Are there enough variants for everyone? What are you missing

[greg]

Hell, as far as I know Graham Crackers Comics isn't even stocking Valiant - only ordering it for the club guys.

That's probably a bad example to use.

Let me guess... Graham Crackers is a HUGE supporter of Dynamite... right?

Now... why would a HUGE supporter of Dynamite not want to stock Valiant?

[Elveen]

No, I agree that the variants will never be cheap (simply based-off supply alone)

I have a lot I could say about this market, but I'll just say this: Never say never. I remember when VH1 Gold books were the hottest collectible commodity on Earth and people were paying a fortune for Golds, Magnus #12, and Solar black; all of which had limited runs. Then just last week I just bought an X-O #0 Gold for two bucks. Seriously. The market for tangible comic books is (and has been for years) slowly dwindling. I'd argue that any growth you see is more about maximizing current readership sales than it is bringing in new readers. If there's no market for a product, then it doesn't matter how limited that product is.

I agree with you on about all of this. The one thing I'll add is that history has shown that the rare Valiant collectibles have held their value. The total # of Magnus #12, and Solar #10 is HUGE compared to the runs of these variants. With the historical evidence for the demand of Valiant, I think some of these variants will be VERY hard to track down in the future.

I could be wrong.

I can tell you that out here in So Cal, there are MANY comic shops and sellers. There are about ZERO Valiant variants around. All the "hot" marvel and DC variants can be had (if you want to pay), but the Valiant variants..... nope. I'm not talking about a few shops as evidence. I'm talking like 15-20 shops that I have been to in So Cal. I've only been about to find a few Variants in the "wild".

I would imagine that a few (maybe more) of the guys here are hoarding the variants and "inflating" the numbers and what not, but this board is only a small (maybe very small) number of Valiant fans and collectors.

Just my

[kevinbastos]

To extend with Elveen -

And I agree...

The line also has to grow. And survive. Let's face it, the majority of these variants ended up in hands like ours. And thanks to paradise - or because of it - many of these variants ended up in our hands.

At the present time, I am the only crazy Valiant fan obsessive at the local comic shop. If that expands to two, three, or five...

Either I will have to pay more there for the variants, or I will have to turn to ebay. The demand now is either stagnant, the same, or similar enough to not drive prices up or down too much....

But a small shift up or down could drastically affect the supply of past issues. Already a few people have announced pulling up stakes on variants, or hunting only first issues, only one title, etc. As a result, later 1:20 supplies dwindle. If the same-ish number of people pursue the variants, then demand goes up. When that happens, prices go up.

I will be interested to see what happens to prices as things change slightly over the next few months. When a new character is introduced in retrospect - like Jack in the original X-O Manowar 4 - or if a movie announcement behind scripting arises.

Would a 1:50 go crazy when a Bloodshot movie is announced?

Or a variant connected to a new character?

Who knows. My experience in speculating has been 'lucky to break even...' So I won't push advice. Especially since I am not interested in turning to make a profit. I'm a collector - not a hoarder.

[IMJ]

Hell, as far as I know Graham Crackers Comics isn't even stocking Valiant - only ordering it for the club guys.

That's probably a bad example to use.

Let me guess... Graham Crackers is a HUGE supporter of Dynamite... right?

I think they've partnered for a few exclusive covers here and there, but I don't go into their stores and see any push for Dynamite books over others or anything like that. GC is a bigger chain in this hobby though, so in many ways Jamie can boost or slow down a small publisher depending on his support, sure. I've never bought a Dynamite book though so I don't really know much about their line.

Now... why would a HUGE supporter of Dynamite not want to stock Valiant?

I don't know, but I know you wouldn't get at this without cause. Were the Dynamite guys bidders on Valiant back in the day or something? What did I miss here?

[Elveen]

The line also has to grow. And survive. Let's face it, the majority of these variants ended up in hands like ours. And thanks to paradise - or because of it - many of these variants ended up in our hands.

At the present time, I am the only crazy Valiant fan obsessive at the local comic shop. If that expands to two, three, or five...

I think it depends on what you mean by Majority? As I stated, there are zero variants in my "area" (a good chunk of So Cal). I know for a fact that many shops have had them. I know that a bunch of us have them, but I would say that more people have them that are not on the board. I'd say much more.

I don't have the numbers to back it up, but it's just what I've seen.

[jdmoonie77]

I am a completist. As far as the old Valiant/ Acclaim books I'm short 10 books and those are a few rare ones, VVSS, newstands. The new VEI stuff I have them all with the exception of A&A, Harbinger and Bloodshot 2nd prints. I have 2 copies of all the rare books, so I have lucked out immensely!!!

[greg]

Now... why would a HUGE supporter of Dynamite not want to stock Valiant?

I don't know, but I know you wouldn't get at this without cause. Were the Dynamite guys bidders on Valiant back in the day or something? What did I miss here?

A knock-off piece of crap "book" created by some usurpers attempting to steal Valiant trademarks was created by some "unknown entity" in 2007.
We DO know that the "unknown entity" did NOT even bid in the Valiant copyright and trademark auction, much less purchase anything legally.
We ALSO know that these knock-off books were sold at a convention by Graham Crackers.

So, Graham Crackers not only knows who tried to steal Valiant copyrights and held up the legitimate VEI Valiant Universe return for years with legal crap...
but they also SUPPORTED the "unknown entity" by selling the xeroxed junk.

Hold on a second... I need to sneeze... **Uh... Uhhh... BARRUCCI!!!**

[GGSAE]

No, I agree that the variants will never be cheap (simply based-off supply alone)

I have a lot I could say about this market, but I'll just say this: Never say never. I remember when VH1 Gold books were the hottest collectible commodity on Earth and people were paying a fortune for Golds, Magnus #12, and Solar black; all of which had limited runs. Then just last week I just bought an X-O #0 Gold for two bucks. Seriously. The market for tangible comic books is (and has been for years) slowly dwindling. I'd argue that any growth you see is more about maximizing current readership sales than it is bringing in new readers. If there's no market for a product, then it doesn't matter how limited that product is.

I could give lots of examples of dead books where the value has not dwindled, but actually increased over they years. Here's a limited book of 25 that I thought few people care about, from a company and comic line no where near Valiant in talent or support, yet fetch good prices...

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/160897514533?ssP ... 1423.l2649" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

and this one I had particular interest in (same seller), because I'm a casual collector of other dead titles, I thought I might have got these cheap at 9.99 opening bid...nope, I was wrong.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/160897399503?ssP ... 1423.l2649" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Maxx 1/2 has two prototype books, ultra-limited to 10 (one red, one blue) that have sold for $2500 each! This is a book put out by Wizard, from a character that's been dead for years. Yes, demand has to account for something, but when books are ultra-limited, it only takes 1-2 buyers to push the price up to very high levels. Pre-unity books, with print runs in the tens of thousands (even golds at 5000 or so), are really not rare...