dem1138

The ironic thing that no one has mentioned yet is that if you went to conventions in the 80s/early 90s - practically every Golden Age, Silver Age, and Bronze Age key was obtainable and 'got away.' I can remember MANY conventions in the 80s where dealers had tons of keys and if you stayed around until 3:30/4:00 - the dealers would start to slash prices. However, until prices started to really jump in the early 90s - I never remember seeing really 'High Grade' gems... I was remarking to a friend the other day that when we were younger - we "knew" that this hobby was going to take off but we really didn't "know." Though I look back with some regret with everything that I sold off, I know that if I take the potential financial benefits out of the equation, that the comics I owned provided thousands of hours of enjoyment and escape - and there is no way to put a price on that. It really was a fun time to be 12-16 and reading TMNT, Fish Police, Boris the Bear, and X-Men, Watchmen, The Dark Knight, etc...and then discovering Miller's run on Daredevil and other great stories from the past...

These are great stories so it makes me want to share more...and speaking of dad's...In the 80s my dad had an office on City Line Ave. that borders Philly and his office was right across the street from Fat Jack's Comic Crypt. My dad's office was on the good side of the street and the LCS was on the bad side. I used to shop there all the time mostly because everything was SO cheap. Why? Since it was in a 'poorer' neighborhood it was explained to me that they had to have lower prices so that the people in the neighborhood could afford the books. I remember going in and buying ASM 3,5, and a few others, JIM 83, FF 8, etc. I never paid more than $40 for a book and they were all in above VG shape. It was great for me because I was able to afford and read these books as a 12 or 13 year old even though they guided for much more. I remember they had an ASM 2 for $25 and thinking 'nah, I don't want to spend that much.' Ofcouse I sold all of those long ago for little profit I'm sure. If anyone remembers - that was a great store! And as a completely random notation, I used to run into Seth Green(of Austin Powers, Buffy fame) there every so often.

Donut That is the EXACT type of story I wanted to hear - keep it going guys!

Stories are great and I think we all love to read them. SO...share some stories of that one comic book that you thought about getting and before you knew it...it was gone OR in contrast tell us about that one you did get - and still can't believe you acquired... I'll start. I remember many years ago(in the late 80s), Sparkle City Comics(does ANYONE remember them? The owner was a surly one - whatever happened to them?) in Sewell, NJ had a VF Superman #1 with "snow white pages" for $10,000. I knew that this was a steal but I was probably 16 at the time and knew I'd have no way of buying it. Then again, if you knew Sparkle City, VF meant F-... Who's next?