William-James88

What’s up with Batman 142? I read it, I dont see how this is a key.

Here’s what I fished out of dollar bins yesterday

I didnt know that green lantern cover existed

Looks like the market is over it. The ones I am looking at have appeared to be terrible gambles/investments for the short term.

This one went down by 50%
 

On 3/6/2024 at 2:08 PM, Ccccccccccccc said:

Stunningly incorrect.

Then please correct me, what evidence do we have that these cases are not tamper proof and that we need a new case? Please link any video showing someone able to fully replace a comic in the slabs with a result showing that the slab looks the same as before 

Also, with this thread around (thanks @CGC Mike) we can hopefully fix the mistake on Batman 357. CGC writes it is the first full appearance of Killer Croc when we only see a dude in a tench coat in a couple of panels. This was an error in the price guide but since then all databases online have corrected it as a « second cameo appearance », including

GCD.

first appearance of Killer Croc is now attributed to Detective comics 524 where his face is finally revealed.

so changes requested:

Batman 357: second cameo appearance of Killer Croc OR cameo appearance of Killer Croc

Detective Comics 524: first full appearance of killer croc

Breakdown of killer croc appearances in comics:

Detective Comics 523 - Feb. 1983. CGC label notation states "1st appearance of Killer Croc in cameo." Here is the extent of his appearance in the issue:

Next up: Batman 357 - March 1983. CGC notation is "1st full appearance of Killer Croc and Jason Todd." Here's Croc in the issue:

Detective Comics 524 - March 1983. CGC label says: "Killer Croc appearance."

On 3/5/2024 at 5:34 PM, BrashL said:

Still waiting for the new cases too huh?

I dont see why that would happen as none of the evidence and facts point to tampering in the end. From all I am reading, this is said to be an inside job. 
the current slabs are still tamper proof, you cant replace a book in a slab without any sign of tampering/damage 

X-Factor 23 has 0 mention on the label of the appearance of Archangel (or Angel as the Horsemen Death).
Instead, issue 24 has the “1st appearance of archangel “ on the label.

24 is not his first appearance, and he is not called Archangel in the comic. 
Below are images of his first appearance in x-factor 23

On 3/6/2024 at 10:26 AM, Dr. Balls said:

I'm not sure of the history of 'Death' and 'Archangel' - was there an editorial change between the issues to call him 'Archangel' in #24? I imagine the notation would/should be 1st Appearance of Death (Archangel), if anything. Issue #24 could also have a notation of 1st Appearance of Archangel - since that is (assuming) where his permanent character name is established.

Again with the 'cameo' 'first appearance' debate: I would agree with you - there should be a notation that it's a first appearance, because he's not just popping in - he's in the story, training with the other Horsemen - even if it's not the name he's commonly called.

He is only called Death in issue 24. The first time he’s called Archangel is in issue 38 when he rejoins the x-men.

And yeah we arent even at “first full app” vs “cameo” debate simce his existence isnt even mentioned on the 23 slab. This just looks like a long running omission/mistake that was never corrected since the books arent commonly read now and only used as assets/collectibles.

On 3/5/2024 at 5:32 PM, topcat54 said:

Looks better than a 2.0 to me.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/276266058018?itmmeta=01HR8BNR7P370AFJFK01R9PSDG&hash=item4052bd8122:g:OB0AAOSwKC5lY3bB&itmprp=enc%3AAQAIAAAA8MUcb3TlSpcW5XwDN6IzUwLkOLlEgdo0sjXdtCdGYk%2BdCUA3qhSM%2BFRlLdXVlZ6ZzkZfGU4enheBoOynd6l3W7%2FEE5XZK1gPTRl9f371xnd0Nm4vEJ5eD5%2Fsp%2FgRcNIL0v983i4pUh7D4pRs2QzJO8vOLZBL%2FPbpWeeg%2BHuZ5IHncWTuR%2BF2YPFfyV11FBswXKGyRoUDToXy%2FdNjuY5IU6l8MnftWbAzUWOfydb%2BYJg5jZcDoc6f2deYKHl%2BPRGZNuMKCoXc4BcGE2lry4%2BvTiWYyrnV1lX%2B9sP9T1%2BJIsHVlacjulVRaEKndmSlfJjMxQ%3D%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR_yD14vCYw

It does look good, but a detached cover with a major split cant be higher than a 2.0. The book looks good since its all held together in a slab but if you were handling it loose, it would literally be falling apart. 
This is simply a low grade book that looks good in a slab and its a good example of when it makes sense to slab a book, if you want to make the most of a sale.

Was reading the Simonsons’ run on X-Factor as I had never done so before and got to issue 23 where we finally see the Horseman Death (Archangel) for the first time. Pretty cool scene, it’s a full appearance and he announces himself as well, you can see it below. But then I went to see a slab and that first appearance isn’t mentioned at all.

So I thought, maybe since he isnt called Archangel here, only in more than 10 issues later, and is just Death, maybe thats why.

But then the slab for the next issue, 24, says it’s the first appearance of Archangel. No it isn’t. I get one comic being more valued than another or considered more key to some (Hulk 181 over 180 for instance) but that doesn’t mean the labelling on 24 can be flat out wrong and the slab on 23 being sorely lacking in an important detail.

I’ll admit, when this topic initially arose almost 3 years ago, I didnt think prices would ease up a bit. But I’m now back to eyeing ASM keys since sone prices have dropped 50% from their pandemic highs. So yeah, prices have definitely eased up a bit. 
 

And this pick of FF 6 in 3.0 auction results just says it all.

On 2/13/2024 at 11:50 PM, newshane said:

Not all keys, but certainly in demand. Consider Frank Frazetta or Matt Baker. 

I mean, I would consider their first works to be "important" but that's just me. 

There will always be contention about what makes a key and what does not. 

If we really want to get silly, let's talk about "semi-keys."  

We have modern examples too. The Alex Ross Covers for recent Hulk books make those books higher in demand and thus more pricey than other issues in the same creative run. There's also the artgem covers on the Batgirl run, and plenty more examples. And one of the probable best examples would be Batman 423 that's only a big deal because of a cover by Todd McFarlane.

On 2/13/2024 at 2:35 PM, 666-6666 said:

Who cares, he's just a dumb Coinee  They can't appreciate comics.

Joking aside, there is a lot someone coming from coin collecting would not understand about comics. The collections are entirely different. With coin collecting, the intrinsic collecting goal is to have all the years of a specific coin. They even have specially made presentation binders  for that. So the base demand is essentialy the same for each coin. So then what matters is scarcity. Which is where the initial take for this thread comes from.

comic runs, however dont have unified or common demands. While there is just 1 tiny dime to collect per year, there are between 12-20 comics for the main Batman title to collect. Collecting all US coins in one year gives you the 5-10 coins to add to one’s collection annually and costs next to nothing. So being a yearly completionist is relatively easy, low cost and low space. But each year there are thousands of US comics, which would cost someone tens of thousands to purchase and require a whole lotta room. So there are far far fewer yearly comic completionists out there and thus no uniformed base demand. 

so right then and there we can see how the two hobbies cant really be compared. Supply and demand will still dictate the collectible’s price but the factors involved with that equation will be completely different

On 2/13/2024 at 4:23 PM, TupennyConan said:

Did this R rated garbage air during the SB?

This trailer aired yeah, pegging and all

On 2/13/2024 at 5:29 PM, MAR1979 said:

To all who spent $500, $600, $700, $800, $900, $1000-$1500 or more on ASM 210, to quote The Joker HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Prepare to get big-time hosed!

 

I predict a plummeting to under $500 for the newsstand and under $300 for direct sale before year end and then another 10-20% off of that next year.

P.S. Ain't saying I told you so, after you were scoffed at, one of life's simple pleasures

 

What were they going for slabbed before we knew this movie was coming?

On 2/13/2024 at 1:51 PM, Sam T said:

In 30 years of reading Spider-Man comics I can say that I have never read a "memorable" Madame Web story. She never really felt like a "character". She was a vague plot device. Pure deus-ex-machina. When the writers messed up real bad and needed Parker to get a bunch of exposition, they threw Madame Web into the story to read the note from editorial. But by doing that, they also destroyed any sense of real stakes in the story.

Funny enough, while not a huge spidey reader, Madame Web is very memorable to me but not in a good way. As a kid, I liked spider-man and could follow his stories as they were usually grounded. I enjoyed watching the animated show in the 90s. But Madame Web would show up at times and throw all that grounded feel out the window, there would always be some kind of crazy angle. I really hated her showing up. 

There's even a meme clip about spidey making a "savage" joke to a girl by showing a young girl his face only to then reveal that it's because she's terminally ill. But that clip cuts. And the reason it cuts is because right in the middle of that there is a madame web scene that comes out of freaken nowhere.

Just to say, I was never a fan of madame web, because of how she clashed with what I wanted to watch as a kid. But that also means i never forgot her.

Also, I don't get why people are so thirsty for Sydney Sweeney. I mean I can see that she has nice knockers when she wears certain clothes, but if that's all one cares about there's a whole bunch of videos and photos online of ladies which are as lovely or have even bigger knockers. 

On 2/13/2024 at 1:45 PM, media_junkie said:

The Jermey Jahns guy on youtube was brutal on this film.

Everyone was. Even Grace Randolph, and she was kind to Morbius.

On 2/9/2024 at 3:26 PM, Dillydally said:

 I don't need to squeeze every cent out of it, but I also don't want to be completely ripped off... I also don't want to spend too many hours dealing with it...

Here is the best solution, send all your comics to mycomicshop. They will grade them for you and you can sell them at whatever price you want there. You can even make them up up on auction. They basically do all the work you don't want to do and get a cut. And if you don't know the price, no worries, once your comics are up on their site, you can see what price they go for in that grade and work off that. You will not find a better solution i terms of how much you get from how little work it takes.

https://www.mycomicshop.com/?AffID=2072802P01&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAw6yuBhDrARIsACf94RUvvWTg3yiRl_XCiYEqqmxdaMcl0Bc_jXI6NwenZCcMOuKk5SS9rIEaAjCAEALw_wcB

oh man, the reviews on this one are baaaaaad

On 2/12/2024 at 4:12 PM, thehumantorch said:

It's always supply and demand.  New Mutants is very common, even in high grade, but demand is also high.  If demand is high prices are higher.

Hell, SA Fantastic Four and Spider-man aren't rare.  Huge print runs and likely 100,000 or more surviving copies of most of those books.  Even AF15 isn't rare.  Demand is strong enough to absorb the large supply and keep prices elevated.  And speculators see a potential windfall and jump onto hot or popular issues and increase demand.

it truly is that simple, I don't get what people are missing. 

On 2/12/2024 at 7:57 AM, lostboys said:

Its not simply supply and demand.

 

New Mutants 87 & 98 are far from scarce but they are not cheap.

 

Same goes for ASM keys...194, 238, 252, 300, 316, 361

 

These books are everywhere but still, they are not cheap.

 

Ive even heard boardies refer to ASM129 and IH181 in the same way.

 

They are everywhere.

 

I do not understand this post. Those comics are not scarce, but their demand is higher than other comics. Their demand is so high that it counters their current lack of scarcity. How is that not simply supply and demand? Your post proves that it is.

On 2/3/2024 at 1:24 PM, Mokiguy said:

their demand established by pure speculation among collectors because a certain character showed up and has little to do with the amount of any particular issue produced. And that to me seems odd ....... sort of backward and ripe for a collapse some day like Tulips in Holland in the 1600 hundreds or more recently the dot.com bubble of the late 90's where people were throwing money at and buying any stock that was tech or had dot.com in it's name. I don't know much about sports trading cards, but didn't they also have a similar bubble and collapse and now only certain prized cards have any value?

Personally I think a true scarcity is what should drive demand and not greed and speculation. But that's just my humble opinion.

You are understanding the situation perfectly. With supply being the same, the key issues are elevated in price due to higher demand. But the speculation is founded on past history of those key comics doing better than others.

And here's an easy one: the fantastic four. Not every collector wants to own an entire run. Many just want the issues Galactus and Silver Sufer first appear in and not the 5-10 issues before or after their appearance. Either due to space, or speculation, or simply not wanting to spend a dime on anything they don't care as much about. 

And that added supply, with maintained demand, will drive the price up. And you can apply that to a run of spider-man, or hulk. How many fans really want to own every single hulk comics ever produced compared to how many just want that one issue where Wolverine first appears in? Unlike coins, comics take up a ton of space (especially in slabs). I have no space for a whole run of Ninja Turtles, but I own the first issue. 

And true scarcity is no good in comics, it ends up being a factor that hinders the price. A comic that is simply rare and not a key will be on the market so rarely that you can't establish a trend or a book being hot. So the price won't go up. As opposed to a key like Spider-man 300 selling a bunch of copies and showing a trend of the book picking heat, meaning that more people purchase it because it's picking up value, like a stock.

And yes, in turn that can lead to a crash of some key books. We saw that with the first punisher which decreased almost by 50% from some all time highs for particular grades, and the first Carnage appearance which also went crazy down as soon as some demand decreased.

On 1/22/2024 at 6:22 PM, SeniorSurfer said:

Just got my swag in from @William-James88 and I'm excited to dive in; everything's new to me!  But wait Johnny, there's more:  Reading, eating, and playing material!  I thank you on my behalf and I thank you in advance on behalf of my wife who I see eyeing those chocolate bars!

 

Very happy it came to you safely. Enjoy and have fun!

On 1/14/2024 at 4:55 PM, Mr. P. said:

As a newer member, what would be best way to get fair value of comics I'm wishing to sell and best forums? I have 10 graded comics (many first editions) and about 100 ungraded comics from the last 40 years that I think could use new homes. Thanks everyone!

I would send them to My Comic Shop. Look them up online, contact them and they will guide you through it. Most effortles way to sell  while not lessening profit too much.