alexgross.com

39 minutes ago, ADAMANTIUM said:

I believe if we can find a different subject matter besides zombies vampires and superheroes and maybe even horror then we would have a reason to believe a new Powerhouse was in town. Basically just need something that has not been done repeatedly. But I've seen new fads come or even things that are not fads... and nothing has impacted as much as when Marvel first came around.

its called Game Of Thrones!!! 

pure nonsense. you deserve what u get when u click bait-

On 8/23/2017 at 8:57 PM, Knightsofold said:

I never got into walking dead so pardon my ignorance, but is it really one of the top ten franchises of all time?  That just doesn't seem right to me.  Top 10 of a certain media/genre?

well, it sure is extremely popular. but as far as the tv show goes, its just formulaic, repetitive drek. derivative of the best zombie films and super gorey. it cant hold a candle to game of thrones, as far as writing, character  development, or anything else for that matter. just in ratings. it could probably go on forever, but its hard to believe it will beget endless spinoffs like game of thrones will. 

21 minutes ago, piper said:

I agree but the current generation never watched the TV show and the solo Hulk movies we're forgettable.

My son's favourite characters are Iron Man, Thor, and Spider-Man (in that order).

yeah, i watched lou ferrigno too, religiously as a kid. loved it. but as piper said, its about what this generation loves, and iron man, thor and spidey seem to be the big ones along with cap, for marvel silver age. (i know cap is golden age) just seems like for 2 books with comparable census numbers (though hulk 1 is harder in grade), thor has more long term potential as a character. are they making another hulk film? not sure, but i think they'll keep making thors. and once robert downey is too old to be iron man, they'll reboot him and release more solo iron man movies like they did w spidey. 

1 hour ago, Drummy said:

Hey everyone --

A couple thoughts on this great conversation.  You can't go wrong with any of these books, but my take on the FF is that the movies have crushed any sense of contemporary interest in the group.  If someone put the Russo brothers (with writers Markus and McFeeley) on an FF movie for Marvel, I would say the tables would turn rather quickly.  As usual with modern audiences, the rule of the day is "What have you done for me lately?"  One great/fun movie and the FF would be back in the pop culture picture.

Regarding Hulk vs. Thor, I think Hulk #1 is the stronger choice, but not for the reasons stated above.  There's not much original about the Hulk -- he's basically a variation on Jekyll/Hyde or perhaps Frankenstein's creature -- but the character has had more prominence historically and is "cooler" with a wider audience overall.  Plus, to me the cover has more resonance than JIM #83.

Dan

i am glad that i started this thread, there's been a lot of great opinions coming forth. totally agree that both the hulk and thor are fairly unoriginal characters, but i'm not sure how important that is for a character to become popular. i think costume is more important. i.e. spidey, wolverine, batman.

on the subject that i touched earlier, off topic, that the FF are never really going to make it in hollywood, i want to elaborate a little bit. i grew up reading comics from the 60s in the 70s, and continued reading current comics through the 80s. let's take the early FF stuff-- it's basically dad (reed richards) telling his woefully weak girlfriend sue, her hotshot brother bobby and their now disfigured friend ben what to do most of the time. ben and bobby have to waste at least a page or two most issues bickering and setting the baxter building on fire. the most interesting characters in those issues are doctor doom and later norrin radd.  i read them through john byrne's era, and although the plots became more sophisticated, they were still more or less this symbol of a dysfunctional family in boring 1950s middle class america. only ben had darkness and conflict. and they all wore the same costumes (even the x-men figured out that was boring). i loved the kirby art, and always wanted to like the FF, but they never became interesting for me the way the x-men did (mutants!! claws!! costumes!!), or spider-man. nothing ever seemed to freshen them up. compare their evolution to what frank miller did with the dark knight and DD in the 80s. and now we see direct reference to frank miller's writing and stylistic influence in both of those properties, significantly contributing to their current success on the big and small screens. if the FF could be done cooler, it seems they would have by now.  there's something naively charming about the early FF comics, like all early marvel output, but i don't see them becoming realistic or interesting on film any time soon, if ever. i don't care who directs. and i think young folks feel this even more than i do. 

as for determining what offer was accepted on a buy it now or best offer, this ebay italy link works to tell you what price was actually accepted. just swap the item number at the end with the one you're interested in:

http://offer.ebay.it/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBidsLogin&_trksid=p2047675.l2564&rt=nc&item=282231325940

based on current prices, you'd pay the most for ff1 in any grade, so it's most valuable. but i vote spidey because in 5-10 yrs i dont believe that will be the case, so you will have gotten the most value for your money if put it into peter parker's britches.

perhaps defining what is meant by "value" would be useful. otherwise we can just look at GPA and some other recent sales to come up with a factual answer. do you mean value potential going forward?

1 hour ago, Straw-Man said:

for a child of the 60's, ff 1 would be the strong suggestion.

this is also off topic, but here goes. IMHO the fantastic four will never regain the pop culture dominance they once had. at its core, they've got too many issues, and only the Thing really connects with most kids. all movie depictions of them fail to excite, and there's no reason to see that changing. of course ff1 will always be a special book because of its importance in the mcu and for its rarity, but if the kids dont care about the characters, it seems unlikely to be so highly sought after in the future in the way all avengers-related characters are (which also now includes spidey, not that he needed alot of help). 

9 hours ago, SC22 said:

No I don't see Thor passing Hulk. As for the top 3 books I would say it is more like AF15, and Hulk 1 + SC4 tied or close together. SC4 is the toughest book of the 3. AF15 is the AC1 of the SA and Hulk 1 is the TEC27.

That said JIM83 is a top 5 book for sure so on that basis alone it is well respected and a lot of collectors want to own the book. I wish it would since I own a CGC 6.0 JIM83 and a Hulk 1 CGC 4.5 but it won't surpass it. Personally I prefer Hulk over Thor. Kids will almost always prefer Hulk as well he is easy to understand (gets mad = gets big and breaks things) versus Thor's complicated outer world stuff.

thanks for your input on this! i'm sure no one would argue that SC4 is the toughest of all silver age books, but my post is specifically talking about marvel silver age. just to be clear...

Hulk 1 came out in April, 1962. JIM 83 came out in August of that same year. Hulk #1 has about 1100 unrestored copies in the CGC census, JIM #83 has about 1240 unrestored copies in the CGC census. It's pretty standard to say that AF15, Hulk1, and FF1 are the 3 key marvel silver age books that are the toughest to find, and most significant, as well as valuable (btw AF15 came out same time as JIM83). Hulk 1 is certainly pricier than JIM 83. My question is, with census numbers so close, and Thor being perhaps a more interesting leading man in the marvel films, do you think that JIM83 may one day surpass HULK1 in terms of importance to collectors, and/or value in grade? the disparity seems greater than it ought to be. I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on this.    

it looks a lot better than a 7.5!! GLWTS

3 hours ago, Ryanfromottawa said:

That's not good... would there not be some serious consequences for fraud via eBay of that magnitude? Especially if it's across state lines, or internationally 

one would certainly think so. ebay's lame reporting system virtually ensures that regardless of how many people report a fraudulent listing like this, it will likely run it's course. they just seem too big to care. when the buyer gets screwed over, it will be paypal that he deals with. at least paypal favors buyers in cases like this. still, it's distressing how obvious this fraud is. he's using the same wording and the same photos as the last time. just a different fake account. 

on avengers 1, is the yellow on the top some kind of discoloration or just glare? thanks-

do you guys think this AF15 CGC 3.0 on eBay is real? zero feedback seller. real auction, not buy it now. 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Amazing-Fantasy-15-CGC-3-5-First-Appearance-Of-Spider-Man/112515851607?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D45726%26meid%3D9581a0350b1240aa951f7826b65bc327%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D6%26mehot%3Dpp%26sd%3D182694735453&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851

joe sinnott! still alive and well too, doing sunday spiderman newspaper strip inking at 90. there was a neat article about him a little while back in the NY times. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/02/nyregion/spider-man-and-his-inker-wrists-still-going-strong-a-half-century-later.html

6 hours ago, gadzukes said:

Looks like a 5.5 from the front.  Is there a big flaw on the back cover?

I'd value that on the high side of FMV

i can't find a scan of the back, and the book is in my bank box, but i'm pretty sure the back looks fine. the grade is because of the vertical marks on the top of the pages and some of the creases, i've been told. also been told that those vertical marks won't press out, unfortunately. but i'm glad there's no chipping at least. i think it presents really well. 

got my copy last year. better late than never! and it has quotation marks too, although i was not aware to look for that when i bought the book...

can i join the club too? have had mine for about 2 1/2 years now. 

On 7/31/2017 at 8:50 PM, Dark Knight said:

Also a possibility the seller will back out of selling the book.. It sold for a steal of a price. Was thinking at least $25k for it.

this might sound dumb, but can a seller do that on ebay without repercussions once an auction has ended? i thought one could only back out before it ends. 

i've been a comic lover since i was a kid 40 years ago, but only an investor for 5 yrs. i've gotten the last 5 overstreet guides, mainly for the dealers' market reports. if i did what many recommended about wonder woman 4-5 years ago(buy), i would have done very well. still, i bought several keys that were recommended and have also done well. i find it very useful to read their market reports each year in spite of the fact that when each guide comes out, the reports are already 7 months old. thanks to overstreet and all the folks who write the reports!

17 hours ago, Spiderturtle said:

The hulk 1 married cover on July cl auction, a bargain at the current price

there's not too much info about eastern file copy covers out there. any knowledge about what these are? 

the next topic related to this should probably be regarding construction of a functional time machine! 

did anyone here notice the beautiful xmen 1 5.0 that sold yesterday on comiclink for $5877? according to gpa, thats about a grand more than any 5.0 has ever gone for. i see alot of chatter about AF15 prices lately, but this was pretty astounding! i thiught it would go for maybe $4500. perhaps the fantucchio pedigree?