Will there be another Hulk 181?

[HarrisonJohn]

Hulk 180 (Wolverine cameo) is the next Hulk 181

[Zonker]

WHAT IF Johah Hex dropped into the DC universe as a Batman villain?

 

I would read this book. I like Batman, but his viallains are getting tired. Joker, Penguin, Joker, Poison Ivy, Joker, Bane, Joker, etc. etc. Jonah Hex is cool in his own way, but this idea you have would be very interesting to read. Of course, Hex would need a little changing, but it could be done.

 

 

Does anyone remember seeing the Batman Animated Series episode where Ras al Ghul is trying to get to an aged Jonah Hex in the nursing home? (Cannot now remember if Ras was rescuing him because Hex was an ally way back when, or was attacking him because they were enemies in the day). So there is a template for making this work. But of course then we'd have to ignore Michael Fleischer's great "Last Jonah Hex Story."

[lighthouse]

'House What can you say about this? Do you sell first printings of TPB's for more than the most recent printing? Do you have customers that request this kind of thing?

 

Chris

 

I haven't read the whole thread here, since I shy away from most any thread with "Hulk 181" in the title... but I search for my userid every couple days to see if I am being summoned...

 

1st printings absolutely sell for more than later printings, of every trade...

 

As soon as a trade gets a 2nd print, I increase the price of the 1st print (or reduce the discount as the case may be). And customers will consistently choose the 1st print when they can. I get around $4 over cover for 1st prints of the Ultimate Spidey trades, and around 1.5x cover for 1st prints of Sandman and Preacher trades.

 

The Miracleman trades are legendary and will remain so until they are fully back in print. But every trade sells for more money if it's a first print. And 1st prints will always sell for at least as much as the cover price of the current printings. That first trade of the Wolverine miniseries had a $4.95 cover price when it came out. It sells easily in the $16-18 range. All those early 80's Marvel trades sell well over cover. I get around $22 for the Captain Britain trade. I get around $25 for the first Dark Phoenix trade... they all do well... First prints of Dark Knight Returns fetch around $25-30...

 

Even a variant dust jacket will fetch more money... When Marvel put out the Stracyznski Spidey stuff in hardcover last year, the back cover of the dust jacket had a major typo on it. They fixed it in a month or two, but the earlier dust jacket version fetches an extra $10 or so...

 

How this relates to Hulk 181, I don't even want to know, and I doubt I will read the thread to find out... but glad I could help...

[harveyfan323]

There will never be another Hulk 181 unless some extremely small press publisher creates a character with a small print run as the first appearance....and then that character becomes wildly successful / featered in feature films, etc. There are too many comic collectors now who store their comics in Mylar right off the shelf and there are less comic collectors entering the hobby because so few kids read comics these days.

[ninanina]

There will never be another Hulk 181 unless some extremely small press publisher creates a character with a small print run as the first appearance....and then that character becomes wildly successful / featered in feature films, etc. There are too many comic collectors now who store their comics in Mylar right off the shelf and there are less comic collectors entering the hobby because so few kids read comics these days.

 

Well, there is the possibility the next Hulk 181 is already out there. We just don't know what it is.

 

Eerie 17?

[harveyfan323]

 

1st printings absolutely sell for more than later printings, of every trade...

 

That's strange because the TPBs are reprints to begin with of course. I've never cared or even noticed the printing of a TPB just for that reason. In fact, I'd rather have a later printing of a TPB if the cover is more appealing. These things are definitely "reading copies" for me and I don't know how you would keep them NM if you wanted to if you wanted to read them because the spine gets bent so easily

 

Back to the Hulk 181 issue, I suppose there may already be another issue like Hulk 181 out there that we don't know about yet, but for some reason I think this is unlikely.

[joe_collector]

Well, there is the possibility the next Hulk 181 is already out there. We just don't know what it is.

 

Eerie 17?

 

That's a good point, and if we ever see rapid price expansion in undiscovered keys, it will be for older books. Now way anything new will ever merit a price in the same zip code as Hulk 181.

[shiverbones]

what if herobear or goon or hellboy or some such indy character takes off into the main stream? That would be a newer book. It certainly is possible.

[joe_collector]

what if herobear or goon or hellboy or some such indy character takes off into the main stream? That would be a newer book. It certainly is possible.

 

You need a special combination of history, nostalgia and exposure to create a key issue like Hulk 181. I really don't see the current environment conducive to this happening.

 

Comics are a mature market, and what we have today is likely what we'll have 20 years from now.

[shiverbones]

yeah nostalgia plays a big part, and thats where the lack of kids in the hobby will hurt. All the bronze i buy is for nostalgia, and the precode horror, well i guess i have nostalgia for the medium of comics themselves...

[FlyingDonut]

actually, Hellboy's first appearance in San Diego Comic Con Comics 2 is not that bad of an example - its VERY hard to find, was a giveaway at the show, and sells RIGHT now for $40-50 every single time, which is a significant premium over guide. Note, BTW, that the LISTED first appearance of Hellboy in Next Men 21 is NOT the first appearance, it came after San Diego Comic Con Comics 2.

[harveyfan323]

I'm not sure if you could compare a San Diego Comic Con limited pressing book to a book like Hulk 181 which was published by the largest comics publisher as part of a regular series. I mean I do see your comparison and it's a good point that the book may increase in value dramatically in the future, but I think the original idea of the thread was if there would be another mainsream book that would be overlooked for years and then explode in value.

 

I doubt it will happen in the forseeable future, just because Wolverine's popularity is largely based on the X-Men phenomenon and popularity which has pretty much made them the most popular comic series/characters in the last 20 years, fairly consistently, based on comic sales at least.

 

There hasn't been any new hot, undiscovered characters in comics in many, many years. Spawn was hot for awhile, but now is not. I'd say Venom was probably the last hot character introduced and that was about 10 years ago. So it doesn't seem like many new characters are going to propel such a book to Hulk 181 heights, so unless some older character becomes mega-hot, I don't see it happening on the horizon.

[rob_react]

I'm not sure if you could compare a San Diego Comic Con limited pressing book to a book like Hulk 181 which was published by the largest comics publisher as part of a regular series. I mean I do see your comparison and it's a good point that the book may increase in value dramatically in the future, but I think the original idea of the thread was if there would be another mainsream book that would be overlooked for years and then explode in value.

 

Since when was Hulk 181 overlooked?

[joe_collector]

Since when was Hulk 181 overlooked?

 

It was overlooked for about 8 months back in the day. More than enough time for some MVS hunters to get their Sheena trophy.

[duncan36]

As far as the obscure DC/Vertigo books being worth anything down the road.

 

From Hell was by a well known acclaimed writer: Alan Moore, had a low print run, AND had a movie done about it, and its $20 and faltering, whopee dooo.

 

Only Vertigo book worth speculating on is Preacher IMO, its got a great story and it could be a mainstream hit. As much as I like Hellblazer, etc. It just wouldnt grab the publics attention if it were to be made into a movie, etc.

[lighthouse]

I think Preacher would be better as a show on HBO... either as a long mini-series or as a 13-episode season (like the rest of their shows).

 

In that environment you could do justice to the material and still have an opportunity to build word of mouth. The Sopranos wasn't a hit right away, and it would have been a mediocre movie. I think Preacher is the same way.

 

I'd kill to see Preacher done in that medium...

[shiverbones]

cool! one less person for me to compete with! And i think Preacher after #4 is one of the worst vertigo investments

[duncan36]

Thats where I think you're going wrong. Its all about how deeply a character worms his way into the publics consciousness, less important is how many copies a book sells. Its worthwhile to note Preacher 4+ sold relatively well, but if Preacher becomes a mega-hit which could happen, if everyone in comicdom and thousands outside of comics suddenlly want Preacher comics volume becomes very relative.

If Hulk #181 sold 100x the number of copies it did, it would still be worth a shedload of money. obviously less but still. Wolverine fueled the demand for Hulk #181 the fact that this book has relatively low volume just adds to the phenomena low volume didnt create it.

The only modern book that is vaguely like Hulk 181 is going to be Amazing Spiderman #300. Especially if Venom stars in a Spiderman flick. Of course saying AS #300 is like IH #181 is kind of like saying a Camaro is a lot like a Porsche. They're a bit similar in some ways but not really.

[shiverbones]

where i think you are going wrong is basing it on popularity of character which is only 1 part of the equation. Comics are changing. There have not been new characters created with any impact since venom, and companies aren't even trying, they are rehashing old standrads. What IS happening in comics is the the CREATOR, particularly the writer, is what people are following. Writers like Ennis, Moore, gaiman, Ellis etc appeal to people more than the characters they write. Preacher is readily available in trades and will most likely always be in print. What about a story he wrote in Flinch#3, or a similarly unreprinted short print book. What about the Obscure Gaiman works? The face of comics is changing, and thus what people look for is changing. I don't expect you to believe me, and i don't want you to believe me either. If anyone is going to make a decent investment in comics, its going to be coming from left field and people will never see it coming until its too late. The past is NOT an indicator of the future, its time to think creatively.

[Aman619]

I dont see any Vertigo books becoming obscenely valuable at any time since all Vertigo titles except Hellblazer end fairly quickly...and dont come back. If a title ends or is cancelled, waves of fans cannot develop over time. Obviously being a hit character in a hit book for 25+ years has made #181 a big-time collectible. Even a movie will only hype a vertigo book temporarily.