most all modern books are not worth getting graded unless you want to throw your money out the window.

"Everyone has it" says it all. And, everyone wanted to sell it at it's peak. All these 9.8 modern books have turned the industry into a day-trading market, just like stocks. Extremely volatile and risky. Gold and Silver age are much safer bets for graded books.

99% of books aren't worth grading.

The problem with modern books is that they are relatively new, relatively available, and lots of collectors have them. They may be worth considerably more somewhere down the road. The newer books don't have the momentum of history behind them like the older silver/bronze age stuff. The older stuff will still probably be the better investment, providing that you don't pay immense amounts for it. But that of course is the challenge.

Really enjoy your channel. It’s refreshing to see content that isn’t ultimately designed to sell books. I can think of a few channels that present videos with interesting subjects, but then just end up being 15 minute advertisements

I don’t know a lot about modern so I learn a lot from your videos. I’m not surprised that slabbed books are doing poorly but raw books are doing well. I recognize that some collectors like slabs. Personally I’m not a fan. Speculators love them. With the market on a downturn, fewer speculators mean the true comic lovers are the ones buying the books… and maybe some people who want to grade them and hold onto them until market conditions change. Personally I love my books raw.

No! We all hate iambic pentameter! Great video - as always. New Avengers 4 is showing the market drop, along with Paper Girls - buy graded and buy with patience. It’s a buyers market so let’s thank the speculators for giving us a 9.8 trove to collect. Thanks again.

The Rat Queens run was super hyped when it was coming out. Issue 1, print 1 spiked around $45 for the raw. Catch it on Ebay south of $10 now.

This is why I like to sell more rare slabs so that there is no set market price and I get to set it to whatever I want it. You will be surprised at some of the prices I sell slabs for.

The "modern" books (and we all know what that means) will never be collectible...

Oh man, I have bought SEVERAL personal grails in the last couple of weeks thanks to comics losing value and for that i am very grateful. I understand that as a job, this sucks but for people that only buy comics as a hobby? WIN fucking WIN!!

Oh how I wish Hulk 181, Giant Size X-Men, and ASM 300 were on this list. Not to screw up other collectors but for me to finally have a chance at snagging one of these beauties.

For me, grading is often about slabbing a nostalgic book to just protect it.

James, thanks for confirming for me that I am a modern-reader, not a modern collector. I was unaware of the hype surrounding any of these books at all except for the Ghost Rider. Wait... the Black Panther book I was aware of the hype, but the cover reminded me too much of my own divorce, so I sold it for cover price almost immediately after reading it.

8 Billion Genies; 1, 2, and 3. It broke my heart. And I wasn't even trying to sell them.

I think people are realizing that slapping a hunk of plastic worth X (raw) is not worth 3 times X.

During COVID it appeared like "everything is a key" shot the price of every random issue for literally no reason. Those days are basically over.

ANY first appearance of a new character by DC. Clown Hunter, Molly, Wonder Girl, Lair Lair, Red Canary, Angel Breaker, and Trinity will likely be the same. And I think it's because these characters are used for a quick hype boost and with in a year they are used very little other that a sporadic appearance here and there. Now, it one of them become a titular villian causing a massive crisis like Superboy Prime, that might turn around. But probably unlikely.

That Rai cover is fire! Books across the board are down because this is a tertiary hobby. Economy strats to sputter, costs are up across the board, and real estate is stagnant. Do people really have money to throw at the 1st appearance of Maria Hill??? (Not to single her out... but you know...)

Grading modern books is stupid.

Thor #2: God of Thunder. First App of Gorr. Aarron's God Butcher/Bomb saga is the third best comic book run I ever read. It was such a dark and intense ride. But as soon as I saw the trailer for Love and Thunder I knew the movie was going to be a dumpster fire. I knew the book's value was going to tank...but I still kept it. The authors for these comic book stories already did the work. The heavy lifting already done. Writers that make something like Love and Thunder shouldn't be writers in the first place.

I'm just trying to figure out how you're paying $2.50 a book for shipping.

Batman 106 is one of the comics I got for a dollar cause you said it was more than that, love telling that story about your channel. I love the cover and now it is triple signed. All thanks to you. Will not get it graded though, lol. Once again thanks to you. Thanks for your awesome content and sharing your knowledge. Hopefully I get to your level someday.

Sounds like if I wanted any of these, I should just snag the slab right now.

I've been running into this situation a lot lately since values plummeted: A book is selling raw for say $7. The same book slabbed (IF you get the grade you expect) is selling for $65. So $65 minus the grading fee ($26) minus shipping both ways (est.$6 in bulk) minus sellers fees, minus shipping materials when it sells = a profit of maybe $35? We're not even gonna talk about the time it takes to clean, press, package, ship, wait, list, re-package, maybe reply to a question, label and bring to the PO!!! So is having a book graded to make an extra $28 worth all the effort? That's ok, I already found out the hard way, lol. Liked your reply to Bry's recent collection purchase. Wow, huh? Always look forward to your videos! Thanks for doin' whatcha do!

You sir, get a like for the bars at the beginning. 🤣

man, I wish I was into the modern DC books, all those covers are just so good.

$2.50 shipping is really generous

Most of the modern books that are direct editions are taking the most dips in price because of so many copies are being graded. Modern books that are Newsstands, for the most part holding their price. Like Daredevil #9, New Avengers #7, #11, #27, Web of Spider-Man #1 in direct edition vs newsstands. For modern books to hold any value, needs to be newsstands.

That 106 variant cover is uuuuugly - I get why the A is more popular

Amazing spiderman 361 is a book I love but has fallen a ton in the last few years

Love the crickets! I got the Rai. Lol. X-men 4 and 11 are way down but still might be worth getting graded. Great video

That whole market on the New Avengers era is just fading away, kind of sad. Also people jumping at the 1st Spider-Boy thinking that's the next big thing when it was barely a thing. No hype at all.

comics will lose the value overtime especially when people think certain ones will be worth big money cause of the mcu or the dcu. vote with your wallet and not with your greed.#IWANTCAPTAINCARROTPLEASE

Laziness and procrastination prevented me from sending off some books to get graded. Looks like that saved me some money.

Grading is the stupidest thing ever...never understood that nonsense. 🤣

Comics that lost all value that I love because I don't care about value: Eternals. Carnage. Young avengers.

You think that maths bad, try this scenario. A contact I have from the uk sent some stuff for grading. huge extra postage and then some modern books ended up with a 9 or thereabouts. The plan was to flip them on ebay but then there's the bay fees and the mailing out costs. Just not viable.

detective comics 27, currently down about 500k, but i still think its worth slabbing.

I think the interesting thing is prices in Australia haven’t really moved. I eBay searched some of these titles and they are still all $$$. Granted the $48usd is about $90aud but say Spiderman 7 cheapest I could see 9.8 was $200aud - hopefully we catch up soon! I’d love to buy some of these while they are down! 😂

Factoring in fees for the cleaning and pressing, or at least a prescreen, is important because, as you have said, one is not getting a 9.8 unless the book is *perfect*.

It’s the economy, this is a buyers market

Spawn number 1 it's on St a lot of value but the art is still amazing and the story is great

West Coast Avengers 45 seems like a solid book for this category, especially since there is current news of him coming back to the big screen as white vision

Super helpful video, brother. Thanks!

That is what it is worth today, most people get graded to lock its condition for years in the future. Many simply do it to protect their collection. Worth is defined differently among collectors.

It’s more like $60 for grading and shipping for free account

I know it's different depending on where you are in collecting, but chasing money isn't worth it unless you're a dealer.

I am so happy I was too broke to get caught up in the frenzy when a lot of these were high. Especially Spider Boy.lol. No, that doesn't make me smart, but it would have hurt my soul to see these prices.

That really hurts Mint hunter.A nightmare for those who have those books.Its a buyers market.

Crazy idea: what happens if someone tries to market manipulate and goes online and buys up all the 9.8 copies of some of these books? I saw it a few years ago with a few retro video games that were uncommon but not expensive: people bought up all the copies and would relist them higher because they had a monopoly on the given game.

So I love that New Avengers from the thumbnail, because of the role in plays in the Sentry story. I collect Sentry stuff, so I had it before it went up, so I'm still ahead of the game.

Man. 25 books shipped back to Canada 150 usd!!

I pulled a copy of that Batman 106 out of an Ollie's pack not that long ago.

bruh u r blessed for that price . it cost bout double for canadians to sub to cgc 😂 shipping and insurance aint no joke

I've noticed Venom #3, Darth Vader #3, New 52 Batman #1 and Ultimate Fallout #4 have fallen in price lately.

I have almost all of these books raw. The good thing is I bought them for cover price when they came out so I'm cool.

Oh man the number of 90s comics that have completely lost their value is nuts. Ren & Stimpy, The Mask, Lobo, Stephen Platt's Prophet covers, and the end run of Mark Spector Moon Knight. Valiant books were worth quite a bit for some time, and Lady Death was insanely popular for years.

Kanan 6 is way way down from highs but still a great book!

I was just at my LCS during a half off back issue sale and saw a sick venom 35 Kyle Hotz cover 9.8 slab that was going for $30. I asked if the half off was for that price and the employee looked at me and goes... Yeah ill do $15 foe that. $15 for a 9.8. man oh man did i learn something that day lol

I haven't lost money, because i havent sold any! 😂 I will just wait for the prices to go up. It happens with keys. I over paid on a Hulk 181 and a Werewolf by night 32. I spent $300 and $200. I was yold i was stupid by other dealers when i bought them. The hulk was a 9.6 and the WWBN was 9.4. i dont think i will ever "lose money" on thrm regardless of when i sell them. Its all a matter of perspective and time.

I love how Green Lantern books always show up in his vids.

I Would Like To See This Issue Drop In Value $$ ( NYX-3 ) 😮 1st X-23 Why it's Becouse I Don't Have One! 😂

Thanks for the info on these tiles, thankfully I don't follow dc or marvel to any extent..disappointed to see Rai fall badly, thought it was a good read...

You were rhyming like Etrigan….😂😂😂😂

She-Hulk #1 I bought raw in 2022 for $300, still never got it graded 😂

Top 10 Most Expensive Books In Poor Condition!

I see why a LOT of people say that new books are usually not worth grading. Taking a chance more often than not.

I think my favorite issue that's lost a lot of value is Transformers #1. I will horde any I can get, but they've seen better days.

Not every grading venture is about increasing its intrinsic value. There are a lot of collectors that get books graded just for preservation purposes.

WHEW! I thought I'd have a few on this list. But I had none. Good video. More like this please.

King spawn # 1 the 1:250 signed and numbered variant. Was well worth over 1k when I bought it,now it's worth like 450 cgc graded. Still love it tho,because spawn has been my go to comic sence I was a kid. #spawnforever

Most books are down! Even older Keys.. just saw a FF52 cgc 6.0 go for 700.00!

The first appearance of spider boy is kind of funny. I got a first print because I subscribe to everything Spider-Man at my local comic store. When I picked it up, the guy guy behind the counters, said he couldn’t believe it. He hasn’t seen one of those in weeks because it sold out instantly. So the first thing I did was send it off to be graded and it came back at a 9.8. But I bought it for the cover price, but even at the time, and right now, there’s no fuss about this spider boy character at all. I see nobody cosplaying as him, the most I can see is they might stick him in the new spider verse movie maybe?

That's because all these fools think EVERY book needs to be slabbed. Only a fraction of books the come out deserve to be graded. They did it to themselves if they lost. Nice to see someone that thinks like I do about grading.

Tales of the Teen Titans 44 first Nightwing has gone down A TON since Covid and man that sucks. But still love it because NW still my favorite hero

Thor #1 Vol. 4. Crashed and Burned. Wish I had offloaded all my copies when I had the chance.

Darn I have the Batman, Slider Boy 7 & the Avengers book all slabbed 😢great video

I must have been above the average then when I sold my 9.8 copy of Paper Girls #1 for $60 two months ago. Either way that book sure came down hard mostly because the show sucked. The more valuable book for Jessica Cruz however is Justice League #31 (her first full appearance) especially if you have either the 1:25 or the Combo Pack editions.

I have some slab "keys" from the new wonder woman and they are probably now not worth I paid for them. THey were basically cover price plus grading price plus 10 dollars.

Papergirls had a show which was quite good but still got cancelled after season 1. That can’t help things

Great video, as always.

Opposite take should be made.. what books are worth grading. Great video

When did anyone every get away with shipping cost of only $2.50?1? I usually only have $20+.

I see Whatnot show after Whatnot show of unsellable no key slabs or low value key slabs going for barely the cost of grading. Do not slab baby new modern books.

New avengers 4 is so in the tank

Got a decent return on that black panther book when it was hyped up! Used that money to buy my monthly stack lol It’s a great time to be a buyer! …if you’ve got the money…

Press clean 3 books and grade almost 300$ last time I’ll do that 🤯 they where silver and Bronze Age….

I'm sure you could make an endless series of videos on books that have taken a huge dump over the last 12 months. Personally I haven't sent too many ultra modern books for slabbing for this exact reason - they're too volatile and I have little faith that they will hold their value (slabbed). I don't shy away from grabbing books raw if I see them at a decent price but I also don't mind walking away. For the most part these newer characters aren't in my "collecting wheelhouse", though I enjoy reading them in stories. The collector side of me tends to stick with the stuff I am nostalgic for, or have long-term faith in (and even that is a risky thing these days).

Karma comes to comic book speculating. Books with zero time on market and no rarity. Though I do have some newer books, I'll stick with the Marvel Silver age.

Love you content man

$2.50 shipping.?! Do you live next door to CGC??!

Captain America 25 McNiven variant. Ugh.

Money would never be the reason why I sent a book for grading, it would be preservation (and then to keep it in my collection), so, while I find this list very interesting, is not really for me.

Well I think there should be a way to put a seal on either the case or inner bag that matches each other and would if broken it would be more noticeable Just my thoughts on it

New Avengers 4 was the one I took a hit on. Thankfully I wanted it for my PC but I thought it would hold value

Nowhere can you ship a comic for $2.50 lol

Don't forget the conflagation and propagation of constipation within the community

$2.50 for shipping?? What am I missing? The writer of Wolverine 80 has come out publicly to state that the "X23" on the vial was not related to the actual X-23, which is probably what caused the drop. Honestly, it looks more like "#23" than "X23."

I’m paying ALOT more to ship back and forth via fedex. How are you keeping it cheap?