Cookie - august issue 2009
August 2009 issue of Cookie is highly significant because it contains the official editorial announcement of the indefinite NANA hiatus due to creator Ai Yazawa’s sudden, severe illness.
Was at HPB the other day and paid $25 for a copy of Gantz Volume 1 First Print. Didn't mind since it was in great condition and was a first print but then realize that there's a red marking at the bottom. Usually I wouldn't mind since it is at a discounted book store but since I paid resell value, I am conflicted 🫠 Would you guys keep or return? help.
Every post I make, seems to bring out the haters. It’s like fuel for me. So let’s see how much this pisses them off 🤣
Yugioh was incredibly nostalgic for me. Watching the anime, collecting and playing the tcg etc. I knew I had to have the Volume 1 manga to compliment my collection.
Luckily, I had the opportunity to purchase not only the BGS 9.2, but also the 9.4. Which, last I checked, was the highest grade being a POP 3 (only 2 being white pages).
Now for the financials:
I purchased the 9.2 for $1239.99 on 15 Feb 26 and another copy sold on heritage for $8750 on 27 Mar 26.
The 9.4 I picked up for $3039.99 on 25 Feb 26 and the last one sold (which was off white/ white pages) for $12,900 on heritage on 9 Mar 26.
Even though some mangas are retracing, there are exceptions and my guess is that the next copy of this above a 9 that sells, could break another record.
I would love to one day own a high grade first appearance yugioh shonen jump and English serialised.
If you have one of these and are willing to sell or trade it, hit me up! 🤙
This is a first-printing copy of Volume 1 of Dragon Ball in English that was stored inside a box (along with six other volumes). Unfortunately, even though it appears to have never been read, it was (I believe) stored improperly inside the box for many years, which is why that crease formed. Could it be fixed with a good pressing service?
Should I open it or keep it sealed?
I enjoyed the first couple of seasons, but stopped about half way through season 3. I prefer more serious tones to my shows. I’ll pick it back up at some point.
When I first purchased this, it was around POP 16 out of 199 graded. Pretty difficult for a modern manga!
For the financials..
Purchase for $800 on 16 Jan 26. There hasn’t been a public sale for a 9.8 copy with an obi since, but an obi-less copy did sell for over $2k on eBay. Annoyingly, I can’t find the screenshot that I had and the eBay sale has gone. If I can remember correctly, it was an auction.
NOW, here is my take on the current market. Hopefully this helps clear some things up.
The market is young. BGS has only been grading manga for 2 years. We will see both ridiculous highs and lows. We will eventually hit an equilibrium. Many modern tanks are down over 50% from their all time highs already. E.g demonslayer selling for $7.9k recently when it previously sold on heritage for over $20k a few months ago.
Will the drop for both modern last forever? Will there be an unlimited supply of first prints for modern? No one knows. But time is an incredible thing, we will see what happens.
There has also been slight drops in some areas of vintage. But for the most part, we’re still seeing either record sales each time or stagnation. The market is trying to find itself.
Now, is there an unlimited supply of first print vintage? Again, no one knows. But I think it’s highly doubtful.
As for this particular copy, I currently have it up for sale or trade if anyone is interested. It is with rainierconsignment on eBay. He can also arrange a trade. Looking for nm serialised English or just feel free to show me what you’ve got.
And for those thinking it, no the reason I made this post isn’t to advertise that it’s for sale. I genuinely don’t care if it sells or not. I’ll keep it if doesn’t. I have other modern manga I’ll be keeping for a long time anyways. This particular manga just isn’t one of my personal favourites and I have other goals.
Edit - demonslayer actually sold for over $20k on heritage in April, I thought it was $16k from memory.
It's a lot to explain, but I basically own 600+ pages of hand drawn, pre published manuscripts from an artist named Marika Hirasono, and after many hours of rigorous research, I've come to learn that the intersections of where her published works appeared is... frankly utterly insane. I say "one of a kind" due to the sheer volume of it. And for those who know, know that manga production material is in a scarcity league of its own compared to production material like cels.
I'm talking moments of intersection with very famous moments, like the first appearance ever of Sailor Moon, essentially all (without even failing to miss a single instance) of Naoko Takeuchi's pre-Sailor Moon works, some other notable works like Rayearth, Saint Tail, Miracle Girls, Goldfish Warning! or Nanairo Magic. It's really neat. There are simply way too many to list so I'll just rapid fire a couple neat ones (I happen to own all the hand drawn manuscripts mentioned below, as well):
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This is the first publicized ideological conception/connection to her Sailor universe. Naoko Takeuchi mentions one of her favorite books is the Edogawa Ranpo’s Boy Detectives Series. It is later confirmed this distinctly inspired Tuxedo Mask (likely the theme as a whole). One of Marika Hirasono's pages was literally printed on the same page, back to back
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Here's the first appearance of anything actually Sailor Moon related, and you can see Marika Hirasono's name (平園マリ香) on the ad there. I have the manuscript the ad points to (August 1991 RunRun, first chapter of Sailor V):
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First usage of the "Pretty Sailor" phrase, which eventually evolved into the Sailor Moon title. Ad for the same issue as above
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And these are self explanatory, a couple instances where her name (平園マリ香) is seen on notable covers themselves
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There are distinct moments I'm not mentioning. I tend to love what I call a "signature match". A signature is basically a 16 or 32 page large sheet which is printed all at once, and folded into a small packet. Once all of these packets are complete at the press, they're then glued together in a single magazine. To me, in these instances, the elements are "birthed" together. There are some insane signature matches (whether through things like shared manuscripts, or Marika Hirasono appearing in an ad): first Sailor Moon chapter/Sailor Venus first appearance in SM/the famous "first kiss"/famous climax of the first arc (manga+anime expressed this moment differently, iykyk)/Super Chibi Moon transformation/Act 8 (which ended up being the first act formally published in the West. And for those who know, Sailor Moon is one of the pivotal works that made manga popular in the west)/and way more. So far upon my research I've found over 100 'moments' like these, some stronger and more impactful than others.
I have an instagram where I'm posting Marika Hirasono's work themselves, to celebrate her as an artist (hopefully I don't come off as only enjoying the beauty of the 'context' of her work, I do appreciate the work itself. It's a high gravity collection to have in person), but I don't want to break the self promote rule lol. But yeah, thought this was pretty unique and worth sharing. For those who don't know, what's also cool about owning manuscripts themselves is you can physically see the editorial work that's done on the pages themselves, all by the same team who worked on Nakayoshi during that period of time.
Page scan credits: missdream.org
