comicginger1789

SOLD!

$80 shipped now!

Hulk is a winner right now. Will it come down though? Hard to say. Might stick around these highs. I think first Doom has room to grow big time but whether or not it does remains to be seen. Plus Wolvie has fifty times the fans as Doom. Second Lex is cool but I dunno if it would carry the desire amongst the masses like Hulk 181. At the end of the day I think Hulk 181 will always be the easiest sell. The FF 5 and Superman 2 may be a tad more valuable in long run but will they find you a seller quickly when you do wanna sell? The rest are cool books but again I worry demand won’t be as strong.

So about 5 years ago I heard people had found deals in other countries on eBay. I tried but did not seem to have any luck. So I gave up on it. But then one day I had an alert for an auction in Mexico. It was for a bunch of Spidey books, early ASM issues. The ask was $300 and the pictures were once again horrible. There was a beat up copy of issue 50 shown and a few others, nothing key. Yet on the description, there were quite a few books listed, including some key early ASM books I really wanted. I asked if everything listed was included, the guy responded quickly saying yes and I clicked the buy it now for $300. When they arrived I was surprised. The pic below shows what I kept. Sadly the issue 50 was low grade and had some writing in it so I decided to sell it to cover some costs. There was also a bonus thrown in, issue 3 of ASM with a repro cover. The interior was all there but some kid had taken pen and literally over and around the images in half of the book. I decided to sell that too and surprisingly did way better than I thought. I moved a few more rougher low grade books and came away even on it all. And with these books essentially free! They are mostly 2.0-3.0 range books but complete and perfectly fine for me. Definitely my best Spidey score and it’s finds like these that leave me hope for more even if they are few and far between.

Yeah it was my first time helping someone else sell stuff. Has happened one other time which will also appear in this journal series:) It was fun and I set a goal at the start off what I thought I could get and was pretty much spot on. He also had a two issues with original mailers which at the time I should have maybe kept. They weren’t key books but was kinda need to see how they had been sent to him.

A big ole lot here. Prefer to keep together. I will happily provide more pics if needed. $90 USD shipped or best offer. Approximate graded for each book are listed below along with any major flaws. Payment via PayPal. Returns accepted if contacted within 10 days of receiving the books. Here is what you will get! Old Man Logan 1-5 all in VF range. Issues 2 and 3 have light spine wear so likely lower on the VF scale. Madam Xanadu 1 in VG/FN. Spine ticks are small edge creases. The pin up poster is still inside. Superman 103 DC Logo in VF/NM shape. Flash 303 in VF/NM shape. Wonder Woman 252 Whitman in VG shape. Larger corner crease and spine ticks. Transformers 5 in FN condition. Spine ticks. Moonshine 1 in VF/NM shape. Two small spine ticks. Defenders 4 in GD- with heavy wear and an extra staple added to the top. Captain Marvel 7 in VF/NM condition. Warlock 4, 5, 6, 9, 12, 13, 15. All in 5.0-6.0 condition, solid mid grade books. Moon Knight 29, 31 and 35 and FN with spine ticks. Moon Knight 28, 34, 36 are closer to VF range with light spine wear. Open to offers!

I think 5.0 is right...there is a shot at a 5.5...it depends on that stain. I have seen more noticeable stains on the back of 6.0 books, so long as they don't bleed into the book.

Shortly after moving to where I live now, a colleague who I work with was going through a tough time and needed to sell his collection. My wife knew him better at the time and knew I bought and sold comics and figured I could at least help see what he had. So I went over to see and man, did he have a lot. All of it had been largely untouched since the lat 80's. The best bunch of it all were the Uncanny X-Men books, including a Giant Size #1. Again, this was 7 years ago or so now and this book was not where it was now but still held respectable value. Most of the books sadly were in VG to Fine condition at best....great fillers. The GSX #1 was more of a 3.0-3.5, with the spine split, dog eared corners and creases. I was in "save up for house and wedding ring" mode so me spending was not an option. However, I offered to help sell online and ended up doing pretty well, getting around $1500 for him at the time (he kept the sales data recorded and made sure I was paid for shipping and any fees...if memory serves me, the GSX sold for around $275, and many other books were $30-50 each. He was a teams guy, big on Defenders and FF and X-Men and Avengers. There were lots of runs which sold well for him. In the end, he was happy and allowed me to keep some books as payment for my troubles (I told him I preferred to do this as he had some books and stuff that were cool and that I would love to own). Here is a snapshot of what was kept. There were more minor fillers too, as I think I came away with like 60 books or so but these are the most memorable that I own. Thus began a joy for Treasury sized comics. At the time, Taskmaster was not getting any real love but I knew it was a first appearance and was happy to have it. His Avengers stuff was the only stuff he had (outside of the X-Men stuff) that I was interested in owning, along with the treasuries. He had a run of Avengers from 140 or so up to 170 then it was sporadic. I took the couple earliest ones he had seen here, plus a few others I liked, along with the treasuries. I told him what I figured they were all worth and he said take em. They are still part of the collection today. I need to chat with him more because I know he still has some stuff left over. There was a run of Marvel Two In One that just did not sell at the time. Like 50 issues but nothing super early in the run and all VG so it was a tough sell. I would love to see if he has anything else tucked away because he collects music and CDs and DVDs like a machine....its a massive collection. Maybe he has some comics he forgot, ya never know. Either way, he was happy to get the cash during a tough time, I was happy to get comics. Win win.

I moved in late 2012 to where I am now. This buy I believe happened 2013. Ever since Dark Knight had come out, I had slowly been getting into Batman more. I am to this day a Marvel guy, but I found that 70s Batman through til the 80s was tolerable, with some great runs, stories, and artwork/covers. Golden Age Batman was (and still is) outta reach I feel, although I do like a lot of the artwork a lot, and 50's/60's Batman just has no appeal to me. I respect those who do like it though, it's just not my idea of enjoyment. Anyway, I had started by diving into well known good Batman reads. The Cult, Arkham Asylum, The Killing Joke. I added these and others and eventually, a couple Neal Adams issues. I was hunting online often for Batman lots, trying to find some older issue for a good price. Well one day, I lucked out. The listing was simply "older Batman comics" or something to that effect and the main image was grainy and poor. I clicked anyway and am thankful I did. There were a couple pictures, all poorly taken but the last one I could see Batman 251 poking out from the others on top of it. I got excited. This was a pricey book and here I had a chance to snag it. I did, and also got about 15 other older Batman books for around $60. But did I get a winner. Well the package arrived and I started pulling out the books. The guy did not even have them bagged and boarded and I could see why. They were beat. Tattered, worn, ripped. My heart sank. I had gambled and lost. But then the bottom couple books were not too bad and finally, the one I had waited for. I lucked out big. And was extremely happy. This also served as a cautionary lesson, that sneakily buying a book or trying to and hoping it will be great based off grainy pictures can backfire. Trust me, I have made several purchases where I thought "hey if I get this book in this lot and it is in this condition, I will do okay!" only to get it in garbage shape and end up running even or even losing a few bucks. 90% of the time, I make these purchases in lots on ebay because something in the lot has some value that I can sell and break even and then there are leftover books that I keep because I want them. This worked out so that by the end of it all, I spent around $30 or so on this copy. Very pleased. But I have since learned to ask for better pics before diving in. I have come across many auctions and online listings where the pics look great and the price seems like a good bargain where I can get some of the books and sell others for a small profit, only to get more images and find that the condition is much worse than imagined. That being said, I still think you can find diamonds in the rough occasionally on ebay....seems harder within the last couple years but if you are patient, you will find good deals always it seems. This just happened to be a lucky one for me!

This next purchase was the first collection I ever bought. It was around 2007 or 2008, maybe a year prior or a year later. I had started paying attention and occasionally checking other avenues locally like Craigslist and Kijiji. Anyone, I found a local guy selling a longbox and a random stack of comics. He wanted $100 for everything. What caught my eye was the stack he had in the pictures...a big ole stack of Wolverine #1 from the 1988 run. I counted at least 20 copies. I thought to myself, Even if I sell those at $5 a piece, I can make my money back. At the time, that book varied but nice copies could be sold for $10 or so. I had to check it out. So I hopped in my 1991 Saab, and drove on over. The guy was super nice. He was a collector just trying to get rid of his collection and was down to this. He had a smaller box of older stuff that he had not mentioned but I declined to go through it as he mentioned there were books worth $50-100 in there and as teen headed off to university/just into university, I did not think spending that much would be a good idea. Plus I was not as well versed then as I feel I am now. All I knew was that I could pay for the box with the Wolverines (which I did not collect) and then do what I wanted with the rest. So I did a quick flip through the box and said I would take them and that was that. I ended up with 30 copies of Wolverine 1 from 1988. As soon as I went home, I started selling them. I did well, making $120 off just those books. I could have done even better but a guy who bought 4-5 copies claimed they never arrived. At the time, I did not include tracking (lesson learned) and ended up losing out on an extra $50 or so. But I was stoked. So what did I end up with? Well it was so long ago, I honestly do not know 100% everything that was in there. I clearly remember the selling of the Wolverine #1's because that was something that took time. I do know that the following were definitely from this collection, as I still have them in mine to this day. Over the years, I probably sold off books form this collection because there was a lot of dollar bin fodder and stuff I was not that into. In hindsight, there could have been something worth something now...but I was young and not as in tune with tracking stuff and keeping a record of my collecting journey as I am now. Anyways, some stuff I pulled from the PC that was in that box for sure. At the time, the What If and Marvel Spotlight were nothing books. I know the Turtles were in there because I kept them saying "hey maybe other collections will randomly have Turtles in them and I will build a run" and have never ever found Turtles stuff again. Reflecting now, I know the What If issue where Hulk becomes a barbarian was also in there (I should have it but maybe it moved on) and I am also now certain that Marvel Premiere 16 was in there, second Iron Fist. There are probably more but it is safe to say a lot of them stayed with me. I did not keep a Wolverine 1 for myself which I am fine with. Never been a huge Wolverine fan and when I read the issue, I did not fall in love so it made selling all of them an easy choice. It was a day I will never forget and has added some much enjoyed books to my collection.

This is going to be a quick series on my top ten finds in terms of comics. I will not be including purchases that I made specifically for a good or decent value. No, these purchases stand out because they were found in some way shape or form and ended up being extremely beneficial for me as a collector in some way. I am focusing on the past 15 years because, at 31, those 15 years represent me collecting the hardest. Before that, the occasional venture was made to a local comic shop to buy back issues for myself. So let us start at number 10...my first score, which I have dubbed "Seeing Double" When I was 16 or so, I convinced my dad to let me use his ebay account. I slowly started buying stuff because, at the time, the US dollar was falling and falling and stuff was just as cheap to get shipped from the US. I was heavy into Peter Parker The Spectacular Spider-Man because they were cheap and old and I liked them. I eventually branched into Marvel Team-Up (also cheap at the time) and when the dollar did hit par here in Canada, I started gobbling up ASM issues. But one of my first big lot purchases was a Marvel Team-Up lot of like 20 issues. It cost around $10-15 and there were some doubles which I figured I could somehow sell. Anyways, the lot arrives and one of the doubles was issue this one. There were two copies, one more mid grade and the other somewhere in the VF range. And when I opened the nicer copy, what did I see? Fill my eyes with that double visionNo disguise for that double vision My first double cover! I was excited! I was like, this has to be rare right? I had never heard of or seen one before. Sure enough, an online search showed that they tended to have some value. I obviously could not find another copy of this ish with a double cover that had sold but I figured I did not collect double covers or need two, since I had a perfectly good mid grade copy. So this book was one of the first books I listed on ebay and sold....for a whopping $20! I was so excited that I had not only covered the cost of my purchase, but that I had also gotten free comics out of it. I had made $5, plus gotten like 15 comics for a minimal amount of work. My dad was surprised when it sold for that much. He paid me the money (as payment went to his account at the time) and I had come to the realization that if I wanted, I could make this hobby fund itself (or at the very least, find great stuff I loved and offset the cost by a larger amount). And thus began my journey to the collector I am today.

It's all good. I just thought I could see colour breaks all down the spine (and glare) is all. While certainly not major, it is my belief that it would separate an VF from a VF/NM

I am also more in the 4.5-5.0 range. Page and paper quality seems like theres tanning and the edges and other minor wear added up just does not present like a 5.5. This 5.0 looks a little sharper than your copy is all https://www.ebay.com/itm/X-Men-4-CGC-5-0-The-Brotherhood-of-Mutants/264702953811?hash=item3da1868953:g:FKkAAOSw1LdejfFC

The spine has a wear marks all down it...so I am also wondering if 8.0 might be tops for this book. Here is a 9.0 for reference...much nicer spine so I feel this copy would be lower. https://www.ebay.com/itm/BATMAN-263-CGC-9-0-WHITE-PAGES/332028700961?hash=item4d4e73e921:g:PFAAAOSwXyVYJRt-

I also noticed to marks near the staple on the back. Those marks wont disappear with a press. You may get a 9.4 if lucky but chances are it would remain a 9.2. If you have graders notes on it, the flaws list would give people an idea of what could/could not be helped by pressing.

2.0-2.5 for sure. Def not bad enough to be in the ones and I think that piece missing hurts it’s chances at 3.0 or better for sure.

I also see something on the edge. If it’s nothing then yeah 9.4-9.6 seems right. The ink transfer may keep from 9.8 as I have not seen this flaw on this issue before. Of course page quality also pays a roll and assuming pages are nice I think this is definitely 9.4 at minimum.

Lots of good pics! I think 3.5 is not out of the question. I don’t know if the detached staple and other wear would let it hit higher and o think it’s still nicer than many 3.0 books.

Outside shot at 5.0 but 4.5 seems right. And yes those look like books that hung on a wall of a shop and got sun every morning for years.

That’s a good point

I don’t think Thanos in ASM would have made sense. As for the value, it could have helped. I think if his first appearance had been a cover appearance and in a Avengers then you would be looking at a key that would key sustained value. I also agree Wolvie in the Hulk worked great because it is such a vibrant action packed cover. Same with Moon Knight on WErewolf By Night. The cover sells it.

Honestly, probably never. They trust their employees only and thus, must witness any and all signatures. If you want a book slabbed and signed, cons and these new mail in signing events CGC is doing are perfect. Otherwise, what's the harm in enjoying a raw book with a signature? I have many signed books that I keep boarded and displayed in nice top loaders. Just as safe as encasing it, displays great and I can view the signatures (many are on the inside front page) anytime

I am on a number of other groups for buying and selling comics and people always seem to ask exorbitant amounts for CPV comics. Personally as a Canadian, they don’t interest me. And aside from a couple key issues like Secret Wars 8 and ASM 238, I don’t get why. Even those two issues have some people asking (and in some cases paying!) crazy prices.

Higher grade Elvira House of Mystery books for cheap?! You had me at hell-o! Now to find issue one....and I think there is a holiday special if memory serves me.

I’m also 5.5 with 6.0 potential although the bottom edge is a little worn and might prevent it even if it cleans up and presses nice.