Randall Dowling

That's a very pretty copy!

Respectfully, Greg, I disagree with your analysis. Claiming scarcity based upon the intersection of 2 variables (newsstand & 9.8) is the end stage of hyper speculation. The fact is there are (according to your always excellent charts) over 400 newsstand editions in 9.6 or better. That number goes up well over a thousand for 9.4 or better. And there are over 10,000 certified copies in 9.4 or better. Any scarcity one perceives for this book is either artificial or imagined. I can't think of anyone else that has your skills at graphic data presentation in collecting comics. But I think you're bullishness is misplaced. My recommendation is to get out while you can. I know we disagree about this and that's fine. I hope you don't get burned.

Very cool book, David!

That Stan, he really knew how to turn a phrase! Interesting thread.

Man, the number of books I'd rather have for 20k is unbelievably long. This thing is really out there right now. This is not buying time, this is selling time. Lock in your gains and get out. Having watched this sort of thing play out in the early 90s, I can tell you that once the first few speculators start selling their multitude of copies, the price drops really, really fast. You can try and weather the storm, but it may take 20 or 30 more years to get back to this place, if it ever does.

There was a day when I was more attracted to novelty and sensation but this is just where I've landed. To me, the new labels are purely a way to increase volume of work for CGC. And it's been very successful doing so. Some really enjoy it and that's fine for them. It's just not for me.

There are zero books that I would purchase for the CGC label. The comics and mags are all I care about. Not a competition with others for highest graded. Not a third party graphic. Not a signature verification. Not a number. Not any kind of notation. I've cracked out more books than I can count. The slabs are a means to an end. If I can find it raw for the same price, I'd rather buy it raw. The books are all that matter to me. The covers, the stories, the character appearances, the history, the period styles, different publishers, different genres. And did I mention the artwork? Especially the artwork. Everything else is a distraction from that. Just my

Dang! That's a smoking deal. Somebody needs to grab these up!

This is just your own personal bias, which you're completely entitled to. But that's all it is. FWIW, I think she deserves more of a chance than you're giving her. I can think of a lot of bad actors and actresses over the last few decades. I'm talking cringeworthy performances. And she doesn't come close to making that list.

Oh there's a better one. And it's also by Frazetta. Just a little different in all the right ways...

I completely agree. Having seen it in a few different films, I'm absolutely smitten with Denis Villeneuve's vision of the future. It's sublime and poetic and visually lush. I had my doubts about Timothy Chalomet but I think he performs very well with the correct direction. And Oscar Isaac does an excellent job as always. What's more, he's managed to take what was thickly layered and nuanced novel (and I'm not just referring to the thickness of the paperback!) and distill it down to a strong film presentation presenting the core concepts with excellent clarity. Can't wait for the next part.

My favorite part of this story is the happy ending. Well done, sir!

Roy Thomas gets my vote. So many classic stories that meant a lot to me growing up.

Yes. And I'm beginning to think it's a feature, not a bug. Try searching for any number of threads that called attention to some of the grading issues over the last 15 years. Best of luck.

Just tried. Nothing there either.

Wow. This is pretty bad. You can no longer search for older threads on the boards anymore with google. If it produces any results, doing so links to an error page. But many searches are just coming back without results. A great deal of the value of these boards was the immense knowledge base contained in all of the threads. Including warnings of bad actors in the comic world. If this is the way it is from now on, it's a substantial loss in value.

What's really freaking me out is that the second you posted this, it was a link to a thread here on the boards. I refreshed and it changed into a link to their facebook page. Now it's back to linking here.

Wolverine 50 and Marvel Comics Presents 90. Went strong on both, got punished badly on both.

I also had assumed that without warning, this was another multi-day change that was in progress. I just happened to check the homepage and try that link and was surprised to find they've been up for a while. This may sound harsh, but I'm beginning to think that how this latest change was handled is a fairly equivalent analog to how much the management and staff at CGC value this community. It seems to me that we don't matter much to them and we should feel lucky they provide this environment. They may well feel that their business wouldn't be impacted at all if these message boards didn't exist. If I valued this community, I would post a large message banner for a week before letting users know when they were implementing a change and when they expected to be back up.

This sounds like someone pulled something if the inner sleeve appears open as well. I doubt CGC would just accept the grade and reholder if the book can be removed and replaced in the current cracked slab.

And the fact that the book has value in it's current condition. To be clear, there are times where it makes sense to do all this work (preferably by skilled and experienced preservationists, not hacks). But the calculation should be considered accurately and not just default to putting every book through the ringer. Unfortunately, everyone wants to treat comics like scratch-offs these days.

Although pressing may improve the appearance of the book, I doubt it would be worth it given the other issues with the book. Frankly, it's not the sort of book I'd spend more money on- either trying to "improve" it or grade it.

Mine too. I think that guy Frazetta is going to be big one day.

Creepy 11 is a big boy book!

I just got my books from @nochips and, man, I wish I'd purchased more... these are very cool in hand with black and white interiors and nice glossy covers.