Krydel4

I agree. Of all the series I am attempting to collect I feel JLOA followed by GL and DD are going to finish under budget. The one I am surprised the most by is FF as the prices on those are high and there doesn't seem to be any external speculator forces driving them up (movie/tv etc.) Cheers.

JLOA 23 $60 7.5 LCBS JLOA 24 $31 4.0 LCBS JLOA 25 $21 4.5 LCBS It's all downhill from here. $23819 Remaining 30/250 Books

Yep. In mylite 4s with acid free backing boards and a sheet of microchamber paper in the centerfold. The DD 5 has an inch long cut on the back cover so it looks like an 8.0 but grades out as a 6.0.

GL 17 $34 4.5 LCBS GL 21 $26 4.5 LCBS DD 5 $90 6.0 LCBS DD 14 $35 6.5 LCBS $23931 Remaining 27/250 Books The DDs were such a good price and quality I had to pick them up even if they were outside my grade range. Still within series budget though.

Loving the Kubert cover.

No disrespect taken. I am aware of GPS but it does not really suit my purposes. If I feel I'm out of my budget within each series budget for a book I won't buy. I'm not sure which # book you're referring to at 8.5 but the TOS 58 at mycomic shop in 3.0 is listed at $94 + shipping & fees, comiclink has a 3.5 on the exchange that just sold for $66 + shipping & fees and one 4.5 in auction that is currently sitting at a bid of $51 with 10 days remaining. Ebay has TOS 58 for around $100 + shipping for a 4.5. All CGC. I do feel that the TOS 58 I bought was a little over priced but in relation to Overstreet price, Online/Ebay it's not too high and it was still within budget. Plus sitting down and reading it, smelling it etc. was a great experience. It's probably best to think of this Journal as a midlife crisis and instead of a fancy impractical sports car, I'm buying comics instead. Cheers.

Thank you for your interest in my journal. However, I'm not buying the books as investment vehicles. As I said in my collecting Manifesto this is purely for pleasure and to see if I can do the 250 in 3 years on a $25000 budget.

TOS 54 $25 5.0 LCBS TOS 55 $21 3.5 LCBS TOS 58 $103 4.5 LCBS $24116 Remaining 23/250 Books

I'm unfamiliar with Michael Hardy. Who is he?

ASM 23 $40 3.0 LCBS ASM 25 $57 3.5 LCBS Dardevil 16 $15 2.0 Ebay Daredevil 17 $40 7.0 Ebay $24265 Remaining 20/250 Books Thanks for all the views and comments everyone. Long way to go still. Cheers.

The local comic book store is an amalgamation of all the ones I go to in the surrounding area where I live. There are about 8 within about 35 miles. Also we have about 1 small con in the area around once a month and a bigger one once every 3 months. I put those under that LCBS heading as well.

JIM 97 $35 2.0 LCBS JIM 100 $26 2.0 LCBS $24417 Remaining 16/250 Books

From my research I think this is going to be one of more difficult series to obtain for decent prices. Damn TV show. Flash 116 $45 5.5 LCBS Flash 118 $37 2.5 LCBS $24478 Remaining 14/250 Books

X-Men 15 $65 4.0 Ebay X-Men 16 $85 6.5 Ebay $24560 Remaining 12/250 Books

Had some time to hit the shops today. There were a few good deals to be had. FF 9 $153 5.0 LCBS JLOA 7 $62 6.0 LCBS X-Men 10 $65 3.5 LCBS $24170 Remaining 10/250 Books

Nice.

ASM 10 $190 5.0 LCBS ASM 21 $70 5.0 EBAY DD 9 $50 7.0 LCBS DD 12 $38 5.0 LCBS DD 13 $38 7.5 LCBS $24450 REMAINING 7/250 BOOKS Got lucky with the DDs as I picked them up from a shop that had a 30% off deal on their Silver Age books.

First couple of books. GL 3 $69 3.0 LCBS Avengers 5 $95 5.0 LCBS $24836 REMAINING 2/250 BOOKS

Background : I originally started collecting when I was about 5 years old. I used to go to a used bookstore with my mother and they sold direct market comics (the only place in town). I saw GI JOE #39 on the rack the comics were kept and as I was a big fan (I had the toys) my mother bought it for me. And so began my comic collecting life. Every month I would get a two comics (GI Joe and Transformers) and a DC or Marvel reprint collection from the store. Pretty soon I was more fascinated with superheroes in the reprinted Silver Age stories than the Giant robots or Ninja in the two other titles. I started to collect Superman, GL and The Flash from DC along with X-Men and the Avengers from Marvel. I collected all the way up until I finished College and got a job overseas. I figured it was better to go cold turkey and just stop collecting than try to get someone to pick up my books and ship then to me etc. I sold off most of my collection keeping the books that were key or sentimental value. This was around 2000 and I didn't return back to my home country (other than for a short visit once a year) until 2011. My reintroduction to the comic book collecting world was a bit jolting. They had cancelled Action Comics. And it was rebooting at #1.Back issues and new Comics were encased in plastic never to be read and were being bought and sold for insane prices. I heard the term Investment books for the first time. I had collected all through the 80s and 90s so I was around for the speculator boom (then bust) and chromium / metallic / 10 different variant covers Era. But this is something different. This is the Reboot Era. The Corporate era. They used to have 1 volume of Action and Detective, now there are 3 since 2011 (the newest incarnations of both are continuing the numbering but not the universe so they are separate for me). Which led me to make my decision. I would not be buying the new issues from the publishers of my youth DC and Marvel. Instead I decided to buy the characters and stories of my youth. Which for me happen to be the Silver Age as they were the characters and stories in the reprints. Collecting Manifesto: I have settled on 10 Series or Characters I wish to collect. I am going to be collecting the first 25 issues of each series or the first 25 issues of that characters appearance in their own book. So here goes… Amazing Spider-Man 1-25 Avengers 1-25 Daredevil 1-25 Fantastic Four 1-25 Journey into Mystery (Thor) 83-107 Tales of Suspense (Iron Man) 39-63 X-Men 1-25 The Flash 105-129 Green Lantern 1-25 Justice League of America 1-25 (For budgetary reasons I left out Showcase, B&B and AF appearances) I am going to be seeking out and buying whenever possible Raw copies of books and I will be cracking out any slabbed books I buy. I know that will be anathema to some but I see no reason to slab any book that is less than Near Mint. I will be reading everything I buy at least once and with completion of each series I will buy the appropriate trade or trades to go with it. My base budget for this endeavour is $25000 USD. Out of that base budget I have also set individual series budgets. I calculated each budget based upon the latest Overstreet price guide, Online sources (ComicLink, mycomicshop, etc) and Ebay listings. As such I will be targeting to buy between 2.0 - 5.0 books. If a higher grade than a 5.0 presents itself for a decent price within the budget I have set for each series then I will buy it. Also if I have the opportunity to buy a book in a grade lower than 2.0 (if it presents nicely) I will buy it but keep looking for a higher grade replacement. Any shipping costs will be rolled into the overall price of the book( ie. $65 book + $5 shipping makes it a $70 book) Any leftover money from a completed series will be split up amongst the other remaining series. I have given myself a timeline of 3 years to complete this personal collecting challenge. I will update this thread with the issue bought, where it was bought (LCBS, Online site, or Convention) and final purchase price. Cheers.