How Much for That Comic Book in the Window?

Is there a time that you get too when you realize it either doesn’t matter or what’s the point? When I feel this way I tend to think of two things, one is the tail of the fox who wanted some grapes that was ever so out of his reach and he replied that they were probably sour anyway and gave up. The other thing is not so much something I think of but what I liked to do and that was just read some comic books. These 22 page stores just let everything slip away. As a teenager these sixty cent pieces of joy were well worth it.

My hobby has changed throughout the years and I have changed with it. I can say this because if I didn’t I would most likely just be sitting on the sidelines bitching and complaining about it rather than participating, although my participation at the moment is along the lines of over eager enthusiast. I collect, and I spend a great portion of my extracurricular funds on comic books. My bills come first, the actual pieces of my life that heckle my bank account calling it my responsibility, thanks Spider-Man. After a small savings put away, I add the rest to my collecting budget.

Prices I feel are clamoring close to the ridicules and as a fan there is not much I can do about it other than stop collecting. It was said that the industry is hurting, that not many people collect in this day and age. I disagree and will one day finish my argument for that statement, but in the 1950’s comic books were a way of life. Not only did kids buy and read them, they traded them, something I highly doubt is being done. No parent is going to buy something for heir kid and have them trade it away.

As a kid I tried trading baseball cards, but never did I trade a comic book. Yes, I have traded them into a shop for something I wanted, but never amongst my peers. But would have I done something like this if they were cheaper. FCBD is a great idea to get new readers, maybe one that should be done more often. It worked for me with Locke and Key. I don’t like the digital comic books like I enjoy the feel of the book in my hands but I might go that route.

The other item to show how displeased I am is as I mention to just stop collecting new comic books. Maybe I should spend my $25 weekly allotment on a Tales to Astonish book, or maybe Tales of Suspense. I fear that companies that keep starting over with a number one forget or never knew about the days before the comic book shop rose, when books were bought on a turnstile and kids had no problem parting with their money on a new Book rather than on popcorn, a soda pop, and a movie.

Times are hard, gas has increased, food has increased, more jobs are going abroad and people are still collecting. In March of 2011 the top twenty books brought in slightly over four million dollars. ONLY the top twenty books, the others were not even added into that mix. These books ranged from $3 to $6 a piece. The top twenty CGC graded titles brought in just shy of that amount and the quantity of those books are nowhere near the amount of books sold as New Releases.

This hobby has gone through many changes and will go through many more changes and after over seventy years of history I don’t think starting over at number one’s is the correct way to go, especially when comic companies used to fear starting over at a #1.

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What are they Worth?

Looking for the best comic book isn’t always easy. CGC has made it simple and easy for me to find them if they are available, because some of them are not. I will soon have the best collection of new Mutants. That does not mean I am not envious of the current holder of that prestigious title. I realized I did earn it and I hope to keep it. I spent money through different avenues to have the best collection. But do I have the best. His could be argued either way since there are two books that I do not have and most likely out of those two, on one of them I never ill.

E-bay has been a great source for the books I search for. It was my only source until I became more aware of my surroundings. It is funny that way because you don’t realize what a large portion of this comic book universe is without immersing yourself into it. I think of a pool in the middle of summer and instructional swim is first thing in the morning. The pool is till cold from the night before and you ry to step in slowly to adjust when it is so much easier to just jump in.

Collecting CGC is not something you can just jump into, it is expensive. Every single New Mutants issue other than two (87 and 98) could be purchased in a back issue box for no greater that $5 a piece. I have them all. I purchased every single one from issue #15 to #100 at cover price. The first fourteen however I had to track down. Memory falls me on the majority of them but I am 100 percent sue I purchased #8 for $1. I am ninety percent sure I purchased the book in Ventnor, NJ.

I am currently trying to figure out exactly what my New Mutants Collection is worth. A collection is not necessarily worth what you paid for it. For Instance I bought a 9.9 graded copy of New Mutants #1 for 300 dollars. Someone else got a copy off of eBay for 150, and now is trying to sell it for 300. He thinks the book is worth that much. It isn’t. I over spent. I am happy I have it, and happier still that places like eBay give me a chance to see what other people will purchase a book for.

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How Cool Would it Be?

How cool would it be to write about Comic Books?

Imagine a comic book company calling you? Hey I have Fly Issue #2 out, or Princeless #1 coming soon and I was wondering if you could review it. Oh by the way I noticed an Incredible Hulk #181 in a 9.4 with white pages graded by CGC sell for over $3000. And what is CGC by the way? I try to write mostly about what I like….and why is that because I really don’t want to discuss how Martha Stewart can make collages using comic books. I want to talk about the grading aspect and the collectability. Basically…. I just want to prove my father wrong.

I know what I collect and why I collect. I am going to rave and chat about comic books and I am always free to discuss about anything. Sure Maybe I should have made this my first rat, but I like to pretend to be dyslexic. If I don’t know it…I will either bow my head to you…or find out. If it is CGC, which is such a large aspect of collecting today compared to ten years ago I am doing my best to learn and live to be your source. If you have a recommendation let me know…I enjoy new stuff. To top it all off though, I like to write.

Writing isn’t easy. You have to connect. Superman is hard to connect with, but Clark Kent isn’t. How many times did you bumble or stumble walking or trying to talk to that girl? Connecting to Superman is a bit harder because of his abilities. At times his human side shows but mostly during a pummeling or getting a dog down from a tree. With Batman…who wouldn’t want to be rich? Captain America and the nobility that goes with it or ForbushMan and his cool costume.

I always said I wasn’t a writer. I always grouped the idea of getting paid for writing makes you a writer. That is not the case, writing makes you a writer. I once asked how cool would it be to write about Comic books….and I am doing that. So now I want to ask, how cool would it be to write comic books?

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Release Date Wednesday

After working the night shift from Tuesday night into Wednesday Morning I go see my father for coffee. This is followed by standing outside my Local Comic Shop’ Fat Jack’s. I prepare myself by using Comixology by clicking of the books I want and referring to the e-mail I get to see what books I am going to purchase. Today I am not able to do that.

I am picking up an extra shift at work. When things are slow and money gets tighter the things to usually go first are the luxuries, in this case comic books. I vowed I would never be in that kind of position again. I might not be able to get all the books I want or to be able to try out a new book. The there are the CGC graded books I lie to collect. These are even more expensive. So here I am working 24 out of 32 hours and pushing back when I get my new comic books by one day.

I already know the amount of work I will need to do, I just don’t know how much money I will make. I will struggle; I will prevail tomorrow, slightly tired, partially worn, but most defiantly eager to get my comic books one day late on Thursday Morning. What days do you go get your comic books, and what happens when you don’t get to get those on the day you plan to have new comic books in hand?

An escape or an Addiction?

Another day has passed, my bills are paid, my books are to be delivered this week and I wonder what I should purchase next. I know I should save a bit more; I really should especially since I am closing in on my goal and I would hate to have purchased something and then have something I really want be up for bid or purchase. Damn run on sentence. Every now and then in life I wonder why I collect comic books. Other times I do not try to figure out why, I just do.

What would happen if I quit collecting, what would happen then? What else would I spend my money on and how will I ever find out how Miles Morales becomes the new Spider-Man? I don’t want to say my life revolves around comic books, it doesn’t but I am not going to say I can quit anytime I want to. I stopped collecting comic books once before. This was because of my financial instability. I simply couldn’t afford it.

At first I just stopped collecting books that only had a margin of interest, then others, then all. When I got back into the collecting comic book scene it was my saving grace. My life fell apart and I struggled with my own self worth. Being transported into this other fictional world wasn’t an escape from my world, I still had to deal with it, it was a visit into other lives and how they dealt with it, or at the very least how real writers had the characters deal with it. Maybe I was Marrow and instead of being horribly disfigured on the outside, it was the inside that was scarred. If she could deal with it, how could I not?

Comic books aren’t real. The characters as well written as they could be are two dimensional at best. The movies that are created to portray them are just that, movies. Even the comic books I am hoping to get are books I already have purchased before, this time I am just trying to purchase the best possible one. I am not saying that I will never allow myself to be in such a financial dire strait again. I am just saying that sometimes when you feel down a good escape could be found in a good book, or a comic book.

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Reaching for First

Sometimes the only thing that gets me through work is thinking or talking about comic books. It just relieves stress when I can talk about the exploits about a hero (or villain) I like between waiting on tables. It also is relaxing when I can talk about my collection. Recently I had a huge find which bring me closer to my completion of a collection of New Mutant comics in a 9.8 white pages or better. This will put me in first place, taking over from the current position holder, a person who has held this title for three years. Even though I am about to be handed the mantle, I still envy his collection.

This makes me wonder about the people that collect comic books because a lot of us were out casts and feared getting ostracized by our peers because of them. All through high school I was always me, I showed people who I was, if not all of me, it was still the true part of me. I did collect comic books; I just didn’t advertise that fact. I also ran cross country and this was only because I couldn’t get the Captain of that team to sit for an interview. He offered to do it on the run. I knew I could run so I said sure, I just didn’t know he could run. He smoked me….and when I finally made it back to school he offered me a spot on the team. I still wrote, just for me and not the school newspaper. I made varsity the next four years, my label for this was a jock.

I still like to run, although at the moment I don’t run, I just feel to out of shape. I like to collect comic books and I still do, I don’t need to be in shape for that. I don’t fear being ostracized by anyone anymore if they don’t like me for me, I don’t care but was I afraid that the number one ranking in my favorite set would be upset that I was taking over his spot. Yes I did work hard for this, searching different avenues to get the best collection; the thing is, it is the best collection and I earned it. I am proud of that and the person who I am relieving that coveted position has wished me no malice and congratulated me, I thank him for that.

I was afraid I would lose a friendship, a camaraderie that sometimes is so desperately needed that I almost feel sorry for the people I work with because once I begin to speak about my collection, this love of mine I can almost feel their eyes roll back into their head and their thoughts of “not again” about to spring from their lips, which is pretty much the same thing that happens to me when they talk about shoes.

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Kudos from Lord Vader

How is it that twenty some years ago comic books were some harsh secret to harbor? I know I wasn’t very forward to my friends about this. Only one collected because I did and I collected because I liked the story. I never understood how through my youth I hated reading but these four color books seemed to just call me. When that eventual one book came out hooking me I was gone. I never made it known to the girls I was dating I collected, but they eventually found out when they came over. It is not easy to impress them when you have comic books hanging in Mylar bags displayed around the upper part of the room.

This wasn’t a cause for a break up because they mainly sat in their boxes with the only real evidence of any comic geekdom hanging on my walls. I remember the Bill Sienkiewicz poster directly next to the girls in thong bikinis getting ready to ride bicycles and of course the multiple pictures of Alyssa Milano. I had the typical guys’ room. As I grew older I still collected and even if my other half in the relationship never understood, she never objected. I have condensed my collection a little over five years ago. This was done for a few reasons, all of which sucked.

I collect differently now. I even started to place pictures from certain Cosplay sites on my hard drive and am thinking of dressing up SteamPunk style next year. I already tried the cosplay scene once when I dressed up as The Doctor. The day that I did this was at Wizard World 2010 and as I was walking around and passed Lord Vader, even he gave me kudos and lowered his head saying “Doctor”. I mean seriously Darth Vader bowing his head to me, how cool is that? I even got to meet Beaker, and Death.

I do enjoy how more woman are into the comic scene then there were years ago. Maybe just maybe I might find one that is a tad bit worse than me. We all have our vices, dreams, ambitions, and desires but isn't it nice when you can combine all of those and talk about it freely. Look at Stan Lee, he is an 84 year old kid. What part of your collection did you hide as a kid and are proud of now. Was it comic books? Action figures (they aren't dolls), maybe even shot glasses?

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