Miracleman 5 5

[Ryan.]

Agreed. I'll be at my LCS bright-eyed and bushy-tailed the two Wednesdays when issues 25 and 26 show up. Everything else is preamble.

 

I have been wanting an omnibus-type collection of the entire series for a loooonnngggg time so I'm okay with waiting a little bit longer. I am curious, though, to see how they muck with the color on Totleben's issues. I hope they don't screw it up too badly.

[chrisco37]

Just the idea of Gaiman and Buckingham's 25 and 26 seeing the light of day after...TWENTY...YEARS....of waiting is enough to thrill me to my socks.

 

This! The end of #24 was quite the cliffhanger.

[Nexus]

Don't get me wrong...I can't wait for the new issues, either. But the series deserves a bigger audience...it's no good, long-term, if the only people looking forward to the continuation of the story are those of us old fogeys who have been waiting 20+ years. Has Marvel's re-release garnered ANY new fans?

 

[Toz]

Marvel could have done just a straight reprint and dropped the price to get new readers interested and then went back to a normal format for the new material.Loose a few bucks now but rake in the green later on.

 

 

 

Oh wait.This is Marvel I'm talking about.Silly me.

[Lazyboy]

Don't get me wrong...I can't wait for the new issues, either. But the series deserves a bigger audience...it's no good, long-term, if the only people looking forward to the continuation of the story are those of us old fogeys who have been waiting 20+ years. Has Marvel's re-release garnered ANY new fans?

At the ridiculous prices on the books? It seems highly doubtful.

[Bronty]

They are making money now. Countless fogeys like me are happily bucking up for stories we've already read

[heartened]

They are making money now. Countless fogeys like me are happily bucking up for stories we've already read

 

True! Plus, honestly, I'm thinking the word of mouth will hit the streets once the Olympus storyline begins. Give it time.

 

[Bchin22]

They are making money now. Countless fogeys like me are happily bucking up for stories we've already read

 

True! Plus, honestly, I'm thinking the word of mouth will hit the streets once the Olympus storyline begins. Give it time.

 

I'm hoping it will raise the prices for the old Miracleman coppers

 

(/crosses fingers "COME ON BIG MONEY!")

[50 Cent #II (1st)]

Surprised nobody has posted in a month here, looks like #9 came out yesterday without any censorship of the graphic birth images (if my memory of the original #9 is correct).

 

http://comicbook.com/blog/2014/08/07/marvel-s-miracleman-9-the-miracle-of-birth/

Edited August 7, 2014 by 50 Cent #II (1st)

[Jimmy Linguini]

the variants are so dumb.

 

They're just pin ups by well known artists.

 

THAT

[heartened]

Surprised nobody has posted in a month here, looks like #9 came out yesterday without any censorship of the graphic birth images (if my memory of the original #9 is correct).

 

http://comicbook.com/blog/2014/08/07/marvel-s-miracleman-9-the-miracle-of-birth/

 

Getting close to the good stuff! Nice to see the numbering is back on track when it matters ....

 

[EwanUK]

Did you all see the Marvelman no.26 auction on ebay?

 

This was the copy thought to not exist

 

Marvelman 26

 

I was outbid by about £1,500!!!

 

Anyone knows who got it?

[nmtg9]

Did you all see the Marvelman no.26 auction on ebay?

 

This was the copy thought to not exist

 

Marvelman 26

 

I was outbid by about £1,500!!!

 

Anyone knows who got it?

 

Wow. Looks like the seller didn't even know what he had

[JTLarsen]

So, some of you were discussing the recent "sale" of the supposedly "lost" issue of Marvelman, Marvelman #26.

 

As some of you may know, Marvel tried and failed to find it when they reprinted early Marvelman issues--even though they had the help of Derek Wilson, a UK collector who has every issue of Marvelman...except 26.

 

In fact, the existence of Marvelman 26 had long been debated. Some wondered whether it was ever even printed--though there had been reports of sightings in the distant past.

 

Then, a little over a week ago, I saw it on ebay. Marvelman 26 auction

 

I instantly emailed the seller offering a now-laughable $50 for it (even though the listing said he wouldn't ship to the U.S.).

 

The seller accepted my offer, but said it would cost an additional $16 and change for shipping to the U.S.

 

I wrote back right away and said no problem, just send me an invoice.

 

Hours went by. Finally, he wrote back again and said that he had received another offer of 200 pounds and so he had decided not to sell it to me after all, as he had agreed to. He would let the auction run its course.

 

Now, in the past, I've bid a lot (for me) for issues of Marvelman that I thought were important. I paid more than $500 for Marvelman 25, his first issue. I paid more than $500 for the original art to the cover of Marvelman 114. I've never paid more than $600 for anything, not because I wouldn't, but because I'm not rich so I try to focus my purchases on things that (a) I can afford and (b) have a lot of upward potential..

 

My prior Marvelman purchases had been several years ago and given that someone else had upped the ante on 26 so early, I suspected this book might go for more than I had ever paid before. So I discussed it with my wife and we figured out a way to use our credit cards to finance a bid in the thousands.

 

I told myself it was an unbelievably rare book. Plus, I'd get a kick out of lending it to Marvel so they could finally reprint it. It would enhance my Marvelman collection in toto. Et cetera.

 

So I bid way too much money for it. And to my delight/horror...I won! My wife stood by my exorbitant purchase. A friend reassured me it would be a good investment in the long term. I told myself I could always turn around and sell it to the next-highest bidder if I really had cold feet.

 

Then, later that day, the seller emailed to say that he needed to wait until Monday to find insurance for shipping to the U.S. that would cost less than 150 pounds. I responded that that was fine with me, since I certainly didn't want to add another 150 pounds on to the purchase price!

 

And then, Monday morning, I awoke to an email from the seller saying he was canceling the sale. Why? Because I live in the U.S. and the U.S. wasn't listed as one of the places he ships to in the original auction.

 

And you know what? I was relieved.

 

For one thing, only one other bidder had come remotely near the final price. So I had to question its real investment value. But also because it had occurred to me that over the years, everything that made Marvelman 26 special is going to fade away now that it's known to exist and it's been found. There's only one known copy of it? Well, that's true of many issues. Hell, there's only two confirmed copies of Marvelman 25. And the difference between 25 and 26 is that as soon as another copy of 26 comes to light...it loses the one thing that made it special. 25 never will. (Will another copy come to light? Well, aside from the fact I have no idea whether this seller has other copies, the fact that ONE came to light does tend to suggest there might still be others out there...the British comics market is still quite behind the U.S. in terms of public awareness, etc., so it strikes me as quite possible there are still any number of post-WWII keepsake collections that grandpa's kids haven't sorted through yet. I don't mind waiting!)

 

So, ambivalent as I was about the whole experience, the bottom line was I was okay with it. So, just now, I responded to the official ebay cancellation request by agreeing to it.

 

And if you're wondering whether this is just sour grapes on my part, I suppose that may be part of it. I definitely wasn't thrilled about the prospect of sending that much money to someone who had behaved in this manner over the course of our dealings. But another thing to keep in mind?

 

I didn't have to accept the cancellation. In fact, I had two options. I could have shown ebay the emails in which he agreed to ship to me. I also could have utilized the option ebay gave me of simply switching my shipping address--my wife has a cousin in Scotland and I could have used hers.

 

But I didn't. I think as an investment it would have been okay. But probably just okay. And I think there are probably still Marvelman and other rarities out there to be had for a lot less and therefore with much more potential for growth. Am I bummed that I don't own the legendary-at-least-for-now lost issue of Marvelman?

 

Yeah. But I'll get over it.

 

Kimota!

Edited August 19, 2014 by jtlarsen

[markseifert]

Am I bummed that I don't own the legendary-at-least-for-now lost issue of Marvelman?

 

Yeah. But I'll get over it.

 

Kimota!

 

I bet this sale will bring out another copy sooner or later.

[RockMyAmadeus]

 

Kimota!

My take is different from yours. I wouldn't look at this book as an investment. As a collector, the drive to own one of everything is immense for me.

 

You have to consider: will you get an opportunity to buy this again? No one knows. We don't live forever. We now know that this copy exists, but how do we know others do? I'd much rather have the book, and have others come onto the market, than not have it, and never have the opportunity to buy it again.

 

The price, if you can afford it, is pretty much irrelevant. It's the only one known.

 

Money comes and goes. It really does. Opportunities like this...

 

Well, hopefully, more copies are shaken from the eaves.

[JTLarsen]

 

Kimota!

My take is different from yours. I wouldn't look at this book as an investment. As a collector, the drive to own one of everything is immense for me.

 

You have to consider: will you get an opportunity to buy this again? No one knows. We don't live forever. We now know that this copy exists, but how do we know others do? I'd much rather have the book, and have others come onto the market, than not have it, and never have the opportunity to buy it again.

 

The price, if you can afford it, is pretty much irrelevant. It's the only one known.

 

Money comes and goes. It really does. Opportunities like this...

 

Well, hopefully, more copies are shaken from the eaves.

 

I totally get this and actually agree! It's just that, for me, the rarity isn't actually that different from other issues of Marvelman--which I could get much cheaper. Plus, as you say, we don't know whether others will come to market. Like I said, I was torn, and if I were a super-rich dude, I'd probably have fought it, cuz what do I care? But since I'm not, I'd rather use that money (a) over a muuuuch longer period of time (ha!) but also (b) for many more items of comparable rarity.

 

That said, I totally appreciate where you're coming from and really appreciate you and everyone else sharing your thoughts on this. Not an easy call either way... but owning the first appearances of Marvelman and Kid Marvelman are nice consolation prizes!

[JTLarsen]

Am I bummed that I don't own the legendary-at-least-for-now lost issue of Marvelman?

 

Yeah. But I'll get over it.

 

Kimota!

 

I bet this sale will bring out another copy sooner or later.

 

Thanks for that. I agree. There are only handfuls known of each of the early issues, but there have also only been a handful of people looking for them. I suspect the growing awareness and maturation of the British comics market will flush out additional copies eventually...at which point there's nothing special about 26 any more...

[Bronty]

Am I bummed that I don't own the legendary-at-least-for-now lost issue of Marvelman?

 

Yeah. But I'll get over it.

 

Kimota!

 

I bet this sale will bring out another copy sooner or later.

 

Thanks for that. I agree. There are only handfuls known of each of the early issues, but there have also only been a handful of people looking for them. I suspect the growing awareness and maturation of the British comics market will flush out additional copies eventually...at which point there's nothing special about 26 any more...

 

Even if copies are flushed out, it will still be ridiculously rare I bet. I imagine a "flushing out" over the next ten years would still amount to five or less copies! Still... probably best to not buy the first one that comes along then if you have patience. As the OP said, it will do OK as an investment at that price, but only OK.

[EwanUK]

Crikey what a tale...

 

I was the third under-bidder, I'd assumed one of the others would be Derek but unsure

 

The seller DEFINITELY didn't know what he had but as the auction started I bet at least 5 of us emailed him to pull the book and "sell to me" !

 

As I say, I went to about £1,100 but £2,500 is far too much even if I could afford it

 

I doubt very much another no.26 will appear, certainly not anytime soon. no.25 when sold never did - I think there's more than 2 copies (maybe 5) but all these early Miller titles are super, super rare

 

I think it's great that a copy has surfaced though, and from an original owner in Wales too ! How bizarre

 

Love the appropriate story title too