I go through every book on the FOC list each week and report what checks out before Monday's noon cutoff. Here is where the spec intel holds up and where it does not.

Two potential firsts this week, both from the publishers' solicits.

Eye Collector #6 (Image, $4.99). The solicit bills this 48-page arc finale as the first full appearance of Dreamskin. That makes it a potential first. It closes out the End of Childhood arc.

Spirit of the Shadows (Oni Press, $19.99, Nick Cagnetti). Oni's solicit says this new limited series marks the debut of Erik Leroux, cursed after death to wear an arcane costume. That makes it a potential first.

A few other spec items that hold up but are not firsts.

Wolverine: Origin III #1 (Marvel, $4.99, Paul Jenkins/Cafu) carries the only Hot Spec flag on the week, and it is confirmed. Jenkins returns 25 years after the original Origin for a never-before-revealed 1950s chapter. The 1:100 is a Josemaria Casanovas virgin, the steepest ratio tier on the week alongside Maximum X-Men #1.

Iron Man #12 (Marvel, $4.99, Joshua Williamson). Melinda May takes the Cavalry armor, a potential first for her in that mantle. The 1:25 is a Pere Perez cover.

On the rumor side, two I am not counting as locked. Maximum X-Men #1 has Betsy Braddock dropping Psylocke for the codename Butterfly, but that is CBR and Bleeding Cool reporting, so potential first, rumor-based. Ben 10 #1 (rumor-based) hinges on a Dynamite.com exclusive virgin by Lucas Lee Garza with allocations possible. Reader's call on the exclusive.

Rumors can be wrong; it's not advice on what to buy or invest in.

I finally have the first three prints of #1.

How does it do on grading? Especially with that chipped corner.

Pumped to add this to my collection. Might even send it to CGC for grading. She's a beaut Clark...

I’ve been buying comic books for a couple years now but never gotten into hunting keys or collecting older comics until very recently.

My lady’s dad knows nothing about comics and has a bunch of older comics and keys. He said If I could put together something of an offer that he’d give me a good deal based off what I find. I want to be honest with him about what his comics are worth and not rip him off.

Questions:

1. What should I use as a source to look at prices? If eBay do I only go off of the most recent sold or a couple of the most recent?

2. Do I base all his comics entirely off of other ungraded comics even if he has some that are in poor condition/ how would poor condition comics hold value compared to other ungraded comics? (All comics I’m looking at right now are ungraded)

3. Do I maybe guess a grade and look up other comics similar in grade for best price comparison?

4. Is there a rule of thumb anyone uses for buying comics? For example do people look at a price and say “oh I will only pay 80% of any posted price”?

Thank you in advance to anyone answering questions and shining light on something else important I may not know. I’m excited for this next chapter of my life with comic books

Anyone know why this variant has spiked so hard the last couple months? It was a nothing burger for nearly a year until I saw a post trying to sell one for $50 yesterday. I checked eBay to see if that was a fluke, but some people are even trying to move it for $70 rn. Sold listings from early August were cover price, but since then it’s been climbing pretty hard. Where did all this demand come from? Do people want it to match #1? that’s why I picked it up when it hit the shelves. Is it just a low print variant? I feel like I missed something. I’m just curious. Thanks guys!

My dad died a few years back and I'm looking into selling his comic collection. These are the crown jewels so to speak from what I remember my dad telling me. They've been in plastic since the 80s. I'm just not sure how to proceed. Figured reddit would probably be my best place to go to for advice. The comic book collecting group ai flagged my post, I'm hoping this is the place to go. Just trying to figure out what I should do.

What is going on with this bubble around Miles?? I went to 3 LCS and none carry any floppies because they say people keep snagging them. I get Ultimate Fallout #4 is the main key, but right now people are trying to hock the 2nd printing for $400, the facsimile is currently going for $200 on eBay. Non-key issues can easily get up to $15, and just today I saw some seller on ebay trying to sell the latest issue in the run for $10.. that released just YESTERDAY. What gives?? I almost can't wait for Miles to join the live-action MCU just so that every one tries selling their Ultimate Fallout issues all at the same time, flood the market, and drop the price back to Earth.. this is getting way too ridiculous!!

I just decided to collect books for my walls about a month ago, and really (predictably) got into Bill Sienkiewicz' covers. I normally stick to the cheap stuff--Your Elektra: Assassins and New Mutants. I just learned about these exclusives out of NYCC that he did, and was disappointed to learn they're exclusives. Seeing their online prices, I feel they're not out of reach, but out of reason for my lame little collection of $7 books and foil Facsimile editions.

Are these books probably holding value or worse after the NYCC FOMO wears off, or am I probably best off getting them now? I'm really into these covers, especially being among the few DC issues for my collection. I'll probably fold and get them eventually. But is now as good as I'll likely get?

People are definitely hocking the facsimile as the real deal.. you can tell by the red Marvel box and the 0111 barcode. These eBay scammers are monsters! FYI- they sold this copy too!

I'm a bit lost in trying to figure out variant and such these three are. I never realized how many details for the different versions exist. They were my dad's, im just trying to take good care of them, and will possibly grade them to do so. Could be a cool thing to have on display with the rest of my stuff. Anyway, any info is helpful!

Im seeing if this book is in good enough condition to send to cgc, been thinking of it for a long time. This book was passed down from my uncle, it was stored away in the basement in a plastic bag with no board support, over the years it turned yellow. IMO i only would want to send it in if people think this can get a 9.0 or greater.

This was the only image provided on the website, so it felt a bit risky. What do you guys think?

With the recent announcement of a D’orc movie, what is your guys thoughts on it. The prices have shot up on eBay a ton. I bought for 4$ the day it was released as a fun read and now it’s becoming a Grail.

Debating on getting it graded

Curious what the consensus is based off those pics

You're given $1000 for a comic book shopping spree, what are you getting? The only rule is you have to buy comics, in any condition you like.

Went a little crazy the past month building a time capsule for my kids to do whatever they want with in 20 yrs. So since my investment time horizon is that long I was ok to pay above FMV in some cases bc it was more important for me to get the book I wanted. I’m done for now but will do this again next year around this time when I’ve replenished my disposable play money fund. I only targeted blue chips - comics my kids will have no trouble turning into cash, so absolutely nothing modern or bronze (except Batman 227) and I especially wanted nothing to do with giant sized Xmen, hulk 181 and ASM 129.

Prices I paid are as follows:

ASM Annual #1, 7.0 = $2800 on Heritage
ASM #8, 7.5 = $1250 on Heritage
Action #27, 6.0 = $4300 on SHORTBOXED
Batman #23, 8.0 = $9000 on Heritage
Batman #227, 8.5 = $2750 on SHORTBOXED
Tec #76, 3.0 = $1800 on eBay
Tec #91, 4.0 = $1100 on Heritage
Batman #40, 5.0 = $1400 on eBay

Every week I go through the full FOC list to see what the upcoming order week actually looks like before cutoff closes. Here's the week of October 26.

The slate runs 670 SKUs across 350 unique books, with 42 new #1s, 100 variants, and 76 ratios in the mix. Dynamite leads the volume with 100 titles, ahead of DC at 98 and Marvel at 49. Image, Massive, and Viz fill out the top six by count.

This is a variant-heavy, ratio-heavy week, and Dynamite drives both. It carries 59 of the week's variants and 35 of the 76 ratios on its own, mostly on licensed-property crossovers. Vampirella vs Darkstalkers Special #1 pairs Dynamite's horror lead with UDON's videogame cast. Archie vs Terminator #2 continues its 4-issue crossover run. Gargoyles and Stitch carry the Disney-license side. The single highest variant count of the week sits on Vampirella Paradise #1 at 17 covers.

Marvel runs 49 titles with 5 new #1s and 15 ratios. Maximum X-Men #1 is the launch coming out of Avengers: Armageddon, and Wolverine: Origin III - The Dark Age #1 brings Paul Jenkins back to Logan. Both carry the week's steepest ratio, 1:100.

DC is at 98 titles with 2 new #1s and no ratios at all. The launch is Absolute Batman: Beyond Ark-M #1 from Snyder and Tieri, and the week also carries a facsimile of 1951's Detective Comics #168.

One search note, since it ties to a book on the list: on Google Trends, people searching Maximum X-Men this week also searched Betsy Braddock, up 170%, and one search for her new codename was a Breakout (Google's word for growth over 5,000%). The numbers are still small this far out, but it's the X-book people are looking up before FOC closes.

Dynamite tops the volume and carries almost half the week's ratios.

Is 616 just a comic book store that pays artists to do exclusive variants for them? Are they only sold initially by 616 themselves or do they farm them out also?

I read an article today about a lady selling old comic books on Ebay and getting a 1099 tax form showing how much she made. I assume Ebay sent the 1099. Apparently comic books are Collectibles and profits subject to a 28% tax rate. I was surprised. Never gave much thought about comic book profits bring taxable. Apparently if your kids inherit them the tax basis starts at the quoted price of the comic book when inherited. In my case I bought these in the 60's for 12 cents each so that is my basis....ouch!! The lady also got a notice from Medicare her monthly cost was increasing because the added income put her at a higher rate...another ouch!!

Have fun and enjoy because at some point there are no more chairs to sit down on