Books you just cant find in the Wild 22 22

[fastballspecial]

On 12/15/2021 at 4:45 PM, Qalyar said:

I think newsstands are close to parity with DM on this title, or maybe a bit less common. They're not a crazy chase-rarity ratio like for some later books. That said, this whole series rarely shows up anywhere, in either printing. So "equal or a bit less common" than "fairly scarce" is still tough to find, and this is one of those titles where the default condition seems to be "beaten to death with a shovel" to boot.

Also, while I've seen perhaps a half-dozen #1 in the last few years, I ... don't actually think I ever knew this series went to 9 issues. I just looked up the run, and that "Marvel Madness" cover for #9 isn't the least bit familiar to me. The fact that there are all of three copies on ebay at the moment (for the record: 1 DM, 2 newsstands -- although one of those is currently in the Netherlands!) suggests I'm not alone in that.

Same problem I had with Gargoyles I thought it ended at issue 10 for years. 

I never see Kid N Play, Gargoyles, Bill and Ted last issues , Earthworm Jim, Sly Cooper. I buy them just about
unconditionally when I see them.

 

Edited December 16, 2021 by fastballspecial

[followtheleader]

On 12/15/2021 at 6:19 AM, Wolverinex said:

@fastballspecial

How did I do with these newsstands? I only got the kidsn play newsstand because of you. 

 

 

 

I like the Maxx.  Do you know how many Newsstand issues they made? 

Patrick

[WolverineX]

On 12/15/2021 at 10:13 PM, followtheleader said:

I like the Maxx.  Do you know how many Newsstand issues they made? 

Patrick

haha, I was waiting for someone to noticed that.  Yes, that's the very last newsstand 

[MetalPSI]

On 12/15/2021 at 8:14 PM, Wolverinex said:

haha, I was waiting for someone to noticed that.  Yes, that's the very last newsstand 

Its also the most common 

I see more newsstand issues of 27, than any other issue, bar issue 1

[onlyweaknesskryptonite]

Picked this one up.

[fastballspecial]

Couple of recent finds. 

 

 

 

 

[Qalyar]

On 12/19/2021 at 10:15 AM, fastballspecial said:

Couple of recent finds. 

 

 

 

 

That Matrix book has to be the most common comic that was supposed to have the full run pulped! Still a nice find, especially with the new film arriving shortly. That Twisted Tales is no slouch either; the Pacific series isn't too hard to find, but that issue from Eclipse is oddly elusive.

Also, something something late number Spawn newsstand. And does Faust see much interest these days?

[Hey Kids, Comics!]

First time I’ve ever seen this one 

[Brock]

On 12/20/2021 at 10:42 PM, Hey Kids, Comics! said:

First time I’ve ever seen this one 

I have one tucked away in my collection. That one's a total ghost, though... It's not even listed in most guides.

I do think it's a case of a book being so unknown it currently has little value. So few people know about it that no one's actually looking for it.

[Qalyar]

On 12/21/2021 at 10:34 AM, Brock said:

I have one tucked away in my collection. That one's a total ghost, though... It's not even listed in most guides.

I do think it's a case of a book being so unknown it currently has little value. So few people know about it that no one's actually looking for it.

Agreed. Otherwise I would think the fairly rabid MMPR community would push the price on this quite a bit higher, despite the complicated canon/non-canon relationship between MMPR and Masked Rider. I have no idea how many copies of this book were ordered -- and it's difficult to really estimate, because Marvel was still distributing exclusively via Heroes World at the time, and they never made sales figures from this period public -- but considering that it was released less than a year before Marvel's bankruptcy, amid an industry-wide collapse in sales, plus the niche nature of the licensed product, it cannot have been very widely sold. It certainly doesn't appear often now.

[Brock]

On 12/21/2021 at 12:28 PM, Qalyar said:

Agreed. Otherwise I would think the fairly rabid MMPR community would push the price on this quite a bit higher, despite the complicated canon/non-canon relationship between MMPR and Masked Rider. I have no idea how many copies of this book were ordered -- and it's difficult to really estimate, because Marvel was still distributing exclusively via Heroes World at the time, and they never made sales figures from this period public -- but considering that it was released less than a year before Marvel's bankruptcy, amid an industry-wide collapse in sales, plus the niche nature of the licensed product, it cannot have been very widely sold. It certainly doesn't appear often now.

The comicspriceguide.com website has an interesting function where - of the approximately 1.1 million registered users - you can see how many have copies of any particular book. For reference, 47 people own the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1, and 21 own the very rare editorial variant of Sandman #8. In comparison, it shows that only 19 own a copy of Masked Rider #1.

I know that the plural of anecdote is not evidence, but I find this interesting... 

[OtherEric]

On 12/20/2021 at 7:42 PM, Hey Kids, Comics! said:

First time I’ve ever seen this one 

Bonus points for the newsstand copy

[Qalyar]

On 12/21/2021 at 11:56 AM, Brock said:

The comicspriceguide.com website has an interesting function where - of the approximately 1.1 million registered users - you can see how many have copies of any particular book. For reference, 47 people own the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1, and 21 own the very rare editorial variant of Sandman #8. In comparison, it shows that only 19 own a copy of Masked Rider #1.

I know that the plural of anecdote is not evidence, but I find this interesting... 

So, obviously, demand has something to do with that. People are way more likely to care that they own books that other people care about, and so to take the time to list them. Cold books are almost certainly under-represented as a result. On the other hand, if all data sources were flawless, I would be out of my job as a data analyst! I think we can look at comparable items to get sort of a directionally-correct calibration. So let's do that.

• DC's 2012 Diablo series is not entirely unlike Masked Rider. It is a modern book, adapting a licensed property that doesn't have particularly strong cross-over success with the comic book market. The series had a little under 5k orders placed for #1, rapidly dropping thereafter. Sales figures aren't available for #5, but trendlines suggest it had around 4000 books sold via Previews (and minimal other distribution). CPG shows 21 copies owned for #1, dropping to a low of 7 for the last issue. Dark Horse's earlier Diablo: Tales of Sanctuary (non-variant) had a bit more than 6k Previews orders and shows 12 owned in CPG.
• Kitchen Sink's Black Hole is a classic indie title (continued with Fantagraphics after Kitchen Sink's demise). Started in 1995, it's roughly a contemporary of Masked Rider, and the awards and recognition it has received make up a bit for the lower interest usually afforded indies vs. Big Two books. The four Kitchen Sink issues of Black Hole had roughly 6000 copies each produced; CPG ownership numbers are 29/29/12/15.

I looked up a few other titles as well; obviously, every book is different, so it's tough to reduce the noise in these data points. Still, Masked Rider's CPG census suggests it's of similar rarity to the two above titles. However, browsing ebay suggests it may actually be slightly more common in the market in reality (as of this post: 7 DM copies / 2 NS). That makes sense, because publication numbers in 1996 for Big Two books (even ones they expected to tank) were quite a bit higher than niche books in 2012, or indies in most any year. Add to that the observation that Masked Rider had dual-channel distribution, and I think it's likely that more copies of Masked Rider were produced than for Diablo or Black Hole, even if that's not clearly reflected in the CPG population. My estimate, then, is that this book likely had 8000-10000 copies produced (which is in line with what little we do know about bottom-offering Marvel titles from the era). The target audience probably didn't overlap with traditional collectors all that strongly, however, so I'd expect survival and condition rates to be lower than normal.

If that's correct (or close enough to it), that explains why this book is pretty much a ghost. Top-tier 1996 books had print runs north of 150k or sometimes north of 200k. Heck, the Fantastic Four #1 volume reset later that year had over 313,000 copies ordered through Heroes World alone.

On 12/21/2021 at 12:16 PM, OtherEric said:

Bonus points for the newsstand copy

Bonus points indeed.

Edited December 21, 2021 by Qalyar

[Mike's Rack]

On 12/19/2021 at 9:15 AM, fastballspecial said:

 

 

Mmmmm.... Dave Stevens...

[paqart]

Among the other newsstands I picked up today, these two gems. The Hulk cover, btw, is one of my favorites. I've wanted this issue for awhile but only in newsstand.

[OtherEric]

On 12/22/2021 at 3:29 PM, Mike's Rack said:

Mmmmm.... Dave Stevens...

Here, let me pull up my copy so you (and others) can get a clearer view:

[divad]

Yep, that's Twisted . . . 

[divad]

On 12/21/2021 at 9:56 AM, Brock said:

I know that the plural of anecdote is not evidence, but I find this interesting... 

Love this! 

[paqart]

On 12/21/2021 at 12:56 PM, Brock said:

The comicspriceguide.com website has an interesting function where - of the approximately 1.1 million registered users - you can see how many have copies of any particular book. For reference, 47 people own the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1, and 21 own the very rare editorial variant of Sandman #8. In comparison, it shows that only 19 own a copy of Masked Rider #1.

I know that the plural of anecdote is not evidence, but I find this interesting... 

Not that anything you wrote is an anecdote. All of it is data. It may be incomplete but it is data regardless. Keep in mind that it is common for researchers, analysts, and statisticians to work from incomplete data. It is also useful to know what an "anecdote" is. Too often the word "anecdote" is misrepresented as a reference to any spoken description of anything, even if, for instance, it is firsthand eyewitness testimony. In that situation, the spoken description is "evidence" and data. When multiple parties describe the same event and their descriptions correlate well with each other, the "plural" of their accounts is more powerful than any single account.

Sorry for the long-winded response but after getting my PhD, reading a lot of scientific articles, and even writing half a dozen peer-reviewed articles for scientific journals, I am annoyed by the colloquial understanding of the word "anecdote" and how it is misapplied to legitimate testimony, which is "evidence". In your case though, you didn't provide an anecdote (an amusing personal story) but actual data based on a cited source. 

[littledoom]

Not only a sealed CD pack but a newsstand 

Edited December 29, 2021 by littledoom