lou_fine Posted October 22, 2017 Share Posted October 22, 2017 3 hours ago, Randall Ries said: I also have a bad habit of buying on the bell curve. Like my frickin' house. Bought at the top of the bubble in 2006. Since it's now 2017 and 11 long years later, haven't house prices more than recovered to pass where they were back in the former bubble of 2006. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randall Ries Posted October 22, 2017 Author Share Posted October 22, 2017 33 minutes ago, lou_fine said: +1 Isn't that a Fantasyland price for a Hulk 181 in only 9.4 graded condition? Regardless of the price point, keeping the Superman 16 is a no-brainer here. Especially when you would have one of the Top 10 graded copies for Superman 16 here, versus something like one of the Top 800 graded copies for the Hulk 181. That's why I was torn. There are only three graded books higher than this one. 3. IH 181 is getting stupid prices now. It seems like a bubble situation right now. Thanks for your insights everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randall Ries Posted October 22, 2017 Author Share Posted October 22, 2017 (edited) 1 hour ago, jimjum12 said: .............Superman 16 kind of reminds me of Batman 15........... both "should" be classic covers but for some reason don't quite get the nod. I LOVE books like that. Your 16 has no miswrap or any of the other funky printing snafus that plague GA books..... it's a gorgeous example of the issue. A book to be proud of. I probably would have done the IH 181 trade, but would have sold that book and taken my profit now.... reinvesting in something else when a "no-brainer" presented itself. GOD BLESS... -jimbo(a friend of jesus) It is a really nice book. It has a Jack Burnley cover that perfectly sums up the GA Superman mythos. Metropolis, Superman, Clark Kent, Lois Lane with Lois mooning over "Mr. Wonderful" in front of Clark, who is actually Superman! Plus, the 1st "word bubble" cover in title. Really, a perfect summation of GA Superman. Edited October 22, 2017 by Randall Ries afterthought Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimjum12 Posted October 22, 2017 Share Posted October 22, 2017 1 minute ago, Randall Ries said: 1 hour ago, jimjum12 said: .............Superman 16 kind of reminds me of Batman 15........... both "should" be classic covers but for some reason don't quite get the nod. I LOVE books like that. Your 16 has no miswrap or any of the other funky printing snafus that plague GA books..... it's a gorgeous example of the issue. A book to be proud of. I probably would have done the IH 181 trade, but would have sold that book and taken my profit now.... reinvesting in something else when a "no-brainer" presented itself. GOD BLESS... -jimbo(a friend of jesus) It is a really nice book. It has a Jack Burnley cover that perfectly sums up the GA Superman mythos. Metropolis, Superman, Clark Kent, Lois Lane with Lois mooning over "Mr. Wonderful". Plus, the 1st "word bubble" cover in title. Really, a perfect summation of GA Superman ...amen brother........ I'm certainly not trying to trivialize IH 181..... in fact, I secretly want one myself, but if you happen to have sellers remorse on the Superman 16, you're SOL....... the Hulk ?............ like Jagger once said, "They're like street cars.........." GOD BLESS.... -jimbo(a friend of jesus) ..... if you're hell bent on investment as your focus..... maybe a creative trade that puts a Superman 14 or 17 in your corner ?........... or a Batman 11 or 47 ? Knightsofold 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randall Ries Posted October 22, 2017 Author Share Posted October 22, 2017 (edited) 7 minutes ago, jimjum12 said: ...amen brother........ I'm certainly not trying to trivialize IH 181..... in fact, I secretly want one myself, but if you happen to have sellers remorse on the Superman 16, you're SOL....... the Hulk ?............ like Jagger once said, "They're like street cars.........." GOD BLESS.... -jimbo(a friend of jesus) ..... if you're hell bent on investment as your focus..... maybe a creative trade that puts a Superman 14 or 17 in your corner ?........... or a Batman 11 or 47 ? MMMmmm...Superman 14! That'd be a great book to have. It seems as though trades are pretty hard to come buy. Seems like people just want to sell sell sell. The dude who was thinking about trading wanted the Supes 16 plus my raw copy of Supes 23 which might grade out around 6.5-7.0 or so. Too rich for my blood. And you are correct: There is no shortage of IH 181. It'd be a great book to have, though. Maybe some other time. All good things in all good time. Edited October 22, 2017 by Randall Ries afterthought Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randall Ries Posted October 22, 2017 Author Share Posted October 22, 2017 59 minutes ago, lou_fine said: Since it's now 2017 and 11 long years later, haven't house prices more than recovered to pass where they were back in the former bubble of 2006. Not at all. At least around here. Houses still abound for sale. Property tax goes up while town property assessments go down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lou_fine Posted October 22, 2017 Share Posted October 22, 2017 1 hour ago, Randall Ries said: 2 hours ago, lou_fine said: Since it's now 2017 and 11 long years later, haven't house prices more than recovered to pass where they were back in the former bubble of 2006. Not at all. At least around here. Houses still abound for sale. Property tax goes up while town property assessments go down. Well, the good thing about your particular situation is that the average person should still be able to purchase a house of their own at least. Might actually be better than my situation over here where property values have more than quadrupled in the same time period, making it almost impossible for the younger generation like my kids to even dream of ever owning a house of their own. Especially when the average cost to service a mortgage, even at these current low interest rates are running at something like 87% of the average household income. Doesn't leave much for food, entertainment, or what have you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oakman29 Posted October 22, 2017 Share Posted October 22, 2017 High grade early Superman books, not an easy find. Hulk 181 in high grade, you can find one any day. Senormac and Randall Ries 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exitmusicblue Posted October 22, 2017 Share Posted October 22, 2017 Wolvie is beyond the influence of potential bad movies. God knows his prices survived a bunch... and Logan was a nice sendoff for Jackman. I do love my GA over BA in general, but it's not like we're talking about a Supes #1-5 here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senormac Posted October 22, 2017 Share Posted October 22, 2017 Which cover do you like looking at more ? Knightsofold 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knightsofold Posted October 22, 2017 Share Posted October 22, 2017 2 hours ago, Senormac said: Which cover do you like looking at more ? I've found this to be the best question to ask myself when thinning the herd. All the other stuff clouds the decision making. Whichever brings the biggest smile to your face when holding the slab and looking at it. MustEatBrains 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randall Ries Posted October 22, 2017 Author Share Posted October 22, 2017 9 hours ago, lou_fine said: Well, the good thing about your particular situation is that the average person should still be able to purchase a house of their own at least. Might actually be better than my situation over here where property values have more than quadrupled in the same time period, making it almost impossible for the younger generation like my kids to even dream of ever owning a house of their own. Especially when the average cost to service a mortgage, even at these current low interest rates are running at something like 87% of the average household income. Doesn't leave much for food, entertainment, or what have you. Our area was the last to be affected by the recession and seems to be the last to see the effects of the upward tick. However, the loaning practices are strident across the board. We live near UVM and Dartmouth College. They have spent a lot of money trying to figure out how to keep the students in the area after graduation to generate income for the local economy. Students aren't stupid and when they remember what the local economy did to them after 4-12 years, they are gone. And who can blame them? The powers that be really couldn't figure out WHY they refused to remain. It's the economy, stupid. Even with HARP, it's difficult for 1st time home buyers to get housing. It's either POS houses you wouldn't let your cat live in or gaudy, gigantic 6k SF houses going for $800k-$1.5M. The Northeast is probably second in the nation, behind California, most expensive place to live. And why? I don't know. Skiing! The view? The fact that they encourage giants like Target and Wal-Mart to find a home here and offer huge corporate tax breaks for doing so, throwing the tax burden of the rest of us doesn't help. New York state is famous for that and is currently under an opiate addiction siege, as is New Hampshire. The logical place to move to is Wyoming or Minnesota, where the cost of living is much lower. But there isn't much to do there. And it's really cold in the winter. I want to move to Uruguay myself. My wife does not. comicnoir and lou_fine 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randall Ries Posted October 22, 2017 Author Share Posted October 22, 2017 (edited) 4 hours ago, Knightsofold said: I've found this to be the best question to ask myself when thinning the herd. All the other stuff clouds the decision making. Whichever brings the biggest smile to your face when holding the slab and looking at it. Absolutely the Supes 16. A perfect summing up of Superman in the GA. I like the 181 as well. I have always been more of a DC guy than Marvel guy too. Which is kinda too bad. Marvel had much more serious subject matter and didn't indulge in their heroes getting chased around by giant clocks or weirdos pulling pranks on them. DC, at certain points, was very infantile in its approach to story telling. Thank God for the likes of Bob Haney, Denny O'Neil and Len Wein. As an investment, 181 is the better bet for short term, get a lotta cash at once. But the 16 will be a steady grower as well I think. Once collectors start to realize what's going on with the cover. It was also Lois and Clark's 1st cover appearance in title and Clark Kent's 1st cover appearance anywhere, I believe. As a defining cover of the GA Superman saga, I can't think of another cover that sums it up quite so succinctly. A big problem I have always had is Wolverine. It seems I remember Marvel asked all the kids in the seventies to submit their ideas for a new character. Wolvie was chosen and they basically "stole" the character. I think at that time, you gave up any rights to the character if they chose your submitted design. But what legal rights does a kid have? My memory may be faulty, but I remember the kids design drawn out on paper. Funny the things you remember. Edited October 22, 2017 by Randall Ries Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lou_fine Posted October 24, 2017 Share Posted October 24, 2017 On 10/22/2017 at 5:14 AM, Randall Ries said: It's either POS houses you wouldn't let your cat live in or gaudy, gigantic 6k SF houses going for $800k-$1.5M. This actually doesn't sound too bad at all. Especially considering that it would take an uber HG copy of AF 15 or a cool million to get a dump of a house that's in tear down condition on the poor side of town here. And if you want a half decent (i.e. not brand spanking new) gaudy 6K house here on the west side of the city, you are looking at a life time's worth of comic book collecting, similar to Jon Berk's former collection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjpb Posted October 25, 2017 Share Posted October 25, 2017 On 10/21/2017 at 2:34 PM, Randall Ries said: That is a good point. I have seen many books that were graded 7.0 and looked 9.0 but got them at 7.0 prices. Who sez CGC graders are the last word in presentation? Almost every Neal Adams Strange Adventures I have is graded 7.0 and look far better. Maybe the grader doesn't like Deadman. For a major key like 181, I would prefer it to be a higher mid grade at least. Hence the trade possibility. If I spend $3k plus on the book, my wife will likely staple my penniz to my stomach while I sleep. I just spent $2K on a Bats 232 9.6 ow/w. When she found out, I saw her rifling through the junk drawer looking for staples. 6.5-7.5 books with high grade eye-appeal are always sweet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sqeggs Posted October 25, 2017 Share Posted October 25, 2017 On 10/21/2017 at 7:56 PM, jimjum12 said: .............Superman 16 kind of reminds me of Batman 15........... both "should" be classic covers but for some reason don't quite get the nod. I LOVE books like that. Your 16 has no miswrap or any of the other funky printing snafus that plague GA books..... it's a gorgeous example of the issue. A book to be proud of. I probably would have done the IH 181 trade, but would have sold that book and taken my profit now.... reinvesting in something else when a "no-brainer" presented itself. GOD BLESS... -jimbo(a friend of jesus) I'm with you. I like Superman 16 a lot, but I don't think the cover resonates with a lot of collectors. As a generalization, the DC goofy or nonaction or whatever you would like to call them covers tend to lag relative to the action, particularly WW II, covers. I think many collectors (probably unfairly) put this one in the goofy/nonaction category, which holds back its price, imo. And, yeah, I would have jumped on the deal for the IH 181 9.4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbone Posted October 25, 2017 Share Posted October 25, 2017 I'm 100% a GA guy, but I'd take the 9.4 181 all day every day over the 8.5 Supes 16 (and I actually do not like the #16 cover at all, never have.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnkurJ Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 Was the Superman 16 from a comiclink auction a few years ago? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randall Ries Posted October 27, 2017 Author Share Posted October 27, 2017 23 hours ago, AnkurJ said: Was the Superman 16 from a comiclink auction a few years ago? I don't know. I got it from nearmint. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicago Boy Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 Would anyone trade a 1.0 Cap 1 Blue for a coverless AC 1 or Tec 27 ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
