What's next? Did you ever consider...

[jjonahjameson1]

...selling your original artwork and getting back into high grade comics or magazine collecting again? I was mulling this thought over the course of the weekend and basically surfing the 'Bay for high grade comics and I couldn't help but notice how many wonderful high grade Warren Mags (Vampi's/Creepy's/EERIE's, etc) and really cool bronze and silver age books one can obtain for mere fractions of what an original page now sells for.

 

I know a lot of art collectors sold a lot of their comics to get into original art, but I'm wondering if anyone's entertained the thought of selling their artwork to get back into comics?

[heartened]

I've thought about buying a great example of a high-grade hard to find book. But, then I start remembering all the paranoia and OCD that went into collecting the books: restoration checks, small little dings here and there, shadowing, trusting the dealer, keeping the books safe and sound, NOT reading them, etc. It's just too stressful and sucks most if not all of the joy out of it. So, then I go back to the art...

 

Case in point. When I was collecting comic books, I was looking for the ever-elusive NM Flash 123. It was a favorite cover/book of mine, and I looked high and low. This past year Heritage was selling a NM 9.4 copy. It was VERY tempting for two reasons: first, I can now afford it, and second, I had always wanted it. But, in the end I let it go for the reasons that I stated.

 

So there you have it...

 

[brandolsn]

I've thought about buying a great example of a high-grade hard to find book. But, then I start remembering all the paranoia and OCD that went into collecting the books: restoration checks, small little dings here and there, shadowing, trusting the dealer, keeping the books safe and sound, NOT reading them, etc. It's just too stressful and sucks most if not all of the joy out of it. So, then I go back to the art...

I'm with you. With art most of those things get eliminated as you're dealing with something that's one of a kind - there is no better copy. Most of the condition issues I obsessed about with comics slowly disappeared the longer I collected originals. Now I have new issues around my office and bedroom where as before I collected originals, sometimes they wouldn't even be read and go straight into a bag with a board. I read more new issues now than I did before I started collecting originals.

[Mighty Hal]

The problem with collecting comics or magazines? You either buy 'em entombed in plastic or you live in fear that they'll be dinged. Not destroyed, not really damaged, just given a tiny ding. And, if that ding appears, the value falls...sometimes drastically.

 

There's a freedom in walking away from that. If I want to read a comic, I pick up an issue, read it, usually share it with several people, don't care if I get it back. If I think the storyline is a keeper, I look for a TP.

 

I like my comic art to look mint, too. But if it doesn't? It's still the one and only original. The pencil drawing on the back, the notes to the editor, the word balloons and even the clipped corners won't destroy its value.

 

So, no, Jjonah, I'm not going back. Once you go OA, there ain't no other way.

[Pirate]

THere isn't a comic out there i would trade my OA for.

[mister_not_so_nice]

Never once crossed my mind.

 

I was never a 'high grade' collector, so never had the option to trade comics for OA. I wouldn't mind having a nice copy of some of the golden age GGA books, but I can't bring myself to spend $300 on a mass produced comic when I know for the same money I can get an original comic page. And I sure don't have the option of getting both.

 

Once you go Black (and white art) you never go back

[micmack]

What they said!

[westform]

I once thought about trading in some art and getting a copy of Captain America Comics #1.... love that comic! But, went to San Diego and looked around the room. There were 6 copies in various grade up on dealers walls. Kinda deflated the excitement balloon... wish I could see 6 Kirby Captain America original covers in San Diego sometime, but somehow I think it's not going to ever happen.

 

Moral of story... you can always buy any comic. Yes, it may cost you more later, but you can always buy it. Try putting together a list of important comic art that you'd like. See how long it takes you to track it down and buy it. If ever.

[Drummy]

I became so disenchanted with CGC's changing policies and random behaviors that I turned toward the nostalgia of OA...and now I won't go back. (Maybe for a VG FF #1 someday, but that's it.)

 

I've seen enough missed restoration, 'shaken comic syndrome', overgrading (IMO), pandering to high-end dealers/clients, and incomprehensible upgrades and downgrades (and page quality changes) to suggest that I never know what I'm getting when I'm getting a CGC book. Not to mention all the comic pressers and manipulators out there who can stay a step ahead of the even the most knowledgeable and well-meaning graders...absolutely not worth it to me to take such risks with my money. I admire CGC, of course, but can say with certainty that their effort to restore trust and credibility to comic collecting has not succeeded.

 

Original art is wonderful to look at and admire, even over and over again. And I can actually READ my comic books and look for more art pages to collect. Viva le art!

 

Dan

[comicartfan]

It's funny you bring this up Yoram. I have been mulling this over from time to time and then I start thinking about the issues that were already mentioned by Dan and Hari.

 

I start looking at some of the high grade books and I start missing some of the great gems that I once owned. I begin surfing threads, looking at comic dealers web sites, thinking to myself "If i sold this cover, then I could buy these 4 comics"......... Reality starts to kick in. I think about how obsessed I was with condition, finding certian books in certian grades to complete a series or a small run, then there is the fact that they just sit in a box ! - Art is easily stored, easily displayed (course, it costs money to properly frame it) and easily enjoyed. Looking at it on the wall every day as compared to looking at box on the floor.

 

And lastly, and this is a biggie, at least for me. I get the worst case of ADD when I collect comics. I am all over the place, grabbing whatever eye candy satisfies my sweet tooth that particular moment. With OA, because of the costs involved, I am forced to be more fastidious with my choices....Thus, spend wisely.

 

[westform]

Hi Dan; I hear you but it was my experience that CGC has actually helped the credibility of the comic collecting hobby. I have heard about problems, some of them large; but, and it's a big but, I am pretty darn sure they have no intention of trying to defraud or harm anyone and actually try their best to help collectors.

 

You cannot say the same for some dealers and collectors out there who will actually try and pass of restored books as unrestored... even when they did the restoring. Yes, there are some things that cgc may miss but that speaks more to the unscrupulous individuals trying to defraud the hobby by going to such extremes than it does cgc.

 

When I left the comic book hobby, I sent all my books to cgc for grading. What a suprise.... Not too much in the actual grades as I was pretty careful, but there were some doozies when it came to detecting almost undetectable restoration. I had unbeknowst to me, bought 'touched' comics from some of the finest and most reputable dealers and auction houses. Yes, one or two came from collectors. One of the dealers even admitted to me that his partner had added glue to the spine.... but no they wouldn't take the book back as I got a great deal anyway! Nice.

 

Anyway, I was pretty thankful to CGC for getting to the truth. Yes, it cost for the lesson, but I felt I could point to someone or something in the hobby with some integrity. However for me, it all left such a bad taste that I couldn't buy another comic book. The fun was gone after being snookered too many times. But, I bet for many and especially many that came after me saw slabbing and impartial grading as a pretty good insurance policy to keep you from taking huge financial hits. Not perfect, but so much better than the wild and wooley days of yesteryear.

 

 

[batman_fan]

I have actually started to sell off comics for some big OA purchase (nothing particular lined up yet but want cash in hand so the transaction can go quickly when I find the right page).

[r1982rhoads]

Some great comments...I will never go back to buying comics as I used to. I was so paranoid handling books that I never enjoyed them the same as when I was a kid. OA has freed me of that. I've been selling most of my comic collection to buy art and trade paperbacks when applicable. The thing that got me to sell my comics is, that they sit in a box, and in that box, bagged and boarded...how many times do I flip through them a year? Once, twice? I get the fix I did when I was a kid looking at the art, and reading the trades...

[Guardian Comics]

Yoram: I am one of those people who has gone back to comics per se. As I found a focus, White Mountains, I've been letting some of my original art go on bigger purchases to help finance the books. When I got into OA a few years ago I thought I was never going back, but then I realized their is no finality to OA collecting. We all buy the best pieces, that we can afford and go from there. They are usally pieces from random books, that don't have anything in common with each other. As much as I appreciated the uniqueness of each and every page, having anything less than a complete book of OA seems unfinished to my OCD habit I have. Yes, books are easier to collect and more plentiful, that's why I decided to chase books from only pedigree collections. It provides a greater challenge, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel and when I complete that goal, I'll find something else.

 

Jim

[Mister Trent]

...selling your original artwork and getting back into high grade comics or magazine collecting again? I was mulling this thought over the course of the weekend and basically surfing the 'Bay for high grade comics and I couldn't help but notice how many wonderful high grade Warren Mags (Vampi's/Creepy's/EERIE's, etc) and really cool bronze and silver age books one can obtain for mere fractions of what an original page now sells for.

 

I know a lot of art collectors sold a lot of their comics to get into original art, but I'm wondering if anyone's entertained the thought of selling their artwork to get back into comics?

 

Absolutely not.

 

Nowadays, if I want to read a vintage comic-book, I'm happy with a reprint. Having the original comic-books is no longer of any importance to me (I sold off a near-complete run of Silver Age Marvels years ago).

 

 

[delekkerste]

Absolutely not.

 

Nowadays, if I want to read a vintage comic-book, I'm happy with a reprint. Having the original comic-books is no longer of any importance to me (I sold off a near-complete run of Silver Age Marvels years ago).

 

I'm the same way - I care about the content, not the collectibility, of comic books. I'm happy with HCs/TPBs and I even just bought the complete volumes of ASM, FF/Silver Surfer and the X-Men on DVD-ROM last week. I can't say 100% that I will never buy a vintage collectible comic book ever again, but I don't foresee it happening.

 

If I end up quitting collecting comic book OA, it will be to move onto something else. The thrill is gone from collecting comic books for me - I just like to read 'em now.

[jjonahjameson1]

When I left the comic book hobby, I sent all my books to cgc for grading. What a suprise.... Not too much in the actual grades as I was pretty careful, but there were some doozies when it came to detecting almost undetectable restoration. I had unbeknowst to me, bought 'touched' comics from some of the finest and most reputable dealers and auction houses. Yes, one or two came from collectors. One of the dealers even admitted to me that his partner had added glue to the spine.... but no they wouldn't take the book back as I got a great deal anyway! Nice.

 

Great postings all around, guys. What's interesting to note is that a lot of you have cited the 'handling' or 'grading' or 'restoration' uncertainties as reasons for not going back to comics collecting. However, as technology advances, I think you will find more and more fakes/copies being sold as original artwork. It's already starting to happen and I'm wondering if you'll all be as put off by that in original art collecting as you were in comics collecting?

 

With regard to some of the comments about purchasing reprints because content is most import - I totally understand that point of view, but nothing is better than opening a vintage issue of your favorite comic and seeing all of those great house ads for upcoming issues (that you wish you had the forsight to buy off the racks) or the ads for Onion gum, 100 toy soldiers, Sea Monkeys, etc.

 

Those old letters pages were always fun to read and of course, we can't forget about all of those guys at conventions that opened the comics, put their noses really close to the pages and sniffed them as though they were sniffing a fine bouquet of wine

[brasseye]

THere isn't a comic out there i would trade my OA for.

 

OA is the meat to the comic book sandwich (thumbs u

 

[MutantKeys]

I like both

[buyatari]

 

I totally understand that point of view, but nothing is better than opening a vintage issue of your favorite comic and seeing all of those great house ads for upcoming issues (that you wish you had the forsight to buy off the racks) or the ads for Onion gum, 100 toy soldiers, Sea Monkeys, etc.

 

 

I just picked up that 100 toy solider treasure chest at a garage sale for 25 cents. It is the size of wooden matchbook box and the toy soldiers,planes,ships etc are all flat not like what you imagined as a kid.

 

It would be cool to a gallery of all these products with the original ad next to the real product you would have recieved had you sent in your money. I have the x-ray vision specs too! The real prize would be that miniature sub.