How do you collect?

[Rickdogg]

I collect:

 

By Artist:

 

-Byrne X-mens

-McFarlane Marvel titles

-Jim Lee X-mens

 

By Run

 

-GI Joe

-Transformers

-Marvel Team-up

-Marvel Two-in-one

-Marvel Triple Action

-Powers

-Rising Stars

 

By character

 

-Wolverine

-Sabretooth Appearances

 

 

[FlyingDonut]

Price variants (see my sig...)

Crime Suspenstories originals

then I'm going after Shock Suspenstories originals

stuff that just catches my eye

 

[Mister_Comics]

I know a guy that buys only comics that have a all YELLOW color background.

 

All black cover issues could be another collection. As well as all white, all green, etc.

 

Die cut covers, embossed, hologram, wrap around, poly bagged come to mine also.

 

I have these in my collection. But I don't go seeking them out, just part of my run collections.

[Kevin Boyd]

I collect:

 

(1) by character: Spider-Man, Cerebus, Nexus, etc. too name a few.

 

(2) by artist/writer: too many to name here

 

(3) by company: mostly silver/bronze Marvel for back issues

 

(4) by recommendation: if someone points out a title or graphic novel I will check it out

 

(5) by fancy: if it strikes me as something I want to read I'll buy it off the rack or from the back issue bins

 

One thing I don't do is collect by run. With so many switches in creative teams - good and bad - I don't have the patience to buy what I don't want to read. If I don't like it I won't support it (except for Spider-Man comics - there I'm a completist!)

 

Kev

[Guest]

I forgot a couple!

 

I collect 100th issues and marvel price variants.

 

 

[supapimp]

i collect "key issue's" well the ones i can afford anyways, other than that it's spidey & jim/thor.

[comicartfan]

I like to collect only Key books...for example, I will buy one book from a whole run...i.e...Capt. America 100.....nothing else from this run. Or Iron Man 55 & 1 - I am also a big Neal Adams fan, with mostly Batman stuff.....I don't care for Modern stuff, and stick with Bronze mostly....

[FlyingDonut]

you know what BLOWS? Every price variant collector IN THE WORLD is on this board? GRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! No sneaking any past here!

[Guest]

if it helps, I only collect the 30 centers. aren't those below your radar at this point, mr. "i've got a complete set."

 

[ArAich]

 

The short answer to what I collect in order of preferance:

 

1) #1s and one shots (all publishers and era)

2) Keys

3) Runs under 10 issues

 

 

 

The long answer would be extensive as I have been collecting for over 35 years and my wants have been, and still are, in flux continuously throughout my lifetime while the above list has been constant.

[Dano]

1). Fiction House GGA, primarily Firehair covers.

 

2). Pre-code science fiction.

 

3). Bronze DC Horror titles in high grade.

 

4). Alex Schomburg, L.B. Cole covers... when I can afford them

 

Dan.

[Joanna]

When I was collecting I had various tiers of importance.

 

I collected by character, and was working on getting a full run of Wonder Woman, series 1 & 2. This also included any appearances she made in other comics. I didn't achieve the goal because golden age books are so expensive and rare (there was no ebay when I was collecting), but did pretty well. This included her title, Sensation Comics, JLA, and lots of random titles in which she guested.

 

I also collected silver age DC, primarily the Superman books (Superman, Superboy, Adventure Comics, Action Comics, Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane). To a letter degree, I'd also buy Flash, Batman, Detective, Green Lantern, etc.

 

I continued the Superman collecting into the bronze and modern ages.

 

Post-crisis, I collected runs, like all the Superman titles, Flash, GL, GA, JLA, etc. I completed most of the runs I collected, then sat down and read them straight through. That's really fun to do. I did that with all the Wonder Woman books, too, from golden age to current issue. You really get a sense of the patterns that way. And a great feel for the total history.

 

For a brief time in the 90's, I played speculator and learned a huge lesson. I really didn't care about comics as an investment, I only cared about reading them, so I stopped that silliness and vowed never to return to it. This does mean I have some major in my collection (books I never read nor wanted to) but that's life. The good news was that I discovered some cool comics by 'buying everything'.

 

And now I don't buy any comics (except Wonder Woman because I want to write for that title again); I just sell. And I'm only selling because I need money to pay bills and stuff. nothing against the comics, I'd have prefered keeping them.

 

-- Joanna

[FlComicFan]

1. anything NM I dont own pre 1980 if its very cheap I was building runs of 1970's books which I grew up with usually paying anywhere from 50 cents to $2 a book in NM/M but those are getting almost impossible to find these days

2. eye catching covers from the Golden Age in affordable condition (for me usually vg-fine range unrestored) I look at the Gerber Photo Journals and periodically will make lists of books to keep my eyes out for (yes LB Cole, Schomburg, Novick, Fuje to name a few of the artists)

3. investment grade NM 9.4 or better Bronze and some Silver I rarely buy these unless I find a great deal the prices on these need to stabilize before I really get back into it

4. I was working on runs of 60's/70's Marvels to read but have decided to sell off what Ihave and just be content with the Marvel Essentials reprints I miss the ads and b/w is not the same as color but they are affordable and its nice to finally be able to sit down and ready years of continuity in one shot!! Kudos to Marvel and I hope they continue with the series DC are you planning something like these? Hope so I'd love be able to read some of that stuff again as well.

5. type collecting I am sort of doing something like that I try and have at least 1 preferrably one of the better covers of each superhero Golden Age title Ii.e I have Punch 12 the skull cover, Fantastic 3, etc

 

I guess we all have our weird quirks which contribute to the general collecting gene! Chet

[FlComicFan]

oh forgot I dont buy any new titles. I havent bought a new comic off the rack with exception of Dark Knight Returns Again or whatever the hell it was called (which was a downer) in over 12 years. I refuse to pay $3-7 for a new comic. Print them on recycled toilet paper for all i care and give me some sequential artwork andcharge a $1-$1.50 and I will start buying again. Cant pay $3 for a comic that has 22 splash pages and takes 3 minutes to read, uggh. Chet

[Guest]

I collect GI Joes, and sometimes I collect while not wearing any clothes. That wasnt meant to rhyme by the way! I also collect dust.

[Zonker]

When I first branched out from Bronze/Silver Age to Golden Age collecting, I set out to get a single issue of every DC super-hero comic title published in the 1940-1949 period (examples one Superman, one Action Comic, one Comic Cavalcade,etc.) Well, pretty soon I accomplished that goal, and now have several issues of most titles. I'm branching out to what I take it is a common way of collecting Golden Age books: by favorite covers, in my case WWII / patriotic covers.

 

Cheers,

Z.

[COI]

High grade Marvel Silver Age, especially pre 66' and post 66' keys. My ambitions within this catagory change monthly, but I tend to do double takes on NM Spidey's and FF's. I hope to establish an amazing collection by the time I turn 35.

[supapimp]

your autosig is my life in a nutshell bro well you have to add a couple of more lines though.

[read_em-migration]

Don't collect runs (but have a few).

Don't collect by "variants".

Never collect by cover only.

Like most, I collect by artist, and then by writer, usually taking both into consideration. But I also collect superhero books by villain. We all know the villains are more interesting than the superheroes, as the heroes are just boring without a good villain. (Unless we're talking EC books or something like 100 Bullets). I like to get the first 3 or 4 appearances of interesting major/minor DC and Marvel villains. I mean, who wants an AF # 15? There's not even a cool villain in it!

[COI]

Hey pimp,

 

There's A LOT I could add to that signature, but probably now without getting kicked off.

 

Nice to find another guy in this hobby with a similar lifestyle. Not to stereotype or anything, but I worked at a night club for 2 years and have been going to them a lot longer. 2 totally different worlds.

 

Ever try explaining comic collecting to a date? I did once, and had to fix the situation quick so I started talking about bench presses.