RockMyAmadeus

When you live through a crash that brought Marvel within a single judge's decision of ceasing publication altogether...you tend to be a little down on the "let's just treat comics like the Franklin Mint/Stock Market!" mentality. Speculation on new comic books hurts the hobby, hurts collectors, and most importantly, hurts the very creators who make the comics. "What? How does speculating on new books hurt anybody but the speculators?" I don't have the time, or desire, to document for the 53rd time the myriad ways that this is true. It is written all over this board, in many places, already, just waiting to be found. When people are buying new comic books just to "see how much money they can make", and have zero connection to the artform itself, they will, like locusts, do massive damage and, when there's no more money to be made, will move on to the next "hot thing", caring not a damn for the artform or the carnage they've inflicted. This place has become clogged with such people in the last five years, and to those of you that this applies, I only say this: read a damn book, will you?

I did work on a DD #2 for a client that came back 9.4. It's a beauty, fo sho.

The only reason there aren't more Stormwatch #37s in 9.8 is because no one cares enough about it to make others appear. They certainly exist raw. Toss a $300 offer out there, and you'll have one in two months.

Something that newer readers/collectors may not be aware of is this: Ellis on Stormwatch, and Moore on Supreme and Wilcasts, was a seismic shift in what was being done at Image comics. From 1992-1997, Image was garbage. Unredable, unintelligible, junk. Spawn made little sense, had very little cohesive direction, Wildcats was pretty art with essentially no plot, Savage Dragon was decidedly low-brow (and Larsen couldn't help from getting political, which ruins it for anyone who disagrees with him), and forget Cyberforce, Youngblood, Wetworks, or Shadowhawk. Essentially, these artists discovered the hard way why they needed writers...and so did everyone else. But then Ellis took over Stormwatch, and Moore took over Supreme, and both those titles quietly became the best things being published in comics. Little fanfare, little hype...but it completely changed how things were done at Image, and led the company away from the "LOOK! Nearly nekkid chicks with impossible anatomy! Pinups on EVERY PAGE! Plots? Who needs stinkin' PLOTS??" into what it is today: a storytelling powerhouse, where the focus is most decidedly NOT on the art, but on telling stories that the comics world finds compelling. And it all started with those two titles. Had Ellis and Moore not come to Image, it's doubtful Image would still exist today. And I mean that quite seriously. Those two runs are vastly underrated in the marketplace, where ridiculous "1 of 5000" variants sell for $30 each. You can probably, if you look hard enough, get a run of Stormwatch #37-50 for that price, and be far, far more entertained for it.

NM 98 wasn't the biggest thing since NM 98 for nearly 20 years. 10 years ago, people were routinely laughed at for bringing up NM 98. So. There is that.

No one is talking about doing non-licensed product.

I was thinking the same thing as I watched people buy them. I wonder how many artist make this kind of money this quick and if this could become a short term trend ? If I'm an artist, I'm exploring my options. Literally anybody can do their own variant. not if you're dealing with the Marvel/Disney 2 headed monster..you do what they say you can do. And you call up their marketing dept, and say "Hi, I'm so and so, and I would like to do an exclusive variant cover...what are the requirements?" Follow those requirements, and VOILA! Your own exclusive variant.

I was thinking the same thing as I watched people buy them. I wonder how many artist make this kind of money this quick and if this could become a short term trend ? If I'm an artist, I'm exploring my options. Literally anybody can do their own variant.

How do you know?

What hate...? We're not 14, are we, and so easily swayed by emotion and "OMG I'M TOTALLY WILLING TO SUSPEND ALL REASON IF I THINK IT'S COOOOOOLLLLL!!!!!!!" Right....? It's neat. It's a great concept. Hopefully, it doesn't get played out, like every other neat idea of the last 150 years, but it probably will. Discussing the situation rationally doesn't mean there's "hate" involved. It's very, very dangerous that pop culture has equated "disagreement", or even a simple rational pause, with "hatred." But, I guess, "haters gonna hate."

That's right. There's no difference. I don't see a difference. Do you see a difference? Normally, I would agree... but in this particular case, you've got a cross-market situation. Star Wars action figure collectors would love to have a vintage carded Boba Fett, but how many do? At $1,000+ each, it's not an approachable collectible for most. http://www.ebay.com/itm/161583271874 Then you've got the "modern comic variant" market, which is eating up all kinds of high-dollar variants that have zero cross-market value. Somehow, a few of those do end up more valuable than they start... with some as crazy as ASM #678 Mary Jane Venom. Higher print run, yes, but 5,000 isn't 50,000. At $25 each, the most you can lose is $25, and you still have a pretty cool "vintage Boba Fett on card" cover to display, even if it's worthless. It's a can't lose situation... unless you just can't lose $25 in this hobby. Your analysis only works for collectors buying a single copy of a single variant. Speculators buying multiple copies have much more to lose. Collectors who have to have every variant have much more to lose. If you can delay your gratification...you stand a much better chance of winning. And, on the off-chance that this is one of the very, very rare variants that "takes off"...the money you'll have saved not buying all of them for $15-$20-$30 each will more than compensate for the $XXX you have to pay for whatever. I have gobs of some of the most valuable variants of the 1990's...15-20 long boxes full....and almost none of them have seen even 5% of their highs...and that's for the ones that HAD such highs. Granted, I paid very little for them, long after they had fallen out of favor...but anyone who paid early 1993 prices for Valiant golds and reds? Still, to this day, haven't recovered. People who paid 1999 prices for Aria variants? Or Witchblade variants? Still haven't made it back. And there are thousands more than aren't even worth what they cost brand new. For every Ultimate Spiderman #1 White, there are dozens of Punisher #1 White, Bishop #1 White, Spiderwoman #1 White, Sentry #1 White....the list goes on forever... All while fantasic, amazing examples of the artform languish for lack of interest....

I cannot tell if it is anger that has blinded you, but marvel is selling only 5000 copies of this variant, through the outlets that are posted. There will be no more AF variant Boba Fett. And since his site is sold out, better get to C2E2 to get yours. Or you can buy one of mine for $100. Or, wait until the lemmings have moved on, and buy one for $3.

That's right. There's no difference. I don't see a difference. Do you see a difference? No, no difference here.

That's right. There's no difference.

$20-$30? For a brand new book? You folks do realize that this is the Franklin Mint mentality, right...? I'll wait a year or so, then buy it for $2 like 99.9% of the other variants made in the last 25 years....and if it happens to be that .1%, I'll have more than made up for it by not paying $20-$30 for all the other variants. Franklin Mint, people.

There will be quite a few New Teen Titans #16s floating around, as the print runs went nutso for the title at this time, but the regular series, especially the last 5 issues (#16-20) will be tough. Also...The Oz/Wonderland War, which features CC, will be very, very tough to find, especially in anything resembling high grade.

Cool! Many people should be very happy that I don't have gobs of money...otherwise, I would own the registry.

Wow. The code for the book is all sorts of messed up.

Who is "Tho", why are they hating on their own combo pack, and why are they using the third person singular form when making a second person reference...? And why is the meme in early 1600s formal English....? I don't think Charlton Heston ever spoke that dialect.

Just the Ninjak, although there are some nice Image holochromes that have the same thing, as well as variations. Avengelyne #1, Avengelyne/Glory #1, Darkness #11, Vampirella/Shi, Vampirella/Nyx, Prophet #1 (which is exceptionally rare.) All sorts.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Anything less than a $50 sale is not worth the time and effort to have it slabbed. It doesn't matter if it's a $1 book otherwise, if you can't sell the slab for at least $50, you are wasting your time, working for less than minimum wage. Remember: cost to slab = $18 (minus whatever your discount.) Shipping adds $7-$30 per book for all ways, unless you live in Sarasota and environs. Then you have the cost of the book. Did you pay $1 for it? $5? $10? That amount, unless someone gave it to you, isn't "nothing." Then, you have to figure on the packing material, and your time to look over the book to make sure you didn't miss anything. Then, once you get the slab back, you have to examine it, then scan/picture it, then list it on eBay. Then, you have to answer any questions there may be about it. Then, if it sells, you have to pack the book, print the label, take it to the post office, withdraw your money from Paypal. And, of course, you've paid about $1.75 to Paypal, and anywhere from $4-$5 to eBay, depending on your discount. So, that's say, $16 to slab, $7 to ship, $1.75 to Paypal, and $5 to eBay...that's $29.75, minimum, that you have into the book. What's your time worth? Well, the whole process I've just described takes about 2.5 hours total, per book, so you're making roughly $20 on the transaction (assuming you got the book for free), or about $8/hour...provided you maxed out your ship costs by subbing multiple books and whatnot. And that's assuming there's no correspondence with the buyer. Worth it...? I'd say not a chance in hell. I gave up looking for 9.8s for others, because people wanted to pay $35 for a custom 9.8. What was the incentive? None. I was working for free. It's all these people slabbing books they had no business slabbing, and then dumping them on the market at a substantial loss. Now, the market is conditioned to want these books at those costs. It's madness.

Don't give me a " " -- I was joking. that was for the decision of getting rid of it I guess the only real benefit is now I can start more threads without having to worry about getting -5 points You know what's totally ridiculous, but true nonetheless...? After I dropped out of the game, I thought "well, hell...now I can start threads again!" Totally ridiculous, and still true.

Those of you making these wonderful "$1" finds for Valiants should be very grateful. Understand that, unlike many books from the 90's, there have always been people who would happily pay $1 for the books being discussed, in any quantity. You have 1,000 Solar #3s for $1 each? Sold. Done. No question, other than "could you do 50 cents each if I take them all?" That's not true of almost any other book, and certainly not of any other company, from the era. So, that you found them for cheap...be glad one of us didn't get to them first, or they would have been gone.

BATMAN #368? mm Oh, no, he'd had many full appearances before then. I'd have to go through them again, but I'm leaning to Tec #525. How about Tec #524? mm He speaks in Tec #524, but it's still only a few panels. I think the jury's still out.