kilowatt

Going through my boxes and thought I`d scan a few for your enjoyment. Nothing major, just some nice covers.

My old comic shop owner was an overweight, greasy, beastly type of man, who wore dirty clothes, worked at a gas station to make ends meet, and was never seen with a girl in the 20+ years he operated his business. But, he was not only the friendliest guy you`ll ever meet, but honest and very knowledgeable. Maybe his store was his lady. Maybe he didn`t have time for someone else in his life. He closed his store after some health issues around 3 years ago. Although he lives near me, I`ve never seen him out and about. It`s possible he did meet his dream girl and he`s making up for lost time now, who knows.

I see a few Laser discs at the flea market on occasion. They have some of the popular movies, but they never seem to sell for much. Guess i`ll have to keep my eyes open for them now. Thanks for the "heads up"!

Sorry about the bag ripples-got lazy and didn`t remove the books for scanning

Been a while-here`s a few to enjoy.

I had a LCS that was nearby and I loyally bought books, mostly new issues, from there for close to 20 years. Unfortunately, the owner had a stroke and with the loss of his memory could not run the store any longer. Having a shop so close, I would go there and buy way more then I intended to. The convenience of having a shop within walking distance was like an oasis in the desert. After he closed I started to watch my savings and was amazed at how much I actually spent there. I`ve learned my lesson a few years back, and now since I don`t have that luxury anymore, I`ve found other ways to get my fix. Online reading is one, and shows are probably my top way to get great deals. Dollar bins and big sales at these shows will save you some cash. An occasional online order is there if I really want something or I`ll drive to a shop just to see what they have. I bought many of the keys over the years and on occasion I`ll grab an upgrade or something nice for the collection. I`ve learned that not buying the new titles will let you save for the really nice older stuff. The big thing that will hook you is speculation. Don`t get sucked in buying multiple titles and think you`ll get rich flipping them at a high profit. You have to know what you`re doing or you`ll get burned big time. Take it from a guy that spent nearly 43 years collecting comics, read what you enjoy, watch what you spend, start with the key books within your budget, try to get others interested in the hobby, ask questions and most importantly have fun.

I feel he got the items he wanted to keep for $20 less then he paid and you got what you wanted. If he was happy with the deal there should be no problem. I once found a group of items at a flea market, and since I knew a guy that collects records was there, I pulled a few I knew he`d be interested in. I myself don`t collect them. When i ran into him later I showed him what I purchased and he bought them all off of me. He offered what he thought was a fair price and I accepted. He didn`t ask what I paid for them, he was just happy to add them to his collection at a good price. I made out, he made out, we went our separate ways happy.

That was the last issue I needed to complete the run. Really hard book to find, it took me a while.

Work for large electric utility company so Kilowatt made sense. I had Reddi Kilowatt as my avatar but someone else had it before me, so I changed it to Marvin the Martian because my daughters like the cartoon.

My HPB store used to be really great. That changed about a year or so ago. I would go in there once or twice a month and pick up some really nice books. Usually I`d pay $1.00 a book and the selection was decent. There were always new additions and the overflow books or one`s not yet sorted were next to the front counter. I`d ask the girl working if I could look through them and it was never a problem. That`s where I found the stuff that wasn`t picked through. I did this for a couple of years. I guess nobody had the courage to just ask. Anyway, I walked in one day and there was a locked cabinet with some harder to find books that were priced way above what they were worth. The stuff in the $1.00 bins were now all individually priced and the junk was the stuff now marked a buck. I was informed that a "Comic Guru" was hired and he felt that the store was losing money on these books that they paid 9 cents a piece for, and he will take over pricing each issue. This spread to the 2 other stores in the area and now they do it. No more bargains, no more looking behind the counter, no more of my money being spent there. I guess i was lucky while it lasted. Did nab some really good books over the years. The store has to keep the lights on somehow.

A few more to enjoy

Recent pick up-been looking for a nice copy and finally found one

Sorry to get everyone off track with my purchase/post. I`ve read this thread and historically nobody posts what they paid. It`s what keeps this thread exciting. In my opinion, if the seller is happy and the buyer is happy it`s a wash. Like Robot Man said, if the deal don`t seem right just walk away. There have been times at flea markets that I passed on an item then swung back around after changing my mind. Sometimes it`s still there, sometimes it`s not. I may get angry with myself for missing the opportunity, but then again I could only blame myself.

No, YOU don`t get it. I`m sorry, I don`t think your way. I bought the entire box even though the other books were worthless. I could have been an jerk and just took the nice stuff and left him with junk. Maybe that`s your way. But I gave him a good price for everything. I took the good with the bad. Nothing fake about it. And FYI it was his sons books, prices were already on them. Where do you get off judging me?

I walked up on a few yards and there was nobody around. The ones that had people there were mostly women looking for clothes for their kids. With the exception of the Han Solo books, the top picture with the Superman books were not out. I asked the sellers if they had any comics and the guy brought a small box out. I bought the box, but the other stuff didn`t have much value. I did it to get a better deal buying it all and not leaving the guy with junk.

Always wanted to post here. I had many great finds over the years, but never had the time to show everyone. So I hit up a community garage sale today. Friday and Saturday are the big sale days, but many were getting an early start. These are my findings after looking at around 12 homes. I did set up a time to check out a guys 250 book collection of Army type comics. He had the 2 out that I bought, and he was going to dig out the rest for me tomorrow. I know where I`ll be spending most of my Friday.

Beauty!

I didn`t know it was a tough book. Here`s mine ungraded.

Some recent pick-ups. Finally found a nice FEAR 20 & HOM 175 (1st. CAIN).

I went fishing with my Dad and brother years ago. We stopped off at a little mom and pop store to grab some snacks and he bought me this book. Boy, just seeing the cover brings back a lot of memories. Funny how a single cover can take you back to a time and place. Thanks for the share.

Biggest Score...a guy on Craigslist posted some comic books for sale and I contacted him. We met at a coffee shop on a cold December day and he brought with him a tote filled with books. He was looking for $50 and told me his father said no less. The guy was around 20 or so. I looked through the books (just about all 70's stuff) and on the bottom were some Creepy and Eerie magazines. We were told that we could not use the shop for business and we were asked to leave. I figured around 200 books and magazines, why not. Gave him the $50 and we left. The score was minimal, I could maybe double my money, a lot of common comics, but they were in great shape and they filled some holes. So I kept them. The next day I get a phone call from the same guy and he tells me his father wants to speak with me. I'm now thinking these were his Dad's books and wants them back. To my surprise he has more books and wants to meet. I meet him at a gas station near his house, and find out the guy's legit. He's around my age and after talking awhile we head over to his house. He begins to tell me his parents owned a small Mom & Pop store in the 60's and 70's and when the comic books and magazines were changed out weekly or monthly his father stacked them in egg boxes till they were filled and stored them away in his basement. He proceeded to take me downstairs and as I hit the last step I nearly fell to the ground. There were literally 50-60 boxes stacked neatly in a small room. I opened one of the boxes and there were multiple copies of 70`'s Amazing Spider-Man, X-men, Action Comics...you get the point. These copies were as fresh as the day they were printed. The guy wanted $50 a box. Sight unseen. I wouldn't be able to open any more boxes, and as long as I bought 4 boxes or more a month they were mine exclusively. I decided to buy 2 boxes to start. I picked two of the bottom boxes towards the back of the stack, handed him the money and walked out the door. I didn't want to seem too eager but once I left the house I parked in a shopping center parking lot and opened the first box. There were multiple copies of Tales of Suspense, Amazing Spider-Man, Batman, X-men, different titles all from the late 60's. I went back there every couple weeks and bought up every box he had. I later confirmed the books dated from the mid 60's till the mid 70's. Star Wars #3 was the latest book in the collection. In total I paid $2650 for 53 boxes with roughly 340-350 books in each box. That's around 18,250 books. The Magazines were amazing! Creepy 1-66, Eerie 2-56, Zombie, Mad, House of Dracula, the list goes on. Highlights were; Hulk 102, Iron Man 1, Conan #1, 4 copies of ASM 129, Hulk 181, 6 copies of Submariner #1, 5 copies of Star Wars #1, multiple Batman, Detective, Flash... there's no way I can tell you everything in this collection. In short it was a once in a lifetime score for a comic book collector. There was a risk in paying $50 for the unknown, but in the long run it was the best decision I ever made. Now many of you won't believe this story, and I don't blame you. It is far-fetched, but my nephew is on this site and he knows the truth. It really did happen.

Thanks, I`ve been working on completing a high grade Horror collection for the past 15-20 years. I`m around 80-85% done. Some of the lowest valued books seem to be the hardest to acquire in high grade. It`s just the thrill of the hunt that keeps me going.

A few more-

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!