kodave

kgrogers1979, you could have made a quick Craigslist post that said "Free Comic Books - 10 long boxes next to the dumpsters at X Apartment Complex. Grab them by 4 PM or they're going into the dumpster."

And someone probably would have come that same day and probably hauled off the whole collection if not at least picked through it. You wouldn't even have to follow through on the threat of trashing them since it's just there to motivate people to come get the stuff. There are all sorts of scavengers on Craigslist hunting for people tossing out valuable comics. They still might have ultimately ended up in a dumpster, but there was a pretty low-effort shot for giving them a second life.

I had an old PC tower that was actually pretty nice (aesthetically - it had fancy lights and stuff, steel build, etc.) from a custom build from the mid-2000s. The internal components weren't worth anything anymore, but you probably could have gutted the case to start over. I don't use a desktop anymore, and if I did I'd either buy or build something else and this was taking up valuable space. I just took out the hard drive and then plopped the thing next to my dumpster. It was gone within a couple of hours. Never even needed to post about it on Craigslist. People will grab almost anything for free, especially if they don't have to dive into the dumpster to get it.

PhantomStranger

I've found that if you leave stuff out on the curb, almost anything that isn't completely trashed will get picked up by someone. Heck, I once took a neighbor's tv stand they had thrown out.

madcougar

stingermck

Don't be so hard on kgrogers. Those books are more valuable now with less copies in circulation!

I gave away and tossed a bunch of shit from the 90s as well a few years ago. Those things are more worthless than a magazine in a doctors office.

kgrogers1979

There are now 5 less copies of X-Men (1991) #1 in the world now that I have trashed my copies! If 5 million more people do the same, then that comic will become rare! You guys should be thanking me, not criticizing me!

Inhumans99

I love how this is a thread about how hard it is to get rid of anything if you are a comic/pop culture geek, kgroegers19 steps in to say hey, I did it!, I tossed most of my books taking up valuable real estate...and instead of praising him, it is like the scene in Star Wars, where after Leia's homeworld is destroyed, Obi-Wan Kenobi pauses to ominously say (thank you imdb):

"I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened."

Ahhh, comic book folk, never stop being anything other than what you are (to thine own self be true and all that).

PhantomStranger

It doesn't bother me when someone wants to divest themselves of their collection but at least perform the minimum due diligence in passing on the books to someone else, even if for free.

mrhan

This.

An old friend of mine...I mean he is old; had a box full of silver age comics and just gave them to me. He knew they were worth a lot but didn't have the heart to sell them off piece by piece. His daughter didn't want them so they ended up with me. Quite a few key issues incl. Green Lantern 1 and 3. First appearances of Silver Surfer, Inhumans, Galactus, Black Panther and so on. This was about 5 years ago and I can't bring myself to integrate them into my collection. They just sit in their own box. What I am saying it doesn't take any effort to make someone happy and those trashed books could have done the same.

Trevor

This.

Getting rid of books without filling landfills takes virtually no time. Goodwill and similar places have scheduled pickups in most neighborhoods, or you can drop them off there or at hospitals on your normal travels. And obviously a simple Craigslist, Facebook, forum, or even neighborhood sign would have people taking them off your hands for free, or even paying you a bit.

stingermck

If he put them in the recycling bin, is it OK then?

kgrogers1979

Sorry. I didn't know there was a law that says it is mandatory to ask people if they want your trash. I just ate a banana. Should I go around and ask people if they want the peel before I throw it in the trash?


That's very different though because I had NO Silver Age comics. I didn't have anything older than COIE. My collection was entirely 80s/90s junk that you can easily find elsewhere if you really want it that badly. The comics I had were not rare at all.


Filling landfills? Comics are paper. Paper biodegrades quickly. It's not like I was throwing away plastic water bottles.

Also, the stuff you mention about Goodwill, Craigslist, etc. requires effort. Anything that requires even minimal effort is not something I am going to do for free. I am lazy. If I put any effort into something, I want to be paid for it. I don't volunteer my time for free. Sure, maybe I'm lazy and selfish, but I don't care. I judged that putting the time and effort into selling these comics simply would not be worth it, so I threw them away.

Again I will repeat that I had no valuable comics at all. I don't think people are understanding this. I had no Silver Age comics. Nothing from before COIE. I have heard many stories of comic shops refusing to buy 80s/90s comics from people simply because it is nearly impossible for the shop to turn around and resale them. The supply of these comics is just too large and there is very little demand for them. My collection would have been much harder to sell than a lot of you people are realizing.

davidh777

This.

When I was in the heyday of my baseball-card collecting, I asked to look through my cousin's old cards, selected the ones I wanted (some good stuff like a Reggie Jackson rookie card), and said we'd figured out some kind of payment. I never did figure it out, and I felt bad, so a few years later I just gave them back. I don't know if he cared, but I hadn't really integrated them into my collection so it was easy to do and just get them off my mind.

fujishig

When I went back to my parent's place, I had to purge multiple longboxes of largely worthless stuff. I went through part of it just to see, and some of it did have some value to me (mainly stuff that isn't collected). I researched a bunch of options. One was to ship it off to various charities set up for this, but shipping was prohibitive. I couldn't just give it to a children's hospital or anything without combing through it and making sure it was all ages appropriate. So my dad posted it on craigslist for anyone to pick up on the curb and it was gone. But I have no problem with what he did, he got out from under the burden of clutter. I kinda miss the days when comics were largely disposable entertainment and not expensive collectibles.

majorjoe23

Guys, if anyone needs a bunch of Sleepwalker and Wild Dog comics I'm sure they can just find them at the next dumpster.

Sure, he could have lugged them all Half Price Books where might get 50 cents a long box, then they would just toss them in their own recycling bin or dumpster.

mrhan

I don't care that you threw them out but the books could have done some good. It's obvious they made you happy once. Why not pass that on to someone else? Takes no effort. As someone else posted; a simple sign next to the dumpster would have sufficed.

kgrogers1979

Because I don't do the whole "pay it forward" thing.

Putting a sign next to the dumpster does take some effort. Everything takes some effort. It may be minimal effort, but it is still some effort nonetheless, and that is more effort than I was willing to give it.

starman9000

It's probably a net good for society for these things to stay out of the hands of a hoarder anyway.

Hadrian7

Wow, but that is one of the most depressing things I've read in a long time.

Xiroteus

No kidding, a serious wow. Good thing everyone does not have such an attitude, world would be even more screwed up if they had to get something out of every action they make.

mrhan

You took the effort to lug 20 long boxes and actually threw them into a dumpster. That's a lot of work. It would have taken less effort to stack them next to the dumpster and use a sharpie to write "Free Comics" on one of the boxes.

kgrogers1979

This is old news. Let it go, man, let it go...

I didn't physically lug the boxes out to the dumpster. I put them on a cart and wheeled them out. There's no way I would have physically lugged them.

Another thing is that if I had set them beside the dumpster and nobody took them, the landlord would have been upset with me. The dump truck never takes anything that is sitting beside the dumpster, so the landlord would have had to toss them all in the dumpster himself.

The Valeyard

Sounds like a lot more effort than just posting FREE COMICS on Craigslist.

slop101

Honestly, kgrogers, it would've been better had you burned your comics for heat or something, rather than doing what you did, letting them take up space in a landfill.

kgrogers1979

Did you miss the part where I said I was doing a massive cleaning of my apartment? I wanted them gone period. Taking all the trash out to the dumpster was just a regular cleaning routine. Posting a listing on Craigslist would have required an extra effort above and beyond just simply cleaning my apartment.

Not sure if serious.

My apartment has heating. It's not an old apartment without central AC/heating. Plus, burning all that would be a major fire hazard.

I mentioned in a much earlier post that it's not going to fill a landfill for long. Paper is biodegradable and breaks down quickly. It's not like I was throwing away plastic water bottles.

fujishig

I know kgrogers1979 is not the OP, but maybe we should just close this thread.

To me, a lot of the reason I keep all this clutter I have is the thought that I or someone else might actually want it someday, so I don't just chuck it away, I hold onto it, because the effort to find someone who might find it useful is some kind of barrier. I'd think that's a common occurrence with this type of thing. Sure, kgrogers1979 could have done something differently, but he cut the cord, he feels good about it, and the world isn't going to end because he threw away his comics instead of giving it to (in all likelihood) another hoarder or worse, someone who was going to pick through the box and not clean up after themselves. IMHO it's not right to try to shame him into feeling bad about it.