Copper's Heating/Selling Well on Ebay 33 33

[Chip Cataldo]

Much ado about nothing in this thread . . . What's hot today? is the the question.

Sleepwalker #1, but you already knew that.

 

I don't think there's any new NEW hotness, is there?

 

Peace,

 

Chip

Edited January 26, 2015 by Chip Cataldo

[darkstar]

Much ado about nothing in this thread . . . What's hot today? is the the question.

 

Who gives a rip about everyone's self-glorifying anecdotes?

 

Silver Surfer 44

[Jeffro.]

 

If the "new" incarnation of the SS can get a bump, so can the "new" incarnation of the JL (which was far, far, FAR superior to Suicide Squad...leaps and bounds better. If you've never red Giffen and DeMatteis' JL run...you're missing out, man!)

 

True. One of the few comics I truly still miss

[Vikingreed]

I'm just waiting for Legends #6 to take off again. It was a helluva book back when the "new" Justice League was hotter than Georgia asphalt in August, and it's wildly undervalued now.

 

If the "new" incarnation of the SS can get a bump, so can the "new" incarnation of the JL (which was far, far, FAR superior to Suicide Squad...leaps and bounds better. If you've never red Giffen and DeMatteis' JL run...you're missing out, man!)

 

I will check it out.

I have never read that JL run...

[the blob]

Hard to say ebay prices in 1999 were "the market" ... they were all over the place, very few scans, more hi jinx than now. it was a great time to pick up some deals and also a great time to unload all sorts of krap as USPS rates were lower and it was nuts what kind of junk i could get $3-$5 for. It was an interesting time.

 

As for NM 98, I don't think it was an easy book to find in dollar boxes, otherwise I would have 30 copies of it. I was actually buying Liefield new mutants then with the thought that they might bounce back and I also liked Deadpool as a character at that point. But it might have been easy to find in $2-$5 boxes, I just wasn't looking in those boxes for moderns like that. Short sighted.

 

(In that 1999/2000 timeframe I went to 5-6 shows a year and would usually buy a long box or two of $1-$2 dollar books each show with maybe one or two GA purchases in the triple digits...basically, other than one or two good books a show, I was just bottom feeding/scrounging at that point thinking that the market would bounce back for some of this stuff and figuring it would be worth something on ebay if I needed to sell it...I think I was pretty familiar with what convention dollar boxes looked like, at least in the northeast)

 

p.s. I am not disagreeing with anything rma has written, because, frankly, i only read the first few sentences. my 3 month absence has taught me that doing so is futile and that I should simply listen and learn. i will be a better person for it.

Edited January 26, 2015 by the blob

[Aweandlorder]

I'm just waiting for Legends #6 to take off again. It was a helluva book back when the "new" Justice League was hotter than Georgia asphalt in August, and it's wildly undervalued now.

 

If the "new" incarnation of the SS can get a bump, so can the "new" incarnation of the JL (which was far, far, FAR superior to Suicide Squad...leaps and bounds better. If you've never red Giffen, DeMatteis & Kevin Maguire JL run...you're missing out, man!)

 

FTFY

[Chip Cataldo]

I agree...Kevin Maguire MAKES that run.

 

Peace,

 

Chip

[Bosco685]

I'm just waiting for Legends #6 to take off again. It was a helluva book back when the "new" Justice League was hotter than Georgia asphalt in August, and it's wildly undervalued now.

 

If the "new" incarnation of the SS can get a bump, so can the "new" incarnation of the JL (which was far, far, FAR superior to Suicide Squad...leaps and bounds better. If you've never red Giffen and DeMatteis' JL run...you're missing out, man!)

 

I will check it out.

I have never read that JL run...

 

With the greatest Golden Age superhero that never existed!

 

 

[RockMyAmadeus]

Hard to say ebay prices in 1999 were "the market" ... they were all over the place, very few scans, more hi jinx than now.

 

Not true (except for very few scans), but people aren't interested in an in-depth discussion, so I'll just say that.

[RockMyAmadeus]

p.s. I am not disagreeing with anything rma has written, because, frankly, i only read the first few sentences.

 

I have no idea how to respond to this, on any level.

 

:shrug:

[RockMyAmadeus]

I'm just waiting for Legends #6 to take off again. It was a helluva book back when the "new" Justice League was hotter than Georgia asphalt in August, and it's wildly undervalued now.

 

If the "new" incarnation of the SS can get a bump, so can the "new" incarnation of the JL (which was far, far, FAR superior to Suicide Squad...leaps and bounds better. If you've never red Giffen, DeMatteis & Kevin Maguire JL run...you're missing out, man!)

 

FTFY

 

 

You get no disagreement from me on that.

 

[Aweandlorder]

I agree...Kevin Maguire MAKES that run.

 

Peace,

 

Chip

 

Absolutely! Maguire's covers were the first ones to ever spark humor into the action/superhero world. The ones we're so commonly used to seeing today ala Deadool and Harley..

Far faaaaaar ahead of its time

 

 

Ok, sorry guys, back to your argument

 

 

 

 

[valiantman]

Greg took over the Valiant Comics board from Petrilak in, I want to say, 2001. Petrilak started the Valiant Comics (not Valiantfans, as it is now) in 1999, which did NOT, as I understand, have a message board at first. I joined sometime in early 2002. The Great Board Reset of Feb 4, 2004, I had been around for about 2 years, and the message board was not much older. If I have my data incorrect, Greg is more than welcome to correct it, but I'm not far off.

 

You're not far off. I'll go into more detail, but this is mostly for anyone who wasn't part of the Valiant fandom in the past 20 years... and I'm the "Greg" from the quote above.

 

Valiant stopped publishing books in 1996, and Acclaim took over (relaunched) a lot of those titles with all new stories.

 

I started a Valiant-focused website in 1997-1998, around the time I joined eBay (Sept. 1997).

I was mainly interested in documenting info about early Valiant books (pre-Unity 1992), but also the rest of the Valiant books through 1996.

 

In June 1999, I registered valiantcomics.com and moved my Valiant-focused website there.

Nothing had been published as a "Valiant Comic" in three years, so "valiantcomics.com" was for the historical reference info.

 

Joe Petrilak has his own Valiant fan website which was started earlier, perhaps 1994.

He was local to the Valiant offices in NYC and essentially the "Valiant Fan Club President", if there was such a thing around the time Acclaim took over (1994 and after), and later, the "Acclaim Ink" fan club.

 

Once ValiantComics.com (also known at the time as "VALIANT Revisited" from before 1999) was more complete with cover images, checklists, a price guide, etc., Joe Petrilak told me he had no desire to update his own website anymore... particularly after Acclaim ceased publications.

 

I asked Joe Petrilak if I could archive his website on valiantcomics.com in order to make sure it didn't disappear from the internet. He said "sure".

 

ValiantComics.com did not have a message board from 1999 to 2002 because active fan discussions were still taking place in the Yahoo Newsgroup for Valiant Comics. I thought it would be redundant to have a message board when the Yahoo Newsgroup was a message board.

 

In 2002, I started the first messageboard at ValiantComics.com and before 2004, it had to be restarted twice due to internet hosting problems. (Google "Endore Ivan Rainbolt" if you want more details)

 

ValiantFans.com was registered in 2004 so that I could separate the fan messageboard (and the messageboard hosting) from the ValiantComics.com information about Valiant Comics. If you're reading this sentence, you've made it further than 99% of the people who started reading this post. Congrats one-percenter.

 

During the legal mess that Nick Barrucci caused (through his lawyer) for Valiant in 2005 through 2007, I pointed ValiantComics.com to the legitimate Valiant website (valiantentertainment.com).

 

Barrucci (through his lawyer) was trying to get SOME of the Valiant trademarks (the titles only) in 2005 so he could associate them with all new stories and trick the public, or just blackmail VEI into partnering. Thankfully, Barrucci (through his lawyer) was defeated (settled) with VEI in late 2007.

 

The ownership of copyrights (the Valiant stories) for Valiant Comics were never in dispute.

Only VEI could bring Valiant stories back to publishing... they might have to use a different title, but actual Valiant content could only ever have come from VEI.

 

The current ValiantFans.com message board is "3.0" and has been active since February 2004. The one millionth post will probably happen in 2015.

 

(thumbs u

 

Back to the discussion of Copper Age books, and specific to Valiant, it will always be true that 95% of the Valiant comics in print from 1991 to 1996 will probably NEVER have any value, due to the number in existence.

 

The 5%, however, represent the earliest Valiant books... some of the best stories of the late Copper Age... and were once the desire of many, many teenage collectors (like me) who couldn't afford them.

 

If the comic book bubble bursting in the 1990s did anything GOOD... it would be that it made it possible for collectors to finally afford the books they wanted.

 

...and having been on eBay, continually buying Valiant since 1997, it's safe to say that every Valiant comic was available for $12 or less at some point after the 1994 bubble burst... except for one book... Unity #0 Red.

 

I documented eBay sales for Valiant books for about a decade, keeping the average prices showing on the website.

Here's an archive of my Valiant price guide from 2001.

http://web.archive.org/web/20010419215633/http://www.gregholland.com/valiant/guide.asp

 

Unity #0 Red (1992) was always a solid seller at $30+... because I always had to pay that much to win those auctions.

I guess, apart from my bids, you could say it would have been a solid seller at $28.

[RockMyAmadeus]

 

Ok, sorry guys, back to your argument

 

 

 

 

What do you mean, "your" argument...?

 

[Aweandlorder]

 

Ok, sorry guys, back to your argument

 

 

 

 

What do you mean, "your" argument...?

 

what do YOU mean "your argument".. love that movie

[the authority]

I'm just waiting for Legends #6 to take off again. It was a helluva book back when the "new" Justice League was hotter than Georgia asphalt in August, and it's wildly undervalued now.

 

If the "new" incarnation of the SS can get a bump, so can the "new" incarnation of the JL (which was far, far, FAR superior to Suicide Squad...leaps and bounds better. If you've never red Giffen and DeMatteis' JL run...you're missing out, man!)

 

I will check it out.

I have never read that JL run...

 

It is definitely worth reading. (thumbs u

[RockMyAmadeus]

 

You're not far off.

 

Some of the dates were a bit off, but the gist was there. Everything Pre-Z is hard for me to remember, because I wasn't directly involved. It is a shame that the history of 2002-2004 is lost.

 

But the main point is, there wasn't a Valiant Comics message board for kimik to have been a part of "well before 2002."

 

If you're reading this sentence, you've made it further than 99% of the people who started reading this post. Congrats one-percenter.

 

Easter eggs!

 

If the comic book bubble bursting in the 1990s did anything GOOD... it would be that it made it possible for collectors to finally afford the books they wanted.

 

...and having been on eBay, continually buying Valiant since 1997, it's safe to say that every Valiant comic was available for $12 or less at some point after the 1994 bubble burst... except for one book... Unity #0 Red.

 

Make that two books: Chaos Effect Alpha Red.

 

But yes, Unity Red was Petrilak's favorite book of all time. It was the one and only book missing from his "complete listing of every Acclaim/Valiant" eBay listing of Dec 30, 1999 (which I won for $1,000...I'd probably have done better to never have seen it.)

 

I remember what what's her face was selling Harby #0 pinks for $15...and I scoffed at the price. I want to say 2003?

 

Unity #0 Red (1992) was always a solid seller at $30+... because I always had to pay that much to win those auctions.

I guess, apart from my bids, you could say it would have been a solid seller at $28.

 

The Valiant market was singlehandedly propped up by 5-10 guys from 1998-2002. I bought a Unity Red for $20 at one point, but I don't remember when. I've only owned 5-6 copies.

 

Harby #0 has always been the magical book for me.

[whetteon]

Ah the days when we Valiant nerds ran amuke(?) and hoarded Harbinger 1's, 0 pinks, Unity reds and Chaos Alpha Red's.

 

The only Chaos Alpha Red I owned was the one I bought off Dino for $100+. I probably over-paid but how many of you can say you bought something off the CEO of VEI?

[RockMyAmadeus]

Ah the days when we Valiant nerds ran amuke(?) and hoarded Harbinger 1's, 0 pinks, Unity reds and Chaos Alpha Red's.

 

The only Chaos Alpha Red I owned was the one I bought off Dino for $100+. I probably over-paid but how many of you can say you bought something off the CEO of VEI?

 

Um.

 

Just about everyone on the Valiantfans board...?

 

 

The real question is, how many people can say they held all 40 copies of the Magnus #0 first fan project?

 

"amok"

 

 

[Silverdream]

Hard to say ebay prices in 1999 were "the market" ... they were all over the place, very few scans, more hi jinx than now.

 

Not true (except for very few scans), but people aren't interested in an in-depth discussion, so I'll just say that.

 

"market price" is a strange term to use since eBay was pure auction only back then, and everyone knows auctions are hit and miss on 99% of the stuff you put up for auction. Results vary widely. ( read: all over the place )

 

 

From what I recall of early eBaying, while some books did end at similar prices on the site, which started affecting the entire comic scene, many books could and were had very cheap because eBay was newer and many folks simply did not know how to list properly ( heck, that's still the case to some extent even now)

 

Well known sellers always had an advantage , because the lack of scans and pictures made who you were buying from a lot more important , and those sellers got more bids for similar books being sold by weekend warrior types. So yes, the prices did vary quite a lot.

 

As far as the Hi-jinx? Well... I think the equation of legit users vs scammers is about the same as it's always been. It was much easier to spot back then however.

 

All of this, as always is my opinion. Disregard anyone attempting to sway you, stating their opinion as facts.