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First sign of comic book Apocolypse

Started by clobberintime,

88 posts in this topic

Sharkey

Sharkey

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Posted

 

 

I am having some of my early coupon-intact Valiants slabbed for exactly this reason. They are scarce in very high grade compared to other books from the same time period and the Valiant collectors will pay decently for extremely high grade copies. It's worth the gamble (imho). Besides, it'll help me raise money to buy books or art that I really want!

 

The Valiant cycle in the 90s where the books when crazy for about a year and then just completely imploded scared off a lot of people, but the ones who are truly fans of the books seem to be actively looking for very high grade slabbed copies of the early pre-Unity stuff. Several retailers I spoke at the Chicago Con reported they were getting a lot of inquiries about them. Maybe it's a new trend.... gossip.gif

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clobberintime

clobberintime

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Well I must say that I don't understand the cgcing and prices being paid for any books from the last 20 years - especially brand new books. I hate the idea of manufactured collectibles and will always associate that with Valiant, I mage and all the Marvel sparkly covers. I can't believe that people think these things will ever be worth what they are paying for them lot alone appreciate. If you are buying for pure pleasure or because you really love a cover, more power to you. But anyone paying 100s of dollars for 10 year old books is speculating. It figured cgc would be the way for all those Valiant hoarders and folks who paid $100 for Harbinger 1 to make money all over again. I have personally seen stacks of all the so-called rare Valiant issues and although grading was a lot looser 10 years ago, I remember seeing plenty perfect looking Harbinger 1s, Solar 10 etc. And believe me I would gladly sell my valiants to try to raise money to finish my silver age collection.

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Sharkey

Sharkey

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Ok, I gotta ask for all the other newbies like me reading, what does pre-Unity mean? Why the cut-off?

Just trying to learn and understand here.

Thanks!

 

 

Unity was a huge crossover event in the Valiant Universe that cut across all the titles. It's kind of considered the time that Valiant "jumped the shark" and went from being the super-hot company to being just another over-speculated bunch of comics. The print runs, which were very modest for the first 6 to 8 issues of each title, increased considerably too, making them lose value as a "hot collectible".

 

If memory serves me, Jim Shooter, who had made his mark on the early pre-Unity Valiants, was forced out of the company shortly thereafter if not right about then. The titles seemed to lose their steam, creativity, and appeal after that, in my opinion.

 

So Valiant collectors classify them as Pre- and Post- Unity.

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Underdog

Underdog

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For those interested in selling their Valiants...

Here's what to expect: "raw" books in NM and CGC graded averages

(Notice that both pages include shipping costs in the average prices of the books.)

 

As always, past performance is no guarantee of future market conditions...

Enjoy! tongue.gif

 

Unfortunately, I couldn't even get the low end of that auction of mine.

Maybe if I added pics to show what great shape they were in, but 83 pics wouldn't be very cost effective.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to spamming, um, er, hehe, I mean reading your site! It looks great and can only help me in my pursuit of knowledge in the comics world!

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FlyingDonut

FlyingDonut

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How about 50 cents for my post-Unity (valiantman would be proud of me, quick learner!) ones!

 

That's fine. I'll expect my check shortly. OH! You want ME to pay YOU? Nah. Although I'll give you 50 cents for the last issue of each series.

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CKB

CKB

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Glad to see good discussion here. The auction ended just under $1000. A well known Valiant hoarder with impossibly deep pockets was the winner.

 

I have to agree with everything Greg (valiantman) has said, and won't rehash.

 

There was one comment about Spawn, and the following it has versus Harbinger. This is, of course, correct. Those of us true believers, though, feel that these Valiant characters will eventually resurface. Both Solar and Magnus are getting a hardcover of reprints of the GK series - on sale soon. These properties, freed of whomever is mothballing them, can re-emerge.

 

The guide value in Overstreet for the pre-unity and variants is, to be diplomatic, inaccurate. When Mile High cannot keep them in stock for what he charges, it's time the prices of these books were updated in guide. Ebay sets the market on these, and Greg has kept careful track of it. The price guide to use is on valiantcomics.com.

 

Someone asked me about what I had been selling over the past 12 months pre-unity wise. Certainly, keys and variants are usually part of the deals I make. But it is worthy to note that these tend to sell in groups. Harbinger 1-7, Solar 1-11, Magnus 1-14, etc. So, outside of the CGC sales I have made, the raw sales are usually runs of a title.

 

For CGC, all pre-unity 9.8s sell very well. The Rai 1 that went for under $100 today was not indicative. I recently sold one for $250. Most 9.6s sell for grading costs + valiantcomics.com guide or more.

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FlamingCarrot

FlamingCarrot

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All this talk about how these Valiant titles have such a strong and loyal following has intrigued me. What trade paper backs would you recommend for a total Valiant newbie such as myself to get? If I'm not mistaken, it appears the 'pre-unity' titles were better written and that I should start with them?

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