Qalyar

Marvel's early experiments with photo covers were not... particularly good ideas, shall we say.

Liefeld would have shifted the entire cover down a couple inches or so, such that the bottom edge would amputate Cap and Spidey just below the knees. That way, he could avoid seeing ... whatever those leg-ending thingies are called! They vex him so!

This is certainly one of the problem with the DC films. Marvel casts very well and makes viewers identify the MCU characters with their portraying actors (with very few exceptions). People get excited about Iron Man not just because the films are good, but because they see that character through the lens of Robert Downey, Jr., and so on. It is a strategy that is not without risk, as the sad passing of Chadwick Boseman highlights. But it makes people care about the characters, and it gives them a "voice" to read them with when they turn to comic book portrayals. Whose voice do you associate with Superman? With Batman? With the Joker? Not only does DC struggle to make individually good films or a coherent cinematic universe, they can't keep consistent casting, and they can't seem to keep consistent interpretations of their characters. The Nolan Batman films are recent enough that they're still on people's minds, but even setting them aside as distinct from the DCEU, the Batman we see in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is not remotely the Batman we see in Justice League. I think they have realized that problem, and Gal Godot's Wonder Woman and Jason Momoa's Aquaman are steps the right direction, assuming they can keep the characters attached to the roles and give them sufficiently high-quality scripts. But there's an uphill climb (and frankly, I'm not sure that launching The Batman as a non-DCEU reboot alongside the DCEU is going to help anything). Which is sort of DC's other problem, and one that isn't unique to the era of blockbuster superhero films. Batman is, at his core, a really, really good character. Over the years, DC has given him a great supporting cast, including arguably the best rogue's gallery in all of comics, and a solid roster of allies. But... the world they've created is supposed to be about other stories, too. I get it, the company is literally named after the comic book where Batman debuted. A lot of the time, everything in DC (except maybe Superman, but sometimes even Superman) only exists to give a broader background to stories about Batman and the Batfamily.

I believe these were published by Max Seeley.

I expect I'll cycle some nice stuff through my temporary "collection", but as usual, I'm way more interested in tracking down weird stuff that personally interests me than I am in books that other people value, haha. That said, I'd like to get at least one of my four chase items this year: The EverQuest Online Adventures: Quest for Darkpaw giveaway comic. The Babylon 5: The Lost Tales Best Buy DVD special edition pack-in (also a SDCC giveaway). Tokyopop's first Legend of the Dark Crystal / Return to Labyrinth flipbook. I can help people figure out which of the two (that I know of) versions people have, if anyone has either. Which they probably don't. Least likely by far, Charles Burns's Black Hole #1 pre-press ashcan. There are just so few of these to even have a shot, and unlike most of my personal-interest drek, this one's legitimately worth something.

If you count comic appearances in a magazine-format non-comic-book periodical, then the June 2005 issue of Nickelodeon Magazine. If you want an actual, fully-dedicated comic book, then that's probably the 2007 mini comic pack-in with Book 2: Earth DVDs. If you want a standard format comic book, that might be as late as the 2011 FCBD issue, but not certain.

Yeah, the '70s Atlas was interesting for a really brief window of time when everyone was sure it was going to be the next major publisher. Instead, it lasted less than a year, hobbled by internal management issues and the extra-high costs demanded by creators who were (rightly) concerned about contracting with a new publisher with an uncertain future. This one is still kicking around, though. Goodman's grandson relaunched Atlas via Ardden Entertainment in 2010ish, but that didn't do much better ... in part because of a dispute over the Atlas name, which would up getting trademark-sniped and handed off to Dynamic Forces. I'm not sure that Goodman even actually got the Atlas name back, but Steven Paul's SP Media Group has the rights to the Atlas characters and IP now (with Goodman involved), and at least claims to have contracted for film adaptations with Paramount. Of course, I'll believe that when I see them release; I'm not sure how interested the public would be in Devilina, Ironjaw, Scorpion, or Wulf the Barbarian films. I've always thought the Atlas character roster was pretty weak; it didn't do them any favors then, and won't now. Ironjaw #1 and #2 have Neal Adams covers; Destructor #1 and #2 have Steve Ditko and Wally Wood, so those books will always retain a little value for completionists, but their other ~20 books? Meh.

Fish Police had all the signs of success. Moncuse is a good writer and artists, and the books had support from headline-tier people (Sam Kieth! Stan Sakai! Harlan Ellison!). It was one of the handful of indie titles to eventually make it to one of the mainstream publishers (going from "true" indie Fishwrap to Comico to Apple Press to Marvel). And was licensed into a Hanna Barbara animated tv series adaptation, with a solid voice cast (Tim Curry is a lawyer shark!), that aired on CBS in prime time to compete with The Simpsons! Unfortunately... The animated series was pretty objectively terrible. Only six episodes were even produced, and few (if any) CBS stations in the US even aired the last three of those. Then, Moncuse more or less retired from comics entirely to become a teacher, and Fish Police slowly (okay, quickly) faded from interest. IDW reprinted a TPB at some point, and there's a short Fish Police piece in Dark Horse Presents (v2) #22 from 2011, but Moncuse's goal of returning to comics with a New Fish Police sequel series seems to have fallen through. Unlike many of the post-TMNT indies, Fish Police is a book that I think still has a chance to matter someday. The Fishwrap issues aren't rare, but they're not everywhere, and certainly not in grade (good luck with 9.2+ copies of issue #3 in particular). However, the bottom line is that the future value of the property depends on the future of the property. If we eventually see New Fish Police at, say, Dark Horse, and a second (and more successful) attempt at an adaptation somewhere, well... Otherwise, the first few issues will continue to chug along at a few bucks better than cover, and everything else will be dollar box residents, much as they are now. In any case, it's a pretty fun read.

Added to the Labyrinth (Complete) set: Legends of the Dark Crystal/Return to Labyrinth #nn (Tokypop, 2007) [cert #3717436022] Slot added on 1/6/21. Thank you

That DHP10 is pretty nice, and definitely worth better than a buck! That Ironjaw #4 is fun to see; Atlas tried pretty hard to break into the majors, but didn't quite pull it off. I'd hoped that Ardden Entertainment's revival of the brand in 2010 (?) would take, since smaller publishers are a little better positioned now than they were in the 70s, but it seems it wasn't in the cards this time, either. And there was a time when I would have made fun of people for actually buying copies of Dazzer #1, but the book has done fairly well for itself after all. Also, I have a good friend who picked up a stack of about 15 of that thing one day a few years back (when it really was still pretty much a dollar bin book everywhere)... all of which turned out to be the page 24/25 error edition. Because of course they were.

As with most categories of books, it... really depends on the material. There are quite a few worthwhile books with "mature readers" labels, and -- depending on the time period we're talking about -- potentially some valuable indie / underground stuff that's more obviously adult. There are also scattered limited-run moderns with nude covers that have at least niche collector interest (some of the Zenescope stuff does well because ... um, reasons, I guess?). Some of this stuff is collected like normal books and so is appropriately condition-sensitive (that's almsot certainly the case for the Zenescopes, for example). On the other hand, as with most categories, there's a lot of drek to be had. Pictures (censored as required) or at least a quick sample listing might help others offer more directed advice.

As far as I know, the serial number on the X-Men 54 Prismatic cover is only on the CoA that originally shipped with the book.

I doubt that could be removed in its entirety without sliding into actual restoration. Wanting to do so is misguided. This is a dedication from the book's creator, not some random scribble. Also, as it is on an interior page, it wouldn't have a significant grade impact (and even less so because these books are all hand-numbered on the back, so you're getting green slabs no matter what).

CGC only grades Gobbledygook under... weird conditions, as I understand. There certainly ARE counterfeit copies of those books, but there's not the same sort of reasonably well-produced, specifically identifiable counterfeit as plague TMNT, CFD, and Cerebus, especially not one that has its own cachet as a collectible.

Answering the title question, on this comic, yes, it will adversely affect grade. Normal distributor ink is considered part of the distribution process. Moderate overspray mostly keeps books out of the very high grades. But this? This book has distributor ink in places nowhere near what "normal" overspray would produce. All down the back cover spine? Yikes. In spots halfway down the spine on the front cover? Yikes-er. If this was otherwise flawless, well... that's sort of a moot point, because it's not. The UL corner is dog-eared and breaks color. There are at least three color breaking spine ticks plus some general spine wear. UR corner is a little weak, too, and looks like it may have a soft crease. Back cover has at least two soft creases near the reading edge, and I can't tell if lightning is just being uncooperative or if there's some discoloration there. There certainly looks to be discoloration at back cover bottom. I think this would probably be a 6.5 book, plus or minus a grade, before accounting for the overspray. CGC will do what they want with that, but it's so pervasive and -- more critically -- so out of place, that I assume they'll consider at least some of it to be staining. All in all, you might get a 6.0 out of this book, but if it came back as low as a 5.0, I wouldn't be entirely surprised (especially if that back edge really is discolored). So the question then is, what are your plans for this book? If it's for a personal collection, well... prices are pretty flat between, say, 5.5 and 7.0 on this book. You'd be much happier to budget for a 7.0 or attractive 6.5, or outlay a little more for something in the 7.5-8.5 range. But if this isn't a personal book, you'd have to find a buyer who wants this blue mess. That same run of fairly flat prices really works against you, because copies in higher grades, and without less blue simply aren't that much more expensive. Which is a lot of words to say... I wouldn't consider slabbing this.

ROFL. Well, I'm happy to provide information about... whatever I have information about. I probably am more familiar with modern indie books than mental health professionals recommend.

I won't lie, I watched that unboxing video out of the lingering fear that something I actually collect, on purpose, would appear in this drekkiest of packages. Thankfully, no. Low-grade run filler and Hell's Angel are beneath even me. I will note that there was one almost interesting book in that. That 1997 Book of the Tarot (by Caliber, under the Tome Press imprint) has some fairly neat Major Arcana illustrations by not-terrible guest artists. It's certainly nothing worth collecting in that beaten and battered condition, though. If anyone decides to care about this thing, Caliber/Tome released two versions of the book, one with that black and red cover and a $3.95 cover price, the other with a black and green cover and a $4.95 cover price. In my experience, the $3.95 book is more common but tends to present in worse condition.

So, that's the first Cankor book, by Matthew Allison. It is issue #127, but there are no issues #1-126 (or any #128+ for that matter). He continued with a four (I think it's four...) issue miniseries called Cankor: Calamity of Challenge, which has normal issue numbering. They're easier to find than the first book, but still had tiny print runs. There's also a GN compilation. These days, Allison is with Image, where he's done a couple of alt covers. I know he hopes for an Image-published Cankor book to happen eventually. If it ever does, the early stuff will become double impossible to find.

Cankor! Nice piece. That really is tough to find in the wild, and that cover is pretty unforgiving about showing wear.

In general, probably not. But there are a handful of specific counterfeit books that are, for various reasons, considered desirable collectibles in and of themselves. Off the top of my head, that includes the TMNT counterfeit and the Cry for Dawn counterfeit. Perhaps others, I'm not sure.

Clickbait. Yes, I expect some pretty brutal title contraction from DC. This won't be the first time one of the major publishers has slashed their title list, not will it be the last. DC has made some unforced errors over the last few years but I don't think anyone is sticking the fork in them quite yet.

Lose is sort of an interesting piece. It's by a guy named Michael DeForge, and has won a couple of small-press comics awards, including a couple Ignatz. The prices people think these books are worth on eBay bears no resemblance to reality; those copies will never, ever sell for those prices. That said, I wouldn't be sad to pick them up in a dollar box. DeForge is pretty talented (and has a substantial following as a Twitter personality besides), and there's a real possibility that he'll make a break into either mainstream comics or mainstream animation (he already did some work on Adventure Time) at some point. You picked up #2 (on top), #4 (with the yellow background), and #6 (teal). Shame there wasn't a #1, it's quite a bit tougher than the rest of the series. Although, if there's more DeForge stuff in the area, the real chase books are some of his earliest works: the two issues of the Open Country mini-comic. Originally planned as a five-book series, DeForge decided he didn't like where his story and art were going, cut the series short at #2, and destroyed the unsold remainders of the print runs.

Yeah, I think this will end up a 4.0. Especially from the front, it presents much better despite the ULC, but that back stain is crippling, and CGC's long term trend has been increasingly harsh judgment of such defects (and rightly so, in my opinion).

Four issues of Darkwing Duck (1991, 1st series).

That's not a published cover that I'm aware of, although that doesn't mean there isn't something out there that used it. But that's also going on my list of "why Liefeld art is hard to like". Deathstroke has clearly been replaced by a robot -- now with giant metal foot-stompin' action!! Which also explains how he's keeping hold of that sword: magnetism. And Liefeld clearly decided that was enough "feet" for one day, so made the other cover character a double below-the-knee amputee to avoid needing to draw any more of them.