I know Avengers are hot, but...

[canickus]

Well...thanks for the several e-mails about this thread...I think

 

I do agree that buying this book was probably not cost-effective or whatever. But I didn't buy it to flip or anything, my son will inherit it in 30 years or so.

 

And I am a dedicated Avengers fan and am slowly trying to amass a complete run (though this New, Mighty, Dark, three different covers for every issue is getting out of hand). I certainly like dedicated more than pathological. (thumbs u

 

And, as someone astutely stated, I thought it would be cool to own a 10.0 Avenger for my run (I've got a bunch of 9.9s but no 10). And, after you've paid what would buy a really nice car for a single comic, $800 bucks doesn't seem too bad.

 

And I don't need an AF 15 cgc 2.0, I've got a nice copy.

And I don't need a xbox 360,Wii or PS3. Between my kids, there's all of these in the house, multiple times.

 

And perhaps cooper cgc 10s are just waiting to fall out of trees, but I don't see it and don't care (and, if another shows up, I'll bid on it to get my cost basis down).

 

As far as money goes, all I expect is to break even overall. And, basically, by making money on bronze but losing money on coppers and moderns, I've done just that (though I would have lost my shirt for the first six months I bought stuff if not for some incredible luck).

 

here4now/pastimperfekt

 

PS: thanks to Wrightson Fan (who I highly recommend as a seller and all-around good guy) and cheetah for sticking up for me. Takes a dedicated Avengers fan to know one.

 

 

 

 

Well said,

 

After setting several GPA highs myself, I have felt these same thoughts.

 

As an older collector, the one thing that I have seen over and over is that the passionate collector who puts together a real collection normally does better financially than the speculator.

 

I have also never known a collector who puts together a real collection of anything who didn't "overpay" for part of it. The really interesting thing is that some of the "overpaid for" books become bargains in hindsight. For a certainty, many of the best books that I own, I overpaid for. I will give you one example using an Avengers book. I spent $1858 for an Avengers 4 a couple of years ago. I had always wanted a nice copy and I love double covers so when the opportunity for a double cover Avengers 4 presented itself, I went for it. GPA at that time for an 8.0 was around $1100 bucks. How do you value the book? I wanted the book and was willing to spend $25 more than then underbidder who I don't think was a shill. The price was a GPA high. Until another double cover 8.0 is found, certified and sold it will probably remain the GPA high. The book is a keeper for me, so I am not planning on selling. The last sale of an Avengers 4 8.0 was $2400 in February of this year.

 

My advice, because it has always served me well. Buy what you enjoy. Have fun. Buy what you understand. Buy what you can afford.

[TempusFugitivus]

Andrew-

Thanks for apology though it wasn't necessary. Free speech is a good thing.

Comicopolis-

I agree. The best thing about the cover is the She-Hulk

canickus-

I couldn't agree with you more. When my son moved in and I got back into collecting three or four years ago, I concentrated on getting back what I loved as a kid. It's worked out well. Early on, I bought a Avengers 9 cgc 9.0 white (in a Comiclink Auction, I think) for just under $1500 if I remember correctly. I always liked the cover and remember the Simon Williams/Wonder Man rebirth in the 150s with great affection (Buscema, Perez and then Byrne, oh yah).

 

In any case, the price was way the hell over guide. I bid crazy because I wanted it (and still barely won it) and, quite frankly, because I had no idea about GPA at the time. Later, after getting e-mails that I was getting trashed on the boards, I read through all the posts about me (and decided I never wanted to join the boards) and also noticed some posts making fun of my Avengers 9 purchase (though no one knew it was me).

 

The posts articulated what a lame hero Wonder Man is and that only a complete insufficiently_thoughtful_person would have bid what I did (though I must agree with the posters that Don Heck was not the, shall we say, best artist ever to work on the Avengers).

 

Well, I look at my Avengers 9 which is beautiful and white and I will bet would press up to a 9.2 easy or maybe even a 9.4 if I ever went to sell it (which I would only do if I somehow got a better copy) and then I note that an obviously pressed Avengers 9.2 off-white that is no where near as pretty as my copy just went for $7000+ and I can't help but laugh.

 

Buy what you love and be rewarded indeed.

[drewincanada]

I like Wonder Man. And I've also started to begrudgingly respect Don Heck's work on the Avengers. (I'm still a Buscema man, though.)

 

And I've also resigned myself to not owning a #9 in 9.x grade - at least not in the foreseeable future. I had a number of opportunities to buy a 9.0 or 9.2 copy in early 1997 but I bought other issues instead.

 

Nice pickup on your #9, H4N. If you upgrade and want to sell the 9.0, let me know!