Most Overpriced/Undervalued Modern?

[Nico Esq]

If Showtime puts together a good product, I think sky is the limit for Chew. My fear is that the TV show's plot won't mirror the plot of issues 1-6 and will include plot lines developed after issue 6 which I don't think will work for the TV audience. If the Show is dark and keeps the flavor of issues 1-6, I imagine it will be a HUGE hit. Agree/Disagree?

[Marvelfangirl]

Every New DC 52 #1s are all overpriced

[Nico Esq]

Every New DC 52 #1s are all overpriced

 

I don't know ... the incentive (non-sketch covers) are probably underpriced and the sketch and regular covers are probably overpriced. Aren't the incentive's 1:50 and the sketch's 1:200? Help me if I've got the numbers wrong. I just read the Bat titles.

[Marvelfangirl]

Every New DC 52 #1s are all overpriced

 

I don't know ... the incentive (non-sketch covers) are probably underpriced and the sketch and regular covers are probably overpriced. Aren't the incentive's 1:50 and the sketch's 1:200? Help me if I've got the numbers wrong. I just read the Bat titles.

I meant the regular covers.

 

The 1:200 books are going for a lot on Feebay.

[Nico Esq]

I can't bring myself to pay top dollar for a book that's value is artificially created like a 1:200 sketch cover. I think comic company's are dumb for doing incentive covers the way they release them. If they hired a consulting firm that was any good they would tell them to include ads that had fans sign on to industry website's where they enter contests to get incentive covers to make sure that fans won limited covers by punching in UPC codes or just had a computer determine who won. This would give them the opportunity to get all of our email addresses so that they could sell us merchandise and constantly advertise products and new books, movies, tv shows, etc. It's basic marketing 101. I understand wanting to reward retailers, but they need to reward readers too. I can't begin to express how proud I am of Layman and Guillory for what they did with the butter cover to issue #24 (i.e., selling personalized covers for $5.00 and non-personalized covers for $10.00). No one complains about convention exclusives, but everyone secretly (and many publicly) has issues with variant covers. Just my 2 cents.

[maloney414]

chew #1. i've been wrong about this one but when the series ends this book will be quickly forgotten and these hundreds and hundreds of 9.8's will sell for <$50. there will be likely another spike if the tv show gets on and then i'd short this all day long (if that were possible)

 

I don't know about <$50, but I certainly think that they will be nowhere near what they're selling for now (yes, it pains me to say this because I love Chew and am certainly collecting the set/spending a fair amount on the books). I'm glad I got in at a lower price point at least. I am confident that I will "lose" money on my run, although I don't intend to sell any of my run besides extras. That being said...

 

I've been seeing Chew 1 9.8 SS's selling for $700 on eBay. I think that I could score a DKR #1 SS by Frank Miller for about that price. I know which of these two I'd rather have. I can tell you this: if a Chew 9.8 SS #1s passes $1000, I will be selling mine for sure. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see the book be successful and maintain collectability, but, barring a show (and even with a show), I don't know why Chew 1s should be selling for THAT much more than YTLM #1s, Sandman #1s, etc.

 

Yes, I know that print runs matter, but consider this: the print run for YTLM 1 was 14,200. Yes, Chew 1 had a print run of 5,250, but I'd argue that it's easier to find a 9.8 or better Chew than YTLM. There are certainly more Chew 1s at 9.8 or higher in the census (250+ compared to about 90) and I've generally had better luck finding raw Chews that are in better shape than YTLMs.

 

Look- you're not going to find a bigger Chew fan than me (not true. There's the guy with the Chog tattoo, Branget, and Dom would certainly make an argument about that). While I want to put together a sweet run, I think the prices now are

 

Mike- you might not be able to short Chew, but I bet there's a certain Canadian that might make a friendly wager with you about the price per issue in the future...

 

My

 

Chew will definitely see a fall after the series ends. That's a given.

 

But I don't think it will ever be less than $50 for a 9.8.

 

Preacher #1 CGC 9.8 is still at least a $100 book, and I sold a 9.8 SS #1 for $200 just this past summer. YTLM are worth even more. Granted those were extremely popular and before the CGC boom, but I still see Chew #1 9.8 remaining at least a $100 book years after the series ends.

 

 

 

[TSwift25]

If you take the incentive covers out of retailer's hands and make them raffle prizes for the publisher, you might as well shut down most LCS.

 

Also, regarding Chew, it's a phenomenal series. I love it. It's brilliant. BUT if it's ending, the fascination will wane. It has to. The relative scarcity of it will surely keep it around $100ish (provided the quality of the series doesn't fall off a cliff) but I can't see it staying in the $350 range it currently a few months after issue 60.

[Nico Esq]

I didn't realize that LCS's rely that much on incentive/variant covers to make $. Even the 1:200 incentives only sell for a few hundred bucks. I'm not suggesting that dealers shouldn't get incentive covers as much as I am suggesting that it would make sense to give Joe Reader a shot at winning a variant/incentive cover, t-shirts, etc. because it would let publishers communicate directly with fans via email advertising. I think it would add some legitimacy to variants/incentives that they currently lack to. If they gave 10-25% of the print run of variants/incentives to fans that way, I think it make the issues more desirable too.

[maloney414]

I can't bring myself to pay top dollar for a book that's value is artificially created like a 1:200 sketch cover. I think comic company's are dumb for doing incentive covers the way they release them. If they hired a consulting firm that was any good they would tell them to include ads that had fans sign on to industry website's where they enter contests to get incentive covers to make sure that fans won limited covers by punching in UPC codes or just had a computer determine who won. This would give them the opportunity to get all of our email addresses so that they could sell us merchandise and constantly advertise products and new books, movies, tv shows, etc. It's basic marketing 101. I understand wanting to reward retailers, but they need to reward readers too. I can't begin to express how proud I am of Layman and Guillory for what they did with the butter cover to issue #24 (i.e., selling personalized covers for $5.00 and non-personalized covers for $10.00). No one complains about convention exclusives, but everyone secretly (and many publicly) has issues with variant covers. Just my 2 cents.

 

The companys aren't dumb at all; however, I don't know about the people who buy them...

 

The majority of incentive covers go down in value. Usually quite rapidly. Yes, I know there are exceptions like the Jim Lee Hush Batman book. But for the most part they are cheaper if you wait 3 to 4 months.

 

The publishers make a killing, as these books increase their orders for a minimal cost. If the LCS normally orders 35 copies, they will now probably order 50 to get the extra variants. That's why they continue to do it. It makes them money. It makes retailers money. It's a great business plan because the collectors, no lets be honest, ADDICTS can't say NO and continue to buy them.

 

Do people complain about variants? YES. But as long as 1 out of 50 people continue to be addicted to buying the 1:50 variants they aren't going anywhere. The other 49 can complain all they want.

[Nico Esq]

I undertand the desire to increase sales of books so that dealers can get their hands on "rare" incentives, but I think as a marketing tool it would make sense to give out some to readers and would encourage fan loyalty if the publishers would do promotions where they offered variants or incentives to fans (for example having them enter contests where they provide the publisher with their email, address, etc. so that the publisher can directly advertise to them). People who are marketing, neurospsychology, etc. experts would know how to do this perfectly well. It's been a long time since I purchased comics wholesale, but my recollection is that a lot of the time I didn't know what I had to do to get incentives, variants, etc. and that some times the publisher would just send one copy of a special book to each shop or each account.

[paperheart]

chew #1. i've been wrong about this one but when the series ends this book will be quickly forgotten and these hundreds and hundreds of 9.8's will sell for <$50. there will be likely another spike if the tv show gets on and then i'd short this all day long (if that were possible)

 

I don't know about <$50, but I certainly think that they will be nowhere near what they're selling for now (yes, it pains me to say this because I love Chew and am certainly collecting the set/spending a fair amount on the books). I'm glad I got in at a lower price point at least. I am confident that I will "lose" money on my run, although I don't intend to sell any of my run besides extras. That being said...

 

I've been seeing Chew 1 9.8 SS's selling for $700 on eBay. I think that I could score a DKR #1 SS by Frank Miller for about that price. I know which of these two I'd rather have. I can tell you this: if a Chew 9.8 SS #1s passes $1000, I will be selling mine for sure. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see the book be successful and maintain collectability, but, barring a show (and even with a show), I don't know why Chew 1s should be selling for THAT much more than YTLM #1s, Sandman #1s, etc.

 

Yes, I know that print runs matter, but consider this: the print run for YTLM 1 was 14,200. Yes, Chew 1 had a print run of 5,250, but I'd argue that it's easier to find a 9.8 or better Chew than YTLM. There are certainly more Chew 1s at 9.8 or higher in the census (250+ compared to about 90) and I've generally had better luck finding raw Chews that are in better shape than YTLMs.

 

Look- you're not going to find a bigger Chew fan than me (not true. There's the guy with the Chog tattoo, Branget, and Dom would certainly make an argument about that). While I want to put together a sweet run, I think the prices now are

 

Mike- you might not be able to short Chew, but I bet there's a certain Canadian that might make a friendly wager with you about the price per issue in the future...

 

My

 

i shorted my share of rigged stocks in my career. they were invariably painful in the short run but in the end, they all imploded.

[BeerThirty]

Mike- remind me to tell you the story about my friend who shorted GM at Image Expo.

[Nico Esq]

What do you all think is a fair price for the white cover Ultimate Spiderman 1 in CGC 9.6, 9.8 and raw?

[sakaridis]

I dunno about that, NM 98 was actually a semi-hot book pretty immediately...but in those days we're talking $5 and it was considered a breakout from the other Liefield NM books except 87. there are plenty of copies, the print-run was probably around 80-150K (Liefield likes to say the print-run was under 80K when he took over the title or close to and at that point marvel stopped distributing a title to newstands). so.....compared to ASm or X-men or Wolverine of that date, it is much less common, compared to a third tier DC title, not so much.

 

With that said, my guide from 2008-2009 lists it as the same $5 as the other Liefield issues. Crazy.

 

What i'm saying is that I don't think many copies were destroyed.

 

The print run was probably more than 250K. New Mutants #99 has the annual statement of ownership and it lists the avg print run for the past 12 months as 289,387 with a total paid circulation avg of 182K.

 

The S.. that is printed in #89 (which lists the numbers for 1989) has an average print run of ~300K, with a total paid circ. avg of 210.

 

So Liefeld is actually wrong in his estimates. Not that NM was printed in the millions, but it wasn't really a bottom feeder either.

 

The Vengeance of Bane was published at a time when books that were doing 200,000 copies a month were being canceled. I'd be shocked if there aren't 100,000 - 150,000 copies of that book. If anyone can tell us what the print run is, please let me know.

I don't know what the print run was, but the Capital City orders for the book was 33K. If you consider the fact that in 1993 Diamond's orders were close to twice those of Capital, I think it'd be safe to say that there were probably close to 100K in orders for the book. Maybe a bit less.

 

Keep in mind that VoB came out in early 93, before the Batman titles became hot (with the Knightfal storylinel). Batman wasn't even selling 100K at the time and Detective was doing a bit less than that.

[Nico Esq]

I remain convinced that Luther Strode is the steal/deal as far as hot investment comics go. I haven't talked to anyone that didn't enjoy the book and the print run is small. You can still find raw copies of the first issue for $10.

 

I'm glad that my guess regarding the print run of Vengeance of Bane was close. I guess the next question is what a fair price is for that title. It is going to get a lot of heat until the movie gets here, but I can't see myself paying more than $25 for NM raw copy of the book. Maybe my opinion will change after hearing everyone else's opinion. Thoughts anyone?

 

 

[valiantman]

The Vengeance of Bane was published at a time when books that were doing 200,000 copies a month were being canceled. I'd be shocked if there aren't 100,000 - 150,000 copies of that book. If anyone can tell us what the print run is, please let me know.

I don't know what the print run was, but the Capital City orders for the book was 33K. If you consider the fact that in 1993 Diamond's orders were close to twice those of Capital, I think it'd be safe to say that there were probably close to 100K in orders for the book. Maybe a bit less.

 

Keep in mind that VoB came out in early 93, before the Batman titles became hot (with the Knightfal storylinel). Batman wasn't even selling 100K at the time and Detective was doing a bit less than that.

 

This is good info... using the Standard Catalog of Comic Books share of comics sold by Capital City

(and following Marvel's percentages as a guide for DC's in the same timeframe),

two different calculations for DC come out to about 27% for Capital City at the beginning of 1993.

 

Long story short, those two calculations both put the print run for Vengeance of Bane around 125,000 copies.

 

A similar calculation puts New Mutants 98 at exactly 250,000 copies.

[sakaridis]

The Vengeance of Bane was published at a time when books that were doing 200,000 copies a month were being canceled. I'd be shocked if there aren't 100,000 - 150,000 copies of that book. If anyone can tell us what the print run is, please let me know.

I don't know what the print run was, but the Capital City orders for the book was 33K. If you consider the fact that in 1993 Diamond's orders were close to twice those of Capital, I think it'd be safe to say that there were probably close to 100K in orders for the book. Maybe a bit less.

 

Keep in mind that VoB came out in early 93, before the Batman titles became hot (with the Knightfal storylinel). Batman wasn't even selling 100K at the time and Detective was doing a bit less than that.

 

This is good info... using the Standard Catalog of Comic Books share of comics sold by Capital City

(and following Marvel's percentages as a guide for DC's in the same timeframe),

two different calculations for DC come out to about 27% for Capital City at the beginning of 1993.

 

Long story short, those two calculations both put the print run for Vengeance of Bane around 125,000 copies.

 

A similar calculation puts New Mutants 98 at exactly 250,000 copies.

So I wasn't that far off!

 

Thanks for the extra info, Greg. (thumbs u

[1ForChrist]

I would say undervalued would be Savage Dragon, the story was great and could easily have been done into a movie...

 

 

[Schmakt]

I would say undervalued would be Savage Dragon, the story was great and could easily have been done into a movie...

 

 

maybe some of the later issues once the print runs really started to shrink... I love Savage Dragon and think it's still one of the best books going, but there's just no way those early issues are ever going to pick up steam...

[DomUga]

Regarding Chew, we know that the series is ending but I read somewhere that Rob and John will still work together on another project after. If they make more successful comic titles together it will still make Chew #1 relevant right?

 

I am happy with my Chew collection and cant wait for that time of month when a new Chew issue comes out which is tomorrow.