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Official Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Thread
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8,267 posts in this topic

On ‎12‎/‎29‎/‎2017 at 11:13 AM, GM8 said:

Hi there, great collection!  I love the more obscure stuff and you've got yourself a ton of it!

 

The #7 2nd printings apparently had a low print run and they are notoriously hard to find in high grade.  The blue ink is very susceptible to rubbing off and leaving whitish blotches, almost like chalk on the areas that rub against other books.  I have one high grade copy ungraded and it took me years to find it.  All the others I've bought and sold have had spine creasing issues and the "shelf wear" issue.

@Parabellum

I'll add to this and say that there are 3 reasons that this issue sells for as much as it does:

 

1) GM8 is right in that the 2nd print had a lower print run than the initial run and is far less common to find, though I wouldn't call it rare.  What I'll add is the same is true for the 2nd prints of issues 4, 5, and 6 as well.  They stopped doing 2nd prints for a while after issue 7.  The 2nd prints of 4-7 are not tough to find, but they are tough to find in high grade.  The ink rub is pretty noticeable on the #7, but it's present on all the 2nd prints during this time.  I think it was more a product of the quality of materials used at the time.  And if you look at the census, you'll find that of the 4 issues mentioned, #7 has the highest count of 9.8 copies on the census:

Issue 4 2nd: 1 Universal, 1 SS

Issue 5 2nd: 0 Universal, 1 SS

Issue 6 2nd: 0 Universal, 1 SS

Issue 7 2nd: 10 Universal, 1 SS

So why are there so many more #7's and why is it fetching the price it does?

 

2) Whenever a book from a popular title comes along with no 9.8's in the census for years and suddenly one pops up for sale seemingly out of the blue, there's a solid chance a bidding frenzy will occur.  That's exactly what happened with this issue.  Someone got a 9.8, put it up for sale, and it went for around $400 in an auction.  This was 2-4 times what other comparable early issues in 9.8 typically get.  When people see high prices for books that can be obtained raw for pretty cheap, suddenly it's like a nationwide manhunt.  Everyone starts diving into the back issue bins to find 9.8 contenders.  One high realized price can bring many more copies out of the woodwork.  I've seen it with Wolverine, I've seen it with Hulk, and that's exactly what happened here.

 

3) There are many people who collect comics who never read them.  People who read them will know that the cover features an Utrom, a race of creatures that pre-date the original 80's cartoon and certainly served as the inspiration for the fan-favorite villain, Krang.  However, Krang is not featured anywhere in Volume 1 of the comics.  That doesn't stop the sellers from endlessly pushing this book as the "1st appearance of Krang".  The listings I've seen have had "Krang" in the title, the subtitle, and the formal description, despite appearing nowhere in the book.  Anyone who read the series know that this isn't even the first appearance of the Utroms.  Anyone who paid attention knows that this wasn't even the first cover appearance of the Utroms.  But the speculators saw the listings and paid high prices based on bad info.  I've sent messages to a few of the sellers telling them that this isn't a Krang appearance, but it has never changed anything.  But some sellers are using shady tactics to inflate the price of this book. 

 

Just my thoughts and observations. :) 

 

 

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Here are a few items I got a while back off the bay: 

Looks like a legit Laird signed sketch to me. It's just a tad smaller than a comic at 9x6: 

2018-01-08-01.thumb.jpg.d2ba25e011638a22581337b7dd6afd59.jpg

 

Purchased these artist proof prints from Michael Dooney. It was interesting for me as my oldest daughter loves Pokemon and my middle daughter loves Minions :) Just have to find something for my youngest daughter now

2018-01-08-02.thumb.jpg.7e94648579fcae7281b08758ef4f003d.jpg

 

2018-01-08-03.thumb.jpg.ce5ea6a1f1d8ad5b276020159100169a.jpg

 

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2 hours ago, Mewzard said:

Well, my first ever slabbed comic finally arrived, and I love it! Hand-colored, signed, sketched...The Works! It was definitely worth being my first graded comic book.

 

Very nice!

Looks like Jim made sure to give each of the hand-colored editions a unique look. I notice that the building colors are different on each one I have seen.

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Just now, woregul said:

Very nice!

Looks like Jim made sure to give each of the hand-colored editions a unique look. I notice that the building colors are different on each one I have seen.

Thanks!

Yeah, he even did a few multi-colored headband ones, but only for the batch that wasn't graded.

I could have paid less for a random sketch, but I wanted some variety in the characters on the comic, so I asked for April and Splinter. Really came together nicely.

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Does anyone know information on the variant set that came for IDW #1 issue. I've shown two above Eastman variant  , Sam Keith variant I've also got Hastings, Blank , Gatefold, 4 solo turtle covers, jet pack I never see these and know zilch on them. I bought them all from 1 guys years ago he had rare sketch variant wanted too much money for it ( Eastman ) the rest I purchased for 80. 00 US

 

 

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On ‎1‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 8:52 PM, Subby1938 said:

Does anyone know information on the variant set that came for IDW #1 issue. I've shown two above Eastman variant  , Sam Keith variant I've also got Hastings, Blank , Gatefold, 4 solo turtle covers, jet pack I never see these and know zilch on them. I bought them all from 1 guys years ago he had rare sketch variant wanted too much money for it ( Eastman ) the rest I purchased for 80. 00 US

 

 

TMNT-NinjaTurtles.com

Check out this website.  It's a website/blog that's run by a mega-collector named Rich (stand-up guy, by the way).  He's the one responsible for the IDW #73 kickstarter books people are posting. 

Anyway, he's got all the information you could possibly want about any TMNT book out there.  The site is especially handy when trying to break down variant covers.  Have a look. 

@Subby1938 @rich_TMNT

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@Turtle, thanks for the shout-out on this.  @Subby1938, please let me know if you have any questions about finding what you're looking for.  On the Blog portion of my site I keep track of all variants for the current IDW Turtles books.  Conversely, my collection itself is the historical record of all TMNT comic books, variants, etc. that have ever been published.  Since it appears you're looking specifically for TMNT #1 (IDW) variant covers, here's an easy link for you to the #1 variants.  

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Oh wow thanks for quick responses folks. I didn't realize how many variations there actually were. I always thought this series had low print run at beginning anyways because of relaunch tmnt etc etc. I know in my area there def was no variants offered , nobody was buying this stuff or very little of it. Ten copies max. I imagine some are tough to track down. I was offered sketch variant at time 200.00 USD I said no thanks I felt sketch was kinda bla. I should have after reading this

 

 

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On 12/27/2017 at 9:03 PM, Ghostzapper said:

It's tough to tell if it's all real. He has some items with buy it now or best offer, so I don't know. I was interested in his Fantastic Four #52 9.8 he had listed and asked two questions and never got a response back. One was that if he could post a picture with the book and his user i.d. so I knew the book was in his possession. No response back. That book is currently listed on ComicLink with an asking price of $90K and bids up to $80K (I don't know how legit that is). The ComicLink listing scans/pics. are the same used for the eBay auction. I don't think the book is worth close to that price anymore and it's not going to go close to that on eBay. But you would think if you are selling a book that was going to go over $30K you would respond to questions. I then noticed there were a couple books listed after I messaged him. So I'm a bit skeptical. Good Luck to the bidders :wishluck:

 

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On 12/28/2017 at 8:31 AM, GM8 said:

His history of selling TMNT #1 1st Printings CGC 9.8 is interesting.  I've been keeping track of all sales for the past couple years.  He's listed at least 3 different copies: 0950071001, 1463959001 and the one that just ended for $30,100: 0202540001 (It's hard to make out it may be "75"in the middle there).

The 0950071001 was listed as sold on Comic Connect on 4/1/16 for $27,222.  Then Nick Bridger had it listed and sold on Ebay on 4/29/16 for $24,100.  That doesn't make sense to me.

 

yeah, he seems to sell and/or resell a lot of copies.  His listing said he was saving up for a house (again).  I asked him about this specific copy and here is his response:

 

image.png.54fdbadf9346ef7e2e0d2c0e338a8e1f.png

Hmmm?.  So the plot thickens.   I just got a second chance offer from Nick Bridger for a TMNT #1 CGC 9.8 for $24,000.  Quite a discount off of the $30,100 for the last one.  How many copies of this book does this guy have?   

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10 hours ago, jeranimal said:

 

 

yeah, he seems to sell and/or resell a lot of copies.  His listing said he was saving up for a house (again).  I asked him about this specific copy and here is his response:

 

image.png.54fdbadf9346ef7e2e0d2c0e338a8e1f.png

Hmmm?.  So the plot thickens.   I just got a second chance offer from Nick Bridger for a TMNT #1 CGC 9.8 for $24,000.  Quite a discount off of the $30,100 for the last one.  How many copies of this book does this guy have?   

Is it the same CGC # as the one that sold for $30.100?  What is the ebay item #?

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