MattrixAlien

It's common for the artist who does the cover to also do the interior art though. So people expect similar art inside. The cover sets the expectations of the reader as to the style and quality of the contents like the packaging of any product

Not a fan of Kelley's exaggerated style? Fair enough. But if you were & you expected the interior art would be similar you could be disappointed

Have you ever bought a comic because the cover was cool, but when you read it, the interior art was by a different artist, who's style you didn't like? Are there any examples you can share? To me it's basically false or at least misleading advertising. You understandably think the art inside is going to be like what's on the outside. Yes, I know art is very subjective and what I don't like others will love. An example for me are the Batman books of the late 80s to early 90s. You've got cool covers by the likes Kelley Jones & Mike Mignola. But the interior art was by Jim Aparo. His style at this stage in his career was flat, repetitive, minimalist and for me really unappealing. After getting burnt by this cover bait and switch a few times as a kid I always checked the interior art before buying a comic. Don't judge a book by it's cover they say for good reason. However books particularly at LCS are often sold prebagged & sealed so it might not be possible to flip through the pages to confirm if you like the art. Do you have any examples of buying books based on the cover and being disappointed by the interior art?

But multiple people had already placed bids on it? The eBay guidelines basically say that you should only end an auction early if the item is lost or damaged since listing it or if there have been no bids. I don't know if thinking you can get more money with a BIN type sale constitutes a valid reason for ending a listing

The auction below was due to end on the 20/04/22. It doesn't show it now, but there were bids from 4 different buyers and 25 watchers. So there was going to be a lot of competition by the end. The seller instead ended the auction on the 13/04/22 with more than a week to go and immediately relisted as a BIN or BO. As a prospective buyer I was annoyed but I guess sellers can do what they like. Should sellers be allowed to do this? Will they get more money with this approach? The new BIN price is way too high based on the condition of the books from what I can judge in the photos. The Batman 251 in particular is low, low grade, IMO around a 1.5. If it's incomplete it might be worse. I think the staples are detached. Even though it looks like it's been used as a door mat I still wouldn't mind owning one I only found the listing because I'm interested in getting a Batman 423 to complete my collection of the big McFarlane keys. Thoughts? Batman 386 is a solid copper age key but not one I'm passionate about so I probably wouldn't have won it anyway

Thanks, Kirby Jack! Great grail examples I know a lot of people would love the Punisher's 1st app in ASM129 but can't afford it, so they might get the 2nd appearance in ASM134, or a 3rd, 4th.. depending on their budget. Or they grab the 1st issue of his 1st ltd series etc... I've only got the 1st issue of his 1st ongoing at this stage Hey, UXM95 is Wolverine's 6th appearance! When it gets to 6th it's really pushing it What's the cut off? It is Storm, Nightcrawler etc.. 3rd, Claremont's 2nd X-men (& signed by him) and there's a death too so that's something, right? Anyway, I still love it

Kav, that's a nice problem to have There's apps/sites around which allow you to input collection details, and provide current values. These still require a lot of data entry though; either typing or scanning Sweet Lou, thanks for the suggestions. UXM101 is getting out of reach as well! Considering it's major reason for being a key is a character transformation, albeit a big one (Jean Grey becomes Phoenix), it's had a extra big increase in value

That's another great alternative to expensive X-grails in particular. Wait....WTF! Steve Lightle died! Loved his work on Doom Patrol too!

The first episode of Moon Knight was excellent IMO. The Moon Knight hype/spec looks set to continue. Kind of the reverse of what happened after the Eternals movie was released

Perfect solution! I should do that for some of the other books on my wish list. It's strange how some reprints are expensive these days. I guess it comes down to the size of print runs and cool covers

With the cost of dream grails out of reach for many what is the next best book you've brought or are hunting for instead? It occurred to me it's like the real estate market when the price of homes in a certain suburb rise too high, people tend to look for a house in a cheaper neighbouring suburb. My example is GSX1 & even UXM94 are both books I would love to have, but are a bit rich for my budget, so I picked up this as a next best thing...

GSX1 & UXM94 are out of reach for me at the moment, so I bought the next best thing to add to my little Bronze age X-men collection.... It's even signed by Chris Claremont! I checked verified Claremont signatures online to make sure it looked legit before I decided to go after it. Unsigned copies are selling for more on eBay in much worse condition so I'm pretty happy with the price too. Love how action packed the Bronze age X-men covers were!

When I got back into collecting I wondered for a time if it was a healthy thing to enjoy. But everything I've read says nostalgic collecting is a positive thing for your mental health, as long as it doesn't escalate into hoarding. I've sold a fair few books so safe to say I haven't crossed over.... yet

I think artists generally bring their A game when they work with Alan Moore. Beautiful covers. I sold my Promethea run a while ago. Almost regretting it looking at some of these

That's what I thought when I read through the details. They are 2 reasonably big books and the guy is a collector himself. He really likes them, decides he wants to keep them and starts telling lies to make it happen. It's like those cases where a pet sitter looks after a dog, becomes attached to it then refuses to give it back when the owner returns. Just a suspicious theory of course. Either way I think you should take what you can get as Bird suggested and keep your financial & stress costs to a minimum

I'd love something affordable signed by the Todd-father. Great pick up! On a side note domestic violence was a pretty heavy topic for a main stream Marvel book to explore.

A decent press should have taken out that mild stacking curl that's in the photo too. When I read stories like this it makes me glad we don't have CGC down here in Australia. I think I'd freak out if this happened to one of my treasured keys

Yeah. While I'm a fan of Mignola's copper art I'm probably going to sell my copy and put the cash towards a key on my wish list. He was getting into his minimalist style in Aliens Salvation, using black space instead of lines etc..., which I don't like as much. Regards Groo, if they do the TV show right it could be another Simpsons, Futurama type hit. While I'm just a collector/reader I still like it when my books increase in value I bought a minty Groo #1 to complement the scattering of issues I bought as a kid a while ago

There's a serious lack of Top 10 love in this thread Alan Moore is without a doubt the best writer in the history of comics. Such consistent quality and diverse creativity over such a long time - it's amazing. With Top 10 you've got a super powered police drama/comedy set in the future. Incredibly engaging and entertaining with a likeable cast of interesting characters. (Maybe I should have posted the #2 cover it's a bit more atmospheric) I know Alan Moore has an interest in the occult and I joked to someone once maybe he sold his soul to become the greatest comic book writer of all time

I'm a Mike Mignola fan, as evidenced by my creating an appreciation thread some time ago in which I commented his copper age books haven't increased in value. Today, out of curiosity I looked up what his Aliens: Salvation one shot is going for and it's fair to say it's heated up... This is the highest recent sale but there's several around the $60 AUD mark also. Not so long ago this was a $5-6 book...

The photos cut off the top edge and corners of the book so people won't be able to give an accurate guesstimate

Back cover defects should reduce a books grade less than front cover defects. Unfortunately, that's just my insignificant opinion, and CGC treats them as equal

It's bad news for me because Bats 423 is the one McFarlane key I don't have and my wife doesn't like it when I spend $100s on expensive paper When I was a kid I looked at the interior art which wasn't McFarlane's work and decided to pass on it. Man, if I could go back in time.... Everyone thinks that about a bunch of books these days

I guess there was a lot of them to list, but he is one of the most renowned I've updated the photos and added a couple of little comments

No worries, Jason Great pick up. I was thinking I should take some better photos of the pages so the text is more readable. Look out for an update. This book is an amazing collaboration of some of the best creators of the copper age and beyond. As well as Alan Moore's contribution, you've got a Frank Miller Wolvie story, George RR Martin, of Game of Thrones fame, chiming in etc, etc! The Brian Bolland art in the Storm short story is a stand out and just a little naughty. I found my copy while on the hunt some months ago.