I work for a second-hand bookstore that makes offers on more than just books. One of the things we buy frequently are comic books, and in my 18 years' experience, nothing is more apt to generate anger, disbelief, and accusations of "You're ripping me off!" from customers than making an offer on their comic collections. If I've made a mistake and overlooked something, it's understandable--it happens, I'm human. But I've been in this hobby for over three decades, and in that time I've learned comics and Sturgeon's Law ("90% of everything is crap!") form a perfectly overlapping Venn diagram of harsh truth. So let's talk about 'value' in a hobby, what sets it, and why your expectations for what your collection is worth will be wrong 90% of the time
Why do I collect comics?
"Because I like comics, duh!"
I can hear your eyes rolling from here, but humor me if you will. Obviously people collect things they like or feel a particularly affinity towards, but there's got to be more to your hobby than just the fact you like comics. If you pick up comic books because you enjoy having comic books, you aren't a collector, you're just a hoarder, and there's nothing special about that. I'll presume you aren't a hoarder, that you have an affinity for the hobby, and that one thing or another got you to the point where you needed a second long box, then a third, and so on. So really ask yourself why you want a comic book collection.
If your answer is that you want to make money some day, trust me: get out of the hobby now and just buy lottery tickets. There's a world of difference between a collector and a speculator, and while it's OK to be a collector who has things that have increased in value over the years, investing in comics is not something to be done lightly. It requires dedication to put in the serious leg work necessary to keep up with trends, and a willingness to lose money learning hard lessons. There's nothing wrong with taking this approach if you're serious, but if your knowledge of comics stems solely from the Marvel cinematic universe, you're not bringing a knife to a gun fight so much as you're bringing a rock to interstellar Armageddon and assuming you'll win anyway.
I don't want to invest in comics, but how can I know what my stuff is worth?
The coin of 'Value' has two sides: the first is what its worth is to you, the second is what its worth is on the open market. With comics and other reasonably common collectibles, there's a third side to this coin as well: what a guidebook says they are worth.
Listen, I'm not about to run down Overstreet. They've been producing top-notch guides to comic books since before I was born, but keep in mind that Overstreet doesn't produce price lists, they produce price guides. Guidelines are not laws, and they aren't set in stone, so just because Overstreet or any other price guide says a particular book is worth $2.00, that doesn't mean you can expect two bucks when you sell it. Guides are made for vendors not consumers, and vendors (the good ones anyway) understand the comic grading system. If you're a novice, it will behoove you to become familiar with both the 10-point scale adopted by CGC for the books they condition, as well as the 'Poor to Mint' scale used to grade books not submitted to a third-party for authentication. When you invariably decide to try and grade your own books, err on the side of 'lower is better'. It may be tempting to look at the number in the far-right column for a VF/NM book and ignore the rest, but unless the comic was never read and never even opened, you'll want to shift down a couple of grades. It's much better to discover that book you thought was worth $2 is actually worth $10 because it's in such beautiful condition than to find out that supposed $10 book is only a $2 item due to defects you accidentally or purposely overlooked.
Comic grading is hard. Unless you are willing to put in the time and effort to understand what goes into the process, how defects occur, and how even seemingly minor issues like a bent corner or a little rust on a staple can tank a book's price guide value, leave this process to an expert who can appraise individual titles or whole collections. They don't do this work for free though--in comics, as with everything else in life, you get what you pay for.
Your drinking buddy may say your copy of "Sun-Up the Solar Sodomizer #1 (Silver Foil Variant Cover)" is worth $2,000, but is that because he runs a comic shop and routinely moves that book for two grand, or because he saw one seller make that ridiculous price on eBay thanks to a bidding war between nine guys with more money than sense and ignored every other time it sold for $2.99 + shipping?
'Value' is what the books are worth to you.
This is the ultimate truth of anything you can collect, from stamps and bottle caps to comic books and butt plugs. The greatest measure of value is the pleasure it brings you. You likely don't collect comics just to collect comics, you collect comics because, at some point in your life, you realized the enjoyment you got from reading them exceeded the value of the money you spent on them. In other words, you got at least the cover price's worth of enjoyment out of that 1992 issue of Fart Demon #3, so next month you spent another $1.25 for Fart Demon #4, and built your collection on from there, raiding back-issue bins and keeping an eye out for Fart Demon #2 and the elusive Fart Demon #1 with an intact scratch-and-sniff cover enhancement.
I personally don't tend to collect long-running series. Exploring my long boxes won't uncover hundreds of issues of Batman, X-Men, or Justice League of America. You would see small runs from some of those titles (the short Thor Disassembled miniseries, for instance), and occasionally you'd run across a complete set of books (Marvel's 80-issue run on The Transformers, for instance, which was one of my first interests growing up), but my interests run more towards the stories rather than the characters. I want to read interesting storylines involving interesting characters, I don't want to simply bag and board everything with Superman in the title. The vast majority of my collection involves limited-run series, especially manga, with issue counts in the 20-30 range, like Mai the Psychic Girl and Caravan Kidd. Long-running titles in my collection are often anthology series like Cheval Noir and Dark Horse Presents, or mini-series set in the same universe like the various Aliens and Predator offerings.
As I've gotten older, I've also become more interested in things that not only have zero value in terms of market resale, but that are actively derided by serious speculators for any number of reasons. Aside from The Transformers, the single largest run of issues I have for a single title is Image's Gen 13. I'm missing a couple books from the unlimited series, but I've actively hunted down books that featured a cameo by a particular character or characters. The first appearance of a bunch of the Gen 13 gang in Deathmate: Black, for example, is what got me interested in picking up the rest of the Deathmate saga debacle. Freefall's presence in Atomik ANGELs ensured I'd own that little piece of 'no one cares' history too. Why?
It's not because they're going to fund my retirement, that's for sure. It's because either the book or the story behind it (or both) were fun. The thrill of the hunt in a pre-eBay world. I collect titles and stories that I had fun reading even when the books were awful, the artwork atrocious, and the plots nonsensical. Trust me, with 80 issues, a dozen-issue "sequel" book, and numerous mini-series and crossovers, not every issue of The Transformers is gold. I don't care--the value is in not just enjoying the good stories, but laughing at the time it was obvious Bob Budiansky was so burnt out on a book meant to sell toys to impressionable youths that he penned 'Buster Witwicky and the Car Wash of Doom'.
That said, if you don't think the Shockwave vs. Megatron fight from issue #6 is one of the greatest battles of the entire series, I'm not sure we can be buddies...
At the end of the day, there are any number of reasons to collect comics. But if the primary reason among them isn't because you're having fun reading the stories and enjoying the processed tree corpses you spent your hard-earned money on, then you're not getting the full 'value' of your collection.
Speculating can be fun, and there's nothing wrong with finding an overlooked treasure in a 'Two-for-a-Dollar' bin and flipping it for some cash, but don't make money the end focus of your hobby. If you collect comics you enjoy because they're fun to read and you can look back with fondness on not just the stories themselves but the stories of how you acquired them, then you've won the game. Your books, your memories, have infinite value to you, and that's the only thing that matters.
Is it nice to be able to open up a spreadsheet and know the precise dollar value, down to the penny, of your collection? Sure...but that's a lot of work and time spent on a hobby that's meant to provide leisure and enjoyment. So don't worry about CGC and guide book value if you're a casual, or even a hardcore, fan. I guarantee nobody will ever love your comic books more than you do.
really interesting post...Thank you @modernzorker. I have some old comics too and I keep them 😊 @peekbit
“thank you“ since you are one of my esteemed followers.
Read about my attempt in contributing to the bright side of life.
Some remarks about my resteeming. A nice post in my eyes 😊 Resteemed by @peekbit to say
This is what it comes down to. If I was asked directly what do I collect, I don't even know how to answer it I'm so particular. But nothing I buy I get because I think of the value. Into reselling I attempt to pay attention to trends and other stuff, but that doesn't really affect the stuff I would get for myself. When I am out shopping though, I do keep both views in mind if diving in a bin or grabbing a lot.
I know you didn't mention it, but man, toys, I could not get into those other than to play with. Funko's, none of that as for monetary value based collecting, display and play with all that. Comics I can do.
I fell out of toy collecting in the 90's, but even when I was really into them, I got into them because I wanted to play with them and have fun, not because I was trying to make money. I've got plenty of amazing memories playing with those original Kenner Star Wars action figures to even out the fact they're not worth very much today thanks to being opened and loved. :)
I don't know if I ever shared this sad story, but a long time ago in another life I once owned a red
bongwater tobacco pipe that I had placed this sticker on it think it would be the bees kneesGraded it can go for a couple of hundred of dollars. sigh I don't even look up the price of the toys I take pics of and such, no need to make myself feel horrible lol.
Garbage Pail Kids were something I never got into for some reason. Probably because they scared me or something. I was a kid with a WAY too overactive imagination. :)
Super, well-deliberated post. There is a decent amount of Gen13 original art available out there if ever you become interested, with solid value thanks to the creators : )
I've considered getting into artwork before, but it's one of those afterthoughts almost every time it shows up. Are there some iconic images (or alternately hilarious ones) I wouldn't mind having on my wall? Sure. But just not the price it would cost to acquire it. I'm poor (mainly because I spent all my money on 90's comics...) ;)
Great article! I resteemed it!
I’m a big Transformers fan, myself. I actually spoke to Bob Budiansky last year here in Edmonton at the Edmonton Expo and got him to sign a few of my old Transformers comics. And yes, I have the whole Marvel Transformers series from
1-80 as well!
Hell yeah, then you know what I'm talkin' about!
major butt. The animated film made Unicron incredible, but those issues made him a badass. Watching both Autobot and Decepticon alike hurl themselves into the fray in a desperate bid to kill the planet-killer only to watch Unicron dismantle, impale, melt, and scrap everyone who came at him...it's difficult to read even today.Transformers #74-#75 kicked some
Brainstorm impaled on a fingernail, twitching and gasping, then eaten. My twelve year old self had no idea what to do with that. :)
Unicron made it look far too easy.
I'll probably never be a collector and im more i to graphic novels thsn straight comics but i very much enjoyed this post. ☺️ I always wonder how comics stores keep afloat.. what with record stores being a dying artp
Thanks so much, @limabeing! I'm glad you enjoyed it. :)
Comic stores, at least today, seem to stay in business by catering to more than just comic books. The stores local to me that survived the 90's apocalypse and the financial crash of 2008 diversified into board/card games, action figures, toys, statues, manga, pen and paper RPGs, and other collectibles instead of trying to survive on weekly issue sales alone. :)
I also like to collect novels. I agree with your opinion. I think "value" means how much I enjoyed through a novel. I want to read the same novel over and over again. Thank you for reading my blog.
Awesome post!
Indeed many times it may come as a cold shower when you realize that what was almost irreplaceable in your life is not worth THAT much to pretty much anyone else. This is a case of blowing something out of proportions. We tend to do that a lot.
Thanks for sharing!
It's a bitter pill to swallow the first few times it happens, but eventually it's a lesson we all have to learn. Parting is sweet sorrow, but just as I found solace in the pages of Spidey Super Stories as a little kid, when I do excess out bits of my collection, I cross my fingers and hope that my books will be well-loved and well-read by some other little kid who may start his own collection off of them. That's the greatest gift of all. :)
Well said and I would be happy if more people had this attitude.
Like many kids in the 90's at least part of why I ended up getting swept up in the boom was the idea that my very own "Todd MacFarlane's Spectacular Secret Issue (Holographic Foil Cover)" would be worth about the same as Action Comics #1 some day.
30 years later, spoiler, I still have that comic and it's 'worth', at most, 2 bucks.
Fortunately, the comics craze also instilled a sense of loving comics for their own sake. I have a bunch of Marvel trading cards. They are 'worth' a few bucks, but nothing major. However, to me, they are worth these priceless things:
I'm the exact same way with video games. Half the fun is the hunt, and finding a series you thoroughly enjoy. I've only recently started collecting SNES games, and mainly going for the off the beaten path cult hits. Mainly because of the reasons you describe for the bigger running names. Then again, I've found some really amazing gems like B.O.B. and Super R-Type. Games that I wouldn't have normally considered.
This post has received a 7.88 % upvote from @booster thanks to: @modernzorker.
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