Measuring scarcity 1 1

[MetalPSI]

On 10/16/2021 at 7:19 AM, James J Johnson said:

And I'm having Vuja-de. That's the strange feeling that none of this has happened before. 

 

Not my fault the search function for these boards is as useful as something that is useless

[paqart]

On 10/15/2021 at 2:48 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

Yes, and it's not even being marketed as the price variant it is. CGC missed it as usual too. It's the way of the world now, this sort of pricing, and it kills the average collector. Well, it did me. Hopefully you'll spot one in the wild for less than a tenth of that price 

The other one I have my eye on is also a PV. The reason I wanted them is they are the first $2.29 variants I've seen for ASM. I have all the other ASM variants.

[paqart]

On 10/15/2021 at 10:31 AM, MAR1979 said:

Excellent point! Those collectors are life-blood of the hobby. When (not if) the "speculators" and "social media hype crowd" dump and move-on, the loss of the hobbies life blood will be felt. Some will return, many will not.  When similar occurred in the 1993-1994 the effects rippled for near 3 decades. Comic Shops and new sales never recovered - never will. Changing paradigms would have done that anyhow but the 1990's speculation bust exasperated and hastened the effects.    What will the impact and extent of the effects the next bust be?  Especially with loss of hobby life-blood. It's not if a bust will occur, merely when.

 

 

 

 

 

I stopped buying comics in 1996, sold almost all the comics I had, and didn't care. All because of the 90's gimmick boom, which offended me a great deal. I started buying again in 2018, when  I spotted an Uncle Scrooge #6 at an antique store. From there, I went after a number of Barks Four Colors until I had most of them. Then, I stopped for another year. I started again because I wanted better copies of the Barks comics and to restore my original collection from the 1970's. To do it, I decided to focus on hard to find modern newsstands, sell those, then buy the comics I actually wanted. However, after beginning the hunt, it became very addictive. It is fun to hunt newsstands for no other reason but it is hard to do. That said, I have near-zero interest in them as comics. Comics made before 1990 are much more fun to read than anything made later, particularly the last ten years. There are some very good covers on modern comics though, and that I like.

Edited October 16, 2021 by paqart

[paqart]

On 10/14/2021 at 7:10 PM, dupont2005 said:

Do I already own one? If so it’s severely undervalued and about to blow up

By that logic, I guess these are about to blow up someday soon...

[1950's war comics]

On 10/16/2021 at 10:58 AM, paqart said:

I stopped buying comics in 1996, sold almost all the comics I had, and didn't care. All because of the 90's gimmick boom, which offended me a great deal. I started buying again in 2018, when  I spotted an Uncle Scrooge #6 at an antique store. From there, I went after a number of Barks Four Colors until I had most of them. Then, I stopped for another year. I started again because I wanted better copies of the Barks comics and to restore my original collection from the 1970's. To do it, I decided to focus on hard to find modern newsstands, sell those, then buy the comics I actually wanted. However, after beginning the hunt, it became very addictive. It is fun to hunt newsstands for no other reason but it is hard to do. That said, I have near-zero interest in them as comics. Comics made before 1990 are much more fun to read than anything made later, particularly the last ten years. There are some very good covers on modern comics though, and that I like.

agree ! modern covers are great but the stories are unreadable .. and i have tried but can't make it halfway through a modern story without losing interest

[NP_Gresham]

On 10/16/2021 at 8:18 AM, 1950's war comics said:

agree ! modern covers are great but the stories are unreadable .. and i have tried but can't make it halfway through a modern story without losing interest

I heard Tom Brady reads modern comics - now get with the GOAT

[Get Marwood & I]

On 10/16/2021 at 3:50 PM, paqart said:

The other one I have my eye on is also a PV. The reason I wanted them is they are the first $2.29 variants I've seen for ASM. I have all the other ASM variants.

There'll be more people looking for them now, due to idiot researchers like me bringing them to wider attention, but with patience you'll get there. Good luck. 

[1950's war comics]

On 10/16/2021 at 11:21 AM, NP_Gresham said:

I heard Tom Brady reads modern comics - now get with the GOAT

trust me i have tried , just can't do it with moderns ... would rather read any issue of golden age from the gold reading room thread .....

[steveinthecity]

On 10/16/2021 at 8:18 AM, 1950's war comics said:

agree ! modern covers are great but the stories are unreadable .. and i have tried but can't make it halfway through a modern story without losing interest

I understand we all have different tastes, likes/dislikes, but maybe check out Mister Miracle (DC 2017).  Twelve issues or you can find the tpb.  There’s still good stories to be found in moderns because there’s still good writers in comics. 

 

[paqart]

On 10/16/2021 at 11:03 AM, Lou Slipper said:

Sounds like Ben Nobel in general 

https://rarecomics.wordpress.com/

To say "more rare than they truly are", you should know exactly how rare they are. A better way might be to just admit that they are harder to find (rarer) than directs and leave it at that. As a collector, I have paid much higher prices for newsstands because I have had such a hard time finding them. If you care to pretend they aren't rare, go for it, but if you ever get serious about looking for them, you may be surprised.

[paqart]

On 10/16/2021 at 11:24 AM, 1950's war comics said:

trust me i have tried , just can't do it with moderns ... would rather read any issue of golden age from the gold reading room thread .....

This story is my favorite after reading comics for 50 years. In my opinion, the best example of good writing and perfectly matched art in all of comics history. The photo isn't my copy btw, which is in somewhat better shape (7-7.5 or so)

[paqart]

On 10/16/2021 at 12:09 PM, Lou Slipper said:

More commenting on Ben and his site, not the perceived scarity of any one particular comic. 

Whatever quibbles you have with Nobel, the way he writes about comics is fun. If it weren't for his blog, I might not have gotten back into comics. I even started drawing comics again. I did one with Chuck Dixon a few months ago and am doing one with Graham Nolan and Beau Smith right now.

[Get Marwood & I]

On 10/16/2021 at 5:18 PM, paqart said:

Whatever quibbles you have with Nobel, the way he writes about comics is fun. If it weren't for his blog, I might not have gotten back into comics. I even started drawing comics again. I did one with Chuck Dixon a few months ago and am doing one with Graham Nolan and Beau Smith right now.

Well said. Someone once told me that a good percentage of research is revision. You put stuff out there, and it develops as others join in. Ben loves comics and loves research. He's decent, open and respectful of those that respond constructively to his work. 

[Lazyboy]

On 10/16/2021 at 11:18 AM, paqart said:

Whatever quibbles you have with Nobel, the way he writes about comics is fun illogical, misleading, and overly repetitive.

Fixed.

On 10/16/2021 at 11:27 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

Someone once told me that a good percentage of research is revision.

Maybe, but at least most of that should come before publication.

 

[Get Marwood & I]

On 10/17/2021 at 12:58 AM, Lazyboy said:

 

Maybe, but at least most of that should come before publication.

 

Depends how you badge it. Free thoughts and observations posted for discussion on the internet should get some latitude I think, when the heart of the piece is honourable. Making educated guesses based on population size, for example, is not the crime of the century. If the absence of a smoking gun was a barrier to publication, much about comics would never get publicly explored. 

[Buzzetta]

On 10/16/2021 at 11:21 AM, NP_Gresham said:

I heard Tom Brady reads modern comics - now get with the GOAT

Aside from that... the majority of golden age and atomic age superhero comics are hokey and infantile in both concept and dialogue.  If anyone were to talk about books being bought FOR the cover, I would say Golden Age.   I think people romanticize a lot of the writing that went on back then.  Today's writers are creating stories where their competition is video games, tv and all sorts of media.  Golden Age books had a lot of disposable and forgettable stories to them as the genre itself was not taken seriously.  

[NP_Gresham]

On 10/17/2021 at 10:44 AM, Buzzetta said:

Aside from that... the majority of golden age and atomic age superhero comics are hokey and infantile in both concept and dialogue.  If anyone were to talk about books being bought FOR the cover, I would say Golden Age.   I think people romanticize a lot of the writing that went on back then.  Today's writers are creating stories where their competition is video games, tv and all sorts of media.  Golden Age books had a lot of disposable and forgettable stories to them as the genre itself was not taken seriously.  

I think there is marked difference pre-code and code

There was considerable creativity prior to the code dumbing down the stories. This was most marked by the horror books but plenty spill over into hero books.

Money being an obvious obstacle, I would say the pre code stand up in any era.

[Buzzetta]

On 10/17/2021 at 4:12 PM, NP_Gresham said:

I think there is marked difference pre-code and code

There was considerable creativity prior to the code dumbing down the stories. This was most marked by the horror books but plenty spill over into hero books.

Money being an obvious obstacle, I would say the pre code stand up in any era.

Agreed.  I was specific in saying superhero books.  In fact I originally started to type (stoooooopidly) a blanket statement of "Golden Age" and then added superhero once EC Comics popped into my head.  Many of those EC precode horror, crime and even most of the sci-fi stories hold up with some of the best episodic television of the day like the Twilight Zone.  

 

[paqart]

On 10/17/2021 at 1:44 PM, Buzzetta said:

Aside from that... the majority of golden age and atomic age superhero comics are hokey and infantile in both concept and dialogue.  If anyone were to talk about books being bought FOR the cover, I would say Golden Age.   I think people romanticize a lot of the writing that went on back then.  Today's writers are creating stories where their competition is video games, tv and all sorts of media.  Golden Age books had a lot of disposable and forgettable stories to them as the genre itself was not taken seriously.  

I agree to a point. Carl Barks' work transcends all eras, as does Eisner, Kurtzman, and a few others.

[paqart]

Getting back to scarcity, I just reluctantly paid $190 for this. It is the only copy I've ever seen for sale. My understanding is that Get Marwood &I might have multiples of this but these days, when I look for 18 months and find one copy, it's scarce. There's a copy of #11 in 9.8 I'd like to get also but the seller wants $345, which is more than I'm comfortable spending. Even this was a stretch, particularly after I saw it sit on eBay for 2-3 months with no takers. Meaning, I'm the only dumbbell interested enough to pay this price. That said, I don't know how I would have gotten it otherwise, and my eyes are getting sore from looking at the little price boxes in online ads.

 

My other 1999-2000 Marvel price variants are at CGC for grading. They've been there since March, so I hope they get graded soon and I can put this together with the $2.49 and $1.99 copy.

So what is the scarcity anyway? I think these $2.29 variants are much more scarce than 1:100 printings but it's hard to know for sure.