EastEnd1 Posted January 28 Author Share Posted January 28 Happy Sunday everyone... looking forward to watching some football later! Before I get into this next box, I wanted to thank everyone for embracing this thread. I really wasn't sure whether this project would carry much interest, but I'm very glad to see that it has. I've been removed from the modern market for a very long time, but it's clear from all the comments and messages I've received that there's quite a diverse appetite for comics from the last thirty years and that is so great to see. To date, I've only been photographing what I thought were the highlights in each box, but going forward, I'll try to post more books. One of the things I was pretty keen on was ordering a diverse range of comics each month, and I'll try to capture that with the postings. I have a few more boxes to get through with just some highlights photographed, but look for broader postings down the road. So with that, let's move on to the Westfield box I received in April 2000... there were definitely some interesting contents in this one! [Oh, and enjoy the games later} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastEnd1 Posted January 28 Author Share Posted January 28 So I couldn't help but crack up when I opened this box and was greeted by a brand spanking new Overstreet Price Guide from the year 2000! Can't believe I actually spent the money to buy it and then never bothered retrieving it! Guess I'd forgotten my order . Anyway, I think the reason I actually ordered the Guide that year were the features celebrating EC's 50th anniversary. Bob Overstreet was one of the main protagonists in bringing the Gaines File Copies to market a few years earlier and I was looking forward to his insights on what I've always thought were the best comics ever produced. Couple of little tidbits from the Guide... Overstreet's annual market report is entitled, "Will 2000 Be An Explosive Year?" The answer turned out to be a resounding YES as its in 2000 that CGC rolled out to the collecting world. In discussing this "new professional grading company", Overstreet accurately predicts, "the certification process almost guarantees an influx of non-comic collector investors" and "it's a distinct probability that certified books will soon bring new record prices for high-grade key issues." And talk about a time capsule, here are some sample NM/9.4 prices (yes, the Guide went up to 9.4 back then)... Amazing Fantasy #15 $25,000, Fantastic Four #1 $19,000, Incredible Hulk #181 $480, and Giant-Size X-Men #1 $490... onlyweaknesskryptonite, gradejunky, speedcake and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastEnd1 Posted January 28 Author Share Posted January 28 Another nice advantage of pre-ordering from Westfield, was that I usually had access to most variant covers. Occasionally I got shut out, but more often than not, it would be available to me. Having said that, variant covers weren't a big focus for me. I thought they were gimmicky. Here's a Dynamic Forces cover Punisher v3#1 that I did order... BA773 and onlyweaknesskryptonite 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastEnd1 Posted January 28 Author Share Posted January 28 Anniversary issues of major titles were almost always ordered... here's an X-Men v2#100... Second Blight, DougC and BA773 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post EastEnd1 Posted January 28 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 28 Now here's a nice find... can't say I'd heard of the Creature Commandos, but turns out this is a new animated series that will be streamed on Max later this year and drawing a bit of buzz. Seems like one of the rarer modern DC #1s floating around out there and has some FOMO attention. At the time, I was ordering at least one copy of just about every DC #1. I might have also been drawn to the Tim Truman story as I'd enjoyed his Grimjack series at First Comics and Scout at Eclipse... gradejunky, BA773, ADAMANTIUM and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastEnd1 Posted January 28 Author Share Posted January 28 Here's a DC book I did buy in multiples... I always loved the gothic horror of Swamp Thing (and the other DC bronze horror books). Probably held some nostalgia for me from sitting next to my babysitter every afternoon watching Dark Shadows when I was a very young kid. I was big on the Vertigo titles too... I enjoyed the more complex, adult storylines... onlyweaknesskryptonite, the authority, BA773 and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post EastEnd1 Posted January 28 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 28 And my final one for today... I am pretty good at handling horror movies. The last one that got under my skin though was The Blair Witch Project... something about all that freaky stuff going on in the dark woods... weird rock piles, twigs inexplicably attached together. So when I saw this in the catalog, it was a natural to order... Second Blight, BA773, gradejunky and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougC Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 On 1/28/2024 at 12:32 PM, EastEnd1 said: Anniversary issues of major titles were almost always ordered... here's an X-Men v2#100... Nice, this is one of the Yu variant covers. I had a subscription during this time so received all 8 different ones, I wonder if the dealer just included what ever was on hand instead of the base cover. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastEnd1 Posted January 30 Author Share Posted January 30 On 1/30/2024 at 8:39 AM, DougC said: Nice, this is one of the Yu variant covers. I had a subscription during this time so received all 8 different ones, I wonder if the dealer just included what ever was on hand instead of the base cover. Thanks for pointing that out. My recollection is that the Westfield order form typically listed all the different variant covers associated with an issue and you could order which ever ones you wanted in as many quantities as you wanted. Sometimes there were limitations on the quantities. I don't think they typically sent a variant cover in place of the regular issue without me ordering the variant. On occasion, there would be a delay in receiving a particular comic either because of publisher delays or because Westfield was shorted by their distributor. It's possible that i had already received the regular issue and then they sent this one later... though to be honest, I'm not familiar with Francis Yu and I'd be surprised if I'd ordered his variant and not some of the other more familiar artists. By this time, I was getting very skeptical of variant covers and if there were eight different versions for this issue, I most likely wouldn't have ordered any variants. So it remains a mystery! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastEnd1 Posted January 30 Author Share Posted January 30 Ok, looks like I have a bit of clean up to do. I missed this X-Men issue when I was posting the January 2001 box. I also don't seem to have taken a photo of it raw... but here it is graded for completeness... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastEnd1 Posted January 30 Author Share Posted January 30 I made a similar screw up with the April 2000 box, missing this Spawn #93. Have to say, these Greg Capullo Spawn covers are awfully nice... newshane, onlyweaknesskryptonite and mysterymachine 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastEnd1 Posted January 30 Author Share Posted January 30 (edited) It also looks like I neglected to take pictures of the next two boxes, May 2000 and September 2000, in their entirety. Senility is kicking in! But I do have scans of the issues I sent in for grading. There were three from the May 2000 box. The first is this Avengers v3#28. George Perez is my all-time favorite Avengers artist, going all the way back to the late 1970s when I first discovered his work. He'd often make appearances at a local comic shop then and draw sketches. Wish I'd picked up a few! Edited January 30 by EastEnd1 the authority and onlyweaknesskryptonite 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastEnd1 Posted January 30 Author Share Posted January 30 The next one is this terrific Steve Dillon variant cover Punisher v3#2. Doesn't get more "Punisher" than this one! the authority and onlyweaknesskryptonite 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastEnd1 Posted January 30 Author Share Posted January 30 And finally for May 2000, this fabulous Batman: Dark Victory #6. Think I mentioned this earlier, the Tim Sale covers on this series are just amazing... obviously heavily influenced by Dark Knight legend Frank Miller. From what I've seen so far, I think I likely ordered this entire series. Tough 9.8s too with the black hard-stock covers... onlyweaknesskryptonite, BA773 and ADAMANTIUM 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastEnd1 Posted January 30 Author Share Posted January 30 The September 2000 box yielded only two grading candidates. The first is this Spawn #99 with yet another super-nice Greg Capullo cover... newshane and onlyweaknesskryptonite 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastEnd1 Posted January 30 Author Share Posted January 30 The second can only be described with one word... PAMELA ADAMANTIUM and onlyweaknesskryptonite 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post EastEnd1 Posted January 30 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 30 So that's it for everything I've received back from CGC so far. Will be taking a short break until I get back the next group of twenty books... should be shipping out in the next day or two so won't be too long. greggy, onlyweaknesskryptonite, ADAMANTIUM and 2 others 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F For Fake Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 This is a blast, please continue! Azkaban and ADAMANTIUM 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastEnd1 Posted January 31 Author Share Posted January 31 On 1/31/2024 at 3:26 PM, F For Fake said: This is a blast, please continue! Thank you... will do! speedcake, F For Fake and Azkaban 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BA773 Posted February 17 Share Posted February 17 (edited) Amazing thread, you have my encouragements! I had an idea, as a great DC collecter who try to collect almost everything between 1987 to 2011 i tought it could be interesting to make you a list to permise you to show the best books and send these ones to cgc rather than other ones if you find them. What do you think? Edited February 17 by BA773 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
