Census explodes for "Rare Ghost" Book - Triples 9.8 in a single week - Could this be a Census error 3 3

[sfcityduck]

On 4/25/2022 at 4:52 PM, Qalyar said:

Definitely an X-Men-based promotional, but there's nothing rare about that thing. The Dallas Times Herald distributed about eleventy jillion of those.

Bummed.

I don't think any X-Men book from 1963 to 1990, the time period X-mens I collected ardently, is "rare."  IH 181 GSX 1, not even close, even in high grade.  Just desirable and valuable.

The Foom is not Wolverine.  The giveaways are all pretty obtainable, even the comic collecting one and the Firestar ones.  Maybe the 3d is hard.

Edited April 26, 2022 by sfcityduck

[Qalyar]

On 4/25/2022 at 11:40 PM, sfcityduck said:

Bummed.

I don't think any X-Men book from 1963 to 1990, the time period I collected ardently, is "rare."

Obviously, if you're into variants and the like, there are CPVs, 30 cent price variants, and 35 cent price variants, some of which are genuinely challenging books.

As far as unique publications go, I think you may be correct. Marvel didn't really take an interest in using the X-Men for weird promotional stuff until well into the 90s, for the most part. There are a few 80s giveaways and promos, but none of them are particularly hard to find. That Texas State Fair thing is quite common, at least for min-grade copies. So is Uncanny X-Men: Madness in Murderworld (1989), which was a pack-in with a PC/Tandy video game by Paragon Software (fun fact: Mark Bagley co-wrote). Amazing Spider-Man and the New Mutants Featuring Skids (1990) was a child abuse awareness giveaway that was a K-Mart exclusive, but there's no shortage of them around. Same goes for the two (!!) Spider-Man, Firestar, and Iceman books, which are already stretching the definition of "an X-Men book" -- one is Danger in Denver (1981), the other is At the Dallas Ballet Nutcracker (1982). The latter is maybe the rarer of the two? I don't know, both are easy pickups.

Sorry I can't scare up some weird chase promotional in that range.

[Cat]

Only one I can think of is from the 90's. X-Men featuring Captain Universe, which iirc was personalised. 

[theCapraAegagrus]

On 4/25/2022 at 6:11 PM, steveinthecity said:

Weren’t all the ages great when one was a child?

Fair point.

[F For Fake]

On 4/26/2022 at 2:29 AM, Qalyar said:

Obviously, if you're into variants and the like, there are CPVs, 30 cent price variants, and 35 cent price variants, some of which are genuinely challenging books.

As far as unique publications go, I think you may be correct. Marvel didn't really take an interest in using the X-Men for weird promotional stuff until well into the 90s, for the most part. There are a few 80s giveaways and promos, but none of them are particularly hard to find. That Texas State Fair thing is quite common, at least for min-grade copies. So is Uncanny X-Men: Madness in Murderworld (1989), which was a pack-in with a PC/Tandy video game by Paragon Software (fun fact: Mark Bagley co-wrote). Amazing Spider-Man and the New Mutants Featuring Skids (1990) was a child abuse awareness giveaway that was a K-Mart exclusive, but there's no shortage of them around. Same goes for the two (!!) Spider-Man, Firestar, and Iceman books, which are already stretching the definition of "an X-Men book" -- one is Danger in Denver (1981), the other is At the Dallas Ballet Nutcracker (1982). The latter is maybe the rarer of the two? I don't know, both are easy pickups.

Sorry I can't scare up some weird chase promotional in that range.

Madness in Murderworld brings back a lot of nostalgia. I had all of those Paragon software big box games for the Commodore 64, and they were great! The problem with Madness in Murderworld is going to be condition, because it literally came rolled up with a rubber band. I remember opening my copy on Christmas morning, and even at that age being appalled that a comic book had been rolled up into a tube! They did this because the book wouldn't fit into the box otherwise, it had to sit diagonally in the box. I remember being very taken with the artwork at the time, I liked how Bagley drew Wolvie's claws. It was his first professional work, IIRC.

[Qalyar]

On 4/26/2022 at 7:24 AM, F For Fake said:

Madness in Murderworld brings back a lot of nostalgia. I had all of those Paragon software big box games for the Commodore 64, and they were great! The problem with Madness in Murderworld is going to be condition, because it literally came rolled up with a rubber band. I remember opening my copy on Christmas morning, and even at that age being appalled that a comic book had been rolled up into a tube! They did this because the book wouldn't fit into the box otherwise, it had to sit diagonally in the box. I remember being very taken with the artwork at the time, I liked how Bagley drew Wolvie's claws. It was his first professional work, IIRC.

Ah! I've seen a lot of pretty curly copies of that book, but never owned it myself, so didn't know why! I wonder if there was ever any warehouse stock that didn't get shipped this way, or if we'd just have to get lucky with a decent-quality copy that presses out well? There are two 9.6 copies on the census, for the record.

On 4/26/2022 at 5:26 AM, Cat said:

Only one I can think of is from the 90's. X-Men featuring Captain Universe, which iirc was personalised. 

Ah, yes, that's a strong contender. 1994, though. That was indeed personalized. In fact, there are two different versions of X-Men and Captain Universe: Sleeping Giants, with Captain Universe drawn as male or female. CGC, to my personal frustration, indicates that "Male & female versions exist" on the label, but does not distinguish between them. Predictably, the female Captain Universe is the scarcer of the options.

[F For Fake]

On 4/26/2022 at 9:06 AM, Qalyar said:

Ah! I've seen a lot of pretty curly copies of that book, but never owned it myself, so didn't know why! I wonder if there was ever any warehouse stock that didn't get shipped this way, or if we'd just have to get lucky with a decent-quality copy that presses out well? There are two 9.6 copies on the census, for the record.

Ah, yes, that's a strong contender. 1994, though. That was indeed personalized. In fact, there are two different versions of X-Men and Captain Universe: Sleeping Giants, with Captain Universe drawn as male or female. CGC, to my personal frustration, indicates that "Male & female versions exist" on the label, but does not distinguish between them. Predictably, the female Captain Universe is the scarcer of the options.

I do have to think that there were some un-rolled stock out there SOMEWHERE. It just makes sense, right? The same way movie poster one sheets were folded for so long, and yet many rolled, non-folded vintage posters managed to make it out into collections, somehow.

Unfortunately, my childhood copy is long gone, but even my childhood attempts at pressing (i.e. putting it in a bag and board, and then placing a bunch of heavy books on top of it) never managed to take the curl out. But I'd think a good presser would have a shot at correcting it. I bought a nice flat copy off of eBay several years ago, but I'm not sure if it was pressed, or if it simply managed to avoid being folded. Would love to hear if anyone else has any info on the book!