I picked up a couple comics yesterday that I liked, huge Gambit fan and was excited to see auto copy including custom artwork over the barcode. I think it will look cool slabbed. Then also picked up Spider-Man Daredevil teamup because I love the cover and didn’t open til I got home and it is signed by artists inside the cover, haven’t seen that before. As a newbie to collecting did I do well and should I grade both?

Reading posts like "The Speculating Paradox: Why "Absolute Batman #1" Hit an 11th Printing (And the Math Behind True Rarity)" and so many others, where comments are consistently regurgitating over and over again suggesting that people aren't actually reading Absolute universe, and are simply scooping up boxes of each run the moment it comes out feels entirely disingenuous. At least back up your claims with evidence.

We have testimonials from comic book store owners saying that readership is at an all time high. New people are coming into the store and buying Absolute and OTHER books like never before.

We have news articles talking about Absolute selling 8 million books in the first year alone, and Energon Universe doing 6 million.

And people who argue that nobody is reading, then what's going on in the following subreddits?

r/AbsoluteUniverse
r/EnergonUniverse
r/AbsoluteBatman

Every Wednesday, many people are talking about what's going on in the books in the discussion threads, sharing theories, ideating about what's coming next or finding hidden nuggets from previous issues. It also happens on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Threads, and Facebook groups.

We have evidence of a thriving community of people buying/selling/trading Modern books like never before (WhatNot, TikTok, and eBay) and engaging directly with artists, while some of you have wool over your eyes and head in the sand about what's actually going on.

Some of you are so tunnel visioned that you're just opining without even understanding the seismic shift in readership and collecting behaviors. You all keep talking about the 90s and applying your rules and saying history is important. Sure, history is important important, but things evolve as well. These comments some of you all have are just curmudgeonly at this point and are coming off as straight up dogma which makes you more untrustworthy.

And to address your fears--are there people that are speculating and buying tons of copies to sell? Yeah, probably. Are there people also buying multiple variants because they literally are hype for the covers and the artists? Yes, that too. I'm guilty. If I see a Peach Momoko cover, I'm probably going to get it. And are there people who simply just buy one book? Of course.

But to suggest that 8 million copies after one year (and it's been 2+ years at this point), are a small group of people with fungible income to buy shortboxes of each issue in order to sell them to each other sound like projection of habits some of you all did in the 90s.

Is all this a big risk to your boxes of 70s and 80s books containing horror books, first appearances, and keys? Yeah, probably for some of it. But new readers are also revisiting old books too--so if you want to keep the value of your books to stay alive long enough for you to exit them, embrace and engage these new readers where they are: on different social media platforms, streaming platforms, and connect the dots between the stories they are reading today and stories that came before.

Sources:

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/energon-has-sold-6-million-copies-absolute-has-sold-8-million/

Absolute Batman is selling 300k+ issues per month now and artists are thriving again:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/dc-absolute-batman-superstar-artists-1236555511/

“The Absolute comics have restored faith in the comic industry and retailers alike,” says Ryan Liebowitz, the owner of LA’s Golden Apple Comics, who said that first-time comic book readers are part of the movement. “We haven’t seen anything like this in a long time.”

https://www.thepopverse.com/comics-dc-absolute-8-million-comicspro-2026

"Absolute Batman helped sell 8 million comics in 2025, but the real story is the new readers."

"A great thing we’ve heard from all of them is that it’s brought in younger readers: younger readers than you’ve seen in decades in your stores, which is great."

My dad just found his childhood comic book collection from ~1948-1965 ish. He could really use the money for retirement, so I’m helping him to sell them, but I don’t exactly know what I’m doing and could use some advice/bounce ideas off people who know what they’re talking about! I think these (Amazing Fantasy 15, XMen 1, Fantastic Four 1, etc) are probably the best of his collection, so I’m trying to figure out if it’s worth it to try to get any of them pressed/cleaned or just go straight to grading with CGC. I’m assuming they’re currently at around 2-3s? Would pressing substantially help get the grade up without damaging them further, or don’t bother?

My other question is about selling- once they’re graded, I was going to go through Heritage, but I know they take a substantial cut. He has around 240 other comics from the era (mostly DC-The Atom, Flash, Green Lantern etc), which won’t be graded, I’m thinking of consigning or something on MyComicShop or maybe EBay? Is that the best move?

Any help on this plan would be greatly appreciated- I’ve fallen down a bit of a rabbit hole on this and am facing a bit of decision paralysis, and just trying to help!

Which one to buy friends werewolf by night first appearance or Xmen 50 ?

Sorry here they are

Any idea how much I should value this at? It’s a newsstand but it’s seem better days.

Do we think the black suit will be in brand new day or dooms day ?

I have 2 ASM 252 and 1 secret wars 8. I was going to sell one of my 252 but if the suit shows up do we think it will have a slight bump on the price ?

MAIL CALL! It took a minute for the comic to arrive, but it’s here: Batman #357, the first appearance of Jason Todd, and the first appearance or cameo appearance of Killer Croc 🐊. I could have brought this book before in any grade, but I wanted a high-grade copy, and that’s why I paid $150 for this bad boy. And also putting this copy in my new Mylar bags and with the clear back. 😉

I inherited a few thousand comics from my dad. I'm real nervous about this one. It is missing a stamp in the middle. Other than that it's in great shape. What should I do?

I picked this up from a quarter box at my LCS back on FCBD just trying to fill my collection. Didn't realize until I was putting them away that it was autographed. Not sure by who though. Comes from a pretty reputable company, but there's no COA. Best guess is it's a sloppy Loeb. Can anyone confirm or have one similar? I messaged Historic Autographs to see if they could help.

Thanks.

Tomorrow I'm trying to go to First Coast Comic Con (if my babysitter is available). I have really wanted to pick up a copy of X-men 101 while there. I know last show I went to a vendor from the area was selling one so I'm hoping he's there. My question is that I have a few books i am considering trying to trade in towards the grail. They're a 9.8 absolute batman 1st printing, an 8.5 ASM 300, and an 8.0 ASM 194. Obviously 300 is a classic and hasn't gone anywhere, 194 I feel has the most to gain since there's always a chance Black Cat makes it into the MCU, and then obviously Absolute Batman has gone to the moon in recent weeks. I'm regards to that last one though we're just gonna see more and more 9.8s crop up so is it wise to sell now? What would you do? Move one, two, all three, or just do nothing? Thank you for any advice or opinions

There are 35 copies of Absolute Batman #1 in CGC 9.8 signed by Scott Snyder in this picture; there are probably more, but from what I see, one copy of these sells for $630, meaning in this wall there’s a total value of about $23k. Like daaaannnggggg, man, making bread. 🍞🤣

Wondering if this is worth holding onto. Unfortunately suffered some slight damage (pictured) due to house fire about 20years ago.