Jesse-Lee

Killing Joke came out in 1988 at a time when prestige format one-shots and mini-series, along with graphic novels, were gaining in popularity. In the late 80s, Frank Miller's work on the Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year One (Batman 404-407), Moore's Watchmen 12 issue series and others were sparking new interest in comic storytelling. Not to mention the Tim Burton Batman movie was set to release in 1989, and Bat-mania was huge. Killing Joke is considered by many to be the best (or one of the top) Joker stories of all time - it won the Eisner as well. The art is gorgeous, and the story really is well done and has an interesting payoff. There were 14 printings of the initial run, each with different color lettering on the front, and even back then I remember the first print being sought after and selling for a premium. I still have my original 4th print, which was the first chance I got to buy it - I was 11 and living in a small town, so I was limited to what I could buy at the drug store or grocery store except for the one or two times a year I could get my parents to take me to a comic shop in a nearby city. It's a great book for a collection, but if you just want to read it I would suggest tracking down the deluxe edition hardcover - it's like $15 or less on Amazon. It has some extra essays, an additional story written and drawn by Bolland, and it's recolored to match Bolland's original vision for the artwork. If you're looking for Batman stories I'd consider it a must-read, along with these others (this list is not at all definitive or in any kind of order, and others may disagree or have additions): The Dark Knight Returns Batman: Year One Strange Apparitions (Detective 469-479) Long Halloween Son of the Demon Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth I also recommend some of these other stories as a few of my favorites: Grant Morrison's Batman run (various issues/titles starting at Batman 655) A Death in the Family (Batman 426-429) Batman Year Two (Detective 575-578) Going Sane (Legends of the Dark Knight 65-68) Batman: Venom (nothing at all to do with the Marvel character Venom; Legends of the Dark Knight 16-20) There are tons more (most anything Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams teamed up on is worth checking out), but the above are all great in my opinion. You could also look for the collected editions of "The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told" and "The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told" for a nice collection of individual comic stories across the ages from Gold to basically Copper (not sure if there's a newer, updated printing of these with modern stories).

It definitely sucks! This one wasn't as big a deal for me, I kind of bid on a whim - but I've gotten sniped before on a few that really bummed me out. Still, it was a kick in the pants thinking I'd won and then seeing I didn't.

Just had a weird one - I put in a last-second bid on a lot, and got the confirmation "congratulations, you're the high bidder" or whatever is says, and then it redirected to the ended auction page and the banner at the top said "you won this auction." A few seconds later, I got a push notification on my phone that says "Auction ended; got away." I checked, and sure enough, it said I was outbid. I've gotten sniped plenty of times, but I've never seen it where it says I won the auction and then it changes after the fact. Anyone else?

You're right, I'm way off - I found this breakdown from Comichron: https://www.comichron.com/faq/ultimatefallout4sales.html To save some reading, here's the gist from the end of the article: Still, under 100,000 on the first print is relatively low overall.

If only!

I disagree somewhat, respectfully. There's some evidence for eschewing 9.8s for slightly lower grades to see a better long-term return. Some lower grades on certain books have seen a higher percentage return than the same book in a 9.8,and it allows you to diversify your investment across multiple books. You could spend $1,000 on one 9.8 book and see a 20% return, or spend $1,000 across 3 9.2 books and see a cumulative 40% return for example. It can be book dependent of course, but there's solid evidence for it. And if you have one 9.8 that dips, your whole investment dips, but if you have 3 9.2 and one dips, the other two could potentially cover your losses.

Is it copper? I can't keep up. It feels bronze to me...

Love Thor 337, but a 9.8 is almost a grand, and a 9.6 is around $400. I'd buy the 9.6, and have $600 left to put into something else.

Well, that would be pretty awesome if done right.

I'm excited for this series, but I actually thought the trailer looked "meh." I watched it with a couple of friends during the playoff game who like some of the Marvel stuff but who are not comics guys (and had never heard of Moon Knight). Their take was that they'd check it out but the trailer didn't compel them too much. I really hope it's good though (and I think it will be).

You're probably right, I might be biased. But it is a great story, and it's the first time that the reasoning why the JLA teamed up is told. And it pre-dates the Avengers, so it's the first telling of how DC's equivalent super-team came together. Maybe I'm overvaluing it personally, but I still think it's undervalued from a relative standpoint. Either way, if you're a JLA fan, it's a fun book to own, and I love the cover (wish Batman was on it, but oh well).

Detective 359 - 1st appearance of Batgirl (Barbara Gordon). Also 1st Silver Age Killer Moth for what it's worth.

I love (and own) both of these also, but I think I'd still opt for the UF4. If you're sticking to $1,000 and not going over, you can get a 9.4 UF4, probably a 4.0 Tec 359, or probably a 4.5 Batman 181. I think the ceiling on UF4 in a 9.4 is much higher than the Bat books if we're talking investment. I'd personally rather have a Tec 359 or Bats 181 in my collection any day of the week, but from a pure investing standpoint I'd still pick the UF4. I think it's absolutely crazy that a JLA 9 (first origin of the Justice League) sold for $381 this month in an 8.0 for example. I love, love that book - I have a 5.5 that I paid like $100 for. Can you imagine what an equivalent Marvel book would cost, say an Avengers equivalent to that from the silver age? It'd probably be high four to low five figures. I love owning JLA 9, but it wasn't an investment book.

I think it's about expanding his range too - at a grand, big Bronze like IH 181 and ASM 129 are getting priced out, but some of these other options are probably more viable/a safer investment than whatever else is next up as an affordable Bronze option. This thread would maybe be better suited to general and not constrained to one time period.

A few things: Still hasn't appeared in a live action movie - a lot of people know Miles, or know of him - into the Spiderverse and the PS5 game helped that a lot - but the first appearance in a live-action really elevates that a lot, and as good as Marvel is with their movies, a character of that caliber should explode. For a modern first appearance it was a relatively low print run for a first appearance - I may be wrong, but I think I've heard the run on that issue was somewhere around 45,000 (edit: @Lazyboy pointed out that I was way off - I looked it up and made a later post in this thread, but the run of first printings was just under 100,000 - still low, but not as low as I thought). He ticks a lot of boxes for an ongoing character that Marvel can build on well into the future - it's a diverse character that has a lot of representation across many groups: young, Afro-Latino, etc. He's a compelling and cool character, and he isn't going away for a long, long time.

I wouldn't pay that. It is really cool though.

As a huge DC fan, I just have to say - invest in Marvel. That said, I agree with the UF4 sentiment (even though it's not Bronze). Edited to add: If I was given a grand that I had to spend on a book today, I'd follow @William-James88's advice and buy the Batman 232, or I'd buy a lower grade Flash 123 (but again, those are personal goals for a DC fan). I do think/hope DC will someday have its day and I've been trying to buy bigger keys as I can afford them. And I already own a UF4.

Congrats, that's crazy!!

Just won a 9.4 CGC on DIG for $40. Sure it's only a 9.4, but at the same price or less than most raw copies, I figured, why not? I have a few raw copies but this will be my first graded copy of cover A. I have a 9.6 of the variant as well.

Looks like Hulk 3 also, cover A for now at least.

I love this cover, it gives me Bill Mumy Twilight Zone vibes - "You're a bad man! You're a very bad man!"