Things I Like and Don't Like for the Week of September 12th, 2018

Find out what’s really grinding my gears this week by clicking you know, clicking the Continue Reading link..

Hela Yeah!
I was not big on the first two Thor films but the last installment, Thor: Ragnarok I really enjoyed. It was by far the best Thor movie to date. What else made this movie great? Cate Blanchett playing Hela.
It was recently reported that she, Cate Blanchett would be totally open to playing Hela again in the MCU and briefly said a team-up with Thanos would be “not nice, not nice” for the rest in the Marvel Universe apparently.
I like this idea, I would totally welcome Hela back because we all know there’s a way back from death in the Marvel Universe.
Hela’s first appearance was in Journey Into Mystery #102 which I think is still within most collectors budgets.
Amazing Spider-Man Back Issues
With all the Venom related comic and movie related news, I’ve been admiring all the earlier issues of Amazing Spider-Man. Particularly the issues from 300 through 400. If you ask me, this period of Amazing Spider-Man produced some of the best covers ever.
Issue #300 being Venom’s first full appearance and likely the most collectible book from this period is still within budget reach for most collectors. Raw copies seem to fluctuate with this book and graded 9.8 go for really decent money, out of reach for most collectors. With the new Venom movie coming out, Poyo is predicting it won’t be that good but even if it does bomb out at the theater, this likely won’t hurt Venom’s first appearance value. This book is still a must have in any Spidey fan collection.
The next one likely on most people’s list is Carnage’s first appearance in issue #361. This one is still within reach for most collectors. Since Venom has been dominating the comic talk as of lately, it seems this book has been on the rise. So if you’re missing out on this book, grab it while you can before it starts approaching #300’s range in value. We can likely all agree and are pretty certain the number of #361 printed are probably far fewer than the print run of issue 300.
For those with #300 out of reach, the next best early Venom issue I think is the iconic #316 which was Venom’s first cover appearance. I must say this has really jumped in price. 2 years ago I bought my CGC graded 9.8 copy for around $100. Seems these are now in the $300-$350 range. One even sold for $460 back on August 20th. Not too shabby.
With the news that Mysterio will be in the next Spider-Man movie, I will admit one of my all time favorite covers that depict Mysterio was issue #311. I still have this comic from my original collecting days as a kid. Somehow I managed to keep this one but lost #300, 316 and many other keys from around the time. I’m not sure how Mysterio will play out in the next movie installment but you can get issue #311 for dirt cheap compared to his first appearance in issue #13. Hopefully the movie helps move these early issues.
Enough with these early McFarlane covers and since I love these early Amazing Spider-Man books so much, I could keep on going so I’m just going to mention one of my favorite Carnage covers which is issue #380 by Mark Bagley from the Maxium Carnage story arc. I just love Carnage playing puppet master with Spider-Man, Venom and all the others.
These Amazing Spider-Man covers make me happy and with most still in the affordable price range, I hope one day these see more love and appreciation.
Cemetery Beach
I wrote about Cemetery Beach a few weeks back with a sneak preview but this makes me happy thinking now that it’s hitting the local comic shop stands and the masses get to read it.
I got the pleasure of reading issue #1 already with an advanced copy and I can’t wait for issue #2. Even so that I got a digital copy, I’m buying a few physical copies, I got a feeling about this one and I hope everyone else enjoys it as much as I did.
Superior Spider-Man Part II
The more I read about it, the more I don’t like the idea. Otto coming back again as another Superior Spider-Man.
There are some things you should just leave alone and let be. Otto had his small run until Peter got his mind back. Marvel would have been better off writing in a way for Otto to come back as Otto, not a cloned Peter Parker.
Superior Spider-Man #1 hits stores this December. I guess we’ll just wait and see if the rest of the Marvel readers and fans are onboard with this idea of bringing him back, yet again. Are you all onboard with another Otto trying to be superior?


That’s all I got this week. More likes than dislikes. That’s a good thing right?

27 thoughts on “Things I Like and Don't Like for the Week of September 12th, 2018”

  1. I have ASM #316 and I get it’s an iconic cover but #315 is the real first cover. Unless they start a new classification 1st cameo cover 1st full body cover.

  2. asm 361 9.8’s have already went up by like 125 dollars since april. paid 290 for my 9.8 newsstand 1st print (15% ebay code used). i completely agree its not if this will hit asm 300 prices but when. i have faith in woody H acting skills for cletus.

      1. I’m not sure. Publishers do love those anniversary issues that end with zero’s. Just look at recent history with issue 700 and 800. I haven’t gone and looked up the previous ones but I’m willing to bet there were way more 300s printed than #361 which was a hit or miss on a new villain at the time.

      2. Where is this you are reading or getting this information? From what I’ve read most of these early print runs were not actually recorded or ever released so it’s all just guestimates from us comic nerds.

      3. The statement of ownership for the year lists an avg. print run of 660,958 copies printed, with a sell-through of 554,900….keeping in mind that that average includes the monster run of #365, probably the only issue of Amazing Spiderman to ever have a print run of 1,000,000 copies (with the possible exception of #375.)
        Should be possible to estimate based on these numbers. hm
        The statement of ownership says 660,958 average for 12 issues. That’s 7.93 million.
        The statement of ownership sell-through was 554,900 for 12 issues. That’s 6.66 million.
        We’ve got Capital City orders of 659,700 for the eight issues (#359-#365) shown above.
        If the other four issues averaged about 70,000 copies from Capital City, then the Capital City number would be 939,700.
        The multiplier for the Capital City numbers would be 7.93 million divided by 939,700. That’s 8.44.
        That would mean the actual print runs are approximately:
        #359 – 60,600 x 8.44 = 511,464 copies
        #360 – 57,300 x 8.44 = 483,612 copies
        #361 – 68,700 x 8.44 = 579,828 copies
        #362 – 76,800 x 8.44 = 648,192 copies
        #363 – 102,600 x 8.44 = 865,944 copies
        #364 – 72,000 x 8.44 = 607,680 copies
        #365 – 221,700 x 8.44 = 1,871,148 copies
        That totals 5.57 million. The statement of ownership has 7.93 million, so there would be about 590,000 copies of the other four issues.
        Sell-through was 84% according to the statement of ownership.
        Assuming 16% were actually destroyed, the existing copies (around 1993) would have been:
        #359 – 60,600 x 8.44 = 511,464 copies * 84% = 429,630
        #360 – 57,300 x 8.44 = 483,612 copies * 84% = 406,234
        #361 – 68,700 x 8.44 = 579,828 copies * 84% = 487,055
        #362 – 76,800 x 8.44 = 648,192 copies * 84% = 544,481
        #363 – 102,600 x 8.44 = 865,944 copies * 84% = 727,393
        #364 – 72,000 x 8.44 = 607,680 copies * 84% = 510,451
        #365 – 221,700 x 8.44 = 1,871,148 copies * 84% = 1,571,764
        IF the Capital City orders for the other four issues averaged 100,000 copies, rather than the 70,000 copies we’ve used in these estimates, you can take about 10% to 11% off these estimates.
        That would put #361 at 433,000 instead of 487,055.

        1. In the same forums (edit, sorry, on the CBCS forums) on another thread dicussing #300 print run, DocBrown I think nailed it in post 28, last sentence in this thread: https://forum.cbcscomics.com/topic/4222/page/1/asm-300-print-run/
          “It’s even safer to say there were about 450,000 copies printed, since that’s what the average for the year was.
          Notice the difference: the average was 451k, but the issue nearest filing date…which would have been #309 or #310…was down to 412k. Interesting, no?
          However, number printed is meaningless, since the number destroyed is such a big chunk of that (179k.) It’s the number SOLD that is of the most value in determining extant copies.
          I’m not sure how you arrive at 75k ns and 175k direct, but those numbers are as good as any. We just don’t know, and Marvel has never released that info…ever…for ANY comic it has ever published.”

        2. Simply put, we don’t know the real print numbers because Marvel has and will likely never release such info. People can throw out all the numbers they want, it’s just all guesstimates.
          I only claim that 361 is likely lower (that’s my guess) since 300 is an anniversary evenly 100 denominated issue. Comic publishers love pushing those X00’s onto collectors and it always seems like such issues get a big boost of prints only due to their issue number.

  3. The cover for #361 was advertised in the back of # 359 so people were aware of it ahead of time also #359 could be considered first Carnage cameo. As the red goo does appear one panel with Cletus.

    1. Cletus says “ We’ll show you” why holding the goo and then the next panel is a hole in the wall where Carnage escaped.

  4. I liked the first run on Superior Spider-man. But it should remain a stand-alone series. I do like the Charest cover, though.

    1. Yeah, it actually wasn’t terrible. There were some things I liked about Superior and then there was things I didn’t like. But yes, stand alone. Seems like the same plot, Otto trying to be a hero instead of a villain. Yawn!

    1. I have no clue either. That’s the problem with everything before what Comic Chron reports, there just aren’t any actual facts of actual print runs that have been released to the public from Marvel and most of the publishers.
      I just know when a comic book hits 100, 200, 300 and higher.. these particular milestone type issues see their orders increased cause the publishers push such milestone books based on their assigned number.
      This is why, in my opinion, there are likely more #300 out in the wild now than there are #361. Sure #361 seemed to be in an era when comics were gaining more popularity and closer to the 90s where we saw comic books explode in availability but we just don’t know. We don’t know how many were destroyed by either the publishers or by people, etc.

  5. Issue #0’s really grind my gears….especially when the comic is already had several issues in the series out already. why not start with 0?! I’m looking at you, Edge of Spider-geddon…

  6. Alright, you may have sold me on Cemetery Beach…Now I’m trying to spec on your dreck ahead of Tuesday night..Will Archie 1941 appear in the avoid category? lol

    1. Unfortunately, Archie is too much of a given now to avoid. I went with Iceman. But yes, avoid Archie 1941. Well, buy it if you like it and want to read it but don’t expect that book to heat up whatsoever.

  7. I am going to give superior a chance. with everything spiderverse being decent right now. but I think they should have left it alone or have doc oct come back and try to be a hero as doc oct. #359 is a great book and don’t forget that #361 had a second printright away . as the #300’s first reprint was in a trade . #testify blind adam out

    1. Same here. But to be honest, still wouldn’t be a bad investment to pick up a copy now as there’s still a chance this shoots up in value.

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