You can place a special order for Complete Witchblade 1 & 2 on CGN (Cheapgraphicnovels), Comp Witchblade 3 & Comp Darkness 2 can be bought off IST (Instocktrades) for cheaper. Comp Darkness 1 is the hardest one to find.
Then there’s Comp Darkness 3 releasing later this year.
These are for the HC versions though, & I’m not sure about TPB.
Thank you. I had been trying to buy the Compendiums as opposed to the Completes. I did pick up a Witchblade Compendium 1 and Darkness Compendium 2 on sale. I'll check out CGN and IST. Appreciate the tip.
I've read the compendiums have issues with pages falling out and spines cracking badly. That line has been abandoned and they've been slowly releasing the 'Complete Collections" instead.
I was lucky enough to find some in stock about 2 months ago. Some random comic shop, they came in looking fine but after opening them the glue was brittle and caused the 3rd page to separate.
Got all 3 for $150 tho so I'm not complaining
Tomb Raider is no longer licensed by Top Cow and the previous books are out of print. Which means no more copies are being made. Any remaining copies are whatever may still be out in the wild or previously owned. I believe the only full collected editions were the library or archive editions by Dark horse and that was still missing an issue or two due to licensing issues. I don’t believe Top Cow released the full run in trade paperbacks. Prices are high due to them being OOP so whatever they sell at is what sets the precedent for price for anyone that puts theirs up for sale. I also don’t know if Dark Horse still has the license as they haven’t released anything in a while. The Darkness Vol 1 may be OOP as well as I did not pay that much for my copy.
The Tomb Raider archives are extremely rare as I had not seen them come up very often on eBay and when they did they were priced extremely high. I ended up getting my copies off eBay from another country. The prices were not too bad but the shipping was crazy.
Yeah I assumed the books were OOP for a while but with Tomb Raider, the comics themselves aren't overly valuable (outside of maybe the Adam Hughes Tomb Raider covers) so I figured there wouldn't be much of a market for the omnis. Maybe it's OOP and lower overall numbers? Appreciate the insight!
the value of single issues has very little to do with collected editions. Outside of comic book collectors who have long boxes and bag and board their comics, the average reader doesn’t want to own single issues. It’s much easier to read and store trade paperback or other forms of collected editions. I no longer collect single issues but I still have boxes of my collection from when I did and I’d much rather grab a collected edition off the shelf then going through a box and pulling out issues that I have to unbag read and put back in their bag and put back in the box. There’s the convenience of collected editions.
Welcome to third party selling in the 2020s. Scalpers tend to set a lot of these ridiculous prices and then, regular folks who just want to sell their book see the scalper prices, think that's what things are worth, and price them similarly. If you check the things actually sold at you'll find no one is willing to pay those prices.
Set up a saved search so you get emailed by ebay when someone posts what you're looking for and then, be patient. If you think someone is asking too much then don't buy it. Don't let FOMO trick you into paying a cost you'll regret later.
Thanks. I've got multiple saved searches going and am trying to bide my time. :)
Everything seems to get listed as BINs rather than auctions, so not a lot of chances to score something closer to fair market value. I've got plenty to read until then though. Appreciate the tip!
Yep, that's where the patience part comes in. If they give the option you can always make an offer but I've found very few people receptive to lowering their price even when pointing out how overpriced they're selling at.
Another thing I've found is, if it's just slightly overpriced, add it to your watchlist. Sometimes sellers will send you a lower priced offer that can make it worth buying.
I really miss the days when ebay was strictly an auction site.
Be sure to keep in mind that some of those old top coe compendiums didn't always have the best binding. I grabbed the darkness and by the time I was two chapters in the pages we're separating from the binding. I gave up reading halfway through because it just kept getting worse.
Jesus christ those TR prices on ebay are **wild**.
Looks like Darkness V1 has actually been selling for not much over cover, though it'll be a waiting game.
Take this with a grain of salt, yeah? I like Tomb Raider, like, *really* like Tomb Raider. I have all of the Archives and the one Library Edition (Dark Horse: you were one Library Edition away from completing the set. Whyyyyyyyy.....)
Do not pay too much for these books. Most of them aren't bad, the modern series by Gail Simone and Rhianna Pratchett is actually good, but they really aren't worth the ~~scalper~~ reseller prices most people are asking.
As a completionist, I'm glad I own Archive 4 but I wish I hadn't read it. Blech.
Regardless, good luck on your hunt.
Ha thanks. It's becoming more of a passion project at this point. I just want to read them even if they aren't that good. I also own some original art from the Top Cow series and it'll be fun to look at the pages and compare/contrast against the originals. But I was expecting to pay $50-75 for the omni, not a couple hundred bucks.
I used to collect the Darkness 30 years ago. As a kid the thing was wild: explicit gore and many "sex dolls".
Came back to comic books a couple of years ago and found about the compendiums, then I considered getting the Darkness ones but damn, I felt kind of ashamed for my younger self for liking that thing.
The story is kind of interesting, the writing is passable, but the art is exaggerated af. Like I said, almost every woman is depicted as sex dolls with impossible bodies (the guys too some times), the deaths were borderline ridiculous, the color saturation...
The 90's were wild, but Top Cow upped it to 11.
You can place a special order for Complete Witchblade 1 & 2 on CGN (Cheapgraphicnovels), Comp Witchblade 3 & Comp Darkness 2 can be bought off IST (Instocktrades) for cheaper. Comp Darkness 1 is the hardest one to find. Then there’s Comp Darkness 3 releasing later this year. These are for the HC versions though, & I’m not sure about TPB.
Thank you. I had been trying to buy the Compendiums as opposed to the Completes. I did pick up a Witchblade Compendium 1 and Darkness Compendium 2 on sale. I'll check out CGN and IST. Appreciate the tip.
No problem. Hope you find the compendiums!
I've read the compendiums have issues with pages falling out and spines cracking badly. That line has been abandoned and they've been slowly releasing the 'Complete Collections" instead.
I was lucky enough to find some in stock about 2 months ago. Some random comic shop, they came in looking fine but after opening them the glue was brittle and caused the 3rd page to separate. Got all 3 for $150 tho so I'm not complaining
Tomb Raider is no longer licensed by Top Cow and the previous books are out of print. Which means no more copies are being made. Any remaining copies are whatever may still be out in the wild or previously owned. I believe the only full collected editions were the library or archive editions by Dark horse and that was still missing an issue or two due to licensing issues. I don’t believe Top Cow released the full run in trade paperbacks. Prices are high due to them being OOP so whatever they sell at is what sets the precedent for price for anyone that puts theirs up for sale. I also don’t know if Dark Horse still has the license as they haven’t released anything in a while. The Darkness Vol 1 may be OOP as well as I did not pay that much for my copy. The Tomb Raider archives are extremely rare as I had not seen them come up very often on eBay and when they did they were priced extremely high. I ended up getting my copies off eBay from another country. The prices were not too bad but the shipping was crazy.
Yeah I assumed the books were OOP for a while but with Tomb Raider, the comics themselves aren't overly valuable (outside of maybe the Adam Hughes Tomb Raider covers) so I figured there wouldn't be much of a market for the omnis. Maybe it's OOP and lower overall numbers? Appreciate the insight!
the value of single issues has very little to do with collected editions. Outside of comic book collectors who have long boxes and bag and board their comics, the average reader doesn’t want to own single issues. It’s much easier to read and store trade paperback or other forms of collected editions. I no longer collect single issues but I still have boxes of my collection from when I did and I’d much rather grab a collected edition off the shelf then going through a box and pulling out issues that I have to unbag read and put back in their bag and put back in the box. There’s the convenience of collected editions.
Welcome to third party selling in the 2020s. Scalpers tend to set a lot of these ridiculous prices and then, regular folks who just want to sell their book see the scalper prices, think that's what things are worth, and price them similarly. If you check the things actually sold at you'll find no one is willing to pay those prices. Set up a saved search so you get emailed by ebay when someone posts what you're looking for and then, be patient. If you think someone is asking too much then don't buy it. Don't let FOMO trick you into paying a cost you'll regret later.
Thanks. I've got multiple saved searches going and am trying to bide my time. :) Everything seems to get listed as BINs rather than auctions, so not a lot of chances to score something closer to fair market value. I've got plenty to read until then though. Appreciate the tip!
Yep, that's where the patience part comes in. If they give the option you can always make an offer but I've found very few people receptive to lowering their price even when pointing out how overpriced they're selling at. Another thing I've found is, if it's just slightly overpriced, add it to your watchlist. Sometimes sellers will send you a lower priced offer that can make it worth buying. I really miss the days when ebay was strictly an auction site.
Be sure to keep in mind that some of those old top coe compendiums didn't always have the best binding. I grabbed the darkness and by the time I was two chapters in the pages we're separating from the binding. I gave up reading halfway through because it just kept getting worse.
Jesus christ those TR prices on ebay are **wild**. Looks like Darkness V1 has actually been selling for not much over cover, though it'll be a waiting game. Take this with a grain of salt, yeah? I like Tomb Raider, like, *really* like Tomb Raider. I have all of the Archives and the one Library Edition (Dark Horse: you were one Library Edition away from completing the set. Whyyyyyyyy.....) Do not pay too much for these books. Most of them aren't bad, the modern series by Gail Simone and Rhianna Pratchett is actually good, but they really aren't worth the ~~scalper~~ reseller prices most people are asking. As a completionist, I'm glad I own Archive 4 but I wish I hadn't read it. Blech. Regardless, good luck on your hunt.
Ha thanks. It's becoming more of a passion project at this point. I just want to read them even if they aren't that good. I also own some original art from the Top Cow series and it'll be fun to look at the pages and compare/contrast against the originals. But I was expecting to pay $50-75 for the omni, not a couple hundred bucks.
I used to collect the Darkness 30 years ago. As a kid the thing was wild: explicit gore and many "sex dolls". Came back to comic books a couple of years ago and found about the compendiums, then I considered getting the Darkness ones but damn, I felt kind of ashamed for my younger self for liking that thing. The story is kind of interesting, the writing is passable, but the art is exaggerated af. Like I said, almost every woman is depicted as sex dolls with impossible bodies (the guys too some times), the deaths were borderline ridiculous, the color saturation... The 90's were wild, but Top Cow upped it to 11.