• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

How do you collect?

78 posts in this topic

There are so many different ways to collect comic books grin.gif

 

I think in the beginning, most comic book collectors focus on a particular title(s) or character(s). Once a collector has a few years under their belt, I think they will specialize in other areas.

 

I guess my focus is on the Bronze Age (1970s, mostly Marvel & DC) as my first comic books were from that era. I do buy recent books as well, but mostly trade paperbacks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

some titles I collect runs, although most of them are shortened (x-men 1-143, Green Lantern 1-89.) On top of that I collect artist issues (at the present time I'm working on Steranko, Adams, Starlin and Wrightson) and some (early) character appearances (just finished Thanos, working on Warlock.)

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree w/Hogations - most collectors start out with a favorite character or title, and as they mature (well, most of them do anyway), they figure out who their favorite artist and/or writer are and follow their work, regardless of character.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I give various books that fall within my favorite genres a try. I usually give them 6 to 12 issues to grow on me. If I haven't become attached to them then I drop them. I don't buy key issues for collectibility unless it is a key issue of a title that has meaning to me. As of now the stories provide me with more value than the worth of most of my comics.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here are some examples of how I've collected:

  • Runs -- The ones I'm currently working are Spidey, Fantastic Four, Daredevil, X-Men, Thor .
  • Writers -- I currently buy just about anything Garth Ennis writes.
  • Artists -- Anything Alex Ross or John Romita Sr. drew I'm likely to buy.
  • Genres -- I'm currently infatuated with buying any horror or sci-fi comics, especially short stories in the EC style (haven't found any yet I like besides the ECs and the Pacific series "Twisted Tales" and "Alien Worlds" from the early 1980s).
  • Publishers -- Some people try to get every Marvel or DC or Image comic that comes out, although I'm not one of them.
  • Characters -- Some people buy every title featuring a particular character, such as people who buy the dozens of Spidey titles there have been over the years.
  • Unique/rare issues -- Some twisted, lost, overly-anal bean counters like to buy every price variant ever made. Or every double-cover defect they find.
  • Pedigrees -- Some people buy up all the Western Penns or Mile Highs they find.

Name a pattern, and it's likely somebody collects all issues which fit the pattern. If anyone is interested, I'm entertaining offers on the new "James Rudd HGCGC Read-On-The-Can" run, which is a complete set of the highest-graded CGC issues from their census that I have cracked open and read while using the bathroom. I'm hoping I can get CGC to recognize this wonderful new pedigree so I can reslab them and have it appear on the label.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Most of what I go for are complete runs. (ex. Tales Of Suspense #1 to #99) Thats my number one reason.

 

Then there are certain kinds of stories I like to read. Forinstance, the dinosaur war stories in STAR SPANGLED WAR STORIES #90 through #197. I don't collect the rest because they don't interest me.

 

And there are those comics I hated buying only because I was forced to follow the stories into other titles I didn't really collect. One of the reasons why I cut back on my new comic reading.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Administrator

In coin collecting, they have something called a Type Set. This is where you ignore the exact year on the coin and just collect the nicest example of a particular coin design that you can find.

 

Does anyone do like a "Bronze Age Collection" where you try and collect one copy of each title published during that age - regardless of the issue numbers - in as nice a condition as you can find it?

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I collect ASM books, and Captain America books. I used to collect Ghost Rider books, but have no interest in putting together a run of the first series..although I bought the keys from it and have the MS 5. With Cap books, I collect the silver/bronze series as well as the gold ones. Otherwise, if a book interests me I'll buy it..specifically issues like Werewolf by Night 32, or Tomb of Dracula 10 are two books that I purchased. Some that I'm still looking for such as FF 52 or Strange Tales and Tales of Suspense I'm basically just looking for b/c of the quality of the cover art..

 

Brian

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Administrator

Or how about by character like this? Collect every character-introduction issue by Marvel so you can have a complete set of the birth of every character marvel ever did?

 

Or what about a collection with slots like this:

 

Green Lantern

Spider Man

Superman

etc.

 

And in each "slot" you could collect ANY title or issue as long as it featured that character. Thus, you could collect every character in the marvel universe, but people wouldn't have to spring for so many first-issues to catch their "birth"?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here are my patterns of collecting:

 

1.) For the most part my financial situation only allows me to collect comic books from the Bronze and Modern eras. My "porfolio" is like a mutual fund, I don't put all of my eggs in one basket, and I don't sink large sums of money into one book (I cannot afford to do this even if I wanted to).

 

2.) The genre or type of comic books that I am mainly interested in are Superhero books, with only a couple of exceptions such as Star Wars and Conan the Barbarian.

 

3.) The Superhero characters that I am primarily interested in are: Spider-Man, Superman, Hulk, Batman, X-Men, JLA, Silver Surfer, and the Flash.

 

4.) Because most of my books are Bronze/Modern Age, I collect comic books that are in VF-NM condition.

 

5.) I collect complete runs (I have a good number of long runs), although not mandatory, it is preferable.

 

6.) I fell into the collecting my favorite artists pit years ago when my favorite artists all left Marvel to form another company called Image. I spent far too much money on Image books (I ended up practically giving them away), and I learned a valubale lesson about collecting by artist. That characters are more important to me than the artist that is portraying them, and I appreciate so many artists that the same money can be spent on backissues of the titles/characters that I collect with plenty of great art to be discovered.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In coin collecting, they have something called a Type Set. This is where you ignore the exact year on the coin and just collect the nicest example of a particular coin design that you can find.

 

That is what I am doing with my pre-code horror collection. I am assembling one book from each pre-code horror title. Interesting you brought up type sets. I am also in the midst of an MS63+ 20th century US type set (no post-silver, though).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Marvel Price variant covers! Fun!

Bondage covers

Nazi/Swastika covers

Cherry Comics! First prints only...

 

Okay, that's just wrong... I collect all four of these!

 

But then I also collect romance comics with catfight covers, horror comics featuring monkeys, and most any book with lots of fire and a purple background on the cover...

 

After owning a store for a while, I realized that collecting typical interests wasn't terribly exciting as I see them too often. So I limit my personal collecting to things I rarely see...

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites