ORRGO THE UNCONQUERABLE

On 8/26/2022 at 4:51 PM, scburdet said:

Just going on comps, I'd say this looks at least a couple grades better than a 4.5 I have. Unless I'm missing some defects, I'm at 5.5±0.5

That would be sweet if it’s a 5/6! Thanks! 

6!

I feel like this is probably a 4? 
what do the pros on this chat feel? 
I bought on an eBay bid for $90 which I think is a fantastic steal as it’s probably worth around $400-$500 in this condition. 
paged could be whiter but it’s complete and presents nice.

what do you guys think? Please grade my FF 20! Thank you! 

On 8/10/2022 at 9:15 PM, grendelbo said:

4.0

Thanks for posting.

Thank you sir. So many of my really early kirby FF are like 1.8’s it’s nice to have a better looking book. I paid $226 in a bid, seems like a good price from what I can tell it’s going for higher in that grade. 

Thanks everyone! Seems consensus is 3.5-4 ! I appreciate! 

Thanks! 

Most my silver age FF 1-50 are pretty beat up, this one looks nice. Anyone give me a ballpark grade? 4? 5? 
 

thank you! 

Bought a fantastic set of the black panther Kirby run. They all came bubble wrapped and in new Mylar with boards. Better than the loads and loads I’ve bought off eBay. The comics were in the condition he listed or even better. 
 

Also of note I bid on these items on the cgc forum and he stated it ended at 10pm I was the highest bidder by that time. 2 higher offers came through after mine but past 10- he stuck by his word an honored the my bid.

big points for integrity! 
 

great seller. 

Wait- did I win? 

Dang 200? But 225 with shipping. Looks like I’ll have to buy on eBay for $250

Weee!

$180

Give me the Kirby! 

11 minutes ago, lizards2 said:

They look like they are at least worth $3.50.  Canadian.

?? I hope Odin strikes you down with a thunder bolt.  This is classic Kirby!

$160

140

110

70

8 hours ago, NoMan said:

many major dealers/auction houses have been in communication with me regarding the shocking decline of AF15s. No one's really sure what to do at this point but unload unwanted product (in this case AF15) and stocking up on what is selling: variants. Believe me, I'm not happy about it either. But variants are selling. Like Mad. Again, go to Frank and Sons in Los Angeles and collectors are literally fighting over the latest 1:5000 variant and than I see people offer crazy money to those people top let them go. .

It's called progress and it's not always easy. Who wants to buy an original Tom Mix doll? Nobody, that's who. Pretty soon the kids aren't gonna know the importance of AF15 (heck if they don't already) and you hoarding yours for years and years ain't gonna help in your sideways strategy of "cashing out" ain't gonna work if you wait much longer. I predict in less then 10 years they stop becoming "wall books."

Oy. Variants are the new foil glow in the dark covers with trading cards we had back in the speculator boom of the 90’s. We’re you around then?

the first appearance of spider man is always going to be a huge book worth a big chunk of change. Just like all the silver age marvel keys. 
 

manufactured scarcity is a fools game. You can maybe make quick cash flipping these stupid variants but in the long term they’ll end up in the dollar bins. Just like all the 90’s “collectors item issues” I don’t care if there’s only 40 books of a “venomized” cover. No one will care soon enough and all the people going crazy for variants will have gotten burnt out.  
 

like I said, enjoy some short term flipping but in the long term these bazillion variants are a joke in terms of real value. 

On 6/30/2015 at 2:27 PM, Reno McCoy said:

Thanks for the comments so far. I think honing in on a specific grade is crucial. As is making sure I'm collecting the right title and issue numbers.

 

I'm still thinking that I want to collect some sort of run, but the more I look into the drek of the 90s, and the fact that there are many crossovers that I'd feel obligated to collect, I'm becoming unsure about the "full run" idea (even if the full run was never planned to go back to the first issue). This plan might need to be whittled down to something more like focusing on the first book I bought for a particular title to the year I stopped reading as a youngster (sometime around '92).

 

But a mini-run doesn't sound as cool as a full run, and the start/end dates/numbers feels almost arbitrary instead of being something cool to track down.

 

But yeah, the '90s...if I'm already unsure about buying that mess, imagine what I'd be thinking if I were spending money on those books.

Just about done with my full FF run. 
1-416 heroes reborn 1-12 vol 3 1-70 500-588 600-659. 
Really annoying the reboots and re numbering’s.

I’m missing vol 1 #1 ,#4 #5 big keys and very expensive so I’ll save until I can grab them.

my favorites are the Kirby’s till #102. 
not too concerned with grades as long as the cover looks decent. Only one that is beat to hell is #48 which I might upgrade. 
 

collecting full runs is tough when there’s an artist writer combo you don’t like.  I honestly don’t find too many people buying full runs of titles. 

On 4/22/2019 at 12:29 AM, FSF said:

No it doesn't seem strange.  The notion that it is "ludicrous" is way overstating things. It's a comic book, not the Manhattan Project. 

As for conveying the work to the artist, do you really think Marvel or DC are going to spend time reaching out to all of the potential shops and cover artists even as stories might change as they're writing them.  I'm not sure if you ever worked for a "real" company but businesses do not operate that way. Never have and never will.

Of all the things to complain about the comic world, which jumped the shark over a decade ago, that would be way down on my list of things to worry about.  Candidly, I don't really read any new comics.  Lots of people don't but want to book for cover art.  It is the only thing one sees when it is bagged and boarded and immensely important.

I'm not sure why you are extending this to society in general.  You sound like a tired old guy talking about the "good old days."  Nothing is more tiresome on the internet.

 

Marvel and DC had cover art that reflected the story for years, and still do.  not sure what you’re taking about. 
 

I personally HATE “realistic” covers. Comics is one if the few mediums where you can have stuff that looks insane or silly and it works. No need to make it DULL or mimic movies, that’s just handicapping one of comics strengths. 
 

not only do I hate realistic covers I hate covers that have nothing to do with the story and I hate variants. I bailed out of collecting/reading in the 90’s when everything had a bagged trading card or a silver embossed cover. It’s all geared toward dirks who think they’ll make money. All of those comics are worthless now and these will be too. I hate the whole “flipping” section of comic fans. These are the individual_without_enough_empathys who go and buy every jack Kirby eternals when Feige announces a movie coming. There’s no love of comics it’s a love of money, if they like money that much there’s much more in the stock market. 
 

anything geared toward flipping or collecting not reading I hate and variants/pin ups/realism is all that.  Honestly they are the new 90’s garbage all over again. When this phase passes no one will be rabidly looking for these stupid variants or eighth first issue.

I’m 42 and started collecting at 9 years old in 86. I read from 86-91.  I still buy FF to complete my collection but all I buy now are silver and bronze. 
 

I buy jack Kirby 70’s captain America to read and they are all under $5 bucks. I buy 70’s marvel two in one, same thing - $3-$5 bucks. 
In a perfect world people who be obsessively collecting these books with fun stories and dynamic Energetic visual storytelling. I try modern comics but it’s all pretentious, overly clever or laden with pop culture winks and is mostly people in apartments talking about relationships, if not that it’s bad modern writers who have horrible takes on characters they don’t understand like Tom kings Batman or the new dr doom series.

anyways someone feel free to post old man Simpson yelling at clouds since that’s the defacto response to something like this. 

5 hours ago, Chuck Gower said:

I used to be able to get some amazing deals on purple label books...

This was listed for $1200 i bartered down to $800. I opened it up and it looks great to me.  For that price and a nice looking #2 I’m happy 

12 minutes ago, october said:

Well, buying a book with undisclosed trimming is generally considered a bad thing, but YMMV. 

And full disclosure, I buy off of eBay almost every day. 

I’m kind of going round and round on this— Assuming it had trimming I bought a really good looking FF #3 for $320. People are acting like I bought it for $1600 or more and got ripped off.  The worst case scenario is I bought it for that much THINKING it’s perfect and I try and SELL it for multiples of what I bought it for — then a buyer points out it’s trimmed and it’s “only” worth what I paid.  I’d argue even then that a slightly trimmed FF#3 is worth more than $320. But it’s all a moot point because I don’t sell comics I buy.
 

I’m not a “flipper” and I don’t buy “hot keys” hoping they’ll go up. I want FF#5 because it’s an amazing Kirby issue with the first appearance of my favorite villain AND I’d be that much closer to completing my run. Not because it’s “hot”  “Hot” books and playing the market has no interest for me. I want the Eternals because it’s Kirby not because there’s a movie coming out. 
 

for all the people thinking I got ripped off- what would you price the comic I posted? $150 bucks? There’s no universe where you can buy that early of an FF with a nice cover and white pages for that amount unless you have a Dolorean and hit the pedal to 88 miles per hour. 

8 minutes ago, october said:

eBay is a GREAT place to buy if: 

• You know how to grade to CGC standards. 
• You are good at recognizing defects in small scans and less than ideal pictures. 
• You can spot every type of restoration, especially color touch. 
• You have a lot of time on your hands to search. 
• You don't mind returning books. 

If any one of those doesn't apply, you are going to have a bad time. 

Guess I had a horrible time completing my run then. News to me.