Qalyar

Wow. I'm pretty sure where I live, the dollar boxes don't have SIKTC #1 (even fourth printing) to #9 runs...

Thought that, but first BlizzCon was 2005, so if this was a con freebie, it was a different con.

So, these are 2001 releases, so they're definitely Modern, not Copper, but this is also the everything Dark Horse thread, so, hey, seemed a better fit here than in the random bins of Modern stuff. In 2001, Dark Horse published a 64-page one-shot anthology book as a spinoff to Blizzard's Diablo video game franchise. Obviously, it's a little awkward to cheerlead for Activision/Blizzard overmuch right now, but in 2001 they were still the good guys. I digress... The book's surprisingly good, on the whole. Phil Amara and Dave Land writing, Francisco Ruiz Velasco did the art and cover. Print run was ... not high, but it's tough to determine. It doesn't seem to show up in any of Comichron's records for Previews orders for 2001, but smart money is on 5000 (or possibly fewer) copies. There are a couple 9.8s on census, but this is a tough book in the high grades in general. The combination of an all-black cover with squarebound binding makes nearly all available copies (that aren't just beaters) firmly in the 9.0/9.2 range at best. For the record, no chance at flipping this copy into a 9.8, it's got a little corner trauma and was graded correctly. But speaking of beaters, I've got another copy of this book, except it looks like this: CGC has slabbed one copy of this as the "variant cover" (a 9.0). This copy would be lucky to hit 6.0, with abuse to all the edges and corners, plus a constellation of spine ticks (including one that's frankly a tear more than a tick). But whatever, it's not getting slabbed. I may slab drek, but I don't slab beat drek. On the other hand, I would absolutely like to learn more about this "variant cover". For starters, I don't think that's what this really is (okay, yes, it has a different cover, so that's not wrong). It doesn't have a cover price, or an ISBN, so this was presumably some sort of promotional giveaway (but, for the record, identical inside cover copy / copyright / indicia). Anyone know where this came from? Advertising promo or convention swag seem the most likely choices. Whatever this book actually was, it's a whole lot less common in the secondary market than the already kinda low print-run normal edition. Also, if someone happens to have one of these that stands a reasonable chance of grading out at 9.2+, well, you know where to find me.

As best as I know, for #1: Guillem March cover (the base comic) Frank Quitely cover Francisco Martino cover Riccardo Federici sketch cover (1:25 incentive) Green blank cover Mark Brooks Team / Riccardo Federici cover Scorpion Comics / Rafael Grassiti cover Scorpion Comics / Rafael Grassiti minimal trade dress Scorpion Comics / Rafael Grassiti virgin Frankie's Comics / Gabriele Dell'Otto cover Frankie's Comics / Gabriele Dell'Otto minimal trade dress Frankie's Comics / Gabriele Dell'Otto virgin 616 / Francesco Mattina cover Jolzar / Francesco Mattina minimal trade dress Bird City Comics / Jonboy Meyers cover Bird City Comics / Jonboy Meyers minimal trade dress Comic Mint / John Giang cover State of Comics / Neal Adams cover Sanctum Sanctorum / Mimi Yoon cover Comics Elite / Ryan Brown cover Comics Elite / Ryan Brown minimal trade dress J. Scott Campbell cover J. Scott Campbell minimal trade dress J. Scott Campbell virgin Dynamic Forces / Ken Haeser cover

Yeah, it's a ghost of a book. Great example of the "last issue effect".

2.0. Book presents generally better, but the grade hits for that water damage are going to be significant because it's touched a significant area of the cover -- and, more importantly, because it penetrates the entire book and has compromised the paper integrity on both the front and back cover (as we see from the paper loss). Shame about that, really, because the colors on this copy are really full and rich. I imagine this would outperform its technical grade.

I don't think this is getting a 9.4, even with a press, although a press will improve the appearance of the two significant color-breaking spine ticks (near "No. 1" and near the police drone) and will take care of what might or might not be a broad bend at UR (it's tough to tell, and might just be lighting / camera angles). I'm most worried about those streaks on the back cover. There are a couple that stand out as non-reflective in the wide shot, near the center of the spine. And then what I take to be another one lower down in the second pic. What's going on with these? Are they scratches? Because the overall condition is high on this copy, exactly what these are may make a lot of difference in the final grade.

Bill & Ted's Excellent Comic Book goes to 12, but the last three are all pretty elusive. As a bonus, nice newsstand printings. I don't think they're much rarer than the DM copies on this one, but they're definitely tough in presentable condition. Fun fact. Bill & Ted have been published as comics by four different major publishers: DC (1989 Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure one-shot), Marvel (1991 Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey one-shot, Bill & Ted's Excellent Comic Book 12-issue series), Boom (2016 Bill and Ted Go to Hell 4-issue mini), and Dark Horse (2020 Bill & Ted Are Doomed 4-issue mini).

Last story arc of the 1970s Godzilla, from #17 through #24. Godzilla #18, in particular, is the "miniaturized Godzilla in the sewers" issue.

CGC awards technical grades, which by definition, are not intended as a measure of visual appeal. So, yes, front cover defects are (generally, anyway) weighted exactly the same as back cover defects. But of course, they have different impact in terms of visual appeal.

I always try for exactly 25 because that's the most efficient for return shipping costs, although occasionally circumstances require a smaller batch.

The Count Duckula 1 might not be the flashiest book, but it's a surprisingly tough one to find in nice shape. Doubly so the newsstand prints like you've got here.

For a book like Sandman, where there are some single issues that have FMV way, way above the price of an arbitrarily chosen issue, I don't think full runs make a lot of sense to sell. A lot of people these days cherry-pick keys, and really do not care -- unfortunately -- about #33 or #58 or #74. For the same reason, really long runs are probably harder to move; plus, with long runs, you can really only sell the full thing to someone who wants to be a run collector but hasn't started yet. If they're just filling in holes, it doesn't make sense to buy the whole thing. That calculus might be different for lower-demand books with shorter runs, especially if the FMV per book is uniform-ish. Especially if they're low enough print run / availability to make finding them individually annoying. That said, I'm not coming up with a good example of a 6-9 issue series with a low print run, without any standout keys, that's not hot enough to break apart but hot enough that someone might actually want to buy. I'm sure that's out there, though. Somewhere.

Assuming the staples really are rusty, and it's not just an optical illusion or some such, I'd assume it didn't have rusty staples when it was graded. Improper storage can make books end up that way. The easiest ways to rust the staples on your 9.8 slabs are to store them in fire-proofed safes, or expose them to the outgassing from pyrite-contaminated drywall. Obviously, if you've got a book damaged in that manner, there's no way to turn back the clock. You can't un-rust a staple, or replace staples, without earning a non-Universal label. And a straight regrade won't come back 9.8. That aside, I'd say that if you have a book like that, you have an obligation to disclose the situation if you try to sell it. Sorry for the bad news. All that said, some pics might help, just to be sure that what you're seeing really is staple rust...

Taken on face value, I suspect this is a problem from manufacturing... but I also wouldn't be surprised if a wavy "otherwise 9.8" book came back 9.6.

I don't think I ever realized how many black covers are in that run. Those are some beautiful books in this thread, including the OP's. Congrats!

Not bad at all!

Nice selection of books there, showing off some pretty big names in underground (and underground adjacent) work. Conspiracy Capers is mostly interesting for its historical context. It was intended to help fund the defense of the Chicago Seven, which meant some unusually high profile people were involved in the production of this one -- including influential Black Panther Kathleen Cleaver and film director Susan Sontag! Two of these books have more than one...let's say variety here. Dan O'Neill's Comics #1 has two variants from the same print run, generally known as the "red ink" and "no red ink" versions (based on the inside front cover), although there are outside cover differences too. They're probably about equal rarity. Yours is the "no red ink" one. Meanwhile, Kitchen's Mom's Homemade Comics 1 went to three printings (although 2nd and 3rd are identical, so it's really first/not-first at this point). I'm happy to say, yours is a 1st printing (49 cents vs. 50 cents). That's the book that started Kitchen's rise to influence that eventually resulted in the 30 year history of Kitchen Sink Press. It's also still really funny.

Not sure which issue has that panel, but Chaykin's whole run on Wolverine (for the Death of Wolverine arc) stars Weapon T-ReX and his tiny arms.

Howard Chaykin's take on Wolverine belongs here, too, I think. Well, one of these is Chaykin's Wolverine, anyway. Tough to tell them apart...

I wasn't gonna bother with Liefeld for this thread, mostly because there's no evidence that what he draws are actually in any sense people.

Of course, that shoulder appears to be attached to the middle of Spidey's pec, so I think we can only award partial credit there.

My problem was never whether he broke the chains with his arms or through ridiculous power breathing. It's that chains don't break that way. They break at the weakest link, not explode into shrapnel. I know, I know, Superman's been breaking chains that way since he was created, but it's still dumb. Not as dumb as his Superhunch, though. Still, I think Spiderman draws the short stick on anatomy more often than ol' Supes does. Go ahead, find recognizable body parts in this one, I dare you. I'm not a big fan of Francisco Herrera in general, but he knows better than this...

I've always been so busy mocking this cover for its crimes against physics, I never noticed the anatomical travesty. That's what they mean by "win/win", right?