stormflora

I also did Tom & Jerry #99 last night, but because it was VG/VG+ to begin with, there wasn't really much room for improvement. I attached some shots of the most noticeable changes. I wouldn't self-grade it any higher than what it was before, due to other underlying issues that weigh down its grade. But it does look a bit more appealing.

Regardless, it's kind of fun fixing up these comics for conservation. I do apply some tape on the inside of some issues that are in really rough shape (tearing spines, ripped edges, etc., but that's because I don't want my comics to fall apart later down the road. I think I'm going to try some staple replacements once I have the opportunity.

On 12/13/2023 at 10:44 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

Ta. If a job's worth doing....

 

Hm, doesn't look like long runs. Are they specific key issues of each cartoon series, or?

Also, as @D2 says, it's just so sleek and tidy. Simply aesthetic.

What are those dividers that you use? Do you have a link to Amazon or something?

On 12/13/2023 at 6:10 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

Well said, Justafan. I think the volume of variants was overwhelming and drove a lot of us to give up ASM completism. I gave up at issue 700, and the disillusionment with the variant situation probably affected my overall mood and played a part in my eventual decision to sell. Space was a big issue for me - when you nearly fill a box with the variants of one relaunch issue, and you don't own a mansion, your hand is forced. I wouldn't mind, but 95% of the ASM v3 relaunch covers were awful anyway. And then there was the 143 issues for #666....

 

A collection based on endless growth is UNSUSTAINABLE!

 

May i just compliment how beautiful those boxes and its contents look? Like hot damn, is it super clean!

On 12/12/2023 at 6:26 AM, GreatCaesarsGhost said:

It happens enough that people lucky enough to own the centerfolds of big books ask for insane amounts of money on them, banking on the idea there’s books out there that need em. This is true even when the centerfolds do not depict the character that made the book famous in the first place(Tec 27, I’m looking at you) The following centerfolds are being offered even as we speak - the Supe 1 being offered by Blizzard on eBay($25k) and the Tec 27 on CC ($50k).

https://www.comicconnect.com/item/757385

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/145489119284?hash=item21dfd3c834:g:H18AAOSwq1JldBfY

 

 

Considering how some GA/SA comics can end up losing pages, it's not surprising that some people would resell individual ones. Either for people to have at least a piece of an extremely rare comic (e.g. Action Comics #1), or to buy and fix an existing comic they have that's coincidentally missing that/those page(s).

@shadroch Conan has graciously resolved the issues with my orders, and I remain totally satisfied  

On 12/12/2023 at 11:45 PM, justafan said:

For me with ASM the initial turning point and wakeup call was the extreme manufactured scarcity and hype of the store variants.  I already knew the ASM store variant game was a cash grab but at least it was fun to hunt for them in NM/MT condition in the wild once they were out for several months and you could find them at a deep discounts to their pre-order or release month prices.  But with time came the nail in the coffin that I had been dreading and anticipating.  I refuse to continue to pay for manufactured scarcity and forced second/third party markup pricing on books that have absolutely no value other than its exclusivity. 

Then there's the issue that others on here have also encountered is the space commitment that comes with completist collecting. I began feeling overwhelmed with just the sheer volume of the books to catalog and maintain.  15-20 variants of the same issue every 5 issues is just insane.  that's what one variant dealer exclaimed when he realized what kind of a collector I was.  Not just the graded and raw parts to my core ASM collection but all the duplicates and undercopies.  I've begun selling them off but it's a lot of work.

Lastly is the overall time and money cost.  I make pretty decent money and had a pretty good handle of my budget and what I was willing to spend. Or so I thought.  I started to realize the bulk of my spare time was dedicated to this hobby and the near round the clock weekly auction and convention grind.  Selling to buy more. Working on books to get them in the grade I wanted.  It became a second job and began outpacing the hours required of my current job.  When I couldn't be certain whether I was working for the hobby or for enjoyment of my life and couldn't tell if I was actually enjoying the hobby as it became difficult to distinguish hobby from a job, I just stopped. 

Actually, it also took a family tragedy to help get me to a stopping point where I just couldn't focus on my hobby for a good month.

However, my pause in collecting continued beyond that month as I focused on grieving with my family.  Little by little I let myself fall behind on new issues, variant covers, or even some of the hot auction items.  After a good 3 months, my bank account had swollen to an amount I hadn't seen since I got back into collecting.  I hadn't realized how lean I had been living to support my hobby/habit. However, I suddenly had so much money and time to put into better vacation travel with my family, upgrades for my home and cars, additional comforts and experiences that I would have shot down as out of budget as it would cut into my hobby funds.

For a few years I had allowed the hobby to consume my life which is not how I want to live nor continue to subject my family.  I love comics and art but there's little point to being a completist if it ruins the enjoyment of those things and quality of life. 

So I'm taking a bit of a break casually window shopping on potential upgrades, keys, and value books while I re-evaluate my goals.  In the meantime, I'm taking my family on some fantastic vacations coming up and spending more quality of time with them.  Whatever little time I do spend on the hobby it is spent reading the forums, selling, organizing, pressing/cleaning books, and whittling down my collection.  My new rule is if it requires more time or money than what I can give to my family that day, it's not worth it.

Meanwhile, my money is making so much more money for me in high interest accounts, bonds, and the stock market.  Perhaps once I reach my savings goal, I can resume hobby purchases with a leaner and narrower focus but I'm out of the completist game.

 

Impulsive purchases get the best of us. Hoarding is an actual psychological problem that people do fall victim to and can't entirely blame themselves for being in that position. It feels satisfying and empowering to be materialistic and own stuff that others do not.

The fact that you have realized that it should be strictly a casual hobby and nothing more is already a turn for the better in your life. Sure, you could have set more realistic goals to prevent yourself from falling into a death loop that kept a a tight lid on your finances, but everyone is human and makes mistakes.

Selling off your collection is essentially giving the hobby closure while also helping you recoup the money you put in. Just treat the entire adventure as a game that you've paid for and finally finished playing.

On 12/12/2023 at 9:31 PM, shadroch said:

You have to look for deals, they rarely slap you in the face.

Here is a recent invoice. I'm close enough to pick up every few weeks so no shipping

That photo's super blurry, so I can't make out most of it.

I guess the particular comic issues I look for simply don't have low auction starts. I can understand superhero comics being a dime a dozen, so one cent bids are probably not so uncommon.

On 12/12/2023 at 9:08 PM, OtherEric said:

eBay.  I actually bid quite a bit more… but nobody bid against me, so it went for the minimum.

Huh. Strange. I could've sworn I never encountered one cent minimums as I was looking around comic auctions. Or maybe everyone just sets at least $1 or something. (Or maybe I'm blind and never really looked?)

On 12/12/2023 at 9:01 PM, OtherEric said:

Plus shipping, handling, and sales tax… but I was the lone bidder on an auction that started at one cent.  The S&H was a little higher than usual but my total was still under $10.

What auction site allows you to only bid one cent? Or is it some local thing?

On 12/12/2023 at 6:57 PM, OtherEric said:

Obviously a bit more with shipping and  such, but here’s a Gold Key 1st issue I paid 1/12 the cover price for a few days ago:

You paid a cent for it?

On 12/12/2023 at 6:33 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

Much better 

 

I see those are the British versions. Are you in the U.K.? Or are you collecting them because of their uniqueness? Do you know whether those variants differ from their American counterparts?

On 12/12/2023 at 6:30 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

To be clear, I've never actively speculated on comics. I only ever bought what I loved. And sold, alas, sometimes, hence the earlier advice. Comparatively, I've always been an odd collector. Monetary value in comics is nice of course, but it has never been a primary driver for me. This is why collecting Charltons, Kings and Gold Keys is such fun. They aren't worth a shitake mushroom to 99.9% of people in the hobby so the competition is rarely fierce. After several decades of Spidey completism my focus now, happily, is firmly where other people's is not.

I am totally in the same boat. I've collected Chip 'n' Dale and now finishing off with Tom and Jerry. Prices aren't ridiculously high, and runs are realistic to collect.

I actually enjoy the hunt and the comics as well, without being too pressured about having to fork out hundreds for a handful of issues

Tom & Jerry #96. Cleaned and pressed. Before was roughly a GD+, now it's more like a VG-.

On 12/12/2023 at 5:02 PM, JazzMan said:

I don't generally collect moderns, so for me it's not a matter of picking up a weekly/monthly pull from the comic shop.  I've dabbled into being a completist because it's the thrill of the hunt that motivates me.  I began big and quickly found that it's better to focus on runs like 1-100 or story arcs.  Recently I've focused my collecting on bronze age marvel titles.  These are ideal because there were so many titles from my youth that were short lived in the 70s.  Now, some are longer than others...Defenders was 152 issues, Marvel 2 in 1 was 100 but there were lots of 75 and under issue runs like Rom, Ms. Marvel, Nova, Invaders, Amazing Adventures, and so on.  As a contrast I started with ASM 1-100, which I did ultimately complete and sell but those were different days 20 years ago...high grade ASMs were still affordable.  I can't buy a rag with staples of that run without paying through the nose, it seems.  Maybe it's not a question of stopping but of refocussing.

On 12/12/2023 at 5:35 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

Indeed. Gone are the days when you could manage to put that run together. I bought and sold a few Spidey runs over the years, always replacing not too long after selling when I realised my mistake. I wish I'd kept the last 1-200 run now, and all the variations that I gathered. It saddens me to know that, short of a lottery win, I won't be doing that again 

Which is where Charlton comes in... 

Scarcity. As time passes by, more and more comics go out of circulation for various different reasons. Obviously, if you were there from the very first few years, I'm sure the comics probably costed you at worst no more than lunch to buy. If everyone knew that Action Comics #1 would end up being worth millions, you'd bet that every single person back then would buy hundreds of copies to hold and pass onto their heirs until now.

Life goes on. Speculation is speculation; we will never know what the future holds. If everyone knew that Amazon or Microsoft or Google would become trillion dollar companies, they would've bought millions of shares after the dot com bubble and held them forever. Or they would've bought millions of Bitcoin when it was worth less than tenths of a cent.

We cannot dwell over opportunities that we missed. Because we simply did not know, and could never have known without taking a gamble.

On 12/12/2023 at 3:28 PM, shadroch said:

If you love your comics, take care of them.  A bag and a board cost what?  15 cents?  If you just want to read, buy  trade paperbacks for half price or less. 

In my case, I have a ton of these plastic self-adhesive bags I had from a past business venture. I think they were meant for books or clothes or something. So I repurposed them for my raw unbagged comics. And for the backer boards, I just fetch some cheap construction paper from the dollar store and cut them to size.

Storage units should really only be for temporary use and should not be used to hold high value items. Simple as that.

On 12/12/2023 at 3:16 PM, ADAMANTIUM said:

 

Yeah, I know. It's just a possible option, if you don't have family/friends to borrow their basement for a little bit.

I'd still highly advocate taking the time to move everything yourself. It's the only safe way.

On 12/12/2023 at 3:03 PM, Dr. Balls said:

We hired a moving company to move our belongings to our new house 50 miles away - and they did a fantastic job. However - at the time I collected records - and decided to transport the 30 or so boxes myself. The moving company was professional and put the boxes where they need to go, but you can't expect them to gently set them down in all instances. One box dropped accidentally on it's corner is all it takes to VF your NM books. And believe me, that can happen considering comic books weigh as much as a box of books - and movers will probably handle them as such.

If it were me (and I understand you not wanting to move 130 short boxes) I'd put every book worth a certain amount (be it $20 or $50) in it's own box and cart them over myself. For the rest, I would then put a little bubble wrap in front, back and top of each box (so when the movers go to lift them, their fingers touch the bubble wrap behind the handle, not the books) and tape the lids shut with low-tack painter's tape (so it doesn't peel the paper from the box surface).

And also, movers charge by weight - you're going to be taking on a hefty expense for the weight of those books - it may be time to have a fire sale if you want to thin the collection.

One possible alternative is to tackle it in multiple trips, and if space is necessary, rent a storage unit for a month or two. More effort involved but shouldn't cost more than a professional mover. But since I'm in Canada, I have no idea how long of a distance it is between the source and destination for the OP.

But yeah, personally transporting the high value comics and leaving the rest to the movers is a sound alternative as well.

On 12/11/2023 at 5:43 PM, MrBedrock said:

 

That duck is asserting its dominance.

Out of curiosity, what is the highest possible grade attainable with tape on/in a comic in any fashion?

On 12/12/2023 at 2:04 PM, kimik said:

You would be surprised at how many of us do this without a warehouse. Between online sales and shows you can move a lot of stuff.

Even if you hold onto too much stock after getting your initial investment back, you can easily blow them out as long as they have something of note in the book. Common issues take time, which is why I have stopped buying collections for the past year and a bit. However, there are always other sellers that will take them if the price is right.

Of course, there are many out there with their basements filled with boxes of comics, mostly common low-value ones. I've done my feed of online retail sales in other markets, so I know all about that sort of business. I've since moved on though, as I have a better paying job now that involves far less effort than dealing with the small profit margins of resale. The space is probably more important to me now.

On 12/12/2023 at 1:56 PM, kimik said:

Speculating successfully on modern books can be done properly and very profitably. The key is to be selective and to sell enough to recover your investment and turn a small profit, or unload them all for a large profit. You will miss some odd hits being selective, but the ones you do will be wins. 

Storage is definitely an issue if you sit on too many copies, as my wife can attest.  

With artificial scarcity of comics/TCGs, it's really only feasible for business/warehouse owners to buy lots of first prints/boxsets to sift through and sell the high valued contents, and liquidate the rest. Ordinary folk wouldn't have the space to do that, or even the cash to indefinitely sit on.

On 12/12/2023 at 1:42 PM, Chip Cataldo said:

How about sports cards with the patch/auto/blah 1-of-1 artificial numbered scarcity garbage? It's all about greed, pure and simple.

Well, modern sports cards are not nearly as valuable as modern TCGs, due to oversaturation. There's like, a hundred or a thousand sport card for every one TCG card right now. It makes sense, since they came first and have existed for over a century now. I see hundreds of listings of bulk lots of sports cards going for mere dollars because of how numerous they are. I think even amongst seasoned sports card collectors, they'd have a bit of trouble trying to figure out what is or isn't worth $$$ with each new set of cards. Even if a card is worth a lot, it probably doesn't flip as quickly as a modern high-value TCG card, due to the lower traffic and exposure.

On 12/12/2023 at 1:34 PM, Jimmy Linguini said:

If you google "Regional police exchange zone" you'll see that almost every police department in Ontario has a special area dedicated for this.

Wow, I guess I just don't visit police stations enough. Never really had a reason to. But certainly good to know, thanks.

On 12/12/2023 at 12:35 PM, ygogolak said:

Good thing only Modern's have jumped in price due to social media hype.

Love buying pre-code at these low prices.

I like to compare these modern comic CGC 9.8 pump-and-dump schemes to how TCG corporations do business in this day and age. Artificial scarcity. Essentially, legally printing money.

Insiders of publishers or their direct retailers/wholesalers get first claim to their freshly minted books, which are guaranteed to be NM/M. Some factors then easily pump up their value, such as artwork or rarity. To avoid depreciation over time due to busted speculation, these first owners quickly flip them at high prices to whales willing to pay money for them.

The same issue has plagued TCGs forever (Pokemon, Magic the Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh!). Rarity, strength or usefulness of card, etc. We've moved on from the days of collecting holo first edition Charizards to collecting cute anime girl holofoils that only appear in 1 of every 1,00 packs at $500+ a pop.

On 12/7/2023 at 3:22 PM, Jimmy Linguini said:

Meet him at a police station. Seems normal, maybe he thinks he can slickly talk you down in person? Not that odd but something I almost never do. Toronto police stations have these "Sales and Exchange Zones for online sale" areas for these kind of things.

They do? I swear I've never seen them before in my entire life. Must be a downtown-only thing.