COMIC DETAILS
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Comic Description:
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Action Comics 686 Modern
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Grade:
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9.8
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Page Quality:
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WHITE
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Certification #:
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2117041007
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Owner:
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Iconic1s
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SET DETAILS
Owner's Description
“e·nig·ma - noun - a person or thing that is mysterious, puzzling, or difficult to understand.” Dictionary
After adding this book, I could count on one hand the number of 9.8's I needed to complete my entire Base Set in at least 9.8... five!
I bought this book off of eBay for $1100.00! It was only the second 9.8 copy of this book to come up for sale; the first was the lone 9.8 at the time and sold for $750.00 about a year prior to this one. This book was originally listed for $3000.00 and then again for $3200.00 before the seller and I worked out the $1100.00 price through offers and counteroffers. There were four 9.8’s in the census when I bought this book and it's addition put my Base Set at 93 of 98 total books in at least 9.8.
This book is the my third copy. It replaced a 9.4 that was from my own submission. The 9.4 had replaced a 9.6 Restored Label book that I had also submitted prior to that. The restored book spent about three months in my Base Set, and the 9.4 was there a little over a month before this 9.8 replaced it. With this book being so hard to find in any grade, all three of them will remain in my collection and I have included a group picture in the second picture slot.
I had decided to add the restored book and one other, at a time when I was down to my last two books 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. 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 since 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!
I had bought the 9.4 copy of this book raw for $125.00 on eBay thinking that it would probably grade right about where it did. When that book arrived 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 was happy with the grade and even happier to add it to my collection and be able to replace the last restored book with a Universal Label.
I opened this description with the definition of enigma and that is how I see this particular book right now. The lone 9.8 sells for $750.00... about a year later there are four 9.8's and this book is not the rarest graded DC Universe logo book in this entire storyline, yet I paid what I paid for it. 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 this 9.8. What I ultimately paid makes no mathematical sense considering the increase in the number of 9.8’s since the lone 9.8 had sold only a year prior, and considering there is nothing super-special (first appearance, etc.) about this book, hence...
... enigma... a modern book multiplies in the census by 400 percent while sellers simultaneously ask increasingly higher prices for it, this baffles me. I personally believe this book is worth (to me) what I paid but will it continue to be an enigma? Will sellers continue to ask (and receive) higher prices to cash in on the few people that really love these books while the census continues to grow? I suppose the root cause to this puzzling situation may be that as long as there is someone willing to pay it, they will keep asking it... maybe it's not that confusing after all!
As much as I personally love these books I still try to keep a little bit of my head in the game. Yes, I really want to finish this collection all in 9.8 but it would be no fun looking at any book knowing that you got completely taken advantage of when buying it. I much prefer transactions when both the buyer and the seller are reasonably happy. I think that this book more than any other in this set (so far), pushed me right to the edge of where I know I paid a premium to add it, but where I can also still look at it and feel good about it. Plus, my wife had just done pretty good at the Casino so it was good timing... woo-hoo!!
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