comic collecting for the fun of it or for investing.

I personally fall under the collecting and reading comics for the Heck of it. I think the whole investing thing takes the fun out of it. If you invest in comics you have to be really careful with them and obsess about its value. I used to be that way til i realized it was way more fun to read them than to invest in them that and none of the books i own is worth anything anyway.

I just read them, I rarely get them for profit. If I have a chance to a make a killing with a variant cover or something, I'd go for it as long that comic isn't that important to me. Hell, soon enough I'm going just start bagging most of them without boards (unless it's a special issue or a series I really like but stuff like new issues of Amazing Spider-Man does not need to be protected with a board) to save space. I realized that unboarded comics could stack much higher than boarded comics.

My answer: avid reader. I do bag and board. Just for the sake of taking care of the book, not its value.

i luv to read and collect, but not for value. i do bag & board to protect them. i cant think of too many issues ive bought wit tha intention of profit or somethin. tha one i do remember is 'g.i. joe america's elite #25' tha first part of WWIII, tha issue wit tha fantastic cover wit like every joe ever on it. i missed it when it first came out, then grabbed it from tha ddp booth at wizard world like 2-3 years ago for cover price, then saw it again at a dollar booth, i said its got a great cover and i was plannin on just takin tha cover off and puttin it on my wall, so i bought it. and for some reason i decided to look it up on ebay and realized it was goin for a nice price, so i put it on there, it ended up sellin for like $35.

I sold a Spawn #185 variant for 83 bucks! I got it 3 bucks. I have another copy that I'm putting up sometime soon, I put it as a bid so I don't feel as bad because it's worth that much to buyer

As for bagging and boarding, I still do it but I'm close to doing it 50% less. I'm seriously going to be out of room to store comics in a few years, I only have 1 room so yeah it sucks. I wanted to make a thread about it, but I'm already mentioning it here so I dunno.

Anybody have stats of boarded vs unboarded? I put like 15 books next to each other a pile of boarded and unboarded and the unboarded pile was an inch or so shorter, meaning I could save a lot of room by storing them just bagged.. unless like I said, it's a special issue (#1, rare cover, a really cool cover or a great series like Morrison's B&R. Most new Marvel stuff gets reprinted so preserving each and ever issue in pristine condition isn't really necessary.


Anybody have any Martha Stewart space saving advice?

^ Wow. I traded a bunch of my early Spawn issues, including numero uno for about $100. That was a long time ago. No regrets. So could've gotten more, though.

BlueMaxx wrote:^ Wow. I traded a bunch of my early Spawn issues, including numero uno for about $100. That was a long time ago. No regrets. So could've gotten more, though.

You're lucky, Spawn #1 is pretty much worth nothing now, 10 bucks at most When I saw the covers being sold with the others, I grabbed them from 2 different stores because I knew they're rarer than the other variants so I figured that eventually I could turn my 3 bucks into a lot more, so it was one of those 'rare' times I mentioned

IMO, investing in comics died in the 90's.

Nothing should be collected for it's monetary value. You should collect it because it brings you joy

^ Always. Or else what's the point really?

prescribeddrone wrote:
You're lucky, Spawn #1 is pretty much worth nothing now, 10 bucks at most When I saw the covers being sold with the others, I grabbed them from 2 different stores because I knew they're rarer than the other variants so I figured that eventually I could turn my 3 bucks into a lot more, so it was one of those 'rare' times I mentioned

Hrm. Didn't know that. Not too surprising. Not too many Spawn fans these days. I know I was burnt out in 2000. I had about 60 issues, so I sold them all below cover price, even at the time. If I had an eBay account, I could've done better.

comicgeekelly wrote:IMO, investing in comics died in the 90's.

With the "death" of Superman.

BlueMaxx[quote="comicgeekelly wrote:IMO, investing in comics died in the 90's.

With the "death" of Superman. [/quote]

and the crap ton of copies of X-Men 1

^ And Image.

Haven't bagged or organized my comic books in a very, very long time. Nowadays I mostly purchase trades, but it's still a mess sitting wherever I can put them. So yeah, definitely collecting "for the heck of it."

I bag and board and I do it for the love of it. I don't see anyone making a killing off of comic that have been published over the past 20 years.

If you don't love it then you're doing it for the wrong reasons.

I don't think i'd bag and board it would take to long.

I should buy some long boxes. My comics aren't really organized.

Invest comics...bah! I collect for 4/5 enjoyment, and 1/5 the disorder-like need to have complete sets of things.

I bag and board, and I box them. A few years ago, I even started using an inventory program to keep track of the ones I have, which makes it so much easier to fill in holes at conventions, or even my LCS. (I carry a txt version of the file on my phone)

Space isn't too much of an issue for me, but I'm lucky - my wife let me dedicate 1/2 of a level of our house to keeping/displaying my stuff.

Def. collect for the heck of it...reading/rereading/just owning something nice...I admit trades look a lot nicer, but it's bad enough dealing with solicits for spoilers, nevermind waiting 6-12 months for the trade...def. bag&board comics but I put 2 books in each bag, seperated by the board..IMO the books hold sturdier and look much nicer that way...and you save tons of room/bags/boards...I just hate having to find room to put longboxes, although mine are pretty organized with hard plastic tabs and all...all for my convenience of course...

Wizard barely invests time to have book values in their magazine these days, so why should you?

I started thinking about doing without bags/boards. Just seems like a waste of resources and $ for my LCS. If I was buying a variant cover or something, that would be different.

On a related note, do you guys care about the condition of your books when you get them? I'm not talking about a cover barely hanging on or whatever, but if there's a crease or a corner that's dinged up, do you scour the racks looking for that "perfect" copy? I started doing that when I first started collecting, but now, I could care less.

A small crease? Nope they usually don't bother me.

I won't lie; I have bought comics to turn around and sell them. But for the most part (99%) I just like the stories and read them for enjoyment.

Tom wrote:I started thinking about doing without bags/boards. Just seems like a waste of resources and $ for my LCS. If I was buying a variant cover or something, that would be different.

On a related note, do you guys care about the condition of your books when you get them? I'm not talking about a cover barely hanging on or whatever, but if there's a crease or a corner that's dinged up, do you scour the racks looking for that "perfect" copy? I started doing that when I first started collecting, but now, I could care less.

I do that with everything I buy, especially books and CD's.

It's a combo of 2/5 reading, 2/5 addiction, 1/5 possible investment someday.

Tom wrote:On a related note, do you guys care about the condition of your books when you get them? I'm not talking about a cover barely hanging on or whatever, but if there's a crease or a corner that's dinged up, do you scour the racks looking for that "perfect" copy? I started doing that when I first started collecting, but now, I could care less.

If I've got the option, I'll grab a copy without any visible "flaws". I wouldn't *not* get a book if it was dinged/creased if it was the only one there, but if given the choice I'll go with the better copy.

^ Totally understand that. I would definitely like better than just "readable" as any literature's status.

Heytherejeffro wrote:It's a combo of 2/5 reading, 2/5 addiction, 1/5 possible investment someday.

Good point on the addiction thing. I'll put 3/4 reading/enjoyment and a fourth towards addiction/completion-compulsion.

I bag and board every comic I get. I collect for the fun of it. But I keep the books in good condition because its nice to pull out a book in good to great condition (makes me feel like I got a new book when I am rereading them).... I do have a tendency to buy a bunch of comics to pick out what I want/need for my collections. (some of you may remember on the WUMB when I bought 14 short boxes full of comics for 130$)..... But I am not above selling any books I have if I need to make some money...... But if I am buying a book I want or need Ill buy it for cheap if its not great but if I can I will buy a pristine book, and if they are new I want a perfect book...

Tom wrote:I started thinking about doing without bags/boards. Just seems like a waste of resources and $ for my LCS. If I was buying a variant cover or something, that would be different.

On a related note, do you guys care about the condition of your books when you get them? I'm not talking about a cover barely hanging on or whatever, but if there's a crease or a corner that's dinged up, do you scour the racks looking for that "perfect" copy? I started doing that when I first started collecting, but now, I could care less.

I care but it doesn't have to be perfect. I'll look for a copy with few imperfections but that how I am with a lot of things.