Defiant1

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6/26/2021 Topic: Is Journey Into Mystery 109 Worth Investing In? Defiant1	Theoldcollector wrote: Defiant1 wrote: You can't go wrong buying key crossover issues that old. It may not skyrocket in price, but the desire for collectors to own it will stay steady. That post was from 3 and a half years ago If they did buy it then for an investment I'm sure they would have doubled the price in today's market I knew it was old, but I didn't look at the date. All the more reason to have a follow-up post. Yes, it was a good investment.
6/26/2021 Topic: BCW Comic Book Bins Defiant1	Many supply chains have dried up. Our copper vendors where I work were telling us they couldn't get raw stock on copper for awhile.
6/26/2021 Topic: Defiant1's Random & Odd Comic Art Collection Defiant1	rgtichy wrote: These are pretty cool! The Brunner cover art is awesome. I don't think I know anything about Defiant Comics, though. I assume your profile indicates some kind of ties? I was a big fan of pre-Unity Valiant. Former editor-in-chief of Marvel founded the company in 1989. He was ousted in an unethical manner by his business partners in 1992. In 1993, Jim obtained funding to start DEFIANT Comics. Marvel sued them out of the starting gate which consumed their start-up capital and delayed a multi-million dollar to deal with Mattel. The delay caused the toy deal to fall through. Realizing that the comics market had an implosion in 1994, they paid all the artists for outstanding work and shut down the business. The next year, he started Broadway Comics for Lorne Michaels' Broadway video. In 2003 or so, I was trying to buy some DEFIANT comics artwork on eBay. I became frustrated because there was no accurate information about DEFIANT Comics on the web or in print. Price Guides and web sites were not listing everything that had been published and they were listing comics that had been solicited, but had had been published. At the time, I was just trying to figure out which pages of art came from which comics. In my frustration, I thought to myself "Why doesn't someone make a web page that tells people about DEFIANT Comics!" Then I realized that I had more info on the company than many other collectors. I realized that I had no right to complain if I was unwilling to make they web site myself. So I did. Using free web hosting, I created "The Unofficial Archive of DEFIANT Comics". It's moved over the years, but it's seeing a resurgence of popularity lately. The Unofficial Defiant Comics Archive I've exchanged info with creators and fans for some 17 years. I was an annonymous contributor to a DEFIANT Comics fanzine published this year by Lucky Comics. A week or so ago I turned down an offer to be part of a professional podcast which would be interviewing Jim Shooter a second time. The podcast host felt that I would have some good questions for Jim. I prefer to just get the info out there. I'm not looking for notoriety. My life is interesting enough without comic fans and celebrities interacting with me. Defiant1 is just a name I chose to associate me with my website. It also describes me well when Valiant Fans want to talk about Valiant Comics being good after 1993. They weren't. I have many comic checklists online, my most extensive checklist is one for EC Comics and all the foreign EC reprints. I own a lot of original art from DEFIANT Comics., but I slowed down greatly in buying it because my website drove up the prices people were charging for the art..
6/26/2021 Topic: Defiant1's Random & Odd Comic Art Collection Defiant1	Whether for my own good or hers, I'd say I've been dumped by the girl I love after 15 years. It was already an awkward long distance situation. A parting gift from her was 3 pages of original Broadway Comics art. Pencils - J.G Jones Inks - Frank McLaughlin Fatale #3 Page 17 Fatale #4 Page 11 Fatale #4 Page 12 Defiant1
6/26/2021 Topic: BCW Comic Book Bins Defiant1	The risk is that they see some customers will pay the higher price and they leave them at the higher price.
6/29/2021 Topic: Comics Going Up...Where is it coming from???? Defiant1	Not sure, but people invest in collectibles when they don't have confidence in the stock market.
7/1/2021 Topic: CCG/CGC sold to investment firm Defiant1	Is it possible the whole company was running off venture capital money from these guys anyway? Thinking out loud.
7/1/2021 Topic: X-Force...and probably all 90's X-titles ... Defiant1	I can't remember the answer to your question, but I do recall there being two different prices on newsstand comics. I don't think it has anything to do with one being deluxe. I think it has to with the distribution channel. It all fell off my radar when I decided I wasn't going to buy modern price variants even if some are rare.
7/1/2021 Topic: Comics Going Up...Where is it coming from???? Defiant1	Taskmaster wrote: Defiant1 wrote: Not sure, but people invest in collectibles when they don't have confidence in the stock market. Because people see it on E-bay so that's "THE" price....WOW! That is the danger of using eBay as a price guide. I was smiling the other day. Someone who hoards a certain scarce comic was showing off how many copies he had online. He had a dozen or so (just guessing), and he felt the comic was worth maybe $100 each. He was complaining that a seller had the book listed for $675 on eBay and wouldn't sell his copy for the price he felt it was worth. The seller was getting annoyed with the constant lowball offers from the guy who just wanted to add to his hoard. I happen to know the guy who has the book listed for $675. He said he owns more copies than the guy who was showing off his hoard. The really funny thing is that the seller who has the book listed for $675 gave me a copy for free and paid for the shipping on top of that. He won't take the other guys offer for $100 or more, but he gave me a copy. I knew the guy who owns the only known surviving copy of My Secret #2, a magazine published by Atlas/Seaboard. I offered to buy it. He said it wasn't for sale. I told him what it was worth to me, he just smiled and said it wasn't for sale yet. I'm not going to whine or beg. I just let him know what I'd pay. The question then becomes....What is a one-of-a-kind desirable item worth in the market. It's worth what the seller wants for it. At any given time, the buyer is not only in competition with other consumers to offer the best price to the seller. He's also in competition with the seller to offer more than what the book is worth to the seller. It's not a situation where the seller is desperate and necessarily needs money. He's probably a fan of comics too and the book is worth to him whatever he priced it.
7/3/2021 Topic: Determining "current" value of comics Defiant1	Theoldcollector wrote: I search E-Bay using the sold feature but you need to remember E-Bay is a world wide market with a lot of sellers and buyers. There are E-Bay costs, and PayPal costs you have to take in as well so you can subtract that from the value that it sold for. Things on E-bay tend to sell higher then what they would sell for anywhere else too because it's seen by a lot more people. Heritage is another place where if you went off of just their sold prices, comic values would be even higher. I never really understood why Heritage prices always seem to go higher then anywhere else but they do. That doesn't mean that's what the value of that book is though. The fact that today's market is so crazy doesn't help either. I just but a couple of books off of ComicLink well under the 90 day average so E-Bay is not the final verdict. I am just a collector not a seller so I hardly ever use E-Bay due to I know I can find that same book cheaper elsewhere. I know that doesn't really help but like I said it's a crazy market so your not going to find a straight answer. The most valuable thing a Golden Age dealer has is his customer list. Heritage sells high end & high dollar collectibles, so they attract customers with deep pockets. Customers that spend a lot of money go back to sellers that have what they want and they go back to sellers they trust. Comics shops that sell new comics every week used to say, they can't sell Golden age comics or they don't sell Silver Age well. There's a reason. People who spend a lot of money aren't wasting their time with sellers who focus on new comics. You have to build a clientele for expensive books before you will ever consistently sell expensive books. I'd say Heritage has a clientele of buyers/bidders that will & can pay more for what they buy.
7/4/2021 Topic: Determining "current" value of comics Defiant1	Theoldcollector wrote: Defiant1 wrote: The most valuable thing a Golden Age dealer has is his customer list. Heritage sells high end & high dollar collectibles, so they attract customers with deep pockets. Customers that spend a lot of money go back to sellers that have what they want and they go back to sellers they trust. Comics shops that sell new comics every week used to say, they can't sell Golden age comics or they don't sell Silver Age well. There's a reason. People who spend a lot of money aren't wasting their time with sellers who focus on new comics. You have to build a clientele for expensive books before you will ever consistently sell expensive books. I'd say Heritage has a clientele of buyers/bidders that will & can pay more for what they buy. I understand Heritage themselves I guess I should've said I never understood the price these buyers pay. It makes no sense to me that buyers go on there and bid up books to ridiculous prices when if they had just took the time to look they could have bought the same book graded the same or even better for way less money. For instance one ASM 800 autographed book went for almost $400 on one of there auctions and that same book with the same autograph was up for sell on E-bay by multiple dealers for $180-$200 buy it now. If that is a book you want, why pay double and wait for the actual auction to start when you can just buy it immediately for less? Makes no sense. I understand it's Heritage's clientele that will and can pay more, it just seems like for rich people they aren't real savvy with their money. That's a low dollar book now think about how much money they are wasting for high dollar books. They will wait longer and pay way more on there for a book they could have just bought from A-1 or Reece or any one of the other many dealers that sell high end books. Trust will outweigh price shopping if someone has a lot of money. Despite that, I do believe there are some high end retailers working multiple business fronts and manipulating the market. If you sell a $400 comic to yourself at $800, eventually someone will believe $700 is a good deal.
7/4/2021 Topic: Comics Going Up...Where is it coming from???? Defiant1	The danger of basing everything on eBay is that you don't know who is actively looking for something at any given moment. The people willing to pay more may not be searching at the time something is being posted. Sometimes the listing don't adequately describe what is being sold. I bought 3 pages of EC original art because the auction wasn't clear as to whether you were buying one page or three pages. I figured out it was three and got a deal on them.
7/4/2021 Topic: Determining "current" value of comics Defiant1	Defiant1 wrote: Theoldcollector wrote: Defiant1 wrote: The most valuable thing a Golden Age dealer has is his customer list. Heritage sells high end & high dollar collectibles, so they attract customers with deep pockets. Customers that spend a lot of money go back to sellers that have what they want and they go back to sellers they trust. Comics shops that sell new comics every week used to say, they can't sell Golden age comics or they don't sell Silver Age well. There's a reason. People who spend a lot of money aren't wasting their time with sellers who focus on new comics. You have to build a clientele for expensive books before you will ever consistently sell expensive books. I'd say Heritage has a clientele of buyers/bidders that will & can pay more for what they buy. I understand Heritage themselves I guess I should've said I never understood the price these buyers pay. It makes no sense to me that buyers go on there and bid up books to ridiculous prices when if they had just took the time to look they could have bought the same book graded the same or even better for way less money. For instance one ASM 800 autographed book went for almost $400 on one of there auctions and that same book with the same autograph was up for sell on E-bay by multiple dealers for $180-$200 buy it now. If that is a book you want, why pay double and wait for the actual auction to start when you can just buy it immediately for less? Makes no sense. I understand it's Heritage's clientele that will and can pay more, it just seems like for rich people they aren't real savvy with their money. That's a low dollar book now think about how much money they are wasting for high dollar books. They will wait longer and pay way more on there for a book they could have just bought from A-1 or Reece or any one of the other many dealers that sell high end books. Trust will outweigh price shopping if someone has a lot of money. Despite that, I do believe there are some high end retailers working multiple business fronts and manipulating the market. If you sell a $400 comic to yourself at $800, eventually someone will believe $700 is a good deal. I saw some very suspicious transactions on the same book and it dawned upon me that that some very shady practices were possible. There was some kind of connection between two retail businesses but it wasn't clear. The same books were going back and forth between the businesses and the selling price was jumping drastically each time they sold. With people tracking data on high end books, I saw that it was possible to fake an increased demand without there actually being a real customer. I have no proof, but I'm highly suspicious. It also dawned upon me that the stock market has laws to protect investors, but the collectibles market doesn't. I don't remember which specific businesses were involved in the transactions, but I just tucked away in my mind that caution should be observed if high end or high grade expensive comics start spiking in price for some unknown reason. Some high end dealers will front an expensive book to another high end dealer if they think the other dealer can make a sale for them. It's not uncommon for two retailers to be involved with the sale of one book. It is unusual in my opinion if the same book is bouncing around and the price keeps jumping drastically.
7/5/2021 Topic: Defiant1's Stuff Defiant1	Here is a scan of the indicia to Weird Fantasy #14 published by Superior comics in Canada. Someone can add it to the GCD site if they are a contributor. I'm not. edited by Defiant1 on 7/5/2021
7/6/2021 Topic: Defiant1's Stuff Defiant1	rgtichy wrote: I see what you mean about the colors on the cover. It particularly looks as though they ran the black plate before the magenta (at the least), leading to obvious hue changes between the black in different areas. (Some places it's a "blue-black" others it is a "ruddy-black", others it is just "black".) I had collected some scans for my cover gallery that I wasn't using because I felt the colors had to be wrong. I also had some that were terribly mis-cut. After buying this, I decided that the colors were probably accurate and that mis-cuts are probably normal. I went ahead and posted them on my gallery page. These are probably the 2nd worst printing quality I've ever seen from a publisher. The only company worse was Charlton who used a printing press made to print cereal boxes.
7/7/2021 Topic: Added to the collection this week Defiant1	The first pre-hero Tales to Astonish issue I owned was #7 in about 1981. I didn't know the cover had been reprinted on Where Creatures Roam #2.
7/8/2021 Topic: Defiant1's Stuff Defiant1	rgtichy wrote: Defiant1 wrote: The only company worse was Charlton who used a printing press made to print cereal boxes. Charlton is something I miss. It added variety to the spinner racks. When you spun past the hot rod comics and the romance comics to find that Marvel Comic you wanted, you knew you were making the right choice. It was interesting to see the variety. I am collecting their adult humor comics which I never saw for sale in a store anywhere when they were still publishing them. edited by Defiant1 on 7/8/2021
7/27/2021 Topic: Issue number ? Defiant1	Not all comics have an issue number. I think this site generically lists everything as #1 if there is no issue number. Most people would list them as #nn indicating "no number".
7/30/2021 Topic: Issue number ? Defiant1	Ronbatman wrote: Glorkar is correct on where to find the issue number. Defiant1 we list no issue numbers like this. #nn https://comicspriceguide.com/titles/batman-adventures-mad-love/smw Ron Glad to see that, but I spot checked 4 random comics that I know have no number and they were all listed as #1. It is good to see that the database allows for #nn.
7/31/2021 Topic: Issue number ? Defiant1	Defiant1 wrote: Ronbatman wrote: Glorkar is correct on where to find the issue number. Defiant1 we list no issue numbers like this. #nn https://comicspriceguide.com/titles/batman-adventures-mad-love/smw Ron Glad to see that, but I spot checked 4 random comics that I know have no number and they were all listed as #1. It is good to see that the database allows for #nn. I just checked at random. I didn't keep track of what I checked. In the grand scheme of things your time would be better spent fixing other problems. I'm sure your plate is always full when it comes to doing updates on a database that large. It doesn't bother me that they say #1. I get more frustrated when the indicia doesn't match exactly word for word or typo for typo.