KCOComics

2 hours ago, comicginger1789 said:

Tis why I love comics. Much can be left to interpretation. As for who deserves credit, I prefer to credit all involved from Stan to Jack to Artie to Joe to whoever delivered their coffee in the office. Well done for putting out a great issue!

This..  

At this point its impossible to determine who exactly was responsible for what. Those guys collaborated an awful lot and I'm just really happy they were all together at the right time and place..  

I do give Stan a lot of credit for one thing that isn't widely discussed...  My father worked at an art college in CT and artists are crazy!   Trying to get those guys to stay on schedule, meet deadlines and keep their egos in check must have been maddening.

Bill Everett's daughter told a story about how her father always waited to the last minute, would go to NY, party for days and hand in something he threw together at the last minute. Stan would pay him in cash and then he would go home and throw the cash in the air for him and his children to swim in.  I felt like that story could have been any one of the commissioned artists at my father's school. They were just "free spirits".  And Stan deserves credit for keeping the wheels on

Maybe he took to much credit, maybe the greatest charector he really created was "Stan Lee".  But I think the guy worked tirelessly to give us marvel comics. More so than any other individual. 

For some reason I can't post another photo. I may reset my phone and try again

9 minutes ago, TSwift25 said:

So, the pros are this was clearly well loved, probably rolled up and stuck in a back pocket a bunch of times. The bad news - those creases badly break color, as does the heavy spine wear. It's G/VG range for me. 3.0

Thank you! Honestly I would be thrilled with a 3.0. 

And I agree,  it's a well loved book as it should be! One of the best!

Another book with great colors,  hurt by creases. 

I thought the top staple was detached, but after inspection it's very loosely held on. 

The spine is not split,  but def color breaking. 

I can't seem to upload the picture,  but I'll try again shortly

The creases are the killer on this one. The colors are great and the book is structurally sound, but the color breaking creases hurt the presentation. 

Hello, 

I'm looking to include a handful of books in a trade for a low grade Tales of suspense 39. 

As we work out the details,  I want to make sure I'm providing accurate grades so I thought I would turn to you guys for help. 

DD4 - first purple man. 

On 1/16/2020 at 1:40 AM, comicquant said:

Marvel Mystery Comics #11 - CGC 6.0 CR/OW

Asking:  $3000 $2500

  Reveal hidden contents

 

That's a steal. 

One of my favorite WWII covers. I had a raw copy several years ago that I sold and I've always regretted it. 

I hope this one finds a good home! 

25 minutes ago, Frisco Larson said:

Detective #26 sold to KCOComics via pm! Thanks Kevin!

Thanks Jim! 

That was just to cool to pass up!  Now I need to stay off this site because I'm going broke!

10 minutes ago, Frisco Larson said:

Detective #26 Qualified .5 c/ow pages. This copy is a coverless with a loose married front cover. I bought them separately and brought them together. I do not have a back cover as I haven't been able to acquire one yet and have decided to pass this project on to another collector and let them bring it to completion. I think (but am not positive) that the More Fun, Action and Adventure comics out on the same month have the same back cover, but once gain, I'm not positive of that. The first page has some names and some squiggles in pencil, so of which appears to be reduced with an eraser (see pic). This issue also has a "coming attraction" blurb at the top margin on a page alerting us to the Batman coming to this title next month (see pic). The front cover is VERY colorful and has aged very well for a loose cover. The interior has a few minor tears which is understandable as the first wrap appears to have acted as the issues cover for quite some time now. For someone who chooses not to wait until they find a donor back cover, a back cover could easily be created by laser color reproduction, attached to the front cover, then attached to the interior through the staples to have a complete copy. This book has become VERY expensive and GPA tells us that a NO GRADE coverless with c/ow pages sold for $1295 on 9/7/18, a year and a third ago. I am offering this coverless with a beautiful original cover here and am willing to match that price! $1295 

Even with a married cover, that's an outrageously cool book at a very reasonable price! 

Does it advertise #27 in it? 

Good luck with the sale! 

I mean, the red is Daredevil, but there is something so cool about the original yellow

16 hours ago, AdamLogan said:

After many, many years of being patient for the purpose of finding a copy that I love for the right price - this arrived today.

I was able to acquire this from a second owner who had loved this copy for over 40 years, and at a great price. With that being the case, I will likely put it back into the market quickly and use the returns to buy up into a blue label copy.

For the moment though, I am happy to be part of the team - and even more excited for this beautiful book to have a home with us for the time being!

 

Congratulations! 

5 minutes ago, DocHoppus182 said:

Sandman? 

A guys who's super power is equivalent to my 2 year old sons? He can throw sand and make awesome sand castles? Hardly a key! 

Just kidding! ASM 4 should be added. Spider-Man is like Batman in the sense that he introduced a ton of great villains. 

In my mind, this is how I break up silver age Marvel keys. Maybe others disagree, but this is how I generally categorize different levels of keys. 

AF15 /FF1 and IH 1 are the holy grails. Valuable and tough to get (although with enough money any of us could buy any of them right now). 

Super keys: 

JIM83, TOS39, TTA27, ASM1, Xmen1, Avengers 1, Daredevil 1.

Keys: 

FF48, FF5, ASM3 , 6, 14, Avengers 4.... This list goes on and on, but those are examples 

And even though FF5 or avengers 4 might be more valuable than Daredevil 1, I still consider DD1 a super key...  Maybe I've got a thing for the yellow suit! 

7 hours ago, Von Cichlid said:

I'll agree with this.  You would have to measure keyness like they measure mountains.  There is strict elevation and then there is topographic prominence.  For example, Pikes Peak is, I believe, the most prominent mountain in CO, but it is around the 20th in strict elevation.  

To get prominence you would have to take a ratio of the value of that book over the average value of the 10 or so books before and after it.  The higher the ratio would correspond to a key with more prominence.  The most prominent keys, by this measure, would be books like IH 181, BA 12, NM 98, etc.  Basically, all relatively modern books where surrounding issues are very common or otherwise insignificant.

Keys that would fail to prominent by that metric would be issues like ASM 3, 4, 6, 9, 13, 14, 15.  All are high in strict elevation (price) , but the prices dont jump out at you when juxtaposed to each other.

   

I agree with everything you said.... Only, I see ASM 3, 6 and 14 as keys because they introduce major villains... Even if the value doesn't rise significantly in comparison to the issues before and after it. 

Said another way, I think there is a certain level of subjectivity in determining what is a "key". 

I think it's hard to quantify key issues with dollars amounts. All the early Marvel Mystery comics are worth over $1k, but I wouldn't necessarily call them all keys. 

Don't get me wrong,  I would love to own them,  but I feel like the value has to be coupled with something significant. A first appearance or first issue. 

8 minutes ago, Krismusic said:

I am good thanks, I needed the AF 15 to complete my Spider-Man run, not going to part with it unless it's to upgrade.

Oh yeah, I was totally kidding!  AF15 is a dream for me right now! I've considered selling books to go after it, but I'm just not ready yet. 

Congratulations on completing the Spider-Man run.  That's awesome! 

3 minutes ago, Krismusic said:

damn I just locked in a AF15 don't think I can do both a 181 and GSX... 

Because I'm a nice guy, and I would hate to see you miss out, I will trade you my hulk 181 for your AF15! 

It's a beautiful slabbed 7.0! 

2 minutes ago, kimik said:

What about GSX #1? That book is >>>>> significant than the 1st appearance of the Jackal.

Yes, your right! GSX1 is a biggie. For some reason I wrongly think of it as silver age. I think because it's an X-Men key. 

2 hours ago, Gatsby77 said:

Why is ASM 129 key?

I'd argue primarily nostalgia. If you were collecting in the late 1980s-early 1990s (particularly 1988-1993), Punisher was a top 3 (maybe top 4) comic character.

It was like: Wolverine, Batman, Punisher...maybe Spider-Man ------> Everyone else.

If you weren't there in 1992-93, it's hard to describe how popular Punisher was -- three monthly titles and guest-starring everywhere.

At the time the list of top Bronze Age keys was incredibly short -- Hulk 181, Giant-Size X-Men 1/X-Men 94, ASM 129 ---> everything else. (Yes - even GL 76 and Conan 1 lagged well behind those books).

While Punisher has fallen off in importance in the decades since, ASM 129 still holds sway among the bulk of today's comic collectors, who are in their 40s and 50s and fondly recall that period from about 1986-1994 when Punisher was at or near the top of the A-list.

That he's had three movies and (arguably - with Daredevil Season 2) two TV seasons doesn't hurt either.

This is 100% right!  

When I was a kid, it was punisher, wolverine, Batman and for me, the X-Men because the cartoon was awesome! 

As a child of the 90s, punisher and wolverine were my two favorites. The punisher was hugely popular and had several solo titles. I probably read every Punisher War Journal comic cover to cover a dozen times.

When I started collecting, the first two big books I bought were hulk 181 and ASM 129. To a broke teenager in the late 90s, those two keys were much more affordable than the big silver age titles. I still have them both with no plans to sell. 

But besides Hulk 181, I can't think of a more worthy bronze age key.  I do love HOS92, but it's hard to argue that it's more worthy of key status than ASM129. 

I'll weigh in because I like this topic! 

I've been collecting since I was in high school. 20 years or so.  When I bought silver age books, I never opened them. In fact I still have dozens of raw books, bagged and boarded that I've never opened. I'm never going to be one to crack a slab open so I can read it and most of my 4 figure books are slabbed to be protected. 

That said,  my 7 year old thinks owning comics and not reading them is ridiculous. And he's right!  Collecting has been really fun the last few years because we've been buying golden age and silver age books together and carefully reading the old stories and checking out the old ads!  We even read my Avengers 1 before sending it off to CGC. 

So I can see it both ways. I don't want to damage a rare or valuable book. But there is something so cool about reading those stories and carefully turning through the pages. It's like an event! 

My son and I have been buying allot of the true believers reprints and reading the big keys,  but if I was lucky enough to get a raw FF1 or Hulk 1, I would very carefully read it. 

Also,  Joe - your comment was totally not insulting!  

Skypinkblu - I really enjoyed reading your descriptions of these books. How much you appreciate and enjoyed each comic really comes out!  

Good luck with bidding on some new ones! 

Silver age ASM go so fast !