PeterPark

First appearances come out first. Intention doesn't matter when it hits newsstands later. It's Venom 26

take

This means 26 is still the 1st appearance.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find signatures on any of them...

I picked up some Thisavros with a similar festival ribbon theme to the CL 25 - inspiring cover:

This reminded me of Fuje's boy meets girl work:

I don't think it is rare, per se, but the book has ballooned in value so much that people are willing to submit lesser condition copies. As the value of a book goes up, the average grade of a graded copy falls.

I see you stocking up on other newsies over there too

That's Hulk 162

There appears to be no shortage of this book. And I have yet to see any premium even for early appearance of Virus. I suppose time will tell.

Are these all auctions? There is more to value than CGC grade but anyone can put a comic up at a buy it now and sell for less than it goes for. Maybe that same copy was auctioned later and shows up here twice. And some auctions are from more reputable sellers than others. There are real going prices for common, desirable books just like there are deals and asking prices that are unrealistically high. You would need to sift through those to get the "actual" value a rational person should pay.

Don't buy signed. Buy unsigned and get it signed for yourself. The signature is a memento of the in-person interaction you can't buy on eBay. That said, if ya just gotta have it, go with someone deceased, and aim high. Stan Lee signed everything so his signature is not rare. I would also, personally, look for people who died before CGC because anyone who was witnessed probably signed too many things to be that interesting. Look for Steve Ditko but, as with anything, beware of forgeries.

Why doesn't CGC include remaindered contents of rebound Golden Age comics? Oftentimes, they would be valued differently when contents are random but many I have looked for do not say, for example, contains: Canteen Kate 3, Authentic Police Cases 23, and Pictorial Romances 16. Is it considered unreliable to trace contents? Or is this just an oversight or lack of knowledge?

The GRAY!!! THE GRAY!!!!