First order received/First Journal Entry!
My first journal entry.
Hello All.
Today I received my first shipment of graded books from CGC in the mail! It was my 'collector's coupon' order, and as I opened the shipping box and saw those three books neatly encased in their 'slabs' it felt like Christmas had come early! [it was a quick turn-around too! CGC received my order mid-October, and I already have it back!] I've also got a 2nd shipment marked "Safe/shipped" headed my way that was submitted a week later!... Then there's an "Economy" order I placed in July that is still in limbo, but....
Anyway, I'm new to CGC, and new to comic collecting as well. I never really got into comic books as a kid. (I blame my mom for only allowing me to read Uncle Scrooge's, Richie Rich's & Mickey Mouse comics when I was sick. My grade school friends had no interest, thus there was no influence on me to read them as well. Bummer.)
Matter of fact, I'm so 'out of the loop' in the comic world, a few years ago I worked on a tv series and became friends with the exec. producer. Over a weekend I was talking to my friends who had recently attended SDComicCon, and mentioned in passing who I was working for. They nearly flipped out of their skins! That monday, I returned to work and told the producer that I was sorry I didn't realize how 'important' he really was as my friends thought he was a 'god.' We laughed about it for weeks -- that was Geoff Johns.
I doubt I would have ever gotten interested in comics, and would still be in that league of "questioning what exactly was so neat about comic books" if I hadn't been forced into the comic world by unexpected tragedy.
A little over a year ago, my father-in-law was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. My wife became his ultimate care-giver, and besides medical needs, we also worked to put his affairs in order, and clean out his apartment. To my surprise, this included a secret comic collection stored in his closet.
He wasn't really a collector either. He was a solo attorney who would take on cases for people whether they had money or not. Many times he would barter his services. One client ended up paying him with his comic collection. So, tucked inside a corner of his closet were five completely filled long boxes. I asked him about it, but he had no idea if it was even worth anything, so I offered to take it and try to get as much info as possible.
Thus started my foray into the comic collecting world. I had a friend who had quit 'show business' to start his own brick-n-mortar comicbook store, so he was my first call. He gave me a tutorial on what to look for, what to expect and suggestions how to go about figuring it all out. I warned my father-in-law not to expect the collection to be very valuable as most of it were 80s/90s books, and he said he didn't expect it to be worth too much.
I purchased an Overstreet Guide, read as many how-to books on collecting as possible, bought storage supplies [sleeves, backing boards, and new long boxes], even a database program to input the collection in, and set to work!
It took a long time, but I eventually inventoried every comic. And bagged/boarded them all. There were 2 boxes of only Marvel titles, 1 1/2 box of DC books, and then full runs of various modern series until the orig. owner stopped adding to them around 1995.
The most attractive (& valuable) section of the collection was the X-men portion. It included all books from #45 to #69, then #95 thru #321 (with a beefy section with duplicate books thru the #100s!)
The rest, not so much. Mostly they fell in that period when everyone started hoarding comics hoping they'd rise in value. Although the books here seem in extremely good shape, so who knows...
But alas, the grading system was such a mystery to me. I had no idea if these comics were 4.0, 6.0, 8.0 or what! That's when I learned about CGC. I submitted an order with a handful of the X-men issues to CGC via Heritage Auctions back in July under the lowest tier possible. (I should have fast tracked it) (Unfortunately that order has still not come back, but I checked today, and CGC is just days away from finally getting to it!) -- I did it purely to get an idea about the level of book quality for this collection.
Anyway, during all this waiting time for those books, I've become a hugh comic book fan! I even ended up joining CGC and started expanding the collection!
Reading these books has been extremely enjoyable, and just looking at the amazing cover artwork is inspiring! I've fallen into a new hobby later in life than probably most comic collectors, and I couldn't be happier. - And instead of just trying to sell off the collection online or thru dealers, I now find myself bidding of books at HA, MyComicShop, ComicLink. all those sites! I've now gone to ComicCon(s), and am gung ho for more!! I'm hooked!
My father in law passed away earlier in this year, but he did will the collection to myself and my young twins. As they get older I can't wait to bring out the collection and hopefully spark a love for comics in them as well!
Happy Collecting!
