XxSpideyxX

People who read comics know about sex?

With the holidays upon us, many of us will have friend and family around. Do you ever feel compelled to show off your collection to non comicbook/superhero fans? If so, how do you present your books? How do you talk about them? How do you answer the inevitable question of ‘how much is that worth?’ After all, part of the joy in collecting is sharing that with others. But how do you do so without either boring your audience to tears or boiling it down to cost/value?

I don’t know enough about comic book degradation to be sure, but I would imagine that storage under basic comfortable living conditions would result in a book that never fully fades to black in one person’s lifetime. I guess If I owned one of the last remaining copies of a comic on earth, I would first digitize it. Then I would see what preventative measures I could take to stop further deterioration. But I’m still quite certain I wouldn’t try to ‘bring it back to life’ with a facelift for aesthetic reasons only. And yes, slabbing is certainly a form of preservation. But that is something entirely different. I think of it this way: preservation with CGC is boiling an egg. It looks the same, but you can now only see the outside. Restoration is pulling out all the chemicals, colors, paints, and stickers to make Easter Eggs.

I don’t understand the concept behind comic book restoration. I’m not talking about preserving very rare books for historical purposes. I mean color touch, trims, or other means to bump a boom up a grade or two, only to gain that dreaded purple label. What is the point? Does the grade bump with the purple label generally command more than the same book without the restoration work? I personally prefer to have books in all their loved imperfections. Its kind of like plastic surgery after 60. Everyone can tell what was done and it’s never as good as what would have presented naturally. But I’d love to hear arguments or reasons to the contrary!

Are we talking about the same thing?

For those who don’t want to fork over the subscription cost of GPAnalysis, does Go Collect offer comparable figures? Overstreet seems way under what the current market sells for. EBay seems a fair gauge. But sometimes it’s nice to have a reasonable reference point for certain items that are offered for sale here or on other auction sites.

I thought the same going in. Did you see the results?

Got this today

Look what I got in the mail today!!!

Wow! This is incredible. Thank you for sharing! Did you see the link that @bronze_rules shared? Based on the original art for the board game that I referenced, I'm wondering if this is, in fact, when the redesign occurred? https://bigglee.blogspot.com/2014/03/1977-spider-man-game-john-romita-sr.html Great stuff!

The oldest version of this art I personally own is from this board game from 1977

Yep! I’ve seen countless iterations over the years. Stickers, posters, models, etc. I have just never seen the original source and am wondering where it first appeared. I’m actually hoping I am wrong and it’s from a comic so I can get a copy! So much promotional material is lifted from the source material nowadays it’s hard to imagine that Romita did so much incredible original art for Marvel outside of the comics themselves!

This is my single favorite Spider-Man art of all time. However, I don’t know where this image originally appeared! I am fairly certain it was never on a comic cover and also pretty sure it never appeared within any comic pages, either. I know Romita worked as an art director at Marvel for a while where he created promotional material. I imagine the artwork was originally used in this way, but does anyone know the source or first appearance? Thank you!

Oh, neat! As soon as I receive the book and can take pictures, I'll post the story

I'm happy to report that after the pressing/cleaning work performed by @joeypost (who came recommended to me by @The Lions Den), this book received a SUBSTANTIAL upgrade....from 7.5 to.....DRUMROLL: Amazing Spider-Man 50 7/67 Marvel Comics Universal Grader Notes 8.5 OFF-WHITE TO WHITE Grader Notes:light spine stress lines breaks color light wear all corners breaks color very light crease left top of front cover

If anyone has Netflix, this is an interesting watch that could have some parallels. I recommend it from a collector's perspective: https://decider.com/2019/07/25/jack-of-all-trades-netflix-baseball-card-documentary/

This is mine!

What is your company name Bob? I am new to this community :)

Hello! I'm curious how some of you go about "upgrading" your books. For example, let's say you own a 7.5 and want to get a 9.2. Assuming you need to sell one to get the other, do you typically sell the 7.5 first in order to have cash toward the next, or do you buy the 9.2 in hopes of selling the 7.5 for a decent price? Do you try to take "grade steps?" Meaning...go from 7.5 to 8.5 and then 8.5 to 9.2, etc.? Or is it more financially prudent to just make the leap to whatever highest grade you can afford at the time? I realize a lot of this is budget contingent and a bit of risk/reward strategy, but I'm curious what methods generally seem to work for improving the favorite books in your collection

Since this was (a few pages ago) part of the discussion, I thought this chart was worth posting (from Reddit). I don't have the graphic capabilities to stack these, but it would be interesting to see the peak genre in each decade. This chart suggests that some genres have steadily grown over time (documentary, thriller) while others have diminished (musicals, war). I'd be curious to see a similar graph depicting the sale of stamps, comics, sports cards, coins, vinyl, and other collectible items over time. My guess is that, unlike movie genres, most collectibles have experienced a "peak" and have fallen off since. I would also venture a guess that each collectible has a respective decade where it was most popular before being surpassed by another.

Well, this is the best news I've read on this thread.

Don't really understand your answer other than the final word, but thanks!

I've missed this conversation. I grew up reading and loving the new editions of Overstreet over the years. Has it become obsolete due to grading and the fluctuations of online auctions? But doesn't your statement kind of validate Overstreet since you are often in line with that they report?

This is completely true for me. From the late eighties until the end of the 90s, I collected Amazing Spider-Man comics. I had a set of nearly 2000 Spidey comics, but no Silver age keys, even though I had read them all. Then the clone saga happened, stretched out for 2 years, and pissed me off so bad I stopped collecting and even sold all the comics I had to start life with a bit of extra money as a newlywed and welcoming my first child. I never stopped loving Spider-Man. I just stopped buying and reading the comics. Every so often I would pick up a new issue, but I never found anything that peaked my interest. Instead I’d buy occasional Spidey merchandise like toys, clothing, magnets, etc. Now I’m 40 and the past 10 years of Marvel movies have definitely rekindled my original love for Spider-Man comics. But rather than buy up a huge collection, I want to own some of the few key issues that were my absolute favorite stories and art. I want to own the best versions I can afford of those, and nothing more. These few issues (ASM 33, 39, 50, etc) symbolize and summarize why I love Spider-Man. I could (and should) write an essay for each comic I own. But I could have bought raw versions or even reprints. I bought these issues in at least a 9.0 slab so they present really well (I could stare at them all day) but also to hopefully gain value. I’m just not sure this will happen to any significant degree.

I personally will never get tired of seeing superhero movies. And I know my son won't either. How many issues is Detective Comics up to now? Or Amazing Spider-Man? And those come out one a month, not once every couple of years! I don't think it's possible for me to burnout on any form of Spider-Man