Rosland

In 15th place, from 11/65 is #138, with 21 copies.

In 16th place, from 1/68 is #164, with 22 copies.

In 17th place, from 6/66 is #145, and from 4/68 is #167, with 23 copies.

In 18th place, from 08/67 is #159, and from 02/68 is #165, with 25 copies.

In 19th place, from 10/66, is #149 with 28 copies.

I thought I would post Strange Tales #135-168 in order of scarcity at 9.6+, starting with the most common.

In 20th place, from 8/66, is #147 with 66 copies. Must have been a warehouse find.

5 hours ago, bc said:

Well, after being layed-off and turned down for dozens of jobs because of being an "overqualified" mid-50 year old, I spent some time helping a startup company get on its feet then I launched my own consulting business with the money I made from the startup. Got a couple of gigs going but unfortunately, one of them is with a firm in Mumbai, India which caused me to burn the midnight oil since I'm in the states.

Other than that, needed a break from the boards. Other than this thread and a few in the GA section (and of course your fantastic work with Pence copies & Black Circle variants  ) got tired of all the speculation & BS threads. Seemed like it was becoming more about the $$$ and not about the love of the hobby or the history of the medium - so I took a hiatus.

Haven't bought anything new, but I did unsuccessfully bid on a few of the sweet PHMs in that last Heritage & CC auction (including that gorgeous Strange Worlds #3 @Rosland posted above). 

Congrats @mysterio on the awesome early JIM run!

Also a shout out to @Sweet Lou 14 on the really nice TTA run you're putting together!

I'll try and check in more often - may start adding to the Vault next year if the cash flow situation allows it.

Glad to see the gang is still posting

-bc

ps - no slabs in the stocking this year @KirbyJack BUT Santa brought me 1000 rounds of ammo to keep the ongoing coyote & raccoon invasion under control 

 

 

 

 

Glad to hear you're OK. Looking forward to more of your postings in the future.

Shonen Jump tends to be about 7"x10" and 1" thick.

Picked this one up. Not the best centering but it's the only 9.4 on the census, and downright scarce at 9.2+.

Here's a couple of pictures of the book. With and without sleeve.

What a great book! Must be around 130 Ditko/Lee stories over some 670 pages. Starts from 1956 and goes to 1961.

Wonderfully moody art, Ditko was really on top of his game. I've probably read half the stories from the Masterworks series,

so being able to read all of them is a real treat, looking forward to part 2 in the spring.

12 hours ago, bc said:

Let's see, there is also "back cover", "bring comics", "bad comedy", "beer chugger", "born clueless" and many more.

Butalas, its really just my boring old initials.

It's obvious that he was named after his parents' favorite monsters:

b (Bombu) c (Colossus)

Happy Birthday!

Picked up three pre-hero issues from Chay, great transaction. Thank you!

5 hours ago, porcupine48 said:

I'll join you in a cold soda Jack,and salut congrats to all!

Beautiful set Rick! Congratulations on the award. I'd be honored to buy you a pint someday.

Just saw it in IMAX. Really enjoyed Mysterio and the action scenes. Better than Homecoming.

Also got my figurine

Is there a set for all the Atlas/Marvel pre-hero monster issues? If not, should we ask for one?

AA 1-14

JIM 50-82

ST 67-100, Annual 1

SW 1-5

ToS 1-38

TtA 1-34

WoF 15-19

12 hours ago, CDNComix said:

I managed to purchase a raw example of the Cerebus #1 fake. Previously in this thread I had to snag on-line images of the fake and compare those to images of my real example. I would like to revisit most stated tells using side-by-side images of my real and fake examples of Cerebus #1. Any effects effects from camera and lighting conditions will be minimal and would apply equally when both books are viewed together. I hope this comparative run-down will assist those of you planning to buy an on-line example based on its posted images.

1. Inner Cover Gloss

This is the best tell because it is the easiest from both potential buyer and potential to check and understand. Earlier in this thread I had to resort the curling back the front cover of my real example back onto the inner cover to show this comparison. Pretty easy with an example of each. Real examples have glossy outer covers but the inner covers have a matte finish. but . While fake examples a glossy inner cover stock that matches the gloss of the outer cover:

2. Front Cover Print Quality

As discussed earlier in this thread, the quality of the black print on the front cover should not be used as a criteria for determining whether abook is fake or real. I do concede that a healthy percentage of real examples do have scummy/dirty black print on the front covers, but many examples are just a sharply printed as the "better" printed fake. If I did not label the side-by-side image below, would you be able to distinguish by black print quality which was real and which was not?

3. Red Hue on the Cover

Yes, the "red" on the covers of fake examples is lighter and less rich than those of real ones. I believe this is the tell that Simm uses to spot a fake at 10 feet away at past signing events. But on-line images and the conditions under which they were taken has a big effect. It would be difficult to tell one way or the other when buying on-line because reality could be shifted. Also as pointed out earlier by ecgt, the effect of fainting from uv light may be a factor. I could distinguish a colour difference between my copies but when an image was taken with a camera this difference virtually disappeared in the final result.

I have placed a fake book back cover up (on the left) directly alongside the real book front cover up (on the right) and aligned the cover design. Not much of a difference and almost looks to be the same book and not two:

4. Screened red dots

This is a decent tell, but it confuses most and should be viewed in person with the item in hand. On-line images may be blurry or produce moire patterns that obscure the reality of the image. The best areas to view the difference is on the front cover: upper shield glare of center bottom red solider and chest of the white soldier above will have extra red print in white areas around the black print when compared to a real example:

5. Staples

I forgot about this one, but it is a great tell that was first published in the Kennedy Guide back in 1982. Real examples have bright silver staples and the the staples of the fakes that were produced in 1982 are bronze in colour:

6. Darkened Screened Images of Cerebus

This is a really known tell and second most useful after cover gloss. Most inner images of Cerebus appear darker on the fake when compared to the print of the real example. In fact, some images almost appear to a dark solid grey opposed to a screened grey. One of the best spots to check in on the "Dragon Page", where you do not even need the print of the real example to compare it to - its just way to dark to be correct:

7. Possible New Tell - Extended Cover Back Page Design

Although its unconfirmed, too good-to-be-true and probably only applies to a few fake examples or to some real ones as well: my fake has a white line along the page edge of inner back cover. This has to do with front/back registration and the jogging/squaring of print stock prior to printing and cutting. This is because for whatever reason the design of the last back cover page was extended about an inch and half from the original film. You can see a darker wavy printed ribbon in from the edge both on the fake and on the real example, meaning this change make post original film. There is a small chance that this white edge always appears on the back inner cover of all fakes. I doubt it but you heard it here first!

8. New Tell: Phantom Registration Markings

On the back cover on real examples there is a noticeable black registration target mark and faint lines extending from the red title border into the black margins. This supports that the width of the book was extended with solid black print post-film/plate the design should of ended at the red border. The reason for the extension I am not to sure, ask Simm. But it does provide another tells. These marks also appear very, very faintly in the fake examples but are printed in red not black and are difficult to spot to the point of not being there. As far as I know, i am the first to report this.

Thank you for doing this! I've been hoping for many years for a side-side comparison.

2 hours ago, chezmtghut said:

Tales to Astonish #16 CGC 9.0 $2000 OBO

via PM

18 hours ago, Sweet Lou 14 said:

Any particular reason why this is true?  It seems that Strange Tales is generally less available than TOS or TTA, but as with any title there are clear variations in supply among issues.  #113 happens to be on my want list as well.

I don't know. But issues 111,112,113 are equally scarce in 9.4+. Maybe lower circulation? Or lack of interest in Torch vs. the FF?

31 minutes ago, Rosland said:

113 is not the easiest to find in high grade...

 

Gotta admit that Plantman knows how to grow a pair.

42 minutes ago, Straw-Man said:

i'll leave all the post-134 books to y'all, i ask only that one of you sell me a 9.0 or 9.2 #113, please.

113 is not the easiest to find in high grade...

21 minutes ago, KirbyJack said:

Kind of weird to think about, but in a few hours there might be an explosion of demand for some obscure little character. Just a matter of the possibility of a little tease or Easter Egg thrown in to Endgame. We’re putty in Marvel’s hands!

There are some benefits still to collecting runs. You're prepared for any issue to explode.

26 minutes ago, Pontoon said:

First Eternity? First Living Tribunal?

Yeah, but I never thought of the Living Tribunal as a key character...

 ST 138 has been very hot lately, and now it looks like 158 has joined it. Any ideas why?