TSwift25

What's going on on the front cover? Is that moisture damage? Ink bleed? (causing that weird pink wave from Loki to Thor). If it's moisture damage, CGC generally hammers those hard. In my experience, mid grade books with moisture damage end up 3.0 or lower from CGC.

As it is, the general edge wear and dust shadowing are all consistent with VG/FN. IMO it's simply too much dust shadowing to be in the solid FN range. 5.5 on a good day, no worse than a 4.5, so a nice solid 5.0 is fair, obviously pending that pink wave issue. If it's moisture it's into the VG- range (but a beautiful copy).

Extreme closeups are going to make some damage look worse on the scan than the book looks in hand. That said, I don't think this is VF-. It's FN/FN+ range. The dust shadow to the TRFC really hurts it. 6.0

I have a hard time seeing the tear in the interior photo. Seems VG- range to me. 3.5 

3.0

GD/GD+

2.0

All four corners rounded, heavy wear TRFC, edge wear right front cover that breaks color, edge-wear bottom front cover that breaks color...slight tear(?) bottom spine?

VG/FN/FN range. I'd call it a 5.0

I'm thrilled that the X section of the Marvel universe is must read again, and I really love the direction Hickman's going with this (plus, I'm a sucker for see the future, change the past kind of stories).

I know that it's still coming together as a story, and meant to kind of fill in as it goes (and the time hopping doesn't really help since it's not linear), but did anyone else take from it that things like AVX are being ret-conned away? I don't remember exactly how it was phrased in HoX 2, but the panel with the phoenix force from AvX and something like "the dark times no more" or whatever made me think, it's at least plausible, he's cleaning up the continuity too? Anyone else feel that way or did I see something that wasn't really there?

What does the inner well look like? It looks like someone tried to open the outer well, but the inner well is really what matters. If the book is still sealed in the inner well, and consistent with the grade, I wouldn’t worry too much, outside of getting it reholdered.

I'm sad to see it go. I echo the sentiment of others that this is what kept me in the LCS for a good long stretch in the 2000's. If not for TWD, I probably would have given up collecting, or at least given up on moderns.

Reading the issue, I think it's clear that Kirkman had an ending in mind (and the letter confirmed as much). I think it's fair for the writer to simply say "I can't get any more out of this, it's only going to get worse and it's time to end on my terms." And that's what he did.

I'm glad it didn't end on a high, because that would have betrayed the story. I'm glad it didn't end on a low, because something that went that long should at least end with some feeling of hope, but I am sad that it just kind of ended.

Obviously I really want to read 193 before jumping too in depth on this, but it just feels empty. I don’t see how they can resolve the entire series with 70 pages. Heck, I think that might just be a fitting send off for Rick. You can’t possibly tackle Rick’s death and still give any kind of meaningful resolution with Carl, Michonne, Maggie, at the bare minimum, and give us some kind of “how did this happen” answer as well.

The other thing that stands out as odd, at least to me, is that Kirkman’s story telling has been tailored to the collected edition readers. First with Lori’s death in 48 being the end of volume ___ (and sending a ton of people into the LCS for 49), and now his explanation that compendium 4 ends with 192, and thus the importance of doing something major in that issue rather than waiting for #200. Obviously they can fit 193 in there as well, but it’s odd to end the whole flipping thing at compendium 4. True dramas are usually told in 5 acts. If there’s nothing left to tell, fine, don’t belabor it, but with the introduction of Princess, and the Commonwealth, it felt like it was going somewhere, or at least reminding us that there’s a lot more out there beyond Rick and his people. With the 5 year jump after all out war, it seemed reasonable that we’d get somewhere towards answering all the long standing questions, like how did this happen, can society be rebuilt, is there a cure, and with the commonwealth I thought that it was at least setting up the ending of the Rick Grimes clan and maybe it just pivots towards macro type stories about this new world. At the very least, it felt like it was building towards something. Now it just kind of feels like it meandered and just ended.

Again, I want to read 193 before reaching any finial conclusion, but I just can’t see any kind of resolution to this that can be done in 70 pages that would feel satisfying. I hope to be proven wrong.

I think it’s been a great read and a great refresh on the character in general. The Hulk needed it. I’m interested to see where it ultimately goes. I don’t think turning the Hulk into an undying monster who is only vulnerable during the day is a long term thing, but who knows. Right now, I’m enjoying it, but I am worried it’s too close to going “stale” without some major kind of pivot, or reveal.

Press and a clean would do wonders to that back cover. VF-/VF with that BC as is, could be VF+/VFNM with the clean and press.

Higher quality scans would be helpful here. Looks like a heavy dust-shadow on the back cover. Torn overhang on the BC is unfortunate because it looks like it was miscut, contributing to that tearing/fraying.

I’d call it a VG/FN, but my experience is CGC hammers dust-shadowing, so it may grade out lower than that.

X-Men 1 continuing to run seems the most likely. Movie buzz, the title getting "put back" prominently in the Marvel universe (both comics and eventually joining the MCU) and having a lot of catching up to do relative to its Marvel key peers all make for a good bet.

SC 22 also seems like a good bet. It's really tough above mid-grade, Hal is by far the most popular version of the GL character, and DC due to probably reboot everything related to their movie universe puts this one at the top for me.

Such a tough book. Awesome copy!

26 minutes ago, silentassassin said:

How often do you find those with AF 15 + ASM 1 - current 810 (or whatever). I am curious how hard / rare etc it is to accomplish such a feat. 

I finished that run, plus annuals. Highlight for me.

The thing I wonder is if ASM 1 introduced a mainstay character (JJJ aside), would this be even higher? Like let’s say ASM 1 was the first Aunt May, or Doc Ock, it’d be through the roof. 

798 has to be the first full appearance, no other way to look at it. 797 is first "in shadow". This is Venom ASM 298/299/300 + Web 18 all over again

On 2/24/2018 at 9:09 PM, 500Club said:

This.  I mean, in Sean Howe’s book, ‘Marvel Comics: The Untold Story’, it was recognized in the 90’s that every time Marvel did a gimmick, sales spiked, then settled to a level lower than before the gimmick.

I get that the thinking is that Marvel publishing doesn’t really matter to Disney, save for as an R+D entity, but they still need readers to function as such.

I really think this is kind of the end of the brick and mortar comic shops. It would seem Marvel's only function to Disney is as an IP factory. Whether that's in print or digital is really of no concern. You're going to see fewer and fewer people buying the monthlies, instead just waiting for collected editions. And if that's the case, it's not a far step to just going digital for the collected editions, or Marvel Unlimited.

It's really bad for the hobby, long term.

If the content is to be taken literally, he hasn't shown up yet. ASM 796 had the Carnage symbiote reject the nanites in Norman's blood preventing him from being the green goblin. Safe bet seems to be that we'll see the Red Goblin in 797. Everything else has just been Norman with the Carnage symbiote, not the Green Goblin with the Carnage symbiote, hence, the Red Goblin.

Avengers 4 is significantly more common, and the FF have such a significant place in Marvel history. It's easy to picture all the early FF's making a run when the Fox acquisition is finalized by Disney on movie speculation. As pure collecting, FF 1 - 100 is about the peak of Marvel, IMO, the covers, the stories, the characters are all top notch.

Quote

 

A bit late to the party here, but the 650's - 680's (?) have a few quasi-keys that may heat up as the events become more central to Spider-Man canon. There are variants that are pretty hot in that run, too, but for just the "content keys" there's first Flash as Venom, JJJ as mayor, death of Marla Jameson, and the "death" of Peter Parker.

I'm interested in seeing what the lasting affect on the status quo this leaves. Seems like it's more of an unofficial sequel to Court of Owls than a DC Universe altering event, but it's Snyder and Capullo so I'm in. Still feels more funky than meaningful, but that's comics, right?

On 8/4/2017 at 9:46 AM, F For Fake said:

I enjoyed the prologue issues a lot more than I expected to. The whole concept is kinda dumb, but it's the FUN kinda dumb that I sometimes enjoy.

I'm completely in this camp.