rjrjr

11 hours ago, ebtorres said:

"Good ones" doesn't do those justice! Great stuff from Dell'Otto! Thanks for sharing.

I know I'm not going to be popular for saying this, but the Thanos and Spider-Man commission's are not that great.  But the other 3 I really like.

7 hours ago, NoMan said:

I believe there were price variants before SW so why is SW #1 the most valuable variant?  

Thank you in advance.

I believe there are several reason:

1) The Star Wars $0.35 variant was identified before the other $0.35 variants and broken out in the guide early on.  This allowed it to get an early jump on the other $0.35 variants, not only in price, but in interest.

2) Star Wars, despite not being a comic property, has a huge fan base.  (Consider this, the new Marvel Star Wars title has been Marvel's top selling ongoing series for close to 3 years now.)

3) Disney's acquisition of Star Wars has many believing the property will not fade.  If you are going to get the first Star Wars comic, you might as well get the least common version.

3 hours ago, ComicConnoisseur said:

If we are going to talk rarity,than I wonder if the variant comic book market is the way to go forward?

The reason why I am bringing this up is because I did a little research on Ebay in that just about the majority of all modern comic books that have any significant value since 2007 are low print variant comic books. 

Seems to be a trend in other hobbies as well with all the valuable modern sportscards,action figures,statues,sneakers and video games that have come out since 2007 are limited edition low manufactured runs.

Seems also that they are all really more profitable short term than going the long-term slow approach with established keys of each hobby.

I was kind of shocked to see how stuff by Hot Toys and SideshowToys have risen in value.

Also Funko stuff is out of this world pricewise.

The best stuff might be the limited SDCC stuff given out at cons for investment

Seems to me these are the new growing markets,while the old I will hold it for 20 years and hope it rises in value is slowing down.

I wonder if these new limited variant markets will continue to be the new wave or end up like Franklin Mint and the Danbury Mint as manufactured collectibles after 20 years. My aunt has plenty of Norman Rockwell plates and Hummels that have lost most of their value. lol.

It is an interesting question and only time will tell.  I don't like the trend, but I understand why these publishers are doing it.  They learned they can milk more money from their hardcore fan base and this helps offset the loss in readership.  (One of Marvel's executives even said a few years back they'll keep raising prices, printing variants, and publishing events until the fans quit buying.  Based on current sales trends, that time may be coming.)  My personal opinion is this is short sided thinking on the part of the publishers; they are actually chasing away the types of collectors they really want, those who buy every issue of a title no matter what.  Marvel, for example, use to have these "Marvel zombies" as they use to be called but I'll wager there are very few of these people left in the hobby.  It doesn't surprise me we have seen a move towards "key only" collecting, very few people can afford to collect every issue of any title (including variants) anymore.  Instead, those who have been able to adjust their way of collecting or who do not remember a time when you could collect every issue of a title, seem to be okay with this trend because they just buy "keys".  IMHO, it is even worse, because very few of the variant issues are being read, but instead are just coveted for the cover.

What would be interesting to me would be to learn exactly how many comic readers are actual left who buy modern comics to read.  There are always discussions about modern cover art, but very few discussions about the content inside the comic, unless it is something that is negative like Captain America being a Nazi; I suspect most people participating in those discussions don't actually read the comics, but just want to express their displeasure at how comics have changed.

I'll use myself as an example, I buy as many variants of the Star Wars titles as I can afford, and that is usually every variant but the extreme ratio'd ones (1:100 or 1:200.)  So, I buy 3 or 4 different covers of the average Star Wars comic to get all the variants (for Darth Vader #1 that came out a few months back, there were 10+ variants), but I only read one copy.  If you consider this across the board, how many readers of these pamphlets are there really? 50% of the unit sales?  Maybe even less in some cases like the Darth Vader #1.

My personal opinion is there will always be someone who will spend the money and want these things (I'm one of them), but the number of these people will dwindle over time.  We are actually seeing this.  The publishers can get away with these ever increasingly difficult (i.e. expensive) variants as long as you have people willing to spend hundreds, if not thousands of dollars on a brand new comic.  But there will come a point where the finances of publishing the comics don't work anymore for the number of buyers left.  What do the publishers do then?

As for the value, there will always be someone who has the resources to pay.  I have no doubt about that after seeing people pay thousands of dollars for newly printed books.   The real question is, will you be one of those people who can afford to stick with the hobby long enough to care what the value of these things are worth?  Chances are most of us will drift away from the hobby, hanging onto the books we have, and if we return, we'll be disappointed with how few people are left wiling to buy these things we covet today.  I've seen that happen to many sports cards collectors.  They put pages of these cards away years ago, went of and had families, come back to the hobby to learn those 1 of 50 variants and such that use to fetch big money are not so valuable anymore.

17 hours ago, TheRealVenom said:

That might be the most picky comment iv'e ever heard!

Clearly they are 3 different Harleys. Arkham, OG Harley and Margot robbies Harley. If you want 3 of the exact same image go get those terrible Greg horn books which are exactly the same with 3 different outfits. Thats lazy imho.

Jump to conclusions much?  It was an observation not a nitpick.

On 3/1/2017 at 8:15 AM, darkstar said:

Except instant payment required doesn't allow for auctions or combined shipping.

Since I like to buy multiple books and not just one at a time, I usually just skip these listings.

On 8/14/2017 at 5:44 AM, romanheart said:

Marvel is now in possession by a very corporate entity.

The idea that the artists had the freedom to do the things they once did and are able to get approval from a board of executives will prove difficult.

Also, are people that in to super-hero books like they once were? We all like the classic characters. Are there any new major heroes within the last 10 years that can rival the ones we grew up with?

It seems to me the more realistic characters with reasonable modified abilities (Batman, DD, Cpt. A,...) or super/multi-powered characters (X-Men, GOTG,...) are where the movie success seems to be.

If you ask me, Marvel has given their creators too much freedom on their comics, to the point the characters are no longer recognizable.  There is no logical progression in character development from one creator to the next.

16 hours ago, Michael Lamm said:

And the final reveal. 

It looks like the artist referenced photos of 3 different people for this.  The faces makes it look like these are 3 different characters.

On 8/2/2017 at 5:09 PM, UhDerh said:

Distribution? Educated collectors?  Educated collectors don't chase these, and educated collectors know only dumas fanboys would pay a premium for these. So dumb.

On 7/11/2017 at 3:10 PM, VegasJeff said:

Does anyone have an idea when direct editions started to become more plentiful than newstand editions?

Might be an opportunity in picking up early direct editions.

Late 80s, early 90s.

Plenty of listings for Conan #1 and X-Men #100 on eBay in high grade.  With most U.S. books, it isn't are they hard to find, it is whether or not you can afford them.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=x-men+%23100+9.6&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR1.TRC0.A0.H0.Xconan+%231+9.6.TRS0&_nkw=conan+%231+9.6&_sacat=0

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=giant+sized+x-men+%231+9.6&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xx-men+%23100+9.6.TRS0&_nkw=x-men+%23100+9.6&_sacat=0

On 7/26/2017 at 3:02 PM, SquareChaos said:

Probably true for the total output of randomized creators including what never gets published. But I think 90% of published comics being bad... that is too high for me to be willing to go, and yet at the same time I can't argue about it too stiffly.

I think it largely depends on which publishers you are talking about.  Marvel and DC, yeah, I can see 90% of the comics being bad.  But when you delve into creator owned books, they tend to no be filled with filler, commercial work.

5 hours ago, kimik said:

Wow. Walking Dead sells way more than Amazing Spider-Man does.

Looking at the sales charts, Marvel only makes hay with #1s and the plethora of store variants. ASM is their top selling regular issue. That is horrible. 

As a whole, the comic industry is hurting. Take a look at the numbers - only one ongoing title is selling in the 90,000 - 100,000 per issue range consistnently (Batman) and the second highest seller on a consistent basis is WD in the 70,000ish range. 

On the flip side, I am surprised that Edge of Venmoverse #1 did not top 100,000 copies considering the plethora of store variants available. Is it a sign of Marvel overusing Venom already? Or, will that mean the minis will sell well if the movie is actually released?

Star Wars is Marvel's top selling ongoing title and has been since it started.  But, there are 2 imminent items that I believe are going to hurt their Star Wars line:

1) IDW is about to begin publishing an ongoing Star Wars title.  From initial reactions to the news, this will steal some of Marvel's thunder.  Can the market support 2 publishers of Star Wars comics?

2) Marvel is ramping up the number of books and variants for the Star Wars line.  They are going to milk this line until they drive away many of the collectors IMHO.

On 6/30/2017 at 6:17 PM, greggy said:

I have number 298

This signing was done at least 8 years after this comic was published and probably even later than that.  I believe Catch a Star Collectibles wasn't an entity until the early 1990s.  I was getting excited about the possibilities of another cool variant of this comic to add to my collection like the signed Superman vs Amazing Spider-Man treasury that was mail ordered through Marvel and DC comics.

On 5/11/2017 at 0:21 PM, Mackenzie999 said:

Another vote for alphabetical organization, which everyone already understands and will prevent problems arising from things like team-up situations where you have more than one possible hero to associate a book with.

Additionally, something else I would recommend: for the better books that you keep either on the wall or behind the counter, bag and board a xerox copy of the cover along with price and file it in with the available stock in the appropriate spot. My LCS keeps anything pricey behind the counter out of sight. I get that he's protecting the books, but having to ask about every book I'm interested in is tedious for everyone involved, and kills any spontaneous purchases that I might not ask about.

This may be a common idea, but I've never seen it (admittedly I don't hit many LCS's or cons)

This is a good idea but I'd also like to see a kiosk that allows me to search the inventory.  Why flip through books looking for what is available?  With a kiosk, I can lookup what you have and see the condition and price.

Now to the subject at hand, the future of comics.  I believe the future for most readers is small publishers and standalone ongoing titles.  I see those titles doing well because a reader doesn't have to spend a ton to keep up with their favorite comic.   These will sell well as pamphlets and trades.  They are also inflation proof for the same reasons.  A person who only collects Walking Dead for example, can weather the book rising in price a dollar here or there.  But a person who reads a superhero universe is more than likely buying more than one title and a rise in price is going to have a larger impact on them.  Also, since small publishers don't have shareholders to worry about, they can survive on smaller profits.

Superhero universes are unaffordable for most people and are a huge money sink.  They are also primarily where the collecting market is at.  Affluent people collect comics books, hence the reason we have been seeing a huge rise in keys and select variant covers.  CGC exists because of these people.  Affluent collectors are also driving the modern superhero market and Marvel knows it, hence their continued use of rarer and rarer variants to sell more issues.  Eventually, when it becomes apparent the cost to publish comics is closing in on the return they make, Marvel (Disney) and DC (Time Warner/AT&T) will turn to licensing their characters to smaller publishers.  We'll know when this happens when these publishers start turning to more inexpensive talent first.  I believe it is only a matter of time before that happens.

Digital does appear to be a show changer, but in a way most people are currently ignoring.  I think comics being available online for free is going to be a huge problem for the big publishers.  I also think the number of people turning to free online sites as a way to keep up with their favorite characters will increase.  This is also another reason why Marvel overemphasizes the variant covers.

Overall, I do think we will see a greater shift to small publishers and away from the big two.  It has been happening slowly anyways for the past decade, but I feel this will accelerate.  Marvel and DC's attempts to compensate for lost buyers will be the driving factor in this acceleration.  The end result will be the loss of many brick and mortar stores.

Comics will still exist, just not with the same mix we have today.  You'll be able to pick up your Peter Parker Spider-Man published by Dark Horse and your Mile Morales Spider-Man from Boom Studios either direct from the publisher, at an online retailer, or digitally.  IDW will be the only licensee for Star Wars though, so all is good.

15 hours ago, ComicConnoisseur said:

Agreed.

Also Spider-Man, and Batman don't age and keep reinventing themselves for modern audiences.

Here is an example in that Batman and Spider-Man stay in the limelight every year with new movies,comics and videogames which allows them to be introduced to new audiences in the millions, while Mickey Mantle and Joe D have not played baseball in going on 50 to 60 plus years.

So while Spider-Man and Batman are getting millions of new fans every year we will find most of these Hall of Fame baseball cards audience is dying out.

Makes me think the Mickey Mantle rookie card is a future long-term bad investment compared to Tec #27 and AF#15.

Batman and Spider-Man get millions of new fans every year,while Mantle's baby boomer audience is dying out.

Now with that said not all sportscards are bad bets and those would be the Michael Jordan,LeBron, Kobe and Tom Brady rookies as their audiences are still in their prime and will see tremendous growth over the next few decades.

 

Superhero movies have millions of fans.  Don't kid yourself that a significant fraction of those people care about the source material, comics.  Because they don't.

On 6/22/2017 at 6:36 AM, 1Cool said:

Agree with you on this one.  The 90s didn't really have a variant problem since there was really no variants per say other then maybe the X-Men 1 having 5 different covers.  The 90s crash occurred because people were buying long boxes of a single copy and putting it in their closet since Wizard said it was going to be a hit.  Companies were making a ton of cash so they thought "why not put out two books a month and double our profits".  Millions of books being gobbled up and stored for investment purposes.  Over production created the 90s crash which I don't think we have going on right now.  The possible "variant crash" would be a whole new issue.  This crash would impact a whole lot less people since the number of investors has to be way less then in the 90s but the amount invested per person I'd think is higher then in the 90s.

It is less people, but a larger percentage of comic buyers than many realize.

On 6/21/2017 at 5:38 PM, Aweandlorder said:

No they weren't what caused it to crash. 

Variants aren't a problem. People who speculate on them CARELESSLY are the problem. 

While I agree to some extent, it is not wise for the publishers to rely too heavily on variants for sales.  And Marvel is a tad bit too reliant on them right now IMHO.  Take away the variants and how many people are actually buying these comics to read?  

Sure, there are digital comics to buy and read, but we've been seeing TPB sales fall off the past few years and I'm guessing many of those readers are the ones moving to getting their comics digitally since they already left pamphlets, and collecting, behind.  Meanwhile, pamphlet prices go up, publishers release an obscene amount of variants for titles, and the speculators are driving back issue sales.

From my point of view, the industry is very unhealthy right now.

On 6/14/2017 at 0:47 AM, rjrjr said:

I picked up a couple of the Rogue One 3-packs at the local Walmart today.  The 2 copies I bought are definitely in NM or better condition.  It looked like Walmart ordered more of the DC 3-packs than the Marvel 3-packs based on the two stores I visited.  (I did not purchase the 3-packs at the 2nd store even though they had copies.)

I concur with an earlier poster, this is Walmart and even if they ordered these on the light side with only one case per store, that is still going to be a lot of comics distributed.  How many end up in collectors hands however ...  Here is my blog posting about the Rogue One 3-pack:

 http://swcomiccollector.blogspot.com/2017/06/modern-marvel-star-wars-rogue-one-1.html

I also compared the Chewbacca #1 cover to the one I purchased last year and there is no difference, even in the UPC code area.

As predicted, eBay has been seeing more and more of these Rogue One 3-pack show up.  I don't track the other 3-packs, but I expect the story to be the same.  Someone actually paid $60 for once of these back on June 10th.  Ouch!

11 hours ago, Marwood & I said:

Probably. The eyes are at least. Pains me to say it but I really dont like the look of it all so far. Hopefully I'll be proven wrong. 

I am with you.  I want to like the movie (I want to like all these superhero movies) but the costume looks really bad in these commercials.  It looks even worse than the CGI Green Lantern costume in that movie.  Hopefully what we get in the movie is better than this and they just used cheap effects for the commercials.

8 hours ago, Bosco685 said:

Spider-Man 2 is a crappy movie? You better call Kevin Feige, and give him a heads up.

Marvel's Kevin Feige Says Spider-Man 2 Is One Of The Best Superhero Movies Ever

 

Spider-Man 2 was the best Spider-Man movie so far.

On 6/10/2017 at 6:51 AM, Marwood & I said:

 

Not sure if I'm the first to spot this but it looks very much like Spider-Man Tony Stark is going to be in the new Iron Man Spider-Man film!

Are all the Spider-Man shots in these commercials CGI?  Spider-Man looks a little cartoony, which is why I'm asking.

4 hours ago, gradejunky said:

In situations like this, where the other books in the pack besides the special edition walmart comic are just random books, are almost definitely being bought by a third party from Diamond at massive discounts and then packaged and shipped off to walmart.  At least that is what I'd figure is happening.

9 hours ago, classicaaron said:

so im wondering who is packing these comics because I don't think they are coming from either marvel or dc.  reason being I found a Lobo book in the star wars marvel pack I bought.  and the packaging was clearly never opened or tampered with and was not rewrapped in anyway.  looked exactly the same as the 5 other packs purchased.

That is strange to find a DC comic in a pack that clearly says "3 Marvel Comics".  I agree that would not be a mistake Marvel would make.  If they are packaged by the same organization, why are they priced differently?  Did Marvel charge more for their exclusives?

What an impressive collection.  I am a completist myself and also very focused. I see you have some foreigns in your collection. Any thought to expanding in that direction? I went in that direction when I ran out of U.S. Comics to buy.

I picked up a couple of the Rogue One 3-packs at the local Walmart today.  The 2 copies I bought are definitely in NM or better condition.  It looked like Walmart ordered more of the DC 3-packs than the Marvel 3-packs based on the two stores I visited.  (I did not purchase the 3-packs at the 2nd store even though they had copies.)

I concur with an earlier poster, this is Walmart and even if they ordered these on the light side with only one case per store, that is still going to be a lot of comics distributed.  How many end up in collectors hands however ...  Here is my blog posting about the Rogue One 3-pack:

 http://swcomiccollector.blogspot.com/2017/06/modern-marvel-star-wars-rogue-one-1.html

I also compared the Chewbacca #1 cover to the one I purchased last year and there is no difference, even in the UPC code area.