GeeksAreMyPeeps

On 1/11/2024 at 11:41 PM, RockMyAmadeus said:

https://www.cgccomics.com/certlookup/4328092001/

 

Could be worse; they could have swapped the grade and the issue number.

On 1/12/2024 at 6:09 PM, Lobstrosity said:

Yes, one and the same

Cool! A fellow Gladiator.

On 1/12/2024 at 9:52 AM, Lobstrosity said:

Some of you may remember I first published my article about Spawn's First True Appearance a couple years back.
Today, I've just published a gargantuan update, with 215+ scans and photos, and even a checklist of every Spawn appearance before Spawn #1 was released.

The only way to do the research thoroughly is to go through all of the comics industry publications from 1991-1992 page by page looking for any reference to Spawn...so that's exactly what I've done!

In doing so, I've created an in-depth timeline so that you can follow along day-by-day as Spawn was revealed to the public. I've even created a (free!) checklist so collectors can keep track of which ones they have.

Hope everyone interested enjoys the read, and of course, if anyone has any additional info, please be in touch!

The article and checklist can be found on SpawnWorld.com as the top news item.

I'd argue that none of these are "appearances" in the traditional sense of the word as used in comics collecting, but appreciate all the work.

Any chance you're the same Lobstrosity that plays on Conquer Club?

Typically, licensing agreements stipulate that the owner of the IP retains the rights to any and all characters created for the stories generated for the IP, so it's entirely possible that WB/DC would have a case.

One notable exception to the typical agreement is the Valiant characters, due to Shooter's reationship with the owners of the original Gold Key characters.

On 1/3/2024 at 7:21 PM, Dr Zen said:

 

I don't know why you'd make a point of drawing attention to the fact that you still have some valuable books that weren't taken still in a storage facility that's been hit a few times (although I do question some of his value claims).

I saw a set sell for $270 recently, so 200 seems like a good deal, but it all depends on the condition, of course, especially of the most desirable covers.

On 12/30/2023 at 4:25 AM, AbsoluteCarnage said:

Your favorite super hero's villain in another comic book. fighting another character........... but why???????????????? That's the thread

I'm probably the only one that hasn't seen this one but it's a Liefeld / Mcfarlane and I never saw it  but it's a damn good first example. Vulture from ASM . 

 

 

 

The whole point of that crossover was villains going after each other's nemeses, so no surprise we're seeing a bunch of Acts of Vengeance covers in this thread.

On 12/31/2023 at 5:58 PM, Chip Cataldo said:

...and Larsen's Venom is even worse!

McFarlane was a tough act to follow. Larsen *is* responsible for one distinctive aspect of Venom's appearance; the big, slobbering tongue.

Since the other 2 Joker-wearing-Superman's-outfit covers have been posted, might as well include this one too:

On 12/30/2023 at 9:49 PM, Silver Surfer said:

Mmmh can't say I agree with of lot of this. A Qualified IH 181 in 8.5 appears to have been swamped out into s 9.0 blue label and that's just what we know of. Based on this guys MO if he is making 2,3, 5 times his money I think he would be cranking out as many books as possible. Grading fees are nothing considering that one $15K scam sale could probably pay for the next 100 submissions. Didn't someone point out that just one submission, in 2019, had 25 high grade books in it (have no idea how they figure that out) so assume that there could be thousands of books affected. CGC might try to scare this guy with a PI or lawyer letters but really can they prove that he manipulated the books himself, not likely. So unless someone with first hand knowledge flips, nothing will happen to this guy other than a direct ban of their services. 

That's easy; if you know one cert number, you can just plug the other 24 books in the sequence into CGC's search feature to see what the other 24 books and grades are.

On 12/28/2023 at 11:20 AM, ygogolak said:

They are talking about store variants. Not ratio variants.

I get that. In the part you bolded, I was referring to the fact that often, there will be a large number of retailers that have their own exclusive cover available for a specific issue. It's less special if there are 20 different covers available, but I can only get those covers by patronizing a specific shop. I think the cost of shipping to get all of the store variants is one of the things that keeps demand down.

On 12/26/2023 at 2:42 PM, shadroch said:

Do you think that will also be the case ten years from now? Today, people pay premiums for comics with ad supplements and different price tags. Who is to say that future collectors might value small print run copies more than mass-produced ones?  If you'd told me in 1992 that later printings of some books would sell for a small fortune, I'd have laughed, but that is the market today.  A fifth printing of Superman 18 sells for many multiples of the going rate for the original.  Many DCU logo books sell for many times that of the originals. 

The difference I see is that store exclusives have very limited availability, unlike the other books that you mention, which weren't really intended to be a limited collectible. It might be different if the number of exclusives was limited to one retailer per issue, but that's not the case. Often, a book will have exclusive covers available for a large number of retailers. I think any exclusive that holds demand down the line will be because the content of the cover is highly desirable, whether it's because of the cover artist, or a first cover appearance of a character that takes off later, etc.

On 11/7/2023 at 10:48 PM, GeeksAreMyPeeps said:

I sent in a batch of 25 books in May. When I got them back, I had to send 10 back for ME. All of them had cracks in one side of the case, in the same spot, suggesting there was some sort of mechanical issue with their encapsulator that was perhaps applying too much pressure? All of these except one was an oversized book, with the thicker case. 40% failure rate on this submission.

When I got back the ME submission, 8 of those 10 had various issues, including different cracks, or debris encapsulated with the book. 80% failure rate on those books.

When I got back the second ME submission, 4 of the 8 had some severe scuffing on the case, and another was cracked. I usually let a little scuffing go, but these were 9.8 books, and the scuffing made it look like the book was damaged or dirty. 62.5% failure rate on those.

Just got back those 5. 3 of the 5 have plastic shards inside. One of those shard is more than an inch long. Not sure how you miss those. So those will be going back. 60% failure rate.

If the trend holds. I'll need to send 2 of the 3 books back again, and then 1 of those 2 the next time. Then I guess it's a coin flip whether that one has no issues.

FWIW, I got the three books back, and no need to send any back again. So we capped at 26MEs for the 25 books.

On 12/24/2023 at 2:49 AM, RockMyAmadeus said:

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/375129493959

 

That's insane.

On 12/1/2023 at 11:52 AM, fastballspecial said:

Only 2nd set of these books I have ever found.

These are almost as tough as Wise Son.

On 11/30/2023 at 4:41 PM, Bart Allen said:

Static #1 (Platinum Edition) CGC 9.6 signed by Dwayne McDuffie 

P.S. Great books, @GeeksAreMyPeeps

I'll take it!

On 11/19/2023 at 4:10 PM, Cat said:

I think I've found the solution. I've been hearing a lot of buzz for this storyline lately, and I could make it easy for people to have the full set ready for them to go in one transaction. Pay once, get the full story, doesn't get any better than that. No contacting different stores, "oh do you have part 4, oh great, oh but no part 5, damn", and all that. I'll be your one-stop shop. 

So please, next time you hear people talking about Extreme Destroyer, point them my way. 

Toonces, the cat who invested in comics.

If you're short on money, 129 is going to be the toughest. Then 101, which is 2/3 the price, but also is pretty scarce in 9.8-graded copies.

Submitted these at NYCC:

On 11/14/2023 at 8:54 PM, valiantman said:

I just went to this page, copied the top couple hundred books into Excel and sorted by the CGC 9.8 column. http://www.cgcdata.com/cgc/cgctop/

It's crazy that in the top 50 books submitted, there's 1 indy (Spawn), 3 DC (Killing Joke, Omega Men 3 & Batman Adventures 12), and the other 46 are all Marvel.

On 11/13/2023 at 5:47 PM, MAR1979 said:

^ Thanks man. Is the listing only attainable via the API?

Happy to report I own none of the top6

I've got 7 of the top 10, and 14 of the top 20. Including a bunch of multiples.

On 11/13/2023 at 8:39 AM, MAR1979 said:

Meant books with highest/most 9.8 pop counts

It's probably Spider-man 1 (Silver Edition); almost 11K. X-Men 1 is close, but the census doesn't differentiate between the 4 connecting covers.

On 11/12/2023 at 6:42 PM, fastballspecial said:

Alot of War and Warlord requests I could not meet. Oddball requests for Howard the Duck and Squirrel Girl. Sold several Lobo and Savage Dragon singles in the 100s/200s for Dragon. Sold a few Hack Slash which surprised me.

Is that the DC Warlord character, or something else?

I think the random requests just shows that there are still people out there trying to complete runs of whatever it is that appeals to them. 

I am human because I do the human things like go to the football and buy windshield wipers at a store.

An article with 72 examples:

https://vocal.media/geeks/super-smash-covers-72-times-comic-book-logos-got-absolutely-demolished