For This Is the Day… That a Superman Died
Action Comics 686 Second Printing

COMIC DETAILS

Comic Description: Action Comics #686 Universal
Grade: 9.4
Page Quality: WHITE
Certification #: 2101154003
Owner: Iconic1s

SET DETAILS

Winning Set:

For This Is the Day… That a Superman Died
Date Added: 6/2/2020
Research: See CGC's Census Report for this Comic

Owner's Description

“e·nig·ma - noun - a person or thing that is mysterious, puzzling, or difficult to understand.” Dictionary

This book is from my own submission and replaced a 9.6 Restored Label book that I had submitted previously.

I decided to add the restored book and one other, at a time when I was down to my last two empty slots before being at 100 percent completion. I had one last criterion that I required myself to meet before I could add those and that was that I had to have another raw copy of the same book submitted to CGC before doing so. I had this book submitted when I temporarily added the 9.6 Restored Label. While working on this set, I collected and gathered raw books from many different sources. As a result, I had several books that I submitted return with color touch restoration, this was a huge (and expensive) learning experience. The other restored book, Superman 76 second printing, has now been replaced with a 9.8 Universal Label book that I submitted myself, and which I personally opened from its collector's pack ensuring it had not been altered! Now that I have this 9.4 Universal Label book, I plan on resubmitting the 9.6 for restoration removal and regrading. Even if it comes back lower it will be free from alteration, which will be cool.

Now onto the 9.4 you see here... I bought this book raw for $125.00 on eBay knowing that it would probably grade right about where you see it here. When it arrived, I felt that it was one case where the book was even better looking in person than what was shown in the listing. I still didn't think it was 9.8 material, but I stuck it right back in the bag and board and mailed it off to CCS immediately. I'm glad it graded where it did. Although it's a gamble buying raw books I think this was a good price considering what people seem to be asking for the graded copies of this particular book.

Now onto this printing overall... I opened this description with the definition of <i>enigma</i> and that is how I see this book right now. Last year the lone 9.8 of this book in the census at the time sold for around $800.00... about a year later there are now four 9.8's and this book is no longer anywhere near the rarest <i>graded</i> DC Universe logo book in this set. When my 9.4 was graded there were three CGC copies on eBay that popped up in this order; an 8.5 listed for $249.99, a 9.4 for $499.99, and finally a 9.8 for $3,000.00. These seem to be serious cases of people attempting to take advantage of others. As I built this set I witnessed it with flippers winning an item only to re-list it for double the price, and this same mentality seems to be present here, except it's much more than double.

Enigma... can a <i>modern</i> book multiply in the census by 400% while sellers simultaneously ask increasingly escalated and ridiculous prices for it? Maybe the answer to that question is in my description for Action Comics 683 where there were listings asking over $3K for that book while two recent sales barely broke $200.00. We will have to see what the future holds for this book... I believe it is definitely worth more than $200.00 but will it continue to be an enigma? Will sellers continue to feel free to ask what seem to be completely unreasonable prices trying to cash in on the few people that really <i>love</i> these books while the census continues to grow? I say <i>love</i> these books because someone paying such a premium for a book with this type of data available is definitely buying with their heart and not their head.

As much as I personally <i>love</i> these books I have to keep a little bit of my head in the game. Yes, it would be nice to have a 9.8 of this book (or whatever your goal is) but it would be no fun looking at it and remembering that you got completely taken advantage of when buying it. I much prefer transactions when both the buyer and the seller are <i>reasonably</i> happy.

Enjoy my 9.4... I believe I paid a fair price for it raw and am glad I can say I submitted it myself and am pleased with the grade. You can't ask for much more that that in this hobby!
  
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