Coolio McCool

Maybe they can do a "retro" style con and kick out all exhibitors not selling or promoting comic books. That would easily leave enough floor space for social distancing, just need to be careful to not hover over people going through dollar bins.

"New" New Warriors 1 seems to be selling okay on Ebay, I think it could be a hot book for several reasons. It's the first appearance of 5-6 new characters (that we know about, maybe more we don't know about). Yes, these characters seem kinda lame for now, but all it takes is one good writer / artist to unleash their potential (see X-23). Also it might be a tough book to actually find considering the Corona shutdown. Are there a bunch of copies under lock and key at Diamond right now? Or are they still at the printer? Will anyone get them on 4/15?

The Cheesecake Factory situation is nothing like what's going on here. Cheesecake Factory is able defer / renegotiate leases to some extent because the long-term cost of evicting them is very high to the property owner (hard to find a tenant in the middle of a pandemic). In the case of DCD, you have publishers who incurred real expenses by printing books, now the books are gone and they aren't getting paid, publishers are left holding the bag. What incentive do publishers have not to take Diamond to BK? Almost none, DCD isn't operable for the foreseeable future whether in BK or not, and if DCD can't pay the bills after just a week or two of Corona then let's face it, publishers are never going to be made whole. Time to prepare for a comics industry without DCD. No idea what that looks like.

Hopefully they figure out some other way to get books out. In hindsight it was a terrible idea to run everything through one third party. Single point of failure, now the entire industry is frozen. Marvel and DC should partner with the bigger online retailers. As we have seen with past Ebay sales, shops like MyComicsShop get exclusive distribution / sales for certain variants. They are able to fulfill orders at a large volume, as they have shown. So give MyComicsShop exclusive sales rights to 10 books of the week, they will sell all ten as a bundle for $50 shipped. You can't just buy ASM, they don't have the man power and sorting for that. Folks will still buy, they might buy MORE for speculation ("pandemic era" comics, as someone earlier mentioned).

There is real money to be made in the next 1-3 months for collectors / speculators. Many books that were ordered won't ship, making print runs tiny. Some books probably won't officially ship at all but might leak out in small numbers due to preview issues or misc. snafus. Time to make back some stock market losses, let's go baby. Put it all on X-Men.

$50 to attend on Friday this year, up from $25. There were about a dozen dealers selling actual comics last year, this year it's just not worth it. If you need another reason to not attend, just remember the Stan Lee elder exploitation from last year.

Slightly off-topic, but the real first appearance of Bloodshot is Rai 0. Eternal Warrior 4 is a lame comic and Bloodshot literally shows up in the last panel and does nothing. Rai 0 is an amazing comic, great story, probably the best cover Valiant ever did, and has the origin of Bloodshot. Anyone chasing Eternal Warrior 4 is chasing fool's gold. If Eternal Warrior 4 is the first appearance of Bloodshot then Hulk 180 is the first appearance of Wolverine.

The main complaint about the Walmart deal is that comic stores got zero copies of the books. Most stores would have no problem with Walmart stocking a few comics, none of their big customers are going to switch to buying books at Walmart just because they sell a few comics. But it's an absolute disgrace that Walmart gets to exclusively sell these books. It looks like most of the books are ending up in the hands of speculators anyway, so what's the point? New readers aren't able to buy these. A better strategy would be to flood the market, let comic book stores order the books which would keep books on the shelves at Walmart for potential new readers. BTW speaking of comics at Costco, during the 90s they did stock DC comics, you could buy selected DC comics published in the past ~month bundled up for a discount. I remember buying most of the "Return of Superman" series this way. I don't think it's going to work today, it's hard to sell 10 comics (or whatever standard Costco / Sams quantity is) to a new reader.

Die Die Die seems to be selling pretty well. How did ordering for this book work exactly? Did stores just end up with a bunch of free boxes? It's a great comic, recommended for the read if nothing else.

Marvel probably has data that shows #1 issues sell XX% more than #random so the natural conclusion (as someone already mentioned) is for every issue to be a #1. They can release 99 #1's in a row, followed by #X00, that's the way to optimize sales. Ignore what your customers are telling you, ignore that Uncanny X-Men somehow went 544 issues without a restart (and during much of that span outsold current titles by an order of magnitude or more), just listen to the marketing department.

Just a recommendation to CGC -- it would be nice to have grading times that were certain on submission date. E.g., today modern tier grading time is 37 Business Days... but that seems to only apply to books submitted 37 business days ago, my grading time for books I submit today may be longer or shorter, based on demand.

Most of the content is reprint, but it seems like a decent product for new readers. I don't understand why they choose to sell it at Walmart of all places, couldn't they sell them to comic stores also? I refuse to step foot into Walmart for various reasons which are off-topic here so it looks like I'll have to pass on these.

It's getting close to Youngblood days, a new new character on every page. The sales are to speculators and the prices aren't sustainable, Kingpin's little sister isn't likely to have a big fan following anytime soon.

Bloodstrike Brutalists 23 Liefeld Variant is heating up, my local comic store didn't even buy a single copy of any cover! Print run could be super low, if "The Pouch" catches on then the sky is the limit.

Will CCS even accept it for pressing? Will they charge more since it probably requires more work?

I have a misprint comic from the 1990s with 3 covers that I want to press before getting graded. Are there any tips / tricks / special concerns with pressing a multi-cover comic? Should I just add teflon sheets between each cover?

The general public has known for many years that certain comics are very valuable, I don't think public perception has changed much in that regard. Ignoring perception, I'd say it's really questionable whether comics are a "valid investment"... and I'm saying this as a guy who spends thousands on comics. Buy them because you enjoy them, it's nice when the go up in value, but don't count on it. What really torpedoes the investment aspect is the cost of buying / selling. Unless you do a lot of work to track down buyers, you aren't going to be able to sell your collection at market price without paying 10-15%+ to somebody. Compare to the cost of buying / selling stocks which is a mouse click and $8 on each end.

My local store was charging $6 for the polybagged book and sold out Wednesday afternoon. It looks like price on the 'bay is around $12 shipped and holding steady. I think the regular cover and the non-secret JSC variant will end up worthless, who wants a fake cover that shows a fake event that never happened? The polybagged version could end up worthless too, who knows. The secret cover really isn't that great, but at least it's not fake news. This was one case where Marvel had a semi-legit reason to polybag, but it's still questionable. You normally don't see the ending of books / comic books spoiled on the cover, I think they could have gotten JSC to draw something else.

Everybody hates polybags for the reasons you mentioned, people don't want to have an internal debate for hours just to decide whether to read a comic. In the case of XMG 30, good luck finding a second copy for cover price, just buy a regular cover and read it instead.

It will be very hard for CGC to switch at this point, there are already millions of books out there with no distinction. If you want to start a new grading company, you might have a competitive advantage with the newsstand crowd by considering them to be separate, but many people don't care and will never care (and CGC helps reinforce their beliefs). Personally I'd rather have a picture of Spiderman in the corner of my NM87 book, not some barcode. Regarding the Ebay deal, I agree you didn't get what you expected, you should ask for a return and escalate if the seller refuses. Ebay pretty much always sides with buyers and you have a legit case.

The 25th anniversary of the most successful crossover in comic history (by sales) is approaching, I predict that there will be renewed interest as the event approaches. Overall Deathmate has a bad rap because the comics are still nearly worthless, but the storyline is solid and there are some nice books in the set. I would rank the books as follows: 6) Prologue - Nothing really happens in this book, Solar's babe offs herself, Solar hooks up with Void, Deathmate starts, everything is screwed up, the end. 5) Blue - The fight between Magnus and some Image guy at the beginning is pointless, it was cool seeing Sting show up for a few pages, but not enough action overall. 4) Yellow - Ninjak vs Zealot, Hard CORPS in a suicide mission, good comic overall. 3) Epilogue - The cover is AMAZING, one of the best covers I have ever seen. But the story isn't so good, the ending is a disappointment frankly, Spoiler alert - "Solar become a black hole!" - the end. 2) Red - Good art throughout, good story throughout, I wish there was an entire series about Harada owning the world. If there is one Deathmate book that could be turned into an ongoing series or even a movie this is it. Cover is kind of a hit or miss, in some circles it's a classic, it others it's a punchline. 1) Black - Silvestri / Lee cover, first Gen 13. I confess I haven't read this one, my copy is probably a 9.8 and I don't want to damage it. Hopefully I can find a copy in a dollar bin somewhere soon and finish the review. So next time you're dumpster diving, be sure to pick up a few copies of Deathmate and enjoy a good read and the crossover to end all time. This blood's for you!

Not comparable to X-Men #1, which is one of the best comics ever published, Claremont + Lee, great story, great cover, a true mutant milestone. Only reason it's not collectible (yet!) is the print run. But Turok has an N64 game, if they announce Turok 2 for Gamecube then look for the comic to pop big time.

Glad to see it take off!! No print run is too massive, eventually all great comics will take off. Could X-Men 1 be next? Only 8 million print run, population of earth is ~8 billion, X-Men 1 owners are the 0.1%.

Quantity over quality, find a comic that nobody wants right now and buy up every NM+ copy you can find. The ship has already sailed on Hulk 181, you need to look for the NEXT Hulk 181.

Here is a foolproof method I have discovered. Start by mapping out all the comics store locations in your area and writing down the time they open on Wednesdays. Ideally you will have 1 or more stores opening at 10am, and then another store within 15-30 mins drive opening at 11am. Perfect opportunity. So now you show up at 10am at the first store, it's not important to be the first one there, just be there when it opens. Start chatting with the clerk for a few minutes and just watch what the first few customers buy. They are the smart money, they know what is key, they have done your research for you. Let's say the first two people out the door each buy 1-2 copies of Bloodshot Salvation 9, first appearance and death of Bloodshot's dog BloodSpot. You've found the hot comic of the week! Go back and buy every last copy. The 9.8 copies are already gone probably, but there should be a bunch of 9.2s-9.6s. Now here's where you make some REAL money. You'll need a sports car, ideally a Tesla or modified Honda. The comic store 30 minutes away opens in about 45 minutes, but the smart money is headed there right now. You need to beat them! So race there as fast as you can, make sure to map out the route ahead of time and figure out the shortcuts. Once you arrive (should be ~15 minutes before opening), wait outside the front door to secure your spot, then go on Ebay. You should bring a phone, tablet and laptop, use all 3 to go on Ebay and order every last copy of the hot comic for any price under $20. It's money in the bank. When the store opens, grab every copy of the hot comic off the shelf, pay, go home, and count your money. I have already paid for my kid's college using this method, and within a few weeks I'll pay off my mortgage.