RockMyAmadeus

Pffft. Manitoba is for girls. And fake MIT.

That cover is a treasure trove if weirdness. For example...why is there a fat, shoeless hillbilly ghost standing at the doorway? Why are the nun's legs cut off about midway up her calves? Is she a ghost, too, drifting up from below the floor? Why is she looking up at the back of the room? Why are the students sitting in theatre style seats? Why is that poor blonde girl literally smashed, Southwest Airlines style, into the row in front of her?

I'm not interested in buying your "stash", nor was I making you an offer for any of them. The offer was for people who have no interest in having a "stash", and think they have little to no upside potential.

Batman #387 is not Black Mask's second appearance.

Well, if you are going to put yourself out there and offer a whole dollar each... I wasn't the one who first valued them at $1....and the offer is for all of them. How many buyers do you know who will do that...? If I'm going to buy 'cheap' comics online, I always try to get as many as possible to reduce my /book cost. Being located in Canada, I get royally with shipping (both as a buyer and seller). p.s. what's the difference between Capital City orders, print runs, and sell-throughs? Cap City was about 25-40% of the Direct market at the time. Print runs were the entire amount of copies, DM and newsstand, printed. Sell-through is total print run, minus returns from newsstands. Very, very few newsstand books completely sold out before the 1990's; in fact, if there are any, it would be very surprising. Maybe Spidey #252, but that's an outside chance.

Well, if you are going to put yourself out there and offer a whole dollar each... I wasn't the one who first valued them at $1....and the offer is for all of them. How many buyers do you know who will do that...?

Neither Punisher #1 nor PWJ #1 were printed in huge numbers. They were 1987 and 1988 books, respectively. For perspective, Wolverine #1, published the same month as PWJ #1, had Cap City orders of 108k (and a likely overall printrun of 350-400k, with a sell-through of perhaps 250k), while Cap City orders for PWJ #1 was a mere 61k, a little more than half Wolverine #1's numbers, for a title print run of perhaps 200-250k, and sell-through of maybe 150-175k. Cap City orders for regular #1 were about the same, 62k. This goes a long way towards explaining why the regular #1 and PWJ #1 were $30 and $20 books, while Wolverine #1 was about $10, in the period of 1990-1993, when both characters were pretty much the king of the heap. For perspective: Punisher War Zone #1, published at the absolute height of Punny-mania, had Cap City orders of 175k...almost three times that of either regular #1, or WJ #1 (and a total print run probably bordering on 600k.) While I do not doubt that they exist in higher numbers than extant Punisher fans at this time, all it would take is something splashy for that to change. Things to keep in mind: in early 1987, while Spidey #129 was definitely on the rise as a result of the mini a year earlier, it was still only a $10-$20 book ($14 in the 1987 OPG), and Marvel was unsure if it would be a hit as a regular series...with the result that it was published every 6 weeks, an unsual publication schedule, for over a year (until #10.) It was enough of a success to launch PWJ, but this was still 1988; the era of huge printruns was still 2-3 years in the future. Personally, I think the first 20 of the regular series, especially the Portacio books, are just stunners, especially #9 and #10. That said....if anyone has multiple copies of regular #1, 9, 10, or PWJ #1 and 6, I'll happily buy them from you, all of them, as much as $1 each. Is it a case of "these were too expensive to buy when I started, so I look at them with rose-colored glasses now?" Perhaps. But the offer still stands. If I can get a long box of Punisher #10s, I'll do it.

I don't understand why there isn't more demand for this book, either. It's the wrap up to the original Thanos "quest", the direct lead-in to Infinity Gauntlet, and wasn't printed in the gazillions (as evidenced by both a second AND third printing.) :shrug:

Punisher limited series, regular #1-18 (especially #8-10), and PWJ #1, 6, 7 are all ridiculously undervalued and underappreciated. There was a time when Punisher #1 mini sold for $50, and the ongoing for $30...now, you can frequently buy the ongoing #1 for $1-$2...so I do. #8-10 got caught in the "we're publishing this every six weeks (one of the oddest experiments of the 80's)" vortex, and were underordered at the time. Punisher #10 is still especially hard to find, relative to #1-7. You got 'em? I'll buy all VF or better copies you have for $1 each.

Maxx #3 Black Ashcan. Originally limited to 50 copies, only 4 are confirmed to exist.

Yes, as they absolutely should.

CGC protects the 9.9 and 10 grades, and has since Day 1. I have roughly 3-5 books in 9.8 slabs that are dead 9.9s all day, every day, twice on Sunday, everything. The average 9.8 is a beautiful book, but it does have some flaws. These books do not have those flaws, yet they default to 9.8. It is unfortunate, but that's the way it is. I've self subbed 6 10s and 1 9.9.

I never forgot. Took a few years, but we got it done.

Oh, and what is real lunacy is that Ennis said "oh, no, that baby, that happened to be the result of a demon and an angel, that I into'd in Hellblazer #59-61, oh, no, that's DIFFERENT from the one in Preacher, which also happens to be the result of a demon and an angel."

I don't think it did. http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=6248998 It did not. PS. I have TWO Batman #497 9.9s that are sitting in 9.8 cases. They are flawless except for the tiniest flecks at the bottom (not top) of the spine. The overlay really protected the books...and, these copies don't even have the overlay indentation so common with books like this. Those really torqued me, and finally convinced me to give up sending in ultra high grade books until and if CGC ever gets over their jealous guarding of those grades.

PS. My post was not to take away from the coolness that is the "A/P" black...it's definitely a special book, king of the #1 blacks, and probably the first one Sam signed. It's just that the massive rarity of the #3 blacks puts them on par with the #1. That does make me wonder, though...were there 51 printed? I wish I could get to the bottom of this, but Sam doesn't seem to remember, and the people involved are all scattered. I wish someone knew what happened to them all. I can't believe they threw out the majority of the 8,000 or so copies.

You could always buy a black #2..........

Calling a new book a "collector's item" is like calling yourself "cool." If you have to claim it, it's almost definitely not true.

That guy in your sig box gif is 12 feet tall! "That guy"??? Wow Yes, that guy. The perspective is off when he "stomps" the guy on the head, and it makes him look 12 feet tall. Special FX.

I don't see what's "logic", but if you say so. Yes, the make a second print because of demand and it is typically not as sought after as a 1st until many years later, as we have seen lately. What's the second print of a ipad? This discussion has elevated to this level because of the comparison of a comic book to an ipad. The comparison is not between a comic book and an ipad. The comparison is "types of demand." Apple doesn't raise their prices because there's interest. Like I said earlier, the analogy doesn't quite fit, but it's close enough for gov't work. And you just fell victim to the same argument you decried earlier: "they make a second print because of demand"...that demand isn't for the book as a collectible, it's as a new comic book. Whether there is demand years later for it as a collectible is not the same type of demand, which I conceded was what made the analogy not quite fit.

i'm sure someone has the official numbers, but i think 18 has a much higher print run, they pretty much knew it'd be a big deal, therefore printed more. At least this is how I remember it. If i'm wrong, someone else feel free to step in. This is an excellent question, I always heard the print numbers were much lower for the teaser cameos than the books from the full storyline. I would like to see the numbers as well. I have only seen 1 copy of #17 in the wild in twenty years. Cap City numbers: MOS #17 - 18,700 #18 - 26,350 (I was off on this one. It does help to explain the prices.) #19 - 96,700 #20 - 84,250 #21 - 138,050 #22 (regular) - 109,350 #22 (die-cut) - 400,450 Stunning, stunning numbers. DC's marketing plan was absolute brilliance. The Death of Supes absolutely dominated the comics market from November of 1992 until the spring of 1993. Supes' numbers were low for most of 1992, MOS in the 20s and high 10s, and then shot up to the 100s and then slowly fell over the course of the next 3 years. MOS wouldn't fall back to the 20s again until late 1995. Keep in mind, these are Capital City order numbers, and do not include the other Direct Market distributors (Diamond, Heroes World, etc) or the newsstand. Cap City was about 25% of the market. Puts the numbers for #22 into perspective. Turok #1 sold 1.75 million copies to the Direct market...and it was only the SIXTH highest selling book of 1993 (MOS #22, Supes #78, Action #687, Adventures #500, 501.)

That guy in your sig box gif is 12 feet tall!

The point was that it's bad for business to raise the price of a comic based on one inquiry being seen as an increase in demand. That is bad business. My question is how doe we know that the dealer has only had one person ask for the books? I find it rare that only one person asks for a specific book when I am selling at shows. If they do, it is usually for an obscure/low demand independent book. If I have it with me by some chance, I sell it. If not, then when I check at home to dig it out I will inevitably look at the pricing on eBay and GPA just to make sure I am not missing something. Sometimes I have to price it up, and the buyers tend to pay the asking price regardless at the next show. Also, in RMA's Whitman 3-pack case, the more someone requests a book the more likely I am to double check the pricing on it. You are correct, no one knows how much the dealer has been asked unless he/she chooses to reveal that information. But that's where talking to the retailer helps you out....I do a LOT of jabbering with dealers about stuff, and in the process, they reveal all sorts of information that they probably wouldn't have if I'd just directly asked them. In the 3-Pack example, I talked to the guy about them, found out that he had more, and also found out, because he told me, that they were "buried somewhere in a box at home." And there, right there, is your clue: if there had been other demand for them, they wouldn't be buried in a box back home...they'd be on his display rack. These kinds of clues are vital to successful negotiation. I also like to walk around the con with a short box or so of purchases, and make a bit of a show about having it. One dealer even complained "you should be buying all of that from me"....and I told him, "oh, man, I'd love to, but these were really good deals that I couldn't pass up!" This is true (or I wouldn't have bought them), but it's also a subtle reminder to the seller that his prices aren't worth my time. Doesn't work for everybody, but it does work.

You're both comparing the intial market offering to the secondary market, which is a whole different ball game. By this logic Walking Dead #1 should be sold at cover price. As Lazyboy pointed out, there is nothing "limited" about an electronic that can be duplicated over and over as the same. With collectibles the initial offering is made once offered to the public and that's it. To be fair, Spreads did state that this model only applies to collectibles. But....how do you think all of those Tickle me Elmo's and Playstation's end up on Craigslist for inflated prices every Christmas? Secondary Market, the initial market supply did not meet the demand. With the comparison to an Apple product, can you image if they only made 1,000,000 iphones? That's it, done. They would be well over $1k each on the secondary market. This only applies to collectibles thought, right? Well, not exactly. Think about when a professional service is offered, say an attorney. When they start out, learning the profession, they charge a nominal fee. In 20 years once they have the experience are they still charging the same fee? I really hope not. That concludes Microeconomics 101 for the day. Test next Thursday. I don't think any of your logic works. I agree, the analogy is not perfect....but it doesn't need to be. The point was simply demand, or, rather, perceived demand. There's plenty of documented demand for Walking Dead #1. The problem comes when someone asks about something, and in the mind of the seller, that's "demand." It IS demand...of a sort....but not the sort of demand that drives up prices. That sort always requires at least two interested parties (excluding the seller.) By the way...they DO make demand-based offerings after the initial offering: we call them reprints. Oh, and a brand new comic book is not a "collectible"...it's a brand new comic book. I know that may throw some folks, but it's still true.

And they wouldn't be continuously manufactured if there weren't people buying them.