Jesse-Lee

Cool catch, I didn't notice that! I also thought it was interesting that it just says, "Vol. 1, No. 6" and doesn't denote it's an annual.

Outstanding sale, outstanding seller! Everything was wonderful, thank you again!

Dad brought me this yesterday - it was his, he found it at my grandma's:

My dad found a couple of his old comics at my grandma's, and he gave them to me:

Dad came through again - I mentioned in a previous post that he found an old ASM for me at an antique show. Well, last week he sent me a text with pictures of a handful of books he found stashed away at my grandma's house. Most of them were coverless, falling apart old drek, except for two. He brought them to me yesterday when they came to visit: Love this cover, and I didn't have this issue (until now): Man, I really, really wish this had a cover - but I took it anyway: FF Annual 6

- 2 for $2 - 2 for $1.60 2 for $3

2 for $2.00 - last one if still there

josn-4072 Won an auction earlier today and then sent a message a few minutes ago that just said, "I don't need it, can you relist?" Immediate cancel and block, ain't nobody got time for that.

I feel your pain though. Our chest freezer that we got second-hand - and it was beat up then - recently went belly up after owning it for 15 years, and literally about two weeks before we were going to take delivery of a 1/4 cow that we bought and was at the butcher's. I believe the freezer was about 25-30 years old total. We got a new one, and it's nice, but it doesn't feel as heavy-duty as the one we had to get rid of. I'm sure it's more energy efficient, but that old one was a tank.

My grandma has the same fridge now that she got when I was about 5 years old. I'm 43 now.

I usually base my buying decisions for bigger books on timing, opportunity and cost - I don't chase 9.8s, so if I find a nice looking copy I can afford at the time that seems to be a deal compared to FMV, I try to go for it. I'd rather own a nice looking mid-grade to mid-high-grade at a deal price (like the ASM 300 CGC 8.5 newsstand I paid $340 for right as it started to climb higher) - some would argue it's a bad strategy, but I don't care. UF4 is a different story for me though. I wanted it, I saw an opportunity on a 9.2 and I bought it - for $625. Less than a week later, I believe a couple of 9.2s sold on eBay in the $500s. I don't regret buying it per se, but sometimes I wish I'd spent that money on a Batman 232 instead. We'll see, maybe I'll be wrong in a few years? It's one of two higher-priced (for me anyway) comics I feel I went away from my strategy on - the other being DC Comics Presents 47, which was an even worse buy at $475 for a 9.0 newsstand...

I actually just ran across an old home video (I'm converting everything to digital finally) from Christmas the year I got this book! I took a screenshot:

I love that cover - that sketch cover is the one I got in the lot buy I mentioned earlier, but it's beat up bad - it looks like it got coffee or Pepsi spilled on it.

My next move is to sell off some stuff so I can afford a 232 (Ra's) and 234 (SA Two Face), and I'd also love to have a Tec 400 (1st Man-Bat). I'd like Batman 227 too, but that's lower on my priority list, along with Batman 171. I now have CGC copies of 181 (Ivy), 189 (SA Scarecrow), 244 (my favorite cover, even with the pajamas), 251 (another favorite cover), the Tec 359 (Batgirl) and a Batman Adventures 12 (Harley). Plus Killing Joke of course, Vengeance of Bane, and newer stuff like Teen Titans 12 (Batman Who Laughs) and Hell Arisen 3 (Punchline). And a bunch of the lesser 1st appearances, Year One, Death in the Family. 232 and 234 are definitely the next targets though, and then maybe some others like SA Penguin, etc. I also want to get Detective 475 (the Joker laughing fish issue). I have 476 (yet another favorite cover and story continuation) in a 9.0 and a Tec 880, but only in a 9.2 - but I got a great deal here on the boards for that one. For non-Batman stuff I'd love an ASM 129 and a Hulk 181, but I can't afford everything and I'd prefer to focus on the Bat stuff, even though the Marvel stuff is a "smarter" buy.

That's funny, I thought about the same thing when I wrote that and Black Widow was the first to come to mind... Edit: Which, actually I just looked it up - Tales of suspense #52 - and they're actually somewhat comparable on price. But maybe we're underplaying Batgirl's significance? I'm not sure...

Yeah, that is interesting because it's another example of the label denoting it (although it does list it as "1st appearance of Tommy Eliot (Hush)"). One of my favorite things to do after my wife and kids go to bed is to throw on a movie and hunt on eBay - my first issue of 609 was in a 130-issue Batman lot I won for $175. That lot included Year One, the whole Hush run in mostly high grade (there was a beat up 612 unfortunately and a mid-grade newsstand 608) and a high-grade Batman 635, as well as a bunch of lesser "keys." I ended up cherry picking the lot and trading the leftovers to an LCS for credit. I've had great luck at small local shows where I've found 609 for less than $10; at a recent Milwaukee con I actually scored a Long Halloween 1 for $15. Most recently, I picked up 608-613 on eBay for $45 - so I got 609 in there, plus the 608 and 612 were newsstands. There are deals to be found but you really have to like digging through a lot of bad listings, sketchy listings, etc. The one where I got the 635, it wasn't mentioned in the listing title or shown in the photos, it was just listed in a long list of issue numbers in the description - I figured based on the average price per book and the other issues I could see in pics, even if the 635 wasn't a great copy it was worth the risk.

I think it'd be better if it was Frank Miller instead of Eastman.

I know, I actually thought it was from a year ago! Your 357 is a gorgeous copy though, and a CPV to boot! That 523 cover is tough because it's so busy that it hides flaws really well. I love that cover though. The 524 is tough because of the black. I never loved that cover, but it's actually growing on me. At that time, I only had the 358, but I got it in a cheap lot buy so it cost me about $3 I think (on average). But of course it then led me down the rabbit hole...

I agree with most of this, as much as it hurts to agree since I'm also a DC fan. I do think that there are possible deals to be had, especially on older DCs, if you get in at the right time - but I know people have said that forever too. But I bought an entry-level graded Tec 359 in 2021 before whatever movie hype started to bump that book a little, and I got it at a price that I shouldn't regret (especially since it's for the personal collection anyway). It's crazy to think of how much a book like that with an equivalent character intro would cost if it was a Marvel. And some of the newer stuff can still be found cheap-ish, although they're going up - I was able to find copies of Batman 655 last year for $15-20 in some cases. if you're patient and maybe a little lucky you can put together the whole Hush run (609-619) for under $50 or lower - I've bought multiple copies of 609 (first Hush) for under $10 each - and in some cases as low as $5 - in the past year. I've found first Ventriloquist/Scarface (Tec 583) for $10 at shows. As a Bat-fan, I've been able to find most of the Copper-Modern first appearances and major issues for fairly cheap. But I agree with you - if you try to spec on DC books for quick flips, you'll usually be sorry.

Since the time of that old thread, I picked up a nice raw Tec 523 on the boards for a decent price, a nice-looking raw 524 on eBay for a really nice price, and I also got a relatively cheap auction win on DIG Auctions on a Batman 357 8.0 CGC that is in the mail on its way to me now. I paid less than current raw prices in-grade on the 8.0 - I figured I should jump on it since I didn't own a copy at all...

Yeah, for sure!

NM- please

I like Jae Lee's work too! I liked his Dark Tower covers, and I have a copy of Marvel Comics Presents 85, which was his first published (interior) work at Marvel.

I was about to say the same thing - a lot of times a high starting bid and a high shipping cost will leave an item sitting, even if it's within the acceptable range (or sometimes below) of FMV. A 524 (CGC notes it as "Killer Croc appearance") in a 9.8 recently sold for $490, and high grade raws of 524 usually sell for a bit higher than 523 for some reason. So 523 in a 9.8 is likely somewhere in that $300-400 range. Batman 357 is what CGC notes as 1st Croc and 1st Jason Todd - I know we had that whole breakdown of why they're wrong before - and that book is over a grand in a 9.8.