I just know 43 (first two digits) was about the time banana gate started and CGC were talking about 9.8s can have spine ticks and the 9.9 prescreen….then they laid off a bunch of people. I have some slabs I sent in around that time and I believe so posted how my 9.4s were riddled with spine ticks….i was expecting 8.5 or 9.0.
But you can probably trace numbers back to pre-blackstone which is really when things started their slower decline…not sure what numbers though are, though.
Thank you for that info
Buddy I would have sent you a 423!
Didn’t know you had one or else I would of bought if off of you lol.
Why does Batman 423 keep coming up?
Am I missing an inside joke?
No inside joke. I recently purchased a 423 with Todd’s signature. I made a crazy offer and was accepted. Posted it on the CGC pickups.
Mine isn’t signed 
but I do have a signed Hulk 340
Mid March and I’ve done 3 drawings. Not bad. Usually thats what I do within the whole year lol.
Went to Toronto Comicon on Friday, always kind of disappointed with how few actual comic shops set up here but there were a bunch. They have more vendors at the comic only shows that they put on every few months here than at the actual Toronto Comicon but used the opportunity to get towards my 2025 goal
After going through my actual collection I found that 3 of my books were actual newsstands that I must have missed so I got 2 of those in NM in Direct Edition. The others were all Newsstands that I found in the $3 bins, except the #82 Direct which I was having a heck of time finding in NM condition because of the black and white cover but found one that is NM+ or better in the bins for 50% off $15. Was very happy to find a #161 (2001) and #172 (2002). Also found a Micheal Turner doing Wolverine in Newsstand which I have never ever seen, didn’t even know it existed. I’ve been loving Sam Keith on Wolverine lately so dug out a couple of the issues I was missing in that Marvel Comics Presents run.
Did not spend a lot of money there except on one thing, Jeff Monk was there signing and such so got him to do a remark on Spawn #362.
He actually spent some time on it and signed it, was interesting to watch him work. Also picked up a Batman ashcan for Hush while there as well.
Here are my takeaways from the event. First, no one is buying slabs and there are less and less vendors even displaying them. One stand had a wall of them but most have a few select slabs but have replaced the giant wall of books with raw copies. There were still bins with slabs around but not like I remember from last year.
Second, Invincible was hot. Everyone seemed to be looking for back issues. One vendor was complaining that he had sold out of his Invincible books within the first half hour and was lamenting he didn’t price them high enough. I saw one guy with a stack about 50 high, and he was going vendor to vendor because saw him later asking at another booth on where to find the Invincible.
Last thing was that there were no real cheap cheap bins. There was only one guy with $2 stuff, everyone else was $3 or higher (it is CAD so they are $2 USD). Even then most where $5 and you could work them down, except one guy that refused to come down even a dollar, as in no negotiation, this is my price, take it or leave it. So I left it.
Not really 100% sure I will go back next year, the all comic events are bigger and better than Toronto Comicon. For the cost and the massive amount of non-comic related booths it just seems not worth it.
Nice score on the Wolverine books.
Very jealous on the Spawn sketch lol…
Invincible is hot due to season 3. I went to bookoff yesterday and saw couple of guys taking the first 2 vols of Invincible Omnibus.
Thank you for your review…
Great review. Thanks for sharing the story!
One thing I forgot to say, when talking to Jeff Monk he wouldn’t say which issues, but he had sold 4 other covers to be used on Spawn. So it won’t be a one and done for him on this run.
Another book checked off my goals for 2025. Nice mid grade copy that presents well…majority of the defects don’t take away from the focus on the characters. A bonus is the date stamp on the back cover.
My goals for 2025: buy below value and stuff into my collection. I stay disciplined and never over pay. Has worked well for 45 years.
