Jesse-Lee

Air Raiders 1 (Star) - VF- - $3

Clive Barker's Hellraiser 1 (Epic) Newsstand - FN+ - $12 1st cover appearance of Pinhead

I'll take Novick's Batman covers over Kaluta's (well, except Batman 248 - I love that cover).

Last Wildstorm issue. According to Key Collector, only 7,327 copies ordered by retailers. Only 7 on the census - 2 9.8 SS, 2 9.6 SS, 1 9.6 Universal and 2 9.2 Universal.

Thanks!

That market is crazy to me - it's big news when a comic cracks the 7-figure mark, and we all know what they'll be - Action 1, Batman 1, Detective 27... But there are modern Lebron James cards that sell for millions. There were 36 sales of sports cards in 2022 alone that sold for $1-million-plus, and that includes 9 Lebrons, 9 Tom Bradys and some Steph Currys and Michael Jordans, alongside the big-dollar cards everyone thinks of, like Micky Mantle and Honus Wagner.

I agree, and so I have to put in a plug for someone who I believe is one of the most underrated SA artists, and who I contend must have had a huge influence on probably my favorite comic artist (Neal Adams): Irv Novick. Take a look at Irv's work; it just feels like the groundwork that was laid for artists like Neal - the expressive faces, clean lines, anatomical details that are sometimes exaggerated but still make sense in the context of the piece. You could even understand if some of his work was mistaken for Neal's - look at the Brave and the Bold 83 or the Batman 214 for example. The guy was flat-out great:

This isn't exclusive to comics. I have a buddy who is a sports card collector - almost exclusively baseball - and this is very much a norm for collectors in that hobby as well. He's collecting Hall-of-Famer rookie cards for example, and he's priced out of high-grade copies of many of the older cards, but in order to complete his collection, he goes after lower-grade cards in order to have the card. If it's someone he really likes, he'll sell other cards in order to upgrade. And he knows that vintage cards continue to maintain their value at most grades, or at least have minimal downturns that should correct themselves over a long hold. I'm the comic collector you're talking about (except for the sig part, I hate signatures on key books) - I'd rather spend the money to have 3-4 graded key books I really want in a grade that's acceptable to me, rather than chase a really high grade copy of a single book. From an investment standpoint, there's also some validity to this practice. For argument's sake, if you had $1,000 to spend, you could buy 4 $250 books or 1 $1,000 book. You can look at a number of books where the 4 have the potential to outpace the 1 in monetary gains over time, plus you're diversifying your investment. Obviously this is a huge oversimplification, but you can definitely find examples of say, four 7.5 keys having higher percentage increases over time vs one 9.8 at the same investment level. I don't collect or buy cards, but I do pay attention to that market because comics are the "red headed stepchild" to the sports card market and there are lessons to be learned. There are losses in that market since the 2020-2021 boom that have been massive, but they have been smaller in the vintage/"blue chip" cards, and in some cases, those cards continue to do well - a similar case in comics with gold, silver and in some cases, bronze keys, vs. the "flavor of the month" variants.

Seeing the MCS responses in this thread really cements my decision to continue buying pre-order books, and often back issues, from them. Unlike Cephusdog, I've not yet had a bad experience with MCS (not saying his experience isn't valid, just offering my own as a satisfied customer). I've been buying my preorders from them for at least the past 2 years, and I love every aspect of it - the discount, the ease of shopping, the shipping options, the outstanding shipping and packaging, and the high quality of the books I receive. Conan's willingness to respond on an open platform is a level of transparency you almost never see anymore - it's refreshing. I still try to support my main LCS in other ways, like buying supplies, back issues and some new issues - but my "local" comic shop is about a 1.5 hour round trip for me, so getting stuff on a regular basis can be a challenge. My only tiny quibble with MCS is that I usually have to look elsewhere if I want to try to score ratio variants, but other than that, their service has been easy and outstanding for me.

That's all for tonight!

Fantastic Four 391 Newsstand - FN - $15 1st appearance of Vibraxas, a Wakandan infused with Vibranium 1st cameo appearance of Devlor, an Inhuman Fantastic Four #49 Homage Cover

A vs X #1 Newsstand - VG - $5

Cutey Bunny Summer Fun Special - VF/NM - $15

Deadpool and the Mercs for Money 1 - VF/NM - $7 Polybagged Comic Con Box Exclusive Color variant

Deadpool and the Mercs for Money 1 - VF/NM - $7 Polybagged Comic Con Box Exclusive B&W variant

Scarlet Witch 2 (1993) - VF+ - $10 1st appearance of Lore

Scarlet Witch 1 (1993) - VF+ - $5

Sensational She-Hulk 5 Newsstand - VG - $3 Flintstones cover

Batgirl 20 (New 52) Newsstand - VG/FN - $5 1st appearance of the Ventriloquist

Batgirl 19 (New 52) Newsstand - FN - $5

Batgirl 17 (New 52) Newsstand - FN+ - $6

Batgirl 11 (New 52) Newsstand - FN/VF - $10 Artgerm cover

Batgirl 10 (New 52) Newsstand - FN - $5 SOLD 1st cameo appearance of Knightfall 1st appearance and partial origin of Charise Carnes 1st team appearance of The Disgraced: Katharsis, Bleak Michael and Bone Breaker