William-James88

On 3/13/2022 at 10:38 PM, drotto said:

Saw this today.  I put it as my 4th best in rank. Very good overall.  My only complaint is it felt slightly plodding at points, and a little long.

Yeah, I think that's the general consensus. I watched it a second time with my family this time and that is exactly what they said. It was good, but long. And not that it felt long, just that it was factually long and they'd rather it was shorter. It ended late and most that came with me were tired after viewing it.

It's a very vaild criticism but I personally am very happy with the length, simply because I love Batman and I find this take interesting and love Pattison as Batman so I'll take more of it, no questions asked

I came here to say that after watching Batman Returns and then watching The Batman, I caught that Michael Giacchino used a musical cue from Batman returns for the same scene of Selina Kyle putting on her Catwoman getup the first time. There is a high pitched screech that I think comes from a violin (could be wrong on that) that happens in that scene. We get that same high pitched screech in The Batman when R Bats is looking through his binoculars at Catwoman dressing up. 

Overall, it was better the second time to me, I was less stressed/uneasy of how I'd feel about the film as I watched it since I was simply able to just bathe in the world since I knew it all already. Still not sure where I rank this film or how much I love it. I think I like it more in parts than as a whole, but what I love, I love dearly. And it's not big stuff either, it's subtle things that make this world and this Batman feel so alive and real. Like that quick flick of the wrist he does to wind back his grapple wire when he enters the Mayor's place and spots Catwoman there. It's done with no fanfare, it's just an action he does as if he's done it a bunch of times and I love that.

Also, I was much warmer to the take on Bruce this time around. It took me a while but I understand exactly what they are going for here and in this vision, it fits well. I like the idea of Bruce being a recluse, how him showing up is an event, it gives him a different kind of mythic appeal and does amplify the wayne murders and the tool it took on the city in a different way. Also, it gives a different dichotomy since the film starts by having the idea that Batman is everywhere. He's in every shadow, he's with the cops, he's in a very crowded nightclub. He's even on TV, helping the rescue efforts. All that contrasts with Bruce Wayne hiding away and not wanting to be in the public eye. I still find this extremely jarring, but I get what they are going for and Matt Reeves does accomplish his vision, even if it's different from what I am used to.

On 2/28/2022 at 12:23 AM, Yodisd said:

Does anyone have any advice for new collectors? Thanks 

Yes, buy only what you like/love. Have fun. And don't bid for a higher price than you'd be comfortable paying. Nothing worse (in this hobby) than not being happy with an expensive purchase.

On 2/20/2022 at 4:33 AM, GPR16 said:

Hey guys,

Sorry if this isn’t allowed, new here.

I’m looking to purchase Star Wars #42 as I’m a massive Star Wars fan and would be an excellent display piece and looking to get your thoughts on a couple of options:

9.4 newsstand edition - $770

9.4 direct edition - $649

9.2 newsstand edition $549

i have read a bit about newsstand and direct edition especially with Bronze Age comics so not sure if it’s worth paying the extra $100 for it

also is it worth considering the 9.2?

 

I would go for the 9.4 direct. It's only $100 more. The reason I wouldn't pick the newstand is because I am not certain the newsstand is more rare. We've had some dilligent board members look into the idea of newstand and for some books, there are more high grade newstand copies graded than direct copies making the newstands less rare. What I mean by this is that while the 9.4 newstand may be worth more, we don't really know if that worth is based on the actual rarity rather than simply the market, which could change if ever it's found out later that they are both as common.

On 3/11/2022 at 9:00 PM, MisterX said:

I have four kids between the ages of 12 and 18. 

I know this is anecdotal, but...

My kids and their friends enjoy the comic book movies, both Marvel and DC. 

But they read manga. 

Manga is where it's at for Gen Z. 

And I have no idea why they find manga preferable to western comic books. I've asked them, and they can't explain. Which, I think, secretly means that western comics books are essentially old-fashioned dad-stuff.

If you want to speculate, start buying first editions of Demon Slayer, One Piece, and all the others, because if Gen Z gets the urge to collect dead trees, that's what they're going to be chasing. 

 

That's why I bought the first appearance of Allmight and Isuku Midoria (same issue). It's one I my more treasured books now even though I have no clue if it will be worth more later. These are not easy to get and condition is never great since they are just a segment of a bigger volume that often ends up in recycling bins in Japan. Tried to get the first comic for Attack on Titan and there were simply none on the market when I looked.

As for kids, my daughter who is 6 also gravitated more towards anime/manga. And I gotta say, there is a lot to love in that medium. I am envious if  anyone who has yet to watxh Attack on Titan or Full Metal Alchemist Britherhood because discovering and experiencing those stories for the first time remarkable. 

On 3/11/2022 at 4:11 PM, JD112868 said:

Hi family, when you get your comics pressed at CGC, do they get graded as well ?  

If not which one is better. I'd like to get some graded.

thanks !

If you do it at CGC, then it goes hand in hand, it's not really an And/Or situation.

The main idea is, you send comics to CGC to get them graded and if you think pressing them could benefit that grade, then you can pay for CGC to press your books before grading them. Other people can press the books instead of CGC and send them to CGC for you to get them graded.

On 3/11/2022 at 9:58 AM, SuperBird said:

As long as I've been on the boards, there have been threads exactly like this one. Meanwhile, comics are more mainstream than at any time I can remember, and values have gone up exponentially. 

Not all though, which is what makes this thread very interesting for me. I have now learnt that the comic collecting landscape has in fact changed over the past decade(s). For one, while the idea of comics and comic characters is more mainstream than ever, buying monthly comics is at a low. It is of course offset by more people reading trades. So then comic collecting is down in that sense.

And then I learnt of run collecting. I never really cared to look but books like DC Silver Age Hawkman or Atom sell less than guide when they aren't keys. So values of those books have not gone up exponentially. They have instead fallen.

That was not the case 15 years ago. I mean even some Superman comics crashed. A Superman 184 in 9.2 sold for just shy of $200 in 2008.

https://comics.ha.com/itm/silver-age-1956-1969-/superman-184-dc-1966-cgc-nm-92-off-white-pages/a/18063-13698.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515 

I bought that exact slabbed book for $60 in 2021. That's a crash. But people don't talk about it since no one cares about run of the mill non keys anymore. And that's why those crashed.

On 3/11/2022 at 11:48 AM, theCapraAegagrus said:

But... Why...?

Maybe to go with the logo of the clan he is joining? For the current storyline. Just a guess, if I am wrong and someone has insight regarding the upcoming fiction, they can let me know.

I thought this was just temporary for the current storyline.

On 3/10/2022 at 6:23 PM, mycomicshop said:

I think of slab damage, defects and imperfections in three groups:

- significant damage that compromises the integrity of the case or is serious enough to require the book be reholdered before it can be sold

- flaws that do not necessarily require recasing, but are serious enough that the defect should be included in the item description

- flaws and imperfections that are minor enough they should be viewed as par for the course, and do not need to be called out in item descriptions

We deal with some very picky buyers, who want to treat the most minor scuffing and scratches as a big deal. Same with newton rings back a while ago. And on the other hand, we have consignors who feel we're doing them a disservice if we're overly descriptive about reporting minor case flaws.

Do you have thoughts about where you think that line should be drawn? What kind of stuff should be reported to the buyer, and what kind of stuff is to be expected and doesn't need to be noted?

I would describe those flaws I bolded, sure, but for the rest, just have a statement that says:
"CGC Slabs may have slight imperfections not warranting a reholder (like newton rings). There will be no returns on slabbed comics as they are graded by a third party."

I will say though that I have felt some pain as a consignor in a similar case. It wasn't with slabbed comics but with sealed multipacks from the 70s. The comics are fresh and in excellent condition, you write as such. However, you the grade the multipack itself, which makes no sense to me as the comics are the collectibles not the plastic packaging. And in my case, the grade you gave to the 50 year old plastic bag is so low and prominant in the listing that the one I sold on auction went for peanuts. I have 2 other packs still there, I don't feel comfortable putting them up for auction with that grading strategy. 

https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?ItemID=53377333
 

Also, the way they get listed doesn't have the name of the comic in the title, making it harder to sell.

On 3/10/2022 at 6:46 PM, ComicFill said:

If you are going to spend $1,000 on a spider-man 300 it should be because you like Venom so much you are willing to spend $1,000 to own it. That shouldn't change just because suddenly other people aren't. I'm not going to lie, it's fun to track the value of my collection. But as my wife likes to remind me it isn't actually worth money unless I sell it.

Lol, my wife says the same thing when I tell her about how much my FF 5 is worth,  knowing I won't ever sell it.

I thought we were already getting a series on the Penguin, what makes this news more special?

Man I forget how well Batman V Superman did at the box office. But then again, Last Jedi and Rise of Skywalker both did incredibly well as did Transformers Dark of the Moon so a film's success has nothing to do with what I think of it  

On 3/9/2022 at 3:14 PM, eastriver31400 said:

This sucks. 

If it means getting better CGI and correcting the colour pallet then we all win. 

On 3/9/2022 at 1:05 PM, 1Cool said:

I would disagree with this statement unless we are talking about key or hot books.  There is a ton of SA and even GA books (westerns anyone) that have dropped in price over the last 10 years.  Ever tried to sell run of the mill 12 or 15 cent Jimmy Olsen or Adventure Comics?  Spidey's are easy to sell pretty much across the board but there are a ton of FF and Avenger books in the SA that sit for awhile unless priced accordingly.  The drop in run collectors has had a big impact to non key books which probably corresponds to the drop in people buying current books to keep a collection complete.

Very interesting, thanks. And you are right, I forgot about those. Yes, a run of the mill adventure comics does sell below guide, as do other non key DC silvers, like Hawkman.  And as for FF, a book as early as number 10 has had very little growth, only getting up recently. So, and now you'll correct me if I am wrong, are you saying that these examples show that we actually are in a current decline with the comic collecting hobby. At least for particular segments?

On 3/9/2022 at 1:45 PM, JollyComics said:

Dylan made me throwing up too.

HAHAHAHAHA

On 3/9/2022 at 2:41 AM, ComicFill said:

Ya, I get it. But that's what they are. What do you want? "Social media personalities"?

Just go with "youtubers"

On 3/9/2022 at 11:13 AM, Gregd said:

Doesn’t explain Mag prices popping recently  though. The characters mostly aren’t MCU. I think it’s considered pop culture art and owning a piece is still desirable. 

Doesn't directly explain new records for Fiction House books or pre code horror either. There being a grading company doesn't explain it outright either since they don't need to be graded to get those big prices.

CGC existing does help the hobby in giving grading a uniformity, so even though you may sell or buy a book raw, the price it sells for is related to the grade which in turn is determined through standards that CGC enforces. But I don't see how it saves the hobby, it seems more like just a tool to keep sellers on their toes. Books that CGC did turn into commodities at the beginning like DC's Shadow 1 and Harbinger 1 have lost massive value since CGC started. So neither grading not movies are the biggest factors keeping all aspects of this hobby alive. They are just some factors contributing to general interest of multiple facets of this hobby. Like I wrote previously, stamps had this whole grading thing perfected and none of you cared to become stamp collectors because of it. Grading companies weren't enough to stimulate continued interest.

And as the graph poste previously shows, the single comic market is declining at a rapid pace and yet CGC is more in demand than ever, so the correlation isn't there. Or maybe when talking of comic collecting, we should only be talking of back issues and particular eras. After all, we are seeing that a decline in weekly comic sales has no impact on collecting SA comics, GA comics, ect.

On 3/9/2022 at 6:38 AM, Bosco685 said:

One example where this writer missed the mark on this being THE FIRST empathetic Bruce Wayne/Batman:

Batman Forever - when Grayson shares he wants to kill Two-Face for the murder of his parents, Bruce Wayne relates but shares the dangers of endless vengeance. And how with each action it never fills the void of loss.

Empathy is built into the character by design in his quest to protect others from the same loss he experienced.

Yeah, that's weird. The whole point is he doesn't want others to suffer the same fate as him. The first Batman comic I read was the Long Halloween and those words are highlighted in the opening pages before the story even starts. But sure, maybe we see it here best, though I think that's just because Batman seeing the kid feel loss is Matt Reeves replacing Batman's origin story with this scene.

Anyways, I don't see this discussed much in either thread but as a reply to those saying this film is humourless, that isn't true. Sure, it's dark and gloomy, but that just makes the humour bits stand out more. The following is not a complete list, just some I wanted to point out where I did chuckle and even laugh out loud.

1. The  whole section when they interrogate the Penguin. From him calling his interrogators "Good Cop and not_in_tune_with_social_norms Cop" to waddling like a penguin at the end.

2. I like that bit at the funeral where Martinez is kind of star struck to see Bruce Wayne and acts overly enthusiastic to see him there, especially given the circumstances of it being a funeral. It contrasts him being cold to batman in the beginning.

3. The "thumb drive" is a dark joke.

4. When Batman and Gordon are acting as 1940s noir characters and being up in eachother's faces to keep appearances to the cops. It's a funny scenario, especially with the camera zooming into the exaggerated facial expressions.

5. These were not in any order, just a list of parts I remember, but I did keep my favourite for last. It's when Batman is looking over evidence at the Riddler's apartment and a cop (I think Martinez) tells Gordon that Batman shouldn't be touching evidence. To which Gordon replies "He's wearing gloves". I laughed real hard at that one. And I don't think it's because it's an overly funny scene, but there had been so much tension up to that point that this little bit of levity felt really welcome.

I did also laugh at some of the dialogue being overly dour and basically being what Lego Batman would say but said in a "serious" movie rather than a parody setting. But that was unintentional comedy.

On 2/26/2022 at 4:40 PM, Andhre said:

i dont know much about comics value, is this worth it?

Comics

spawn 1

spawn 1

wolverine 88

wolverine 88

wolverine 88

amazing spiderman 410

amazing spiderman 410

amazing spiderman 410

amazing spiderman 410

she-venom

Most of these are indeed comics which can be worth more than slabbing cost if graded high enough.

As for comic values, it's easy. Just go to e-bay and search "comic name and number" and "CGC 9.8". And same thing but also writing 9.6 instead of 9.8. If those prices sound good to you.

If you want to sell them at those prices you find, then slabbing them is the only way. So sure, if you want to go for it, go for it. 

On 3/9/2022 at 12:54 AM, D84 said:

That term makes me throw up in my mouth.

 

Same, as do those videos. 

On 3/9/2022 at 12:13 AM, Jaydogrules said:

Yeah.  I thought it would make way more.  Especially since it opened against zero competition, and the #2 movie being out for nearly a month.  

-J.

does it upset you that it didn't do more? And if so, why?

On 3/8/2022 at 7:04 AM, theCapraAegagrus said:

I wouldn't say that Reeves doesn't understand Batman, but I would say that he doesn't fully understand the necessary dichotomy of Batman and Bruce Wayne. I think that people who are into Batman for more than aesthetics are the ones not fully satisfied by this movie, and that includes myself.

Batman is my favourite fictional character and it's the one comic I will keep following my whole life. And I, personally, never cared for the idea of dichotomy since I don't think it's really there. The Bruce Wayne mask he puts on to the public is no different to the Matches Malone one on terms of representing him. Bruce Wayne and Batman are one and the same.

I'm assuming the trade sales are of current comics and not jus old ones so they would still benefit from releasing individual comics even if there is a dwindling crowd. But we are talking of 2 different markets here in the end. The health of the current comic industry and interest in reading comics is not indicative of how many people wish to own GA comics from Fiction House  or even the a 1 in 50 variant of a book from 3 years ago. Instead that graph shows the complete opposite, a higher interest in comics is inversely proportional to the amount of people collecting comics since that's the only bar that dwindles every year while the non collectible components (like digital and trade) go up.

Comic stores may still exist, as comics conventions still exist, but in both cases they will be focusing more and more on a bunch of other pop culture items and less on actual comics.

On 3/8/2022 at 7:13 AM, theCapraAegagrus said:

The way that they wrote it sucked, both in penmanship and in conveying to CGC that the sketch is legit.

They don't know that the sketch is legit. They can't attest to that.

How would you have written it in a way that confirms exactly what was witnessed by you if you had been the facilitator?

On 3/8/2022 at 6:43 AM, theCapraAegagrus said:

The facilitator had paperwork that authorizes the sketch per CGC's COC requirements, though.

And they wrote as such.

On 3/7/2022 at 7:52 AM, theCapraAegagrus said:

Yeah, it looks like he basically instructed CGC to ignore the provenance of the commission.

I don't see it that way, they were just being honest. They can't lie about witnessing something they did not witness.