will eventually kill it and kill it for good.  I don't see that happening for at lease a decade or more..."

You are right in that the day is coming, but the length of time before it happens is more like three decades as opposed to one.

On 3/7/2018 at 8:12 AM, KPR Comics said:

They were amusing, I agree.   Anthrax just played down here six weeks ago.  It's bittersweet seeing these bands still grinding it out and then I look at the crowd and in the mirror and say to myself, "Damn.  I'm old as f***"

Obituary just came to my city last October.   Awesome show, but the average age of the fans had to have been 40 years.  Some of the audience was clean cut and were wearing collared shirts and khakis, like they had just left their office job.    

You guys are being way too harsh IMO.  While not flashy like the artists who went on to Image, I always thought John Buscema was a master of creating panels that flowed easily and told a cohesive visual story.  His work never got tiring to look at and it never overpowered a story like some of the hotter artists' work did at times. 

Wolverine 6 was awesome.  Bloodsport and Roughhouse were great and convincing villains who could kill without mercy and were the type that a young kid like me loved to hate.  Wolverine 10 is the most memorable story line from any X-Men title since.  Not only was Sabretooth a killer, but he was a rapist too.   Also the first appearance of Wolverine without his claws.  (Those stupid bone claws never made sense to me and that was a contributing reason to why I stopped reading the title after the whole 304, 75, and 25 story arc. I'll also never forgive how lame Sabretooth got around that same time, with his dumb mask like Gambit and all the others had at the time.)  The Gehenna Stone issues were cool as well.

While I am not saying this run was on a par with any thing like the limited series from 82, it was still light years ahead of what the series turned into after issue 49.  Issue 50 where they began ruining the magnificent number 10 story was definitely the beginning of the end for me.

If I had a time machine I would go back and suggest that Stan Lee and Kirby do a Thor versus Juggernaut story Journey Into Mystery 112 style.  I can't even imagine what a cool issue that would have been.  A Tales to Astonish with Hulk versus Blob by the same team from the same era would have been great as well.  

4 hours ago, Number 6 said:

It's tough man.  Ever since I seriously got into collecting comics when I was in my teens in the mid-80's, I've had the condition thing pounded into me.  It's hard to let it go.  Even now when I look at a VF copy of something I get that nagging voice in the back of my mind "but for just a few more bucks you get one just a bit nicer than that".  And it seems like every time I look at a non-NM book the defects are the first things that jump out at me like 3-D.... never mind that 90-95% of the comic looks great.  The OCD condition thing drives me nuts.

I have a problem with this too.  I find that it is always worse when I first buy a book.  The longer I have it the less the defects stand out and the more I begin to appreciate the aspects of it that are good.  I also find that having a few less than stellar copies of books in my collection makes me appreciate the ones that are >9.6 that much more.  

Sebastian Shaw of the Hellfire Club.  Really powerful, prominent, and he gets to check out / boss around scantily clad females and have awesome parties all of the time. 

I don't know if this is too key for this thread, but IMO, this is one of the most killer covers out there.  I pick this one up whenever it is priced right and in high enough grade.  Much of it's beauty comes from the contrasting blues and oranges, but the original's got to be great as well.  Chris Warner was always one of those artists who I thought was under utilized.  The Predator Big Game and Terminator 1,2, and 4 covers are awesome also.  I have no idea what was up with that Terminator issue 3 though!   

That manga influenced period of the X-Men is almost single handedly the reason why I gave up collecting the first time.  Marvel actually had a decent stable of artists like Adam Kubert and Joe Madureira at the time, but when they wen't anime that was it for me.  I don't know who drew these specimens, but the following represent the nadir of that movement for me.  How you can take a villian as great as Sabretooth and make him look so corny is beyond me.  In 213 and Wolverine 10 he looked killer.  Even Liefeld's New Mutant's version was lightyears better than these.          

On 1/29/2018 at 2:57 PM, SECollector said:

Hey!

I have been for a long time contemplating to go for an ASM run. I have by now read the silver age issues through my Omnibus books (nice editions by the way) and the itch to collect the real thing just doesn't fade away. I own by now an AF15, a nice #1 (CGC 7.5) and some random issues between #60 and #70. I just love the art, stories and covers and it will be awesome to hunt for them all. I would love to begin with the 12-cents issues and take it from there. I would be more than happy with a run in a consistent F/VF condition.

What I really can't decide is whether I should (or would like to) go for an all graded run, or go for some selected graded issues (probably 1-10, 14, 15, 20, 41 and 50 as CGC 7.0 - 7.5) and the rest of them raw in F/VF - VF grade.

It will be awesome to be able to read the original books, but living in Europe, my purchases will be mainly on-line (and therefore not able to check the books closely) which makes graded books feel "safer" and limit my buying venues for raw books to a few selected and trusted selling venues (that grade accurately and disclose restoration).

How have others in these boards gone for similar runs? I would love to hear other collectors' experiences and opinions.

Cheers!

 

Why no graded 13?  IMO that is the toughest one to find in a good grade at a reasonable price.  That black edge along the cover which shows frays/creases along with the rest of the cover being white which is often tanned make that one a challenge.  It really is a beautiful book though that I would love to own.  I would trade my 7.0 181 for a nice copy if possible. 

On 8/31/2017 at 10:19 AM, comix4fun said:

That's interesting, I've never heard of that tactic before. 

In this case it was 4-5 days before the end of the auction I was watching.

The bid retractor had two bids. This was the pattern:

His first bid, exceeded the real max bidder by $2. 

He retracted that bid an hour later

Then, exactly 13 seconds later, he placed a second bid that was just BELOW the newly discovered max bid of the real bidder.

He placed a bid that he knew wouldn't make him the winning bidder but that would bump up the current price of the item.