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Post by MDG on Aug 20, 2016 7:45:24 GMT -5
On the subject of Western reprints that fetch high prices, Rawhide Kid #140 in the 35-cent price variant is highly coveted by certain collectors. Far fewer of them have surfaced than other variants of the same vintage and as a result, demand far outstrips the meager supply. As more collectors become aware of these rarities and become intrigued by them, the prices we'll see for such books in the future may give us pause. Nice cover! In the same vein, Conan annual #1 is all reprint but it has one awesome cover by Barry Windsor-Smith that would be worth the high price all by itself! Yeah--I bought reprints of the Wrightson Swamp Things and Rogers Detectives pretty much for the covers.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Aug 20, 2016 15:06:56 GMT -5
Nice cover! In the same vein, Conan annual #1 is all reprint but it has one awesome cover by Barry Windsor-Smith that would be worth the high price all by itself! Yeah--I bought reprints of the Wrightson Swamp Things and Rogers Detectives pretty much for the covers. I just don't get price variants. Was the variant printed ahead of the general run? If not, I just don't understand. Cover price is the least interesting part of a cover to me. I could never see myself collecting that.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2016 15:14:19 GMT -5
Yeah--I bought reprints of the Wrightson Swamp Things and Rogers Detectives pretty much for the covers. I just don't get price variants. Was the variant printed ahead of the general run? If not, I just don't understand. Cover price is the least interesting part of a cover to me. I could never see myself collecting that. The one I am kind of baffled by is people who make a distinction between newsstand and direct copies of books and charge differently accordingly. Having a UPC code and the CC for Curtis comics instead of the picture or text in the box or having the trade dress info in a diamond shaped box instead of the newsstand squares and rectangles doesn't make a book more or less interesting to me. And the argument that newsstand books had smaller print runs and are harder to find in higher grade because of shelf wear doesn't hold a lot of water for me either. But if people want to chase down this stuff and spend their money on it, well more power to them, it's just less competition for the kind of stuff I am looking to get -M
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Aug 20, 2016 17:09:57 GMT -5
I just don't get price variants. Was the variant printed ahead of the general run? If not, I just don't understand. Cover price is the least interesting part of a cover to me. I could never see myself collecting that. The one I am kind of baffled by is people who make a distinction between newsstand and direct copies of books and charge differently accordingly. Having a UPC code and the CC for Curtis comics instead of the picture or text in the box or having the trade dress info in a diamond shaped box instead of the newsstand squares and rectangles doesn't make a book more or less interesting to me. And the argument that newsstand books had smaller print runs and are harder to find in higher grade because of shelf wear doesn't hold a lot of water for me either. But if people want to chase down this stuff and spend their money on it, well more power to them, it's just less competition for the kind of stuff I am looking to get -M To be fair, there's a larger difference there than with the price. As the barcode is a lot more visible, it can seem like a larger obstruction in a run of books, and some of those direct stand art pieces placed where the newsstand barcode would go were pretty cool. But yeah, generally speaking, it's a really really small thing with which to concern oneself.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2016 22:27:57 GMT -5
The one I am kind of baffled by is people who make a distinction between newsstand and direct copies of books and charge differently accordingly. Having a UPC code and the CC for Curtis comics instead of the picture or text in the box or having the trade dress info in a diamond shaped box instead of the newsstand squares and rectangles doesn't make a book more or less interesting to me. And the argument that newsstand books had smaller print runs and are harder to find in higher grade because of shelf wear doesn't hold a lot of water for me either. But if people want to chase down this stuff and spend their money on it, well more power to them, it's just less competition for the kind of stuff I am looking to get -M To be fair, there's a larger difference there than with the price. As the barcode is a lot more visible, it can seem like a larger obstruction in a run of books, and some of those direct stand art pieces placed where the newsstand barcode would go were pretty cool. But yeah, generally speaking, it's a really really small thing with which to concern oneself. Witht he price variants (which I have zero interest in) there is at least a rarity factor as those were only distributed to certain test markets, not generally available in all markets that accounts for the price differentiation. There's no marked (legitimate) difference in availability/supply to account for the price variations between newsstand and direct market. I agree that I wouldn't spend the effort to get the price variants as the differences are uninteresting to me, but I can at least see the supply/demand rationale for their higher prices. I can't see it with the newsstand editions. -M
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Aug 20, 2016 22:45:03 GMT -5
To be fair, there's a larger difference there than with the price. As the barcode is a lot more visible, it can seem like a larger obstruction in a run of books, and some of those direct stand art pieces placed where the newsstand barcode would go were pretty cool. But yeah, generally speaking, it's a really really small thing with which to concern oneself. Witht he price variants (which I have zero interest in) there is at least a rarity factor as those were only distributed to certain test markets, not generally available in all markets that accounts for the price differentiation. There's no marked (legitimate) difference in availability/supply to account for the price variations between newsstand and direct market. I agree that I wouldn't spend the effort to get the price variants as the differences are uninteresting to me, but I can at least see the supply/demand rationale for their higher prices. I can't see it with the newsstand editions. -M For the most part, I agree. But there were circumstances in which the newsstand version was exceptionally rarer than the direct market version. I know this was an issue more with smaller presses like Valiant, which were big enough to be on the stands, but they still lacked brand recognition AND the newsstand market was dwindling.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2016 23:25:35 GMT -5
Witht he price variants (which I have zero interest in) there is at least a rarity factor as those were only distributed to certain test markets, not generally available in all markets that accounts for the price differentiation. There's no marked (legitimate) difference in availability/supply to account for the price variations between newsstand and direct market. I agree that I wouldn't spend the effort to get the price variants as the differences are uninteresting to me, but I can at least see the supply/demand rationale for their higher prices. I can't see it with the newsstand editions. -M For the most part, I agree. But there were circumstances in which the newsstand version was exceptionally rarer than the direct market version. I know this was an issue more with smaller presses like Valiant, which were big enough to be on the stands, but they still lacked brand recognition AND the newsstand market was dwindling. Dwindling, yes, but let's keep a little perspective. there were more newsstand copies of those books printed and circulated than most big 2 books today that are on the direct market. Then there was the direct market copies of those books, so scarcity is not an issue as even today's best sellers have smaller print runs than just the newsstand copies did back then. -M
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Aug 20, 2016 23:35:12 GMT -5
For the most part, I agree. But there were circumstances in which the newsstand version was exceptionally rarer than the direct market version. I know this was an issue more with smaller presses like Valiant, which were big enough to be on the stands, but they still lacked brand recognition AND the newsstand market was dwindling. Dwindling, yes, but let's keep a little perspective. there were more newsstand copies of those books printed and circulated than most big 2 books today that are on the direct market. Then there was the direct market copies of those books, so scarcity is not an issue as even today's best sellers have smaller print runs than just the newsstand copies did back then. -M As much as that makes complete rational sense, "scarcity" based upon print numbers has never been a rational thing. Silver Surfer #4 still fetches well over $100 in low grade because it only had a print run of around 400,000.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2016 0:03:10 GMT -5
Dwindling, yes, but let's keep a little perspective. there were more newsstand copies of those books printed and circulated than most big 2 books today that are on the direct market. Then there was the direct market copies of those books, so scarcity is not an issue as even today's best sellers have smaller print runs than just the newsstand copies did back then. -M As much as that makes complete rational sense, "scarcity" based upon print numbers has never been a rational thing. Silver Surfer #4 still fetches well over $100 in low grade because it only had a print run of around 400,000. Oh I agree, but the caveat here is how many of those 400K copies were destroyed because they didn't sell initially-that's the variable I guess. Direct market books rarely get destroyed (yes I have heard of cases of X-Force #1 being pitched into dumpsters by retailers so rarely not never) so you know how many actual copies there are if you know what was printed/sold via Diamond. That being said, it is demand not supply that drives back issue prices. None of the key Marvel Silver Age books suffer form scarcity, but high demand keeps the prices up even though there is a supply that can meet the demand. There are enough copies out there that anyone who wants one and is willing to pay the going rate can get one. The fact that there are enough people out there willing to meet the going price is what keeps the prices rising, not any lack of supply. Especially in this era of internet availability and comic cons happening every weekend somewhere, there's always copies of those books available, if you have the money to spend. Now, with Golden Age books, Silver DC and non-big 2 publishers supply becomes a little iffier on a lot of books, but it is still demand that drives the market and the prices. -M
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Post by Phil Maurice on Aug 21, 2016 11:56:15 GMT -5
I just don't get price variants. Was the variant printed ahead of the general run? Since the vast majority of Marvel 35-cent price variants remain undiscovered, they afford modern collectors an opportunity to chase after items that are true rarities. It's very unlikely that any of us are going to run across previously unknown copies of Action Comics #1 or even Amazing Fantasy #15 in our lifetimes. The Marvel price variants, on the other hand ARE out there waiting to be found. They have what many consider a very interesting backstory and offer insight into the publisher's bronze-age marketing practices, particularly in the way they responded to rising production costs. These practices were not publicly discussed at the time and indeed the existence of these books remained largely a secret for two decades. As to your second question, it appears the variants were printed concurrently with the general run, over a test period lasting approximately four months.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2017 23:06:00 GMT -5
For some reason Adam Hughes covers for Zatanna and Catwoman are going for hyper-inflated prices.... this issue of Zatanna... #15 from the 2010 version is going for almost $40 in VF 8.0 in the current Lonestar auction. Lonestar has a consigned copy of #16 in F/VF 7.0 for $99.95. Catwoman #51 from the 2002 series.... has a consigned 6.5 copy going for $75 I just picked up a large run of those Catwoman covers in the dollar bin at Half Price last month in better shape than that, and I got the entire Zatanna series in dollar bins just after the series got cancelled for the new52 launch. It's amazing to me, and kind of silly that just the covers are driving that kind of market, as there is nothing else special about these books in terms of first appearances, scarcity, hot creators or what have you. And the scary thing is they sell at those prices, it's not a pipe dream asking price, they move fairly briskly. I dunno sometimes (shaking head). -M
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Post by pinkfloydsound17 on Oct 24, 2017 7:27:05 GMT -5
I know! It's crazy! But for someone like me (who has sold several of that first Zatanna comic) who flips books so I can afford older stuff, I'm okay with it.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 24, 2017 8:38:48 GMT -5
Zatanna #16 ... From mrp "Lonestar has a consigned copy of #16 in F/VF 7.0 for $99.95" ... is ridiculous!
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Post by masterofquackfu on Oct 24, 2017 11:13:37 GMT -5
Oh, man...I saw someone asking for $374 for a copy of Avengers #183. That's crazy. Nothing of significance with the issue. I know because I bought my beat up copy for $2. I don't care if that book is tip top, no flipping way that I'd ever spend that much on a comic book. I think the most that I've ever spent on a comic book was Avengers 150 in the late 80's. I think I paid $3.50 for it. Other than that, most comics I buy are $2 or less. I love the low grade, beat up books. Glad that I'm a frugal guy.
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Post by Reptisaurus! on Oct 24, 2017 13:04:35 GMT -5
What possible interest could people have in Avengers 183? First appearance of the Elements of Doom? First Bova the cow woman?
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