The Official The Walking Dead Discussion Thread 13 13

[bigclutch]

On 3/2/2019 at 7:20 AM, comicsnyc22 said:

I regret to inform you all that I am back. 🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨

 

How is everyone?! 

There he is!

[BladeTX]

On ‎3‎/‎2‎/‎2019 at 9:20 AM, comicsnyc22 said:

I regret to inform you all that I am back. 🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨

 

How is everyone?! 

Smokin' good - welcome back!  I'm new here.

[BladeTX]

So my wife and teenage daughter are watching the Bachelor so I have 2 hours of a mind-numbing show to deal with.  I was updating my TWD Registry Set and I noticed that I had not updated my census numbers in my spreadsheet since July, 2018 and it's pretty easy to do once you open up the list of issues.  Note that I only concentrate on Books 1-50, with a preference toward Signature Series.

So I'm a bit of a data geek but I noticed some really interesting stuff, at least to me.  To keep sane, I used "U" for Universal and "SS" for Signature Series.  Here's what I found:

* Issue 1 in 9.8 U increased from 801 to 834 and 9.8 SS 145 to 155 with 97 new certifications total.  Not too exciting but gives a new baseline.  I assume like certified coins (prior hobby) the pop reports overstate because people crack and upgrade or SS without sending the old label.

* Issue 2 is really interesting.  9.8 U increased from 181 to 188 but 9.8 SS increased from... wait for it... 38 to 38.  #2, #6 and #8 are the only issues in the Top 10 to have 0 increase in 9.8 SS over the past 8 months.  And #6 has 41 and #8 has 72. Really surprising only 38 for #2.

* Issue 4 had only 1 9.8 U increase, from 224 to 225 and 9.8 SS from 55 to 58.  Not much action there.

* Issue 5 had just 1 9.8 SS increase from 42 to 43.

* Issue 6 had no change in 9.8 SS, still at 41

* Issue 10 had a pretty good increase overall from 835 to 873 but only 10 in 9.8 U and 1 in 9.8 SS.  So this confirms my hypothesis that as the series goes on, it is harder and harder to add 9.8 level books.

* Again reinforcing the theory, Issue 11 had 16 new certifications but only 3 in 9.8 U and 0 in 9.8 SS

* Continuing on, a general result seems to be only 5%-10% of new certifications get 9.8 U and a miniscule 0%-3% get 9.8 SS.  This is far lower than the existing ratios of 9.8 U and 9.8 SS to the total, meaning perfect raw books are getting tough to hit 9.8.

* #19 had a whopping 98 new certifications but only 2 new in 9.8 SS.  Still 1 lone 9.9 U. 

* NONE of the really tough books with < 20 in 9.8 SS had any new issues in the 8 months.

* In fact, no books after #19 added SS except Issue 27 (2) Issue 43 (1)

* The hardest issue in 9.8 SS remains #39 at only 7.  Just 1 more than the 35 Error.

* Random fun fact.  While I searched only 1-50 and other books I own in 9.8, shockingly the issue with the most 9.8s is not #1, it is #108.  Top 5 in 9.8 U+SS: #108 (1,667); #127 (1,151); #100 (1,064); #1 (989); #19 (755).  It's *possible* another issue is in here but I randomly selected the all the big first appearances and the rest are lower.

* Just last week Issue #22 9.8 Universal sold on eBay for $217.  I was shocked - most of the other books under 25 would be less than $100 and even in Signature Series that would be high.   However, Issue #22 stands at just 54 in 9.8 U and 14 in 9.8 SS.  Lowest regular issue 9.8 in the Top 48.

I hope at least someone beside me found this interesting.   Lots of interesting tidbits (and hidden deals) within the TWD CGC Census! 

 

[bigclutch]

That's a ton of info. Very interesting. Thanks for doing the work!

[StephenWA]

On 3/5/2019 at 4:10 AM, BladeTX said:

So my wife and teenage daughter are watching the Bachelor so I have 2 hours of a mind-numbing show to deal with.  I was updating my TWD Registry Set and I noticed that I had not updated my census numbers in my spreadsheet since July, 2018 and it's pretty easy to do once you open up the list of issues.  Note that I only concentrate on Books 1-50, with a preference toward Signature Series.

So I'm a bit of a data geek but I noticed some really interesting stuff, at least to me.  To keep sane, I used "U" for Universal and "SS" for Signature Series.  Here's what I found:

* Issue 1 in 9.8 U increased from 801 to 834 and 9.8 SS 145 to 155 with 97 new certifications total.  Not too exciting but gives a new baseline.  I assume like certified coins (prior hobby) the pop reports overstate because people crack and upgrade or SS without sending the old label.

* Issue 2 is really interesting.  9.8 U increased from 181 to 188 but 9.8 SS increased from... wait for it... 38 to 38.  #2, #6 and #8 are the only issues in the Top 10 to have 0 increase in 9.8 SS over the past 8 months.  And #6 has 41 and #8 has 72. Really surprising only 38 for #2.

* Issue 4 had only 1 9.8 U increase, from 224 to 225 and 9.8 SS from 55 to 58.  Not much action there.

* Issue 5 had just 1 9.8 SS increase from 42 to 43.

* Issue 6 had no change in 9.8 SS, still at 41

* Issue 10 had a pretty good increase overall from 835 to 873 but only 10 in 9.8 U and 1 in 9.8 SS.  So this confirms my hypothesis that as the series goes on, it is harder and harder to add 9.8 level books.

* Again reinforcing the theory, Issue 11 had 16 new certifications but only 3 in 9.8 U and 0 in 9.8 SS

* Continuing on, a general result seems to be only 5%-10% of new certifications get 9.8 U and a miniscule 0%-3% get 9.8 SS.  This is far lower than the existing ratios of 9.8 U and 9.8 SS to the total, meaning perfect raw books are getting tough to hit 9.8.

* #19 had a whopping 98 new certifications but only 2 new in 9.8 SS.  Still 1 lone 9.9 U. 

* NONE of the really tough books with < 20 in 9.8 SS had any new issues in the 8 months.

* In fact, no books after #19 added SS except Issue 27 (2) Issue 43 (1)

* The hardest issue in 9.8 SS remains #39 at only 7.  Just 1 more than the 35 Error.

* Random fun fact.  While I searched only 1-50 and other books I own in 9.8, shockingly the issue with the most 9.8s is not #1, it is #108.  Top 5 in 9.8 U+SS: #108 (1,667); #127 (1,151); #100 (1,064); #1 (989); #19 (755).  It's *possible* another issue is in here but I randomly selected the all the big first appearances and the rest are lower.

* Just last week Issue #22 9.8 Universal sold on eBay for $217.  I was shocked - most of the other books under 25 would be less than $100 and even in Signature Series that would be high.   However, Issue #22 stands at just 54 in 9.8 U and 14 in 9.8 SS.  Lowest regular issue 9.8 in the Top 48.

I hope at least someone beside me found this interesting.   Lots of interesting tidbits (and hidden deals) within the TWD CGC Census! 

 

No way did you seek and find all that in two hours! Completely, 100% interesting. Keep up the good work!

Cheers

Stephen

Edited March 10, 2019 by StephenWA
Typo

[BladeTX]

22 hours ago, StephenWA said:

No way did you seek and find all that in two hours! Completely, 100% interesting. Keep up the good work!

Cheers

Stephen

Well pretty close.  I started working on this at 7:30pm and I see my post is 10:10pm and I was somewhat distracted by the show (the women ARE attractive after all). So a few hours max including the write-up which I wrote as I went through the issues.  I already had the CGC Census from last July.  If you do a census search on Walking Dead, then choose Image as the publisher, you get all the first 90 or so issues in a list (Image/Skybound pulls up the rest),  just pull one up, collect the info then hit back in your browser and go to the next. Pretty easy.  And I am a Marketing and Analytics Consultant by trade, so doing this stuff is pretty routine for me.

Edited March 11, 2019 by BladeTX

[BladeTX]

Wow, tonight’s episode was epic.  The show is back to its former glory IMO.

[MediumLover]

How bout that ending, didn't see that coming

[Sensei Ryan]

15 hours ago, MediumLover said:

How bout that ending, didn't see that coming

Well, did you 

Spoiler

want to see Beta die after being in just two episodes?  I sure didn't and hope that the show makes a turn unlike the comic and doesn't kill him off so quickly (him or Alpha, for that matter).  The actor fits the role perfectly IMO and I can't wait to see more of him in the show.

Like BladeTX, I thought it was a great episode! 

[BladeTX]

On 3/5/2019 at 4:58 PM, bigclutch said:

That's a ton of info. Very interesting. Thanks for doing the work!

Hey Big Clutch!   I heard you are a big shot at Skybound   I can use some inside knowledge.

When I first started collecting TWD, I really loved the Letter Hacks.  So much so that I back-collected the raw books to #30 while dipping my toe into the CGC-graded waters.  I read 97 to current with Letter Hacks in succession, it was fun to watch Sean and Robert steer people the wrong way when they guess the plot correctly, but was a bit concerned about reading the older books to not cause damage (LOL).    So I want to read Issue 2 to 96 in succession while reading the Letters / Letter Hacks.  I really would prefer not to buy all the books that were not reprinted #3 to #29.  So can you tell me if the inexpensive Walking Dead Weeklies have the same Letters as the originals?   Someone thought they had letters but they were new for the Weekly series, which would surprise me because I can't see Robert having the time to do Weekly letters on top of everything else in his usual workflow.  Or maybe there are no letters at all.  Can you clear this up for me?   I can't afford to back collect all the raw books and eBay grading is pretty bad anyway.   Or is there an online way to read the early issues and get Letter Hacks?  My original TWD exposure was Compendiums 1-3 and those things are huge without letters.

[Hawkman]

Hello. Does anyone have any data or idea what the WD Serbian books go for today? I'm mainly interested in #2 B/W and #10 B/W. I know there were only 50 made of #2 (I own 2 copies). My copies are raw, 8.5/9.0. Also, there were only 100 made of #10 B/W. I have the whole set (except #1, which I sold years ago), and am looking to sell, but I can only find info on the non B/W issues.

[BladeTX]

50 minutes ago, Hawkman said:

Hello. Does anyone have any data or idea what the WD Serbian books go for today? I'm mainly interested in #2 B/W and #10 B/W. I know there were only 50 made of #2 (I own 2 copies). My copies are raw, 8.5/9.0. Also, there were only 100 made of #10 B/W. I have the whole set (except #1, which I sold years ago), and am looking to sell, but I can only find info on the non B/W issues.

Hey Hawkman - those are some really cool alternative covers.  I know in the current ComicConnect auction going on now there are a ton of Serbian and Argentinian versions for sale.  Since it's not my collecting area I cannot recall if there were any B&W covers but worth a look to track the prices if so.  I have only been collecting TWD for a year so am not a good barometer of what these rare variants are worth.

[StephenWA]

On 3/11/2019 at 9:44 AM, MediumLover said:

How bout that ending, didn't see that coming

I found myself thinking "no-one could survive such a fall".

Then I realised how ridiculous it was that this had surprised me so much in a show about zombies....

[BladeTX]

12 minutes ago, StephenWA said:

I found myself thinking "no-one could survive such a fall".

Then I realised how ridiculous it was that this had surprised me so much in a show about zombies....

Yeah and on a few Facebook Groups they are discussing that dried-out Walker skins on the Whisperers would not provide enough protection against the Walkers who should still be able to smell them (think Season 1 Episode 2 where Rick and Glenn wore ponchos with a Walker guts but got attacked when the rain washed off.)   Maybe the Walker's sense of smell has degraded over the 10 years (timeline on the TV series)???

[BladeTX]

On 3/13/2019 at 4:28 PM, Hawkman said:

Hello. Does anyone have any data or idea what the WD Serbian books go for today? I'm mainly interested in #2 B/W and #10 B/W. I know there were only 50 made of #2 (I own 2 copies). My copies are raw, 8.5/9.0. Also, there were only 100 made of #10 B/W. I have the whole set (except #1, which I sold years ago), and am looking to sell, but I can only find info on the non B/W issues.

Bullseye!  This same sketch book - Serbian #2, is in the current ComicConnect auction.  It's only a VF book (8.5) so might be tough to compare if yours are NM/NM+ but worth following...

https://www.comicconnect.com/bookDetail.php?id=737592

 

 

[Sensei Ryan]

12 hours ago, StephenWA said:

I found myself thinking "no-one could survive such a fall".

Then I realised how ridiculous it was that this had surprised me so much in a show about zombies....

Here's my take on that...he didn't fall that far...wasn't it like 2-3 stories tops?  While that IS a long fall, on a very hard top of an elevator surface, it IS survivable...with all that adrenaline pumping in him from the fight he - theoretically - could have just gotten really frickin' sore and bruised after that (best case scenario) so I think it's believable.  Dude's a hoss and if it was as shallow as 2 stories then it makes it even that more plausible.  Just my take on it... :)

 

[Sensei Ryan]

11 hours ago, BladeTX said:

Yeah and on a few Facebook Groups they are discussing that dried-out Walker skins on the Whisperers would not provide enough protection against the Walkers who should still be able to smell them (think Season 1 Episode 2 where Rick and Glenn wore ponchos with a Walker guts but got attacked when the rain washed off.)   Maybe the Walker's sense of smell has degraded over the 10 years (timeline on the TV series)???

For all we know, though, the Whisperers smell god-awful (we haven't seen too much of their methods) and don't some of them wear dead clothes too?  I know Beta doesn't and Alpha doesn't but most of the other Whisperer-Walkers look almost identical to the Walkers from outfit to mask which makes them so hard to detect.  Think about it...if they can find a way to whisper amongst the Walkers then they surely can mask their scent. 
Can't wait for the next episode!!!

[StephenWA]

10 hours ago, Sensei Ryan said:

Here's my take on that...he didn't fall that far...wasn't it like 2-3 stories tops?  While that IS a long fall, on a very hard top of an elevator surface, it IS survivable...with all that adrenaline pumping in him from the fight he - theoretically - could have just gotten really frickin' sore and bruised after that (best case scenario) so I think it's believable.  Dude's a hoss and if it was as shallow as 2 stories then it makes it even that more plausible.  Just my take on it...

 

This seems an important enough issue for NASA to have taken a look at it; see http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nas...

Apparently, terminal velocity of a human body is about 53 meters per second. That is, if you free fall, that is as fast as your mass to air resistance will allow you to fall. Acceleration occurs up to that point; after 3 seconds you are going 1/2 terminal velocity.  After 8 seconds about 90% of terminal velocity.

So, assume 6 seconds of fall at 1/2 the terminal velocity rate = 26 m/sec.   

6 x 26 is over 150 meters; about 500 feet give or take.  You are almost certainly dead... many decimal places into the 99th percentile. Up to about 12m/sec you will likely survive.  So you can fall for maybe up to nearly 2 seconds and have a good hope of surviving.  That sounds like maybe 20-25 feet or 6-8 meters. Did Beta fall about that far, or further?

A 3-second fall is probably fatal if landing on a hard surface like the top of a lift car.

The middle would probably be a normal distribution between survival and death between 7 meters and, say, 25-30 metres where you would virtually always die.

[BladeTX]

2 hours ago, StephenWA said:

This seems an important enough issue for NASA to have taken a look at it; see http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nas...

Apparently, terminal velocity of a human body is about 53 meters per second. That is, if you free fall, that is as fast as your mass to air resistance will allow you to fall. Acceleration occurs up to that point; after 3 seconds you are going 1/2 terminal velocity.  After 8 seconds about 90% of terminal velocity.

So, assume 6 seconds of fall at 1/2 the terminal velocity rate = 26 m/sec.   

6 x 26 is over 150 meters; about 500 feet give or take.  You are almost certainly dead... many decimal places into the 99th percentile. Up to about 12m/sec you will likely survive.  So you can fall for maybe up to nearly 2 seconds and have a good hope of surviving.  That sounds like maybe 20-25 feet or 6-8 meters. Did Beta fall about that far, or further?

A 3-second fall is probably fatal if landing on a hard surface like the top of a lift car.

The middle would probably be a normal distribution between survival and death between 7 meters and, say, 25-30 metres where you would virtually always die.

Eh, I did a couple minutes of science research on this and it depends on how much "give" that elevator had when he hit it..  All I know after watching a bunch of Mythbusters episodes is a 50g hit to your body (50 x gravity) will almost surely kill you - in addition to broken bones and such, your internal organs get messed up..   I found a gravity G calculator online, have to assume it is accurate.   The highest recorded g level and survival rate was a NASA test guy that held 46g for a few seconds.  Apparently he lived another 45 years without long tern effects.  If you fall 20 feet and stop extremely quickly (4 centimeters), it is 150g force, guaranteed deadly if you land flat (leg and spine compression would have more give).  But if that elevator had some give in the cables from Beta's weight, a 1 meter deceleration would only be 20g - easily survivable.   Sorry to get all geeky on ya'll.  Stephen got me started.  I'm blaming him!

Edited March 16, 2019 by BladeTX

[Sensei Ryan]

Well to be less technical than both Tom & Stephen we don't know if he didn't bounce off the back wall first to break some of the initial drop.  So say he was pushed in - as he was - it's hard to assume he just went straight down as he was pretty much speared into the elevator shaft so reason dictates he hits the back wall and falls after that.  I get we didn't hear a sound to imply that but it seems realistic as he was pushed in, right?  If so, and it's like 20-25 feet as Stephen surmised, then he would only fall like 8-10 feet...hit the wall....and continue falling 10-15 more feet after that...slowing the fall a bit and then maybe with the give of the elevator like Tom said it's very possible.  And that's IF the shaft is even more than 20 feet which it's possible it was just like 10-15 feet (hey, it was dark in there).

My vote...it's believable.  

Can't wait for tomorrow night's episode!!!