mrhan

https://gma.yahoo.com/superhero-dad-...l-finance.html

Al Sanders may have spent his entire life reading about superheroes in his vast classic comic book collection, but now he’s turning into a real-life superhero by selling them all to help fund his daughter's college tuition.

“As all parents who have college-age kids, we started putting together what it was going to cost and what we needed to do,” the doting dad from Seattle told ABC News of his decision to sell. “You start looking at those options you have, and my comic books were an option. That’s when I looked at their value, and I’m now trying to find a good home for them.”

Sanders has close to 5,000 vintage comic books, ranging from Iron Man and X-Men to Batman and Luke Cage, Hero for Hire.

“I’ve got them all in 10 boxes, and the boxes in theory hold 500 each,” he explained. “My wife, when we met, she saw them and asked what they were and I said, ‘They’re my comic books and they come with me.’ She allowed me to keep those, but the Sports Illustrateds had to go.”

It’s now time for the comics to go, too.

Man Finds Grandparents' 100-Year-Old Wedding Cake Inside a Hatbox in Garage

Woman Finds Handwritten Letters From 1915 in Ceiling, Returns Them to Relatives

Rose is Sanders’ only child. Although she’s only 16 years old, she’s graduating high school early in June to attend Fisk University in Nashville this fall.

“She started kindergarten a year early and she determined last summer that she wanted to graduate a year early,” the proud father said.

He’s traveling to Emerald City Comicon this weekend in hopes of making a lucrative deal for his beloved lifelong collection.

“It’s one of this area’s largest conventions,” Sanders, 53, explained. “I was going to collect cards from some of the dealers to see if there’s interest from one individual to take the whole collection. I’m looking for somebody who enjoys reading them. When I was collecting them I was reading them, not thinking about them as an investment.”

He has no regrets about this decision as long as it means his daughter starts college on the right foot financially.

“We see all these stories of kids having to take out loans to be able to go. We want to try to avoid that,” he said. “If there’s anything that can help defray the cost of her getting started then that’s what we’re going to do.”

He says his daughter “really does appreciate” his efforts.

“She is the prettiest flower in my garden,” Sanders said of his soon-to-be college freshman.




I think it's a nice thing he is doing but he is in for a rude awakening. If those pics in the link are an indication of his collection; it's not enough to fund 4 years.

I pay 4K for my daughter each semester and that's not counting supplies/books. His 5,000 books won't pay for a year of college.

kodave

No mention of any particularly valuable key issues or anything like that. The stuff in the pictures wasn't bagged or boarded either. Probably mostly Bronze Age - particularly late Bronze Age - stuff I'd guess.

His daughter is going to Fisk University, a private school, with a yearly tuition of $19,240 before room/board, books, etc.

He'll probably be lucky if someone takes his lot for $1 or $2 per book at best. Or if he has key issues in there, they'll buy the keys and he can donate the rest to the library.

I dunno how the media picked up on this story. He can't be the first guy to try to unload 10 long boxes of nothing to pay for a college education.

slop101

Yeah, I'd do the same if I had a daughter going to a college I couldn't afford, but I'd be smarter about it. I'd send her to a better, less expensive school. And I'd curate my collection better, selling the valuable stuff on their own, then the rest in bulk.

His collection looks a lot like mine (he doesn't seem to have many, if any, pre-'70s books, which are what's valuable), so yeah, he's not gonna get a fraction of what he might be hoping for.

Navinabob

They'll likely get purchased by the pound.

What he should do it pull out his 50 best and spend the money to get them slabbed and sell those on ebay.

davidh777

Hey, Emerald City Comicon is in my city! I'd be interested in checking out his stuff just for curiosity, except I'm not going.

stingermck

hate to tell that girl, but based on these comics she aint going to college.

Student loans!

CaptainMarvel

This story makes me really sad. I feel bad for him once reality comes crashing down.

slop101

Maybe they only showed pics of the ones he was willing to show, and the valuable ones are safely stored away? But then I doubt it, as he may have mentioned them - though it would be smart to keep things on the DL should someone come snooping around his place due to that article.

TimeandTide

Thought the same thing. The reporter could have at least quickly punched in the titles to get a rough estimate as to what the collection might be worth. Or even visited a local shop with the guy to get an estimate from a collector. Almost reads like an Onion story if those are actual pics of his collection.

PhantomStranger

The reporter doesn't care, this is a general interest piece meant to attract middle-aged men and women. It's more about the sentiment than a hard-hitting dive into the world of comic book prices.

Bronkster

I hope his daughter majors in economics.

Why So Blu?

To be fair - I only scanned through the story and it just appeared that they photographed the first things he grabbed. How big was the collection - like 5,000 comics? I'm sure he has the sense enough to not just bring them all out for the photo-op.

Daryl

Looks like she's about to minor in Utter Disappointment