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Do only 50 really matter?

Started by itsatoy67-migration,

67 posts in this topic

itsatoy67-migration

itsatoy67-migration

Posted
Posted

Hi long time luker 1st post, been reading & enjoying comics for 37 of my 44 years, still have my complete raw Marvel silver age runs & many Golden age books. I live in southern N.J.& grew up going to Fat Jacks in PA & summers at my grand parents in North Jersey was what I lived for because of the Passiac Book Center, enough back ground.

 

At a recent local small comic convention one of the dealers made the statement that since CGC only 50 books realy matter anymore in the hobby & that the days of collecting runs is long gone & if you want to make money from his point of view its all about the grade & its all about those top 50 gold & silver age books no need to name them here, just look over the past 35+ years of overstreet & you know the books & the covers like the back of your hand as we all used to just dream of having some of them.

 

Are Action # 2-6 what they used to be???

 

Any pre Robin Detective ( no I will not call them Tecs :) without Batman on the cover seems like no big deal, it was a big deal in my day, no matter who was on the cover, the 8th app of Batman was still the 8th app of Batman.

 

Who wants a complete Avengers run anymore? ( just #1 & 4 please)

 

X-men #1 ,94 & Giant Size Please Byrne who? Get the trades.

 

I know there has always been KEY books. But is it really just about those 50 books?

 

I have to say the dealer made some very valid points & I wonder has the hobby changed for the better or am I just getting old?

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ft88

ft88

Posted
Posted

Said dealer must have seen your crappy collection of 10 and 12 cent marvel and DC non-keys and then pontificated on how only the top 50 books in the hobby are collectible.

 

Pay no attention to that VG Spiderman 30 he has on his wall overpriced at $80 (but he'll give you a 10% discount)

 

I am floored at how many collectors buy for every reason imaginable. Just check out the sales on the boards or ebay or anywhere else.

 

Last I checked, if you want to make a profit, you simply have to buy low and sell high, regardless of the $$$ amounts or type of books.

 

Enjoying what you collect and paying for it may or may not be profitable but it is fun. And if that is limited to only the top 50 books, then there's a ton that is missing other than those.

 

Ed

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conditionfreak

conditionfreak

Posted
Posted

There is something to be said in favor of what that dealer stated. No doubt about it.

 

However. There is another side. You can still make decent or better profits, off of those other ten thousand issues. It is about conditiona and price.

 

There is no way that a Captain Marvel #1 (silver age), would be a top 50 book. But put one in 9.6 or 9.8 condition up for sale, and see how fast it sells. Or Spectre #1. Or Tales to Astonish #44. Or blah, blah, blah.

 

There are collectors for various reasons. Profit. Love. Habit. Combinations of the above.

 

There is no way that Kid Colt: Outlaw, is on a top 50 list. But put up a 6.5 or better, and I am on it like Clinton on an intern. Monica on a cigar. Or (---) on a Clooney.

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Darth Corgi

Darth Corgi

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Welcome To The Boards! :hi:

 

I've loved comics for years and have enjoyed putting full runs together and reading my way through all of the great titles I never got a chance to read. In the last few years I have managed to assemble and read through:

 

FF 1-126

ASM 1-128

DareDevil 1-500+ (current)

 

There are also plenty of others I have mapped out on my reading goals list.

 

Even though there are some reprint options available in trades, (I do pick up trades for casual reference) I still prefer the original books, even with GA.

 

Also, a note on the trades...I have noticed there are differences in the art from the original books vs. the trades. Often the art for trades isn't scanned from the originals so some or a lot of the detail is lost in the art (mainly the thinner ink lines are the ones that drop out). It is subtle but more obvious when held next to each other. I compared a DD 4 recently with the exact same page from a trade and there was a big difference in the art... at least for me there was but I'm picky.

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Cimm

Cimm

Posted
Posted

I doubt if there is a single one of the top 50 that are in my collecting scope. Sure, I'd love to own a Detective 27 or a Marvel Comics 1, but, they are not realistically speaking on my radar, or part of my collecting goals and interests. I like precode horror, GGA, and undergrounds. I think, outside of the speculators, the investors, and the old school collectors that already have everything post-1960, it's fair to say that most collectors have interests that may include those top 50, but are not exclusive to them.

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ciorac

ciorac

Posted
Posted
I doubt if there is a single one of the top 50 that are in my collecting scope. Sure, I'd love to own a Detective 27 or a Marvel Comics 1, but, they are not realistically speaking on my radar, or part of my collecting goals and interests. I like precode horror, GGA, and undergrounds. I think, outside of the speculators, the investors, and the old school collectors that already have everything post-1960, it's fair to say that most collectors have interests that may include those top 50, but are not exclusive to them.

 

Yup. Cimm is on target

 

There is money to be made on just about all comics, if that is your focus. Plenty of us collect way beyond the narrow boundaries described to the OP. My collection includes all types of comics from all ages. It is what makes me happy.

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thehumantorch

thehumantorch

Posted
Posted
Hi long time luker 1st post, been reading & enjoying comics for 37 of my 44 years, still have my complete raw Marvel silver age runs & many Golden age books. I live in southern N.J.& grew up going to Fat Jacks in PA & summers at my grand parents in North Jersey was what I lived for because of the Passiac Book Center, enough back ground.

 

At a recent local small comic convention one of the dealers made the statement that since CGC only 50 books realy matter anymore in the hobby & that the days of collecting runs is long gone & if you want to make money from his point of view its all about the grade & its all about those top 50 gold & silver age books no need to name them here, just look over the past 35+ years of overstreet & you know the books & the covers like the back of your hand as we all used to just dream of having some of them.

 

Are Action # 2-6 what they used to be???

 

Any pre Robin Detective ( no I will not call them Tecs :) without Batman on the cover seems like no big deal, it was a big deal in my day, no matter who was on the cover, the 8th app of Batman was still the 8th app of Batman.

 

Who wants a complete Avengers run anymore? ( just #1 & 4 please)

 

X-men #1 ,94 & Giant Size Please Byrne who? Get the trades.

 

I know there has always been KEY books. But is it really just about those 50 books?

 

I have to say the dealer made some very valid points & I wonder has the hobby changed for the better or am I just getting old?

 

A big welcome to the boards.

 

The dealer is partially right. If you collect comics solely based on past and future

increase in value and liquidity then books like AF15 and Action 1 are what you want to own. They go up in value and perhaps more importantly, they are easy to sell even to dealers for close to retail.

 

I don't think it is accurate to blame CGC for the end of run collecting or to suggest that CGC led to only 50 books worth owning. The large cost of sets and size of sets and popularity of trade paperbacks is the biggest factor.

 

If you love comics they all matter and everything is collected by someone . It isn't all about high demand, high $ superhero books.

 

 

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Iksar

Iksar

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Posted

Like the OP, I'm around the same age, and from the same area. (I used to frequent Fat Jack's in the '90s, got some sweet deals there in the pre-CGC days)

 

Anyway, I don't know what's killing the hobby (if anything), but I DO know what's killing sales on ebay.

 

A few months ago, you could do a search for newly listed golden age with Buy in Nows, and you could haunt the GA listing endings for great deals. It was fun, exciting and always new turnover.

 

But now, 99% of all ebay listings is overpriced store stock, that NEVER SELLS. It just keeps getting recycled over and over, making money for NO ONE, except ebay. You go to the new listing pages, and you'll get 150 differnt copies of Andy Panda filling up 2 pages. The few real auctions that are listed are lost between Andy Panda 56 and Andy Panda 57.

 

And don't get me started on sellers who sell DVDs and CDs of old comic scans. Is that even legal?

 

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Straw-Man

Straw-Man

Posted
Posted

run builders are usually miserable people. i can't stand to be around them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

but i LOVE to be around their funny-books!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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ComicConnoisseur

ComicConnoisseur

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Posted

I think its more like are there 50 books that I want to have slabbed or buy slabbed? hm

Let`s see for me personaly I could only see the Superman war covers, a few Batman Joker covers and the Marvel silver/bronze keys that I would want slabbed, then after that I would have to think about getting other books slabbed, really if you come to think about for the majority of us getting 50 books slabbed might be stretching it. that`s how I see it for me personaly, I am sure others go way beyond getting 50 books slabbed for their collection. :cloud9:

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Transplant

Transplant

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Posted
All comics matter.

But 50 of them are now only affordable for sheiks and Exxon execs.

Given your collection, I'm guessing your Exxon office overlooks your Saudi palace.
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