madcougar

I got divorced a few years ago and was lucky enough to walk away with my comic book and toy collection. Recently, I had the thought of "what's going to happen to all this crap when I die?!" I decided I needed to focus my collection and get rid of stuff that doesn't fit or that I know I don't want. At the same time, I decided I would reinvest what I made selling my stuff into key books so that instead of leaving my son 40 plus long boxes of some good stuff and mostly crap, I'll leave him 10 long boxes of good stuff and a box or two of REALLY good stuff. Since then, I've picked up Amazing Spider-Man 121, 129 and 300, and a Giant Size X-Men. I've been keeping my eyes open for an Incredible Hulk 181 in decent condition.

What other books would you get if you could? My only condition is that they can't be more than about $1,000.

Lastdaysofrain

I just dumped 20 boxes or so of comics that have been sitting in my basement for five years ever since we moved into our house, at a local comic's shop. Included in that batch was an Amazing Spider-Man 129 (along with a run of 94-96 and a run 225-350), and Giant Sized X-Men and a Hulk 181.

I hung out to a few things, but a lot of stuff I'd been hanging onto for ever I finally let go of. A run of Miracleman, run of Defenders, New Mutants, a ton of Skywalk Horror magazines, Eerie's, Creepy, my run of Vampierella magazines.

I wasn't reading them, and figured someone would probably appreciate them more than I was.

There's not many "key" books I am looking for, or that I held on to. I can get most things digitally or in trades these days.

Trevor

I'd honestly love to own them all. In reality I doubt I'll ever pay more than $100 for anything so I won't own many 'keys' except in fair to coverless condition.

Mike86

I mostly collect Batman stuff so really any first appearance issues of big characters would be pretty cool or of course an original Detective Comics #27. The thing is though I'm not a die hard enough collector that I'd spend big money on a single issue. Simpy because I'd most likely just get it and frame it and never actually read it or anything. If I found the right one in good condition and it wasn't too expensive I'd probably bite just to say I own one of the big issues but it's not really anything that I'm seeking out too much. I almost bought a first appearance of Batwoman from a comic shop that I go to now and again but it's out of town from where I live and the next time I went it was gone. It wasn't too unreasonably priced though (like a little over $100) or so which would have been an acceptable price for me for it.

mrhan

I have quite a few key issues but I can't see myself spending what their asking for them these days. I got most of my key issues literary for free and kept them in VF to mint condition. Off the top of my head I have the first appearances of Ra's Al Ghul, Sabertooth, Silver Surfer, The Watcher, Guardians of the Galaxy, Black Panther, Inhumans, Deadpool etc....I also have Captain America 100. GL/GA 76. The only ones I want to upgrade are Batman 251 and Detective 400. I'm sure I will eventually find them at the right price someday.

madcougar

I'm a huge Batman fan, too. The problem with Batman is that any really cool key issue is going to be thousands of dollars even for a beat up copy. The first kinda cool key issue that I could ever hope to buy is the first appearance of Batgirl (Detective 359). That book was published almost 30 years into Detective's run! I do want to get Batman 232 one day.

Mike86

Yeah that's just it. I'd never pay into the thousands for a single issue. Just too rich for my blood and I could buy a lot of other collectibles or more practical things. I guess if I had money to just throw around it'd be different obviously. The most I could realistically see myself paying for a single issue of some significance would be like $200 and even that's a stretch.

madcougar

Can I ask you how old you are?

Trevor

I think you just did!

PhantomStranger

I've been thinking of completing the original Phantom Stranger series, though I am more interested in hunting down its original art by Neal Adams.

I think it would be neat to own pristine copies of an entire Action Comics run, from the first issue to the current issue.

If we're talking actual individual issues, Whiz Comics #2 would be on the wish list. It would likely go for $300,000 in today's market.

Mike86

I'm 27, will be 28 in October. Why?

Trevor

I was in Chincoteague last week on vacation and a little antique shop had a box of comics with a bunch of random stuff; mainly 80s and 90s fluff, but they had a handful of the early Phantom Strangers. I didn't have my list with me of course, but it seemed so random to find something I'd actually want.

Lastdaysofrain

Some of this may be because I'm older (although that's unlikely) but I've found that collecting is a lot less thrilling these days. Mostly because there's no more "hunt". If there's a key book I want, I can easily find a copy online for a somewhat reasonable price. The days of having to dig through boxes, and stopping at every mom and pop and out of the way comic book store if I was traveling, hoping they might have something not available in my area, are over.

Between that and having so many classic reprints available in really nice, affordable hardcovers, often looking a million times better than they do in their original printed version, and easily available digital comics, I just haven't had the desire to hunt things down just to have them.

davidh777

While it would be cool to own some of these issues, I'm more about the reading than the collecting these days so I'd be more likely to spend on nice reprint collections. (Not trying to threadcrap.)

madcougar

I had the very same ideas you have now for most of the time I've been collecting comics (from about 18 to just about now). But for some reason this last birthday (my 44th) I became very reflective of what’s going to happen to all my crap when I die and realized I needed to shrink my footprint. Just wondering if perhaps it’s just me or if getting older has changed my thinking.

madcougar

Hmm... I'm considering buying the Infinity Gauntlet Ominbus myself...

Trevor

That's been changing my thinking as well. Not necessarily my actions all the time, but my thinking.

The final panel in yesterday's Pearls Before Swine strip really hits home.


When something happens to me, my wife or daughter or whoever is going to hate my hoarding ways. They're either going to just dump most of this stuff or spend way too much effort getting way too little for it.

So I'm trying to shift my collecting to digital in all areas, and have a read/watch once then give away thought process on 90% of this clutter. The trick now is to make my actions correspond with that thinking.

davidh777

I think many of us have the same thoughts about physical media, and aging certainly plays a part as well. I've certainly reduced my buying, and intend to pare down the existing collection. The good thing about TPBs is that they look good on the shelf and feel more compact than DVDs (in their original packaging). The bad thing is that there's more of a communal aspect to movies. I'm the only one who reads my comics, except when my niece and brother-in-law visit.

Just bought that, and it looks great on my shelf! Hope to read it soon.

PhantomStranger

Am I on a senior citizen forum? All this talk of mortality is a little alarming when the average life expectancy in this country is 76.2 years (which is actually lowballing the figure for many ethnic groups) for a man.

I'm not selling my books now to worry about what will happen to them when I die at the age of 119 (in 2036 we discover the trick to surpass the Hayflick limit).

mrhan

He did a bunch of covers but only drew issue #4. A mint copy is less than $100. Trying to acquire the original artwork is another story.

Xiroteus

At this point I'm comfortable with trades, hardcovers and digital, now for key original art, there would be a lot.

PhantomStranger

Most of Neal Adams' cover art is now in private collectors' hands, which means it rarely sees the market.

davidh777

Are you going to post that in the Challenge Compendium thread next?

madcougar

I started REALLY collecting stuff about 24 years ago. I realized that if I continued at my current pace, I'd need a minimum of another 225 square feet FOR THE NEW STUFF. It's not so much I'm worried about how much stuff I have NOW. It's that I worry about how much more cool stuff I'm going to accumulate in the next (hopefully) 30 to 40 years.

madcougar

Getting back OT... anyone know how you can tell if a comic book that's been graded by CGC has any interior pages missing or things cut out?