Comic egos

[BassGMan]

Way back in '89 when I owned an unsuccessful comic store for one year I had this one guy come in all the time. He wasn't really a customer as I don't think he ever bought anything from us. He was just another "comic guy" that liked to talk about the comics business. Anyway, this guy had amassed a pretty nice collection of key high grade Silver books. Our little comic store did not have much as far as old books, just mostly cheapo books from the 70s and 80s for back issues. We were a very small player. So anyway, this guy would come in from time to time toting his comic short box and setting it on the floor or counter. Then he'd proceed to take out a few books a literally throw them on the counter. Not hard enough to damage the books, but enough to give us the message that they're just any ol' books and that they are almost meaningless to him. Or at least that is how it looked to me. He'd take out two copies of Avengers #1 and a copy of Daredevil #1 and just throw them on the counter. Then pull out another couple keys and do the same thing. This guy was not stupid. He had the books properly bagged and boarded and knew how to handle a comic to avoid damage. He just didn't seem to care.

 

Point is, this guy was showing off to us. He bragged about his aquisitions but treated them as if they were just common new books, apparantly in order to impress us with the fact that he had so many, who really cares about just these few. So my partner and I phrased the term "comic ego" for guys that we had encountered that seemed to have some kind of ego based around their collections. Their collection was "the best" or better that others. More high grades, more keys, better characters, more duplicates, better, or more, or more important this or that. But these guys talk or write in a way that you can just tell there is alot of ego going on. Comic egos. Very annoying.

 

Other people, the majority actually, can speak of their vast or great collections in a way that is very interesting, informative, and fun, showing only a love of their books, but with no ego or "stuck uppedness" involved. I can't stand guys with comic egos. I've run across many in my life, and judging by the way a few guys write on these boards, the comic egos are shining right through the posts.

 

As far as I am concerned, if you have a collection worth a million bucks, or a collection of 100 modern readers, we all love our collections and although many are worth alot of money and many are not, we should all be able to take pride in what we have without having to worry about someone else having to show us how much better what he has is.

 

Have you people experienced anyone with a comic ego?

 

----------Sid

[joe_collector]

I think it's utterly hilarious, and a little sad, that some people would equate their self esteem and ego with the breadth of their funny book collection.

 

I mean, talk about aiming low.

[Aces]

So this guy would bring a box of comics in the shop with no intention of selling?

 

Just to wave them under everyones nose?

 

What a !

 

[BassGMan]

So this guy would bring a box of comics in the shop with no intention of selling?

 

Just to wave them under everyones nose?

 

What a !

 

 

Yes, that is exactly what he did. An extreme case of comic ego.

[NewtSamson]

In the late 1980s I aquired my first low grade silver age comics at around the age of 10 or 11. It was G/VG copies of both Amazing Spider-man #33 and Uncanny X-men #13. I showed these to a friend and his comic ego went ballistic. He started making up stores about owning high grade amazing spiderman #1 and he couldn't show it to me because it was in a safe. So as you can see comic ego can go both ways. I unintentional deflated his comic ego and he tried his hradest to hurt mine with a lie.

[Jayman]

I've noticed this "comic ego" in some people mainly in comic shops or shows. While I'm very personally proud of my own collection, I hardly if not ever talk about it with friends/acquaintances as it would be a totally alien subject matter to them or worse, I would get "So, how much money are they worth, why don't you sell them?". I HATE that question! I'm a collector, Dagnabit!

 

That's what I love about this forum, I can talk, share and learn with like minded people.

[comicwiz]

Way back in '89 when I owned an unsuccessful comic store for one year I had this one guy come in all the time. He wasn't really a customer as I don't think he ever bought anything from us. He was just another "comic guy" that liked to talk about the comics business. Anyway, this guy had amassed a pretty nice collection of key high grade Silver books. Our little comic store did not have much as far as old books, just mostly cheapo books from the 70s and 80s for back issues. We were a very small player. So anyway, this guy would come in from time to time toting his comic short box and setting it on the floor or counter. Then he'd proceed to take out a few books a literally throw them on the counter. Not hard enough to damage the books, but enough to give us the message that they're just any ol' books and that they are almost meaningless to him. Or at least that is how it looked to me. He'd take out two copies of Avengers #1 and a copy of Daredevil #1 and just throw them on the counter. Then pull out another couple keys and do the same thing. This guy was not stupid. He had the books properly bagged and boarded and knew how to handle a comic to avoid damage. He just didn't seem to care.

 

Point is, this guy was showing off to us. He bragged about his aquisitions but treated them as if they were just common new books, apparantly in order to impress us with the fact that he had so many, who really cares about just these few. So my partner and I phrased the term "comic ego" for guys that we had encountered that seemed to have some kind of ego based around their collections. Their collection was "the best" or better that others. More high grades, more keys, better characters, more duplicates, better, or more, or more important this or that. But these guys talk or write in a way that you can just tell there is alot of ego going on. Comic egos. Very annoying.

 

Other people, the majority actually, can speak of their vast or great collections in a way that is very interesting, informative, and fun, showing only a love of their books, but with no ego or "stuck uppedness" involved. I can't stand guys with comic egos. I've run across many in my life, and judging by the way a few guys write on these boards, the comic egos are shining right through the posts.

 

As far as I am concerned, if you have a collection worth a million bucks, or a collection of 100 modern readers, we all love our collections and although many are worth alot of money and many are not, we should all be able to take pride in what we have without having to worry about someone else having to show us how much better what he has is.

 

Have you people experienced anyone with a comic ego?

 

The "comic ego" you refer to seems to be a synonymous character trait with about 97% of the lcs owners in Toronto. One of the reasons why I stick with only two or three of the shops is because the rest of them are run by a bunch of comic snobs that know absolutely nothing about treating customers properly, and have severe cases of megalomania, mixed with irreparable delusions about the hobby and comic values.

[COI]

I think it's utterly hilarious, and a little sad, that some people would equate their self esteem and ego with the breadth of their funny book collection.

 

You mean people actually do this? I've never heard of such a thing.

 

You talk as if someone with a high end collection actually came on these boards and belittled you for collecting Bronze X-Men.

[lighthouse]

My former business partner was terrible about stuff like that...

 

In the middle of a conversation about $100 baseball cards, he busts out with the "fact" that his dad has a sealed case of 52 Topps...

 

I was actually able to keep a straight face for all of about 5 seconds before I lost it. His dad's business was netting him an income of perhaps $30K a year at that point, with him working a minimum of 75 hours a week. Yeah, he's got a sealed case of 52 Topps at the house and is working for $7 an hour killing himself in his business.

 

I tried to ask my partner if he really had any idea what a sealed case of 1952 Topps would be worth and got a blank stare... Then he changed the conversation to start bragging about his Spider-Man collection...

[COI]

Egotism exists everywhere and in every aspect of life, particularly with hobbies and activities that are male-dominated. We are all competitive in some area, and we are all egotistical to some extent.

 

The problem is, there is a difference between real acomplishments and material aquisitions, and it is difficult for some people to see the difference between the 2.

 

And believe me, I enjoy looking at beautiful books that I don't own, as long as they aren't being used to put others down.

[NewtSamson]

 

I tried to ask my partner if he really had any idea what a sealed case of 1952 Topps would be worth and got a blank stare... :

 

how much would it be worth?

[BassGMan]

Believe it or not, and I know this sounds a little stupid or immature but I have a dumb little story for ya' about the only time I ever felt a "twinge" of comic ego myself.

 

I was 23 and dating a girl a few years younger. Very hot chick, I think above the level of the girl I could usually attract at the time, so I was feeling just a little insecure. I had what I considered a pretty valuable collection at the time. I was also selling books regularly at conventions and some in the CBG marketplace. So the value of my collection was somewhat dwindling as I was selling in order to pay for taking out this new girl, buying musical gear and other things. So anyways, I felt, just a little bit, that with every big sale, that my "value" was decreasing just a bit, and that maybe she wouldn't be as interested in me with a much less valuable comic collection.

 

She had no idea of the value and could probably care less about it anyway. But it was tied into my brain somehow as an inexpreienced and naive 23 year old (I grew up kinda' slow as far as dating girls). I even joked a little about how she might like me less with a less valuable comic collection, but inside, I kinda' really felt that way. Geez I was a geek back then. -----------Sid

[BachelorOfComix]

I think it's utterly hilarious, and a little sad, that some people would equate their self esteem and ego with the breadth of their funny book collection.

 

You mean people actually do this? I've never heard of such a thing.

 

You talk as if someone with a high end collection actually came on these boards and belittled you for collecting Bronze X-Men.

[the_Greatest]

a real lot...

[dudesim]

Well I have some silver more bronze an lot of moderns..I think most peopls are proud of their collection..But not enough to lug down to Lcs

Unless I was selling them

[lighthouse]

 

I tried to ask my partner if he really had any idea what a sealed case of 1952 Topps would be worth and got a blank stare... :

 

how much would it be worth?

 

24 boxes in a case, 24 packs in a box.. Packs go for around $5K a piece... so you could pack it out for around $3 million...

 

But the fact is, a sealed case with reasonable provenance would likely fetch even more than that... and who knows what you might or might not get with certification, depending on how kind the Topps production team was...

[dudesim]

Well if he brought them in 52 he would not have paid much...But he could retire now with a tidey sum

[joe_collector]

And believe me, I enjoy looking at beautiful books that I don't own, as long as they aren't being used to put others down.

 

But you can only be "put down" if you adhere to the same bizarre rule set.

 

I only collect comics for one reason, to recapture a bit of my youth, and maintain a set of books that were part of my "Golden Age".

 

I know this may seem strange to those on here, but I see these HG Golden and Silver Age books, and although I appreciate their historic importance, I have zero interest in collecting them, and wouldn't care to own the books.

 

That's not what interests me, so BSD's popping on here with various HG Silver books is just like someone showing me a rare stamp; ho hum.

 

So in order to even attempt to get my goat, you've got to post some insanely high-QP CGC 9.8 1970's Byrne beauties, and even then I doubt it would affect me.

[FFB]

a real lot...

 

Man, you have the best avatars. Avatar egotist!

[FFB]

So what you're saying is, you have no appreciation for the hobby except for your small slice of it, and even for that slice, you don't really care about it?

 

So I guess you could just buy a couple of Byrne X-Men TPBs, sell the rest of your collection, and find a new hobby you like better, eh?