RonS2112

I don't think you can separate the two, ESPECIALLY since in the current market, the folks speculating aren't necessarily the most educated on the actual contents of the hot books. Thor (2014) #1 does have the familiar cover, but I'm seeing more inflated prices for GoT #25 as the market catches it's breath for a second and says "hey, wait a minute."

Kinda like the community itself right now. Thor (2014) #1 hitting $55 and more on eBay on news of a movie coming out in 2 years strikes me as the latest jump-the-shark moment for this hobby. Signal-to-noise ratio is pretty low at the moment.

Second your nomination of Gene Carpenter as a VA Comicon favorite. I've had the pleasure of recently meeting him and talking to him at several of the (almost) monthly comic & card shows in Annandale. His collection of GA, SA, and especially 50's pre-code horror books in unrivaled. He was kind enough to let me look at a pristine copy of Journey into Mystery #5, which I almost didn't even want to touch because it's in such great shape. My kids are fascinated by his collection -- so much great stuff in such amazing condition. Also had the pleasure of meeting Guy Rose at last month's Annandale con. He sold me some beautiful SA ASMs for about 40% of Guide value. Kicking myself for not raiding his bins more.......

To be more accurate than my previous post: if you go month-to-month, it's $9.99 per month. If you go yearly, it's (or was -- the may have slightly increased lately) $5.83 per month. Can't beat it.

Marvel Unlimited is like $6 per month. Access to MOST of what they've published for less than the price of two new comics per month. Can you really complain about that?

One of the biggest trends being reported in places such as Overstreet over the last five years or so, is the "movement" of more folks looking to invest in reader-grade copies of SA books. So its driving up the value of books in 2.0-6.0 condition. Not sure if it's just me, but it does seem like this has leveled off a bit this year. But you're asking a somewhat personally-directed question. This whole thread makes me sad, because I love thumbing through long runs of popular titles (one of my recently completed personal goals was to have every issue of the Fantastic Four published in my lifetime -- that count has recently started increasing by one again each month...). But unless it's purely a search for the book that you think: a) has the potential to increase the most over the next X years and B) you can afford by consolidating the rest of your collection, then what you like is still going to play a factor. Otherwise, approach it as you would investing in stocks, where you use the resources available to maximize your profit over time. I'm going to assume though that you want to end up with a comic you like in the end, so if it was ME, I would use the funds available to buy the highest grade SA Fantastic Four or Spider-man key I could,,,,say in 8.5 to 9.4 condition. For $4K, you get get an FF #12 slabbed in 6.5 condition, and a FF #25 in 8.5 condition. Both look awesome in those grades, and are almost sure to appreciate in value over the years.

My story is very similar, except that it was X-Men #5. Tried my first collection sell-off when I thought I was done with comics, and sold it along with some SA FF's in early '98. Ny a month later I regretted it, but it was too late.

Not being a smartass, but I'm going to point out that in the time it took you to type this, a short answer could have been provided to the OPs question, with links to where he could learn more.

What point? That because you knew TWO WHOLE DAYS before some others that Kirkman was pulling a switcheroo, you are somehow more in the know than people who do this for a living? There's a reason this story made national news -- and again, in this case Monday vs. Wednesday doesn't make a difference in the number of books they would have ordered. Got it now?

Monday vs. Wednesday doesn't make a difference, genius. The LCSs orders would have gone in up to 2 months ago.

Lots of good advice here.....I'll add that it doesn't need to be an all-or-nothing proposition. Start by investing a small amount in books you intend to flip. Keep track of when you bought it, the price you bought at, the price you sold at and how long it took to sell. Take your initial capital plus profits and repeat. Over time you're going to get an idea of whether you have a knack for making good investment judgements, and perhaps more important, how much profit you are capable of realizing per hour/week/month -- whatever. Those numbers will ultimately be what convinces you (and your significant other) whether this is a good line of work for you. Along the way, visit some local cons, make friends with the guys selling and ask how they do it. Betting very few do 100% of their business from their homes, and most spend time travelling between a few states, hitting local conventions. There's a lifestyle component to this whole thing, too.

It appears reading comprehension maybe a contributor to your problem. A) I wasn't talking to you and B) as I said in my post, there was NEVER going to be an "issue 200," but only Robert Kirkman knew that. Ending the series at issue 193 was a surprise to everyone until last Wednesday morning.

Gonna assume that the author of this post (and many like it on this forum) doesn't follow TWD comic. Kirkman pulled a surprise ending of the title, going so far as to issue fake solicits for issues 194 and 195. I'm going to guess that MANY stores who order a near-constant number of this title from month to month were caught off-guard, when this issue LITERALLY became an instant collectors' item last week.

I was going to ask if the store offered to make good on the situation, given your long patronage. This post answered my question and wins my nomination for Post of the Month.

Exactly what I'd expect from the biggest smart- on this thread. Thanks for making my point for me.

You know, this is the Newbie section and the OP was asking a legitimate question. Some of you guys need to remember that you were once new at this stuff, too. Real answer: pressing is done in a machine very similar to what's used to press decals onto t-shirts. Humidity of your local area plays a role.

This. Stick with the smaller local cons, and you'll do well. Bigger cons, not so much.

The El Rey Network is where I see it on Cox Cable in the DC Metro area.

This. You can't struggle through the Eternals and even imagine that it's written by the same guy responsible for silver-age Marvel. I'm sure Kirby had more than a little influence on the direction of the early Marvel superhero stories, but it was Stan doing the heavy lifting WRT the dialogue.

The stories are better in the original written media -- pretty much always the case. Having said that, the MCU has done an incredible job of packing the Marvel Lore into the movies so far.

It only took 40 years for costume and CGI technology to catch up with Stan's vision for what these characters SHOULD have been like on TV back in the day. One of the retro cable networks re-runs The Incredible Hulk every morning, and after catching a few of these, the show actually is better than I remembered, especially those where they're trying to stretch a by curing Banner, introducing an older second Hulk, etc. I'm sure the budget for the show was ridiculously small by today's standards, so they were pretty limited in that regard. Doesn't excuse the live-action Spider-Man show, though.......

I'll take it! PM sent.

Hard to say what the cover stain is, but it doesn't seem visible on the front. I'm going to say it's an easy 7.5

An easy 8.0

Midtown Comics is great for new books. Good prices and very reasonable shipping.