• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

kazoo

Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    1,972

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by kazoo

    Overstreet vs real world

    in Golden Age Comic Books

    Posted

    As far as they are off on many books on the low side, they are way off on many more to the high side. How many people pay guide for average SA books or westerns or funny animals?

     

    Exactly right. I'm in more of a position to know than most... I spent 2 years putting my own 600-page guide together (for my own buying and selling purposes -- not for re-sale) and update it regularly. OPG may be too low on a number of "key" books, but is way inflated on the vast majority of GA. In fact, the dirty little secret that is seldom talked about is that most GA issues have been gradually falling in value over the years as newer generations have no connection to it.

     

    .... I believe there is more need for published price guides now then ever. ...

     

    OPG is a wealth of data. No price guide can keep up with certain volatile items in a given short period, but I think if OPG dropped all of the "cover price or less" material out of the guide and concentrated on actual collectible issues (with a larger font that could actually be read), and dropped its fear of showing downward movements, it could rise back to being the primary go-to source it once was.

     

    All great points, Tim. I for one would be interested in buying a copy of your own comics price guide. I've put together a few lists of particular titles of interest, and know how much work it can be. I wish there was a Guide which truly attempted to list the prices older books will sell for. OPG, I believe, gave up on that long ago. I still buy Overstreet almost every year, but it is an eyesore and a disappointment.

     

    The OPG really seems to be a relic of the 70s, when Overstreet was actually still active in the hobby, and still reflects his tastes and biases. He apparently hated Crumb and his gang and refused to list them, while attempting to be a sort of complete checklist of the mainstream publishers. As a result, the Guide is unwieldy and has tiny eyestraining print, bloated with redundant listings of worthless drek, while simultaneously ignoring valuable "Underground" comics based on some Puritanical objection to naughty pictures. Remove the drek, and you'd have room for larger print and a truly complete listing of collectible books from all genres. More attention to the Golden Age is a must too, as some titles/issues are selling at multiples of guide and others are tough sells at a fraction of Guide price.

     

    The pricing on most older books seems to be an attempt to control and "stabilize" the market rather than an honest reporting of what things sell for. I remember reading an article by Chuck of Mile High where he reported on an Overstreet Advisers meeting where this was actually discussed, there was concern that prices fluctuating would scare off people and kill the market so small and steady increases were decided on as the wisest course. I think the folks involved cared a lot about the comics market and so meant well, but this means the Guide was not really an honest unbiased report. Letting prices drop as well as rise would actually make the book more useful and a trustworthy source of pricing.

     

    Another beef is that it seems no attempt has been made to make the book more useful by updating and completing the art credits. Look at pre-code Atlas titles, just as one example, and you will find incomplete and inaccurate info on the artists in the tiny print at the bottom of the listings. In the old days, this type of info was apparently hard to assemble and was volunteered by the Advisers piecemeal. It is really easier today to just go to the Internet for most such info, so why list it in such a half-azzed way? List all the Robert Q. Sale stories in the title or don't list them at all, but saying he has art in #9 and 12 while he actually also has art in 6, 8, and 15-22 also is a disservice disguised as "help".

    Real Life #3 Club

    in Golden Age Comic Books

    Posted

    Did anyone see the Real Life Comics #3 graded Fair by the seller that sold on ebay for $1925 the other day?

     

    yeah, with the big piece out of the front cover that seemed like a good price.

     

    A shockingly high price, but click on the "Bids" and you see it was mostly 2 determined bidders slugging it out, take them out and it would have sold about $300....

    REMEMBERING THAT FIRST LCS...

    in Comics General

    Posted

    I grew up in Hampton, VA and the first place I remember coming across old comics for sale was "Paul's Coin Shop". It was around 1973 and I was 7 years old, and had started buying new comics along with my older brother. My Dad was into collecting coins and I went along with him one day to this shop. It was a small place with not only coins, but various old stuff, lots of great junk!

     

    What caught my attention right away was several tall stacks of comics. I think they were 10 cents each, or he would trade 1 for each 2 you brought in. My little mind was completely blown, I had a quarter but wanted to buy everything! I don't remember much what was in the stacks, I ended up buying Not Brand Echh #7 because it had parodies of Superman and the FF and I thought that was really cool. Seeing cover prices of 10 and 12 cents was a revelation (comics were 20 cents then). I do remember lots of Westerns (i.e. Rawhide Kid etc), never my cup of tea.

     

    It was a few months before I got a chance to get back to Paul's, but it was always changing (for the worst, from my perspective). Now the big stacks were gone, just a handful of books left. In the next few years, Paul began to specialize in Art Supplies, and changed the store's name to Paul's Discount Center and then Paul's Art Supplies or something like that. He continued to carry comics for a while, I remember going there and scooping up some Silver/Bronze Avengers back issues, Hulks, and Spider-Mans. But as the Art Supplies became his bread and butter the comics were phased out completely.

     

    Later discovered Bender's in Phoebus and agree with Jimbo, Dave has always been a great guy to deal with.

    ~~THE~~GIVING~~TREE~~

    in Comics General

    Posted

    I like the current offering - I'm just not sure if I have anything to offer that would be fair or what anyone would want.

    Most of my stash is mid grade silver - mostly Marvel. Seems people gravitate toward the higher grades here, even if it's higher grade bronze / copper over a lower grade silver age. Which makes sense being this is a CGC board where emphasis (it seems to me) is on well preserved books.

     

    While there are certainly many here who are high-grade fanatics, I know there are many here (including myself) who prefer mid/low-grade books.... :)