My adventure with 8000+ comic books begins 4 4

[Qalyar]

On 4/29/2022 at 6:27 PM, Bird said:

Just remember Ocean Master! $ in those Big Two boxes. But DC/Marvel is not as fun to learn about, I agree. You have so much of what we call "drek", non-valuable comics, but you are okay even there as you have the outlets to let them sit and sell gradually and at low prices if necessary. There were times you posted a box and I was worried every box was going to be like that. Many of the comics you mention are not good sellers ONLINE but you'll be fine with them on the floor of a booth and venues like you talked about having available. Then you have enough good value books to pull people in. Without the antique mall or your coin connections this would be a tough purchase for a new seller but you have the sales experience and sales venues to do very well, even with Shadow State, Lady Justice, Aquaman etc (generally not the greatest sellers). complete series sets and runs of consecutive issues are good ways to move the cheap ones...get them out of your hair as quickly as you can. Maybe put a box in the antique mall "whole box of comics $X" or have 4 boxes out and a sign with 25/$15 or whatever, blow out that drek. Don't sell all the good ones quickly to get your money back and be left with the volume, try to do the opposite...move volume quickly and sell better books at max value.

I do understand the conflict. Marvel and, to a lesser extent, DC, are where the biggest potential for money books are. There's a pretty long list of $100+ Marvel books that could show up in a big dealer stock lot like this, and a fair chunk of DCs also. Unless you're outrageously fortunate to have one of a literal handful of specific rarities, there's probably no real shot at even one $100 indie. But I know that's not much consolation when you hit a box full of maybe-sells-for-cover-price-someday B-tier DC books, but still have to check every one of them because one of them might secretly be a key issue for some reason. Indies tend to be a lot of fun, but as with most things in life, "fun" isn't always where the money is.

[StrikeOutXXX]

@Bird Some great ideas there for sure, thanks for the ideas.  I figure just sorting the boxes and pricing them all is another 6 weeks, I just don't want to pull the group of Lady Justice out yet and make a discount group until I find the rest of those hidden gems lol.  We did put some loose stuff or broken box contents just here/there anywhere they would fit, but once I know what I have, and start to better understand things, I'm sure we'll be making piles.

As for Drek - coming from the coin world, I am equating many, well, the majority of these books just like I do with common date Buffalo Nickels, V Nickels, Indian Head Cents, and the like.  Coins Magazine, Greysheet, Redbook, whatever you look up some of these, there are plenty in the $2-$4 range that I am just happy putting in my 50-cent bin and selling.  I give them away free to kids when they stop by my table even.  I'm not naive enough to think comic books are any different.  Most comics I sold at the coin show last weekend were Dads getting something for the kid versus true collectors getting something they need or valuable.  They were just impulse buys, or something for a Dad to make their kid they were dragging along to a coin show happy.  The only true collector took all my horror stuff, and actually left me a nice list - not specific key issues which I likely don't have, but for example he just started with Ghost Rider and said he'd buy anything I had minus the 5 or so he has.

The shop having closing sales and clearance sales I'm sure what was even semi popular 30 years ago is gone.  I also realize that more than likely just about everything I've already marked $2/3/4 you pro's would be happy to and I'd be lucky to sell at $1.  So just like my circulated Buffalo Nickel example, I know I'm going to have to sell a lot of them around 50 cents if not bundle them for less.  I priced them they way I did fully expecting to at some point to hang a big 50% (or more) off sale on select boxes.  I just don't have the knowledge to sort them now - I'll cross that bridge later, but the comments in this post help a ton.  I'm in them 3/$1 - There are enough that don't truly suck, and the adult box to get my money back even before I fire sale them.  But I'm in no rush, and the coin shop is excited to have them/doesn't need them gone soon - they ordered a banner for their window and hoping to drive more/different traffic to help the coins/cards/antiques in there.  Win-Win.

One good thing I have going, even for the drek, is 95% of this stuff is in NM condition, bagged and boarded.  Not like I will have to put boxes of ripped up crumbled raw stuff together.  Besides time (a lot of time) my only real expense beyond the purchase itself has been $32.00 in Avery Labels (26 packs of 315 neon round stickers to go over what he had used). 

@THE_BEYONDER I ran into some modern Spider Man a few boxes back with the "A's" but I think the bulk of what he had is in the "S" box and I just checked, it's on the bottom of the Marvel pile.

Tonight will be Indie P-T he had it labeled... why you ask?  Well, 1/2 of the box doesn't even look like comic books, more like regular books, but the bulk is marked $3/5/8 (30 years ago) and I saw Michael Jordan so hoping values held and I'm not dealing with a box of Shadow State 8-)

[Bird]

On 4/29/2022 at 8:05 PM, StrikeOutXXX said:

But I'm in no rush, and the coin shop is excited to have them/doesn't need them gone soon - they ordered a banner for their window and hoping to drive more/different traffic to help the coins/cards/antiques in there.  Win-Win.

One good thing I have going, even for the drek, is 95% of this stuff is in NM condition, bagged and boarded

Those coin shows are great for you, impulse buys all day long and no other comics in sight. And NM is indeed significant. Good on ya'! You have a great infrastructure, so now you have some good product.

Now be prepared for one of those guys to slow down as he sees them at your table, get a wistful look in his eye and ask you, once again, hey you want to buy some comics!

[Bird]

On 4/29/2022 at 8:05 PM, StrikeOutXXX said:

box of Shadow State 8-)

see, learning quickly.

shadow state, lady justice et al are only trouble when the box is full of single issues of those things and multiple copies. But complete series or 5-10 run sets will sell even of the lowest title

I used to collect buffalo nickels! I still put any nickel pre-1964 aside as I used to do with any coin, except nickels are the only ones left in circulation now. Nothing more exciting than the sound of silver in your change from the cashier; it rivals finding a hot book in a random box

Edited April 30, 2022 by Bird
that sounds like I think nickels are made of silver, I know they are not.

[Qalyar]

On 4/29/2022 at 7:05 PM, StrikeOutXXX said:

@Bird Some great ideas there for sure, thanks for the ideas.  I figure just sorting the boxes and pricing them all is another 6 weeks, I just don't want to pull the group of Lady Justice out yet and make a discount group until I find the rest of those hidden gems lol.  We did put some loose stuff or broken box contents just here/there anywhere they would fit, but once I know what I have, and start to better understand things, I'm sure we'll be making piles.

As for Drek - coming from the coin world, I am equating many, well, the majority of these books just like I do with common date Buffalo Nickels, V Nickels, Indian Head Cents, and the like.  Coins Magazine, Greysheet, Redbook, whatever you look up some of these, there are plenty in the $2-$4 range that I am just happy putting in my 50-cent bin and selling.  I give them away free to kids when they stop by my table even.  I'm not naive enough to think comic books are any different.  Most comics I sold at the coin show last weekend were Dads getting something for the kid versus true collectors getting something they need or valuable.  They were just impulse buys, or something for a Dad to make their kid they were dragging along to a coin show happy.  The only true collector took all my horror stuff, and actually left me a nice list - not specific key issues which I likely don't have, but for example he just started with Ghost Rider and said he'd buy anything I had minus the 5 or so he has.

The shop having closing sales and clearance sales I'm sure what was even semi popular 30 years ago is gone.  I also realize that more than likely just about everything I've already marked $2/3/4 you pro's would be happy to and I'd be lucky to sell at $1.  So just like my circulated Buffalo Nickel example, I know I'm going to have to sell a lot of them around 50 cents if not bundle them for less.  I priced them they way I did fully expecting to at some point to hang a big 50% (or more) off sale on select boxes.  I just don't have the knowledge to sort them now - I'll cross that bridge later, but the comments in this post help a ton.  I'm in them 3/$1 - There are enough that don't truly suck, and the adult box to get my money back even before I fire sale them.  But I'm in no rush, and the coin shop is excited to have them/doesn't need them gone soon - they ordered a banner for their window and hoping to drive more/different traffic to help the coins/cards/antiques in there.  Win-Win.

One good thing I have going, even for the drek, is 95% of this stuff is in NM condition, bagged and boarded.  Not like I will have to put boxes of ripped up crumbled raw stuff together.  Besides time (a lot of time) my only real expense beyond the purchase itself has been $32.00 in Avery Labels (26 packs of 315 neon round stickers to go over what he had used). 

@THE_BEYONDER I ran into some modern Spider Man a few boxes back with the "A's" but I think the bulk of what he had is in the "S" box and I just checked, it's on the bottom of the Marvel pile.

Tonight will be Indie P-T he had it labeled... why you ask?  Well, 1/2 of the box doesn't even look like comic books, more like regular books, but the bulk is marked $3/5/8 (30 years ago) and I saw Michael Jordan so hoping values held and I'm not dealing with a box of Shadow State 8-)

Indie P-T plus a weird-looking Michael Jordan book makes me think you've got a bunch of published by Revolutionary in there. There's some interesting books you could potentially find in there, but Revolutionary books are harder to price than even normal indies. They mostly didn't distribute through traditional comic book venues at all, but through music shops, clothing stores (read: Hot Topic), and similar outlets. Rock N Roll Comics is their most famous title, and if you have any of those, just assume you need to check the indicia for a printing number, because there are lots and lots and lots and lots of them.

Comic book collectors have generally ignored Revolutionary, but since you're going to be selling stuff outside normal comic channels, I expect their books will move well if appropriately priced, because they're appealing "cross-collectibles", interesting to more than one group of collectors. Oh, and some of their stuff is super weird conspiracy-theory fodder, which tends to sell okay just because it's so, so weird (Who Really Killed JFK?, for example).

[Bird]

I am a big Rush fan and would love the Rock N Roll Comics Rush issue if it comes up.

[StrikeOutXXX]

Tonight's adventure took me through an Indie box labeled P-T primarily because he had some slightly elevated prices on the material 30 years ago and well, it looked interesting.

******************Personality Comics
PC Presents Sports Classics #5 Jackie Robinson.  2 of these with limited edition 232/400 and 218/400 with trading cards.   Seal still over the bag with no board. I'll likely put them in magazine bags with boards to protect them.  Unsure how to price these 2 and a similar Lou Gehrig (Pictures at the end).  Just the comic isn't much, $5 maybe, but not sure where to price these limited editions with cards.

All Sports Personalities - The Illustrated Biography Magazine or
Personality Comics Presents xyz - The Unauthorized Biography
Vast majority have plenty listed on eBay, minimal sales in the $1 range + $5 shipping
- Bo Jackson (2 versions)
- Jackie Robinson
- Nolan Ryan
- Rickey Henderson
- Magic Johnson (3 versions)
- Joe Montana
- Lawrence Taylor
- Wayne Gretzky
- George Brett
- Mike Tyson
- Michael Jordan (This one had sales & a graded one listed)
- Lou Gehrig
- Ken Griffey, Jr.
- Bo Jackson vs. Michael Jordan (2 versions)
- Mickey Mantle
- William Shatner

Then a series of Personality Presents the Original Crew Biography Magazine (Star Trek)
These have sales in the $7-10 + shipping range
- William Shatner
- Deforest Kelley
- Walter Koenig
- Nichelle Nichols

And The New Star Trek Crew Series: (With some actual sales too)
- Patrick Stewart
- Jonathan Frakes
- Brent Spiner
- Levar Burton
- Denise Crosby

***************Piranha Press
- The Hiding Place (B&W Retailer Preview Book) - Guide shows NM $20, 1 used sold for $13
- A Cotton Candy Autopsy (Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children Book) - Guide=$20, eBay has 2 sales + ship= $85 & $80! (Need help with this one)
- What if this were Heaven, wouldn't that be Hell? (Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children Book)
- Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children (comic-like) - decent eBay sales, I have 20 in the series

*************** Quality Comics
- Spellbinders
- Time Twisters

*************** Recollections
- We Dare you to Take the Silver Scream

*************** Revolutionary Comics
Conspiracy Comics: RFK What Really Happened?
Baseball Legends - Jackie Robinson
Baseball Legends - Sandy Koufax
Bio-Graphics: Stan Lee (Decent sales)
Bio-Graphics: Boris Yeltsin
Bio-Graphics: Pee Wee Herman (nice sales)
Bio-Graphics: Ross Perot
Bio-Graphics: The Birth of Image Comics
Greatest in History: Dan Quayle
Hard Rock: The Runaways
Marilyn Monroe: Suicide or Murder
Rock n Roll: Michael Jackson (Decent sales)
Sports Superstars: Wayne Gretzky
Sports Superstars: Mike Tyson (Decent sales)
Star Jam: Beverly Hills 90210
Star Jam: Jason Priestley
Star Jam: Madonna and Shannen Doherty
Star Jam: Jennie Garth
Star Jam: Mariah Carey
Star Jam: Hammer

*************** Ripley Entertainment Inc.
Ripley's Believe it or Not:
- Beauty & Grooming
- Cruelty
- Death
- Personal Hygeine
- Strange Deaths

*************** Rival
Eye of the Storm

*************** River City Comics
Exile Earth

*************** The River Group
Whacked

*************** Slave Labor (Amaze Ink Slave Labor)
No Hope

**************** Spoof Comics
Soultrek
Spider-Femme

*************** Studio Insidio
From Beyonde

*************** Tekno Comix
Gene Rodenberry's Lost Universe
Isaac Asimov's IBots
Mickey Spillane's Mike Danger
Neil Gaiman's Lady Justice

*************** The 3-D Zone
3-D Danse Macabre (with glasses)

 

@Qalyar You nailed it on the RFK books.  The sports stuff may sell they get a lot of sports fans buying cards, they have jerseys in the front window too that sell quick, probably have a better shot with those than some of these actual comics 8-)

 

@Bird No Rush 8-(

I need advice if you don't mind on 2 things - the Jackie Robinson book with cards/special edition.  Pic is 218/400 and I flipped 232/400 to show those cards, looks like spoof cards ala Garbage Pail Kids type of things.  The comic itself is only a few bucks, but does this packaging with the cards add much?

Also a Lou Gehrig similar to above 108/600

Then one that has strange eBay sales to try to base a sticker price.  It's a book-type thicker comic.  He had it marked $13 30 years ago.

There are two sales both from overseas:

 

There are 5 for sale, 3 of the 5 overseas listed at decent rates

 

This was much funner than pricing 200 Hulk comics, where I likely would have ended up with 195@$3, 4@$4 and 1@6 as the big winner of the box lol.

[fastballspecial]

Well welcome to our Madness. This is going to be a long story with that many boxes. 

Many of us envy you with this story trust me. You are going to have to go slow here or you will 
be overwhelmed. Supplies are also going to set you back some cash so I would sell off a few
early on to raise money for boards, bags, mylars and such that you will need later. 

Take a crash course in grading. Entering the grading contests here to get better.

Set aside 25 to 50 high grade books that are keys to semi keys to send off to get Slabbed
they will help you recoup your money faster. 

Set up at a Flea market or your coin shows and bleed out some books to recoup some money.
Make sure you reward your helper. You would have never loaded those books without him.

Please update us. Great find we are all jealous.

Also you can sell some books here there are a ton of buyers here.

 

Edited April 30, 2022 by fastballspecial

[StrikeOutXXX]

This morning was Marvel At - Do

A-Team (Decent, but read)
Captain Marvel (1994)
Children of the Voyager
Cloak and Dagger (Mutant Misadventures of)
Coneheads
Conan the Adventurer
Conan Classic
Cool World
Cops: The Job
Cyberspace 3000
Damage Control
Dances with Demons
D.P.7
Daredevil: (Some 80's, some 90's no keys)
- Only uptick ones: 238, 255, 256
Daredevil: The Man Without Fear (93)
Dark Angel
Darkhawk
Darkhold: Pages from the book of book of sins (6x #1s still in bag w/poster)
Darkman
Deadpool (#4/X-Men limited series)
Death 3
Deathlok
Death's Head II
Defenders (80's)
Defenders of Dynatron City
Digitek
Dreadstar and Company
Doctor Strange & Ghost Rider Special
Dr. Strange Annual 2
Doctor Strange, Sorceror Supreme
Doctor Strange (Few from 80's)

Pretty boring box with almost everything $2-$3.  Just a few semi-semi key Daredevils and maybe the Darkhold poster ones as the highlights.

[StrikeOutXXX]

Afternoon box - Marvel Do - Hu

Doom 2099
Double Dragon
Ectokid
Excalibur
Excalibur: XX Crossing
Falcon
Fallen Angels
Fantastic Force
Fantastic Four
Fear (Ghost Rider/Captain America)
Firestar
Flash Gordon ('95)
Force Works
Fool Killer
Generation X
GI Joe (Had #106)
GI Joe Special Missions
GI Joe and the Transformers
Ghost Rider
Ghost Rider and Cable
The Original Ghost Rider
The Original Ghost Rider Rides Again
Ghost Rider, Wolverine, Punisher: Hearts of Darkness
Ghost Rider 2099
Groo the Wanderer
Guardians of the Galaxy
Gun Runner
Clive Barkers the Harrowers
Solo Avengers Hawkeye
Hellstorm
Hero (Warrior of the Mystic Realms)
Heroes for Hope starring the X-Men
Hook
Hokum & Hex
2099 Unlimited - Featuring Hulk
The Incredible Hulk (Few uptick issues)

Little better than this morning's box - still a ton of $3's but a lot of $4-5 too, and a few uptick $6/8, etc.  Nothing worth taking a picture of.

[Yorick]

On 4/30/2022 at 12:08 PM, StrikeOutXXX said:

Flash Gordon ('95)

I believe this is the 2 issue miniseries with artwork by the late great Al Williamson and story written by Mark Schultz.  I just bid on a 9.8 graded copy of #1 on feebay.  Sold for $90.

[thehumantorch]

On 4/29/2022 at 8:55 PM, StrikeOutXXX said:

Tonight's adventure took me through an Indie box labeled P-T primarily because he had some slightly elevated prices on the material 30 years ago and well, it looked interesting.

******************Personality Comics
PC Presents Sports Classics #5 Jackie Robinson.  2 of these with limited edition 232/400 and 218/400 with trading cards.   Seal still over the bag with no board. I'll likely put them in magazine bags with boards to protect them.  Unsure how to price these 2 and a similar Lou Gehrig (Pictures at the end).  Just the comic isn't much, $5 maybe, but not sure where to price these limited editions with cards.

All Sports Personalities - The Illustrated Biography Magazine or
Personality Comics Presents xyz - The Unauthorized Biography
Vast majority have plenty listed on eBay, minimal sales in the $1 range + $5 shipping
- Bo Jackson (2 versions)
- Jackie Robinson
- Nolan Ryan
- Rickey Henderson
- Magic Johnson (3 versions)
- Joe Montana
- Lawrence Taylor
- Wayne Gretzky
- George Brett
- Mike Tyson
- Michael Jordan (This one had sales & a graded one listed)
- Lou Gehrig
- Ken Griffey, Jr.
- Bo Jackson vs. Michael Jordan (2 versions)
- Mickey Mantle
- William Shatner

Then a series of Personality Presents the Original Crew Biography Magazine (Star Trek)
These have sales in the $7-10 + shipping range
- William Shatner
- Deforest Kelley
- Walter Koenig
- Nichelle Nichols

And The New Star Trek Crew Series: (With some actual sales too)
- Patrick Stewart
- Jonathan Frakes
- Brent Spiner
- Levar Burton
- Denise Crosby

***************Piranha Press
- The Hiding Place (B&W Retailer Preview Book) - Guide shows NM $20, 1 used sold for $13
- A Cotton Candy Autopsy (Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children Book) - Guide=$20, eBay has 2 sales + ship= $85 & $80! (Need help with this one)
- What if this were Heaven, wouldn't that be Hell? (Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children Book)
- Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children (comic-like) - decent eBay sales, I have 20 in the series

*************** Quality Comics
- Spellbinders
- Time Twisters

*************** Recollections
- We Dare you to Take the Silver Scream

*************** Revolutionary Comics
Conspiracy Comics: RFK What Really Happened?
Baseball Legends - Jackie Robinson
Baseball Legends - Sandy Koufax
Bio-Graphics: Stan Lee (Decent sales)
Bio-Graphics: Boris Yeltsin
Bio-Graphics: Pee Wee Herman (nice sales)
Bio-Graphics: Ross Perot
Bio-Graphics: The Birth of Image Comics
Greatest in History: Dan Quayle
Hard Rock: The Runaways
Marilyn Monroe: Suicide or Murder
Rock n Roll: Michael Jackson (Decent sales)
Sports Superstars: Wayne Gretzky
Sports Superstars: Mike Tyson (Decent sales)
Star Jam: Beverly Hills 90210
Star Jam: Jason Priestley
Star Jam: Madonna and Shannen Doherty
Star Jam: Jennie Garth
Star Jam: Mariah Carey
Star Jam: Hammer

*************** Ripley Entertainment Inc.
Ripley's Believe it or Not:
- Beauty & Grooming
- Cruelty
- Death
- Personal Hygeine
- Strange Deaths

*************** Rival
Eye of the Storm

*************** River City Comics
Exile Earth

*************** The River Group
Whacked

*************** Slave Labor (Amaze Ink Slave Labor)
No Hope

**************** Spoof Comics
Soultrek
Spider-Femme

*************** Studio Insidio
From Beyonde

*************** Tekno Comix
Gene Rodenberry's Lost Universe
Isaac Asimov's IBots
Mickey Spillane's Mike Danger
Neil Gaiman's Lady Justice

*************** The 3-D Zone
3-D Danse Macabre (with glasses)

 

@Qalyar You nailed it on the RFK books.  The sports stuff may sell they get a lot of sports fans buying cards, they have jerseys in the front window too that sell quick, probably have a better shot with those than some of these actual comics 8-)

 

@Bird No Rush 8-(

I need advice if you don't mind on 2 things - the Jackie Robinson book with cards/special edition.  Pic is 218/400 and I flipped 232/400 to show those cards, looks like spoof cards ala Garbage Pail Kids type of things.  The comic itself is only a few bucks, but does this packaging with the cards add much?

Also a Lou Gehrig similar to above 108/600

Then one that has strange eBay sales to try to base a sticker price.  It's a book-type thicker comic.  He had it marked $13 30 years ago.

There are two sales both from overseas:

 

There are 5 for sale, 3 of the 5 overseas listed at decent rates

 

This was much funner than pricing 200 Hulk comics, where I likely would have ended up with 195@$3, 4@$4 and 1@6 as the big winner of the box lol.

Many of these comics are what I call 'cross collectible' items.  They can sell to a comic collector or to a fan of boxing, baseball, Bettie Page, Hollywood Stars, Star Trek, music, etc.  Even if they only sell on ebay for a buck or two - don't forget the buyer is usually paying $20 to get it shipped - they might very well sell for $10 or $20 each as a 'retail' sale to someone walking by.  They're items that will sell much quicker flat on the table or on a shelf 

[Qalyar]

On 4/30/2022 at 2:41 PM, thehumantorch said:

Many of these comics are what I call 'cross collectible' items.  They can sell to a comic collector or to a fan of boxing, baseball, Bettie Page, Hollywood Stars, Star Trek, music, etc.  Even if they only sell on ebay for a buck or two - don't forget the buyer is usually paying $20 to get it shipped - they might very well sell for $10 or $20 each as a 'retail' sale to someone walking by.  They're items that will sell much quicker flat on the table or on a shelf 

The Revolutionary stuff is better than the PC published books, because I can only assume that Personality paid their artists a whole shiny quarter based on quality. The same applies to their adult imprint, Friendly Comics.

[StrikeOutXXX]

Late afternoon box - Indie box labeled E-I.  Picked it because my head hurt from Marvel today and there looked like some horror type comics at the start of the box that looked fun.

*** Epic Comics
Tomb of Dracula Day of Blood Night of Redemption (only have 1-3 no 4 in this box)
Untamed
Weave World

*** Eternity
Blood Feast
Crime Classics
Hell Bender
Robotech II The Sentinels Swimsuit Spectacular
Sherlock Holmes
Shuriken
Spicy Tales (9/10/12/13/14/15/16/17/20) eBay has #20 ~$50 #17 ~30 others decent $10-20
Subspecies

*** FantaCo
Night's Children (1-4 1 of each #1 cover variant)
Night's Children Vampyr!

Night's Children Double Indemnity (Signed inside cover "For the Blood is the Life - Wendy Snow-Lang 1711/2000", but it's on a sticker that was stuck inside, not directly on the comic

Night of the Living Dead ('94 #2)
RABID
Zombie War

*** Fantagor Press
Son of Mutant World

*** Fantagraphics Books
The Adventures of Captain Jack

*** First Amendment Publishing
He Said/She Said - The Woody Allen Story
He Said/She Said - Marcia Clark Story

*** First Comics
The Chronicles of Corum
The Badger

*** Fleetway Quality
Dredd Rules!
Judge Dredd Classics
Judge Dredd The Megazine
666 The Mark of the Beast

*** Harris Comics
Cain
The Rook
Vengeance of Vampirella

*** Hero Comics/Hero Graphics/Heroic
Eternity Smith
Flare

*** Image
Black and White
Bloodstrike
Brigade
Cyber Force
Cybernary
Darker Image
Deathblow
Deathmate
Fury
Hellshock
Inside Image
The Maxx
1963
Pitt
Shaman's Tears
Shadowhawk
Shadowhawk II
Spawn (had #16)
Stormwatch
Stupid
SuperPatriot
Supreme
Trencher
Tribe
Union
Vanguard
Violator
Wildcats Covert Action Teams
Wildcats Trilogy
WildStar

 

So my thoughts on this box.  Long list because most were only a couple of issues per title.  Despite some lower priced not so popular things, there was enough decent things in there to beat both Marvel boxes from today by a mile. I like some of these comics from smaller companies who didn't have many titles, some are fun.  Image made a ton for sure.. 

I had a question on the newsstand vs direct - I said a few posts back that I've yet to see any difference in prices although almost all online guides list both.  When looking up the Spawn issues I had, for the first time I noticed a difference - and a BIG difference like 2-3x on newsstand vs direct.  I'm guessing they didn't sell that many in stores back then making them rarer?  Just curious of the reason if anyone knows. 

@thehumantorch @Qalyar I was moving stuff around today and found another 1/2 box of those things, the box that left off where I started the one from yesterday I suppose.  Also found about another 1/2 box but almost all those limited edition sealed with cards in a mixed box too.  I'll probably sell those before I sell any Supreme or Stormwatch 8-)

[Qalyar]

On 4/30/2022 at 5:47 PM, StrikeOutXXX said:

Late afternoon box - Indie box labeled E-I.  Picked it because my head hurt from Marvel today and there looked like some horror type comics at the start of the box that looked fun.

*** Epic Comics
Tomb of Dracula Day of Blood Night of Redemption (only have 1-3 no 4 in this box)
Untamed
Weave World

*** Eternity
Blood Feast
Crime Classics
Hell Bender
Robotech II The Sentinels Swimsuit Spectacular
Sherlock Holmes
Shuriken
Spicy Tales (9/10/12/13/14/15/16/17/20) eBay has #20 ~$50 #17 ~30 others decent $10-20
Subspecies

*** FantaCo
Night's Children (1-4 1 of each #1 cover variant)
Night's Children Vampyr!

Night's Children Double Indemnity (Signed inside cover "For the Blood is the Life - Wendy Snow-Lang 1711/2000", but it's on a sticker that was stuck inside, not directly on the comic

Night of the Living Dead ('94 #2)
RABID
Zombie War

*** Fantagor Press
Son of Mutant World

*** Fantagraphics Books
The Adventures of Captain Jack

*** First Amendment Publishing
He Said/She Said - The Woody Allen Story
He Said/She Said - Marcia Clark Story

*** First Comics
The Chronicles of Corum
The Badger

*** Fleetway Quality
Dredd Rules!
Judge Dredd Classics
Judge Dredd The Megazine
666 The Mark of the Beast

*** Harris Comics
Cain
The Rook
Vengeance of Vampirella

*** Hero Comics/Hero Graphics/Heroic
Eternity Smith
Flare

*** Image
Black and White
Bloodstrike
Brigade
Cyber Force
Cybernary
Darker Image
Deathblow
Deathmate
Fury
Hellshock
Inside Image
The Maxx
1963
Pitt
Shaman's Tears
Shadowhawk
Shadowhawk II
Spawn (had #16)
Stormwatch
Stupid
SuperPatriot
Supreme
Trencher
Tribe
Union
Vanguard
Violator
Wildcats Covert Action Teams
Wildcats Trilogy
WildStar

 

So my thoughts on this box.  Long list because most were only a couple of issues per title.  Despite some lower priced not so popular things, there was enough decent things in there to beat both Marvel boxes from today by a mile. I like some of these comics from smaller companies who didn't have many titles, some are fun.  Image made a ton for sure.. 

I had a question on the newsstand vs direct - I said a few posts back that I've yet to see any difference in prices although almost all online guides list both.  When looking up the Spawn issues I had, for the first time I noticed a difference - and a BIG difference like 2-3x on newsstand vs direct.  I'm guessing they didn't sell that many in stores back then making them rarer?  Just curious of the reason if anyone knows. 

@thehumantorch @Qalyar I was moving stuff around today and found another 1/2 box of those things, the box that left off where I started the one from yesterday I suppose.  Also found about another 1/2 box but almost all those limited edition sealed with cards in a mixed box too.  I'll probably sell those before I sell any Supreme or Stormwatch 8-)

Image was (and still is) a major publisher. Not Big Two big, but it's not really an "indie". There's a lot of interest in (some) Image stuff. For the actual indie books, I will caution than a $20 indie will often be a slower seller than a $20 DC or especially a $20 Marvel, all else being equal. Indies just have a smaller collecting community.

As for newsstands, so... for a long, long time, essentially no one paid the difference any attention. Spawn has a bunch of extra-weird newsstand printings, and Spawn collectors sort of identified the differences as collectible before some other categories of folks did. Newsstand prints aren't always rare (or, for earlier books, even rarer than direct market books). Post-2000 newsstands tend to be very elusive. But some books demand a considerable premium for newsstands, especially in high grade. On the other hand, there's also been some accusations of market manipulation for newsstand pricing. It is, broadly speaking, a controversial topic.

Since you're coming here from numismatics, it's like if no one paid attention to mint marks AT ALL for several decades, then suddenly had to figure out which ones mattered. Oh, and without the benefit of published mintage quantities...

[onlyweaknesskryptonite]

On 4/30/2022 at 5:47 PM, StrikeOutXXX said:

Late afternoon box - Indie box labeled E-I.  Picked it because my head hurt from Marvel today and there looked like some horror type comics at the start of the box that looked fun.

*** Epic Comics
Tomb of Dracula Day of Blood Night of Redemption (only have 1-3 no 4 in this box)
Untamed
Weave World

*** Eternity
Blood Feast
Crime Classics
Hell Bender
Robotech II The Sentinels Swimsuit Spectacular
Sherlock Holmes
Shuriken
Spicy Tales (9/10/12/13/14/15/16/17/20) eBay has #20 ~$50 #17 ~30 others decent $10-20
Subspecies

*** FantaCo
Night's Children (1-4 1 of each #1 cover variant)
Night's Children Vampyr!

Night's Children Double Indemnity (Signed inside cover "For the Blood is the Life - Wendy Snow-Lang 1711/2000", but it's on a sticker that was stuck inside, not directly on the comic

Night of the Living Dead ('94 #2)
RABID
Zombie War

*** Fantagor Press
Son of Mutant World

*** Fantagraphics Books
The Adventures of Captain Jack

*** First Amendment Publishing
He Said/She Said - The Woody Allen Story
He Said/She Said - Marcia Clark Story

*** First Comics
The Chronicles of Corum
The Badger

*** Fleetway Quality
Dredd Rules!
Judge Dredd Classics
Judge Dredd The Megazine
666 The Mark of the Beast

*** Harris Comics
Cain
The Rook
Vengeance of Vampirella

*** Hero Comics/Hero Graphics/Heroic
Eternity Smith
Flare

*** Image
Black and White
Bloodstrike
Brigade
Cyber Force
Cybernary
Darker Image
Deathblow
Deathmate
Fury
Hellshock
Inside Image
The Maxx
1963
Pitt
Shaman's Tears
Shadowhawk
Shadowhawk II
Spawn (had #16)
Stormwatch
Stupid
SuperPatriot
Supreme
Trencher
Tribe
Union
Vanguard
Violator
Wildcats Covert Action Teams
Wildcats Trilogy
WildStar

 

So my thoughts on this box.  Long list because most were only a couple of issues per title.  Despite some lower priced not so popular things, there was enough decent things in there to beat both Marvel boxes from today by a mile. I like some of these comics from smaller companies who didn't have many titles, some are fun.  Image made a ton for sure.. 

I had a question on the newsstand vs direct - I said a few posts back that I've yet to see any difference in prices although almost all online guides list both.  When looking up the Spawn issues I had, for the first time I noticed a difference - and a BIG difference like 2-3x on newsstand vs direct.  I'm guessing they didn't sell that many in stores back then making them rarer?  Just curious of the reason if anyone knows. 

@thehumantorch @Qalyar I was moving stuff around today and found another 1/2 box of those things, the box that left off where I started the one from yesterday I suppose.  Also found about another 1/2 box but almost all those limited edition sealed with cards in a mixed box too.  I'll probably sell those before I sell any Supreme or Stormwatch 8-)

Again. Those Maxx.. as well as the Spawn definitely can see a increase in price for Newsstand issues. Especially the Spawn and the later the issue number generally they increase.  There is also just a subset of collector's that specifically collect Image Newsstand issues so if you have several of those issues even if not great individually can sell well in a " lot of image newsstands" although when fairly priced they should still move. 

Thank you for continuing to share! 

[StrikeOutXXX]

OK, time to get the rest of the Adult ones out of the way and out of reach of the little ones.

1.5 boxes, these ones were somewhat alphabetized, priced for sale, and most were bundled as sets unlike that last box, which was unpriced and more of a hodge-podge.

@Qalyar - feel free to work your magic on this list as well.  There is a lot of at least "Guide Value" here - but as we say in the coin world - "Guides don't buy coins"

Amazing Heroes (Interview with Frank Thorne)
Arthur Sex - The Erotic Adventures of King Arthur (Set #1-8)
King Arthur Uncensored (Set #1-4)
Bambi In Heat (Set #1-3)
Bambi The Hunter (Set #1-5)
Bambi and Friends (Set #1-8)
Betty Being Bad - More a magazine about Betty Page
Birdland (Set #1-3)
Box (Set #1-6)
Carmilla The Erotic horror Classic of Female Vampirism (Set #1-6) ($250 price guide for set?)
Cassanova (Set #1-10)
Casanova in Venice
Cherry #4
ClimaXXX (Set #1-4)
Debbie Does Dallas (Set #1-11) plus 5 other single issues
Debbie Does Dallas 3-D
Debbie Does Comics (Set #1-3)
Dirty Pictures - The Naughty Art of the '30s Pulps (Set #1-3)
Erotic Worlds of Frank Thorne (Set of 8 #1-7 + 1A) - $241 price guide for set!
Exotic Fantasy
Female Fantasies (Set #1-4)
Final Taboo (Set #1-2)
Hardball (Set #1-4)
Honor Neeze & the Swedish Stewardess's (Set #1-3)
Hooters (Set #1-6)
Hot Line (Set #1-2)
Hot Tails
Images of Omaha (Set #1-2)
Inferno - Uncensored Horror for Adults (Set #1-4)
IlLUSTrated ClasseX (Set #1-3)
Jungle Love (Set #1-3)
Karate Girl (Set #1-3 + Special) x2
Karate Girl Tengu Wars (Set #1-3) x2
Leather & Lace (Set #1-8) plus 29 single issues
Leather & Lace Velvet Black Book
Libertine (Set #1-2)
Love Letters.. in the hand (Set #1-3)
Lust (Set #1-9)
Madonna Sex Goddess (Set #1-4)
Mara of the Celts (Set #1-4) Plus stand-alone book #1
Melody (Set #1-10)
Rated X (Set #1-3 + Special)
Real Smut (Set #1-6)
Bizarre Sex presents "Omaha" the Cat Dancer
Sapphire (Set #1-9)
Secret Plot (Set #1-8)
Secret Plot Deep - 6 Issues
Sex in the Sinema (Set #1-4)
Sex-Philes (Set #1-17)
Submissive Suzanne (Set #1-2)
Sushi (Set #1-8)
Time Wankers #1 2nd Series
Triple XXX (Set #1-3)
Tumbling Boxes
Triple XXX Women (Set #1-3)
2 Hot Girls on a Hot Summer Night (Set #1-4)
XXX Women (Set #1-3)
Wapon XXX: Origin of the Implants (Set #1-3)
Vampyre's Kiss (Set #1-4) - Aircel
Vampyre's Kiss Book II (Set #1-4)
Vampyre's Kiss Book III (Set #1-4)
Vampyre's Kiss (Set #1-2) - Friendly
The Voyeur (Set #1-4)
Wendy Whitebread, Undercover $lut (Set #1-2)
Wingding Orgy (Set #1-5)

I won't post pictures obviously, but this site had all the covers as I found its prices were pretty close to eBay and Amazon comps if you wondered what they looked like. Just type a title in the search in upper left.

https://atomicavenue.com/atomic/News.aspx

 

@Qalyar OK, that makes sense with the newsstand/direct - but... other than the actual addition of the UPC (or other design like the chart onlyweaknesskryptonite posted a few pages back) is there any difference in the interior, graphics, etc?  If not, then I certainly understand collecting by variety - kind of like collecting by die marriages or die states in coins, but I'm a variety guy so understand.

 

 

[StrikeOutXXX]

Did something a little different today.  I rearranged the DC pile so when I start digging the boxes are somewhat alphabetized.   Since I was handling each, I decided to flip through real quick and pull anything 60 cents or under just to look up by themselves.  Good news is when I do get to the DC Boxes, I'd say almost half is .75 and $1.00 cover prices.  I know that doesn't mean valuable, but better than looking through 1994 things I guess.

Some of these are in rougher shape, some not too bad.  I start looking them up individually later. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These 3 aren't old, but were different enough to ask about.  Might be hard to read, but and not sure how they will zoom, but:

 

TUROK "The Empty Souls" by Fabian Nicieza & Rafael Kayanan - RETAILER REVIEW COPY Shipping in December from: Acclaim Comics, Inc. 275 Seventh Avenue New York, Ny 10001

 

TROUBLEMAKERS #1 by Fabian Nicieza, kenny Martinez & Anibal Rodriguez - RETAILER REVIEW COPY - same shipping info

 

There is also a superman issue with pins taped to the back of package.  Pins say '93 so not old, but different.

 

 

[onlyweaknesskryptonite]

On 5/1/2022 at 11:26 AM, StrikeOutXXX said:

Did something a little different today.  I rearranged the DC pile so when I start digging the boxes are somewhat alphabetized.   Since I was handling each, I decided to flip through real quick and pull anything 60 cents or under just to look up by themselves.  Good news is when I do get to the DC Boxes, I'd say almost half is .75 and $1.00 cover prices.  I know that doesn't mean valuable, but better than looking through 1994 things I guess.

Some of these are in rougher shape, some not too bad.  I start looking them up individually later. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These 3 aren't old, but were different enough to ask about.  Might be hard to read, but and not sure how they will zoom, but:

 

TUROK "The Empty Souls" by Fabian Nicieza & Rafael Kayanan - RETAILER REVIEW COPY Shipping in December from: Acclaim Comics, Inc. 275 Seventh Avenue New York, Ny 10001

 

TROUBLEMAKERS #1 by Fabian Nicieza, kenny Martinez & Anibal Rodriguez - RETAILER REVIEW COPY - same shipping info

 

There is also a superman issue with pins taped to the back of package.  Pins say '93 so not old, but different.

 

 

The superman pins were given away during the death of superman. Each retailer recieved an AD pack that contained 50 of the large black pin and 100 of each of the smaller pins.

[Qalyar]

So, I'll circle back on more of this stuff soon, including some of those adult indies. But a couple quick observations:

• Your copy of Three Dimension Adventures (the Superman 3-D comic) is the 90s era reprint not the 50s book. Sorry. Might still be a $5 sort of book, I'm not sure these days.
• Those two retailer review copies are what they sound like. CGC treats them as distinct books. They slab the Turok one as "Turok the Empty Souls Preview", for example. MCS and some other indexes seem them variant covers of the normal book. Either way, they're not super common, but far from rare. The Turok one might be a $10 book because people like Turok. Less for the Troublemakers.
• Speaking of "rare but not in demand", the two Buster Brown books. I'll save you some work; the top-right one is #15. The one to its left is #16. Most copies of these books are dogs, and in low-grade they are $5-10 books that probably sell very slowly. Mid-grade books (in the 5.0-6.0 range, demand a bit of a premium if and when they actually sell), and actual high grade books (> 8.0, say) are effectively non-existent for most issues in this series. If these seem to be structurally sound, I might post better photos of them in the Please Grade My Comics forum.

Similar quick look at those indies. I'll look more later. Atomic avenue is not... well-founded as a price guide. I'll just note that up front.

• Whoever set that price for Carmilla was drunk. $5 books, maybe $10. Does #1 still have the paper outer wrapper?
• The Frank Thorne series is better; I think those are likely $20-25 books. I might try to move them at a little discount as a collection, though.
• Absolutely go check the printing number on that Cherry #4. Cherry (aka Cherry Poptart) is a highly collected title. However, that issue has -- at least -- 7 printings. First prints are the most desirable.
• Also check the printing on that Bizarre Sex #9 (...presents Omaha the Cat Dancer). First printings are the 2nd appearance of the character, and high grade copies especially have good value. Mid-grade later printings are probably still $20. Images of Omaha #1 is probably a $10-20 book based on condition. #2 is much scarcer and the Cerebrus cover goes a long way; let's say $25-30 here. No reprints to worry about on Images.