jimbo_7071

Creeping horror to crawling evil...

Regarding the funding of comic books with stocks, I more or less did just that. After losing quite a bit of equity in 2008 and getting most of it back in 2009/2010, I basically cashed out and bought comic books. I guess I figured that if there was nothing safe to invest in, I might as well keep my money in something I enjoyed. One thing I would want to know in order to assess the health of the GA market is, how old is the average collector now vs. 10 years ago vs. 20 years ago? If the collector base is aging, then the robust GA market that we see now has an expiration date. I know that some younger collectors are entering the hobby, but I don't know how many. I'm 43, and offhand I'd say that most of the GA collectors I know are older than I am.

I had a mixed bag, but mostly mid—high grade GA, including Bats and Tecs. No key books but some Joker covers. I'm pretty sure about the year. My only outlet for books was local dealers in the Detroit area; things may have been better elsewhere.

I will have to trust lou_fine on the overall picture, but I sold many of my GA books in '95 for substantially less than I had paid for them in the late 80s, so I didn't witness the market going ballistic at that time. One dealer told me he was sitting on a million dollars worth of inventory that he couldn't move.

I was so busy last year, I'm not sure whether I bought a single comic book. I'm actually even busier now, but I have decided to try to make time for collecting again. As a kid, I always wanted to collect the Mr. Mind saga in Captain Marvel Adventures, so I may try to start putting that run together this year. I want to read the books, so I'll have to limit myself to raw copies, but I don't want absolute beaters. I'm thinking 5.0—7.0. Any higher in grade and I wouldn't want to read them; any lower, they'd be falling apart in my hands.

Yet another red dress in peril . . .

Embraced by a man to embraced by a plant.

Really big hand to really big hand.

I submitted a couple of file copies to CGC a few years ago, and they added the notation without asking for proof. The next time I submitted a file copy, they did not note it on the label and did not contact me to ask for more information. None of the file copies I submitted were marked, and I had no proof beyond the word of whatever dealers the books came from. File Copies don't command a premium, so I didnt really care whether they made the notation on the label.

My goal is to start buying again after being too busy over the past year. I've been browsing through auction results, though, and I've been kind of shocked by the prices some books have been fetching. I'm honestly not sure whether it's worth it to me to own books at the current price levels.

Many of my older slabs have gaps along the edges. The edges of the outer well are not meant to be sealed. If the corner posts are intact, the slab is probably fine. You might want to make sure the slab isn't warped, though. A badly-warped slab could damage a comic.

I like that cover, but I agree with you, Collector, about that book being overvalued. Like Sqeggs indicated, back in the 80s and 90s many of us thought it was rare. We know now that it isn't rare at all, but many collectors still have the idea that it's rare stuck in their heads, so it still fetches rare-issue prices.

I like that cover, but I agree with you, Collector, about that book being overvalued. Like Sqeggs indicated, back in the 80s and 90s many of us thought it was rare. We know now that it isn't rare at all, but many collectors still have the idea that it's rare stuck in their heads, so it still fetches rare-issue prices.

It's possible. I used to want to upgrade my SS4, but with the kind of prices they're getting now, it wouldn't be worth it to me. The one book I was intetested in was the Planet 58, but I'm scratching my head over the price. It's a pretty common issue that usually has nice colors and nice pages. Maybe someone thinks it can be pressed to a 9.6?

You may be onto something. I like GA sci-fi, but Contact 12 doesn't do much for me. If we're talking similar covers, I much prefer Captain Aero 26.

I didn't realize he was 88. I never met Adam West, but I did see him in person in the men's room of the Motor City Comicon back in 2001. He must have been 72, but if you had told me that he was 52, I would have believed you. RIP

I can see your being disappointed if you sold a book that was important to you, or if you sold a book from a run because you were hoping to upgrade, but I've rarely felt bad about being outbid in an auction or about selling a book that wasn't a key part of my collection. I try to bid what I think a book is worth—maybe a little more—but if the only way to "win" a book is to overpay, I'm always happy to let someone else overpay. I'll wait until the next time it sells, or until another copy comes along, or until a different book that I like just as much comes along. (Sometimes a book will take off in value weeks or months later, and then I'll start to kick myself.)

Well, I learned something from looking at the Jon Berk collection on CConnect: I never realized that the first appearance of Andy Panda was in Crackajack Funnies! (I may be the only one who cares.) The book that stood out to me the most (other than the Fantastic #3) was the Punch #12. I won't be a contender, but I'll be curious to see what it sells for. I think it's safe to say that it'll leave the guide price in the dust.

No argument. Without Stan's genius for marketing and his overall success with Marvel's silver age, the superhero genre may well have died out decades ago, and collecting comic books might have died with it. Bob Overstreet and Jerry Bails would come next, but it's hard to pick just two to round out the list. Bill Gaines, Jerry Weist, Steve Geppi, Shel Dorf, and Chuck Rozanski all deserve mention.

It stands to reason that a fair number of pedigree books have been lost to fires by now. I'm still trying to find out which Church books were ruined when the Greg Manning Auctions basement was flooded. I asked Bill Hughes, but he didn't remember.

A name written on a book isn't a deal breaker for me, but I think CGC goes too easy on that defect, so I probably won't be buying any slabbed examples any time soon. I remember seeing a Marvel Mystery in the last CLink auction that was graded 9.0 even though it had a name written fairly obtrusively across the cover. For me, even calling that book a VF would be a stretch, let alone VF/NM. This will not be a popular opinion, but I think that even pedigree books with writing on the cover (Larsons, Okajimas) or name stamps (SFs) should be downgraded.

I don't consider them trustworthy. Whatever book they've got, it isn't worth the risk. Wait for another copy. There's always another copy.

Among the earlier covers, #5 and #17 are my two favorites, but I like C. C. Beck's interior art much better than I like most of the covers from the run. I like some of the outer space/sci-fi covers from later in the run, too (#106, for instance).

I don't know much about romance covers and don't really have a favorite (except for maybe GCE 12), but I like the way colors were used in this one. I'd never seen one of these prior to reading this thread.