Market Report

To the mart which was a poorly attended and downbeat affair. Saw a couple of dealers buying off other dealers: "I'm 40% below the break even mark this year" said one to another as he thumbed through silver age JLA books, "Mmm. Mmm." replied the JLA dealing desperado eyeing the other man's wallet. Another listened patiently to an overly animated young man as he gave a frame-by-frame account of Transformers II, hoping against hope that if he showed some interest the young man might buy something. He didn't.

I enjoyed a reasonably successful shop. Almost spent a lot more than I had budgeted when I spotted a fairly grotty looking copy of Fantastic Four #48 going for £40. It was hanging off the staples with some tears and deeply yellowing pages, but it was complete and at £40 about as cheap as I'm ever going to find a copy of Galactus' first appearance. Probably could've haggled the dealer down to £35 but decided against. Part of me wishes that I'd splurged a bit. I really would like a Fan 4 #48.

Ach well, I settled for a REALLY nice copy of Our Army At War #251 for £3 instead. It features some fantastic interiors from Russ Heath and this stunning Joe Kubert cover...

Holding it in my hands I can understand the compulsion that some collectors have to own high grade copies of old comics. They are lovely things. Mmmm. Back to the reprints and dog rough reading copies for you Sutton.

Also snagged a few cheap Conan comics, two of the untraded Hellblazer issues from the 90s and a couple of low grade Claremont/Cockrum X-Men issues. Loitered at the Heroclix man's stand for a bit, but balked at the £8 he wanted for his MODOK figure and left him to stew in his booth.