Getoutandstayout

Yeah, I still haven't figured that one out yet. Hulk #180 is Wolverine's first brief appearance, but it's #181 that everyone clamors to get, driving up the price. Similarly, the first brief appearance of Galactus/SS is FF#48, yet their first full appearance is in #49, yet it lags far behind #48 in price.

I admit that Hulk #181 is red-hot right now, but it's waay down the list compared to Silver Age keys (like SA keys compared to GA keys). It's just too common a comic, regardless of Wolverine's popularity. True, Hulk 181 is in high demand, but also in high supply whereas, say, JIM #83 or TOS #39 are high demand, but low supply. It's why I like collecting the pre-hero Atlas comics; it's the thrill of the hunt. They're hard to find in decent condition, even on eBay - much less your LCS.

Any pre-hero Atlas in a 9.0 grade is a worthy addition to anyone's collection.

Wow. Where did you get these? Anyway, yeah - selling a 9.4 of this copy right before Disney finalizes the sale of Fox/Marvel properties.... Because you know what's going to happen; within a few weeks/months of the finalization, Disney is going to announce a new X-Men movie in the works, and the demand for this book is going to catch on fire. Within a year an $800 copy will be going for $1500, and I don't want to think what it'll do with a high grade copy.

I concur that this is a key book - but considering the popularity of GOTG movies, I don't see it skyrocketing in price like, say, Wolverine or the new X-Men has. I'm not sure why the demand isn't the same.

I thought that about Hulk 181 a year or two back. But it keeps going up and up, thanks to Hugh Jackman. Now if Disney can just bring back the massive Colossus from Deadpool 1 and add in equally amazing X-Men characters, GS X-Men 1 will explode, too.

I know that the X-men movies have been around a while. I thought they were OK (certainly better than the first two Fantastic Four movies and the solo Hulk movies), but they don't match the caliber of the films that Disney/Marvel have been putting out since the first Iron Man in 2008. And I think this is what people are looking forward to. It's too bad that the Russo Brothers have decided to move on from superhero movies. I thought Colossus in the first Deadpool movie was beyond awesome. 7 1/2 ft. tall and massive. That's what audiences want to see. So different from the slender, much shorter, punching bag Colossus created by Fox Studios. If Disney can improve on Wolverine (yes, I think it can even be done without Hugh Jackman) like Colossus was improved in Deadpool, it's going to really fire up the audiences and leave them wanting more. And you know what that always does to first appearances in comics. Oh, btw, look what came in the mail for me this week. I was finally able to replace what I had to sell last year.

I was finally able to reacquire GS X-Men #1. I had to sell my other copy last year for financial reasons. I used part of my income tax refund to get another. I went from a 5.5 to a 4.5 - but I'm just glad to have one again before Marvel Studios announces a Disney-produced X-Men movie in the works. It's funny - I had to spend an extra $200 for this one over the 5.5, and it was a full point lower than the one I bought a year ago. This comic is really rising in price fast.

I recently joined the CGC Registry under the "free" option, and I wanted to check up on some individual comics. However, I only seem to be able to search sets or runs. Is this a limitation of the free option, or am I just not looking in the right place?

Great mega-key acquisition! Well done.

I agree. The best way to insure popularity is to get the interest in the next upcoming generation. Disney is doing that with the teens and pre-teens through the movies and the sequels. I don't see this happening with the rock groups of the sixties and seventies, although they continue to be played on the radio stations. As these kids get older and get well-paying jobs, they're going to want to get these comics that introduced them to their favorite heroes, which will continue to drive up the prices.

Yeah, I guess there are always exceptions out there. I'm not really an X-Men fan, but I do like to grab keys that I think are about to do really well. I've had my eyes on this one for a while now, and it's been doing nothing but going up in the two years that I've been watching it. I need to grab it now before the Disney deal is finalized. I think that the big winners off that will be this book and FF #48. I would have gone after that one first, but I already own it (albeit a restored copy ), and I needed to replace the GS X-Men #1 that I had to sell last year while it was still affordable for me.

This has got to be one of the major Marvel keys to have, Silver or Bronze - the introduction of the new X-Men. The Deadpool movie introduced a Colossus worthy of the movies, and I think that Disney will soon be exploring the new X-Men on the big screen after final negotiations are over with Fox. I feel that once Disney/Iger/Feige hints that an X-Men movie is in the works, we'll see this issue go red-hot like Hulk #181 has (last summer, when that issue was selling for $1,500, I thought I'd wait for it to cool down; now it's at $2,000). I happened to buy a GS X-Men #1 about a year ago for $550, and a copy of the same grade on eBay today will cost me $900. IMHO, I don't think a year from now that it'll be available for under $1200 in anything above a 4.0. Does anyone think my outlook isn't accurate?

I've been on the lookout for a cover I really like - Journey Into Mystery #25. Well, today there were three for sale on eBay. BUT - although the guide shows them to be worth around $200 at a mid-grade 5.0, one is listed over $2K, one over $3K, and the other over $4K! What the h*ll?! Why not just ask $500K for them? If it's only worth $200, I'm not going to list it for $3K and expect to get any bites at all. They're asking JIM #1 prices for it, not #25. Or am I missing something here? Estimated pricing levels for Issue # 25 $1,575.00 Gem Mint 10.0 $1,365.00 Mint 9.9 $1,312.50 Mint - 9.8 $1,155.00 Near Mint + 9.6 $1,050.00 Near Mint 9.4 $1,018.50 Near Mint - 9.2 $997.50 Very Fine/Near Mint 9.0 $945.00 Very Fine + 8.5 $892.50 Very Fine 8.0 $735.00 Very Fine - 7.5 $577.50 Fine/Very Fine 7.0 $420.00 Fine + 6.5 $315.00 Fine 6.0 $220.50 Fine - 5.5 $199.50 Very Good/Fine 5.0 $178.50 Very Good + 4.5 $157.50 Very Good 4.0 $136.50 Very Good - 3.5 $115.50 Good/Very Good 3.0 $94.50 Good + 2.5 $73.50 Good 2.0 $63.00 Good - 1.8 $52.50 Fair/Good 1.4 $31.50 Fair 1.0 $5.25 Poor .5

Yeah - my concern is that if it has to be scraped off, the 3.0 would turn into a 2.0 or something (although I've been 2.0s with parts of their cover torn off). I really don't want a highly desirable comic in my collection below a 3.0. Would I be better off keeping this purple label as-is, or selling it and spending an additional $500 to get the same grade as a blue label? Not that I have $500 lying around. Then factor in the cost of the un-restoration work + regrading by CGC again. Is a purple label really like the mark of the beast for a comic?

I recently got back into comic collecting two years ago and was totally ignorant of the label coloring guide. I bought a 3.0 FF #48 online that was a purple label - d'oh! I only paid about $200 for it. I think there was a little color touch-up. Anyway, is there a way to undo this in order to get a blue label from CGC? If not, I may sell it and take the money I get and put down on a blue label 3.0 (what, $800 now?)

Very nice. Either you got these a while back when they were still relatively cheap, or your budget is much larger than mine.

LOL - yeah, maybe it's a blessing in disguise. Grab 'em while they're being largely ignored by the masses and speculators.

I know that everyone should ultimately collect what he enjoys - I get that. But I'm still a little bummed out that incredibly hard-to-find pre-hero comics like Tales To Astonish #4 or Journey Into Mystery #50 (or any of a hundred other PMHs), for example, don't sell for a fraction of what, say, an Iron Man #55 (1st Thanos) or Hulk #181 (1st Wolverine) does. I can go to a big show and see dozens of copies of both of the latter, while I may not see a single copy of either of the former. I just think that moderate demand + extremely low supply should trump high demand + high supply. I know the open market dictates prices, but it's still leaving me scratching my head in puzzlement over it.

Wow. No wonder it's still for sale. Funny how he put that random $889.00 price tag on it.

Looks like there's a mid-grade TTA #4 out there for sale right now..... Too bad I don't have the cha-ching for it. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Tales-to-Astonish-4-July-1959-Marvel-CGC-6-5-Universal-OW-W-Case-Perfect/263963270273?hash=item3d756fdc81:g:6cAAAOSwgGBbrnLo:rk:2:pf:0

So what's supposed to be the grandaddy of hard-to-find pre-hero books?

A pre-hero, hard-to-find copy. Been after this one for a while now.

Just recently picked up this copy online. It's one of my favorite pre-hero covers, and I've been looking out for it for two years now. It's incredibly hard to find in any condition, and the few I did see were far out of my price range. When I saw this one, and that it was a decent grade AND in my price range - well, I'd be stupid NOT to buy it, right?

How did you manage getting an X-Men 94 in there with all that other at only $50.00?