Incredible Hulk #181 - is it *that* red-hot? 17 17

[Pantodude]

8 minutes ago, Darkowl said:

Like I said, I sold my copy for about gpa (maybe a little higher), and within 4 months it has basically doubled in price. That seems pretty extreme to me.

It could be that the post-pandemic change in number of market participants is still getting sorted out.  There aren't enough books around to stabilize the market at current prices.  It's just economics (if that premise is correct).  

[Math Teacher]

4 hours ago, Darkowl said:

Unless I’m doing my math wrong, that seems pretty extreme to me.

Do you want me to check your work? I'm good at that.

[MGsimba77]

9.8 IH180 sold on Ebay and......wow‼

I think it's the first recorded 9.8 sale in almost a year unless there was something on Clink?

We shall see if the sale is legit but if it is congratulations to both parties! It was a nicely centered ow/w

[Darkowl]

30 minutes ago, Math Teacher said:

Do you want me to check your work? I'm good at that.

Ha! You might need to. I’m pretty bad at math. 

[THE_BEYONDER]

22 minutes ago, MGsimba77 said:

9.8 IH180 sold on Ebay and......wow‼

I think it's the first recorded 9.8 sale in almost a year unless there was something on Clink?

We shall see if the sale is legit but if it is congratulations to both parties! It was a nicely centered ow/w

What did it sell for? Not seeing it in completed/sold listings  

[MGsimba77]

1 hour ago, THE_BEYONDER said:

What did it sell for? Not seeing it in completed/sold listings  

I usually hate to blast out sold prices but it was...

Spoiler

25,500 plus shipping

Its weird that it doesn't show up. Have you tried "Incredible hulk #180 9.8"? Works for me. Sort by "recently sold".

Edited March 21, 2021 by MGsimba77

[Pantodude]

51 minutes ago, MGsimba77 said:

Its weird that it doesn't show up.

It does on GPA, so means offician on ebay.  

Edited March 21, 2021 by Pantodude

[MGsimba77]

24 minutes ago, Pantodude said:

It does on GPA, so means offician on ebay.  

No not always. I've seen sales taken down a number of times on GPA after the book gets relisted. It's not often but it does happen. Sometimes it's intentionally done by the seller for their own reasons, sometimes its because the buyer doesn't pay. I always like to wait at least a week to be more sure. I should note I did see one occasion where an IH181 "sale" was taken down by GPA over 2 weeks after the date of sale. Infact I probably complained about that particular relist on this thread long ago 

Edited March 21, 2021 by MGsimba77

[alexgross.com]

6 hours ago, Darkowl said:

Hulk 181 continuing to go up in price wasn’t really what I was wondering. That’s something to be expected.

But the rate at which it has gone up recently is what’s baffling. 

Like I said, I sold my copy for about gpa (maybe a little higher), and within 4 months it has basically doubled in price. Unless I’m doing my math wrong, that seems pretty extreme to me.

a ridiculous number of keys have doubled or tripled in value in literally the last few weeks or months. there is no rational explanation for it. asm238 is suddenly selling for 4k-5k after being stuck under a grand forever. same thing with new mutants 98 at 3k now. asm129 had not budged in years, now it's more than doubled just this year alone. so, it's not just hulk 181. it's certainly not a sustainable rate of increase. everyone's speculating on the reasons for this, and hoping it's not some crazy bubble. it's a great time to sell, but not to buy. 

[Darkowl]

30 minutes ago, www.alexgross.com said:

a ridiculous number of keys have doubled or tripled in value in literally the last few weeks or months. there is no rational explanation for it. asm238 is suddenly selling for 4k-5k after being stuck under a grand forever. same thing with new mutants 98 at 3k now. asm129 had not budged in years, now it's more than doubled just this year alone. so, it's not just hulk 181. it's certainly not a sustainable rate of increase. everyone's speculating on the reasons for this, and hoping it's not some crazy bubble. it's a great time to sell, but not to buy. 

This is exactly what I was thinking. I’ve been flipping comics for a very long time now, and I’ve never seen anything like this before, aside from a couple exceptions.

Only thing I can think of is that all these movies have created more flippers/sellers than what we used to see 5 to 10 years ago. More people are in the game creating a larger demand.

Edited March 21, 2021 by Darkowl

[ADAMANTIUM]

35 minutes ago, Darkowl said:

This is exactly what I was thinking. I’ve been flipping comics for a very long time now, and I’ve never seen anything like this before, aside from a couple exceptions.

Only thing I can think of is that all these movies have created more flippers/sellers than what we used to see 5 to 10 years ago. More people are in the game creating a larger demand.

Given that, do you still find stuff? Or is it all getting harder to find? 

[FormerReader]

37 minutes ago, Darkowl said:

This is exactly what I was thinking. I’ve been flipping comics for a very long time now, and I’ve never seen anything like this before, aside from a couple exceptions.

Only thing I can think of is that all these movies have created more flippers/sellers than what we used to see 5 to 10 years ago. More people are in the game creating a larger demand.

Everyone has their theories. Card collectors stimulus money, etc., but why since the end of December?

Stimulus money isn’t buying $10k books? The amount of dollar growth must be in the many $100,000’s. Maybe more. How does all this money pour into the market in such a short period of time? Even if some of the card market is speculating on comics, it’s not like they called all their friends and said starting January let’s poor all our money into comics.

This is a massive growth in the overall market. 

Again the question is why now? What has changed this year?

[MGsimba77]

2 minutes ago, FormerReader said:

but why since the end of December?

It can actually be traced back to maybe ~ late spring early summer last year. 

[tdotcbc84]

It is hedging on inflation.

So all these comics are being inflated as well.

Econ 102 here   (It's the next course after learning supply and demand)

We all know the US (and basically the whole world) is printing more money than ever.  Right now, holding cash MIGHT (just a theory) be the worst thing you can do.  If hyper inflations happens, you'll see the US Dollar value of these books go even HIGHER.

Someone who understands economics more than me might want to explain.

[Poekaymon]

2 hours ago, www.alexgross.com said:

a ridiculous number of keys have doubled or tripled in value in literally the last few weeks or months. there is no rational explanation for it. asm238 is suddenly selling for 4k-5k after being stuck under a grand forever. same thing with new mutants 98 at 3k now. asm129 had not budged in years, now it's more than doubled just this year alone. so, it's not just hulk 181. it's certainly not a sustainable rate of increase. everyone's speculating on the reasons for this, and hoping it's not some crazy bubble. it's a great time to sell, but not to buy. 

I agree with the summary, and with the general sentiment that we are in rare times, but I don't agree with the conclusion, at least not to H181 (and probably not ASM129.)  

NM98 and ASM238, on the other hand, I would sell.  And all kinds of other stuff like ASM 300, Star Wars #1, X-Men #4 (1991) #4, X-Men 266 which is extremely plentiful, and either involve middling chars or seem heavily movie/show dependently, and has still blown up recently.  (My money's where my mouth is--I have sold almost all of these recently.)  

But I really don't think it's fair to lump in H181 or even ASM129 with these books or with the broader market.  And I continue to hold these with no intention of selling.  Similarly, I don't own AF15 or Hulk 1, but I would consider buying them right now regardless of any broader market high.

  

 

[Darkowl]

2 hours ago, ADAMANTIUM said:

Given that, do you still find stuff? Or is it all getting harder to find? 

Harder. Way harder.

A lot of people  think their dreck is worth thousands just because all of these superhero movies are being made. People who know nothing about comics are being way more selective and have a much firmer hold onto their trash thinking it’s going to be the next Walking Dead or something. It’s insane. 

Another trend I’ve been seeing in the last couple years is that people don’t want you to cherry pick. It’s either buy all of their or move on.

I’ve also seen an incline in the amount of people pressing their own books, or at least trying to figure out how to properly do it. 

It’s not like any of that stuff didn’t exist before. It’s just that there’s way more people doing it now.

Things have changed.

 

Edited March 21, 2021 by Darkowl

[Darkowl]

2 hours ago, FormerReader said:

Everyone has their theories. Card collectors stimulus money, etc., but why since the end of December?

Stimulus money isn’t buying $10k books? The amount of dollar growth must be in the many $100,000’s. Maybe more. How does all this money pour into the market in such a short period of time? Even if some of the card market is speculating on comics, it’s not like they called all their friends and said starting January let’s poor all our money into comics.

This is a massive growth in the overall market. 

Again the question is why now? What has changed this year?

Well, regarding Hulk 181, some rumors have been leaked that directly tie the upcoming Falcon and Winter Soldier series to Wolverine. People go nuts over this stuff (even if it is just a rumor), and might just be one possible explanation for it’s dramatic incline in value.

Does anyone remember when Peter Panzerfaust shot up in insane value all because of the rumor that it was going to be a tv show made by the same creators of Walking Dead? People desperately wanted the same kind of rare luck and value that Walking Dead 1 brought to the table that they were willing to pay a ridiculous amount for it. A 9.8 used to sell for around 1K. Now? Easily under $200. 

I could be dead wrong, but I think we may be seeing something similar with Hulk 181. The only difference is that Wolverine is already a household name, and everyone knows that Disney is going to take the character to the next level for years to come. It isn’t speculation at this point. It’s a guarantee.

If people thought that Wolverine was already popular, just wait until you see where his status is 5 years from now when Wolverine merch is being sold at Disneyland.

Yeah, people are going nuts for Hulk 181!

The funny thing is that I never thought this book was a risky buy. I always put all my chips in the pot for this one book. Every time. But after seeing this rapid inflation with no real explanation, I’m incredibly hesitant to have the same kind of faith in this book. 

Something feels off to me.

Edited March 21, 2021 by Darkowl

[Poekaymon]

1 hour ago, Darkowl said:

 

The funny thing is that I never thought this book was a risky buy. I always put all my chips in the pot for this one book. Every time. But after seeing this rapid inflation with no real explanation, I’m incredibly hesitant to have the same kind of faith in this book. 

Something feels off to me.

No grade of H181 has appreciated as much recently NM 98, Star Wars, ASM 300, ASM 238, X-Men 266, or any number of other way riskier things.  Not to mention all the Knull stuff, Miles Morales, etc.  I mean we are talking quadrupled or quintupled gains in lots of books.  H181 is downright conservative by comparison.

You can say that something feels off about the industry as a whole--nearly everyone agrees with that--but H181 is in no way stranger or more extreme than all those other books.  If anything, it's one of the least "feels off" books around. 

Edited March 21, 2021 by Poekaymon

[Darkowl]

50 minutes ago, Poekaymon said:

No grade of H181 has appreciated as much recently NM 98, Star Wars, ASM 300, ASM 238, X-Men 266, or any number of other way riskier things.  Not to mention all the Knull stuff, Miles Morales, etc.  I mean we are talking quadrupled or quintupled gains in lots of books.  H181 is downright conservative by comparison.

You can say that something feels off about the industry as a whole--nearly everyone agrees with that--but H181 is in no way stranger or more extreme than all those other books.  If anything, it's one of the least "feels off" books around. 

I never singled out H181 as the only book that feels off in terms of inflation, but you do realize what thread this is, right?

I’m deliberately choosing to focus on this particular book, not any other book that may have experienced even higher inflation, though discussing the inflation for those other books may actually be beneficial when attempting to rationalize and explain the current market we’re in.

Edited March 21, 2021 by Darkowl

[lou_fine]

5 hours ago, Darkowl said:

6 hours ago, www.alexgross.com said:

a ridiculous number of keys have doubled or tripled in value in literally the last few weeks or months. there is no rational explanation for it. asm238 is suddenly selling for 4k-5k after being stuck under a grand forever. same thing with new mutants 98 at 3k now. asm129 had not budged in years, now it's more than doubled just this year alone. so, it's not just hulk 181. it's certainly not a sustainable rate of increase. everyone's speculating on the reasons for this, and hoping it's not some crazy bubble. it's a great time to sell, but not to buy. 

This is exactly what I was thinking. I’ve been flipping comics for a very long time now, and I’ve never seen anything like this before, aside from a couple exceptions.

Only thing I can think of is that all these movies have created more flippers/sellers than what we used to see 5 to 10 years ago. More people are in the game creating a larger demand.

 

4 hours ago, FormerReader said:

Everyone has their theories. Card collectors stimulus money, etc., but why since the end of December?

Stimulus money isn’t buying $10k books? The amount of dollar growth must be in the many $100,000’s. Maybe more. How does all this money pour into the market in such a short period of time? Even if some of the card market is speculating on comics, it’s not like they called all their friends and said starting January let’s poor all our money into comics.

This is a massive growth in the overall market. 

Again the question is why now? What has changed this year?

I believe that Alex already answered your question based upon his above post................it's all some kind of big crazy bubble that's taken hold.