jjeanius

I think the seller end of the equation is irrelevant. "I won't sell it at any price"...that doesn't make it more valuable than if your ask is $1miliion. And asking $200k for a CGC 9.8 of WD 61 doesn't make it more valuable, either. It takes buyers to establish value...not sellers. And...IMO, there is a difference between a piece of art selling at a certain price, and a piece of art being WORTH a certain price. Someone can overpay for something, that doesn't make it worth that much. Just as in any true auction setting, it takes TWO buyers to establish value. The high bidder might always be willing to go higher...but the value of the piece is determined by where the 2nd bidder stops. Now, get two people in a room, both of whom are willing to drop $50k large on this cover, and then let there be fireworks.

Very good question. i will have to give that some thought. I will say this...I consider it to have the same type of appeal as something like Watchmen, in this sense: The value of the art is in the significance of the piece, and the popularity of the story...and has much less to do with the artist. This art is not valuable because it's Tony Moore (just look at what all of his OTHER art sells for)...it's valuable because it's the cover to Walking Dead #1, which has become a cultural phenomenon. It is the significance of the piece that gives it value...not the name signed at the bottom. This is very similar to the value of Watchmen art. It is valuable because it is WATCHMEN...not because it's Dave Gibbons. This cover would be every bit as valuable if it were drawn by Adlard...it'd still be the cover to the first issue of the most popular book of the last decade. For fans of modern comics, this is the single most desirable piece of art. From what I have seen, though, the collectors of modern comic art are, for the most part, a totally different crowd than those dropping big bucks on key silver/bronze/copper era OA. So...I don't know if you can really compare it to a 100k+ McSpidey cover or a Byrne X-Men cover or a Miller DD cover or a choice DKR page (all of which pair great artist with classic story)...or the cover to TMNT #1 (which is closer in the sense that I don't think Eastman would be considered an all-time great artist). I'm not sure it would appeal in the same way to the buyers spending big bucks on key vintage art. Ultimately, I think there is a smaller buyer pool for WD 1 than there might be for the best of the bronze/copper age. I think WD 1 can get there eventually...but vintage and key DKR/Watchmen has grown over time, and so should WD 1. I think it will have to properly mature before you can put it in the same class. That being said...I could see this cover selling in the $40k - $50k range on a good day and to the right buyer. For me, though, that's the high end.

Well, it's "worth" whatever someone will pay for it...but the best way (IMO) to judge value on artwork is to decide where it fits relative to other artwork that is out there (i.e. more valuable/less valuable), and then formulate an opinion of worth based on all available sales data.

Based on Tony's prices on everything else...? Way more than it's worth...probably by a factor of 10.

Tawny Kitaen...mmm....

Cool, thanks...order placed! Here's hoping it arrives safely.

I was wondering the same thing. Saw the same auction on eBay, but also see listings that claim an LE of only 200.

I think the end of season 2 was an interesting transitional period for the comics. I think it's safe to say that just about every single affordable raw issue of this series has now been snatched up at the LCS, and all of these books have flooded the eBay market from sellers looking to capitalize on the madness. The sheer volume of sales on eBay pretty much guaranteed that there would be a letdown shortly thereafter. But now, much of the available product out there has settled into the hands of new collectors, and these collectors are much more financially invested in these books than the previous generation of owners. So...the LCS supply has dwindled, and the sell-through continues on eBay. By the time the next season rolls around, I would expect key issues to be a bit harder to come by unless prices continue to increase. I think that, more and more, the available supply is slowly making its way into the hands of long-term collectors (rather than insta-flippers), and so prices could go up again if/when season 3 brings even more fans on board and ushers in another increase in demand for the comics. I do think that, in the long run, prices will come back down to Earth (at least to the point they were at before the season 2 finale)...but I think the TV show will have to run its course first. I would be liquidating all of the common issues at this point, but I'm not so eager to let go of the keys yet. Just my , of course.

what about a Winnebago...?

Maybe if it was a signature series bar of gold....?

Is a single bar of gold even worth that much...? I honestly don't know.

Sure did! Now is the time to sell me all of your high grade key issues at half price while you still can!

Some of the words that get filtered here are truly beyond me.

Huge print run for an Image title will keep the price down. Agreed. IIRC, the print run was roughly 3x the print run of YTLM #1. Even if it's as successful as YTLM, it'll probably peak at $25 - $30 raw. As a collector, though, this just makes me covet the RRP #1 even more. Received my first (hopefully not last) RRP in the mail yesterday...and it was THRASHED. insufficiently_thoughtful_person used two paper-thin pieces of cardboard (the type that lines the bottom of Diamond boxes), and then threw it in a manila envelope. Bottom spine corner is a mess. Now I need to deal with Paypal to get my money back as the seller has been non-responsive so far.

that, and I think that, in general, Sundays are slower

Sounds like we need to start a contest to see who can get closest to the actual (total) print run of issue 100. I'll take 105,572. To say that this book will be over-ordered is an understatement.

What amazes me is that, right after the auction went to $120+, the two other BINs at $130 and $140 were immediately popped. Crazy.

Was that yours...? If so, very impressive! That book is definitely trending upward!

On 99% of series they would have been correct. WD is definitely the exception, not the rule. Edit: I didn't even realize that I'm the 'they' in your post. Keep thinking I don't know what I'm talking about - I was able to take that money I got from my Walking Dead run and turn it into AT LEAST 2 nights of fun in Atlantic City. Now I'm married, so although the books are worth 3x as much, all the memories of hookers and blow are priceless. So when you get married you are supposed to stop the hookers and blow? Oh .... I just got married - guess I need to change my ways! Of course not! You should swap the blow for heroin...but the hookers are perfectly fine. ;-)

If $30 is considered hot then I guess it was. I could buy #2 for under $30 just over 2 years ago and #1 averaged $50. That was a lot for a book that was less than a year old. Not a lot for a book that is 8 years old. But then...he was asking if it was hot out of the gate (which it was)...not if it was hot in 2010. As usual thanks for the narrow view. As Michael stated it was not hot. I was willing to concede the $30 but actually you missed the decimal point. "Narrow view" in that I actually answered the question rather than going off on a tangent...? "Well, since you asked how it was selling in 2003, let me tell you what I remember about 2010..." Very helpful. And...perhaps you weren't there at the time, or you just don't recall the climate, but Image books were not hot in 2003 the way they are now. Books weren't blowing up overnight simply because they had low print runs and "#1" on the cover. That book was immediately popular, and immediately hot.

If $30 is considered hot then I guess it was. I could buy #2 for under $30 just over 2 years ago and #1 averaged $50. That was a lot for a book that was less than a year old. Not a lot for a book that is 8 years old. But then...he was asking if it was hot out of the gate (which it was)...not if it was hot in 2010.

As I recall, WD 1 and 2 were hot right away. By the time issue 7 or 8 came out, 1 and 2 were both in the $30 range. It might have leveled off for years...but the first issues didn't take long to go up.

So THAT'S the first appearance of Lacey, Arnold, Rachel, and Susie Greene..! Been wondering about that for awhile now!

Sure thing! 1.) Try not to fire guns...it just draws attention 2.) If you do fire guns, try not to stay in the same place for very long if you are exposed 3.) Trust no one. 4.) If you want to take a zombie down, get 'em in the brain. 5.) Stockpile food whenever possible 6.) Carl does not like oatmeal. 7.) Cold weather seems to slow 'em down! 8.) When running out of canned goods...try to start a farm 9.) Any place worth having is worth defending 10.) You do not have to be bitten to turn into a zombie...it just happens when you die. 11.) Everyone is lonely. In most cases, just asking for sex is enough to get it on. Think those are the keys to WD...did I miss anything?

Hard to explain. I only have a couple of titles that I buy, so my dollars aren't spread around. When it comes to limited print runs of my favorite comics, I really enjoy knowing that I have the most extensive collection. It's hard, because the registry doesn't really reward multiple copies, rather completeness of a series. In my heart, I don't really care about having YLTM#37 in 9.8, but I like having four 9.8 copies of YLTM#1... Saga#1 RRP will probably be the only true scarce, high demand comic that this series will ever have. If I could own half of them, I would... Seth So...YOU are the reason that I can't get my hands on one for less than $100! Thanks, pal...really great of you to leave some for the rest of us! I really wish you wanted to corner the market on something else...like beanie babies.