rjrjr

It depends. I found most shops had American comics and finding European comics to be a big pain in the butt. With that said, I visited big cities, smaller cities and towns might be different.

Both Lee and McFarlane's art have survived the test of time. But, not all artists' work does. Some of today's hot artists might still be important in years to come, most probably will not be. As I mentioned earlier, I think the best option is to pick a book with a hot artist working on a popular character with a rare variant cover. If interest in an artist begins to wane because someone else comes along who does it better (look how Alex Ross is no longer the painted cover artist to collect for example), dump those books that don't have the other 2 components (popular character + rare variant cover) as I would expect the values to stagnate. Cheesecake artists seem to survive the longest IMHO. So, I would expect Adam Hughes, Frank Cho, and others of that ilk to be good bets. It is important that a cover artist has a considerable body of work as well, otherwise ... "out of sight, out of mind." And that body of work needs to be on mainstream popular characters. Dave Stevens would have benefited considerably from a run on a Marvel or DC character. Even so, his cheesecake work should keep interest in his work for some time to come.

its not Greg Land. Deodato is well known for referencing photos of actual people/celebrities. I just thought someone would know who the runner is he referenced. Now why would you assume this was referenced from "a runner"? The build? Im sorry but your statement to disrupt or discredit this or any of his art work to go against the grain of people liking the cover art and dipiction of America is baseless. Do you know the reference? No Do you know if there is one? No Can you show the community examples of refferenced work? No Im not being a ...im just pointing out a stupid comment to help you be more aware. I mean you have the right and freedom to say as you wish but...who wants to sound stupid? Who is discrediting the art? I asked a simple question, has someone figured out what photo was referenced for the cover? As to be a photo of a runner, that is the most obvious, since that is what it looks like she is doing... running. As for Deodato referencing photos of people and celebrities, there are ample examples. Just do a Google search. Plenty of discussion about it as well. But my intent was to find out what photo/who he referenced for the character. Nothing more, nothing less.

That isn't quite right. Not an apples to apples. Is it? Ditko Variant 9.8 - 12 month: Universal - $875 SS- $1,013 - 1,150 depending on sigs SS 90 BDay - $2,504 1) This list isn't based on "12 Month Averages". 2) While the 90th may be a "variant" of the variant, it's no different than including "sketch" versions of variants of books. 3) The book would have made the list anyway, based on the totality of strength of sales from the most recent period of review. The book heated up again. It's just that simple. -J. Well... that opens a good question... what is the criteria for making the list? At least one sale has to take place over a certain number? No real criteria other than that, and that the book be a modern variant? But not too modern. I think jdogrules mentioned the book needing to be at least 2-3 years old.

its not Greg Land. Deodato is well known for referencing photos of actual people/celebrities. I just thought someone would know who the runner is he referenced.

Completely agree. If any of these even get to $50, I will be flummoxed. I'm probably crazy, but I think the sleeper pick may end up being Squirrel Girl. That was one lazy artist that produced this cover. What, a cheap rip-off of MSHSW8 with no background is lazy? It must have taken the artist at least a few hours to crank out all 5 covers. Cha-ching!

I did mention it.

When people are referring to Canadian versions, they are talking about the newsstand copies (with a UPC barcode) that have a different price than a U.S. edition. Both copies look nice BTW!

No problem. It's still a great parody, like you said. They got Mort Drucker to do the Empire Strikes Back satire and he had a lot of fun with that (the final panel shows that they "fixed" Luke's severed hand, but they accidentally put a foot there in its place). Is that the one where Han literally has a price on his head?

Does anyone know which photo was referenced for the cover? I'm sure someone has already tracked it down.

Completely agree. If any of these even get to $50, I will be flummoxed. I'm probably crazy, but I think the sleeper pick may end up being Squirrel Girl. That was one lazy artist that produced this cover.

More variants for people to chase.

He attacked me in one of my first posts. Not what I was saying, but me personally. I wasn't trying to get a rise out of anyone, just participate in a discussion. It kept me from posting for a long, long while afterwards. And this was after lurking for a few years.

The issue I see is if in fact as USA Today review says Archie is established to be 16 in the series, it's not just a plot twist but a criminal plot twist. Does Grundy get locked up? How do they deal with this aspect of it? Desperate Housewives had a similar plot and nobody seemed to care. I think most viewers will just go

I buy enough stuff that I usually leave feedback all at once every month. You still might get that feedback.

I see we have some comedians in training. I would keep your day jobs.

"To Seek Justice" "To Avenge the Galaxy" "To Battle the Dark Side" "To Restore Hope" "In a Time of Need" "In Dark Times"

He posted recently http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=9771754#Post9771754 I must have missed it. He usually has something to offer to discussions, it is just unfortunate the delivery he uses to get his point across IMHO.

He doesn't post here anymore does he? Was he banned? I cannot remember the last time one of my posts was attacked in a Cal reply ...

My guess is that the hardcore Valiant collectors using DCBS to obtain 1:20 and 1:50 variants are already paying for the required extra regular issues... so DCBS can just give the standard copies away, rather than store them. , if not paying, then heavily subsidizing. DCBS has the Cover A for $0.99 (75% off). The 1:50 variant is just $50, though, so perhaps Valiant is just offering deep discounts? Anyway, I don't really mind paying the $3. It's the Cover C #1-3 Preorder bundle which is 48 pages per issue including bonus material. Certainly seems like much better value for money than the Marvel titles I just cancelled. Besides, I've never received a free comic from DCBS. Weird. The last free Valiant I received was Faith #1. I wonder how DCBS decides who to send free comics to? I just assumed they sent them out to everyone.

Over the years, I have seen many hot artists get heavily collected then fall by the wayside. Just a few examples: John Byrne Mike Grell Barry Windsor-Smith Rob Liefeld Michael Golden Mike Deodato Sam Keith Greg Horn Alex Ross Now, there are still those who appreciate these artists, but for the most part, the comics with their art no longer command a premium over other issues in a title or other books from the same time period. What those artist didn't have is ratio'd variants or store exclusives, which is a huge factor in the price of many modern comics. Not every Dell'Otto comic commands a premium, mostly those that have a ratio'd distribution or are a retailer exclusive for specific characters. This is true of Adam Hughes and J Scott Campbell too. It is the combination of artist, scarcity, and character. Very rarely is it the artist alone, the scarcity alone, or the character alone. So, I believe today's cover artists "keys" can maintain their value or premium, but it will be on books that have a combination of these 3 things. A book without all 3 things going for it probably won't maintain its value or rather, its peers will eventually catch up to it. (What I mean by this is very rarely does a book 'fall' in value. What happens is that book stagnates and eventually the surrounding books catch up to it in value. Look at Uncanny X-Men prices over the years to see what I mean. At one time, an X-Men comic commanded a premium over other books from the same period because X-Men were "hot". But eventually, those other books caught up to the X-Men books in prices when the X-Men were no longer "hot".)

It will also be interesting to see how some of these collectors now chasing variants change and perhaps mature as they stay with the hobby longer. I wonder if some of the popularity of variants is linked to newer collectors that either can't afford, don't have the knowledge, or currently don't have the desire to chase older key books. I was talking to my LCS owner today, and he just picked up a large (and amazing) GA collection. I mentioned that my own interest in GA and SA has been growing in the last year or so. He came back with the whole GA market seems to be exploding right now, and demand is way up. Is this a results of younger collectors changing focus? If so, does this mean artificial collectibles will eventually take a hit as people start collecting other types of books? I honestly don't see young collectors chasing these variant covers so much as older collectors with disposable income who still have to "have them all" and/or speculators. I'd wager the speculators are more important to the prices of these variants than collectors at the moment.

Most modern variants do crash in price. Very few maintain their high value over time. It hasn't deterred some from pursuing every variant that is released though. I guess time will tell.

I'm fine not seeing it again, I think it looks awful. what's wrong with the cover? when you see something that looks like street graffiti does it makes you angry and just can't look at it? Doesn't do anything for me either - boring, static cover. Reminds me of Sad Keanu. Really? A sinister, sunglasses adorn Punisher against a quintessential LA backdrop that is actually reflective of the plot within. I notice you have a consistent pattern of only negativity. Is there anything that you do like about anything at all in modern comics or characters? -J. Sorry I don't like your comic book cover Why would the Punisher be sitting on a park bench in front of graffiti with his name on it? I agree, it is not a bad cover, just not very exciting...