CapnDoug

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2/8/2016 Topic: CapnDoug's Back Issue Discoveries CapnDoug Administrator	One more Spider-Man: You can really see the dust on my scanner bed in this one. The actual comic is probably 9.9. There is only a tiny little crease on the spine that doesn't even break the colour. But let's move onto the Avengers. As nice as the Amazing Spider-Man collection is, I think Avengers is actually more impressive. I just have more small gaps. So, lets see what all I have that I have scanned... A few months back, I ran across the border to get a collection of Silver Age Avengers like this one for $10 an issue. They were mostly in this sort of condition. Not bad, not great, but for $10 an issue, it's hard to complain. I think I got this off eBay a while back. I don't really know, honestly. But hey, old Avengers. I loved this storyline as a kid. I think this was actually the first time I ever upgraded a comic for condition reasons. I bought a beat up one for $5 at a con and then, found this one on eBay. So, may as well get rid of the ratty one. And the next issue is pretty good, too. First new Black Knight. Also an eBay purchase. This was not from eBay. This was from the $1900 collection. I wonder what all I'm going to end up showing off from this collection by the time everything else is said and done... He had a few old comics that he had bought, this being one of them. Not exactly in great condition, but it's still one of my most valuable issues. This is from that same $10 each cross border collection. The reds in this cover really didn't hold up well. But it's still a decent comic. I've owned this one for a while. Probably came from eBay. Always like the Vision.... I found this one in a collection and thought, "Hey, decent reader copy, I guess...." Then I opened it and saw that the issue has coupons and such cut out. So I upgraded it during my last trip to my LCS. I don't ever begrudge damage that came from reading the comics, like creases, fingerprints and the like. Comics were supposed to be read, after all. But cutting pieces out of it? Writing on it? That just bugs me. First Scott Lang. Not bad condition, but definitely not high grade. High Grade is VF or higher, right? Database says I bought it for $3. Probably at a con. Also from the $1900 collection. The collection had a rather hefty run of Avengers from the early 80's, so I got a nice expansion to my run and filled in some gaps. Plus, hey, first Taskmaster. This one was in the collection, too, but it's from my collection. I picked up most of this run at one con or another many years ago. And the first Nebula, bought for under a buck. Won't find that deal on eBay anymore.... I actually have a bunch more Avengers scanned, but there are only so many that I feel I should post. I have a LOT of Avengers. I started collecting during Heroes Reborn and didn't stop until I stopped collecting around the time of Siege. Though a bunch of that is New & Mighty and such... But still, database says that the run up to Disassembled is about 2/3rds complete.
2/9/2016 Topic: CapnDoug's Back Issue Discoveries CapnDoug Administrator	I'm hoping to be able to make enough money off selling my duplicates at the cons this month to be able to justify adding more Avengers to my collection. Strangely, I don't seem to be having a ton of luck off the bulk buys in recent months with Avengers. They have mostly been condition upgrades, but few new issues. Which is odd, because I'm missing a bunch from the 90's. I have almost every issue released in the 80's but not much after the 30th anniversary. Oxbladder wrote: Nice bunch of Avengers! (Actually, Byrne has often stated he is the only person who can do certain things. He's pretty much a jerk now.) Doesn't Alan Moore say similar things? Come to think of it, even Steve Skroce said something similar, too... But yeah, a lot of writers fall into that same trap once they get big. Thinking they can do no wrong. Usually they are fine if you keep them away from the characters that made them famous, though.
2/9/2016 Topic: CROW'S NEST CapnDoug Administrator	Those are some nice books. Some artists you just can't go wrong with, Kirby really seems like one of them. Not the most detailed, but a very dynamic style.
2/10/2016 Topic: CapnDoug's Back Issue Discoveries CapnDoug Administrator	Oxbladder wrote: Avengers before Heroes reborn was actually quite good. I got quite a few people buying the title back then. FF too was good ... Until the last six issues before heroes reborn where they pretty much gave up on the title. Really, it just came down to the fact that Marvel was going bankrupt at about the time and they wanted to boost sales of books that could do better, I think. I don't know. I was 12 when Heroes Reborn happened. Anyway, it was a holiday weekend here so I got a lot of scanning done and went through the last of my 1000 bags and boards. Some scans are from the old forum, others are new. Here we go: Speaking of relaunches... I think Marvel Knights had better quality, plus Christopher Priest, who I already knew from Quantum and Woody, and Mark Texiera. I minored in African History (so useful...) so I enjoyed a lot of Black Panther stuff in the next series. Thought they got it right what kind of nation Wakanda would have needed to be in the past to be the nation it is in the present. I have some cool Cap's, although my buddy is huge into him. This one passed through several hands, though no money changed hands. My brother's friend, who got it from her dad, gave this to him back when we still had a joint collection, then when we divided up the collection, I got it. Because I was into X-Men and neither of us had much in the way of Captain America. Didn't realize it was so important until later. I mentioned I got this in a collection buy recently. First Crossbones came in the same box as Sandman #1 at 50 cents an issue. But in terms of good buys, nothing beats Daredevil. I bought a long box for $55 that was stuffed with Daredevil. Including this one. 15 cents an issue. I think I've told this story a few times... But it also included almost every issue from #168-#325, most in pretty high grade. Some not so high, but still cool. And the $1900 collection had a lot of Daredevil, too. So now my Daredevil Collection is probably up there with my Avengers, Amazing Spider-Man and Uncanny X-Men collections (that's going to come later). Mostly showing this off since it's one of my more valuable books and if I ever do a Top 10 or something, I'm going to want a scan ready. This was the last of the Elektra run that I needed. Found it in the $1900 collection. I use that term, really it just means I got a lot at once, and paid about 45% of graded guide value (though a lot of the things like Master of Kung Fu or ROM could have easily been found for $1 or less and not the $2-$4 the guide says, so... grain of salt) First Typhoid Mary. Should go up in value, I'd think. I remember thinking that the Wizard 1/2 comics were so cool. But I think they are still worth exactly what I paid for them. As is this baby: I've got a lot more scanned, so let's make another post. I used to break them up and only do 3 or 4 covers a post on the old forums since they ran slow and I'd often lose the entire post if I took too long. Don't have that issue with the new forums! Just... 24 scans in a post is a bit much.
2/10/2016 Topic: CapnDoug's Back Issue Discoveries CapnDoug Administrator	Remember when Galactus was a badass? Pepridge Farms remembers... We don't have Pepridge Farms in Canada, I just know that from a Futurama joke. This was in the $1900 collection. Yeah, not all gems. And how does Dazzler have any business taking on Galactus? Deadpool before it was a comedy thing... And then after it became a comedy book, and people didn't care. I have all but the first storyline of this series up until the crossover with Black Panther. Never would have guessed that they would be worth something someday. Bought them for cover price, or close to it. A nice Kirby book and the first appearance of the Celestials, apparently. This was in my most recent collection buy, which worked out to about 39 cents an issue. I came late to Exiles, but was hooked easy. It's like "What if 'What If' mattered?" I have the complete first series now, bought for cover price or close to it. Also Kirby... I'm getting a pretty decent FF collection, too. I mean, it pales in comparison to some other threads, but still some nice books. This came from a collection that a guy just wanted to get rid of. About 40 cents an issue. Both of these are from the $1900 collection. The guy liked his Fantastic Four. And he had some good stuff in it. A lot of John Byrne Fantastic Four. Back when he was good, Ox! Like this one! Also, an appropriate amount of force to attempt to take on Galactus... Power Pack? No.... I had all these before, though. An early back issue pick up. When I was going through my brother's collection, I was shocked to find some old Hulks like these. Never knew he was into Hulk and I have no idea where he got them. And some Todd McFarlane Hulk. This was one of the good things in the collection that looked like it had been in a flood. I had an ad on Craigslist saying "I buy comics" and would get the occasional call about it (that's how I got the $1900 collection). One guy called me wanting to sell me a copy of Infinity Gauntlet #1 saying it was worth over $100. And some people are asking that, but I had just gotten this one for 50 cents. He said he would call me back. He never did. Probably one of the best Inhumans stories I've ever read. I didn't get this off the rack the way I did with Daredevil, Black Panther and Black Widow, though. I need to think up a pedigree name for that collection... Yet another great book from that collection. So, there are 1000 bags and boards in a case. I was planning on stopping the scans after that was done until I get more (another case won't quite do it), but #1001 would have been this: I'm not sure if I will be picking up another case soon or if I will wait. My girlfriend will be in town at the end of the month (Kairi likes Gil's movie thread), so I might not have the time, and I may also have other monetary priorities. On the plus side, she gets to be my lovely assistant at one of the shows.
2/13/2016 Topic: Grading: Your opinion? CapnDoug Administrator	Grading is subjective. It's not a science. I've seen things with CGC certification at 10.0 where you look at them and wonder if the person who gave that grade still has a job with them because it's at best 9.6. Ask 3 people to grade a comic and you will usually get 3 different grades. The comic you linked is not NM, maybe NM-, though. Heck, I know my mood effects the grade I give something and the price I put on it. Not by much, but it can easily turn a 5.0 into a 5.5 or a 9.4 into a 9.6. I sold a comic on eBay yesterday that I had listed as 5.0. It had been up for a few months, so I hadn't looked at it in a while. I looked at it again to get it shipped and my first thought was "I gave this a 5.0?" 4.5 would have been generous but reasonable, 3.5 would have been harsh but reasonable. I was in a good mood when I put up the ad but I also listed the flaws and posted a good quality scan of the comic. Just like this seller has. This seller has given customers the information to make up their own mind about what it's worth. Really, unless you are going to buy something with third party grading, that's all you can do. And even they get it wrong sometimes.
2/15/2016 Topic: CROW'S NEST CapnDoug Administrator	Wait... 9.8 is only "decent grade?" It's a nice book, though.
2/15/2016 Topic: Ruk's list-Who has the best collection CapnDoug Administrator	I'm in danger of falling out of the top 50... Let's fix that. Recent collection buy pushed me to: 11437 books worth $47,354.55
2/17/2016 Topic: Kelvin Mace CapnDoug Administrator	http://comicspriceguide.com/titles/kelvin-mace/sktpi When searching, the database defaults to Comics published in America only. If you are searching for comics published outside the United States, you will need to change the option to the specific country or just select "All Countries"from the drop down menu.
2/27/2016 Topic: "Raw" Prices vs. "Graded" Prices CapnDoug Administrator	kporourke97 wrote: "Rule of thumb: Your comic is worth at least "raw" prices...graded or not. If it's graded and a 9.6 or greater, you can probably get over guide for it..." I am new at this site, and trying to sell comics for the first time. I have over 10,000 comics, mostly from 80s. If a comic is worth the raw price, I am noticing a lot of comics for sale on this site are priced much less than the raw price. ACTION comics #595 as an example. Raw price for 9.4 is $12, but there are 5 comics listed at 9.4 grade for $3.75 or less. Just trying to learn how to properly price the comics I list for sale on this site. Action Comics #595 is probably not a good example. It recently went up in value after having been relegated to the dollar bins at most conventions. So, if people posted their listing before it went up earlier this year and have not adjusted, they will be priced below guide. That being said, many people will price their comics below guide in order to encourage sales. I have several $4 or $5 comics that I am selling for $1 each, in order to sell them quicker. That's not to say that I couldn't get $4 or $5, it just might take a lot longer. And, as with everything else, comics are worth what the buyer is willing to pay.
2/29/2016 Topic: CapnDoug's Back Issue Discoveries CapnDoug Administrator	So, let's see.... where did I leave off... Well, there were two conventions over the last two weekends. As much as I probably could have gone nuts and spent a fortune and spent every penny I made from selling my duplicates, I chose restraint. I just picked up some cheap comics to fill in my runs of Avengers, Uncanny X-Men and Amazing Adventures. But, between the two conventions, I also bought another collection. Had a lot of good stuff in there for me, and I'll be showing it off as I get everything entered and rebagged. Here we go... I don't claim that many of my Amazing Adventures are in high grade. And I probably overpaid for the 1st Killraven up there (ok, definitely, according to CPG's prices), but I'm now only 2 issues away from having a full Killraven collection. The collection contained a lot of Amazing Spider-Man issues like these that I needed. Not great condition, but still not too bad for a buck an issue. I also got a few condition upgrades in the early 200's in addition to knocking a half a dozen issues off my "look for" list. Now Avengers is where I really stocked up with the collection. Between the conventions, the collection and a trip to my LCS, I added almost two dozen issues of Avengers to my collection. Right now, the plan is to go through this collection, and get everything entered and rebagged, while posting highlights, then get back to the rebagging the remaining comics. So, I'll have a bunch of stuff to show off over the next week or so, I think.
3/1/2016 Topic: CapnDoug's Back Issue Discoveries CapnDoug Administrator	Gilgandra wrote: Ah yes! the "Spider-Buggy"...face palm Nice books Doug! Batmobile = Awesome Supermobile = Awesome (I don't think I posted that scan on the new forum) Spider-Mobile? Must also be awesome. I mean, it just stands to reason, right? It can't just be a ploy to sell toys. Marvel would never attach their brand to shoddy merchandise. He's one of the finest minds in the Marvel Universe, so if he is creating a Spider-Mobile, when he doesn't even really need a vehicle, it must be awesome!
3/1/2016 Topic: Have Comic Books Peaked In Market Value? CapnDoug Administrator	The comic book market is probably just like every other commodities market. From time to time there will be adjustments, but over all there will always be some form of demand to drive prices. I keep spouting off the mantra of "Everything is worth what the buyer is willing to pay for it." As long as there are people who want the product, they will have some value. It may not be the high values that some guides suggest, but it will be something. My current concern (and I think this is one of the things that Oxbladder is referring to) is the almost ravenous demand for keys that the market has. I mean, I benefit from that demand in that a lot of the collections I buy have keys in them, and the sellers are unwilling to piece out the collection, but it's still a very narrow focus. I took Kairi to the LCS while she was here last week and she wanted to get the new Deadpool series. She got everything really easily, except for #6. Talked to the owner and it seems that any time there is a new key released, people come in and buy multiple copies in the hopes that it will go up in value. As a result, people who actually want to read the issue are out of luck until a trade is released. This is something I hear over and over again. It's not even that the issue is worth more than cover price, it's just that it's the first Deadpool 2099, so it might possibly at some point be worth something. I've started a number of people collecting over the last year and always tell them "collect what interests you." I never tell them to concern themselves with value or anything, just collect what you like. Increasing in value is just a bonus. Then again, I still run into people who think the box of comics they've been holding onto since 1991 will finance their child's education...
3/2/2016 Topic: Gilgandra Back Issues 2.0 CapnDoug Administrator	I'm never sure what to do with those bagged comics. I know most of them are not worth much, but I don't want to risk being wrong about what to do with them. I know the bags decay and can damage the comic and if you don't open them, you can't read them, but... Is removing them from the bag damaging it? I have a bunch that I've opened and kept the bag on the other side of the board... And yes, Carnage is really starting to take off. When I was starting to get my ASM run, I was told to look for 3 or 4 issues that are becoming harder and harder to find, but aren't expensive. #410, where Carnage fights Ben Reilly, #429-430 where Carnage fights Silver Surfer, and the Maximum Carnage issues. So, yeah, good call on going for the Maximum Carnage issues. The non-ASM issues may not go as high, but they'll still do OK, I think.
3/2/2016 Topic: The Heckler returns CapnDoug Administrator	Sadly, when the site server crashed back in October, the forums were completely lost. We all lost our threads, sadly. I understand that several things were tried to recover the forums, but nothing worked. At least the site didn't lose all the issue info. Anyway, some of the members of the old forums are starting to find their way back, and we're also being joined by new members. So, feel free to start your thread anew. I'm sure we'd all love to see the favourites from your collection at the very least.
3/2/2016 Topic: CapnDoug's Back Issue Discoveries CapnDoug Administrator	So, a few more things from the new collection to post. Here goes: Strangely, most of the Daredevils in the collection were one's that I didn't have and were in pretty decent condition. This one.... not so much. I'm not really sure if I should still have it on my look for list. I tend to keep looking for Silver Age books in my runs if they aren't at least Good and Bronze/Modern if they aren't at least Very Good. But this is also a kind of pricey book. Even some early annuals and Giant Size issues were in this collection. And a lot of decent Fantastic Fours, too. Including the Avengers crossover featuring Ultron-7 and a bunch of George Perez stuff, too. There was also a complete collection of Godzilla in there. And a lot of Howard the Ducks, too. And there are some nice Hulks in the collection, too. And I haven't even gotten to the two or three really expensive books in the collection yet.
3/3/2016 Topic: Unrealistic pricing on books for sale CapnDoug Administrator	connorstrt wrote: I am see a lot of stupid pricing on this site lately. One listing has Adventure Comics #300 raw at 5.5 condition for $11,700. 9.4 condition lists at $1,000. That's ridiculous is there anyway to call these people out? If you look at the description of the listing (yes, I saw it, too), the guy seems to be asking for $11,700 for his collection linked in a google doc, not just that issue. Other than that, if a book is wildly overpriced, it probably won't sell, like the guy I saw at a con asking $25 for X-Men #5 (the Jim Lee one). If you feel as though something should be said, you can always politely (heavy emphasis on that word) contact them and suggest a better course of action. But I know that can often cause more problems than it is worth.
3/3/2016 Topic: CapnDoug's Back Issue Discoveries CapnDoug Administrator	Robbie wrote: DD#131 is the 1st Bullseye. It's a perfect 1st app cover and a pretty good read. I think you want to find a slabbed copy. Then you can have a nice one and one for reading otoh; if you don't dig the story, then that one is fine... Yep, that collection was a sweet score. Honestly, I have never had any interest in getting a slabbed comic. While I can't claim to have read everything in my collection, part of the thing about owning a comic is reading it. And I don't really want to have to pay $18 extra just to read an issue. I had a collection that I was looking to buy that had a graded copy of New Teen Titans #3 in it. I ended up paying less for the collection and letting him keep the graded issue. I'm more likely to pick up a trade in order to have a reader copy of something I am worried to open. I might consider getting a slabbed issue if it was something really expensive, just to get a little assurance of the quality, but that's about it. Anyway, a few more pick ups while I'm here. Any time you find a 12 cent issue in decent condition, it's a good day. I was a little surprised at how little this was listing for. I mean, I know it's not the first appearance, but still sort of major. Now this one is worth a bit. Not something I would have sought out, but when you find it in a collection for a dollar, it's a great find. And it will probably go up in value over the next little bit. My scanner has trouble with white covers. But, the reason I'm showing this off is because it was the last issue of New Teen Titans that I needed to complete my run. I'm still missing a few issues of Tales of the Teen Titans, but those will come soon enough. A little lower grade than I would have liked, but not terrible, particularly for the price I paid. I also got a Nova #1 in the collection, but it's a little rough. Missing a small but noticeable amount of its cover. And there's still another major key coming as I go through the collection and get it all organized.
3/4/2016 Topic: Sargon's Rubies of Life have returned CapnDoug Administrator	Not sure where they get off calling that a movie "classic..." I mean, has anyone seen it? Heard of it? It would be an interesting thing to see, though. And a nice comic to own, too.
3/5/2016 Topic: Robbie's Thread o' Stuff CapnDoug Administrator	Two nice books there. Still need Avengers #55 for my collection. And considering both of those are 50 years old, those are in great shape.