ConcreteMob181

I think I'm going to start with this approach although I very much appreciate what others have suggested, particularly D2's idea of transitioning to omnibuses and a few key runs at some point. Right now, I easily have room for about 6500 - 7000 books and we won't be moving anytime soon. But my goal has long been to keep my collection around 5000, 6000 max. I'm at at about 5500 and my outstanding want list is not overly long but there are a couple of decent size runs left that I want and I still buy about 6-to-8 new comics a month. I have a few hundred books in my sell pile already and definitely see some additional places to cut. Its not a great time to be selling at the moment but I have some storage space and much of what I'm selling isn't going to be worth a ton anyway. Thanks again all for the advice.

More great advice. As I mentioned in the previous post, a few of my runs are quite long, even if they are mostly creator, rather than character runs. As you mentioned, I do try to only keep the runs that I love and/or runs that have historical/cultural value. Thanks for sharing your experiences with Chip n'Dale and Tom & Jerry. I think it's helped me realize that while I have done a pretty good job of cutting down my collection in the past (I have sold far more books than I currently own), there is still a decent amount of fat. In other words, I still have all the runs I love but I also probably have a few I just like. And I'm not sure I need to keep the ones I just like for the sake of being a completionist. I may go through my collection spreadsheet and start to make that distinction. I'm guessing I can find 500 plus books to trim. Thanks!

That's good advice. I have mostly cut my character runs down to creator runs. So, instead of all of Fantastic Four I have the best part of the Kirby/Lee (IMO) run, the Byrne run, the Waid run, and the Hickman run. The only full character run I may have left is Hellblazer but admittedly there are some pretty long creator runs such as Peter David's Hulk and Chris Claremont's X-Men that I could give a second look to. The problem with cutting the creator runs is that while I like having the whole run I also read all my post-Silver books in single issues. In other words, with a couple of exceptions, I don't have any of this stuff in trade. While this gives some folks watching me flip through a Giant Size X-Men #1 or an Iron Man #55 a kitten attack, I like reading the single issues, looking at the adds, the original paper, etc. and wouldn't be too stoked to suddenly replace all that with hardcovers. But definitely some things to think about. Thanks!

Looking for advice from folks who have successfully pared down their collections. I have typically been very good at this, only keeping runs that I plan to reread or which have historical value. Goal is to keep collection around 5K. But since I collect runs, and not single issues, those numbers are getting harder to maintain. Welcome any metrics, thoughts, etc. fully understanding that there are limits when you only collect runs. Thanks!

I read 454 in all of 2022. As of today I hit 461 for 2023 so already ahead of my 2022 total but with 3.5 months to go. Highlights this year are Death Rattle, Xenozoic Tales, Twisted Tales, Alien Worlds, DnA Cosmic, John Byrne’s Fantastic Four, Fatale, and 2001 Space Odyssey. And tonight I just started Ostrander’s Suicide Squad.

There have been some great superhero comics done but superheroes are probably about a quarter of my collection. Vertigo was what got me fully invested in the medium and I have a huge interest in genre comics (e.g. scifi, crime, horrow) as well as non-genre indies/underground books.

This is really interesting. I really dug Long Halloween but, after reading everyone’s comments I remembered that the last time I read it was about 12 years ago. I remember liking that it was a true detective story and got into the nitty gritty on the Gotham mob. But maybe it wouldn’t hold up on a re-read today. I will have to give it another look. When it comes to Batman I think Year One and Dark Knight Returns hold up well. I think Killing Joke is overrated although there are parts I like. I also quite enjoyed Morrison’s Arkham Asylum and Son of the Demon. I’d be curious to know folks’ opinion on other overrated and underrated Batman books.

Unpopular opinions you say? I’ve got a few. 1. Matt Fraction’s Hawkeye and Tom King’s Vision are overrated. 2. Brian Azzarello’s Wonder Woman was the best New 52 series. 3. Brian Wood is not a good writer. 4. Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing is the greatest comic run of all time. 5. The Long Halloween is a a top 3 Batman run.

Awesome! Thanks much! I look forward to reading.

Howdy all. My apologies, in advance, if this is addressed elsewhere. I have been collecting convention sketches/commissions for years. I don't have any intent of selling but I need to provide an accurate valuation for insurance purposes. I know, of course, what I paid but that's about it. I really have no clue as to how to value these. Can anyone suggest a reference or rule of thumb? Or do I just have to hire an appraiser? Many thanks!

This thread speaks to me. I only collect runs. If I have a key it’s because its part of a run. And my runs tend to be specific creators on specific titles. For example, I love Fantastic Four but I don’t collect all of Fantastic Four. Rather I have complete sets (or sets in progress) of my favorite creator runs on FF (specifically, Byrne, Waid, Hickman and what I consider to be the best part of the Kirby/Lee run). It took me until about a decade ago to realize that most don’t collect this way. Which is totally cool. It just never occurred to me to do differently. My longest single title run is probably Hellblazer #1-300 (one of the rare one title, all the creator sets) But some of my favs include all of Kirby’s Fourth World, Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing, Claremont’s X-Men, Gaiman’s Sandman, and all of Starlin’s Cosmic books starting with Iron Man #55. I also read them all in the single issues. Except for Silver and, if I ever buy any, Gold. Those are slabbed.

Second this. Waid is top 4 runs for me (Lee/Kirby, Byrne and Hickman being the other 3). Waid’s Doom and Galactus stories stand out but the whole run was pretty excellent.

1) Read 600 comics (read 454 last year). 2) Move at least 3 books closer to completing my Peak Kirby FF run (#44-67 plus Annual 6). Only 7 away (2022 goal was a FF 52, which I picked up). 3) Finish my current cull (got about 3/4 done in 2022). 4) Resume grading and pricing my collection (stopped doing this in 2021). 5) Marvel Premiere 9-14, Doc Strange Vol 2 #1, and a couple of random run fillers.

Jennifer, Thank you for this clarification. I appreciate it. Best, Evan

Dear CGC, I have called three times in the past few months to ask when I will get back my Value tier submission 3884197 and have gotten a different (and in the first two instances an incorrect) answer every time. To be specific, I was told in November I would have my books in January. Then I was told in January, I would have my books in February/March And then, in February, I was told I would have my books in July - 14 months after CGC received them and one year after CGC opened them. I understand that Value tier is low priority, having been discontinued, and that the enormous volume of books received makes it difficult to give a precise return date. But I find the wide range of dates I have been given - literally spanning 7 months - without any explanation as to why the date keeps getting pushed a bit frustrating. Could you please update me on an accurate timeframe for when I can anticipate getting this submission back? Thanks you in advance for your time.