poorcollector

I'm curious.  Have you all recognized if there are any new software or products that would be beneficial to the hobby?  New databases, new comic portfolios, new comic book box design? I'm excited to see what some of you have come up with.

55 minutes ago, wilbil said:

mike may have a problem....

Mike has the best problem in a world.  I want Mike's problems.

7 hours ago, Ken Aldred said:

The best outlook is to realise that it was right for you then, but, long term, your perception can change markedly and can kill those early ambitions.

I never considered that I would run out of steam.  I guess that you have to really love what you are collecting, and I think that I would collect what I love and collect the cheaper drek when I ran out of other things to do. 

14 hours ago, Qalyar said:

"Total Marvel Completion" that excludes Timely/Atlas seems sort of like artificially splitting hairs for the convenience of making the goal achievable. A collection of Marvel Comics that doesn't include, say, the first appearance of Captain America wouldn't feel very complete. Of course, a complete collection of Timelies is virtually impossible, so...

As for the OP's goals... you may want to consider finding some subset to begin focusing on. Consider, first and foremost, what your eventual financial outlays might look like. Not necessarily what you have to spend now, but what you think you might ever be willing to commit to the cause. On the DC side, even the worst copies of Action 1 are probably still going to bring $100,000 and the worst Tec 27s in the neighborhood of $20,000. Many, many early DC books are ten grand apiece or more, when available (and many have only a handful of extant copies). Over on the Marvel side, AF15 is $10,000 or so for truly terrible copies or (much) more otherwise. If you include Timely Comics books, the traditional keys (Captain America Comics 1 and Marvel Comics 1) aren't going to happen in any condition for under $20,000 apiece, but the real challenge will be the various weird stuff Timely put out, some of which exists in finger-countable numbers and so defies traditional valuation.

This isn't to dissuade completionist collection. But it's important to realize what's ahead of you, and whether that means you make long-term plans or set narrower goals, is ultimately up to you.

I agree that Timely/Atlas comics definitely need to be in a "Marvel" collection.  I think that affording and finding the odds and ends issues would be the most difficult part aside from finding all of the capital necessary.  

40 minutes ago, Get Marwood & I said:

If you're doing it for the love of the medium, then volume first will be satisfying. In my experience though, the longer you leave the keys, the further their prices can move out of sight. So if you're goal will only be satisfied by including them, getting them first will save you money in the long term, freeing more funds for volume down the line. My other word of caution, again from experience, is to consider fully the reality of purchasing many many comics which you may one day look at and wonder why you own them. It can happen - a high volume of 'uninteresting' books, purchased just to complete an arbitrary wider target, can lead to eventual feelings of contempt for those issues which in turn could erode the fun of attaining the overall target. My advice is to pick a smaller target, focussed around characters, genres or series that you really love.  Good luck 

Thanks for the advice. You have definitely given me something to think about.

5 minutes ago, comicginger1789 said:

I agree that this would be near impossible without and unlimited income. If you had millions of dollars to spend and didn’t worry about getting the best deal, sure.

While I respect such a goal, personally it’s pointless. I like that for me my collection has an end goal. I have certain things I want and I’m content hunting those for all time. Buying it for the sake of having it all does nothing for me. I don’t want a lot of Silver Age DC stuff or copper age Marvel stuff so why would I buy it just to have? 

I’ll stick with buying as much of what I love as I can while I am on this earth brings me great joy! And I find I learn new things every year, about artists or books I never knew existed. So while my collection has a finite end now, it tends to grow once in a while as a see new things to add to my “oh now that would be great to have” list.

Part of the appeal to comic collecting for me and some other is that there is no end.  Once you complete a run or a specific set of books can they be upgraded? Do you truly believe that you will stop collecting comics books once your one goal is completed?

15 minutes ago, Get Marwood & I said:

Can I ask why you want to do it Poorcollector? What is your motivation to own thousands and thousands of comics, many of which existed before you were born, and many of which will have very little appeal individually?  

Personally I have a few reasons for collecting comics. I enjoy Marvel because it is what I grew up with.  Owning all the Nazi covers, and older stuff really appeals to me because it is literally like owning a piece of history.  I enjoy the artwork from the golden age all the way through to today, and I also enjoy the stories of most of the main runs.  I am also a very OCD individual and incredibly goal oriented.  Yes,  I agree that some books have little appeal individually, but those are also the books that can be found for pennies on the dollar.  If I enjoy the history, art, and story of the vast majority of what Marvel has published why not get the cheap stuff if possible and complete the collection. 

11 minutes ago, Ken Aldred said:

I had an equally lofty goal like this when I was a young teenager. 

Never achieved it, though.

Ambition requires either the sort of money that I never had, or at least compromising on condition and not being addled by OCD.

But, at least I got most of the books that are really important to me.

 

Being happy with your collection is all that matters

If you wanted to collect every single comic published by Marvel or DC (pick your favorite) ever, how would you go about doing it?   I have made a list of possible ways I have thought of. 

• Buying collections
• Focusing on a single run at a time
• Going after hard to find books first 
• Starting from the golden age and working my way chronologically

Also to consider am I buying what is being currently published concurrently.  I personally think that if you buy concurrently you avoid a lot of inflated modern key/spec book prices. 

I understand this is a super lofty goal, but hey I am young. What would you do if this was you goal?  If you think this is just absolutely dumb and you don't want to play pretend you can tell me how dumb it is below haha. I am just curious and want to hear some of you guy's thoughts.

5 hours ago, Silver_Couch_Surfer said:

Buy what makes you happy man. Everyone has their preferences. Only you can decide what's right for your collection. That's the fun part!

I've been so hesitant to buy a slab because I love/love collecting raw books, but it looks like I will eventually have to dip my toe in when I go after certain books.  I am an over-thinker so I really dissecting my decision to pull a trigger on some slabbed books. 

3 hours ago, theCapraAegagrus said:

What makes you consider buying graded comics? What kinda comics are you into?

I consider buying graded when a book is expensive enough for me to feel uncomfortable buying a raw copy so I would buy graded to ensure value and desired grade.  Me not pulling the trigger on some graded copies has made me miss out on a few books because I didn't want the slab, but wasn't comfortable buying the raw copy (because I couldn't risk the money if it wasn't graded properly).  This last sentence is the reason I am asking this question now.  I am collecting silver, bronze age keys and runs, and modern keys that I would be willing to get graded or have graded.

3 hours ago, cgcsketcherz said:

I usually try and only slab sketch covers, signed books, double covers, or pricey books and leave the rest raw. 

 

I know it's different for every person, but what defines a pricey book for you?

2 hours ago, theCapraAegagrus said:

I don't think we can make this decision for you.

I understand that, but I just wanted to get some ideas and thought processes so I can see if you have any other ideas. 

6 hours ago, Summydad1 said:

I didn’t read through everyone’s posts so sorry if I am repeating. 
 

Diversity is the spice of life. I like raw, graded, TPB’s, omnibuses. I just would only ever collect CGC graded books. Their cases look best in my opinion. 

My method is raws for all runs and modern keys under $300. CGC for older/more valuable keys. 

I like how you nutshelled your method.  I was thinking something very similar. The thing is with those popular runs (ASM etc.) and older runs it is almost impossible to find ungraded copies of some books in good condition.  I guess I could always crack them if I wanted.  I guess I need to ask what price am I willing to pay for a raw book before I would prefer to guarantee the value by buying graded

6 hours ago, Glassman10 said:

Of the 950 books I had, four wound up graded and slabbed. The AF15 was just bagged for close to fifty years. When it was still not slabbed, a very small chip popped off on a corner while I was putting it back in the bag. I don't think it would have changed the grade it finally got but it would not have happened if it was slabbed. Of the 950 books, probably 25 of them had a value higher that 2K. In retrospect, I would still not have slabbed all but three since I sold to a private dealer, not on Ebay. All three I did slab got 9.0 and higher and were forty plus years old. 

If you are slabbing to protect the comic, I can see it since humidity, handling  and sunlight both can damage the things. If you're planning to sell, I can see it since it established graded value. Beyond that, now you can't read them. 

Wow your collection sounds like a dream.  Maybe one day! I would be buying slabs to ensure value upon purchase, protection, and longevity in my personal collection.  Of course if I needed to sell I could, but I am not an investor I am a collector.

7 hours ago, evilskip said:

I dipped my toes in a few years ago buying slabbed books. Then Newton Rings came along and I did a 180 and am no longer buying slabs. My slabbed collection is down to 11 CGCs and 2 CBCS.

One of my all time favorite books, Hawkman 9, has surfaced in a CGC slabbed 8.5, and I'm passing on it.

Have newton rings gone away yet? I have done some research and every where I look it says something different. I would love a concrete answer if you could point me in the right direction.

8 hours ago, Mercury Man said:

If you want to re-sell the books, then a 3rd party encapsulation will probably help you sell for a maximum price.  

I am of the opinion that CGC has gotten log jammed, with too many, mid grade/non-key books that don't warrant a 3rd party system.  If you want to argue about some random Bronze age being a 4.0 or 5.0, then have at it.  I gots more important things to do. 

I disagree with slabbing everything too. It is unnecessary and those books that do not deserve to be graded also do not usually deserve the price that goes along with it. I would probably stick to keys or books that are important to me. 

10 hours ago, Wall-Crawler said:

Also, you mentioned being on a budget (aren't we all but some more than others), so I would say pick a graded key and save and focus on that. Get it.  Then repeat. It is so easy to lose focus with so much cool material and thats what happened to me when I got back into the hobby  until I decided to go for broke and complete the ASM run.  Since then so glad I did. Every time I can check off the book and get closer to my goal, super satisfying.  

I just readjusted my collecting strategy and it was frustrating wasting my energy, money, and time on something I wasn't sure about.  That is why I am here trying to plan ahead before I regret buying something. I like your strategy of pick a key, save, buy, repeat. It leads to slower collection building, but being happier with your collection. 

7 minutes ago, Arkham said:

Finally, I only buy CGC. 

I think I will stick to cgc as well.  They have the best reputation from my point of view, and I think they look the best. Thanks for sharing your insight.

7 hours ago, Jesse-Lee said:

When I started a couple of months ago though, I tried to limp into the hobby with a really low budget and high expectations, and in doing that, you may find yourself unsatisfied or under-equipped. I'm sure if you looked at my earliest posts here you'd see I made a lot of mistakes and had a lot of bad preconceived notions at first. Since then I changed my philosophy, studied, and diverted investment dollars from some other areas I had money in (I'm a long-time domain name trader for example, and I sold off a few of those recently to re-invest in comics).

I'm still in college and on a relatively tight budget, but I am not trying to amass thousands of comics right now I am just trying to enjoy the hobby as much as I can within my means.  When you made the jump to buying slabs did you think getting those books in a graded form was worth the extra cost that goes along with a slabbed book? I also feel that as soon as I buy one slab I will want every book of value to me slabbed. Did you feel this way, if so how are you adjusting your collecting style to it?

9 hours ago, Arkham said:

Like any aspect of collecting, slabbed vs raw is a deeply personal opinion thing. 
 

Personally, I prefer slabbed books.
I still pick up raw books, but I usually don’t read them*, because I want to keep them in the best condition possible. *(I mostly read via ComiXology on iPad). 

General rules for me: I only collect slabbed books for my main collecting focuses. Also, I will not buy a signed comic unless it is CGC SS. 

So, what do you collect and what attracts you to collecting slabs? 

I have recently shifted my focus of my collecting to silver age books (mostly marvel, but some DC) which kind of explains why I am asking this question now.  I realize that some of the silver keys are expensive even in raw form, and I can see myself buying graded books for the purpose of guaranteeing the value so I am not wasting money on a raw book that is in rougher shape than initially visible.  You said you pick up mostly slabbed books so can you explain your thought process and also explain what you collect?

9 hours ago, Doctor Dositheus said:

I did not buy my first slab until this year. I loved to gawk at them on the walls at the cons, but I never envisioned buying a book expensive enough to be on the wall, and the slabs not on the wall were what most here would call not slabworthy.

But then it got to a point where I just wasn't seeing the books I was looking for raw. I was looking for an FF 72 for my FF run and did not like the raw copies I was seeing.

Being impatient and wanting it now, I bought my first slab. Of course once I bought one, more were to come. My desire for slabs now rises and wanes. Except for keys I lean more toward raw copies now.

I'm definitely going to be sending some of my original owner stuff in soon to get slabbed. I expect to get a clearer idea of what I'm going to keep and how much of that will be slabbed as I start to get those back.

Generally speaking, if I can get a book I'm looking for raw in the 5.0 - 8.0 range for under a hundred bucks, I'll take that over a slab. But there are definitely a set of books that I would like to have in slabs for my "personal wall".

So you only buy graded books out of necessity?  Did you feel forced or are you okay with having those books slabbed?  Are you sending those books in for protection/keepsake reasons?

I do not own any slabs, and I am unsure of whether or not I want to start down the path. I know that some people love cgc books and some love raw book.  I understand there are a multitude of factors that go into whether someone does graded vs. raw books (cost, aesthetic etc.), but I want to get some of you all's opinions on whether I should start collecting graded comics. 

Just now, Jeffro. said:

Yes.

Who gives a flying fornicate what anyone else thinks? Who cares about how someone else got into collecting? All this social media garbage is just navel gazing nonsense. It has zero effect on you and your collection. Collect what you want. Enjoy your comics and your collecting journey. That's all that really matters. 

 

I just needed to hear this.  Thank you!

I am in my early twenties and I am an avid youtube watcher especially of comic book related material.  I am watching of these guys who have awesome comic book collecting origin stories.  Typically, when they were a kid and they got an amazing ASM or FF book, and from then on they were hooked.   I started collecting when sixteen because I had some extra cash and didn't have anything else to do.  My first comic Book purchase consisted of Infinity Heist #1 and Manifest Destiny #1.  I just feel like my collecting story isn't as cool as a lot of other people, and I feel like I am one of the only young people to have thousands of comics.  What do you guys think about this.  Am I just being self conscious and over thinking?   How do I get more comfortable with my collecting origins, and become happier with my collection?