I missed the boat on Punchline first app, but want to buy in yet. Targeting Batman 89 over Hell Arisen. Budget doesn’t allow for a 9.8 slabbed for Batman 89.
Am I better off buying a 2nd ($45) or 3rd ($35) print 9.8, or a raw first print ($60-75) that claims to be high grade which means 9.2-9.6 realistically? I just assume all raw keys on eBay are less than 9.8, or they’d have been graded already.
The goal here is investment, not necessarily to gain a reader copy. Appreciate any advice on the topic.
Personally, I would go for a first print Hell arisen #3 raw, you may find one that is 9.6 or higher and you can get it slabbed at some point. The print count of Hell Arisen 3 is around 35k compared to Batman 89 which I believe to be in the 70-80k range. Plus, Hell Arisen #3 is her first full appearance, whereas her appearance in Batman #89 is a cameo.
I will say many of the Batman 89s I’ve seen/sold were not 9.8s. Spines were beat up pretty good by the printing presses.
Hell arisen, being a card stock cover, you have a better shot at a 9.6 and above, IMO. Should be able to spot defects pretty easily too, even on eBay, if they take enough photos.
Then you can go to Walmart and look for issue 89 third print limited trade dress in the 3 or 4 packs if you really need to have it.
Get a 1st print raw. Just magnify the pictures and scan over every detail of the book. Ask seller for more pictures if unsure. Cover B mattina is a nice card stock also
I would get HA#3 if I could only pick one, 1st full appearance and more limited print run. HA is a thick book, so look for the edge and left side damage. B#89 and B#92 Would be the next two in line. B#92 will have tons of copies out there as fans were already expecting it and there is a 1:25 ratio variant.
Not sure I would get 2nd, 3rd prints since they are just color variants.
Then they’re wasting all their money before actually investing. Can get a nice Android 10" for a fraction of what the iPad costs… or better yet, get yourself a nice 27" monitor for the computer that’s even cheaper than the tablets…
I’m a user experience lead/designer at a big ol’ company, so I have plenty of good gear (IMO, I hate Apple, but they make better products). It’s the fuzzy, poorly lit, single pic on the ebay post that makes it hard to judge (and my relative newness to graded books). I just have pretty low confidence that I can tell the difference between a 9.4 and a 9.8 from a pic online. Guess it’s a roll of the dice.
And see, I work in tech myself and Apple is just “pretty” on top of the same tech and gear that PCs and Droids are made out of. You’re buying their “fancy” that’s all just BSD Unix underneath in their tightly controlled environment.
I don’t like Apple, I don’t like their products and I don’t like their shady business tactics to make people have to upgrade sooner rather than later. That’s their key factor, they want you to rotate your stuff before you really should have to. I’m on a Lenovo Stinkpad from 2012 that still boots up faster than the latest Apple Mac Pro… I even have the bezel over the power button broken and missing… This thing takes a lick’n and keeps on tick’n.
Alright, sorry, I don’t want this to turn into a long hijack of a rant…
You can’t really judge grade that well from online scans due to the resolution of the scanners being subpar. If they increase the scanner resolution and take more scans, then there would be a better chance of discerning probable grade.
I have a LCS that lets me handpick my books because I am a good customer and friend. Every business works on trust, and I partially helped them through the COVID crisis as well.
Totally agree, Historically, Apple tries to control the user experience too much ever since the original Macs. However, the Ipad is the best out there with excellent build quality, had my iPads running for years without any glitches until I had to retire them due to aging internal processors. Other than that, the PC is the weapon of choice due to customizability.
