phoenix215

It's hard to follow those two issues but the post office held a package containing a nice x-men #20 in 9.0 (no scan as of yet) bought from a forum member.

Another issue ticked off the list

What is your take on the 'Don Rose Pedigree'...are they worth picking up?

Im not picking up that 148 so go ahead and its Don Rosa. From what I see its probably at the bottom of the list of pedigrees.

 

I'm allowed typos since it's almost 3 in the morning here!!

 

Plus i was more looking at the holes i need filling in the earlier issues.

Ive seen Don Rosas X-issues from time to time. Many of his books have miswraps which is why I have passed on them before.

True, but for me it's about filling the gaps and then upgrade as i go along or pick up a nice issue as i go along...since i have a feeling in the next price guide i sort of expect a spike in certain issues' prices.

What is your take on the 'Don Rose Pedigree'...are they worth picking up?

Im not picking up that 148 so go ahead and its Don Rosa. From what I see its probably at the bottom of the list of pedigrees.

I'm allowed typos since it's almost 3 in the morning here!!

Plus i was more looking at the holes i need filling in the earlier issues.

What is your take on the 'Don Rose Pedigree'...are they worth picking up?

Did someone say "Pacific Coast"?

 

as we hit the hat trick of Pac Coasts...well done!!

So come on, fee up, who els ehas aPac Coast floating in their collection?

Great book CycleGirl

 

My contribution to this great thread Was someone talking about PC books

 

And there comes the 2nd one..well done

Well, I really went overboard this time! I've been frantically selling books on ebay to make up for the cash needed for this one!

 

 

Cycle

 

 

Congrats on that sweet pickup from Doug...

 

I was the underbidder

I need to get myself a Pac Coast

 

me too.

*,,and as we watch the Pac Coast stampede in action, we must wonder at just who will have the next one in their hands*

Well done CycleGirl. That Pac Coast book is nice

 

Thanks for the kudos on the Pac Coast book, everyone. This is my first SA ped. It's kind of cool to have a book from a famous find.

 

Anyway, I guess I got us from Phoenix's Claremont thread.

 

Yes, Claremont was brilliant. I would say groundbreaking. I suppose that superheroes, in the 20th century, fill the same place that the ancient Greek and Roman heroes, demi-gods and gods filled in the classical age. The characters are arch-types and always bigger than life. However, what Claremont brought to the medium, more than any other, was real tragedy. The tragedy of Jean and Scott is as significant of a legend to me as the stories of Achilles or Oedipus.

 

Unfortunately, I have not read a lot from the more modern writers. I will look for TPBs of the writers mentioned on this thread. However, the two that I love are Frank Miller for the Dark Knight series and J. Michael Straczynski for ASM. Brilliant!

 

When it comes to modern books, I would like to talk about the art! My favorite is Greg Land's Phoenix Endsong. The story is told in images. The dialog and narration are secondary.

 

 

 

CycleGirl

No need to apologise for getting such a great ped book!!

The other thing that i found interesting is that when you look at the new "recruits"...wolverine, nightcrawler, colossus, storm they each were a study in opposites..that they were all a study of the interior vs the exterior.

(As MK falls asleep waiting for the next action scene to come along... )

Well, I really went overboard this time! I've been frantically selling books on ebay to make up for the cash needed for this one!

 

 

Cycle

 

Holy Moly!!

My X-Men period was from the late 70's/mid 80's and I thought Claremont did a very good job. The good/great outweight the bad. But he did have some dud's for me. The original Morlock stories did nothing for me at the time.

 

I stopped collecting comics in 1985. But since I jumped back in in 1995, I've bought many of the mid-80's X-Men on. (I'm stalled in the 230's right now) Some of those storylines from the late 80's don't do anything for me. But, I may have to chalk that up to my age. The story arcs from the classic Claremont/Byrne era caught me at the impressionable stage of my early teens.

I suppose as we get older and supposedly more mature in our tastes, the stories seem a bit too over the top.

I suppose my follow up question is...has there been a writer since Claremont, who has made you eager for the next issue to arrive?

 

Claremont was a rarity and there is no doubt that his skills were a major reason for the success of the "New X-Men" back in the 1970s and a major reason so many of us who read those books are X-Men fans today.

 

There are some fantastic writers out there today, like Neil Gaiman, who don't write X-Men books but who I love to read. And there have been a number of really good X-writers who have had short stays on the book and who made me look forward to the next issue. But, until someone puts together a resume of 20+ X-books, it will be hard to consider anticipating their next story arc.

You are right Gaiman, Alan Moore, Warren Ellis etc etc are all great writers in their own regard. Gaiman on Sandman was quite inspiring.

Another thought provoking question for all your x-menites...

Did Chris Claremont ever produce a bad storyline in his run on X-Men?

Personally i don't think he did (or if he did they were very few and far between). Considering the length of time he spent on the book was truly amazing, especially how writers nowadays don't seem to stay or want to stay writing on a title for longer than a story arc or two.

And i may be requested to tear up my x-men membership for saying this but, until the Fall of the Shiar Empire arc, i've been only reading uncanny on automatic. None of the storylines were really grabbing me all that much. There didn't seem to be much within the characters to get me to read more (and don't ask me what i think about that time when wolverine was popping up all over the place...sheesh). With Claremont he always had this great story arcs and then would have these little one-offs to show the "human side" to the mutants....like when wolvie and colossus go to the bar to have a drink, run into juggernaut also drinking, colossus and juggie start this big bar room brawl, while wolvie looks on wanting no part of it.

I suppose my follow up question is...has there been a writer since Claremont, who has made you eager for the next issue to arrive?

Just got in today from Vintage Collectibles

A question for any of you who may know... how many copies of Oakland X-men there are? I am only asking because I am trying to figure out why the copy of issue number 70 on Pedigree comics & Metropolis look to be exactly the same and if my eye sight isn't going on me, the same CGC number.

Kc120us lost it

mr. highgrade lost it

 

 

who won it

 

My max bid was $425 and I was ahead until like the last few seconds. It sold for $600 plus BP

Didnt you know that the 9.4s sold for more than 600

 

Didn't know. The 79 wasn't even my original target. #76 was only because I almost never see it for sale in that grade. It wasn't until you guys mentioned it here that it caught my eye. I didn't realize it was equally rare. If I did, i wouldn't have gone for the 85 and focused on the 79.

*quietly hides it in a vault*

Nice

Are those straight averages, or medians? I think medians would give a better assesment of the information.

 

X-Men #1 - 15

Median = 6.5

 

X-Men #16 - 66

Median = 8.5

 

Does that help?

 

Here are a couple of graphs that I made. It shows the grade breakdown of the census for issues 30 - 66.

 

This first one shows 9.2 to 9.8 . This graph really shows the difference in population from issue to issue in the high grades.

 

 

The second one shows 8.0 to 9.8 .

 

 

Comments?

 

 

It is interesting to see which issues are hard to find or the lack of ones slabbed.

 

Thanks phoenix. That's what I noticed too! There is a lot of variability in the CGC population from issue to issue. Did you notice, for example, how issue #45 is almost 3 times as common as #46? Why aren't there more #46s and so many #45s?

 

Here are a couple of more graphs.

 

The first is of issues #1-15 . I expanded the grades shown all the way down to VG. I also lumped the grades together 4.0 & 4.5 are combined, for example.

 

I've noticed that issues #11 and #15 tend to be hard to find in CGC. I guess this explains it. CGC just hasn't slabbed that many.

 

 

 

Here are issues 16 - 29

 

CycleGirl

 

I have noticed a noticable lack of good quality #11's as compared to say #10's. Its is amazing how little there is, the same as #15. But I also look at the ones which are key issues. Look at #14, first appearance of the Sentinels, is almost as high as any of the issues #1-5

 

I think a lot of it has to do with the quality of production. It varied issue to issue. Perhaps #10 and #14 and #45 happen to have had superior production runs.

Speakth the man who such lovely high grades....

Are those straight averages, or medians? I think medians would give a better assesment of the information.

 

X-Men #1 - 15

Median = 6.5

 

X-Men #16 - 66

Median = 8.5

 

Does that help?

 

Here are a couple of graphs that I made. It shows the grade breakdown of the census for issues 30 - 66.

 

This first one shows 9.2 to 9.8 . This graph really shows the difference in population from issue to issue in the high grades.

 

 

The second one shows 8.0 to 9.8 .

 

 

Comments?

 

 

It is interesting to see which issues are hard to find or the lack of ones slabbed.

 

Thanks phoenix. That's what I noticed too! There is a lot of variability in the CGC population from issue to issue. Did you notice, for example, how issue #45 is almost 3 times as common as #46? Why aren't there more #46s and so many #45s?

 

Here are a couple of more graphs.

 

The first is of issues #1-15 . I expanded the grades shown all the way down to VG. I also lumped the grades together 4.0 & 4.5 are combined, for example.

 

I've noticed that issues #11 and #15 tend to be hard to find in CGC. I guess this explains it. CGC just hasn't slabbed that many.

 

 

 

Here are issues 16 - 29

 

CycleGirl

I have noticed a noticable lack of good quality #11's as compared to say #10's. Its is amazing how little there is, the same as #15. But I also look at the ones which are key issues. Look at #14, first appearance of the Sentinels, is almost as high as any of the issues #1-5

Are those straight averages, or medians? I think medians would give a better assesment of the information.

 

X-Men #1 - 15

Median = 6.5

 

X-Men #16 - 66

Median = 8.5

 

Does that help?

 

Here are a couple of graphs that I made. It shows the grade breakdown of the census for issues 30 - 66.

 

This first one shows 9.2 to 9.8 . This graph really shows the difference in population from issue to issue in the high grades.

 

 

The second one shows 8.0 to 9.8 .

 

 

Comments?

It is interesting to see which issues are hard to find or the lack of ones slabbed.

Thanks phoenix, shadow, worldsbestcomics, mutantkeys, october and beancurd for replying with your collecting goals.

 

I was struck by how many of us had similar goals in terms of grades. That is, most of us demand higher grades as the issue numbers increase and accept lower grades on low-numbered issues. I suppose that we all normalize the cost curve to an extent. For the majority the run, most of us are trying to stay at VF or higher.

 

Anyway, in light of this, I've been looking at the CGC census. I actually have entered it all into an Excel sheet. Why look at the census? Well, the grade and the census give us a measure of scarcity. And we all know the demand/scarcity = value. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to advocate collecting for the sake of investing. However, when I spend significant money on a book, I would like to have some confidence that I'm not buying too much into a "bubble" of unsupportable value. The value will remain as long as demand/scarcity remains high. Oops, I'm getting preachy. Let me just get some statistics. I'll post more if it's of interest.

 

X-Men Issues #1 - 66

Total CGC Graded books = 11766

Average grade = 7.49 (1 - 66)

 

Grade _ Avg # in Grade per Issue

9.8 __ 0.9

9.6 __ 6.8

9.4 __ 16.1

9.2 __ 17.6

9.0 __ 21.8

8.5 __ 17.9

8.0 __ 16.6

7.5 __ 13.8

7.0 __ 12.6

6.5 __ 9.2

6.0 __ 7.4

5.5 __ 4.9

5.0 __ 7.2

4.5 __ 5.9

4.0 __ 5.9

3.5 __ 3.2

3.0 __ 3.6

 

Just in case this isn't clear. There are an average of 17.9 books graded exactly 8.5 in each issue #1 - 66. I cut off the histogram at 4.0, there are a few books below that level.

 

It won't surprise anyone to hear that the census looks quite different for issues 1-15. Obviously, these issues have many more mid-grade books in the CGC census.

 

X-Men #1 - 15

CGC Graded books = 4462

Average Grade = 6.18

 

X-Men #16 - #66

CGC Graded books = 7304

Average Grade = 8.29

 

 

Do people find this of interest? Is this information compiled somewhere that I don't know about? I have some graphs that I could share too, but it's late and I have to work in the morning.

 

CycleGirl

It actually is a good thing to know because it gives you an idea of how long you may have to wait until a similar graded or higher graded copy of an issue arises. Of course though we cannot allow for all the raw copies that may be out there.

Plus it is also interesting to see what sort of goals we all have for our collections and what standard we'd like to have. And I am also sure we keep an eye on overstreet guide on what prices our collection would be roughly going for. But I would say that I, like the rest of you, would find it hard to part with the collection except under the more umm dire of circumstances.

I still dream of those wonderful Pacific Coast copies

Well, I just got X-Men 14 for my birthday! I was going to post it here thinking, ha-ha! and then I saw that I'm posting right under a slabbed 9.0 .

 

Well, I still LOVE my copy and since I scanned it, I'm posting it! So you guys can just see this cover TWICE! Yar!

 

 

That still looks like a very nice copy, rob

Thanks, Danny!! Here is another recent purchase....

 

Nice...Nice...Nice!!!

Keep your water, just send us your Beers

 

That's right you guys drink that watered down stuff.

Bleh @ watered down beer

An excellent story for this issue

I'm curious about how people on this board have decided what grades to target for their collection. I mean, it's taken me a long time to figure out where I want my 1-66 run to be. I started out just wanting one of every issue (generally raw). Then I wanted a complete collection of graded issues. Now my goals are

 

#1 to #10 Fine or better

#11 to #20 Fine/VF minimum, average of VF or better

#21 to #66 VF minimum, average of 9.0 or better for the group

 

For the near term, I won't be spending a lot for high-grade, single-digit issues. I'll save those for later. I've also been cautious about buying a lot of high-priced 9.4 and 9.6 issues. The money doesn't go very far buying the ultra-grades. For now, I think it's more fun to pick up a few 9.0 and 9.2 books every month with an occasional 9.4 or 9.6 when the right book (at the right price) comes along.

 

I've found that setting these goals has really helped me to collect with more of a purpose. For example, when kc listed two 9.2 books this weekend, I knew that they were PERFECT for my collection. Exactly where I wanted those issues to be. Someday, when the run is more filled-in, I'm sure that I'll work on upgrading the lowest-grade issues.

 

Anyway, thanks for reading this far. For those of you who have been at this for a while, I'm curious. Did you start out just trying to own one of every issue and then, in a series of steps, evolve your goals ever higher?

 

Oh, and to finish off this message, here are two issues I bought back in November and hadn't gotten around to posting. I got a fairly good deal on them from lawyerboy on Ebay.

 

 

CycleGirl

I guess for me, I'm fairly similar along your line of thinking with a slight variation:

#1-3 Fine, but willing to go for a VGood (though my #4 as you can see would barely make it into good, in my opinion)

#4-30 Fine or VF-

#30-66 VF as a minimum

If one of those issues came along in the higher grades and at the right price then yes I'd consider them. But ultimately the goal has always been to own the complete run in nice condition...and that goal was determined back when the top price paid for a NM X-men #1 would have set you back no more than $3-4 K, now look at the prices

I think the money will always be a factor but it could be worse i guess, i could be collecting early Tec's or Action.

Most of my issues before #100 were bought pre-ebay era and from Harley Yee when he made the trip down under.

And on a side note, nice X-men's. The #43 was the very first issue i ever had bought from the states back in the late 80's. It is still in Fine condition and only cost me $20 US at the time, thanks to a mate being on holiday there.