ExNihilo

"Writing" was a poor choice of words as he doesn't bring the same literal history as a Tom King (like what he did with a Batman flashback issue), or the philosophical undertones as an Al Ewing (as we've seen from Immortal Hulk), nor does he have the same knack for universe building like Hickman. "Plot" would have been a more apt word as I've felt his Thor run has been largely consistent for quite some time now. Which has been far more than could be said for a lot of Marvel titles since the end of Secret Wars. Like I've said before, my only qualm has really been the fact that this "War of the Realms" has been dragged out much longer than it probably should have, but the book itself has had enough enjoyable moments to keep me interested.

Meltzer wrote the controversial Identity Crisis. I'm not as familiar with DC characters and their history so I wasn't as bothered by characterization issues as others were. There were elements of his writing in that series that I found really enjoyable and on the strength of that, I picked up his run on Justice League of America. To get a sense of how he is as a writer, I think JLA #0-#12 are the books to read. I felt he captured the bond between the Trinity really well. One of the arcs had an emotional element that I enjoyed. And there are times where his writing style follows a repetitive cadence to build up to a moment at the end of an issue. That plus Ed Benes on art and Michael Turner covers? Great run.

A lot of my books are 1-2 book submissions because they're signed and the creator signing periods are all over the calendar. Sometimes there's just no way around it.

I took a look at a few Venom issues and just didn't see or read anything compelling. I have not read Thanos. That's another one I have to take a look at. I'm gonna 2nd Immortal Hulk, it's the best book Marvel has been putting out since the Fresh Start initiative. Plus it's got Alex Ross covers so you can't argue with that. Thor is well written, but del Mundo's art just does not fit at all. Honestly, to go from the likes of Coipel and Dauterman to now del Mundo? The quality in artwork has been jarring. If not for the strength of Aaron's writing and the time invested reading the story to this point, I probably would have dropped the title by now. Cates run on Thanos was nothing short of amazing. He's become one of a handful of artists who I will buy books from blindly on the strength of the writer alone (the others being Brad Meltzer, Geoff Johns, and Jonathan Hickman).

I can't keep up with all the great stuff posted here. Honestly, those C&H and Peanuts strips. Wow. And of course the AF15, Tec27, and OA ASM 300 cover. Yeesh. So my modest haul for the year: Captain America #700 CGC SS 9.8 signed and sketched by Ash Gonzales; signed and quote by Chris Evans Star Wars #1 CGC SS 9.8 Mark Hamill And then a tie between Incredible Hulk #180 CGC 8.5 and Fantastic Four #49 CGC 7.0 (not pictured)

I probably spend $80 a month at my LCS, but I keep thinking about whittling that amount down to $40-$50. Nearly $1k a year towards comics that are largely worthless outside of the short term enjoyment from some of the stories. And even then, it's a crapshoot. I probably can't recall half of the stories i've read the last few years simply because they weren't memorable. I do like to pilfer through the $0.25, $0.50, $1 bins at my LCS and will occasionally pick up 10-20 comics if I see a run has been dropped in there. But the times i've seen runs is more like every few months and not every month. The rest of the money I spend is simply because I feel like I "want" something badly at that given moment. Like, JSC books look all pretty now, but in 20 years if the content on the inside isn't anything special, then I probably could have just looked up an image online for free instead of spending $30 on a book just for cover art. I guess TL;DR, I don't set money aside, but probably need to be more focused on what I'm spending my money on.

dscott's selling the full run from Snyder's collection for $1k (unsigned or signed) at the moment if you wanna roll the dice and hope for another 9.8.

A lot of the discussion that seems to occur in the "heating up" thread seems to be related to book value on the secondary market though. Admittedly, there are a lot of times where the strength of the content is what drives the books value. So it stands to reason that a book with a first appearance or a fan favorite artist or an upcoming movie would likely see a place for discussion both here and in the "heating up" thread. I guess I'm looking for a place to discuss the content of books without flooding sub-forums with short lived threads that might be about singular issues. But that aside, Venom is definitely one of my favorite books out of Marvel at the moment. Considering how much marketing they do with the character in terms of crossovers and variant covers, it could be easy to see people getting burned out. So it's nice to see a book out there that does a great job focusing on telling a good Venom story as opposed to "Venomized covers" or other such gimmicks..

We really do need a place to talk about Moderns that aren't popular enough to warrant their own thread. Hopefully this is the new home for that. That being said, is anyone reading Venom? I just read Venom #9 last night and the narration in those opening panels blew me away. It just felt so personal, like Donny was writing from the heart from some personal heartache. Some of the best words to page I've seen in years.

Tier (also list FastTrack where applicable): Modern S/S TAT as of Receipt Date: 92 Business Days (62 at CCS, 30 at CGC) Number of books: 9 Received CCS: 8/7 At CCS: n/a Received CGC: 11/14 Verified: 12/7 Scheduled for Grading: 12/11 Graded: 12/12 Grading/Quality Control: 12/12Shipped/Safe: 12/13 Received (by owner): TBD Total TAT: TBD (69 Business Days @ CCS, 20 Business Days @ CGC, TBD Business Days @ USPS) CCS took a little longer than originally estimated, but they made up time (and then some) at CGC. Total number of days at CCS/CGC came back 3 days earlier than estimate. If I'm lucky, the books will arrive before my office shuts down for the holidays. In which case it would be a nice gift "from: me; to: me". Overall, all my submissions I've done to date have gone through the entire process within the estimated time frames provided.

Ooph, I dunno, the market is getting flooded with store exclusives and variant covers I just think it's gonna have a negative impact on the comic market at some point the way gimmicky books did in the 90s. Oddly enough, if they released $30 art prints, I would probably be less bothered (yeah, I can't explain my own logic for feeling that way. ).

Considering I bought the JSC 5 book set last week, plus I wanted the 1:25 Hughes cover for about $25, plus the 1:50 Alex Ross cover for about $45, it all just adds up. Including Artgerm's variant, all said and done it'd be about $200+ for 9 books. Nevermind that I read the solicit on the book and the story doesn't even compel me. I would purely be in it for the art on the front.

https://artgermcollectibles.com/collections/pre-sale-captain-marvel-1-artgerm-collectibles-exclusive It's showing up as "Sold Out", but that's only because the store isn't releasing inventory until the 16th. If you click in to each set option and then click on "Product Option", it'll reveal the prices. Raw Set: $46/$86 (unsigned/signed) 9.8 CGC Set: $220/$260 (unsigned/signed) Signed/Remarked 9.8 CGC Set: Price unknown Cover A 9.8 CGC Set: $100/$120 (unsigned/signed) Cover A Raw: $15/$36 (unsigned/signed)

Ugh...$46. Between this and the Adam Hughes and Alex Ross variants, this is starting to sound expensive. I might have to be responsible for a change and just pass on all of these.

For me, signed books are always slabbed since it provides a level of authenticity should I ever choose to sell my books. Major keys are slabbed only if I intend to resell. Otherwise, I'll slab a book if it matches a set (for example, I have FF 48 and 49 slabbed, so it stands to reason that i'll eventually want a slabbed copy of 50). I'll never get a blue label modern book at this point. It's probably way cheaper for me to just double bag in mylar/archive bag with fullbacks. Again, the exception would be if the moderns command a significantly higher price slabbed vs raw.

I like the use of the red terran soil and blue space serve as counter points to the red/blue of her costume. Really highlights her history as a cosmic hero versus her Earthly heritage (as well I assume as the direction the book is going to take her). Captain Marvel #1 (2019) Trade Dress (1:25) Virgin (1:100)

I can't seem to find any information as to whether this is a 1:XX variant? Or a standard variant that will be readily available? Anyone know?

So far, it's probably been the best Marvel book coming out of the "Fresh Start" initiative. I agree that the horror take feels unique in the current marketplace. Al Ewing's writing is superb and the book strikes a good balance between narrative and action. The only thing missing is that there doesn't seem to be some overarching story that connects it all. Each issue seems to be mostly self contained and whatever arcs they've had have been short so it's easy to jump in. But, me personally, I enjoy when a story builds and I like seeing the connections throughout the individual issues (a la Hickman's Marvel run).

Apparently it's a hip-hop variant. No idea what album it's supposed to be. https://www.midtowncomics.com/store/dp.asp?PRID=1616608

I've never seen this cover and I can understand why. This looks more like it should be a MAD magazine cover.

Even then, the point about double bagging and leaving the board between the two bags is a valid idea that I've bandied about myself. I'm just too lazy to remove my books from the mylar to re-adjust them in such a way. It would also require me to buy bigger fullbacks to accomodate the larger outer bag.

As best I can tell, he doesn't hold books and mark them up later. I figured there'd be a big commotion on these boards if he did such a thing. If anything, he's holding some back to sell at upcoming cons since he likely realizes by doing so, he might be able to tempt some buyers into sigs and the premiums associated with those.

Technically, you could go with modern comic bags or mylar/fullback. While not the intended use, at least your prints would be stored in a uniformly sized product.

Apply the 15% coupon. It'll make it an easier pill to swallow.

Truth be told, it's probably better to not watch any of those trailers to limit spoilers. Personally, the End Game teaser doesn't really show us anything we didn't already know, except for the Ronin reveal. I for one won't be watching any other marketing material for this movie from here on out to preserve any surprises. I'm just gonna have this teaser on repeat from now until April.