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[Socratic Wonder]

Start with Batman’s. They are cheaper compared to there Detective counterparts and still have great interiors. Not to mention a few cool covers. You can also chase mid to high grade copies without breaking the bank or waiting years to find a copy. (thumbs u

[Old Fashion PB and J]

Start with Batman’s. They are cheaper compared to there Detective counterparts and still have great interiors. Not to mention a few cool covers. You can also chase mid to high grade copies without breaking the bank or waiting years to find a copy. (thumbs u

 

Coincidentally, I just worked out a deal for my first GA book. It is Detective Comics #80, I traded for it . I basically traded $100.00 worth of books for a GD (2.0) copy. I think that should be ok, and even if it is a 1.8. I am happy to get my first book, especially since it isnt really out of pocket. I may also do some more trades for some other books.

[G.A.tor]

hey pat

nice to have you join the "golden" age.... it is true, once you start, you will not want to stop....and with such an incredibly diverse amount of GA material at your disposal, tread water for a while, ask for advice ( we are all only to happy to share our thoughts), and enjoy!

 

DC is a great place to start...All Stars is a run that has a little bit of everything , and is the most affordable of your likes...

 

Batman next, then Detective (price wise) also offer great insight into the birth of the Golden age...

 

then, as something strikes your fancy, approach it, and see if the appeal to you is worth the price tag...

 

nothing but fun from here!

gator

[seank]

I think at 44, I'm an old fart around here.

 

Anyway, Ressurection, I'm going to repeat some advice I've given here before regarding GA:

 

The Golden Age wasn't superhero-focused like Silver and later. Keep an open mind and explore a little. There's SF, western, GGA, funny animals, teen humor, war, you name it. Sample a bit to get an idea of how vast and rich this pot is. It's not a one-note meal like silver and up.

 

That said, I'm going to disagree with Ronaldo and recommend Detective over Batman because Detective was an anthology book and you'll get more diverse reading right now.

 

Also, you may want to check out some affordable reprints: Gemstone is doing a fantastic job of reprinting ECs right now in hardback ($32 on Amazon!). The books contain the stories as well as house ads and editorial content (including letters pages!!). Great reading.

 

There's a new TPB out recently that reprints a bunch of Sheena stories from 1940's Jumbos. The stories are of varying quality, but for less than $20, you get a taste of some classic GGA.

 

Early Archie stories are available as dirt-cheap TPBs and are great.

 

If you're really dedicated to taking the GA plunge, spend $100 on the Gerber Guides. Best price is through budplant.com.

 

So -- don't limit yourself to superheros. It's like going to an ice cream store stocked with dozens of flavors and only buying vanilla.

[Old Fashion PB and J]

I think at 44, I'm an old fart around here.

 

Anyway, Ressurection, I'm going to repeat some advice I've given here before regarding GA:

 

The Golden Age wasn't superhero-focused like Silver and later. Keep an open mind and explore a little. There's SF, western, GGA, funny animals, teen humor, war, you name it. Sample a bit to get an idea of how vast and rich this pot is. It's not a one-note meal like silver and up.

 

That said, I'm going to disagree with Ronaldo and recommend Detective over Batman because Detective was an anthology book and you'll get more diverse reading right now.

 

Also, you may want to check out some affordable reprints: Gemstone is doing a fantastic job of reprinting ECs right now in hardback ($32 on Amazon!). The books contain the stories as well as house ads and editorial content (including letters pages!!). Great reading.

 

There's a new TPB out recently that reprints a bunch of Sheena stories from 1940's Jumbos. The stories are of varying quality, but for less than $20, you get a taste of some classic GGA.

 

Early Archie stories are available as dirt-cheap TPBs and are great.

 

If you're really dedicated to taking the GA plunge, spend $100 on the Gerber Guides. Best price is through budplant.com.

 

So -- don't limit yourself to superheros. It's like going to an ice cream store stocked with dozens of flavors and only buying vanilla.

 

I dont really read just superhero stuff. 2 of my favorite titles are Jonah Hex and Sgt.Rock (our army at war).

[G.A.tor]

outside of the big 2 (DC and Timely), you have to get the photo journals and take a gander at some of the Cheslers, Centaurs, Fox, MJL, Quality, etc... SOOOOOOOO many great publishers...

[Forbush-Man]

The absolute best advice anyone can give you is "Buy what you like". (thumbs u

[Forbush-Man]

 

DC is a great place to start...All Stars is a run that has a little bit of everything , and is the most affordable of your likes...

 

 

 

That is my thought as well: You get a little bit of a number of heroes at an affordable cost. (thumbs u

[seank]

snippage

 

 

I dont really read just superhero stuff. 2 of my favorite titles are Jonah Hex and Sgt.Rock (our army at war).

 

Mine too. I'm a big Jonah Hex fan. And one of my favorite comic-collecting moments was sitting around with Mark in the Houseofcomics talking about and looking at DC war books one afternoon.

[Theagenes]

Welcome to GA! I'm 35 and I've been collecting GA for since I was about your age. If you're interested in other genres than superheroes, then you're going to love GA. You've been getting some great advice, but one of the most important is to get the Gerber Guides That will give you a great idea of all the amazing books there are out there. Good Luck! (thumbs u

Jeff

[G.A.tor]

well...I am, um....yeah, you see my age is...um 27...yeah, that's the ticket, I am, um, 27, you see

[BB-Gun]

New Collectors tend to focus on well know golden age characters like Batman, Superman, Captain America and there is a large group that only collect Timely with Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner. Back in the old days, there was a strong connection between the Sunday Funnies and the comics. I particularly like to collect the old anthology issues that reprint sunday pages of Tarzan, Flash Gordon, Tracy and Gasoline Alley. Old Peanuts comics are probably more popular than these old reprints from the 1930s. Westerns are not as popular as superheroes but the Atlas and ME westerns have a group that collects them. Cowboy fans tend to go for Gene Autry and Roy Rogers but I prefer Red Ryder and the Ghost Rider.

 

Someone said it all ready. There is a wide variety of choices. All Stars are great and are a little more reasonable than Marvel Mystery but you can still get All Americans and Adventure with a variety of heroes. Batman may sell better than Detectives but if you want to see a variety of characters then 100-150 Detectives are reasonable. Sensation with Wonder Woman and Adventure with Manhunter or Superboy are still pretty available. Romance comics with covers by Baker are popular and LBCole did a lot of spectacular covers. Fans of Little Lulu, Donald Duck and Pre-code Horror are pretty vocal and they all seem to maintain value.

 

Finally, write to Bob Beerbohm or one of the other dealers on line and I am sure they will find what you want. If you bid on ebay, try to bid on what you want but don't overbid. Unless it is really rare you will probably find another. My personal feeling is that page quality is more important than a few rips or tears. Scotch tape is a disaster. Masking tape and duck tape can't fix comics, it makes them worse. Restoration is common in golden age but may make the comic less valuable. And I want all of the comics with GIANT ROBOTS on the cover.

bb

[Scrooge]

Welcome to GA! I'm 35 and I've been collecting GA for since I was about your age. If you're interested in other genres than superheroes, then you're going to love GA. You've been getting some great advice, but one of the most important is to get the Gerber Guides That will give you a great idea of all the amazing books there are out there. Good Luck! (thumbs u

Jeff

 

I wholeheatedly agree about the Gerber guides but I would also advise to not judge a GA book by its cover. Way too many times, mess hides behind good / great covers (Boy Comics comes to mind) and other times greatness hides behind humdrum covers (early Smash Comics comes to mind). In the GA era more so than the SA, decisions on artists should dominate be it Lou Fine, Bill Everett, Mac Raboy or Fred Guardineer.

[HouseofComics.Com]

My god, you guys are even younger than I thought! For some reason I just automatically thought that some of you were a few years older than me. To find out that Scrooge and Buttock are a few years younger (I'm 39) yet know so much, oh my, I'm having a povertyrow moment here! I need to go lie down.

[JazzMan]

Dang! So seank is the only one a little older than me...41. I'm also a newcomer to GA - I bought my first GA book at age..... 40! I grew up in the silver/bronze age and that's what I knew, so GA was something exotic and foreign to me. It's still exotic, but a little less foreign. I really didn't get into the whole focused collecting mindset until about a few months ago (I try to go after mid-grade Supes and Actions of the 40s and 50s, and SA ASMs <100). As you can tell, the word "affordable" in this forum, especially, is a relative term. And, as everyone has told you, the Gerber books are a must have...you'll drool over all those veautiful books that you'll never own.

[october]

At 29 I think I may be one of the youngest here , and I am sure my questions will reflect upon that.

 

I am 27.

 

The best way to learn is to spend an hour or so a day reading these boards. You should also PM collectors who are more experienced in your areas of interest and ask for advice. Adamstrange and Centaurman have both contributed greatly to my own humble store of knowledge, and I would like to think they have learned some things from me as well (Win anyway, not much AdamS doesn't know already). I am not sure what your financial situation is, but I find that I learn best by doing. Take the plunge and pick up a few $50-100 golden age books and try them out. Get a feel for what you like and don't like. As you may have noticed, for most of us collecting is an ongoing process and our individual tastes are constantly being refined and challenged. Good luck!

[october]

Welcome to the club (32, first GA book in my early teens). One thing you really need to get in your head before you dive into GA is that you just can't rely on the books you want being available when you want them. It takes a lot of patience, and you need to realize that you may go a few months between purchases.

 

If you're coming from SA or BA, you may be used to just trying to find the book you want at the right price. In GA, you're often trying to find the book you want at any price.

 

Very true. Also, unless you have unlimited resources, it's advisable to pace your spending and think carefully about each purchase. I have found that quality material comes in fits and starts, so save up that money for when a bunch of nice books pop up at once. I went a couple of months without finding anything recently, then in the last week I came across six relatively expensive books that I wanted. If I had not checked my spending during the leaner times I would not have been able to afford them all.

[ashrael]

Welcome

 

I am 29 and bought my first golden age comics when I was around 14 (too bad I didn't stick with it and keep buying them).

[Dark Knight]

Ahh another collector who converted to the "Golden Age" era.. Like you, I was converted about 3 years ago and have never stopped enjoying/buying GA books. Like everyone is saying, educate yourself on these boards to see how much more or less books you want to buy go for. You can certainly find great deals out there in the marketplace. You just have to be patient. I personally love the Detective Comics run as they showcase a wide variety of cool covers and stories. This run basically converted me to collect GA from SA. Well, hope you enjoy and let us know what other books you purchase.

[Old Fashion PB and J]

I am waiting to find out about what other books may become available to me. If it is a bunch of titles I am not interested in I will post what I can or do get. I really think detective , batman, and all-star will be my main focus to begin (mostly due to affordability). The advice and general welcome here has been surprising (although the boards have usually been kind to me). My one advantage is that I sell comics at local shows, so all of my money comes from whatever I sell. I get married in August and the wife to be and I are planning on a family, so money is quite tight. Unlimited Income is a pipedream for me.

 

Like I said I have been reading this forum for awhile, and it really fascinates me. And I also believe having answers to questions shouldnt be problematic. So my first purchases will be slow, but after getting through the wedding I should have significantly more cash (she and I are paying for everything). I have read everything in this thread so far, and am quite enthusiastic about beginning my GA collection.

 

I will post pics of my low grade Tec' 80 when it arrives. It will be my first issue.