The Absolute Hardest to Find 2000's Books

[fastballspecial]

We just have different viewpoints here. I liked his points, now granted as you stated about prices and supply it does play large part as well.

 

I dont care about a book that has 25 copies out there. I just dont. If I wanted that then I would put up a thread for that book I am looking for you like you have already done with Maxx.

 

Maybe we just need a different thread about what books to look for in shops and online that are low printed or harder to find in high grade. My viewpoints just come from trying to find books out in the field or a few online spots. Granted I could pay the bleed price and have the book at a few places, but what fun is that?

 

I like books that I can find out in a shop. When I am traveling around its the hunt and chase I enjoy. 35 cent variants are fun they are pretty rare, but I still find a few every year in shops. I like chatting with shop owners on tough books to find. I like filling lists from buyers/collectors and enjoy the challenge of the hunt. Looking to fill a set is fun and finding that one tough issue in high grade is the challenge.

Nothing like finding the copy you need after digging thru boxes of for an hour.

 

I really admire individuals who chase books with 25 copies it takes alot of dedication.. To me as a collector it just makes the thread boring as hell as stated earlier in the thread.

[Gatsby77]

In the vein of the newsstand variants of the $.25 Marvels, I bid the whole newsstand variant run of Daredevil that was released as "Marvel Unlimited."

[RockMyAmadeus]

Just because something is at a price you won't pay doesn't mean it's "rare." If it's for sale right now on eBay, regardless of price, then, by definition, it's not rare.

 

Having once received a degree in economics for some reason, I just can't let that statement stand there.

 

A book like ALBEDO #2 is both RARE and available for purchase at a high price any time you want to cough up the money. It's precisely because it's known to be so valuable that many copies have been found and brought to market. By your account, the fact that people found and tried to resell some copies for $1000+ proves it "isn't rare" when in fact it proves quite the opposite: It is one of the hardest to find books of it's time period. That's how markets work: High prices serve as a catalyst to bring more supply to market.

 

One more point to make...as someone with a degree in econ, I'm sure you will relate.

 

The reason why Albedo #2 is "more valuable than contemporary comic books of similar print run and rate of attrition" is simple: there's a certain amount of demand for which the supply is not sufficient. Because the supply is fixed, demand causes the perceived value (because the book has almost no intrinsic value, like all comic books) to increase. Perceived value in this situation increases until it is met by resistance, at which point the item achieves a balance between supply, demand, and "willingness to pay", aka price resistance, and that's what the market says...generally...the item is "worth." Demand doesn't evaporate once the item reaches a certain price plateau...it simply subsides for the time being.

 

The value of an Albedo #2 has nothing to do with its absolute rarity (relax, and follow me for a minute)...it has to do with the fact that the current demand far, far outstrips the available supply, enough so that the book is worth many, many times it's similarly extant contemporaries.

 

To put it another way...if 25,000,000 people wanted a copy of X-Men #1 (1991), the book would be worth about $10-$20...not the 25 cents to $1 it is "worth" (and that's a high estimate) now. Would anybody in their right minds consider a book with an 8,000,000 copy print run to be "rare"?

 

So it is...on a much smaller scale...with Albedo #2. It is demand that ultimately controls the value of this book. It is certainly not rare by any means.

 

Now, if you want to talk about in-demand books for which the demand far outstrips the supply...like Walkng Dead #1...by all means, feel free. That's a valid discussion, carried out in many places on the board. That's just not the point of this particular thread.

[fastballspecial]

In the vein of the newsstand variants of the $.25 Marvels, I bid the whole newsstand variant run of Daredevil that was released as "Marvel Unlimited."

 

That is a really neat find isnt it when you see one. I did a double take the first time I saw one. I still run across one every once in awhile. I wonder does anyone know what the newstand to direct ratio is anymore? I know Archies and stuff still get published, but what about DC and Marvel is it completely dead now or just a minuscle amount. I remember a few years ago when they talked about completely killing it, but I am unaware if they did.

 

[Prince Namor]

Socktopi, prepare to have that post dissected like a fetal pig in HS biology class. Now this thread is going to have some action!!

 

I am nothing if not consistent.

 

 

Been waiting to watch you put the scalpel to that post!

[dupont2005]

The thing is though, Albedo #2 isn't hard to get, and the thread is called "hardest to find" comics. We all know where to find Albedo #2. some of us do care about the really hard to find stuff, can't we have just one thread?

 

 

I'll get some pics of something cool later for the thread

[synch]

really can someone find me an albedo #2 for a good price please ?

[RockMyAmadeus]

The thing is though, Albedo #2 isn't hard to get, and the thread is called "hardest to find" comics. We all know where to find Albedo #2. some of us do care about the really hard to find stuff, can't we have just one thread?

 

 

I'll get some pics of something cool later for the thread

 

I you, Ponty....

 

[dupont2005]

really can someone find me an albedo #2 for a good price please ?

Can you find me a Comic Book Holocaust floppy, any issue, in any condition, for any price?

[fastballspecial]

really can someone find me an albedo #2 for a good price please ?

 

See the copper thread. My local had a nice copy that just sold the other day.

I took and sent pictures to a boardie, but he passed on it.

 

 

[dupont2005]

This is the complete set of New Character Parade by Johnny Ryan. Unfortunately I didn't discover his blog and web store until issue one of New Character Parade so I missed a few cool series. They are all eventually reprinted though. His previous series would be published in hardbound format by Fantagraphics but this series has just been collected and published by Pigeon Press. I don't know if it will be HC or not, the price is pretty low. I like the floppies though, the covers are great and they are hand silkscreened on super high quality paper. My set all has matching color covers too, there were multiple colors printed and he sent them out randomly.

I really wish they were a bit easier to find so I could track down the earlier self published stuff

[dupont2005]

Might be a repost, but something is glitching out and my previous one didn't show up

 

EDIT and it was a repost

[Prince Namor]

really can someone find me an albedo #2 for a good price please ?

 

Sorry. Demand is too high.

[lazydead-migration]

Zombie #nn by Blackest Heart Media, very hard to find. I know EvilAsh has one.

 

Hey, I've got one of those. I didn't know this was hard to find. I tried to find one online right now and came up empty handed. Found references to older asking prices up around $200 so maybe. I really had no idea this was in demand.

 

I got mine directly from Romano at the SDCC in '01 or '02. I don't remember which as the years blend together after awhile. I do remember that I stumbled upon a table at the con with a couple of dudes selling this Zombie GN I hadn't seen before (I remember a short box full of them on the table) and I jumped on it as I am a bit rabid about the movie and there is little to collect outside of vhs and dvd releases.

 

I think it was either 15 or 20 bucks (could it have been $10?). Again I don't really remember but I do remember I got the "Fulci Lives" bumper sticker with it. I read the book, listened to the cd, put it away and haven't thought of it since. Gotta go find it now.

 

I did a little digging online and found a reference to it on a horror forum claiming that the print run was 1000 with Romano ending up with 100 to sell at cons which is where I got mine.

[spreads]

The thing is though, Albedo #2 isn't hard to get, and the thread is called "hardest to find" comics. We all know where to find Albedo #2. some of us do care about the really hard to find stuff, can't we have just one thread?

 

 

I'll get some pics of something cool later for the thread

 

Exactly, isn't the whole point of this thread about discussing the hardest to find books? Where did pricing, supply/demand, value became relevant in this thread at all? Someone talked about the Chaos limited edition 25 books, well if there aren't threads like this, where else are we gonna find information on those published books? CPG? No way.

 

Maybe someone in a few years down the road would like to complete a set of those (I admitted earlier on I had a couple) and he/she can reference this thread to find out that information to complete the list. Who's to say what demand will be for these in the future, if the price is $5 or $1000, it's irrelevant. And i personally like to find out about that rare stuff; in case I stumble upon something retarded rare (almost non-existent) that someone else may really really want to find (like RMA and his Maxx blacks).

[Jeffro.]

Just because something is at a price you won't pay doesn't mean it's "rare." If it's for sale right now on eBay, regardless of price, then, by definition, it's not rare.

 

Having once received a degree in economics for some reason, I just can't let that statement stand there.

 

A book like ALBEDO #2 is both RARE and available for purchase at a high price any time you want to cough up the money. It's precisely because it's known to be so valuable that many copies have been found and brought to market. By your account, the fact that people found and tried to resell some copies for $1000+ proves it "isn't rare" when in fact it proves quite the opposite: It is one of the hardest to find books of it's time period. That's how markets work: High prices serve as a catalyst to bring more supply to market.

 

By your metric Action Comics #1 is the "least difficult to find" golden age book. And Picasso paintings are demonstrably "not rare" because they come up for auction all the time while your grandmother's watercolors can't be purchased anywhere.

 

A book that has minuscule supply and no demand is way less interesting to me than a book with low supply and medium to high demand.

 

Seanfingh is right that this thread will be boring as hell if it's just a list of things Chaos! printed 25 variant copies of, or some zine I made at kinkos that no one ever wanted.

 

well said

 

 

You too...? Really...?

 

Haven't you heard? Everybody hates RMA

 

 

[RockMyAmadeus]

Just because something is at a price you won't pay doesn't mean it's "rare." If it's for sale right now on eBay, regardless of price, then, by definition, it's not rare.

 

Having once received a degree in economics for some reason, I just can't let that statement stand there.

 

A book like ALBEDO #2 is both RARE and available for purchase at a high price any time you want to cough up the money. It's precisely because it's known to be so valuable that many copies have been found and brought to market. By your account, the fact that people found and tried to resell some copies for $1000+ proves it "isn't rare" when in fact it proves quite the opposite: It is one of the hardest to find books of it's time period. That's how markets work: High prices serve as a catalyst to bring more supply to market.

 

By your metric Action Comics #1 is the "least difficult to find" golden age book. And Picasso paintings are demonstrably "not rare" because they come up for auction all the time while your grandmother's watercolors can't be purchased anywhere.

 

A book that has minuscule supply and no demand is way less interesting to me than a book with low supply and medium to high demand.

 

Seanfingh is right that this thread will be boring as hell if it's just a list of things Chaos! printed 25 variant copies of, or some zine I made at kinkos that no one ever wanted.

 

well said

 

 

You too...? Really...?

 

Haven't you heard? Everybody hates RMA

 

 

[oakman29]

The thing is though, Albedo #2 isn't hard to get, and the thread is called "hardest to find" comics. We all know where to find Albedo #2. some of us do care about the really hard to find stuff, can't we have just one thread?

 

 

I'll get some pics of something cool later for the thread

 

Exactly, isn't the whole point of this thread about discussing the hardest to find books? Where did pricing, supply/demand, value became relevant in this thread at all? Someone talked about the Chaos limited edition 25 books, well if there aren't threads like this, where else are we gonna find information on those published books? CPG? No way.

 

Maybe someone in a few years down the road would like to complete a set of those (I admitted earlier on I had a couple) and he/she can reference this thread to find out that information to complete the list. Who's to say what demand will be for these in the future, if the price is $5 or $1000, it's irrelevant. And i personally like to find out about that rare stuff; in case I stumble upon something retarded rare (almost non-existent) that someone else may really really want to find (like RMA and his Maxx blacks).

Overstreet does'nt even have most of these books listed,whats up with that!

[Shark]

The thing is though, Albedo #2 isn't hard to get, and the thread is called "hardest to find" comics. We all know where to find Albedo #2. some of us do care about the really hard to find stuff, can't we have just one thread?

 

 

I'll get some pics of something cool later for the thread

 

Exactly, isn't the whole point of this thread about discussing the hardest to find books? Where did pricing, supply/demand, value became relevant in this thread at all? Someone talked about the Chaos limited edition 25 books, well if there aren't threads like this, where else are we gonna find information on those published books? CPG? No way.

 

Maybe someone in a few years down the road would like to complete a set of those (I admitted earlier on I had a couple) and he/she can reference this thread to find out that information to complete the list. Who's to say what demand will be for these in the future, if the price is $5 or $1000, it's irrelevant. And i personally like to find out about that rare stuff; in case I stumble upon something retarded rare (almost non-existent) that someone else may really really want to find (like RMA and his Maxx blacks).

Overstreet does'nt even have most of these books listed,whats up with that!

 

I remember contacting Overstreet about a particular comic title that they didn't have listed in the guide about 3-4 years ago. When I called, the gentleman who spoke to me was rather rude and basically said "Are you crazy? There's no way we could list all of the comic titles in our guide or it would be 6 inches thick!" Needless to say it was the last time I called them about anything.

[dupont2005]

I just thought of something. The Dark Horse retailer incentive hardcover versions of some of their trades. I know they made a Sin City one and I had the Lone Wolf And Cub one. The only thing I know about them is they had a red hardcover with gold embossing, came with a thank you card (mine was missing the card), and I NEVER see them for sale anywhere. Can't even get decent info on them. How many were printed, how many copies a retailer had to order to get one, and which titles beyond LW&C and Sin. City they did this with, I have no clue.

There is one for sale on eBay for $300, Can't find the Sin City one though.