On 2/3/2024 at 10:09 AM, Point Five said:

I say something like this in these contests every year: you shouldn't beat yourself up if you can't match the impossible standard of all bullseyes. The "fun" and the challenge in these contests is trying to calibrate exactly... something that can't really be calibrated exactly.  

We are grading from scans and not actual books, CGC's own standards bob and weave as you describe, etc etc. A lot of really good graders here end up in the middle or even the back of the pack. If you can look at the posted books and get even 'in the ballpark' on CGC grades for half of them, you are way, *way* ahead of the average comic grader out there.

 

Especially this round.  There are really good graders who would be practically guessing how CGC would downgrade some of these defects.  Toro is a grading stud and even he had a rough round.

Ugh - so close but so far.  I was 1 off everyone except I under graded the Dotty by 2.  6 points in a tough round is a win.

On 2/1/2024 at 6:12 PM, paqart said:

For round 1, I got this:  . My score was 5, with one bulls-eye. That looked pretty good to me until I saw how many others got the same grade or less. For round 2, I got . That makes me worry that I did badly or seriously compromised what was a good start. We'll see.

Don’t worry it sounds like all got the same emoji so we are all in the same boat.

On 2/1/2024 at 8:50 AM, CGC Mike said:

I am sorry that you are bothered by it.  The emoji's meaning is kid around or wise guy.  At the beginning of each round, I choose emojis based on grade ranges for that round.  However, if it upsets people, I will refrain from using it.     

Just kidding around.  I do get good anxiety with these grading contest but your emoji is enjoyable to see what you come up with. 

Grades recorded.  I don't like the three stooges emoji that he sent me   Some reason it makes me paranoid.

On 1/29/2024 at 10:54 AM, shadroch said:

I've bought four copies in the last month that are nicer, and paid under $8 for each of them. 

Twenty-plus years after it was published, I'd wager that the majority of Spawn 1s have never been opened. 

Which is a shame since the art is pretty good and the story is not bad either.  I enjoyed the Spawn McFarlane run.  The million copy print run definitely makes it easy to find.

On 1/30/2024 at 11:33 AM, Stefan_W said:

Maybe, but it is also a really nice looking 3.5 that presents a couple of points higher. This is the exact type of book that will go over GPA. 

There are three CGC 3.5 up right now on E-Bay for between $20,000 (2 copies) and a $22,900.  The Heritage copy has slightly better page quality but I think the $20,000 copy sitting in an old design case is looking pretty nice.  Auctions can be strange with strange outcomes but since all 3 copies currently up on E-Bay take offer and I'd expect them to take a decent discount the $24,000 plus 20% buyers premium seems a tad strange.

Decent 1st round for me.  Only 1 bullseye but I was really close on the rest.

Racket Squad - had it as a 5.0/5.5 - went 5.5

Iron Man - had it as a 9.0/9.2 and went with a 9.0

Comet - had it as a 6.5/7.0 and went 7.0

House of Secrets - looked really nice so had it as a 9.2/9.4 and went 9.4 (doh).  Must have missed something

Fear - had it only as a 8.5 so went with that

5 points and still in the running

On 1/28/2024 at 11:15 AM, SeniorSurfer said:

It does seem that they have become affordable in that range, though the FF 1 was CR/OW with a large water stain and damage running from the front through to the back cover.  Still, the X-Men 1 was a Suscha News pedigree!

The higher grade SA keys seem to be keeping their value... if you can find them.  I've been looking for a high-grade JIM 83 for a while now but there are no bargains to be had.  I suspect that collectors are not selling too much of the "good stuff" in this somewhat depressed market or when they do come out the prices are high without too much room for negotiation, no matter the market trend.

Cash is flowing to the harder to find end of market which is allowing those higher grade books to keep prices up.  Lower grade (but still not easy to find) books are taking a thrashing which you can see in all the red in the first column.  It’s disheartening since the last auction is usually the low point in the year with all the Christmas spending.  Next one will be telling since spring and the tax refunds typical cause a surge.  No surge (which would not be shocking) will highlight the current market.

Grades submitted.  Run out of lower grade Golden Age books to sub?

I can't make it this year but it's always been a great buying con with a wide variety of books in not that big a room.  Miss you guys!

On 1/24/2024 at 11:33 PM, batmiesta said:

It's not all doom and gloom, impressive price for a book that doesn't show up in this grade often. 

MONSTERS ON THE PROWL #29, CGC 9.6 NM+, ONE OF THE TOP 4 GRADED OVERALL! THE AUCTION HAS ENDED Current Bid: $607 Number Of Bids: 13

There are 3 other copies out there so I'm wondering if this is just hard to find or is impossible to find ok to use?

On 1/25/2024 at 6:38 AM, Gatsby77 said:

You're not wrong. Lift arguably has gotten a little boost from being released during the winter vs. the summer.

But even with various snow storms and school closures, no way did people have more discretionary time over the last two weeks than they did over the December 23-Jan. 1 holiday corridor, prime vacation time not only in the U.S. but in much of the world.

Plus, Lift is just an average disposable Netflix film, one of the type they churn out every month that will be largely forgotten by next month.

With a $100 million budget, it's 66% cheaper than Rebel Moon, and it lacks the franchise expectations and investment, including planned multimedia tie-ins of books / comic books / podcast / animated show, etc. 

Yet, it's already outperforming Rebel Moon by a solid margin.

Good for Kevin Hart, I guess.

My guess is the two parts of Rebel Moon will do about 66% more views then this flick which will make them about equal in value to Netflix.  I’ve not seen Lift yet but I’m sure I will eventually.  A Kevin Hart flick has a massive appeal to about every demographic out there where as a sci-fi flick has much less.  I’ll reiterate that I thought Rebel Moon was not great but it was decent and it will be considered far from a complete dud when it is all said and done.  Maybe part two will blow us all away?  

I got a message from CGC Mike about the grading contest and my heart dropped thinking I had said something in this thread.  Never like to see a message from him  

On 1/24/2024 at 12:44 PM, jimjum12 said:

He's talking Scooby Doo #1, 8.0 or better, easy. Or Dell Turok #596, high grade, easy. GOD BLESS ... 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

I sometimes forget I'm writing on the CGC message boards where a book that has 50 copies in that grade is considered easy to find.  Never mind that is for the entire world and 50 copies isn't many in the grand scheme of things.  

On 1/24/2024 at 12:07 PM, Number 6 said:

You’re too laser-focused on keys, “keys” and the usual flipper-bait . 
 

I can tell you what I wasn’t looking at:  She-Hulk #1, which is what you were complaining about earlier. 
 

The problem isn’t that what I was looking  was “insanely hard to get”, apparently the problem is that I’m not looking at stuff that’s insanely available and/or has been riding on a bunch of movie-hype speculation the last couple of years. 
 

You’re trying to paint with too broad a brush. ‘If it went for a strong price, well it must be an über-key or some extremely  hard-to-get obscurity’.  There’s quite a bit of middle ground between the two. There was some decent material that, while not “key” (at least, not the watered-down definition) and while neither super-common nor ultra-rare, is in demand.  
 

I was expecting having to put in some strong bids but the ending prices left me shaking my head. Again. Apparently there’s still a few bidders with eff-you Covid money still out there.
 

But enough from me, back to the regularly scheduled “prices are falling everywhere” discussion. 
 

 

What's wrong with She-Hulk 1?  1st appearance of a long time character.  It's very plentiful but I always thought it deserved better.  

This thread is about how prices have cratered compared to the insane prices realized in 2020 - 2021 since it was started in 2021 when things were looking less rosy and a select few seem to love coming in and demanding that prices have not completely fallen off a cliff for 95% of all books in the market place compared to the extremes we all saw in those fantastic couple years.  Nobody has said there are not some bidders jacking up prices on a select (usually uber high grade or hard to find books) but the data that gets published continues to show quite a bit of red even when compared to last sales never mind 2020 / 2021 prices.  The market isn't crashing (well maybe if you compared it to 2020 / 2021) and it appears things are quickly getting back to how it was in 2018 / 2019 except speculation is a pittance compared to what it was even back then.  Way more sustainable from a hobby stand point for sure.

On 1/24/2024 at 11:35 AM, DC# said:

Working on it now......will probably post Session 1 A and B results over the weekend.    It does seem to be schizophrenic - wild swings from over to under-performance.   Some very healthy bidding in the final minute on some books - watched a few 4-figure books double the price in that window.    

I don't think I've looked at a ComicLink auction since maybe 2021 and it does bring back memories of staying up late trying to snipe a few books to keep shipping low.  FF looks really weak but some Batman books look like nice prices.  Avengers look ok to weak except for a few ultra high grade copies (Kang books sure have dropped).  Spidey looks to be doing just fine with some good prices but Spidey always does well (but good to see).

AF 15 mod restored CGC 5.0 went for the same price as an ugly CGC 0.5.  I don't deal in restored book so I'm always shocked to see how big a drop in price restored books get.  I'd definetely be picking the nice presenting CGC 5.0 if I was a collector.

Definitely wasn't the FF 94 CGC 6.0 that went for $75!  I think it was more then that before Agatha became a spec.  Definetely wasn't FF Annual 6 in CGC 7.0 which went for $250.  I think it was going for $500 way back in 2017 - 2018 when I was selling off copies I had gathered.  FF 65 in CGC 6.5 for $47 seems like a steal - 1st Ronan!  Have FF 67 CGC 8.0 dropped all the way down to $235??  I see a couple CGC 9.0 and better books that look like decent prices but the filler Silver Age books look to be taking a beating  

On 1/24/2024 at 10:49 AM, Number 6 said:

Nothing I was watching was “insanely hard to get”. 

Like what?  Giant Sized X-Men 1 easy or Hulk 181 easy or X-Men 266 easy?

Just don't look at the GPA data for She-Hulk 1.  I graded 9 copies of CGC 9.6 and 2 copies of CGC 9.8 a few months before the hype (2019ish) really started up and I've been kicking myself for selling the CGC 9.6s for $180ish and the 9.8s for $400 but it looks like it has even gone back to less than the prices I sold at.  Heck I think that book reverted all the way back to 2018 values  

On 1/24/2024 at 10:26 AM, Stefan_W said:

It seems like most non-grail Silver Age books are selling for about where they were at prior to the pandemic. I used 2019 GPA values for my bids and was pretty much spot on for where they were landing. 

Can't speak to the bigger books since I am not big game hunting this time around. 

That is actually good news if we can settle back into the 2019 prices for most key books since I was a bit worried we would regress back to 2018 (or lower) so only reverting to 2019 seems ok. Not great if you bought books over the last 4 years (going on 5 years) but could be worse.

On 1/23/2024 at 9:56 PM, Telegan said:

Looks like that's about what it's been selling for for a few months.

All three copies on E-Bay that have sold are via auction and they all sold for between $458 and $490 so it does appear that is the going price for that book in auction.  A few copies available for $899 which must have been the price people were getting last year and people are holding steady for now.

On 1/24/2024 at 9:34 AM, Sweet Lou 14 said:

I have to pay a premium, sometimes an obscene premium, on almost every book I bid on.  So yeah, most of the "prices are falling" stuff is completely lost on me.

I look forward to the summary which shows anything not insanely hard to get is dropping while a few unicorns do very, very well.  

On 1/23/2024 at 5:51 PM, Bosco685 said:

 

Maybe cracking down on account sharing and raising prices wasn't a deal breaker for people after all.  People can afford to pay an extra $7 a month to add people to their account after all?

On 1/24/2024 at 5:17 AM, Gatsby77 said:

Meanwhile, this week's random # 1 Netflix movie is the Kevin Hart heist comedy Lift.

Which has scored 69.5 million views in its first 11 days.

That's significantly more than Rebel Moon's 57.9 million in its first 11 days - 

and without the benefit of the Christmas-New Year's holiday break.

It's the dead of winter with the wind chill below zero from a good part of the US.  Do you think people are out hiking through the snow?  Viewings go down in summer but right now it's pretty much what everyone is doing.